6 | Spring 2022
FA C T C H E C K
To Get Fit You Can Just Run Your Butt Off, Right!? Wrong. KATE NEELEY
contributing writer
Read on for the skinny on how to (actually) get lean and sculpted. Spoiler alert. It means eating A LOT of good food. You know that hitting the gym, getting outside, or hopping on your stationary bike can play a big part in setting and reaching fitness goals — but have you ever stopped to consider that in reality, nutrition might be an even more important part of the process than your exercise routine? If you get outside and run every day, can’t you just eat whatever you want and stay fit?
The short answer is no. If you’re working out hard and missing the right fuel, you might get discouraged and quit when you’re seeing minimal results after a lot of hard work. Maybe you’ll chalk it up to genetics or something else, but in truth, your body has the tools and function to use fuel to repair and build lean muscle and improve performance, you just need to dial in the right nutrition. So, maybe you need to get out and exercise AND clean up your eating — but what does that really mean? Does it mean you need to cut sugar or carbs and eat salads all the time? The
short answer to that is also no. “The problem is that sometimes people will cut so many calories that they’re starving their body and not fueling it, which wrecks their metabolism,” James Seamons, of Complete Nutrition on Logan Main Street, said. James and his wife Morgan Seamons are the dream team when it comes to health and fitness; both of them have spent years studying and applying principles of nutrition and the part it plays in fitness. According to Morgan and James, if you’re not properly feeding your body all the essential nutrients it needs, a calorie deficit may
