Here is a list of common scenarios with exercise and nutrition that need to be kept in context.

• If your goal is fat loss, you can’t technically “over eat” at any meal, IF you still hit your calorie goal for the entire day. Goal 1A for anyone with fat loss as their primary goal is HIT YOUR CALORIES. Everything else is secondary.
  • Now, over eating at breakfast can set you back on calories making the rest of our day tougher to stay within your designated calories. But, you can still make it work with the right planing and discipline.
• “Heavy” lifting is different for every person and every exercise program. What was heavy for my last client, might not be heavy enough to produce the proper stimulus for my next client. Every situation is different.
  • “Heavy” lifting isn’t inherently good or bad. It’s all about creating a challenging stimulus that your body needs to adjust to, producing a change such as muscle growth and/or improved strength.
• How you feel. What is “feeling 100%” anyways? I always joke that once you are over 18 years old, you will never feel 100%. Every adult has some aches and pains. Its part of life.
  • Try not to compare how you feel now at 30, or 40 or 50 to how you felt 10 or 20 years ago. Your body has gone through a lot more stress than your body had experienced 20 years ago. This is living and being active (hopefully).
  • Focus on MANAGING your pain, building up your weaknesses with proper strength training and moving more, not less.
• Your diet now compared to your past. Life is fluid. Stressors change all the time. What and how you ate a year ago, let alone 10 years ago, might not be best for you now.
  • Be willing to adjust how much and what you eat as your body changes. Hormones play a big roll. Activity level plays a big roll. Simply aging plays a roll.
• Your diet compared to other people’s diets. Do your best to not compare what or how you eat to anyone else. You are your own person with your own body and genetics.
  • Just because your sister lost 20lbs on keto doesn’t mean it fits your lifetsyle. It very well could! But, it very well could not. Look at the big picture…if you love carbs, why would you pick a low carb diet to lose weight?
  • Some people need more carbs. Some people need less carbs. Some people can survive eating the same thing every day…then there are foodie people. All is good, as long as you are willing to focus on yourself and not get distracted by what others are doing.
• Workout style. Some people can handle a lot of running and never get hurt. You might for a 10 minute jog and your knee hurts for a week.
  • You have your own body. Find what you enjoy, gives you results and keeps you relatively injury free. Nothing is ever worth adding more pain into your life. Just because your friend convinced you to join a bootcamp doesn’t mean you HAVE to keep doing it when you hate cardio and your knees hurt after every class. If it works for her great! Find what YOU enjoy.
• Workout intensity and heart rate. This comes down to individual fitness level and personal goals.
  • In general, more intense workouts yield faster results. But, too much intensity or too much intensity too often can lead to injuries and burn out.
  • Sometimes less intense workouts, building confidence, avoiding injuries and properly recovering can lead to more adherance to the plan, thus yielding more results in the long run. Sustainable results.
  • Sometimes a high heart rate isn’t a bad thing. If you have a goal of running a fast 5k, you have to train at higher rates to get used to the intensity it take so sprint 3 miles.
  • Sometimes a lower heart rate during training matters more. This would be for people looking to train for longer distance rances where aerobic capacity matters more. Also, for people who are de-conditioned or with heart problems you want to work in a lower heart rate zone most of the time.
  • People with high stress, “go, go, go” lives probably need less intense workouts. There is no reason to add more stress to your day with an intense workout.
• Sugar. A higher sugar diet is not good for someone with diabetes. But, a higher sugar diet for someone who is not overweight, active and needs the sugar for fuel, might not be the end of the world.
  • Where sugar comes from matters too. Fruit has sugar and these foods aren’t “bad” for you. Fueling on candy and cake…probably not a good idea in the long run.
  • Just saying “sugar is bad for you” is dogmatic. There are many cases where a higher sugar diet is beneficial. Just as there are many cases where more sugar is not good.
• Protein intake. Someone who is lean, has a good amount of muscle and active needs more protein.
  • Someone who is 30%+ bodyfat, not active and with little muscle won’t need as much protein as the leaner person.
  • More protein is not always better, in every situation. This “protein hype” has gotten a bit out of hand. It matters, but it’s not a magix elixer for fat loss or muscle gain or being healthy.
• Mindset. Everyone is on a different page in their journey.
  • Just because you are on page 170 of your journey doesn’t mean your friend who is on page 6, has to eat like you, lift like you or be as committed as you. Let people find their own way, at a pace that is comfortable to them.
  • At the same time, if you are page 6, don’t try to catch up to your friend. You will get there in the same amount of time your friend did. You might be years behind. So be it. Stay patient and keep working hard.
  • The further along in your journey to a healthier life, the better your mindset gets about finding balance, not overreacting to the scale, prioritizing what matters most etc. Give your friends and family time to find this. Be patient. Help and support them obviously, but don’t get frustrated when they aren’t at your level. You were there once too…..