4 'Healthy' Rules I Break as a Trainer

I'll admit, sometimes I can seem like the biggest hypocrite. I've dedicated my career to health and fitness, but that doesn't mean I'm immune to lazy days, junk food, or health crises of my own.

One of the most important ways I can educate is by being honest about my shortcomings and reminding you that you can live a healthy, high-quality life without doing everything "right."

There's nothing wrong with you if you struggle to eat healthy, lose weight, or exercise. It doesn't make you a failure. But while everything is not your fault, it is your responsibility. No one is coming to save you. You don't have to do everything right, but you need to do enough. Your best is going to look different every day. And with all the misinformation out there, I bet there are things you're stressing about that don't even matter.

So let me take a few off your plate.

Here are 4 "healthy rules" I break as a certified trainer and nutrition coach:

Not freaking out about sugar. Sugar is poison! Sugar is the enemy! Blah, blah, blah. The dose makes the poison — even too much water can kill you. I'm not minimizing the importance of whole foods and limiting added sugar. But the fear-mongering has got to stop. One cookie is not going to harm you. The issue is actually in how you think about it. If you truly allowed yourself to enjoy sugar without guilt, you'd naturally eat less and want less. When you savor it and take it off the pedestal, you can enjoy it and move on. If you obsess over how "bad" it is, you'll either eat more than you want or not enjoy the moment at all — leading you to eat more later.

Not weighing myself. I used to weigh myself religiously every week. Then one day, I just stopped. At first I was terrified. That number dictated how I felt about myself. How else would I know whether to hate myself or love myself? How sad. Now, I use my jeans as a measure. If they're tight, I know. That's enough. If weighing yourself keeps you accountable in a healthy way, keep doing it. But if not, let your pants be the police and let the numbers go. Has feeling bad about them ever made you better off?

Being okay with artificial sweeteners. Diet Coke causes cancer! Sure, if you have 10 cans a day for the rest of your life. It destroys your gut microbiome! The evidence is conflicting, based on individual variation, and the studies use doses far beyond what anyone actually consumes. I'm still mindful of my intake. But I chew gum and enjoy a crisp Sprite Zero every day. To put it in perspective: alcohol is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen — the same category as tobacco and asbestos — and causes 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the US. Aspartame is classified as Group 2B ("possibly carcinogenic") with zero confirmed deaths. Have your wine. But don't give me the side-eye for my diet root beer.

Making changes so small they seem stupid. My favorite author, Cal Newport, once said: "The radicalness of the change does not guarantee the radicalness of the improvement." Maybe your health would improve more if you did less. I resisted this for so long, and it got me nowhere. Now, if there's a change I want to make, I make it so small it feels almost pointless — and let it snowball from there. I bet you have a visceral reaction when I tell you to congratulate yourself for a 5-minute workout. That reaction is what's holding you back.

I hope this lifted your spirits and reminded you that not everything has to be so intense. If you can't enjoy the journey, you'll never enjoy the destination — because you never really "arrive" anyway.