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#167 - 17 Things I’ve Changed My Mind About In My 30s Around Fitness, Weight Loss, and Health
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The way you approached fitness in your 20s might not be working for you anymore in your 30s. How you recover, how you train, and how you eat, along with other things may need to change as you get older.
In this podcast, we'll talk through some of those things you may want to consider like:
- How to train in a way that fits your body, goals, experience, and season of life.
- Why training smart matters just as much as training hard, especially if you want to stay consistent, avoid nagging pain, and keep making progress long term.
- Why cardio, walking, sleep, stress management, and relationships matter way more for your health as you get older.
- Why sustainable weight loss is less about knowing what to do and more about planning, habits, identity, environment, and learning how to live a healthy life without making fitness your entire life.
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Welcome
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome back to the Fit-ish Project with your host, Lathan Bass, where we make fitness and health simple for regular people like you and I. We got the weekly episode as we always do. Before we get into this, just a weekly reminder to leave reviews, share this out with people who you think can get some value from
Reflecting on Fitness Journey
00:00:18
Speaker
this. I greatly appreciate that to help get the good information out to people who need it, who want to look better, who want to feel better, who want to live longer lives The topic for this week, my birthday is coming up in less than a couple of weeks, and I'm going to be 33, which seems kind of wild to even say out loud. Time flies. 33 years old, and i was just thinking about how I think about fitness, how I think about health, how I think about weight loss now as I'm getting deeper into my 30s versus when I was in my 20s. I have now been lifting weights for,
00:00:56
Speaker
Over 17 years, I have lost 100 pounds and kept that off for almost a decade. And I've now been training people both in person and online for close to a decade as well. So I've learned a few things. I've also changed my mind on some things, the things that I thought where maybe the gold standard in my early 20s have now changed a little bit as I've gotten into my 30s. And I think it's good to go back and think about some things that maybe you thought were correct and now maybe aren't correct, or maybe you've changed your views on things. As you get older, things are going to change. So maybe the way that you eat might change a little bit. How you recover and maybe how long it takes to recover might start to change. How you train and exercise might change over time. the things that actually matter to you are probably going to change from your twenty s to your 30s. And as you get older, your perspective changes. And as you just gain more experience, you gain more wisdom, you gain a little bit more knowledge, you see patterns, you see things that work and don't work. Maybe some things that used to work for you just aren't going to be the things that you use to get you progress or get the results that you want in the future. And so it's important to think back on those things, reflect a little bit, adapt, grow, change so that you can
00:02:14
Speaker
Continue to live a long, healthy life, feel good, look good. And so the way that you go about that may change a little bit. And so I thought this would be a good time to just look back on some of those things and dive in on some things that I have changed my mind on from my twenty s to my 30s.
Key Fitness Insights in 30s
00:02:30
Speaker
Hopefully give you a couple nuggets about maybe some things that you are currently doing that just aren't working for you anymore. Maybe how you can adjust and shift your mindset. Maybe some of the things that you're doing, maybe some of the things that you're focusing on and just give you a little insight into my experience with working with a lot of people to give you some areas that you may want to start focusing on.
00:02:50
Speaker
So 17 things that I've changed my mind on in my 30s about fitness, about weight loss, about health. Let's get right into it. There are no mandatory exercises. One of the things that I used to think, and I think a lot of this came from being from a athletic background from being involved in sports and lifting weights was that the best form of training was with heavy barbell exercises and strictly doing only free weight type of exercises. So I used to think that machines didn't really have much value. I used to think that body weight exercises didn't have much value and pretty much anything outside of heavy barbell lifting, like your heavy deadlifts, squats, hand cleans, Olympic lifting. powerlifting, that sort of thing that was very useful with sports was the only way to train and was the best and most elite way to get the best progress possible.
00:03:45
Speaker
As I've gotten older, I've realized that all forms of exercises are just tools. There's lots of different tools to meet the certain goals that you may have. In free weights or lifting in that athletic style may not be the type of exercise or may not be the program that everyone wants to use or is even going to be the best program for them to use.
00:04:05
Speaker
So as I've gotten older, I've realized that there are no mandatory exercises. Like I don't have to do heavy back squats in order to get really great results. There's hundreds of different exercises out there. There's dozens of different training styles. There's so many different ways that you can put a program together to help you hit your goals. And it doesn't just have to be this one track method. So heavy lifts or like using exercises. heavy barbell exercises or different things like that. Like there's so many different ways that you can go about hitting the goals that you have. And so certain things like I used to do a ton of squats and heavy barbell lifts and deadlifts and different things like that. Now, like I do mostly single leg exercises when it comes to my leg training, just because
00:04:47
Speaker
It feels better on my body. I don't feel quite as beat up when I do things that are a little bit less weight on single leg and different things like that. I use machines way more than I ever used to. it allows me to really push the intensity on certain things. It doesn't beat me up quite as much as maybe some of the barbell exercises might And so there's a time and a place for all these different things, like certain things like body weight movements. I do a lot more like pull ups, push ups, single leg squats, rack rows, different things like that, where you're just focusing on getting really strong with your own body weight. There's a lot of value to that, especially as you get older and being able to just control your body, move your body through space, having good mobility, different things like that. And so
00:05:29
Speaker
All that to say, you don't have to get so pigeonholed into one style of training or even just one style of exercise because there's so many different methods and just different styles that can work.
00:05:40
Speaker
And I think as you really embrace that, the whole training process becomes a lot easier because if you told me right now, like I had to go, the only way that I could lift was to go and do heavy deadlifts and heavy squats and heavy bench presses four or five times a week. And that was the only way that I had to train. I would not look forward to doing that. And I would probably feel like crap. all the time because I just, my body doesn't recover to that stuff nearly as well as it did when I was in my early twenties. And I also just don't like training like that anymore. It doesn't really fit my goals nearly as much as it used to when I was just trying to get as strong as possible, just be as big as possible, all those different things. So make sure that as you are evolving and as you are getting older, that the exercises that you are using actually match the things that you are wanting to do.
00:06:23
Speaker
The second thing on this list goes right along with this, but training smart matters just as much as training hard. When I was a young 20 year old, basically the thing that I would do is I would go in the gym five, six days a week, sometimes seven days a week, and I would just push as hard as possible. And I didn't really care about injury. i didn't really care about pain. I didn't really care about any of that stuff. Like I could just push through it.
00:06:44
Speaker
As you get older, you realize that's probably not very smart. When you're in your twenties, you can get away with a lot of that stuff. I mean, you can go in the gym with four hours of sleep, drinking the night before, barely eating anything, just living on caffeine and junk food and go in the gym and literally just hit PRs in your early twenties. Like that's not really a factor and it doesn't really do too much to you You can just kind of make do with wherever you're at and the lifestyle that you're living. None of that stuff really matters too much. But as you get older, those things start to catch up with you. It's not really smart to train through tons of pain or try to train through
00:07:16
Speaker
injury or trying to just go in the gym and lift as heavy as possible. As you get older, it makes more sense to slow things down a little bit, listen to your body a little bit, start to try to really dial in good form and good execution with exercises so your joints aren't always achy and just really starting to learn to train around certain things like As you're in lifting and as you're being consistent and just exercising and training and those sorts of things, like you're going to have some pain, you're going have some discomfort, you're even going to have some small injuries. That doesn't necessarily mean that you need to just throw everything out anytime you have a little pain or discomfort, but you learn to train smarter with these things. You learn to train around these things rather than trying to train through them.
00:07:56
Speaker
And the more that you're in the gym and the more that you just do these things, you also understand that not every single workout needs to be a PR workout. Like there's a time and a place to really push the intensity and try to break some records and continue to try to get stronger and all those things. But you can do that in a smart way. You don't need to go into the gym.
00:08:13
Speaker
Hit it for 90 minutes or two hours and push every single set to complete exhaustion and barely limp out of the gym after every single session. Most of your workouts are just going to be average or slightly above average.
00:08:26
Speaker
And then every once in a while, you push it in that run or in that workout or Whatever the case may be, you just take it all the way to complete red line and you push it. Your heart rate feels like it's about to burst out of your chest. Your muscles are aching. You're on the verge of cramping, all that different stuff. Like you can do that every once in a while. But if you're doing that day after day, week after week, month after month, you are not going to last very long. And as you get older, you also start to realize that the name of this game is to be consistent and to be able to stay in the game. And if you train in a way that's just not very smart, you're not able to stay in the game, whether that's being injuries or just getting burnt out, those different sorts of things.
00:09:05
Speaker
It's not smart to train in that way because then you can't train for a long time. Like the goal is to be able to be fit for life and continue to be able to train into your 40s, your 50s, your 60s, your 70s, so that you're able to do all the things you want to do.
00:09:18
Speaker
You can only do that if you're training smart year after year. Definitely something that I've had to learn the hard way and I'm still learning it, but it has been something that I've embraced and it has made training and just the way that I feel on a day-to-day basis better.
00:09:32
Speaker
Number three is soreness, sweat, and exhaustion are not great measures of a good
Goal Alignment & Life Stages
00:09:38
Speaker
workout. I think when you're young, especially, you just want to go into the gym and you just want to feel like you're working really hard.
00:09:43
Speaker
And again, there's still a time and a place for that as you get older, but it doesn't need to be that all the time. I think looking at other metrics, like are you actually making progress? How consistent you are?
00:09:54
Speaker
Are your strength levels going up? Is your fitness actually improving? Do you feel better on a day-to-day basis? Those are the things that you want to focus on because you have to remember like, what's the outcome that you want? And is your training matching those outcomes? If you want to look a little better, feel a little better, live a little longer, then going into the gym and just chasing so being super sweaty or a high heart rate or being crazy sore after every single workout, it's probably not really getting you there. Like I can give you a workout that's gonna make you sore for the next three days. Go into the gym, do 300 burpees as fast as you can. I guarantee you're gonna sweat a ton. I guarantee you're going to be exhausted when that workout finishes and I guarantee you're going to be sore the next day. That does not mean that you got a good workout. So you need to make sure that the way that you're training and the style of workouts that you're using are actually getting you closer to your goals.
00:10:42
Speaker
There's an old strength coach that used to say, keep the main thing, the main thing. And when you're in the fitness world, when you're trying to be more fit, look a little better, gain some muscle, all those different goals, It's very easy to chase the shiny objects and think about, oh, I just need to go in the gym and do as much as possible. I tried this new training modality or try this thing that my friend said is super awesome and it's working really well. No, you just need to keep the main thing, the main thing. Remember what your actual goal is and continue to just put good training days together. Most of the days you come in are not going to be anything crazy. They're just going to be average days where you get some good quality work in and then when you stack those up week after week month after month year after year you're able to hit those goals that you want you're able to look great you're able to feel great you're able to live longer build muscle lose fat all those different things so don't get so wrapped up and just needing to feel like you are getting some crazy workout in because that's not actually the stuff that moves the needle it's all those days that you're building on
00:11:41
Speaker
that don't seem like this big, huge, audacious, crazy, intense workout. Like those things ah comp should be few and far between because they don't really actually move you towards the goal that you want. Focus on just getting quality, good work in day after day, and you're going to see much better progress that way.
00:11:58
Speaker
Number four on the list, periodizing your fitness makes more sense as you get older. When you're young, you have so much more time to put towards these things, and you're able to really put in a ton of effort, put in a ton of time. You don't have as many obligations and different things like that, and you can chase all these different goals and see really good progress on different things. But especially as you get older, it makes sense to really dial in like, what are your one or two main goals that you wanna focus on at a time? Because trying to do a bunch of things at the same time, it's just not very effective. And then you don't really see progress on those goals. so if you
00:12:31
Speaker
have this goal for example like oh i want to lose a bunch of fat i want to build a bunch of muscle i want to get super good at running i want to be able to do all these pull-ups and get my cardio way up like having all these different goals at the same time is not going to be very good for you or your training because it's just hard to chase that many goals so really dial in like what are the two things that i want to focus on right now and then Over time, like you can focus on different goals, but that's what I mean by making sure that you are periodizing your goals so that you have one certain focus, maybe two focuses where you can actually put your time and attention towards training that you have towards those things. Because if you think about the average person, they might have two, three, maybe four hours to put towards their fitness goals.
00:13:15
Speaker
If you're trying to spread that out over six different goals, that's just not a lot of time to put into each one of those things. You'd be much better off putting in your three or four hours towards this one goal of building a lot of muscle or getting really good at this certain exercise or whatever the case may be that the goals that you may have. so Focus on couple of goals, one, maybe two, and you will see better progress that way And then the other part of this too is just understanding as you get older, there's probably better times throughout the year where you can really dial in on certain goals. And then there's other times of the year where your goal is just going to be to maintain. Like you don't have any certain goal that you are chasing.
00:13:54
Speaker
Because again, I think when you're younger, you do have more time and ability and different things like that to put towards your goals. But as you get older, you add in some kids, you add in work, you add in a social life, you add in different busy seasons. There's just going to be times throughout the year where you're crazy busy and fitness might not be one of those super, super top priorities.
00:14:14
Speaker
I think there's definitely some value in keeping those things going and keeping that momentum rolling. But maybe sometimes you just have to dial it back. And the only goal is just to maintain the things that you've built. So rather than you being able to get into the gym four or five times a week and prioritizing all these different things and working on this super high goal that you may have for your fitness goals. Maybe it's just maintaining and getting in the gym three times a week, 45 minutes, you get your lifts in, you maintain your muscle mass, you feel good, keep your mental health good, keep your bones and your body feeling good. And that's just what you're going to do for these three months while you're in busy season at work, or you just had a new baby. So now you're only working out twice, getting a couple full body workouts in a couple times a week. Like there's a time and a place to just focus on maintaining just being real with yourself about where you're at and the amount of time and effort and different things that you're able to contribute to these goals and these priorities is important as you get older so you can continue to make good progress and always keep that momentum rolling but not feeling like you're missing out because you're not able to put tons and tons of time into these things number five cardio is not optional if you care about long-term health
00:15:28
Speaker
This is definitely something that I have embraced a little bit more as I've gotten older and into my 30s. Cardio is one of those things that there's no doubt about it that it makes you a healthier person. VO2 max is one of the best predictors that we have about how long you live.
00:15:44
Speaker
VO2 max is basically just a measure of how good of cardio fitness you have. It's not the best measurement that we have, but it's a pretty good proxy. If you have a decent or higher VO2 max, you're probably in a fairly decent cardio shape.
00:15:59
Speaker
which means that you are typically going to live longer based on the science. It's one of those things that we just can't overlook. If you're lifting weights, if you're walking a lot, getting active, all those good things, you're going to have tons of good benefits. But if you really want to maximize your long-term health, live a longer life, have a healthy heart, healthy lungs, good cardio system, get some of those benefits from a mental aspect, then cardio is a really good thing to do. And I think it's one of those things that You don't really have to overthink it too much. If you're getting your heart rate up for an extended period of time, if you're breathing a little heavier, you're sweating a few times a week, whether that be through playing pickup basketball pickleball or you get out and you go on a couple of jogs a week or bike or whatever. You do different things like that getting some cardio in, then I think you're going to get quite a few of those benefits.
00:16:45
Speaker
If you want to get more in the details with it, if you want to get super into the cardio things and you have moderate and easy and super high intensity days and you're chasing some goals around running or cycling or training for a marathon or different things like that, then you absolutely can do that. But I think for most people, most of the time, just getting to a place where one, two, three times a week, you're just getting your heart rate up higher than normal for a good 20, 30, 40 minutes and doing something that's just going to get you breathing hard and get your heart pumping is going to give you a ton of those benefits.
00:17:18
Speaker
Number six, walking is one of the best health habits that you can build. I've stated this on other podcasts and it's something that I just continue to harp on because the simple fact is that it's one of the easiest places to start for a lot of people. And it's something that you can do now pretty much until the end of your life is hopefully the goal is walking.
00:17:39
Speaker
It's super low barrier to entry. Unlike other things where like, if you're trying to learn to lift weights and you have to go to a gym and you have to get a trainer and you have to learn how to lift weights and it's hard and all these different things. Like that takes a little bit more to get into and really get to a place where you feel comfortable doing those things. But like walking is something that we can all do.
00:17:58
Speaker
It's something that you can do throughout your day. You don't have to have tons of time to dedicate to it. Something that you you can do pretty much anywhere. And it's something that just gives you tons of really good benefits. And for that reason, I think it's such a foundational tool to improving your health because we know that people who get more steps are typically healthier and also typically live longer. So it's one of those foundational habits that is going to help encourage you to make other healthy choices too, which is another reason that I really like it because if you're thinking about getting your steps in throughout the day. you're also going to continue to think about what are some other healthy habits that I need to focus on as well. So if I'm thinking about, am I hitting my step goal throughout the day? I'm also thinking about, am I getting enough water? Am i eating healthier meals? Am I getting my workouts in? By focusing on this one thing as simple as walking and getting my steps in, it's just a constant reminder to focus on other healthy choices as well. So Walking for that reason is so helpful and it's still so underrated both for physical health, for mental health, for just a lot of different reasons. It's easy, it's accessible, tons of benefit, super easy to get started. And so making walking a cornerstone habit of your life and just trying to focus on getting at least 8,000 steps in your day most days is going to be one of those things that just pays dividends. So I can't say enough about walking.
00:19:17
Speaker
Number seven, burning calories is one of the weakest reasons to exercise. Now, I know a lot of people exercise because they want to burn more calories and mostly just because they want to either lose weight or just look better. And I get it. Like you want to exercise, you want to burn calories, you want to lose weight, you want to look better. Like I get it. The fact of the matter is you burn a lot less calories than you think through exercise. I'm currently reading this book called Burn right now, and it's all about this topic.
00:19:43
Speaker
And if you took just strictly exercise, let's say you're somebody who wanted to lose weight and the only thing you did was exercise and you didn't focus on anything else. At the end of the year, you could expect to lose somewhere in the neighborhood of about five pounds.
00:19:58
Speaker
Exercise is still one of the most beneficial things that you can do. But in terms of like burning calories and fat loss and weight loss, and getting you to like lose weight, it's just really not that time effective. Like it just, it doesn't burn as many calories as people think. It takes a long time to burn a considerable amount of calories and your body is just really good at adapting because at a certain point you get to this place where your body starts to down regulate in other ways. So like you're burning more calories, but now your body gets smart. And so you're not burning calories in other ways that you were before.
00:20:32
Speaker
your body just gets really smart at adapting. So just because you're adding more exercise and more exercise and more exercise, you're not always going to be burning hundreds and thousands of more calories in a single day, which is what most people think. They think if I just keep adding on more exercise and more exercise, then I'm going to just continue to keep burning calories. But that's not what the science shows. Yes, you want to be active. Yes, it does burn some extra calories versus being sedentary, but not as many as you think. And so using exercise is strictly a way to just burn more calories or trying to lose weight. It's just not that effective.
00:21:04
Speaker
Now, again, reiterating exercise is still, even with all that being said, one of the best things that you could ever do for your physical and mental health is to exercise because there's so many different benefits that we get from that but using exercise strictly as a way to burn more calories is just not that effective and so the way that i always thought about it or i shouldn't say always but how i think about it now is that any calories that i burn through exercise is just strictly a bonus if you're focusing on weight loss or you're wanting to change your body composition Focus on changing your diet. That's going to be the biggest lever that you can pull. That's gonna be the most effective. That's gonna be the best cost-effective way that you can make changes to your body. And then any kind of calories that you're burning through exercise is just simply a bonus.
00:21:47
Speaker
Number eight.
From Aesthetics to Functionality
00:21:49
Speaker
Working out to look better eventually shifts into working out to live better. Now, don't get me wrong. I think most people get into exercise to look better and that's completely valid. But at some point you start to realize the benefits of exercise and just the benefits that you get mentally, the benefits that you get through energy, through confidence, through different things like that, your strength, your mobility, just feeling better. And I think the older that you get,
00:22:15
Speaker
one of the goals starts to become more about how you move, having good energy, being able to do that, all the activities that you love, not being limited by your fitness or your health. So you start to recognize exercise as this tool to do that. And it starts to become less about what you look like and more about what you're actually able to do.
00:22:33
Speaker
And I think when you do this, it also starts to make exercise that much more appealing because again, if your only sole reason to exercise is just strictly to look better at a certain point,
00:22:44
Speaker
Father time is just going to do its thing. And we know that as we age, things are going to start to change physically. Like you're not always going to look the way that you look when you're in your 20s and in your thirty s Like you start to get the saggy skin. You start to lose some muscle. You start not to look quite as young and vibrant and maybe attractive as you do when you're younger. And so if your sole reason for exercising is just strictly to look good.
00:23:06
Speaker
I think that might start to become a dangerous territory. So obviously exercise for whatever reason that you want. But as you get older, I think it's really smart to start to recognize some of these other reasons that we exercise. Because if you can think about exercise as more than just a way to look better, and you start to link it to feeling better, to having better energy, to having more confidence, to strengthening your bones, to living a longer life, to being able to Have independence as you age to be able to play with your kids and do all the things that you love doing. The more consistent that you are going to be with exercises versus if the only reason that you exercise is to look better. And then as you age, you start to notice, like, even though you are exercising, your appearance is still starting to change and all these things that you don't really have control over. start to change, well, you might be discouraged from exercising and not really see the value in it. So the more ways that you can think about how exercise benefits you and your life in multiple different ways, and not just the way that you look, I think the more that it starts to get ingrained into something that you actually enjoy, it's something that you see the value in, it's something that you're going to be able to do consistently well into your later years in life.
00:24:14
Speaker
Number nine, protein matters, but that one gram per pound is not as crucial as I used to think. So you probably heard that recommendation thrown around. And I still think there's some value in that for quite a few people, like getting that one gram per pound of body weight is still a decent thing for people to shoot for.
00:24:33
Speaker
But it's something that I've changed my mind on a little bit as I've gotten older, just because I've read into the science a little bit more. And it seems that if you're getting that 0.7 grams per pound of body weight, you're getting a very large majority of the benefit. And the reason I think that understanding this and realizing that you don't necessarily have to hit that top end, it's because it allows a little bit more flexibility for your diet. You are not going for that one gram per pound of body weight. You're gonna have a little bit more extra room for some other things that you want, maybe some extra carbs or some fats or a combination of the two. It just allows you little bit more flexibility with those things without going over your calorie limit also it's a little bit easier target to hit for most people for most people who've never tried to increase their protein or never tried to get one gram per pound of body weight it's a lot like if you weigh 200 pounds trying to get 200 grams of protein for somebody who's never attracted or never tried to get that is a hard target to hit for lots of people 0.7 is a little bit more manageable so if i weigh 200 pounds and i'm getting 0.7 140 grams versus 200 grams protein is
00:25:34
Speaker
It's much easier to get that 140 than it is to get that 200. And so it gives you all the benefits or very close to all the benefits by getting that 0.7 grams. But it's a little easier to hit that target. gives you a little bit more flexibility. It's something that maybe makes it a little bit easier to hit that target. And so for that reason, I don't have anything wrong with people getting one gram per pound of body weight. but it's not something that I personally try to shoot for as much anymore. Like I'm okay if I'm not getting 200 grams of protein, although most days I still get that much. My goal is to hit that 0.7 grams per pound of body weight. then if I get that one gram per pound, even better, but don't stress over it too much is just how I think about it.
00:26:15
Speaker
Number 10, fiber matters way more than most people think. Protein is one of those things that we've been hearing hearing about for years now, and for a good reason, there's tons of value in it. But I think fiber is going to be one of those things that we start to hear about more and more because it just helps with so many different things and it has so many different health benefits that I don't think as many people know about. And the way you know that is because if you look at the statistics,
00:26:39
Speaker
It's thought that around 95% of people aren't getting enough fiber in their diet, which fiber is something that can help with how full you feel, helps with your digestion, helps with your overall health, helps with your gut health, can make weight loss easier.
00:26:53
Speaker
There's just tons of benefits that you get from eating fiber, and it matters a lot more than I think people realize. And when you start to incorporate more fiber, you're going to naturally start to eat more whole foods because you're getting fiber through things like fruits, vegetables, whole grains. And the more that you can start to eat more whole foods and less highly processed things, the better off you're going to be. And so for that reason, fiber, another good, important thing to focus on. And I've noticed personally,
00:27:22
Speaker
When I started incorporating more fiber and like actually targeting, trying to get 30 to 40 grams of fiber per day, it's a lot. And in order to hit those numbers, you really do have to prioritize quite a bit of fruits and vegetables at most meals. You have to start to eat more whole grains. You have to start to be more cognizant and aware around how many whole foods you're eating in order to hit that number. If you're hitting your protein number, if you're hitting your fiber number,
00:27:47
Speaker
there's a very good chance that you're eating tons of very good highly nutritious foods and you're just going to have less room for the other highly processed stuff which for most people if you can get more of your diet from those whole foods less highly processed things you are going to solve a lot of issues that people struggle with with eating too much with not feeling great, with low energy, with different things like that. You can have some of those highly processed foods in moderation, but when we start to get into where our diets are made up of 40, 50, 60, 70% of our diets are made up of highly processed things, I just don't think that that leads to a lot of good health outcomes. And so focusing on something as simple as getting enough fiber and getting enough protein can start to solve a lot of those issues.
00:28:33
Speaker
Number 11, weight loss is more mental than physical. Most people know a lot of the simple things that they should be doing, like you need to eat less, you need to move more. And obviously there's some things that you learn along the way about how to do those things better and some little tips and tricks and things like that. But for the most part, I think that weight loss is really difficult because it's so much more mental.
00:28:54
Speaker
There's stress, there's emotions, there's changing your habits, there's changing your mindsets, there's navigating a social life and weekends, there's The whole building the self-trust and self-efficacy that you can actually lose weight and keep it off. And so a lot of people know some of the things that they need to do, but they don't actually do it.
00:29:11
Speaker
A lot of that comes down to the mental side of it. So thinking about things like, how can I change my habits? How can I improve my environment? How can I start to make this a lifestyle so that this can actually be a long-term thing? And I think for lots of people who have been successful, if you look at those people, they have been able to not only change physically, like changing their habits and different things like that, but they've been able to change their mindset, to shift their identity. And they've done that by focusing a lot on the mental side of things. And so they get around people who share the same mentality. They start to improve their environment so that they're not always having to make these difficult decisions or rely on willpower. They work out at gyms that they actually like and work out with people or groups that keep them motivated and hold them accountable. And so they start to do all these things that make being healthy and fit and losing the weight easier. Because a lot of times we
00:30:01
Speaker
Don't necessarily need to learn a bunch of new stuff. Again, yes, it is helpful to learn a new trick or method or try something new here that you never really thought of. But for the most part, we just need reminders about the things that we should be doing.
00:30:15
Speaker
I was listening to a podcast recently and they mentioned this story that went really well along with this whole idea that we just need reminded more than we need taught. There was this group of doctors at this hospital and they were having a lot of issues with more people dying through these simple little procedures than should have been happening. And the simple fact was that these doctors just weren't going through the correct protocol. And these are doctors. These are people that have been in education and gone through the ringer on all this different stuff, very intelligent people, but they were making very simple mistakes. And so what they did was they set up this checklist And they gave it to all the doctors as well as all the nurses so that when they were doing this procedure, they would have to go through this little checklist and check off all these things. And if the people in the room who are also there watching, if the doctor didn't go through these procedures and they were allowed to stop them and correct them. And by doing this simple little thing, implementing this checklist, it reduced the number of people that were dying and so much so that they sent this out to all the different hospitals and clinics and different things like that to start to prevent these deaths that didn't need to be happening. And so it was just another simple reminder, like these doctors, super intelligent people, and it's not like they were trying to intentionally make the wrong decision, but sometimes just having something as simple as a good reminder like a checklist like a little note like somebody there to hold you accountable can go a really long way for doing the things that we need to do because again we don't always need to learn new things we just need to be reminded of the things that we know we should be doing number 12 on the list discipline is more about planning than willpower I used to think that discipline was just something that you just had to like be born with or that something that you just had to kind of like grit your way through and just do a bunch of hard stuff and then eventually you would just be disciplined. The more and more that I see people who are disciplined, it more so just happens out of routine and out of planning.
00:32:09
Speaker
people who are really fit or people who are just disciplined in any area they are really good about setting themselves up in a environment or in a way where they can make the right decisions and it's easier for them to make those decisions and so what i mean by that is like if you go into the week and you don't have any plan for the meals you're going to eat you haven't prepped in your your food you haven't even really thought about the different things that are going to be happening this week that may make sticking to your diet, challenging, you haven't really thought about the workouts you're going be doing, you don't know which day you're going be doing your workouts on, you don't know any of these different things, you just haven't put any time into planning out your week, well, the likelihood that you actually have a good week is very low. But if you go into that week and you have some of your meals prepped,
00:32:53
Speaker
You don't have a ton of easy to overeat food in your house. You have your workouts planned for the week. You know which days you're going to be doing it. You know what time, you know what gym you're going to be working out at. You have a plan when you actually get into the gym. You have texted your workout buddy and they know that you're going to be there. You have looked at your week and you see where there might be some challenges within the week. Oh, I have to go out to eat this day. i need to go and do the kids conferences this day like if i miss a workout i can get this workout in on saturday morning like you have these different backup plans you have all these things planned out ahead of time you've thought about these things ahead of time you're going to be much much more likely to actually see those things through and make the right decision because if you try to make all those decisions in the moment when things are chaotic or you're busy or you're stressed We just all know we've been there and likelihood that you make the right decision or make the healthier decision or make the harder decision, it's just not going to happen.
00:33:49
Speaker
And so when you can plan a little bit ahead of time, a little bit of planning goes a long way. Number 13 on the list, shifting your identity is one of the biggest predictors of sustainable progress.
Sustainable Lifestyle Changes
00:34:00
Speaker
This is one that I will stand on and that I have seen time and time again. Like if you have somebody who wants to make a big transformation, like whether it be losing 100 pounds or just getting more fit, getting into good shape, getting rid of bad habits, you have to start to shift your identity and how you see yourselves.
00:34:17
Speaker
You have to stop seeing fitness as something that you're just doing temporarily. Like if you're just following this diet for a couple of weeks or a couple of months, or you're just doing this fitness program for six weeks or whatever the case may be. And then after you're done with that, you just go back to the way that you live. Those results are never going to stick. You have to make this a lifestyle.
00:34:37
Speaker
And a quote that I always think about is you can't want the results without wanting a lifestyle. So if you're somebody who wants to lose much weight, to be fit, to be healthy, to look good, to feel good, you can't not want to do the things that are going to get you there. Like you can't expect to eat just nachos and pizza and sodas and sugars and desserts 100% of the time and then expect to feel good and look good and have good workouts and all those different things. Like if the things that you're doing are not things that you can see yourself doing for years, then it probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense to do those things.
00:35:10
Speaker
Obviously, there's a smart way to do this and a not so smart way to do this. I think the not so smart way to do this is that people try to change everything at once. I think the much smarter route to doing these things is to start small and to build on those things. And so In the beginning, it may not seem like you're doing a whole lot, but if you can build those things up, you're gonna be at a much better place. And as you start to get those small wins every day, you start to shift that identity and all this stuff starts to become more normal. And so the way that I think about it is like, you're slowly just cranking up that thermostat
00:35:41
Speaker
And then eventually you get to a point where it just feels like this is your new normal. But if you go from completely hot to cold, let's say like some contrast therapy, you go from the sauna and you jump in the cold plunge. Well, that's just a shock to your whole system to where you're trying to change all these things at once. And You can't really get your bearings about it because you haven't put in any time to building up those skills, to building up that identity, to getting all those small wins and actually proving that you could do those things. And so when you try to change everything at once, no wonder it feels like it's impossible to maintain because you haven't spent any time building up any of those skills and building that good foundation.
00:36:19
Speaker
But when you can focus on those small things day after day, you're going to get to a point where it just starts to become your new normal. Number 14, got a couple more of these. Sleep is one of the most underrated health tools. I won't spend too much time on this because we all know this and I've done deeper episodes on sleep, but sleep affects quite literally everything. Your hunger, how well you recover, it affects your mood day to day, it affects your performance in the gym, it affects your performance at home, it affects your performance at work, It affects your cravings.
00:36:50
Speaker
It affects your decision making. It quite literally affects everything. And so increasing your sleep from five, six hours a night to trying to get seven to eight hours a night and going to bed at the same time will impact pretty much every single facet of your health and make it better.
00:37:05
Speaker
The way I think about it is this, like if you can make every part of health and fitness easier with one thing, why wouldn't you focus on doing that one thing? or if you can make it harder in every single way, you should do everything possible to try to avoid that. Well, getting good sleep makes everything easier and it makes everything harder if you get crappy sleep. So focusing on sleep, something that you were going to do for a third of your life, probably makes a lot of sense to try to get right.
00:37:32
Speaker
Number 15, stress management is a skill we should focus on earlier. Managing stress is a super underrated part of health that I don't think enough people will think about. Stress is a huge reason that a lot of people get illnesses. A lot of people get injured. It leads to poor eating choices and so many different other things. Stress has this effect on us that we don't really think about as much as we should. And we never really learned to deal with stress in healthy ways. A lot of times when we're younger, we just learn to deal with stress in very unhealthy ways.
00:38:04
Speaker
So typically we avoid it through using bad coping mechanisms like food, like alcohol, like screens, like anything that can distract us from being stressed out. We use those things. And a lot of times we take those things into adulthood. And and I see this a lot with fitness and with dieting and things like that. And why people can't lose weight is because they use food as a way to manage their stress.
00:38:25
Speaker
There's lots of better ways that we can do these things, whether it be exercise or talking to somebody or whatever the case may be. There's tons of healthier ways that you can learn to manage stress, but you have to actually seek those things out. And once you get good at this, I think it is, again, one of those underrated things that a lot of people don't really have a good skill around. But once you start to find healthier ways to manage stress, it can make a massive difference. in your health and just in your day-to-day life as well. Because if you think about it like this, like if you had somebody who's super fit, they look great, they have all the good things going on, but they're just stressed all the time, like super high strung. They're always just stressed out about different things. And then let's say you have this other person who's like average health, they have pretty good fitness, pretty good health, not like ripped or crazy off the charts, these different things, but they're super relaxed. They're good at managing stress. They're never too high, never too low.
00:39:17
Speaker
Which one of those people would you rather be? And which one of those people do you think is going to live a longer and happier life? Probably the person who is a little bit maybe less fit, maybe a little bit less healthy, but they just have a better head on their shoulders and just understand how to manage stress better.
00:39:35
Speaker
It's just one of those things that again, I think we overlook and a lot of times since we were never taught these things as kids or as adults, we just don't really know how to deal with And so we continue to use the things that we've always used. So food, alcohol, screens, different things to avoid stress rather than figuring out good, positive, healthy ways to manage it. so spending a little time to figure out what those things are for you, I think is a skill that can go a really long way.
00:40:00
Speaker
Number 16, relationships matter more for health than most of us realize. Humans are communal beings, meaning that we need each other to survive. We need community, we need connection, we need support. And these aren't just like things that are nice to have. These are quite literally things that we need to thrive both mentally and physically. There's a lot of science around loneliness and people that are lonelier, they have worse physical and mental health and they typically don't live as long either. So these aren't just like nice to have things. These are things that we need to really make a priority because relationships matter and they don't just matter because of physical health and different things like that, but you also become the people that you hang around. So investing in good relationships and making sure that you're getting in the right settings and communities and building connections and having support and all those different things is such an important thing that
00:40:49
Speaker
I think when we're younger, we just kind of take for granted. you know You're around people at school or college or you have friends and different things like that. But as you get older, it becomes harder when people have kids, when people have busy jobs, when people have different lives. And it's very easy to drift apart and different things like that with technology. And we feel like we're connected, but we're not actually connected. And so making it a priority to really invest in relationships is something that's not only important for your mental health, but it's also important for your physical health too. And something that I think We don't do enough as we get older.
Balancing Health & Indulgence
00:41:20
Speaker
And the last one on the list, part of being healthy is allowing yourself to be unhealthy. This is another thing that I am very passionate about because i think there's obviously a lot of value in prioritizing health and focusing on your health and eating a good diet and getting your exercise in and doing all the things that I talk about nonstop on here. But I strongly, strongly feel that it's important to do other things as well. Like I'm never going to be the guy who says you should never have a drink. You should never have dessert. You should never have sugar. You should never stay up too late. You should never do those things. like I think it's good to have those things as well, to have balance. And some people like doing those things more than others. But I think having some sort of balance with that stuff is important. And the reason that I find it so helpful to focus on being just healthy most of the time is so that when you do do those things, when you do go on vacation and you eat,
00:42:14
Speaker
ton more than you usually would, or you have more alcohol than you would on a night out, or you do this thing that isn't necessarily the most healthy thing, you're able to bounce back and it doesn't affect you nearly as much. And on top of that, you're actually able to enjoy it because you're dialed in, you focus on your health, you prioritize feeling good and exercise and dieting and all those things. So when you do take some time off, when you do go and have a little bit too much to eat or too much to drink or whatever, you can enjoy all those things guilt-free and it feels good.
00:42:42
Speaker
But if you're always doing those things and you're just constantly feeling like crap and you're just overeating and you're drinking too much and all these different things, well, you feel bad about it physically and you feel bad about it mentally. But if you're prioritizing your health and fitness most of the time, like absolutely go ahead and enjoy yourself sometimes. Like go ahead and then have the vacation or eat the dessert or stay up too late or whatever the case may be. So I think it's just important to find that balance while making health a priority most of the time, but don't be afraid to just live a little and just enjoy yourself. And with that being said, that is this episode, a little bit longer of an episode than I've done in a while, but i thought this was kind of an interesting one. Again, as I'm about to be 33, the ripe old age of 33,
00:43:24
Speaker
good time for a little reflection anytime birthdays are rolling around and got to thinking about just some things that I've changed my mind on and Hopefully some things that'll maybe help you out or just make you think about certain approaches or maybe some different mindset things or a different perspective that you haven't thought about that may help you out a little bit as you continue to get a little bit older and implementing your own fitness and health journey. So hopefully you found a nugget or two, found this valuable. As always, if you can share this with people who you think would get some value, leave a review.
00:43:57
Speaker
The one-on-one coaching link is also in the show notes if you are looking to get a little bit help with your fitness goals. But for now, that is all I have. I appreciate you listening and we will see you week.