The Problem With So-Called Health Habits

Health Habits. We all need them. Every online tabloid or magazine wants to give you a list of essential health habits, which if you could only implement them, would change your life.

You’ve seen those long lists of platitudes like:

  • Don’t do drugs
  • Drink more water
  • Eat one healthy meal
  • Complete a physical challenge
  • Eat a meal-replacement bar (seriously…)
  • Wear sunscreen every day
  • Be grateful
  • Avoid sugar
  • Eat clean
  • Sweat once a day

But this article won’t be anything like that.

Instead of giving you a list of ideas to implement that might be good for you, I want to help you understand why blanket health habits are not always the best for you depending on your individual needs. I want to teach you about habits, how we form them, why bad habits are easy to fall back into, and why your health habits might look different than someone else’s (and why that’s okay).

In the next installment, we’ll be going over how to change your habits and reach your fitness goals without needing to feel motivated all the time and without needing to be perfect with every little aspect of training, diet, and putting it all together.

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How To Create A Caloric Deficit To Lose Weight (Understanding BMR, NEAT, and TDEE)

caloric deficit to lose weight

Once you’re finished reading this short article, you will understand exactly how to create a caloric deficit to lose weight by understanding your BMR (basal metabolic rate), your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis).

Every so often, we get some questions here that deserve a short explanation for everyone to benefit. The question email to me was the following…

“How do you burn more calories than what you consume? I eat about 1200 calories per day. To create a deficit, I have to burn more than 1200. How can I do that? I go to the gym, workout for an hour or so, and burn about 500-600 calories. After that, my activity level drops because I have a desk job. So how do I burn another 700-800 calories?”

To put this in perspective, the person writing this email was a smaller woman with a sedentary job who is exercising 3 times per week at the gym. So her overall expenditure is going to be lower than someone with an active job and training weekly at the gym.

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How To Turn Fat Into Muscle (Is It Possible?)

A common idea on the minds of many new to training and diet-related stuff is how to turn fat into muscle. Is it possible? Can you really turn your body fat into lean muscle tissue? Today, you’ll get the answer and be equipped to lose body fat and build more muscle forever.

How To Turn Fat Into Muscle

To quickly get this out of the way, there’s no way possible to turn fat into muscle because they’re two entirely different tissues. Your fat tissue is made up of the fat you consume. Every single time you eat a meal containing fat, you store that fat in the fat cells on your body.

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