If you have weight loss or maintentance goals, going to Strom everyday will NOT give you the results you want! Whether you’re trying to lose weight, maintain a figure, or tighten up trouble areas, it will take you way longer to reach your goal if you aren’t maintaining a healthy diet too. Eating unhealthy, fatty foods won’t give you enough energy to have the physical endurance to push through a rigorous exercise that will burn the high amount of calories you’re reaching for. Plus, the National Sleep Foundation says that eating fatty foods close to bedtime will disrupt your sleep, which means too little energy to pull yourself out of bed for class, stay awake for the lecture, and get a killer workout at the gym.
So let’s get real. Dr. Moseley, the author of The Fast Diet, and the man behind the 5:2 diet, told the DailyMail that one pound of a fat is equal to 3,500 calories, and in order to shed only that one pound off of your tummy, you need to run about 38 miles. So basically, one mile is equal to nearly 100 calories. Crazy, we know. When it comes to your favorite foods, you might want to look away! In order to cancel out one slice of pepperoni pizza (298 calories), you’ll need to run three miles. To cancel out a grande pumpkin spice latte (420 calories), you’ll need to run four miles…that’s ONE drink people! And listen up dorm dwelllers, in order to cancel out one easy mac (200 calories), you’ll need to run two miles!
Now, this doesn’t mean that you need to cut out everything from your diet. But being aware of the effort you need to put in to burn off that late-night snack might be enough to curb your cravings.
Plus, eating healthy does have some incredible benefits that you should keep in mind:
1. Overall, you will feel AMAZING and have more natural energy to take on college with your head held high. Trust us, nothing feels better then being ready to take on the day and anything in the way.
2. Your endurance will dramatically increase. A once exhausting mile run will turn into two miles, and then three. With practice and the right fuel, you’ll be surprised what your body can do.
Unfortunately, most of the calories that you put into your body cannot be burned off solely by exercising. Studies suggest that, on average, people who dieted without exercising for 15 weeks lost 23 pounds versus exercisers who only lost six pounds over 21 weeks. Obviously, exercising is super important for heart health and building muscle, but it’s not the end-all-be-all of weight loss. You don’t even have to break a sweat to lose weight, all you have to do is make healthy food choices! So long, midnight Jimmy Johns!