When I was seventeen, I spent six months as an exchange student in America. I lived with two host sisters, one of whom went to the gym every day.
 
Whenever she was about to leave the house, I would wish her a good workout.
 
Every single time, she would give me an odd look and reply, “You don’t work out because you enjoy it,” as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
 
Eventually, I realised what she meant. She only went to the gym because she was scared of gaining weight. Her main goal was to burn calories, so she ran on a treadmill for half an hour, counting the seconds until it was over.
 
Raise your hand if that’s you or has been you at some point in your life.
 
You can’t see me, but I’m raising mine.
 
We live in a culture obsessed with losing weight, mainly for aesthetic purposes. When someone dares to say they genuinely like exercise, they get made fun of.
 
But what can working out do for you besides weight loss and maintenance?
 
In this article, I’m going to explore three benefits that go beyond these usual suspects.

​“Eat less and move more.”
 
“Abs are made in the kitchen.”
 
“If you want to lose weight, you need to do HIIT.”
 
These are only some of the claims I have seen on the internet about exercise and nutrition for weight loss.
 
The question is: Who can you trust?
 
What’s the best way to lose weight for good?
 
Do you need exercise or can you just diet? Do you need to watch what you eat or can you just train?
 
In this article, I’m going to cover three different weight loss methods:
 

1. Exercise only
2. Diet only
3. Exercise and diet combined

 
I will do my best to explain potential benefits and downsides to all three.

​How do you keep up with healthy eating with a full-time job and little to no time for cooking?
 
If you’ve ever googled “healthy recipes,” you might have seen claims like “ready in ten minutes!” for meals that take you two hours (on a good day).
 
Or recipes labelled “easy” that would make a five-star chef cry.
 
Or foods you either didn’t know existed or can’t afford as the key ingredient on the grocery list.
 
Or maybe all of the above.
 
Does healthy eating need to be tiring, time-consuming, and expensive? Not really.
 
When I was a frustrated full-time employee, I got fed up with recipes I would only be able to make if I were reborn as the next MasterChef winner. I rummaged in my pantry, threw a few ingredients together, and came up with six yummy and healthy recipes you can make with minimal equipment and a handful of everyday foods.
 
Feeling hungry yet?

​So you went to the gym, you got a little cocky, and a barbell disagreed with you.
 
Or maybe you had a minor accident at work and the doctor said no heavy lifting for three weeks.
 
What now?
 
Do you just hide in a corner, crying over the imminent loss of all your gains?
 
Heck, no. Do all you need to recover, so you can get back to training at your best and pick up from where you left off.
 
In May 2019, I bruised my sternum, so I had to take two weeks off training. The first few days, it was so painful I could hardly lift my arms, let alone a dumbbell.
 
Here are my four tips to get better and save muscle, based on my own experience.