The moment I tell someone I'm a trainer, it's time for confession. It works like clockwork, and I feel like I should put on a collar and go sit in a box somewhere to hear them out. The conversations usually start something like this.
"I used to go to the gym all the time... ten years ago."
"I ate like... 27 donuts last week."
You can imagine, you might have heard the same lines, or even said them at one point. Following the purging of consciences are the questions. They center around two things: flabby parts and diet. If people really understood the link between flabby parts and diet, they wouldn't have so many flabby parts. At the very least they wouldn't be overweight kind of by accident.
When the question of what to eat comes up, I have a very simple answer. I borrowed it from a Dan John article published in 2011 entitled "Eat Like a Warrior King."
"I used to go to the gym all the time... ten years ago."
"I ate like... 27 donuts last week."
You can imagine, you might have heard the same lines, or even said them at one point. Following the purging of consciences are the questions. They center around two things: flabby parts and diet. If people really understood the link between flabby parts and diet, they wouldn't have so many flabby parts. At the very least they wouldn't be overweight kind of by accident.
When the question of what to eat comes up, I have a very simple answer. I borrowed it from a Dan John article published in 2011 entitled "Eat Like a Warrior King."
Eat Like A Grown-Up
That means quit eating your daily candy bar and drinking 11 cans of diet soda. Don't eat your giant bowl of sugar bombs in front of the TV to start the day. Quit binge drinking on the weekends, and take some responsibility for yourself. These are the kinds of decisions children make. You are an adult.
If you had the misfortune of being trained that food and drink are a reward or medicine for regulating emotional states, it's time to start untying that knot. It's great to have a cake on your birthday, but everything you do doesn't need to be celebrated with a round of beers and pizza. Find healthy ways to celebrate success. Reward yourself with time with friends, an hour of recreation, or some other mentally, emotionally, and/or physically active activity.
You are the only person who decides what you eat. That's part of being an adult, and adults think before they make decisions. Here's what I think it looks like to eat like a grown-up.
First, you choose to eat or not eat. You don't simply eat because other people are eating. I like the idea of eating when you are actually hungry. Often dehydration masquerades as hunger, so drink some water before you decide to eat. If you're no longer hungry after 10-20oz of water, you probably weren't hungry. This also means you don't eat because you're bored. If you're bored, do something that needed doing that you've been avoiding by snacking.
Second, buy and cook your own food. If you can unwrap it and eat it and it isn't a banana, don't eat it on a regular basis. People who cook on a regular basis spend less money and eat better food. If that isn't a win/win, I'm not sure what is. Add to that the benefit of learning your way around the kitchen and this is really as no-brainer as it gets.
Third, eat with your goals in mind. If you want to bench over 1,000 pounds, then start eating 12,000 calories per day like Scott Mendelson. Otherwise, keep it around what you need to survive and stay relatively lean. If you are trying to gain some lean mass, eat slightly more food than you need to maintain weight. If you are trying to lose some fat, eat less than you need to maintain weight. It is much easier to stay lean eating real food that you bought and cooked yourself than it is to try to eat from drive-through lines and stay alive.
That's about it! Just like showing up, it's simple, but not always easy. You're an adult though, you don't expect everything to be easy. You do what needs to be done because you are responsible for you. If you want to talk more about goal-oriented nutrition and eating like a grown-up, comment here, join us on facebook, or email me at disruptivefitness@gmail.com.
If you had the misfortune of being trained that food and drink are a reward or medicine for regulating emotional states, it's time to start untying that knot. It's great to have a cake on your birthday, but everything you do doesn't need to be celebrated with a round of beers and pizza. Find healthy ways to celebrate success. Reward yourself with time with friends, an hour of recreation, or some other mentally, emotionally, and/or physically active activity.
You are the only person who decides what you eat. That's part of being an adult, and adults think before they make decisions. Here's what I think it looks like to eat like a grown-up.
First, you choose to eat or not eat. You don't simply eat because other people are eating. I like the idea of eating when you are actually hungry. Often dehydration masquerades as hunger, so drink some water before you decide to eat. If you're no longer hungry after 10-20oz of water, you probably weren't hungry. This also means you don't eat because you're bored. If you're bored, do something that needed doing that you've been avoiding by snacking.
Second, buy and cook your own food. If you can unwrap it and eat it and it isn't a banana, don't eat it on a regular basis. People who cook on a regular basis spend less money and eat better food. If that isn't a win/win, I'm not sure what is. Add to that the benefit of learning your way around the kitchen and this is really as no-brainer as it gets.
Third, eat with your goals in mind. If you want to bench over 1,000 pounds, then start eating 12,000 calories per day like Scott Mendelson. Otherwise, keep it around what you need to survive and stay relatively lean. If you are trying to gain some lean mass, eat slightly more food than you need to maintain weight. If you are trying to lose some fat, eat less than you need to maintain weight. It is much easier to stay lean eating real food that you bought and cooked yourself than it is to try to eat from drive-through lines and stay alive.
That's about it! Just like showing up, it's simple, but not always easy. You're an adult though, you don't expect everything to be easy. You do what needs to be done because you are responsible for you. If you want to talk more about goal-oriented nutrition and eating like a grown-up, comment here, join us on facebook, or email me at disruptivefitness@gmail.com.
What about those people we love to hate - who are happy with their current weight/power output and feel free to eat anything they want with no immediate side effects (ie, weight gain, gastro issues, etc.)?!? I may or may not be talking about my husband;)
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