13 - Debunking Fitness Myths with Tom Whitaker - Part 2

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And here's another great chat with Tom and part two of our three-part special. Welcome to Happiness, Health and Relationships podcast. If you're looking for inspiration on powerful healthy habits, you've come to the right place.

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I'm Angeline and I've been working with people for over 10 years in therapy. And this podcast will cut through the myths and misinformation on healthy lifestyle. I'll be interviewing experts in their field, providing top tips and motivation, for six elements of living medicine.

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The six elements are reducing stress, exercise and fitness, nutrition, sleep, reducing addictive substances, and how to master healthy relationships. Let's get started. How important is it for us to find, you know, we've been talking specifically about the gym.

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Yeah. But obviously, you know, there's lots of other forms of exercise, you know, hiking, I particularly like hiking, getting outdoors, you know, it's all stuff that's good for our wellbeing. So how important is it to find, you know, your form of exercise that's going to suit you really, you know, it's not everybody's cup of tea to go to the gym.

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Absolutely not. And particularly on your own, doing anything on your own is really hard. I don't like running, but, you know, a friend likes running and but she said to me, because I've only ever tried running on my own.

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And she said, No, you don't do that, you know, and it's like at the gym. That's why I like the classes, really, because if I was trying to go to the gym on my own, I wouldn't, I just wouldn't sustain it, it'd be too boring for me. So whatever form of exercise, what in your experience, how important is it, you know, for people, or how helpful is it to find somebody to go with or go to a group, you know, or a class? Yeah, so a lot of definitions of health include social health as a definition, like to be healthy as physical, mental and social health.

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Obviously, any form of exercise in moderation covers the physical, because again, there might be some slight differences from one form to the other. But at the end of the day, you're going to stick to what you enjoy. So that's better than anything else.

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But the social aspect is definitely important, because if you still feel isolated, and like you're fighting a battle by yourself, when things get a bit tougher, or there's a little setback, or you know, something in life happens that kind of throws you off, is it's very easy to just drop it and feel isolated still. And whereas I say what's very popular is running clubs, massively popular, because like I say, by yourself, when the weather's a bit worse, now we're getting into winter, and like you can might have to run in the dark and the cold a little bit, the incentive to go out is a lot lower. But if there's other people there, either cheering you on, or you're cheering them on, or you just feel like you're helping each other, people do just enjoy it more.

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Yeah, and sometimes you just want somebody else to feel your pain, to see your pain. Yeah, and like I say, sometimes, obviously exercise doesn't replace therapy, it's not that good. But some people use exercise as like a de-stressor, and half of that comes from, sometimes when you're running, is you can have a mode about your day to a friend, and you've got it off your chest, and you've exercised at the same time, so then you get the endorphins at the end, it's kind of kill two birds with one stone.

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And in fact, I think there was a meta-analysis, I can't remember the name, for anyone that doesn't know, a meta-analysis is basically where they review a group of studies on a certain topic to see what the general consensus is. And I think dancing ranked highest for improvements in mental health, because, well, my theory on why this isn't confirmed in the study is, it's social, it's active, and there's music. All three things can have great benefits on mood, mood regulation.

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And again, you're kind of killing three birds with one stone. So you're not having to go to the gym, and then go and socialise, and then listen to music by yourself, because you're doing all three with other people. And it's fun as well, isn't it? And then with dance as well, there's so many different forms, like you could do ballroom, you could swap and change, you can stick to the one you like.

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So actually, yes, some of the group activities tend to rank higher in terms of improvements in mood and perceived mental health. Yeah, and that speaks to how each of the six pillars of living medicine, they all help each other, really. If we try to, say, if we're just trying to exercise, but not incorporating any of the others, for me anyway, it would just be really difficult to sustain.

Because like I say, without the nutrition, you haven't got the energy. If you're not drinking enough water, it affects your sleep. If you're not doing it with the forming relationships, then it just doesn't have the same meaning.

And like you say, that stress reducer as well, the physical aspect of that, we know that that gets good chemicals going, which help mood, reducing stress. So all the pillars kind of are linked together, aren't they, in that way? And I think as well is, like I say, with doing exercise with other people, is when you're by yourself, it can feel like work. Like, oh, I've got to push myself harder.

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You're thinking about your heart rate, or you're thinking about your pain, like you're thinking it as a chore because you're having to concentrate so hard on it, and there's nothing to distract you. Whereas some things, like when you're playing a game of football, it's, oh, I'm not thinking about, oh, what's my heart rate? Or, oh, how does this feel? It's on there, like, oh, I'm just having a good time. Again, it doesn't feel like a chore because you're having fun, so it's easier to stick to.

As soon as it feels like a chore, the incentive drops pretty quick, because as soon as you get busy, it's like, oh, well, that's one work thing I can get rid of. It's kind of, it changes the way you look at it when you're doing it with other people. I've got a psychological block with the air bike at the gym.

Hate it. I can't get over it. It is tough, yeah, yeah.

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I don't know what to do, but, you know, it's short bursts so I can cope. What about then, what would you say has been helpful for you in life or in your success in terms of relationships? How, you know, whether it be family, friends, how important has that been for you? Massively. I think for most people it's a huge thing because if the people around you are on board with what you're doing, again, you get the aspect of not feeling like you're in the fight alone.

And two is there's just that additional support and encouragement for what you're doing. I don't specifically ask people in consults what their home life's like, because sometimes it's not my business. But you kind of, in your sessions with people, you start to kind of get an idea of, oh, like their husband's dieting with them, or, oh, the kids are eating healthier and wanting to do stuff with them.

And you can tell that they enjoy it more because it's not taking away from other things. So what I did when I decided to compete, because it is a bit more of an extreme sport and some more extreme dieting practices, which again, isn't health focused, it's performance focused, is I let my family know ahead of time, like, this is what I want to do. This is what I'm probably going to have to do to achieve that.

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And you almost like pre-prepare them for this is what I'm trying to do. Because once everyone's clear, then my parents would stop offering me extra food when I went around because I was dieting. Or if I'm in the gym, someone else in the gym might push me a little bit harder if they see me struggling one day because I'm just having a bad day.

Because they're just like, oh, he's trying to do that. That sounds good. Let's give him a little boost.

Whereas, and like I say in the classes is, even if it's not me, the instructor, because I'm helping someone else, is the person next to you is egging you on. And it just gives you that extra little boost to feel like, yeah, I can actually do this. Whereas either it's not that common, but it does happen where sometimes family members aren't as on board.

Either they don't understand why you're doing something, or maybe they don't understand the importance of certain things. So like I say is typically for me, it was when I'd go to my parents, they'd have a meal and they'd want to feed you. And it's like, oh, you go around to your parents, you're trying to diet, but now you feel bad because they prepared something for you.

And it's that kind of, you end up with those kinds of mixed messages between each other and you don't want to let someone down. But at the same time, it's contradictory to your goals and you get conflicted about those things. Yeah.

That's true, isn't it? That for lots of people and particularly parents, it's a way of showing love, isn't it? It's a way of caring for somebody is, um, you know, to, to make cake or, you know, all that kind of thing. No, that sounds hugely important. How does stress impact weight loss or metabolism? So stress, either physical or psychological, because both are a factor, basically increase cortisol, which is considered like the stress hormone.

It's perfectly normal and you can't avoid cortisol all the time. In fact, exercise causes a short term spike in cortisol immediately afterwards. So cortisol is not bad.

The issue comes when it doesn't come down again. And I've come across a lot of clients who in high-end corporate jobs or with very busy family lives, it never has a chance to come down because they're constantly on the move doing something. Generally the biggest factors I see are interrupt your sleep.

And I've had it before when you go through stressful periods at work, because everyone goes through those periods, is struggles get to sleep at night, or you wake up during the night because something is on your mind. For others, again, it's different from person to person. Some people, it disrupts appetite regulation a bit more.

So cravings go up. They struggle to, or they get more satisfaction or more comfort from food when cortisol is higher. More likely to reach for the chocolate, the easy, you know, the microwave meal, whatever.

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Exactly. Yeah. Because if it's quick and it's satisfying, sometimes if you've got very stressed, it's that one nice bit of the day that just gives you that little bit to look forward to.

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An extra glass of wine. Yeah. It can be harder to, well, it increases the cravings and can increase your appetite in general.

So you end up eating bigger portions, even if it is healthier and which just makes it harder to manage. Obviously it's unavoidable. The biggest thing is obviously having a habit in place already is the ideal because it's harder to stray if it's a habit.

But when you're new to it, it's kind of acknowledging or finding ways to notice when you're worse. So like for me, it's my sleep. I know when my sleep goes, I'm more stressed than normal, but for others, it might be all suddenly I'm wanting chocolate all the time, or I'm snappier with my spouse, or at work, I'm just not as productive, whatever it could be.

You can't focus that kind of thing. It's to kind of recognize when it's happening and to kind of have, it sounds extreme, it sounds very official, but have measures in place to deal with it. So when I know that's happening, there's certain things like maybe I'll have less snacks in the house the next time I go shopping because I know I'm more likely to just help myself to the cupboard, or I will make sure that I make time for the gym because that's the thing that's going to get dropped for some people when it's new.

So it's kind of, some of it comes from just the recognizing that's an issue, which in itself can be difficult because a lot of people don't realize that that's the thing that's making them feel that way all day. And it's not that people, people feel bad then, don't they? They feel lazy. They start to beat themselves up.

But actually, that's the way we're wired because when we're stressed, it's like in a survival mode, like in a fight or flight mode almost because we're stressed. So we're going to want to just sit on the sofa, grab that convenience food. It's the way that we're wired when we're in survival mode.

We don't really feel that we have a capacity for anything else. I've also seen the other end of the spectrum where I've had some clients who almost exercise too much to help ignore stress and it's kind of a suppression. Yeah, it's like a coping mechanism that doesn't resolve the problem.

I get you. It's a bit like when you're in a bad mood, having a drink. It doesn't remove what put you in the bad mood.

It temporarily fixes the problem, but then you get straight back to it the next day. And so I've had some clients where I've actually had to reduce how much exercise they do because again, exercise when it's pushed hard also contributes to cortisol and in itself is fine if it's on top of everything else. And they're exercising every day for multiple hours.

Like too much is then a compounding factor that makes it worse. Because I had one client who not a lot of sleep at all every night of the week for months on end. Had a very important job.

She's a very intelligent woman, but it was a very stressful job. And in the evenings would just go to the gym and do multiple exercise classes back to back. Try and just ignore the stress because it would take her mind off work, but it wouldn't resolve what was causing the stress.

So yeah, I've seen the end where people try and almost ignore it. They think, oh, exercise is good for me. But on top of what was going on, it was kind of then at a certain point, it becomes an extra stress.

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Yeah. And I'm thinking cortisol for women, if they're going through menopause. That was the case at the time.

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And that's going to hold, cortisol holds the belly fat, doesn't it? Which in menopause is. It can increase the likelihood of storing fat particularly. So your body starts to.

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Fight against. So the thing you think is helping when it gets to an extreme actually starts to be the thing that. Yeah.

That's really important. Yeah. That's really helpful.

Yeah. I love this. And that's the end of part two and another great chat with Tom in our three part series.

Part three is coming up next. If you'd like to find out more ways that you can work with me, then head over to happinesshealthrelationshipspodcast.com and I'll see you on the next episode.