Eating Well But Adding Bodyfat

Too much food is too much food.

Some people do a good job eating a balanced and nutritious diet of whole grains, beans, veggies, lean meats and dairy, and fresh fruit. They may even limit added sugars and salt. But they will gain weight when they eat more than they expend.

People with bad diets are rarely surprised when they gain weight. Those who gain weight when eating well are understandably disappointed. If you are among these folks, remember that even clean food should be eaten in limited quantities.

There is no way around it — too much of a good thing is still bad.

You Can’t Weightlift-off Body Fat

If you need to lose fat, then you need to do a lot of aerobic exercise.

Strength exercise is important, no doubt. But strength training is not a good fat burning method. Weightlifting muscles tend to use carbohydrates and proteins — and fats to a lesser extent — for energy. Aerobically exercising muscles tend to primarily use fats for energy.

If your aim is to lose body fat, then you should do weekly at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise.

Don’t Let the Scale Trick You

Sometimes you wake up, step on a scale, and are surprised to see a few more pounds than you saw the day before.

It is almost certainly NOT the case that you actually gained a few pounds of fat in one day. To put on 3 pounds of body fat, you would need to consume more than 8,000 calories — in addition to the calories your body needs for the day. That’s more food than almost anybody can handle.

If the scale says that you are suddenly a few pounds heavier, you probably ate a lot of salt the day before. The sodium in salt causes the body to retain water. Some nutrients and medications also cause the body to retain water. Water is heavy — 2 cups approximately weighs 1 pound.

As the concentration of sodium in the body decreases, you will retain less water, and your actual weight will emerge.