It's a nice idea, but no matter how hard you try, you can't exercise away a bad foundation of eating choices.
The old adage, "you are what you eat," is true. Toned arms & 6-pack abs begin in the kitchen. Even if your desire has nothing to do with being ripped & toned, but instead living at a healthy weight (which most of us should be pursuing), giving in to constant cravings for high-fat foods or sweet treats won't get you where you want to be.
Though an occasional treat or enjoyment of a special dessert is perfectly fine, and can even be good for us, it's the foundation of our consistent choices that matter.
When we are choosing whole foods to fill the majority of our nutrition, then we are totally fine to enjoy a cheeseburger, pizza, or a piece of cake on occasion.
But most of us don't eat as well as we think we do. In fact, it's likely that we consume way more calories than we need & are still malnourished in many ways.
And we try to make up for the fact that our body weight or shape doesn't respond the way we think it should by over-exercising.
Unless we are training for a competition or are a professional athlete, continually working out more than about an hour a day or never taking a rest day is likely doing more physical harm than good.
Along the same line, the thought process that working out multiple times in one day is a good way to cancel poor food choices is simply a form of disordered eating.
Here's why your workouts won't work off excessive calories from poor food choices:
• You're not a professional athlete ~ Professional athletes workout for several hours per day under the strict guidance of a trainer who knows exactly what kind of schedule to follow to keep the athlete healthy. These athletes typically have a full-time person who is in charge of what type & how much food they eat to make sure they are getting the perfect amount of nutrients for their body to function at peak performance. Ordinary people with regular jobs cannot live this way. You have so much packed into your day trying to figure out getting the kids to daycare, getting to work, keeping the house in order, buying groceries & living life that you can't spend the required amount of time it would take to write a safe workout schedule & prep all of the meals you would need to keep up extra long or multiple workouts.
• You won't have the energy to exercise well if you're not eating well ~ If you are making poor food choices, your body simply won't have the consistent required energy you need to exercise well. If you're eating well most of the time, you won't feel the need to over-exercise. If you're over-exercising, it may be because you are eating poorly, which puts you right back in the space of injury. It's a cycle that wreaks havoc. Not to mention that over-exercising leaves no energy for actually living real life, like playing with your kids, working in the yard, or the having the stamina to clean out the garage.
• You can get hurt from exercising without proper food fuel ~ When our body is tired or weak, we begin to lose proper form, which is the number one reason for injuries. This is pretty cut & dry. Proper food fuel keeps our body in a state of rebuilding the cells our muscles need to function well. This, in turn, keeps us healthy enough to do our workouts with energy & good form so that we don't injure ourselves.
• You can't target fat loss ~ You know the saying, "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips?" The same way you cannot control where your body decides to store excess fat from overeating is the same way you cannot control what part of your body loses fat. So while adding an extra 200 squats to every single workout might build your glute muscles, it won't get rid of the fat deposited there by poor food choices. The same is true for trying to tone your abs with sit-ups or your arms with push-ups. The excess adipose tissue you want to go away will only do so with the choice of the right foods before & after your workout.
If you need help with your eating plan, let me know. Let's work on your nutrition together.