6 Famous Health Hacks That I Refuse to Follow (Maybe You Should Too)
There’s a better way to go about it.
I’ve been into working out and healthy eating for the past eight years. It all started because my 18-year-old self wanted to get rid of being fat, after being fat all her life.
It was normal for me to buy a new school uniform after every summer holiday because my tummy would get plumper. I’d always been the fat kid for as long as I can remember.
But at 18 and 187 lbs, I wanted to get done with it.
And since then, while I’ve maintained my healthy lifestyle, I’ve also come across fads that I’ve refused to follow.
I think you should as well if you want sustainable results.
“A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought — they must be earned.” — Naval Ravikant
1. Keto
I’m not against a particular diet. I don’t believe in ‘diets’ in general because all food groups are important.
No carbs? Best of luck with having functional and healthy brain health.
Food energises us and fuel us since the beginning of time, yet we overthink it so much with these diets.
2. Diet in general
“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.” — Ayurvedic Proverb
Adding to the previous point, I promise you that once you eat more mindfully, you’ll automatically feel fitter. By that, I mean:
- chewing your food
- more natural sugar
- eating more fruits and vegetables
- cutting down on processed and frozen foods
- analysing how you feel after eating (energised or lazy?)
- eating home-prepared full meals instead of random snacking
Not rocket science, right? But common sense isn’t marketed as well as Keto or Paleo.
When you realise how food makes you feel, you’ll move to eating the right kind of food.
When you eat slowly and mindfully, you develop a relationship with food.
This is what humans have done right from the beginning of time, but now our eyes and minds are in different places when we eat.
You don’t need a ‘diet’, you just need to undo the modern fad of not doing one thing at a time.
If I could lose 25 kgs by eating healthy and limiting junk, I can vouch that this works.
3. Cardio all the way
A few weeks ago, I met my friend for lunch. She and I got married two weeks apart last November. She was talking about how she’s lost muscle and gained weight since the wedding.
We’ve both been working out regularly, though it's common as newlyweds to get invited by our loved ones and end up eating out often.
I didn’t gain any weight.
I’ve been strength training hard and I feel fit.
I later got to know that before the wedding she went all out on cycling, HIIT, and aerobics because of the lovely post-workout feeling. Even though it made her look good for her wedding, it made her unhealthy overall.
Strength training is crucial for all genders, not just men. If you want to burn fat and build muscle and be healthy long-term, this is the route.
When your 50-years-old self can lift heavy suitcases without breaking anything, you’ll be grateful for all the rowing and deadlifts.
4. Long workouts
My workout, including warm-up and cool-down, gets wrapped in an hour. I cannot do 2 hour long workouts.
I don’t need the unit of time to make me feel like I have done enough or I’m done for the day. As long as your workouts are programmed well, you’re doing okay.
Longer is not always better (at least here…).
Don’t be afraid of a 30-min strength circuit or 20-minute HIIT, let the gym bros say otherwise.
You should do what makes you feel good. What's the point of pulling in 2 hours of working out if it demotivates you to show up the next day?
Working out is a part of your life, forever. Might as well be fun and exciting too, right?
5. Burn it out
I did HIIT after ages last week, and I was dead in the first ten minutes.
By the end of the 20-minute circuit, my entire body was drenched in sweat. This is intense compared to what I feel after 40 minutes of lifting weights.
But my watch shows that I still burn more calories lifting weights, and I burn them throughout the day.
I’ve stopped chasing the feeling of being burnt after every workout because with time I’ve realised that we don’t have to feel like dying post every session.
That feeling isn’t the measure of effectiveness.
Not feeling that way doesn’t make your workouts less beneficial.
6. Speed ≠ Strength
I love when we have to do 50 mountain climbers.
But now, I also love when I have to do 10 super slow mountain climbers which burn each part of you, every second.
Just because you’re doing something fast doesn’t mean you’re becoming stronger or burning more calories. You may do 100 crunches but still have a weak core.
This is similar to how it's more difficult to hold a 1-minute plank than it is to do crunches.
Slow isometric movements are underrated because they don’t just build you physically but also test you mentally where you want to give up but are trying not to.
Something that helps me here is doing yoga.
It challenges you physically and mentally, and makes you conquer your mind which once done, can conquer anything.
Last
“A healthy body is a guest-chamber for the soul; a sick body is a prison.” — Francis Bacon
Social media will always keep one fad trending after another. But it's important to know that health is our natural state of being and doesn’t need overthinking.
My entire weight loss journey was about eating healthy and working out, no diets or anything fancy.
Guess what? I dropped 55 lbs doing just that.
I hope this can help you understand the right way to go about your fitness journey and make amends accordingly.