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#94 - Best Weight Loss Supplements, What To Do When Weight Loss Slows Down & More
32 Plays1 month ago
Q & A episode answering questions from you guys. Here are the topics for this one.
- What to do when weight loss slows down
- Getting out of all or nothing mindset
- When it might be time to take a diet break
- Tips to stay on track when eating out
- Best supplements for weight loss
If you want a question answered in a future episode, message me at Bassbuiltfitness!
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Mission
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome back to The Fit-ish Project with your host, Lathan Bass. As always, where we make fitness and health simple for regular people like you and I. We got another episode coming at you for this week. Before I get into that, if you could leave a review if you have not done so. Really appreciate those of you who have taken a few seconds out of your day to do that. Because as I said, the goal since I started this was to just make fitness content for people to live their best life, feel their best, look their best. And I know there's just a ton of information out there right now. Everybody's got an opinion on fitness and health. and
00:00:37
Speaker
It's something that we all know is important and it can be kind of overwhelming, kind of confusing. And so I try to be the bridge for that. I know not everybody is as passionate about fitness and health as I am. So I try to take in that information, give you all the stuff you need, take out all the junk and bull that you don't need and make this stuff practical so you can live your best
Encouraging Community Engagement
00:00:56
Speaker
life. So if you can continue to you know listen in, share this with people, leave a review that just helps to get this out to more people who need this information.
00:01:04
Speaker
But getting into the topic for this week. So I noticed that it's been a little bit since I did a Q and&A episode. I try to do those about once a month. So I thought that it would be a good time to do that. So I've had some questions from clients. I've had some questions from people just asking me things on social media. And so I thought I would put together some of those common questions that I've been getting and answer those within this podcast.
Focus on Common Fitness Questions
00:01:26
Speaker
So In this one, I have six questions that I'm going to get to. So we'll talk a little bit about best supplements for weight loss, why your weight loss progress has slowed down and what to do about it. Is fasting the best answer for weight loss? What a diet break is and when to use it.
00:01:41
Speaker
some strategies you can use when you're eating out and still wanting to lose weight and then getting out of the all or nothing mindset. So those are the six questions for this episode and we will get right
Supplements in Weight Loss
00:01:52
Speaker
into it. So I had somebody who had asked me, what are the best supplements for weight loss?
00:01:57
Speaker
And so if you've listened to any of my podcasts or consumed any of my content, you probably kind of know that I'm going to give you an answer that is not really about supplements all that much. Yes, there are some supplements that can help with weight loss, but a majority of your results are going to come from things that you already have heard me talk about, that you've heard other people in fitness and health talk about.
00:02:19
Speaker
And those are your main pillars that you want to be focusing on because 99% of your results are going to come from these things. Focusing on a solid diet with lots of whole foods, good amount of protein and plenty of water, getting regular exercise plus just living an active and healthy lifestyle.
00:02:35
Speaker
getting good sleep, that's a huge one that a lot of people overlook. And then just your recovery and managing stress, like those are the big things, those are the big pillars, the big rocks that are going to move your progress along and give you way more results than any kind of supplement that you could ever buy. And so yes, like I said, supplements can be helpful, but if you're not focusing on those certain things, like if any one of those areas is slacking, I would definitely put my focus and effort on those things rather than looking towards supplements.
00:03:05
Speaker
And so, a lot of people will look at supplements as like this answer of where they can fill some of the gaps and it has that effect but only to a very, very minor degree. Like if your sleep is terrible, there's no supplement out there that's gonna help you. If your diet is bad, there's no fat burner, metabolism pill out there or anything like that, that is gonna help you lose weight.
00:03:27
Speaker
If you're not exercising regularly, there's no pill that you can take that's going to help you build muscle. And so making sure that you're checking off those boxes and really focusing on those things that are going to give you the best results should be your first priority.
Weight Loss Priorities and Analogies
00:03:40
Speaker
It'd be kind of like, let's say you want to get your finances in order. You want to stop spending so much money and you want to start saving some money and just getting your finances into a better spot. So you say, all right, let me look at my finances. I'm going to start cutting out the $5 coffee that I get every single morning.
00:03:56
Speaker
All right. That's something that you could do, but you cut out that coffee and now every single week you're still spending hundreds of dollars on online shopping. So is focusing on that $5 coffee really going to do all that much? Like, yes, it could be helpful, but like, let's tackle the big rocks first. Let's cut down on this online spinning, get rid of that habit. And then maybe down the road, if we want to cut that $5 coffee out, if that's something that we want to do, then by all means go ahead, but let's focus on the things that are really going to move the needle here so that we can see.
00:04:25
Speaker
the most progress and so that we can create the most momentum. And I think this is something that a lot of people really get stuck on when it comes to just fitness and health, food, exercise, all those different things. Because as I mentioned, there's just so much information out there. I mean, food is a really easy one. Like you hop on social media,
00:04:41
Speaker
everybody has an opinion. You're always seeing these videos about avoid this, don't have this, eat this food or don't eat this food. Like you hear about seed oils and like we just had the red diet number three here in the US that's been banned and it's like people focus on all these tiny little things when like in reality if you just focus on some of the big rocks like are you eating the right amount of calories and are you eating quality foods? Are you getting enough protein? Are you drinking enough water? Like If you're doing those simple things, that's going to take care of most of your results. When it comes to exercise, you'll see people online fighting about like, which arm angle is best to grow the best, to grow the most muscle in your back or which type of exercise should you be doing to really get the most out of growing your calves or like all these little like minute details and just people just really digging in the weeds where like most people, a majority of people just need to focus on getting consistently in the gym, just consistently exercising.
00:05:35
Speaker
They don't need to be worrying about all these tiny little details that really are relevant to them. Like if you lift weights, you get a lot of steps in your day, you get your heart rate up sometimes, like you're going to be in pretty good shape. And so focusing on those big things, I think should be your most important critical thing that you really want to put all your effort and time into. But with that being said, there are a couple of supplements that I take.
00:05:57
Speaker
And so the number one supplement when people ask me about supplements that I will mention is creatine because it's the most widely studied. It's one that has a lot of science that actually backs its benefits, which like supplements in themselves don't have a ton of backing. They don't always have science. They're not always regulated very well by the FDA.
00:06:17
Speaker
And so like you don't really know exactly what you're getting and you don't really know if the things that you're spending your money on are even worth it. But creatine is actually one that has a ton of science behind it. So if you're somebody who is wanting to build muscle, recover better, have better endurance, like creatine is something that is definitely beneficial. And there's also more stuff that has been coming out about the mental benefits of creatine as well. So that's one that I think is actually worth your money and it's relatively inexpensive.
00:06:41
Speaker
Another one that I take all the time and that I use often is just whey protein powder. And this just makes hitting your total protein number easier in the day. And so a common thing that I've seen with a lot of clients is they just struggle to get enough protein. And if it's you've never really focused on a high protein diet, it is kind of difficult at first to hitch your daily protein number.
00:07:01
Speaker
And so supplementing with whey protein powder is a really easy thing to do. It's something that I have pretty much every single day. I'll have it in like some oatmeal or throw it in some Greek yogurt for a snack, or maybe at the end of the day, I'll have a ninja creamy, some ice cream, throw a scoop of protein in that. And so there's just different ways that you can have some protein very easily so that you can hit that total protein number so that you're building muscle, reducing hunger, having better satiety, all those different things that you get when you are focusing on a higher protein diet.
00:07:31
Speaker
And then outside of those two things, there's not a ton of things that I personally take or that I recommend. I do take fish oil and I take vitamin D and those are just kind of some general health things are not necessarily for weight loss. And so focusing on, again, those big things are going to be the best use of your time. But if you do want to add a supplement like creatine can be helpful when you're losing weight. And then that whey protein powder can also be helpful with just hitting your total protein goal. ah Question number two.
Addressing Weight Loss Plateaus
00:07:58
Speaker
I've lost about 25 pounds, but my weight loss has slowed down. I still have more weight to lose, and I'm wondering if there's things I can do to speed up my progress again. I think it's important to note that this is pretty normal for most people. For most people who get into weight loss, they will see a more drastic drop in their weight right away. And a lot of this is just due to water weight dropping off. And then as you start to continue on, the progress starts to slow a little bit. And there's a couple of different reasons for this.
00:08:26
Speaker
The first one is going to be that there is going to be some metabolic adaption going on, which this is a pretty small factor. But like if you're somebody who has a lot of weight to lose as you lose quite a bit of weight, let's say you lose 50 pounds.
00:08:38
Speaker
Your body is now 50 pounds lighter and it's going to be more efficient just going and doing everyday things that you normally do. So it needs less energy to do those things now. So like a 200 pound person versus a 300 pound person, if they did the exact same activities throughout the day, the 300 pound person is going to need more energy, more calories, more food to do those exact same activities because they're just a bigger person. They need more energy.
00:09:02
Speaker
So as you lose weight, as you become a smaller person, you don't need quite as many calories. And so you have some of that metabolic adaption. And so as you start to lose weight, if you're not adjusting your calories as you move down, that is going to make a difference in how fast your progress is throughout this process.
00:09:19
Speaker
Along with that, just with dieting in general, your metabolism will adapt over time. Just if you're in a prolonged dieting phase, our bodies don't necessarily want to lose fat. They like homeostasis. They like staying the same. They don't necessarily want to gain or lose any weight.
00:09:33
Speaker
And so as you start losing weight, as you start dieting, it will start to adapt because it thinks that it's not getting enough food. And so it wants to make those adaptions. Now this isn't a huge thing. This isn't like, oh, like I'm going into this like starvation mode or like I need to cut my calories drastically. It's a very, very small amount of adaption. And I think sometimes people freak out over this. But if you do certain things like crash dieting where you're cutting your calories way low or you're dieting for like a really, really long time and you're already pretty lean,
00:10:03
Speaker
This is going to start to have some issues down the line and it's going to make dieting a little bit harder. It's going to make progress harder to come by. Your progress is probably going to slow down quite a bit. And so that's why I'm such a proponent of doing dieting the right way and not doing these extreme things, not doing these strict diets, not cutting your calories super low because that stuff will work in the short term temporarily, but it's not sustainable and people end up gaining their way back. They end up stalling out. They end up hitting plateaus and then they wonder why they can't see the progress that they want to see. So that slower, more methodical, more planned out approach is much better in my opinion. So with that being said, like,
00:10:40
Speaker
Metabolic adaption is part of it. The other part of it that I've noticed is more of a human behavior thing. And so as people start to diet for longer periods of time, they just naturally will kind of start to get less consistent. And so for a while, like you're really dialed in, you're super motivated, you're seeing really good progress, you're exercising all the time, you're like tracking your food, you're really accurate, but as you start to get going,
00:11:01
Speaker
A lot of times I've noticed that people will get less consistent, like with tracking food, for example, like they've been doing it for a long time. So maybe they're not quite as diligent. They're not tracking every single day. They're maybe having some snacks or they're having some extra food here and they're not even noticing it. And so like they're having more calories, they're intaking more calories, and they're wondering why their weight's not continuing to go down, but they're just not as accurate as they want to were when they first started this. Or maybe they're not as consistent with their exercise routine. They're not as accurate. as active. And so these things start to add up. And when you're not as consistent, you're not going to see as good a progress. And so being consistent is also part of the thing that you need to make sure that you're focusing on because yes, metabolic adaption is part of it, but that's a small part of it. Just being consistent is a much bigger part of this whole process. And so making sure that you're continuing to track the things that you need to track, making sure that you're checking all those boxes that you need to check, you're getting your steps in, you're getting your workouts in, you're hitting your protein, you're making sure you're actually hitting your calorie and not just thinking that you're hitting your calorie because a lot of people will struggle because they think they're doing these certain things. They think that they're, you know, sticking in a calorie deficit or they can, they think that they're working really hard in the gym. But like, if you're not objectively doing those things and you can't measure those things, it's really hard to know.
00:12:17
Speaker
So then you get in this loop of like, you feel like you're dieting, but you're not really seeing the progress that you want. And now you're wondering if the things that you're doing are working or not. And so it can get in this really, really crappy cycle of like not really feeling motivated and not really knowing what to do and being frustrated. So just being more consistent about it can be very helpful. But some other things that you need to do outside of just focusing on consistency.
00:12:40
Speaker
you continue to make sure that you're measuring your progress in other ways. So as the weight loss starts to kind of slow down a little bit, maybe on the scale, like you might not see those big drops that you were used to seeing because a good rate of progress is anywhere from like a pound or two to a week. Sometimes even less. If you're a smaller person, you have less to lose as you get closer to that goal.
00:12:59
Speaker
that progress may slow down to half a pound a week. And it might be a little bit slower to come by. And so focusing on other things like your progress pictures, make sure you're going back and comparing yourself to where you are now to where you started looking at your measurements, like are you losing inches checking your clothes? Like are they fitting better than they used to? Maybe you had some clothes when you started that were really tight. And now they're actually like fitting really well, they're starting to fit a little bit better. You had a shirt that was like super tight on you and now it's a little bit loose or it fits a lot better. You had some jeans that used to be super tight and now you can actually fit into those. Is your strength in the gym going up? Are your energy levels getting better? Like focusing on all those different ways that you are making progress can be super helpful as well when that scale does start to slow down because as I've said multiple times, the scale never tells the full story. There's a lot of other things that are going on and you could be making progress in so many different ways.
00:13:49
Speaker
without even realizing it because the only thing that you're focused on is that number on the scale and if it's dropping. So don't get into that trap because that's not a very fun place to be. And then the last thing I would say is like, if you do actually hit a true plateau, like you've been doing this for a really long time, you've been dieting for a long time, maybe you ah lost quite a bit of weight, you might have to actually adjust your numbers a little bit or do something slightly different to continue to see that weight loss. So you have a couple of different options here. You could add more activities, so you can add more steps to your day. You could add some extra cardio sessions within your week, maybe an extra workout or two.
00:14:22
Speaker
you could lower your calories, which this isn't always the immediate answer, even though this is typically what people will do. As soon as they think weight loss is stopped, they'll just start to lower their calories. But as I mentioned earlier, those crash diets, really strict diets, eating too little can actually cause more harm than good. So that isn't always the best option either. If you're somebody who has a little bit more leeway, more flexibility, you have more weight to lose, more calories to play with, this can be an option, but it's not the right option for everybody.
00:14:48
Speaker
And then the last thing that you could do is you could take a diet break. Like you could just take a break from dieting. So those are kind of your three options, but as I said, make sure you're being consistent and then make sure that you are also doing all the other things and like paying attention to progress in other ways, because weight loss, it's a simple process, but it's not always an easy process and making sure that you're focusing on the right things, focusing on the things that you can control will make this process a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable.
Importance of Diet Breaks
00:15:17
Speaker
This next question actually pairs really well with that last question because I had people recently ask me about diet breaks. So this question said, I've heard you talk about diet breaks on your social media and I'm wondering more about them. How do I know if I need a diet break?
00:15:29
Speaker
So first off, a diet break is essentially exactly what it sounds like. It's just a break from dieting, a break where you can just physically take some time off, let your body kind of recoup a little bit. And it's also a nice mental break from dieting as well because dieting, while it is a positive thing, like if you have weight to lose, you're going to get healthier as you lose weight. You're going to see all these benefits, both mentally, physically, all the different things that weight loss can help you with from a health standpoint.
00:15:53
Speaker
But it is a stressor to your body because as I mentioned earlier, your body doesn't necessarily want to drop this weight. It likes to stay the same. And so as you provide this stressor to your body, it can take a toll on it a little bit from a physical standpoint and a mental standpoint. So having a diet break can really help when it comes to just taking a break from this dieting in general and just letting your body kind of recover a little bit and just getting that mental break from dieting and focusing on every single calorie and focusing on every single meal, eating a little bit more food.
00:16:23
Speaker
That way you take this break and you allow yourself to come back fresh within the diet. And you can actually hit it a little bit harder and be a little bit more focused and see a little bit better progress because there's nothing worse than dieting in like, or feeling like you're dieting, but you're not really seeing the progress that you want to see. Like you're really, really dialed in and like you're, you're trying all these things, but like your workouts are kind of starting to suck. Like your energy levels aren't great. You're maybe getting a little bit irritable. You're just kind of tired of focusing on food all the time.
00:16:53
Speaker
There's nothing worse than like feeling like you're dieting, but not really seeing the results. Like not just from a scale standpoint, but like in other ways, like you're not really seeing any differences within your workouts. You're not getting stronger. You're not seeing any differences in your progress pictures, but you feel like you're putting in all the work of dieting. That's a crappy place to be. So taking a diet break for anywhere from a couple of weeks to even a couple of months can be super helpful in like letting you just.
00:17:18
Speaker
reset a little bit and then you can get back into it when you feel better and you want to attack it a little bit more. And so knowing if you should take a diet break are some of those things that I just mentioned like if you're kind of having this what they call diet fatigue where like your workouts aren't great, your energy levels are kind of sucky, you're getting irritable.
00:17:34
Speaker
Like if you talk to anybody who's ever done like a dieting or a bodybuilding competition, they'll tell you as they start to get really lean, they just like, life just sucks. Like their hormones are not in a great spot. They're very irritable. They're just like hungry all the time. And so like, if you're starting to have some signs of this, then maybe it is time for you to take a diet break. But I will say that if you have a lot of weight to lose, like for example, like me, when I first got into this, like I had a lot of weight to lose. If you have a lot of body fat,
00:18:01
Speaker
You can diet for a really long time and not worry about a bunch of metabolic adaption or not worry about like all these different things. You can kind of just power through as long as you're feeling good mentally and really stick to this for months at a time. like When I did mine, like when I first got into this, I basically dieted for 15 months straight. like I didn't take any intentional diet breaks. I'm sure I had some days in there, even some weeks in there where I ate too many calories and I was above. I wasn't in a calorie deficit. I was eating more food. I was technically in maintenance or even like a calorie surplus for times, which is pretty typical for a lot of people. like They'll have these diet breaks built into their normal everyday life. For example, like
00:18:40
Speaker
Let's say you have a lot of weight to lose and you're going to need to diet for months, maybe even a couple of years, like you're going to have time periods throughout. Like we just went through the holidays and I had clients who were like, they didn't necessarily focus on like fat loss. They knew they were eating more calories. They were still getting their workouts in, but they were kind of taking a diet break because they weren't.
00:18:58
Speaker
in a calorie deficit, they weren't really focused on losing fat, they were more so just focused on maintaining for a while. Do that for three weeks or so and then we come back out and now we're like back into it. We're back on it. We're focusing on all those things that we need to do in order to see fat loss again. And so, yes, it can be very helpful to take a diet break. Sometimes those was diet breaks are just naturally planted within your life and you just use those, but sometimes you may need to take an actual intentional diet break from anywhere from, like I said, a couple weeks to it couldn't be a couple months.
00:19:27
Speaker
And you'll find that taking these diet breaks can be a nice reset for you to get back into dieting and feel a little bit more confident and just feel better physically, mentally as you head into this next phase of fat loss. Because when I look at my total journey, like where I started versus where I was, like I said, when I first went through it, I didn't really take any intentional diet breaks. I went from like 300 plus pounds to like 225. And I just did that all the way straight through for 15 months. It took me to lose that weight.
00:19:55
Speaker
And then from there, like I was at 225, I gained a little bit of weight back because I just wasn't as consistent. I was doing some things to get down to that 225 that just weren't really sustainable. I wasn't as dialed in as once I got there, kind of let up. So I gained some weight back. I gained 20 to 30 pounds back. And then from there, I was like, okay, I need to kind of reel it back in and figure this out a little bit more. And so I sat there for a while and then I went dropped another 30 ish pounds. So I was like at 220 for a while.
00:20:22
Speaker
Then I stayed there for like multiple months and just kind of maintained. And then eventually COVID it happened. I gained some more weight. I gained like 10, 15 pounds from there and decided again, okay, let's go on a cut. I want to dial it back in. I want to lose some body fat. And then I went from 230 pounds to about 210 to 215 ish, which is where I've been maintaining for the last couple of years. And it feels like a really good spot for me to maintain pretty easily. But now I'm actually in another cut because I wanted to see if I could lower my body fat and also just feel good, like feel healthy, feel vibrant, have good energy, but also lower my body fat and see where if I can actually maintain that as I do that. Because I think one thing that a lot of people overlook as they get into weight loss is like they have this certain number in their mind about where they want to get to.
00:21:09
Speaker
But the thing is you don't really know what you're going to feel like. You don't really know what you're going to look like. You don't really know what your health is going to be like when you get to that number. And I think focusing on those factors is so much more important than just like hitting this certain number on the scale. Because I've noticed like when I got into this, like I had a certain number in my head and that was originally 225. When I was at 300 plus pounds, I wanted to get to 225. I don't know why. I just thought that that sounded good. I was like, ah, 225, that sounds good. And then I got there and I was like, okay, like,
00:21:38
Speaker
I don't look exactly how I thought I would look. I feel okay, but I think I could actually do a little bit like more. like I think I could get a little bit leaner and like feel healthy and be able to actually maintain it. And now like I'm at 210 this morning. I weighed myself. I was 207. And so like this feels very good for me. like I feel good at this weight. I feel like I have good energy. I'm stronger than I've ever been. like Things feel good. But like if I had just stuck with that weight of, like oh, I hit this 225, I wouldn't really know. like where I would be landing at and like where would feel best for me and so I say all that to just say like don't get super just focused on a singular number like focus more so on how you feel focus on if you're looking the way that you want to look focus on if your actual general health is improving and like you feel good and then probably most importantly focus on like as you start to lose weight think to yourself like is this sustainable because like
00:22:31
Speaker
If you're at a spot right now and you're struggling and maybe you need a diet break to just kind of chill out and maintain a little bit and just sustain that, like let your body just kind of like reset a little bit. That's not a bad thing because like if you get to a point where like, let's say you continue to just push through, push through, push through you adding more cardio, you're adding more steps, you're lowering your food, you get to that spot and now you can't maintain that.
00:22:53
Speaker
you're gonna end up gaining your weight back. So you wanna get to a place where like it's gonna be a little bit of a struggle to lose the weight, but it shouldn't be such a big struggle to where when you get there, you're like, man, there's no way in hell I'm gonna be able to maintain this. And so just keep that in mind as you are dieting because I think that's really important.
Maintaining Diet Goals While Traveling
00:23:10
Speaker
Question number four.
00:23:13
Speaker
I'm currently trying to lose weight, but I travel a lot for work and I struggle sometimes when it comes to eating out. Do you have any tips? Yes, I do. So when it comes to weight loss, it is just going to be easier just in general to limit the amount that you are eating out. So like a good rule of thumb for myself and clients that I recommend like when they are trying to lose weight is try to cut that down to like one to two times a week max because the reason being like when you're going out to eat a bunch like yes like a lot of restaurants and different establishments will have like their calories and like protein and macros and all that stuff that you can check out but you don't really know exactly what you're getting like a lot of times you're getting more calories bigger portions there's a lot of hitting calories that you can't really account for like if things are being cooked in oil like if there's more sauce like there's just so many different ways that you can't really measure it up
00:24:05
Speaker
And so if you're doing that a little bit, like you're doing that once or twice a week, not a huge deal. If you're doing that three, four, five, six, seven, eight meals a week, like it's gonna be really hard to see the progress that you wanna see. And so trying to limit that in general, I think is a really good strategy. But with that being said, like sometimes like maybe you do have to travel for work or different things like that where you're just on the road a lot and you can't necessarily prepare all your own food. There are some things that you can do. And I should say too, like this is much different than like going on vacation and like doing that whole thing because like if you're going on vacation like you don't need to use any of these strategies like take a week off, enjoy yourself, do your thing but like if traveling is a regular part of your lifestyle where like you have to do it for work and like you're just on the road a lot then I think having some of these strategies in place can be really helpful. So here's four of them that you can try and use and see if they work for you. So number one is just you can intermittent fast a little bit just use this kind of as a tool
00:24:59
Speaker
And so if you know you're going to be on the road and eating out a lot rather than having three meals in your day, just skip one, like have two meals. So maybe you skip breakfast and you only have lunch and dinner. Maybe you skip lunch and you just have breakfast and you have dinner, but it's a super easy way to just control your calories a little bit. Just skip a meal or just have like a super like lean breakfast or super lean lunch, something like that. Or maybe it's just like a protein shake, protein bar, some jerky, like something that's like really, really minimal.
00:25:28
Speaker
So just have one less meal throughout your day. um Another thing that you can do is just to grab some snacks are really easy to prepare things from a grocery store or just anywhere where you can just grab some really convenient snacks, protein bars, deli meat, ah jerky protein shakes, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, any of that kind of stuff, even just like A lot of grocery stores or even like gas stations will have like just little areas with food like rotisserie chickens or like deli meat sandwiches or things like that that are a little bit higher quality types of foods where like you don't have to worry about taking in all these extra calories. So just grabbing some snacks that you can take on the go can be super helpful. Option number three, sticking to like the leaner or the light menu. Most restaurants have these nowadays like they'll have like a not like a diet section but they'll just have a section that's just more like health focused.
00:26:16
Speaker
like better macros, basically, less calories, things like that. um So sticking to that, like sticking to those options where you can just control your calories a little bit more or just stick to things that are higher in protein and higher in vegetables. so like You could go to like, I mean, like Chipotle would be an example, like even like a Chick-fil-A where like you can go and just get like some chicken nuggets, like grilled chicken, stuff like that where you're just getting mostly protein and vegetables can be a really simple option. And that's something that I typically do a lot. Like if I know that I'm going to be eating out a lot, I'll just try to get higher protein meals with lots of vegetables. And that way you're getting full, you're getting protein, you're getting high quality foods, but you're not worrying as much about taking in a bunch of extra calories.
00:26:57
Speaker
And then the last strategy, which is not something that I ever do, but I know other people have done this in the past. Like let's say you go to a restaurant and you do go to a place where like they just have really huge portions. You just box up half of it right away, save it for either later that night or the next day or whatever, versus just eating those huge portions and taking in a bunch of extra food that you really don't need because you only need half that food to.
00:27:21
Speaker
fill you up and make sure that you're feeling good and satiated. So you can just ask them to box half your food or just get it to go box right away where you box it up, only eat half of it and then eat the rest of it later. Like I said, that's not something that I do because I know myself. Like if I go out to eat like nine times out of 10, I'm going to eat everything on my plate, everything that I order. So it's something that maybe it'll work for you, but those are some strategies. I think the big thing to realize is like, don't go all or nothing. Like if you're traveling a bunch, like you don't need to be like, Oh, since I can't track my calories as accurately.
00:27:51
Speaker
or I'm just out eating, like I'm just going to eat everything inside and just kind of say, screw it. Like that is the worst thing that you can do because you will set yourself back quite a bit if you go in with that mindset. Use some of these strategies to just kind of manage where you're at in the situation and you'll be all right.
Overcoming the All-or-Nothing Mindset
00:28:07
Speaker
The last question, I struggle a lot with all or nothing mindset when it comes to working out and eating right. I know I need to get out of this, but it's been a real struggle for me. Any tips?
00:28:18
Speaker
Yes, I do have some tips on this. This is something that a lot of people struggle with when it comes to fitness and health. And one thing I would say I would really challenge people on this is like, some people will say like, I'm a um an all or nothing person. And if you're an all or nothing person, then by definition, that means you're all or nothing in every single category in your life. But that's just not true. Like you're not an all or nothing person in every single category in your life. And I'll prove it to you here. Like, if you say you're an all or nothing person, that means that Let's say you go to work, you make a mistake. Do you automatically just quit? like do you Do you quit on the spot or do you just not show up for two weeks? like No, you don't do that. like You just get back on track, you learn from it, and you just continue with your day. like Let's say you fall asleep.
00:29:02
Speaker
and You don't brush your teeth one night. You just say like, Oh, I missed brushing my teeth last night. I'm an all or nothing person. I might as well just say, screw it. Never brush my teeth again and get super bad breath and let all my teeth fall out. Like, no, you don't do that. If like you have an interaction, let's say with your partner or your kid or a friend and like, do you just have like a.
00:29:23
Speaker
kind of a rough interaction, like something that doesn't go well. Do you just say screw it? Like you cut that person off indefinitely and you're like, you don't love them anymore or you don't want to hang out with them. You don't want to ever see them anymore. Like hopefully not. If you have any type of good people skills, like hopefully that's not something that you do. If you have a bad day, like it's not like you shouldn't let that affect your entire week or just say screw it for the entire month and just be pissed off at the world. Like that would be being an all or nothing person.
00:29:47
Speaker
nobody does that. Like if you did that, your life would be terrible, it would be awful. But for whatever reason, people will do this with health and fitness. And I think a lot of people do this unconsciously. and And it's because like, people are scared to fail, they don't want to look like a beginner at something, they don't want to do things that may be hard and difficult where there's a learning curve. And for a lot of people, that's what fitness and health is, especially at the beginning, like,
00:30:10
Speaker
a lot of health and fitness is just skills like it takes eating well as a skill like showing up and exercising consistently is a skill like getting good at lifting weights is a skill like building these habits all these things it takes time and for a lot of people this is new and people don't like doing things where, like I said, they might fail, or they might look stupid a little bit, like they might be kind of a beginner, like they might make mistakes. And so I think unconsciously, a lot of people will just say, I'm an all or nothing person. So they don't have to try these things. They just give themselves an out to be like, oh, I can't be perfect. So I'm just not going to do it at all. But like, that's a terrible way to live life. That's a terrible way to approach anything. And just understanding like, that's why I talk about 1% better so much, right? It's like,
00:30:52
Speaker
That's something manageable that you can do every single day. Like there is absolutely something that you can get better at, even by 1% every single day. Like whether it's in the weight room, whether it's in dieting, whether it's in like some sort of mindset shift that you have, there's always one, at least one thing that you can get better at every single day. And when you take this approach and you realize that we're focused on progress, we're not focused on perfection, it takes all that pressure away. It takes all of that, these expectations about what you need to do and how you need to be Perfect and how you need to show up and and like everything's got to be just spot-on every single day But that's not realistic and that's not what this whole like process is going to look like and so don't let perfection be an excuse to get you out of things that you know you should be doing because at the end of the day like Everybody started at some place like some of us started in lower places than others like the things that I'm able to do now Relatively easier were not things that were easy for me when I first started this stuff like knowing what to eat and how much to eat and
00:31:51
Speaker
like knowing what things I felt good on and even just like exercising. Like I couldn't run very well when I first started and then I ah complete a marathon. Like I wasn't as strong as I am now. Like I wasn't as good with food. I didn't know all this stuff that I know now compared to like when I started and so just understanding like we all start in some place and as long as you're willing to just progress and keep getting that 1% better, you're going to get to a place where this stuff doesn't feel so hard. It doesn't feel like a struggle. You don't worry about looking like a beginner and it gets easier.
00:32:21
Speaker
And so realizing that like all or nothing is not really a thing. Like there's nobody that's in all or nothing person in all areas they're of their life. And so like, look at the areas that you're really good at.
00:32:32
Speaker
look at the areas where like things maybe just come a little bit more natural to you. Maybe you've been successful in those areas and see how you can apply that to fitness and health. This is something that I do a lot and fitness and health like now is something that like I said comes pretty easily to me but like there's a lot of areas that don't come very easy to me. And so I try to apply like what are the principles? What are the things that I've learned? What are different habits that I've been successful with within fitness? How can I apply that to something else? Like business is a really good example for me right now. like working for myself and being an entrepreneur, it's so much new stuff every single day. And so I try to think about what are the things that make me successful with losing weight and being fit in all these different areas. like in that like How can I apply that to business to make me a little bit more successful? Because like at first, it's not comfortable. like Learning and making mistakes and failing all the time and like doing these new things, it's not comfortable. And so take from areas where you've already been successful, where you are confident in, and see how you can apply that to these new areas. because
00:33:31
Speaker
It is definitely something that is worth your time. ah Fitness and health is something that can benefit all of us. And it's only going to make your life better. So find ways that you can continue to just get a little bit better each day. And one day you look up down the road and you're in a much, much, much better spot. So that would be my advice
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:33:47
Speaker
for that. And with that being said, that is all the questions for this episode. If you want a question answered in a future episode, you can always just shoot me a message on Instagram is probably the easiest way to get a hold of me. um Like I said, I appreciate doing these episodes and answering these more personal questions and being a little bit more detailed and diving into some of these topics a little bit and hopefully you're able to get some value out of this stuff as well. But with that being said, one-on-one coaching spots, if you're interested looking to lose some weight this year, you want to save yourself from some of this frustration digging through all this information. You want somebody to help hold you accountable who's kind of been in your shoes.
00:34:22
Speaker
help give you a plan and make sure that you're getting those ah results that you want to get. You can always check out the link in the show notes. but I appreciate you listening and we will see you next week.