4 Fitness & Nutrition Fads I Was Wrong About

#1. The Low-Carb Diet

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Learning is a part of life. So is admitting when you’re wrong. So I’ll admit it four times, right here, right now.

These are four things I got wrong, learned from, and applied the lessons learned to do better going forward.

#1. The Low Carb Diet

I wasn’t born with visible abs. Even as a teenager, I always held a little extra “pudge” around the midsection. So, like many others, I found myself constantly searching for the best diet hack to a six-pack throughout my early 20s.

My favorite wrestler, Paul “Triple H” Levesque was using the ketogenic diet at the time; I figured if it was good enough for him, it was good enough for me!

I have no issue with the keto diet if that’s what you enjoy. But I thought that by continuing to eat as much as I ever was and merely replacing the calories from carbs with calories from fat, I’d burn more fat which would help me lose more fat. Nope.

A few tubs of peanut butter later, I eventually figured out that it didn’t matter whether my diet was extremely low carb or not, because I was still eating too many calories.

This is supported by a peer-reviewed study that involved over 600 people and lasted for 12 months. The result of the study concluded that both low carb and low fat diets are equally valid for sustainable fat loss when total calories and protein are equated.

Following a more balanced approach — i.e. a calorie deficit via increased activity, cutting some back on both some carbs and fats, and keeping protein consistent — I did get the abs I was looking for, and I continue to enjoy both solid performance in the gym and a balanced, healthy lifestyle free of dogmatic diet approaches.

Moral of the story? The best plan for you is the one that works and the one you can stick with. No dogma needed.

#2. Training to Failure (All the time)

Here’s a rough generalization of what my training looked like about 10 years ago:

• Go to failure on every set of every exercise.
• Show up the very next week, add a rep or 10 pounds to…