Fitness goals can be ruined by a poor diet!

Fitness goals can be ruined by a poor diet! overweight guy eating junk!

Fitness goals can be ruined by a poor diet! Your food choices each day affect your health — how you feel today, tomorrow, and in the future. Diet can make or break your fitness goals.

Self-control is needed

In today’s blog we take a look at one of the biggest and most common of problems is getting clients to stay on a healthy diet, after all, why waste money on a trainer if you’re going to ruin the whole thing by eating junk food, doesn’t make sense really.


The Impact of Nutrition on Your Health



The link between good nutrition and healthy weight, reduced chronic disease risk, and overall health is too important to ignore. By taking steps to eat healthy, you’ll be on your way to getting the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy, active, and strong. As with physical activity, making small changes in your diet can go a long way, and it’s easier than you think! Diet can make or break your fitness goals.

Diet is so important to maintain good health

Nutrition plays a crucial role in processes connected to bone formation and maintenance of bone mineral density. The amount of calcium in the body is subject to a dynamic balancing process, including calcium levels in food consumed, the ability of the intestines to absorb it, and its secretion levels through the urine. All these factors influence the biological availability of calcium for the benefit of bone formation and the prevention of bone loss.

The process of bone formation reaches its peak during the first three decades of life. Diet rich in calcium during this period is highly important to achieve an optimal bone mass. Later in life, adequate dietary calcium supplementation is necessary for maintaining that optimal bone mass and for bone loss prevention.

Milk and dairy are considered the most readily available source of calcium in the Western diet. The remaining calcium is usually derived from leafy vegetables, dried fruits, tahini and soy. Calcium from most plants is less absorbable in the human body than that from dairy products. In addition, a small portion of the daily calcium consumption comes from drinking water (tap and bottled).

Most foods are poor in calcium; therefore, it may be difficult to achieve the required amount of calcium on a daily basis, even with a good and balanced diet. Attention should be paid to the fact that some of the calcium-rich foods, such as raw tahini, almonds and sardines, are also rich in calories and fat, and therefore it is advised to limit their consumption.  

Calcium from diet is not fully absorbed by the body. Calcium-rich foods such as legumes, broccoli, spinach, leeks, parsley and green cabbage contain additional nutrients affecting intestinal acidity, and thus reducing calcium-absorption in the body.  Calcium absorption rate ranges between 15%-70% of the amounts present in a particular food. Calcium absorption potential depends on the overall food ingredients but is also influenced by various physiological and hormonal factors, such as age, vitamin D, stomach acidity and pregnancy. Therefore, calcium absorption potential and its biological availability are no-less significant factors than the original calcium content in food. 

Strong bones are vital to healthy life and life quality in advanced age. Therefore, it is essential to keep a diet rich in calcium early in life and if needed, to consume calcium supplements in order to achieve an optimal bone mass, which will be used as a bone reservoir later in life. An optimal bone condition has a direct influence on reducing the likelihood of bone fractures later in life.

  Comfort foods and drinks

A major problem seems to be the fact many people are so hooked on eating certain bad foods or drinks that they really can’t get their heads around the fact that it’s possible to live without them. Everything in moderation, but have you considered the fact your comfort food you think you can’t live without may just be the one reason you aren’t getting results? I have personally had clients that have been hooked on chocolate, red wine, and of course fried food in general etc. the list is endless. All these things once in a while won`t hurt you, but every day, now that’s an addiction and a big problem.

A healthy diet and exercise really go together, like a perfect marriage if you only have one working it’s not going to work, and will really slow down results, or stop any results altogether. Considering most people are looking for weight loss these days most clients will quit long before they see results because of their inability to follow a structured diet. Diet can make or break your fitness goals.

In the fast pace of modern-day life everyone seems to be looking for a `quick fix` when it comes to exercise, especially weight loss, but in reality, there really aren’t any magical pills or magical diets to get you that look you so desire. Just mainly having the discipline to work out regularly and eat correctly. It’s not that difficult, calories in versus calories out! It’s that simple, unless there’s a thyroid issue of course, but generally speaking it’s a lack of discipline that’s to blame. Diet can make or break your fitness goals.

My experience with this issue

One such client was Joe, who obviously liked his food but yet wasn’t too overweight. He came to me claiming to have tried every diet going but nothing would work for him. After training Joe for 3 months we were making great progress in the gym apart from of course his weight loss. His pant size had gone down a few sizes but not his weight. If anything, his weight had increased a few pounds.

He claimed to be eating a good diet of salad, fruit & veg with no junk food at all or any alcohol, so this was a mystery as to why he wasn’t losing weight…or was it? I had my suspicions about Joe`s diet so asked him to keep a food log for 2 weeks so I could see what exactly he was eating. When I studied this food log all seemed fine with oatmeal for breakfast, grilled chicken breast for lunch, Tuna salad for dinner with no snacking etc. on paper his diet looks perfect…if indeed it`s honest and accurate, which I highly doubted!

Now of course when a client gives you a food log, what they write down and what they are actually eating can be two very different things, this is what I suspected was the case with Joe, but of course I couldn’t very well prove my suspicions. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, after all, why lie about it? He would only be hurting himself by doing so. He’s the one that’s paying me, I’m not paying him, and I told him many times diet can make or break your fitness goals.


One morning I happened to be going into the local grocery store, when I saw a familiar figure coming out with a full basket of groceries, yes Joe! His basket consisted of several large bottles of soda, a couple bags of large potato chips, several packs of Guinness and many different boxes of cookies. Before I could say anything, a very red faced Joe said “Err, I’m shopping for my neighbor who’s too sick to come shopping this week” I told him what a kind thought, I also gave him one of my business cards to pass on to his neighbor who must be in pretty bad shape to be eating this kind of junk!

Have you noticed when someone is lying to you, they seem to have an inability to look you in the eyes? Their body language gives them away every time as they try to convince you that what they’re telling you is the truth. Whatever! Joe had been busted, and he knew it! He never did return to the gym either.


When you start blaming your trainer for something you know you are doing wrong, can you honestly fool yourself into believing they are in the wrong and not you? If so, you will never have the discipline needed to get the results you wanted. After all, that’s why you hired them in the first place, right?

Remember this, hiring a personal trainer isn’t like waving a magic wand where results are concerned especially weight loss, you still have to do your part. If you are doing your part and not getting results then yes, change your trainer as it might not be a good fit, but if you aren’t telling your trainer the truth about your diet who are you hurting the most? Yes! you.

You’re paying the trainer, they aren’t paying you and it`s certainly not a cheap service, so think about this next time you feel like cheating on your diet. Remember, diet can make or break your fitness goals.

Author: Nigel Taylor
