Weight loss happens in the kitchen, not the gym.

Today I spent an hour doing interval training: 30 seconds hard sprint, 90 seconds active recovery.

According to the air bike, this burnt 650 calories.

Great, until you compare it to common food items. As an example, a regular (340g) sausage roll is 840 calories.

The point is, it would be a shame to put all that work in only to blow it with poor dietary choices.

Obviously any exercise is good, and caloric discussions don’t include all the fitness/cardio/mental health benefits, but if weight loss is your goal, you may be wasting a lot of time and effort that some dietary changes could better (or in addition help to) address.

My basic diet rules:
- No sugar
- No juice or soft drinks
- Minimal grains
- Lots of water
- Lots of colour
- Lots of protein (eggs & meat)
- Track what I’m eating

As with all good and lasting change, it is important to realise that you won’t notice changes for a while.

The juice fasts and other fad diets may work initially, but you will gain it all back and some. Effectively you are starving yourself and your body doesn’t want to die, so it will stack on the fat to survive the next (self- imposed) famine.

Finally, it is a good idea to change our expectations to one that is grounded in reality.

You likely won’t be able to attain the body of influencers/stars without total dedication, a team of experts, and the help of potentially illegal supplementation.

You can however achieve a stronger, slimmer and healthier body than you have now.

Check out the following images to drive home the comparison between the caloric impact of diet and exercise.