DIETING MYTHS DEBUNKED

@THELEANMACHINES

John & Leon, aka The Lean Machines, the UK’s biggest fitness & wellness YouTubers, full-time cheeky chaps and champions of happiness
are back!

Listen up, and don’t be fooled by some of the nonsense you hear. The guys are here to set the record straight!

Don’t eat carbs after 6pm

This is madness for two reasons: firstly, what primarily controls fat loss is calories, energy in versus energy out. So, regardless of when you eat your carbs, as long as you’re not overeating calories and hitting your baseline requirements for fat and protein then you’re not going to gain weight in the form of fat. Secondly, if you’re working out after work, then the evening is one of the best times to get your carbs onboard. You would have used a lot of them up as energy and so have room to store more.
Your body is efficient at sorting them at this time.

You have to have three meals a day – six if you’re a bodybuilder

Let’s break that down: you sleep for eight hours a day, which leaves 16 hours in which you can eat meals. If you have six meals in 16 hours, you’re probably going to be eating all day. Instead of worrying about how many meals you have, concentrate on calories in versus calories out. Yes, we worry about macronutrients and percentages but, to start with, simply ensure you have a calorie deficit and you will lose fat. Have a calorie surplus and you will build muscle and/or gain fat. They’re the basics and they’re very important.

Sugar is the devil

It really isn’t. The majority of carbohydrates, whether that’s chocolates, fruit or bread, are all broken down and turned into sugar in the end, whether that be fructose, glucose or other sugars. The villain is overconsumption. If you’re eating things with too much fat or sugar on a regular basis, or not reading the labels and learning
about sugar content, then that’s the problem, not the sugar itself.

You have to be 100 per cent regimented with your diet to get the body you want

This has been proved wrong millions of times. If you’re at 12 per cent body fat and you want to walk out on stage with six per cent body fat, then yes you’ll need to be ‘on it’. But for the rest of us who just want to look good in our budgie smugglers or bikinis, you’ve got to live a little bit.

Personally, we live by the 80/20 rule: eat well for 80 per cent of the time, and by that we mean nutrient-dense real foods and being aware of the calories you’re eating. For the other 20 per cent you can relax somewhat and have foods that are not so healthy as long as you stay within your calories goals. By having the 80/20 rule, you get to eat whole foods most of the time while treating yourself a small amount. Also, this allows you to have consistency and stay on your healthy diet indefinitely. You’re not restricting yourself from food choices leading you to binge.

Fat makes you fat

We know this isn’t true, so don’t avoid fats… they’re actually quite important! Fat and protein are the two essential macronutrients your body needs to function.
You want most of your fats to come from monounsaturated fats, then a smaller amount of polyunsaturated and saturated fats. The big no-nos
are trans fats, as these are altered by man and not beneficial for the body.

The Lean Machines will be back in our next issue.

Until then, you can follow their latest antics over on their YouTube channel YouTube.com/TheLeanMachines or you can buy their book, Eat Well, Move Better & Feel Awesome, on Amazon.co.uk today