The Best Workouts for Beginners

If you are brand new to exercise, or just embarked on a fat-loss journey for the first time, you might feel overwhelmed by the amount of exercise options that exist for you. Running clubs, biking clubs, CrossFit boxes(gyms), HIIT classes, you name it-- everyone is competing for our attention and our money, and everyone claims that their method is the best method for beginners to get fit and lose fat.

But what does the science say? Well, the science says that for optimal cardiovascular health and skeletomuscular wellness, most of us need a weekly balance of resistance training and cardio training. Specifically, most of us see the best impact on our health markers by doing 3 to four days of resistance training + two to three days of cardio training in a given week, with at least one day of true rest or minimal exertion. This means that an optimal training split would allow the trainee to do multiple forms of exercise.

So, which ones are truly best for beginners? A great way to determine what's best for you is to look at any exercise modality through three lenses. One, is it accessible to you based on physical location? Two, are you drawn to the exercise as something you think you would want to consistently do a few times per week? And three, do you have the skillset or the general health to safely do the required movements right now? An individual recovering from back surgery might not be best equipped to jump into a powerlifting-based resistance program, but very well could benefit from doing bodyweight exercises while they continue their recovery.

At-home, bodyweight/low weight programs make a lot of sense for beginners to get acclimated with building muscle on resistance days, and a dedicated 40 minutes to an hour of brisk walking is more than enough to reap significant cardiovascular benefits. A good blend of both in a given week will not only help you safely transition into an active lifestyle, but will also help you lose fat from Day 1 alongside a healthy, balanced diet!

Settle the debate: what is the single best diet out there? Science gives us the answer.

Liquid diet? Grapefruit diet? Twelve hundred calorie diet?

If you're over a certain age, the chances are high that you've been exposed to several fad diets, each one claiming to be the best way for you to stay healthy or lose fat. But which diet really is the best? Spoiler alert: it's none of the ones listed in the first sentence-- the only things they're good at is leaving you severely malnourished or at risk of suffering from female athlete triad!

When it comes to what is best, that depends on what you value the most. Are you looking for the diet that is linked to the longest lifespans? Studies show us that the demographic in America with the longest lifespan is Seventh-Day Adventists, a denomination whose adherents are known to eat vegetarian or vegan diets and tend to not drink alcohol. On average, male Seventh-Day Adventists live 7 years longer than other males, while female Seventh-Day Adventists live 4 years longer than other females.

Are you looking for the best heart health? Research consistently shows over the past decade that the Mediterranean diet, high in healthy fats found in olive oils, avocados and nuts, has the greatest positive impact on heart health. Adherents to this diet typically see positive changes in their lipid or cholesterol profiles over time.

But I bet you're looking for the best diet for fat loss? This is where it gets fun. Dozens of studies have compared low-fat versus low-carb versus intermittent fasting (aka time-restricted eating) versus Paleo versus vegan... and the results are totally mixed! There are more studies showing an edge for low carb versus low fat, and there are more studies showing an edge for intermittent fasting versus low carb or low fat. Furthermore, when studies last longer than a year, vegan and vegetarian diets take the victory in many studies. What we know for certain is this: the most important 2 elements to fat loss are 1) being in a caloric deficit consistently over time, and 2) adhering to your diet. Consuming an adequate amount of macronutrients and micronutrients and adhering to the diet lifestyle you've chosen is your key to success. Cutting out an entire food group isn't sustainable for most people if your body is already accustomed to those food groups and isn't suffering any adverse effects. Pick the one that gives you the most options for happiness, and you will happily reach your fitness and wellness goals!

Intuitive Eating for Fat Loss-- Fact or Myth?

You may have heard your favorite fitness influencer talk about how they intuitively eat in order to get the right macronutrient intake. Sometimes, they'll even suggest that all you need to do is eat intuitively to reach your body composition goals. But what does it even mean?

Intuitive eating, by definition, implies that a person makes their food choices without any evident rational thought. However, this simply isn't the case. That same fitness influencer, at some point, put a great degree of rational thought into which foods they consume. They learned about the specific macronutrient content (fat, protein, and carbohydrates) of each meal, and committed many of those macronutrient numbers to memory after repetition and time. That influencer may still be doing some basic macronutrient math when their personal fitness goals change, particularly when they're aiming to put on muscle or lose some fat in a short amount of time.

The phrase "intuitive eating" can therefore be a little misleading. More appropriately, it could be called habitual eating, in that the individual learns what's in their favorite or go-to foods, and eventually makes a habit of eating those some foods in essentially the same quantities. So, anyone can learn to be an intuitive eater, but it does not happen overnight.

Compare it to driving to your job, or driving home from that job. At first, you likely rely on Google Maps or Apple Maps to navigate to and fro. Eventually, you do learn the precise route to the point that you don't even know the names of the streets that you drive down, but you just KNOW exactly how to get home. Even when there is a blocked road or a detour, you naturally figure out how to navigate your way back to your house. Maybe you've left work for the day and started a phone call with someone while you're driving, and before you know it-- you're home! You have that slightly jarring thought of "I have NO CLUE how I even got home!" This is what intuitive eating ultimately looks like.

The other major factor at play for people who rely on intuitive eating is something called homeostasis. This is your body's natural inclination to maintain all of its internal functions and deliberately maintain a certain amount of body mass, regardless of fluctuations in your daily diet. This allows an intuitive eater to sometimes eat less than their caloric needs or even be in a slight caloric surplus for a short term without seeing any change in their overall body mass! Once you reach your optimum body composition, this is exactly how you want to live. This way, you aren't overthinking or obsessing or fats and carbs-- you're able to comfortably live your life!