I train every day, but I have a bad diet and I can't help it! Will this bad diet make me any less fit? Or is it just bad for putting on weight?
Sport Does eating junk food make you less fit?
- Thread starter fraserangus
- Start date
Sport Fitness
You would certainly be MORE fit if you weren't eating junk food. Aside from it throwing your protein/carbs/fat ratios all to hell, you're also likely consuming excessive amounts of sugar, along with good old preservatives and chemicals. Right now you're mitigating the effects with heavy training, and possibly youth/genetics, but sooner or later butter will catch up and start undoing all your efforts.
...Another Million Dollar question huh.
Fitness isn't about Muscle size only. Fitness consists mainly in having good Blood pressure, healthy body overall, breathing, heart beats, and nutrition.
Eat junk, then you'll just have more fat to burn and more crap to stop your blood flow.
It will make you 'less fit', and less healthy most of all.
It's not impossible, just get into some new snacks, nuts, fruit, crackers, whatever, anything healthier than junk... I know it's hard, sometimes I eat candy and stuff aswell, but I honestly feel guilty after I do and wanna throw up -.-
Fitness isn't about Muscle size only. Fitness consists mainly in having good Blood pressure, healthy body overall, breathing, heart beats, and nutrition.
Eat junk, then you'll just have more fat to burn and more crap to stop your blood flow.
It will make you 'less fit', and less healthy most of all.
It's not impossible, just get into some new snacks, nuts, fruit, crackers, whatever, anything healthier than junk... I know it's hard, sometimes I eat candy and stuff aswell, but I honestly feel guilty after I do and wanna throw up -.-
If you binge on junk food, then yes, you'll be less fit. You may put on some extra body fat, burn out more quickly on a regular basis, and you'll likely be depriving yourself of nutrients that your body actually needs.
It's fine to have junk food every now and then, but try to make sure you've gotten the food that your body requires to function first, and then see how much more room you have left for sweets. I wouldn't feel bad about a little bit of junk food at a time. (I eat a lot of chocolate, but you know what, I also eat a ton of fruits and vegetables, moderate myself, and am super active, so whatever.)
It's fine to have junk food every now and then, but try to make sure you've gotten the food that your body requires to function first, and then see how much more room you have left for sweets. I wouldn't feel bad about a little bit of junk food at a time. (I eat a lot of chocolate, but you know what, I also eat a ton of fruits and vegetables, moderate myself, and am super active, so whatever.)
First, let's define fitness. I don't define muscle mass, body composition or how good you look as being fit, although these things play a part, and have varying roles between producing fitness and being outcomes of fitness.
To be fit, in essence, is to be able to do a task. Fitness is the ability to perform. Physical fitness is then broken down primarily into the following categories:
- Strength/force production
- Speed
- Endurance
- Range of motion
- Skill
- Health
"Junk food" can be great for fuelling training, and so it can actually contribute to being fitter on the strength, speed and endurance side of things. "Junk food" has no direct contribution to your range of motion or skill, although body composition will affect your overall structure, which will influence range of motion and will require adjustments to skill. So for a 50kg person to bend over and touch their toes is mechanically different than the same person at 150kg trying to do the same task. Different amounts of fat and muscle on the skeleton will provide different obstacles between your fingers and your toes.
Health is the big issue. Now, salty deep-fried chips, and a beef patty, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion cheese and sauce between two chunks of bread, are not inherently bad for you. What the chips are deep-fried in may be an issue. What additional things are in the bread, sauce and patty may be issues. What's in the coke that you have on the side may be an issue. If your activity levels are low, the calorie density of the meal may be an issue. If your blood pressure is salt-sensitive, that may be an issue. If you're not getting enough unprocessed meat and vegetables outside of your fast food lunch, that may be an issue.
So-called junk food isn't necessarily a problem in and of itself, but your overall dietary habits could be. If the most vegetables you get in a day are whatever's found on your burger plus some chips, there's a good chance that your health is up s#it creek, which will mess with all other aspects of fitness. If you fit fast food into an overall balanced diet that meets your nutritional needs, then it's probably not such a big deal.
To be fit, in essence, is to be able to do a task. Fitness is the ability to perform. Physical fitness is then broken down primarily into the following categories:
- Strength/force production
- Speed
- Endurance
- Range of motion
- Skill
- Health
"Junk food" can be great for fuelling training, and so it can actually contribute to being fitter on the strength, speed and endurance side of things. "Junk food" has no direct contribution to your range of motion or skill, although body composition will affect your overall structure, which will influence range of motion and will require adjustments to skill. So for a 50kg person to bend over and touch their toes is mechanically different than the same person at 150kg trying to do the same task. Different amounts of fat and muscle on the skeleton will provide different obstacles between your fingers and your toes.
Health is the big issue. Now, salty deep-fried chips, and a beef patty, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion cheese and sauce between two chunks of bread, are not inherently bad for you. What the chips are deep-fried in may be an issue. What additional things are in the bread, sauce and patty may be issues. What's in the coke that you have on the side may be an issue. If your activity levels are low, the calorie density of the meal may be an issue. If your blood pressure is salt-sensitive, that may be an issue. If you're not getting enough unprocessed meat and vegetables outside of your fast food lunch, that may be an issue.
So-called junk food isn't necessarily a problem in and of itself, but your overall dietary habits could be. If the most vegetables you get in a day are whatever's found on your burger plus some chips, there's a good chance that your health is up s#it creek, which will mess with all other aspects of fitness. If you fit fast food into an overall balanced diet that meets your nutritional needs, then it's probably not such a big deal.
Yes, eating junk food can make us less fit, but for me, eating them occasionally or only sometimes is I think not that bad, but we must not forget to control the consumption during that time.
Junk food eating practices are making human less fit, as according to diet experts junk foods are consisting of more amount of calories and cholesterol which makes a human fat and obese, therefore research says that eating junk food may make human less fit.
If you want to bench press twice your body weight, you're fine. If you want to avoid diseases like diabetes... not so fit. Junk food is poison to our bodies. The chemicals in that crap are unnatural and don't belong in our systems. The amount of sugar, salt, and fat are way more than we were designed to handle.
Here's an example that startled even me: I eat very low fat. Not because I'm on any special diet, but the healthy things I like just happen to be low fat and it's actually a struggle to make sure I'm not eating too little. My bp is normal, cholesterol low, blood sugar normal. Recently I started drinking a protein shake every day as many people do who weight train. I had to get a blood test for an infection last week, and found that my triglicerides had jumped way up high! I asked the doctor why, as I eat hardly any fat. He said sugar can also raise levels. Needless to say I'll no longer be drinking the shake every day.
Anyone who's ever watched Biggest Loser also knows it can go the other way around: you can be overweight and very fit strength/exercise wise.
Here's an example that startled even me: I eat very low fat. Not because I'm on any special diet, but the healthy things I like just happen to be low fat and it's actually a struggle to make sure I'm not eating too little. My bp is normal, cholesterol low, blood sugar normal. Recently I started drinking a protein shake every day as many people do who weight train. I had to get a blood test for an infection last week, and found that my triglicerides had jumped way up high! I asked the doctor why, as I eat hardly any fat. He said sugar can also raise levels. Needless to say I'll no longer be drinking the shake every day.
Anyone who's ever watched Biggest Loser also knows it can go the other way around: you can be overweight and very fit strength/exercise wise.
Definitely eating junk food makes us less active as it increases the risk of obesity due to it's heavy calorie nature, therefore avoid junk foods including sugar drink. 
Yes junk food definitely puts unnecessary chemicals and sugars "junk" into your body, and prevents your major organs from functioning properly.. so it does make you less fit.
you cannot out train a bad diet
you cannot out train a bad diet