Exercise and Nutrition - Two Tales

Partners by Julie Hamilton

Exercise and nutrition are two terms synonymous with good health. They go together like peanut butter and jelly, Cleopatra and Mark Antony, and Kermit and Miss Piggy. Where there is one, you most likely will find the other nearby. But do not be fooled - they are complete opposites. Exercise is the more predictable partner that produces reliable results as increasing one’s movement is usually straightforward once a plan is in place. Figuring out which type of exercise works best for your body might present initial challenges, but rarely is it overly complicated to find suitable forms of movement that enhance one’s life. Even though it takes effort to consistently stick with an exercise plan, fortunately, it does not take long before a person starts to see positive changes in their strength, tone, and stamina.

Nutrition, on the other hand, almost always ends up being more complex and can appear to be full of mystery. It is like a high maintenance individual who is constantly changing their opinions yet requires much attention. While sustainable nutrition has basic guiding principles to follow, it is highly specific to the individual and requires a fair amount of experimentation. What works well for one person is not guaranteed to work for another.

Below you will find two tales, completely fictional, that describe a typical exercise and nutrition experience. If you find any part of the story relatable, know that you are not alone.

The Exercise Tale

Susan woke up and found herself not liking the way she felt. She enjoyed sleeping until the very last moment before having to get up for work. At the end of a long day, she was tired and looked forward to eating dinner and relaxing on the sofa to watch Netflix. Susan enjoyed her job and family, but she never seemed to have enough hours in the day to go on a walk, lift weights, or ride her bike around the neighborhood, all things she knew would help her physical and mental health. Often as she sat in her chair for work, her back would ache and her hips would feel tight. Susan thought it was strange that the less she moved, the more her body would hurt. Occasionally when she would go out for a weekend hike with her family, she would enjoy herself but would feel exhausted for days. “If this is what it is like to get older, count me out,” she thought.

One day Susan sent me an email and reached out for help. Together we developed a realistic plan for purposeful movement in and out of the gym. After one month of being held accountable to someone with exercise, she is able to feel a real difference in her body. Not only is she getting stronger, but she has more energy and confidence for other things. Even though she still sits at her desk for work, those random aches and pains have lessened to where some days she does not even feel them anymore. 

With increased movement added to her daily routine, Susan is tired at the end of the day, but it is the good kind of tired. She finds she now has more energy for other activities in her life that used to wear her out. Not only does her stress feel more manageable, but she is now starting to look at herself less negatively in the mirror. She still finds it challenging to set aside time to move and would rather lay on the sofa reading a book or texting, but she likes the way she feels, and all of this is enough to motivate her to keep up her new new routine. 

After a period of developing good exercise habits, Susan decides that she is ready to start making changes to her nutrition. Maybe she can find success with eating just like she has found with exercise.

The Nutrition Tale

Susan decides that she will try the ketogenic diet as it seems to be popular in her social media news feed. She likes the stories that she has read where people experience amazing results in weight loss and increased energy. Plus, her friend down the street lost thirty pounds and says she has never been hungry since starting keto. Susan asks her neighbor for advice, reads a few articles, and begins. After a month, she has lost a couple of pounds and loves it. Susan is euphoric that something is finally working, however, six weeks in she finds herself having ridiculous craving for foods forbidden on the keto diet. Her satisfaction with her meals has dropped significantly and she now is finding that it takes more willpower to resist overindulging on nuts, whipping cream, and avocados, the only foods she really loves that are allowed. Her weight loss slows down and ultimately comes to a halt, even reversing with a little weight gain. Susan thinks, “This is a lot of work for no results.” She gives herself a week off, eating all of the foods that she had desperately missed for the past six weeks, resulting in more weight gain. She vows to start a different diet next week, perhaps less drastic, like eliminating all added sugars to her nutrition.

Three months after yo-yoing up and down between the same five pounds, Susan is discouraged and more confused about what to eat. Maybe she should try intermittent fasting so that she can still eat foods that she likes during her restricted food window, or maybe a low fat diet would get better results? More importantly, she wonders why nutrition can’t be as straightforward and predictable as her positive experience with exercise? Is it really that hard to find a plan that produces results and doesn’t make you hate your life? 

The Cold Hard Truth

If your story vaguely echoes Susan’s experience, you are not alone. For years I have heard variations of these two tales over and over again. Neither exercise nor nutrition are easy, but nutrition is undoubtedly the more difficult partner requiring the most attention. Exercise is straightforward. Nutrition is complex and nuanced, individualized to every person. You may sweat and exert physical exertion with movement, but that will not compare to the mental and emotional energy expended in figuring out and adhering to a nutrition plan.

Stay tuned for my next post where I will explain why the journey in nutrition often takes a more twisted, rocky, and unpredictable path than your journey in movement. I will also provide you with helpful questions that you can ask yourself when you are first deciding to make changes in your nutrition. I will share reliable tips you can use to help you decide if your changes in nutrition are working for you or against you.

Nutrition, with all of its mystery and challenges, is certainly the more complex character in this amazing partnership. However, once you understand her better, there is hope that you can go on to have a successful and wonderful relationship.