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“Healthy isn’t a goal, it’s a way of living”
Controlling Your Mind: The 5 Hindrances to Self-Mastery
When I say mind control, what do you think of? Many people would think of controlling other people’s minds, but what I am referring to, is controlling your own mind. The 5 hindrances are states of mind that can distract you from your path. They can control your mind, dampen your energy, and disrupt your spirit.
Comparison Syndrome: The Problems With Personal Development And Trait Neuroticism
The Problem with Personal Development and it’s Links to Trait Neuroticism (TN) Disclaimer: I am
Why Dieting Can Be So Difficult – 27 Common Problems People Face
A nutritionist explains many common problems people face when trying to master their diet. Why do so many people quit? Why is it so overwhelming?
How To Boost Your Immune System Against COVID-19
Coronavirus is here, and its time to boost your immune system. Here is what you
Binaural Beats 101: How to hack your brain waves
Get Control Of Your Mind Or Your Mind Will Control You Let me be honest,
Deloading 101: Why Your Body May Need a Week of Light Training
Feeling tired? Drained? Not getting results from your training? Are your muscles tight and
Sleep Hacking: 4 Steps For Optimal Sleep Quality
Optimising your sleep means optimising your recovery! A good nights sleep contributes to your workout
When we think of nutrition or dieting, we often think of weight loss and weight
An Introduction to Bio-Hacking
A client came in to see me today and revealed a revelation she had while implementing a
FULL POSTS BELOW
Body Recomposition’s DO happen: Client results – Jack’s 16-Week Intermittent Fasting Transformation
Quick Intro:
I don’t usually do “client spotlight” posts, but this one is just too good not the share.
This transformation deserves a mention is because of the following reasons:
- The speed of the transformation is quite impressive
- It shows clearly that you CAN gain muscle while losing body fat (many people believe otherwise)
This is Jack
Jack walked in the door after being referred to me by a member of the gym where I work. We sat down to chat about his goals and with a stern look of determination he said “I want 6 pack abs”. I nodded and said “its definitely possible, but you’ll need to work for it”. Great transformations do not happen overnight and he had just walked in the door with the classic “dad bod”. We lined up a plan of attack regarding training, nutrition and lifestyle and set to work.
Brief Side Note Regarding Body Recompositions
Many people believe there is not much point trying to do a “body Recomposition”. The classic body building dogma often states: you are better off doing a CUT, or a BULK. I’ll admit, I do believe this to be MOSTLY true, but not under all circumstances… It is more-so true for ADVANCED and ELITE level lifters.
A good body Recomposition (lose body fat WHILST gaining muscle mass) is possible at ALMOST any weight, but it will usually be slower than attacking a specific goal such as SHREDDING BODY FAT or BULKING. However, under specific circumstances a body recomp can be AMAZING.
Below are some of the circumstances which can make a body recomp amazing (without spending 1000 words on explaining each)…
- The athlete is rebuilding lost muscle (muscle memory)
- The athlete is not properly provoked their genetic potential with the correct nutrition or training (improper diet routine or bad training stimulas)
- The athlete is not achieving the appropriate amount of calorie intake relative to their goal (improper energy intake)
- The athlete is not properly following a high quality training routine that is designed for stength and muscle development.
When these factors are all aligned, you can make amazing body recompositions!
Just look at the results:
Breakdown Of The Planned Process
Mindset & Goal
The goal was to get a six pack for the first time in his life. He was very focused on this and it helped fuel his momentum. We set the goal to get around 10% body fat (the requirement for visible abs) and work on building muscle mass whilst losing the body fat.
There no doubt that Jack has a strong mindset and determination to his goals. Being a dentist he is highly educated and able to push himself through tough times (such as 8-10 years of continuous study). He was very focused on this DESTINATION point of the transformation, rather than focusing on being disenchanted by his current situation.
Training
2 x per week Personal Training – Squats, Deadlifts, Bench press, Rows, etc The proven routine I get the majority of my PT clients to follow who are only training 2x per week.
2 x per week Boxing / HIIT Training
Nutrition
His nutrition plan was written up according to his goal. He followed a Intermittent fasting structure with 3 meals per day. Each day he would FAST for 16 hours (consuming only black coffee and tea) and then consume his meals within an 8 hour window. This is a common shredding / maintenance dietary structure we use here at Found My Physique.
Adherence
Jack’s adherence to the program is why his results are quite rapid. He was around 95% strict with his nutrition and did not miss a training session. His numbers increased every week as according to the plan.
Basic Report On The Results
The usual situation with transformations is that you will lose a bit of weight even if you are building muscle mass whilst losing fat.
You mite be thinking, WHY?
Well, because losing 5-10kg of body fat does not take very long… So if you lose 5kg you would need to be building that much muscle mass / lean body mass to maintain weight.
USUALLY there will be a weight loss unless the client is gaining muscle at a decent rate. As I mentioned – it can happen if some of the factors listed above.
Saying that, Jack’s weight did not drop much (see weight tracking below). We kept a close eye on his progress via body scans each month and photos every 8 weeks. His weight in the week 1 photo was 71kg and his weight at week 16 was 69.5kg. The weight actually only started dropping the last few weeks (as initial muscle gain slowed and we reduced calories to finish off the SHRED)
Weight Tracking
Week 1– 71kg
Week 4– 71kg
Week 8 – 72kg
Week 12 – 71kg
Week 16 – 69.5kg
Starting Strength
Deadlift: 40kg x8
Squat: 40kg x 10
Bench-press 35kg x 10
Ending Strength
Deadlift: 120kg x 1
Squat: 90kg x 5
Bench-press 70kg x 5
Long Term Result - 12 Months
Jack still continues to follow the same dietary structure. He also taught what he had learnt to his father (who lost 15kg and reversed his diabetes type 2) and his mother (lost 12kg).
RELATED: 3 More Body Recomp Transformations
Transformation 1: Christopher - 120kg
As I mentioned earlier – a recomposition can happen at almost any weight. Below is another client who did a recomposition at 120kg. Thats right! He lost body fat (9.1kg) and gained the same amount back in lean body mass… Whilst being 120kg!
Transformation 2: Priyank - 76kg
This badass Doctor decided that he wanted to live as the healthiest strongest version of himself. He maintained weight and has lost close to 7kg of body fat (at the time of writing this post)
Transformation 3: Simon (myself) - 74kg - 2017
This is one of my personal transformations. I maintained weight and lost 6.7% body fat in 8 weeks. I regained a lot of lost muscle mass and trained very hard during this time period.
Want help making a transformation?
Found My Physique was created to help you improve your body composition using science based nutrition and training. Check out the Nutrition Coaching service to see how we can help you fuel your best life and make jaw dropping results in record time.
How Much is 30 Grams Of Protein? – FREE Infographic & Recommended Intake Amounts
Many people struggle to achieve their protein targets for the day, but this simple target can make the world of difference for your body composition, strength and health.
If you do not consume adequate amounts you run the risk of your body RECYCLING stored amino acids (proteins building blocks). This is bad because the body must sacrifice existing structures (such as muscles and other tissue) in order to build/repair itself.
How much is 30 grams of protein in various food sources?
Check out the infographic below to learn about how much food you need to consume to get around 30g of protein
How much protein should I consume per day?
This is a fairly common question but there isnt a “one size fits all” answer. As a basic recommendation, girls should not consume less than 100g a day and guys should aim for at least 150g.
Optimal intake may be slightly higher than these ranges. I explain it in a bit more detail in this Instagram post:
The F45 Diet: How to modify, adjust or choose alternatives for success
Introduction
Modifying the F45 diet may be simple for those who have a higher level of dietary skills or experience, but many are struggling to find answers.
About the author (Simon): For 4 years I worked as the head trainer at F45 Wollongong (NSW, Australia), at which time I was completing my nutrition degree at the University of Wollongong. F45 sold out Australia wide in only 4 years and is quickly becoming a global phenomenon! Whilst at Wollongong F45 I ran 20+ challenges, including nutrition seminars, personal nutrition consults and was constantly giving out nutrition advice to clients.
A frequent question client would ask is: “How can I modify the a F45 diet” but this question came in all shapes and sizes – thus this guide has been created!
This is your definitive guide to modifying the F45 diet from a F45 veteran and qualified university level nutritionist! Enjoy!
I am not officially affiliated to the F45 anymore. I do not make money off this post (unless you want me to be your nutrition coach) but rather I just hope to offer some clarity to those struggling whilst using the F45 eating plan. Enough said…
Table of content:
- The Basics (What you need to understand)
- Macronutrients
- Calories
- Micronutrients
- Nutrition Pyramid of Priorities
- The F45 Diet
- Calories of the F45 Diet
- Phases of the F45 Diet
- Modifying the F45 diet
- Modify or swap an ingredient
- Modify or swap an meal
- Repeat a day
- Stick to the same macros
- Stick to the same calories
- Other Frequently Asked Questions
- Bigger / Taller than average – how to adjust
- Different goal than ‘shredding’
- What is i just use a meal prep service?
- What if I do extra training sessions?
- How can I preserve muscle mass?
- I’m going start tracking macros, how long should I track my intake for?
- I want to keep dieting but I don’t think the F45 calories are what I require?
- Busting some myths
- Detoxing is more myth than fact
- The initial weight loss
- Coffee intake is actually great for burning fat
- There is no magical fat loss effect of low carb
- Eating more often does not speed up your metabolism
- Conclusion
I realize that many of you may be dieting FOR THE FIRST TIME, thus I have kept this post relatively simple and included definitions so it is easy to follow. Okay, let’s get started and level up your dietary skills!
1. The Basics
(what you need to understand)
Firstly it is important to have a basic understanding of the building blocks of food which his proteins carbs and fats also known as your macronutrients. Also, calories are the most important factor for body composition changes. If your not hitting your calories appropriately, your macronutrient ratios or adequate protein intake will not matter as much! We will also dig into a bit of detail about the micronutrients. We will also touch briefly on the order of priorities (which things to focus on first).
Once you know all this, you’ll be able to easily modify the F45 eating plan to suit your lifestyle
MACRONUTRIENTS
The food that we Digest is primarily build-up of macronutrients and micronutrients. The macronutrients are proteins carbohydrates fats and also fibre.
Proteins– 4 calories per gram
Protein is Essential for building lean body mass and repairing damage to muscles and tissue after training. Having adequate protein intake has been shown to help preserve lean body mass and aid in gaining muscle mass. Protein has the highest satiety effect out of all of the macronutrients which means it makes up feel full for longer!
Carbohydrates – 4 calories per gram
Carbs primarily just give us energy. Energy to move, think and function! We need carbs to function, but it is easy to consume too much. Carbohydrates do not fill us up (satiety) as much as protein does. Processed carbs often have the protein and fibre removed to increase their “palatability” (fancy descriptive word for how foods feel while you are chewing them). Once again, we need carbohydrates!
Fats – 9 calories per gram
Fats are also our friends. They provide us with building blocks for our cells and support our hormone production.
Fibre
The 4th macronutrient but not often spoken about. Fibre is essential for our gut health and slows down the absorption of food – giving us a slow release of energy. It is important to keep fibre rich foods in our diet as recent research has been linking our gut health to depression, auto-immune diseases and even our appetite control.
Macro-Nutrient ratios
There is a ratio between the 3 main macro nutrients (protein, carb, fats) that is important to understand (but not as important as you mite think, ill explain more on this later). Most balanced diets will have a balanced ratio of the proteins, carbs and fats.
For example:
Keto/ Low Carb: P – 40-50% F – 20-50% C-10-20%
Zone Diet: P – 30% F- 30% C-40%
Low Fat Diet – P – 30% F – 15-20% C-50-55%
As you can see from these examples there is various amounts of protein carb and fats in each dietary style! Okay, now that we know the basics, lets move on to calories and micronutrients!
Calories
Make no doubt about it, calories are still the king! No diet plan works without a calorie deficit and it is important to remember that hitting your daily calorie allowance is the NUMBER 1 PRIORITY.
Calorie counting may not be as effective as may not actually be as effective as Macro tracking. I wont go into the reasons why in the post but may cover it in a future post. Tracking macros is great for keeping your calories in check. In fact, this is why the “If it fit yours macros (IIFYM)” movement has been so popular.
Micronutritents
The foods we eat have more than just proteins, carbs, fats and fibre. They also are full of tiny little nutrients that we need in smaller amounts. We need micro (small) amounts of these nutrients to function optimally. They have a range of health benefits to having a surplus of these nutrients! To stay focused on the topic, I wont dig too deep into micronutrients.
Just know that they exist and you want to eat a range of nutrient dense foods to ensure you are having adequate intake. The common diet professionals advise is to “eat a LARGE variety of foods to ensure micronutrient requirements”, however, I personally believe eating TOO MUCH variety is worse idea than just eating 10-15 nutrient dense foods on a regular basis.
Why? Because too much variety creates complexity in your diet (more calculations, different cooking, different prepping etc) whereas you could be achieving an abundance of nutrients from consuming 10-15 nutrient dense foods regularly and making it a habit. I digress, lets get back on topic.
The Nutrition Pyramid
Since I have just covered the main categories, it is now important to know what level of priority they should hold. Some people focus so much on supplements, micronutrients or achieving a certain macro goal that they loose sight of the most important factor, total calorie intake.
This is the nutrition pyramid of priorities, popularised by Eric Helms, but the original concept has been floating around for awhile longer.
This pyramid represents how your priorities should be focused, starting at the energy balance (calories in vs calories out) and working your way up to the top (supplements).
The majority of the results will come from addressing the calories, followed by macronutrients. When these are in order (hitting your targets daily), then you would focus more-so on your micronutrients, meal timing and supplements
Okay, now you know all you need to know about nutrition, lets move on to the F45 diet
2. The F45 Eating Plan
Calories of the F45 Diet
The calories of the F45 diet are not mentioned often, and have changed over time. They used to sit at 1300 for girls and 1800 for guys. They now range closer to 1400 for girls and 1900 for guys.
The 3 phases of the F45 Diet
There are 3 main phases of the F45 Diet – Spring training, Regular season and World series. Each phase is boasted to have different benefits with emphasis on things ranging from vegetables, macronutrients, micronutrients. There is also a range of ambiguous terms such as “help you achieve your goals”, “discover the power of macronutrients” or “kick your health into high gear” used to describe the phases.
The fact of the matter is, all 3 phases contain vegetables, higher amounts of protein and also plenty of micronutrients. These phases never stood out to me as anything impressive, in fact, they are similar to the varying F45 class names – meaningless and a simple (yet smart) attempt to give the classes a unique feel.
The macronutrient ratio of the phase does apparently change, although this information has been recently hidden from any F45 information source that I can find, you may be able to track it down. Or if you are unable to locate the phase macronutrient ratio online – simply enter 2-3 days of the diet plan into a dietary tracking software such as myfitnesspal and you will get a clear picture of the macro layout.
3. Options for modifying the F45 Diet
What to do and how to do it
Modify or remove an ingredient:
If you are going to replace food from the F45 diet with another food item you would want to make sure that the calories and macronutrients are equal. You can find the macronutrient information about that food on the F45 diet planner portal. Then you would simply just replace their food with another food item that has the same calories, and preferably the same protein carb and fat.
If the ingredient you are swapping is on my fitnesspal (or another nutrition tracking tool), you can swap it for another ingredient of equivalent macro value (protein, carb, fat)
Example: Changing ingredient – Blueberries
- Figure out how much calories / macros were in the blueberries
- Replace it with another food that meats similar calories / macros
Since blueberries is a carb based food, you could easily swap it for banana, oats, apple, rice cakes, raspberries, etc.
Example: Changing ingredient – Vanilla Protein Powder
- Figure out how much calories / macros were in the Protein Powder
- Replace it with another food that meats similar calories / macros
Since Protein Powder is a protein based food, you could easily swap it for beef, chicken, tofu, tempeh, high protein yoghurt, salmon or other protein foods
If you are REMOVING or choosing not to add an ingredient, you would probably want to replace it with something else (same process as above). If the ingredient has minimal calories / macros then you can just discard it and move on.
Modifying or Swapping an Entire Meal:
Once again, look at the nutrition information for the meal unsing the F45 online portal. Example:
Now, you have the information about the total calories, protein, fats and carbs. You can replace the meal with another meal with the same calories or macros. You can easily replace a meal with another meal on the F45 eating plan of the same nutritional targets.
You could just use the calories (439 calories) and find another F45 meal that has the same amounts (or close to it)
If you are wishing to keep the same macronutrient balance, you may want to look at the macros and choose an alternative meal with the same numbers. This meal is moderate protein (30g), moderate fat (19.8g) and moderate carb (32.8g).
This will keep your daily macronutrient targets and calories all lined up, therefor you can proceed and keep the rest of the eating plan the same.
Repeating a F45 diet day consecutively:
This is a common approach to the F45 diet. I have seen great results from those who have simplified the diet by just repeating the same day over and over. The calories will be lined up, the macros will be lined up and the should be adequate micronutrients.
The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t provide as much variety in your intake. Basically, you wont be eating a large variety of foods, thus you want to make sure that the foods you are eating at meeting your micronutrient targets
If you are choosing the do this approach it may be a good idea to add ALL of the ingredients of your day to an online nutrition calculating tool (such as myfitnesspal, easy diet diary, cronometer, etc) so to see that your intake is on track for your macronutrients & micronutrients.
You could also add a multivitamin into your daily routine to ensure that you are hitting all of your vitamin and mineral requirements. Then, proceed ahead with your challenge.
One last thing to mention – the 3 phases of the diet have different macronutrient layouts, if you wish to do this approach AND achieve the proposed benefits of each phase, consider repeating a day from phase 1 during phase 1, a day from phase 2 during phase 2, etc.
Build your own day - Stick to the same macros
This is a great approach!
It is important to note that the “macro goals” change depending on the phase of the challenge. As listed previously, you may need to add up 1-3 days of the challenge phase on a diet tracking software to find out what macro ratio they are using. If you are still wanting to follow the phases of the challenge, here is an example of how to proceed:
All the information you need for this was listed above
Example:
Male 85kg = Calories: 1900, P C F (phase dependent)
Female 55kg = Calories 1400, P C F (phase dependent)
So all you would do is to break down your calories into your macro ratio. For the sake of this example we will use the Zone macro breakdown (P- 30%, F-30%, C-40%) as it is popular for body composition changes
Protein: 1400 x 30% = 420 calories for protein
Carb: 1400 x 40% = 560 calories for carb
Fat: 1400 x 30% = 420 calories for fat
Then divide the calories by the calorie value for the macro nutrient (listed in basic info above)
Protein: 420 / 4 = 105 grams
Carb: 560 / 4 = 140 grams
Fat: 420 / 9 = 47 grams
So there you have your macros! This could be used for most females trying to lose weight. Your welcome 🙂
Now you can start making your meals to fit those macros and you will get the same results (as long as your tracking skills are adequate)
You can now use a calculator tool such as myfitnesspal, cromium or easy diet diary to add up your macros as you go, or in advance
If adding up your meals in advance, you can do some planning and calculating on my fitness pal – then go shopping and buy all the ingredients!
Build your own day - Stick to the same calories
This approach can work, but it may not be as effective for overall body composition and health as tracking macros. I don’t want to get into all the details (in this post).
Basically, it is because the macronutrients per meal may not be ideal, micronutrient inconsistency, eating timing infrequency etc.
Sticking to the same calories WILL STILL DELIVER RESULTS – but just know, they may not be optimal. People can lose weight eating MacDonald’s (with the correct calorie intake) but the body composition changes and health will not be optimal.
Since Found My Physique was created to help understanding the skills you need to control your diet and physique, I will not be recommending this method, however it can work fine for simplicity sake!
If you do this method, just spread out your meals and make sure to get adequate (20-35g) protein 3-4 times per day.
More Relaxed Approach - Intuitive Eating
Intuitive eating is a combination of listening to your bodies signal (hunger, energy levels, workout performance, etc) and a long list of nutrition skills that can be learned
I would suggest NOT using this method (as it can be inaccurate) unless you have formed a routine accurate eating structure, achieved your ideal body composition, or are on the right the right trajectory.
Here is a basic list of some nutrition skills that I believe to be valuable for intuitive eating
Skill 1 – Eat 80-90% clear lean ingredients that are prepared at home
Skill 2 – Buy the same ingredients (and sizes) but change the flavours
Skill 3 – Buy ingredients that are already weighed so you do not have to weigh them!
Skill 4 – Buy calorie free spices, seasoning and herbs
Skill 5 – Make sure your mindful of additional calories from sauces and oils
Skill 6 – Do basic maths on foods that you buy when you are eating out
This would relate to the visual portion sizing example below
You can also look on my fitness pal if there is a record for the food you are thinking of ordering
You could use the listed calories / kilojoulz and mould the remaining meals in your day to match
Skill 7 – Do extra exercise or activities when you overeat or plan to overeat
Skill 8 – Use this general guideline for visually measuring portion sizes (pitcure)
Skill 9 – Have meal-macro goal based on your daily macro goals
This last skill I have found to be incredibly useful and have taught it in detail to hundreds on my dietary clients! It is such a simple skill but SO EFFECTIVE! If you eat 4 times per day, divide your daily macros by 4 and you will have your meal targets.
It is so simple and effective that I use it in all of my dietary programs. I calculate meals to these meal exactly macro requirements so clients know exactly how much they need to each and how many times per day to eat.
Hitting meal macro goals is a genius idea because it allows you to focus on the “here and now” and also have a target to prepare you meals for. When you focus on the whole day it can become vague and confusing.
I have found this dietary method to be super effective for long term results (its sustainable) as the clients can create other meals to those requirements. They are not stuck with limited options, and when they create new options, they know exactly how big to make those meals. Learn more about my personalised eating plans
4. Other Frequently Asked Questions
I’m bigger / taller than the average, how do I increase my Nutritional Intake?
I have seen 110kg male clients stick to the F45 eating plan and lose around 20kg in the 8 week challenge. Others have lost close to that amount but they also lose a fair bit of lean body mass. Remember, the goal is to lose body fat, not lean body mass. However, if you want to “get it done” then ide advise staying as healthy as possible and learning diet skills along the way that are useful after the challenge to prevent the common massive rebound!
If you are bigger than 90kg as a male or very active, you may want to increase your calories by 200-300. This can be done by simply having 30g of protein and 40g of carbs as a extra little snack. A protein shake and 1.5 bananas would suffice. As a tall or athletic female you may want to do the same.
Remember, everyone has unique requirements based on the size of their lean body mass (fat free mass), their incidental activity (walking, working etc) and how much / intense they train.
I have a different goal than ‘shredding’
If your goal is to gain weight, maintain weight or build muscle mass, then the standard F45 eating plan may not be for you. You may require a different amount of calories for you goal.
Every individual is unique and requires different calorie requirements based on their lean body mass, activity levels, workout regularity (and intensity) and also their goal
As a general guideline – if you are wanting to maintain weight, girls could stick to around 1600-1700 calories and guys could stick to 2300-2400 calories.
Once again, this is a rough guide. Remember, everyone has unique requirements and may require more personalised nutrition rather than a cookie cutter approach.
This is because your energy requirements are based on your lean body mass + your lifestyle activity + your exercise activity and also the small amount of energy that certain foods types take to be digested… But that is beyond the scope of this post.
What if i just use a meal prep service?
I have never seen this as a sustainable long term approach unless you are okay with eating boring meals and have the extra money to throw around. Most people would be better off working on their nutrition and cooking skills in order to make healthy meals themselves!
What is truly special about “meal prep meals”? They are basically clean healthy fresh options. Learn how to cook and prep for yourself. Your journey through life is a long one, do you really want to be average at fuelling yourself and making your body optimal? I think not!
This method can be useful if you are time poor, but I would not suggest it to anyone who is serious about finding their ideal body composition or trying to create a sustainable diet.
If you are doing the F45 challenge for a quick fix, yes, sure, go with the meal prep service. But if you want to make long term results, its never a good idea to offload responsibility (unless you can easily afford to do so)
What if I do extra training sessions?
If you are doing 2 sessions per day, you may want to increase your calories by 200-300. A protein shake and a couple pieces of fruit. If you do not do this you will lose weight faster than recommended and potentially lose muscle mass. Some individuals who are trying to make an amazing transformation will op for this approach, although, it can result in the loss of lean body mass if done incorrectly.
How can I prevent the loss of muscle mass?
Some basic principles to follow when trying to preserve the loss of lean body mass are as follows:
- Keep up a good resistance / strength training program
- Only do double sessions on weight training days
- Don’t do TOO much cardio based training
- Adequate Protein – Keep protein intake at 2.2g per KG of body weight (or above)
- Do not fall too far into a calorie deficit – if you are losing weight too fast it is hard to hold onto all of your lean body mass
- Try to progressively lift more – the goal should be to increase lifting volume and training frequency from the beginning of the challenge to the end of the challenge. (This is basically ‘progressive overload’ and is a fundamental concept in building muscle). This can simply be done by starting with 4 classes a week and slowly progressing to 6+.
I’m going start tracking macros, how long should I track my intake for?
I think it is a good idea to track EVERYTHING for a few weeks. Until you are certain that your intake is accurate. After awhile you can slowly transition to intuitive eating.
Intuitive eating is more appropriate when you already have GREAT control over your diet. Until you are seeing noticeable results
Many of us have formed a HABIT of how we eat. We usually eat 15-30 meals on a regular basis.
It would be rare to find someone who is outside of this norm. Routine and regimented shopping / cooking / eating is something we all do to some degree. Incredibly fit and healthy people also do it!
The trick is to get that accurate healthy routine SET IN STONE… Then you can start intuative eating. Recommended Readings: The Power of Habit
This is why I teach my clients to track their nutrition initially then slowly transition to more laid back approaches as they are nearing their goal or atleast on course to achieving it.
I want to keep dieting but I don’t think the F45 calories are what I require?
Using the F45 calories is not for everyone, but is is good amount for the average male or female to shred. If you believe you have a different requirement, it may be a good idea to have your requirements calculated by a professional. Online tools can be inaccurate and end up making you waste your time
5. Debunking some myths
Cleansing is more myth and truth
What move detox diets / cleanse systems will tell you is that you body is full of toxic chemicals that are affecting your health. A 2009 review of popular detox systems showed that manufacturers cant even list what “harmful” chemicals their products are removing.
You body DOES accumulate some chemicals and compounds that are harmful, for example mercury, pesticides, plastics… But the “magic” way to reduce the amounts of these compounds is really simple… Ill explain it in a 3 step process:
- Stop consuming harmful chemicals
- Eat healthy foods that may assist your body’s natural detoxification process (lots of plants and vegetables)
- Continue this as a lifestyle choice, the regularity will bring the benefits
A detox or cleanse will not be incredibly fast at “removing toxins”… But rather is usually applies step 1 and 2. The other benefits (such as weight loss and feeling better) are primary from eating less calories (which makes you lose weight) and eating less junk food (which can make you feel heavy, slow, bloated or low energy)
Take home message: Cleansing and detoxes are basically a way to waste money but can be useful for breaking out of bad habits of eating poor quality foods.
The initial weight loss
The initial weight loss in the first few weeks can be due to water retention, digestive clearing and decreases in inflammation. Also, carbohydrate storages in the body decrease – which can also make you lose some weight. Many people expect this 1-2kg drop to continue after the first week, but, the majority of people will experience a results closer to 0.5kg-1kg per week.
Coffee intake is actually great for burning fat
Coffee intake can actually boost fat burning, and also increase endurance and performance during your training sessions. If you are adamant on keeping your coffee intake up, then in my opinion go for it! It does help to take coffee detoxes from time to time to get your body re-sensitised to the effects of caffeine
There is no magical fat loss effect of low carb
Research has debunked any “fat burning” super power that low carb diets apparently have. When it comes down to it, the calories in VS calories out is the major factor for success. This idea of the “ideal macro ratio” has floated around for a long time but wont die. The macronutrient ratio can help, but it not the magic bullet that many people believe that it is.
Eating more often does not speed up your metabolism
This myth has been floating around the fitness industry for years! Many of us are snacking and eating 5 meals a day when we don’t need to! The research backing the claims of “eat frequently = boost in metabolism” has been debunked, but the habit of snacking is still super common. Just know that they best meal frequency is one that suits you! If eating 5 times is annoying and takes too much prepping, then consider 3-4 meals per day or intermittent fasting.
6. Conclusion
Make an amazing transformation, but remember, short term habits produce short term results. If you want to make a transformation that is “life changing”, be sure to learn plenty of nutrition and training along the way
If you are looking for scientifically proven methods of weight loss that are sustainable and also teach you about nutrition, how to build meals and how to achieve long term results, then you are in the right place.
After completing my nutrition degree at University of Wollongong, I started creating these methods based on science and the methods of experts from around the world. Whilst at F45, my clients were making epic transformations with less effort, I knew I had to share these methods with the world. Found My Physique was born.
If you are looking for long term results, a nutrition education and methods that are sustainable beyond the challenge, have a look at the personalised eating plans! The plans proven to make amazing transformations and don’t rely on you having to follow a strict cookie cutter routine or 5 meals per day with heaps of annoying ingredients. I let you choose the meals they want to be eating from a large list of healthy options and also how many meals per day, so the diets fit your lifestyle.
Learn More About Personalised Diet Plans
- Science Backed Methods
- Calculated To Your Requirements
- Choose Your Meals!
- Nutrition Education Included
I hope you found this post valuable! Be sure to leave a comment if you think I have missed anything or share with a friend who is also doing the F45 challenge or diet plan.
Stay frosty,
Simon
Nutritionist
Owner of Found My Physique
Controlling Your Mind: The 5 Hindrances to Self-Mastery
"To the mind that is still, the universe surrenders" - Lou Tzu
Lessons from ancient Shaolin wisdom and Marcus Aurelia’s stoic mindset.
When I say mind control, what do you think of?
Many people would think of controlling other people’s minds, but what I am referring to, is controlling your own mind.
Staying in line with our goals and controlling our minds is a life long journey, therefore one would be wise to be aware of these 5 hindrances which can block your path to self-mastery.
The 5 hindrances are states of mind that can distract you from your path. They can control your mind, dampen your energy, and disrupt your spirit. Everyone may experience them slightly differently, that is why I have given a range of examples to fit.
I have also included some wisdom from Marcus Aralias (the wise stoic roman emperor) to show that these ideas transcend time and are valuable lessons to uphold
Let’s dig into the 5 hindrances, and how they are experienced
Ill will / Aversion
Dislike, objection, aversion, frustration
This is a state of mind where your mindset is scattered – making the journey displeasing
Questions to ask yourself –
Am I frustrated with current circumstances?
Is someone bothering me or am I bitching about someone?
What is it that is bothering me lately or distracting me from my path?
Are there people, objects or events in my life which are causing these feelings?
Wisdom from Marcus Aralias:
Take Home Message: Frustration with other people and circumstances come from our judgments within. Although difficult, we can choose how to feel about external events and form habits of doing such
Sensual Desire
Taste, smell, hear, sight or feeling
Questions to ask yourself –
Have I lost my path due to sensual desires?
Have I been distracted by these pleasures, are they disrupting my thoughts and clarity?
Common examples:
An addictive lust for food, sex, or sensations. This could also be a dopamine addiction such as being addicted to entertainment or social media.
Wisdom from Marcus Aralias:
Take Home Message: Some people can spend their whole lives addicted to bad food, bad relationships, and bad habits. Feel and experience these desires, but form a healthy relationship with them.
Dullness / Heaviness
Sleepiness, lack of motivation, lack of energy
This sensation can manifest itself in a state of depression or the feeling of being locked in a cell
Questions to ask yourself –
Is my energy low?
If so, why might it be low?
Mind – Am I thinking negative, low energy thoughts?
Body – Is my body healthy, moving enough and giving me an abundance of energy
Spirit – Are my deepest needs being met? Have I not set clear enough goals for myself and my future?
Wisdom from Marcus Aurelius:
Take-Home Message: It may be impossible to remain sharp, focused, and high energy all day long. Although it is important to note that your thought patterns, the health of your body, and alignment with your purpose all dramatically affect your energy.
Restlessness
Unsettled mind, unable to settle in the present moment. Worrying about the future or traveling into the past
Often known as the monkey mind, constantly jumping from one branch to the other, unable to settle in one place
Questions to ask yourself –
Am I unable to focus?
Do I keep losing track of what I was doing?
Do I have a purpose to my day, week, year, or am I simply being reactive to my circumstances?
Wisdom from Marcus Aurelius:
Take home message: Remember the present is the only moment that exists, and with it comes your ability to control what you are thinking. Recommended reading – The Power Of Now
Sceptical doubt
Disbelief, uncertainty, unsure, disconnected with choices or purpose
When the way is full of too many doubts you will be more likely to stop. This is a feeling of being stuck, frozen, afraid to continue
Questions to ask yourself –
How much time do I spend in “analysis paralysis”?
Does the future often steal my attention
Am I haunted by moments from the past?
Wisdom from Marcus Aurelius:
Take home message: Learn to know your self, trust yourself, improve yourself and move forward to living in line with your truth – you will spend less time in uncertainty
What can we do about it?
We have a duty to ourselves and those around us to strengthen our minds and stay aligned with our goals and purpose . This process is a daily practice – not something that will happen overnight. Building a strong mind is much like building a strong body, it takes years of repetitive practice and constantly “sharpening the axe”.
The best way is to form strong micro routines – you must practice different methods and techniques on a regular basis and assess the results.
But below is a simple solution you can implement if you are regularly suffering from one of the 5 hindrances
Let it R.A.I.N
R – Recognize
A – Accept
I – Investigate
N – Non-identification
Recognize – Become aware of your state and which of the 5 hinderances it is
Accept – Learn to accept, acknowledge and allow things to be the way they are
Investigate – Why did it come up, what is going to be the consequence if i remain in that state, what can I change to get back on my path
Non-identification – I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am not my emotions – rather I can simply see these aspects about myself.
I hope you found as much value with these concepts as I did. If you enjoyed this post, leave a comment or share it with a friend.
Stay Frosty,
Simon
Nutritionist, Owner of Found My Physique
If you wish to do some further reading on these concepts here are a couple links:
Ted Talk – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-079YIasck
Meditations (book) by Marcus Aurelius – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30659.Meditations
Comparison Syndrome: The Problems With Personal Development And Trait Neuroticism
The Problem with Personal Development and it’s Links to Trait Neuroticism (TN)
Disclaimer: I am not a psychologist nor do I have an incredibly advanced understanding of neurochemistry. I do however understand a lot of the basic concepts of psychology, motivation and personal development. I have formed my own conclusions that have been incredibly useful for myself, my friends and my clients. I hope you too find these concepts useful, but take them with a grain of salt.
Have you ever experienced a surge of negative emotions but not quite understood where it came from? Have you ever looked at someone who has “everything” and thought to yourself “Ide be so happy if I was them”? You may be experiencing some form of trait neurotism (TN).
How our basic human hard-wiring plays a role in our everyday reality
Humans are neurologically hardwired to be social creatures as we have developed through thousands of years of being tribal animals. Humans, as inherently social creatures, generally try to conform to various ‘norms’ to avoid social ramifications. Consequently, humans assume the ‘traits’ of those around us to better navigate the social landscape.
“You are the sum of the 5 people you spend the most time around”
Said another way, we are absorbing information from others around us on a subconscious level, ie, body language, facial expressions, acknowledgements, agreement, disagreement etc. We are absorbing this information in order to orientate ourselves in the world. This is how your brain maps out your reality and tries to give you signals to adjust your course of action if need be.
It is all part of our biological programming to orientate ourselves in the world and help the system (the human) survive and replicate. You are hardwired to analyse your behaviour, traits, and actions; helping us avoid bad situations which can reduce your survival and replication and move towards positive situations which may aid and abed our survival and replication. This comes from years of conditioning, from parents, friends, colleagues and yourself. It can also come from seeing others traits, characteristics or actions and then comparing yourself to those traits (also know as comparison syndrome)
But how does this programming work? Why do we experience it?
It is because we feel these interactions through negative or positive emotions. In psychology this is referred to as the “positive affect system” and “negative affect system”. Vertebrate animals harbour these psychological systems to support their efforts to survive and replicate in a complicated environment. As vertebrate animals ourselves, we too must learn from our mistakes through analysis and observing the mistakes or successful behaviour of others.
Although humans have access to these two psychological systems, other animals such as dogs are also in-tune with these systems, which allows them to be socially conditioned. Positive and negative rewards are all you need to condition the animal to behave in a suitable manner.
In order to fully understand what trait neuroticism (TN) is, and why all these concepts are important, you need to know how the positive and negative affect system interact with our conscious experience, especially in regard to traits. You also need to understand what I am defining as a trait… so here are some basic definitions:
What Is A Trait?
A trait is a distinguishing quality or characteristic, typically one belonging to a person. You could also refer to these as heireacheys. Anything that can be measured on a scale from 1-10 is in this game, with the masters or leaders being at the top of each trait. Here are some examples: particular skills, appearance, skin, hair, posture, charisma, weight, physique, memory, laziness, work ethic, etc. The list is endless. If you can think of a high level example you can usually think of a low level example and map out the landscape between.
What Is The Positive Affect System?
This is your reward centre in your brain which will make you feel joy, pleasure or satisfaction after you achieve something which you value as a worthy trait or accomplishment.
This is the small spark of joy you feel when you look in the mirror and you are looking good or you have lost weight. Why did you feel great? Because in those situations, you have moved up on your perceived 1-10 scale of that trait spectrum (appearance & physique). Another example is the sense of satisfaction after having an enjoyable social experience or meeting an interesting new person. It is your positive affect system rewarding you.
When people congratulate us or give us attention, we are deeply rewarded. “Good shot”, “well done” and “congratulations on that promotion” are all expressions of social acknowledgment of another’s positive trait or accomplishment. The recipient will soon feel the effects of this social reward from their positive affect system. They have been re-affirmed that they have moved up, or are placing high, on a trait spectrum.
“Be so great they can’t ignore you” is a classic line from the self-development world, which reminds us that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, all the hard work will eventually get us that sweet reward.
The person who brags or constantly talks about their traits and accomplishments may be addicted to the positive affect system. They may appear self-absorbed to those around them however, they may be unconsciously seeking a small reward from others acknowledging their high trait or accomplishment. They may have the tendency to regularly think or obsess over their high traits, that spark emotion through the positive affect system.
On a subconscious level, when we see people expressing qualities which we deem as a positive trait, we are usually ‘attracted’ to them. Attraction comes in various forms such as eye contact, interest, envy, lust etc. If someone is an outlier in a specific trait such as skill, physical ability, mental ability, natually we watch and we follow. In short, they get our attention. We think “I want to be more like them”. We idolise them and the things they do. We are drawn towards them, thinking that they may facilitate the growth of that trait in ourselves. We do this with our choices in friends, idols, mentors, social contacts and potential mates. We seek others that mirror our traits or that may help us improve our traits.
The qualities we admire in others are usually high-level attributes which we are seeking to reproduce in ourselves.
You may see someone in the room who has similar traits to you and instantly feel connected to them. I would recommend over the next few days that you try to catch yourself doing this, it can be a very rewarding and consciousness provoking experience.
What Is The Negative Affect System?
The negative affect system, when directed internally, can end in guilt or shame. We constantly think about our own traits, or the traits of others, and make judgements towards ourselves that can result in harsh critique of our own self-worth.
Some consider social media to be bad for self-esteem and ideas of self-worth. Take Instagram for example, users are bombarded by photo-shopped images of those whose lives seem “perfect” and look in better shape than us. If we scroll through Instagram you are bound to think to yourself:
“They are in perfect shape”;
“I wish I could do that skill”; or
“I would be happy if I was on holiday on a tropical island”; or
“That is a really nice car”.
In ancient times you would have very little exposure to so many amazing individuals. Your tribe would be 50-500 people and many of which would have similar characteristics. Now that the internet exists, you can easily consume a wide range of things to compare yourself to.
Many people judge others for having lower level attributes than ourselves, especially if we deem that trait to be valuable. We may despise those who lack the qualities we deem as necessary or fundamental. How fast do we make these judgements? Almost instantly! As soon as you look at another human, on some level your brain is analysing their traits and comparing them to yours.
What Is Neuroticism?
Neuroticism is one of the Big Five higher-order personality traits. Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than average to be moody and to experience such feelings as anxiety, worry, fear, anger, frustration, envy, jealousy, guilt, depressed mood, and loneliness.
On the flip side, those considered neurotic tend to be self-aware and self-critical. These traits can be very positive. In terms of personal development, high-quality, accurate introspective is intensely therapeutic when applied constructively. A little can be very rewarding, however, too much can be a bad thing.
Tieing it all together
Okay, now you understand how the positive and negative affect systems work. You understand what traits are and you understand what neuroticism is, so what is trait neuroticism?
Trait Neuroticism (TN) is considered a strong attachment to the negative affect system that results in a neurotic psychological state. In other words, TN is our self-reflective stream that can narrate and evaluate things that are happening however, its strongly affected by the negative (and positive) events that happen around us.
Multiple good events is interpreted as having a good day. Multiple bad events can be interpreted as having a terrible, terrible day. This may appear to some as a form of bipolar to those who do not understand these concepts.
TN can drive us to change in order to avoid these negative emotions that skew the way we perceive ourselves. It can negatively push us to make improvements in our selves. A classic example we have all heard: “my doctor told me I need to lose weight for my health.” The trait of health is low, so low that it is impacting your longevity, thus causing you to feel the negative affect system with more intensity. This can cause a neurotic mindset which can facilitate behavioural change. This is obviously a more extreme example; however some can be triggered by less intense events.
There exist individuals with varying levels of TN. A person with low levels of TN may not feel much from the negative affect system and as a result may seem reckless, wild or out of control to others. An individual with high levels of TN may feel a range of negative emotions while they are in everyday situations such as the example below:
A classic example of someone high in TN would be this scene from American Psycho.
The business card scene is an example of someone strongly affected by TN (plus some other obvious psychopathic issues). As you can see from the video, Patrick Bateman (played by Christen Bale) is obsessed with his colleagues’ traits. He feels strong negative emotion when he does not score higher than other people (a classic perfectionist). Earlier in the clip, his suit was touched by the colleague sitting abreast Patrick Bateman and this was enough for him to snap and feel intense frustration.
Our links to TN can be broken down into a few categories:
Sensitivity: How often is the negative affect system triggered? It can be triggered by low level stressors or the individual may be more resilient. If you a triggered by an event such as someone touching your suit, you may be negatively affected by the lowering of the “clean clothing” trait.
Frequency: How often is the system activated? This relates to how often the individual is being affected by the stressor. Is it happening all day, everyday? Several times a day? Only 1-2 a day?
Intensity: How strong is the negative response? Is the individual bummed or devastated, a big nervous, irritated or filled with rage? This is evident by the sweating as a reaction to the business card shown in the video above. Did one event completely throw you off
Duration: For how long the stress effects the individual. Is the individual holding on to the emotion or event? Are you having a bad day, or did you just have a bad moment and ‘milk it’ for the rest of the day?
The Problem With Self Development And Trait Neuroticism
In a world where we can all improve ourselves and learn whatever skill we want, why is TN a problem if it can facilitate growth?
When considering self-development, we sometimes ask ourselves “who am I?”, “who ought I be”, “what is my ideal self” and “what should I do with my life”. During which, it is not hard to find ourselves in a state of becoming overly self-critical. This is particularly potent for those not satisfied with their current selves.
If your life isn’t “ticking all the boxes”, for instance you don’t enjoy your job, your love life is unfulfilling, or you are time poor, you could easily find yourself in this neurotic state of being bombarded by the negative affect system. Lower intensity life events could easily affect someone who is more sensitive as shown by Patrick Bateman in the scene from American Psycho (featured above).
Trait Neuroticism is associated to anxiety and depression. It is crucial for people with anxiety and depression to understand this. High levels of TN do not necessarily mean you are destined to develop depression or anxiety; however, it makes you more vulnerable to them. Especially if you aren’t balancing it out with some positive emotions, you may feel like the events happening around you are bringing you down.
Being motivated by negative emotion is also common for those who gain and lose weight regularly. The yo-yo effect of dieting. They are driven by the negative affect system to lose weight. Once most of it is lost, they no longer are neurotic about it and motivation levels reduce, usually resulting in the weight returning to normal.
Depression and anxiety disorders are patterns of negative emotion that arise, generally in a vicious repetitive cycle. It only takes a few traits or situations for someone with TN to become anxious, worry or start to feel depression.
Lets quantify some examples on a scale from 1-10
I have found that using a 1-10 scale is simple and effective for quantifying movement of perceived traits and characteristics. I also believe this is why gratitude is so powerful as it helps us reaffirm a higher position on this 1-10 trait spectrum.
Example 1:
Your stuck in isolation, or injured and your physique used to be a perceived 7/10. Now you are a 5/10 or predicting a 5/10 and it is causing negative emotion.
Example 2:
You are happy about the fact your income just cracked $1500 per week and feel good that you are improving your wealth trait. Later that day, you browse Instagram and see photos of a car you still could never afford. You may view the owner as a 8/10 in the wealth trait, and you suddenly feel less of an accomplishment.
Example 3:
You look in the mirror, and a giant pimple as appeared on your face. You usually consider yourself a 9/10 cos your attractive AF, but now you feel like a 7, giving you a flood of negative emotion.
You get the picture, but everyone’s experience is unique – try to identify your own examples of how this process is effecting your reality on a daily basis.
I See The Problem, But What Is The Solution?
Extreme neuroticism can be crippling, but in moderation is desirable. It may help you move towards your goals.
Think of neuroticism as a super-power which is hard to master and not everyone learns how to use properly. Or think of neuroticism as salt; a little goes a long way, but too much can ruin the dish”
“Neuroticism is like salt; a little goes a long way, but too much can ruin the dish”
Although I do not have all the answers, the following are a series of strategies to better manage the negative effects of disruptive stimuli on our psychological systems.
Tip 1: Awareness and reprogramming
Start paying attention to how you process moments happening around you. Especially when you experience negative emotion. Pause for a second. Rewind and replay the voices in your head and see if the trait neuroticism loop had a role in those feelings. It is not the cause of ALL negative emotions, but it will be related to many. I often wonder, how much damage can this loop be doing on a regular basis?
You need to accept the game exists but learn to disconnect from it. Laugh when you catch it playing a role in your reality. Perhaps re-frame the voices into a positive light then move on.
The positive and negative affect system are always going to be there. If you are constantly seeking social rewards through another acknowledgement of your improved traits (i.e. I’m lifting more than ever and I’m the strongest I’ve ever been) you are linked to the positive affect system. You may seek a new car and feel happy for a short time, but then you return to base line with the same levels of TN. Or alternatively, when a trait gets lower (i.e. I’m gaining body fat) you may feel the negative affect system, and it drives a serious of anxiety. The system is ALWAYS going to be there.
You must detach yourself from the highs and the lows and realise you are all you need to be happy. You can do this by working on your self-worth. Working on your SELF-WORTH is so important because it allows you to grow in reference to yourself rather than comparing yourself to others. You must understand that regardless of the events and traits surrounding your life, on a deep level, you are all that you need to be happy.
Play the game with intent to win but somewhat learn to detach from the results. Don’t ride the highs, don’t crash and burn from the lows.
Tip 2: Work on your emotional intelligence
I would suggest everyone read emotional intelligence 2.0 written by Travis Bradbury, as it offers a greater understanding of one’s own emotions and how they can be identified, managed and redirected.
Tip 3: Understand that this condition does not go away if you climb the ladder to top
Many of us just think – if i just get THIS or if i just get THERE, I will be happy. Many people find that with more accomplishments this feeling does not subside. You may move up in fitness, then you start associating with fitter people, and once again, you are just average. You may move up in wealth, and own a yacht, then after making new friends, you find yourself at a party with people who all own yachts bigger than yours. It will not end, there is always someone doing better than you in some category. Accept it and focus on yourself instead of comparing yourself to others.
Tip 4: Identify your traits or life events that repetitively trigger your neuroticism, write them down, address them in a healthy constructive way
Some people can spend days or even weeks dwelling on a few traits or social events.
Naturally our minds are designed to constantly churn information in regards to our lives and hopefully arrive at some useful understanding or conclusion.
I have found this process is too slow and it is very taxing to our everyday performance. Write down your issues, write down why they are affecting you in a negative way, then decide if it is a real problem or if you are just worrying. Next, write down a few solutions which may address this issue and bring additional reward through the positive affect system. Circle one solution and set a time and date for performing this task. Once you have analysed your issue and created a plan, you will stop feeling as overwhelemed as you have already decided a solution. Additionally, now that you have set a goal or objective, once you start moving towards it you will be triggering your possitive affect system. This is very powerful for times when you have multiple issues to deal with. See example layout below:
Issue | Why is it negatively affecting me? | Is it really an issue? | Potential solutions |
1 2 3 |
If you can aim to be spending no more than 10% of your day being neurotic, you are winning.
The goal is to keep moving towards your dreams and desires WITHOUT being hindered by a faulty processing system. Your view of the world dictates your reality and controls your emotions.
“You must regularly prune the weeds out of the garden that is your mind”
I hope you found these concepts as valuable as they were for me. After so many years of working on my body and mind I have realised that true happiness does in-fact come from within.
If you found this useful, share it with friends!
If you think I missed anything, leave a comment below expressing your ideas.
Peace and Love
-Simon
Why Dieting Can Be So Difficult – 27 Common Problems People Face
A nutritionist explains many common problems people face when trying to master their diet.
Why do so many people quit? Why is it so overwhelming?
What puppet master is pulling the strings behind the scenes?
Warning, this may take 10-15 minutes to read and can be quite overwhelming… grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit back as I take you on a journey that gives you a map of the nutrition environment and all of its obstacles.
After seeing thousands of people enter transformation challenges at various gyms, and helping so many clients with their nutrition I have realised some consistencies… I would say the average success rate is around 10-15% of participants who really try and make a transformation. Half of the people who try to make changes to their diets fail or just go back to their old habits
Think of this post as a landscape of dietary change, and I, Simon, am your tour guide – each one of these factors is an obstacle that could potentially fuck up your journey. Be warned, this post may seem a little heavy, but I wanted to highlight the areas of complexity and offer a solution for each
I have broken it down into 3 categories:
1 – Problems in the fitness and nutrition industry
2 – Problems in society
3 – Problems the individual faces
There is no simple answer to this question as many of these factors relate to each other… enjoy the journey!
1. PROBLEMS WITHIN FITNESS AND NUTRITION INDUSTRY
Nutrition Camps
Believe it or not there in not 1 “ultimate diet” that works for everyone, but there are many groups of people that try and advocate one type as being the best. We have all met Ketogenic diet advocates, vegans, paleo, vegetarians and now even carnivores. These are just a few of the many camps within the nutrition world. Its nice to have some diversity, but this often confuses the average joe as they hear too many strong opinions!
Furthermore, all of these camps manage to find some research to back up their claims or have influential people backing them. They throw around their methods as being the “one and only” as soon as they notice some success from a particular method.
Take home message: Be careful of diet cults – they may produce results, but you can be fed a lot of poor-quality information or advice.
Supplement Companies
Many (not all) supplement companies would have you believe that the pathway to muscle gain, fat loss etc is through buying their product. This is WRONG! I am yet to find any fat burning product that can outperform the weight loss effect of a calorie deficit! Supplements are useful as a tool to improve your diet, not to replace it! Many supplements provide poor quality effects in comparison to how they are marketed. Many supplements base their claims on poor quality research. It’s a mess and unless you know how to find the REAL high-quality supplements, then you may be wasting your money and time.
Take home message: Always address your dietary intake first then use supplements as a boost
Pyramid Schemes
This is the biggest joke amongst qualified health professionals. Any coach or nutritionist worth his weight in gold will not support these money-making schemes. They lead individuals to believe that their company has the answer to their health and financial freedom, and then charges them a premium for being included in their cult.
The supplements are overpriced and the system leaves 99% of the nutritionally inspired individuals paying more money than they believed they would be able to earn.
Yes, a lot of people lose weight and make a transformation using these systems… but its due to a calorie deficit, not because of a magical formula or supplement.
The experience leaves people with empty wallets and a distorted view of nutrition. Its not good for building a quality nutrition skillset that relies on eating the right foods.
Take home message: Be incredibly careful when being approached by those promising to give you a lifechanging experience by selling their products. 99% of the people in these systems are losing.
Vague Advice
This is a personal pet peeve of mine, but I think many people have had an experience along the lines of “just eat less bread” or “try to limit snacking”. I do think these approaches have their time and place, but sometimes the individual needs clear instructions and a solid dose on nutrition education to help them understand why they are doing what they are doing.
Take home message: Seek advice that is proven to get results and you can implement easily
Self-Proclaimed Guru’s
Everywhere you look you can find Instagram models, personal trainers, pyramid system health coaches and people who got a ‘nutrition degree’ online in 6 weeks. These people may have a following, be in good shape and have shown success with transforming others, BUT, they usually have very narrow understanding of nutrition. Ask them what their qualifications are and if they are able to back up their advice with quality evidence.
Take home message: Always take what you hear with a grain of salt
Shitty fitness equipment that promises to fix all your problems
I cannot stress enough – those “ab blaster pros”, electrocuting ab blasting machines or the vibrating platform are the biggest jokes in the industry. They prey on sleep deprived lonely uneducated individuals who are sitting behind a TV. Real results require effort, but these companies want to sell you something simple that requires almost 0 effort… it won’t make you change, and most people do not use these pieces of equipment for long.
NO ONE who is in really good shape got that way from standing on vibrating platform. What is interesting to notice (next time you see one of these products) is that there is usually a tiny disclaimer down the bottom of the screen that says “must follow X nutrition plan for results” (or something along those lines).
Take home message: The piece of equipment does not work. What does work is the diet and lifestyle changes that go along with it. Also, the majority the fitness models you see promoting these products got fit from other forms of activity.
Gyms and Various Exercise Routines
I think that is fair to say that the majority of gyms would like to make you think that exercise is the key to weight loss and getting in good shape. Don’t get me wrong, physical exercise is one of the BEST things you can do for your health. However, after many years of training, most people come to the realisation that the exercise they are doing is not working as well as it was promised – they have been sold an idea that training is the majority of the results. The gyms and exercise programs are often promising results that they cannot deliver without properly addressing the individual’s nutrition and lifestyle. Nutrition is at least 70% of the results, training is probably 20% and lifestyle is the remaining 10%. I have seen hundreds of people in the same shape if not WORSE shape after 2-3 years at a gym, why? Because they never improved their nutrition. If you are going to try and achieve results, focus on what you need to do to get those results
There are also a huge range of exercise routines that provide very MINIMAL results in comparison to proper training (yet market themselves as producing amazing physique). I won’t go into the details of proper training in this post, but, just know there is a right and wrong way to do things.
Take home message: Majority of ads from gyms feature incredibly fit people, the marketing is often misleading as those fit people got that way from years of training and clean eating.
2. PROBLEMS WITH THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY
Poor quality information & nutrition myths
Poor quality nutrition information floats around the nutrition industry worse than poor quality training in the fitness industry. Everyone has met someone who thinks “carbs are bad” or “low fat is a better option because fats make you fat”. There are hundreds of these nutrition myths floating around and here are a few more:
- Eating more often speeds up your metabolism
- High protein diets are bad for you
- Eating eggs is bad for your cholesterol
- Diet soda spikes your insulin and can lead to diabetes
- You can’t gain muscle on a plant-based diet
These pieces of poor-quality information spread like a virus through misinformed people, anecdotal evidence and gym bros. There is also the problem of “the science delay” which I will talk about later.
Take home message: Read everything, listen to everybody, believe nothing unless you can prove it with your own research
The news relays bad advice constantly
Many (not all) news stations are feeding you distorted nutrition information. They are obsessed with wine, chocolate, coffee and other controversial subjects. It is very common for the news to take a small piece of a recent study and turn the ‘take home message’ into something else (like Chinese whispers).
Take home message: Try to refrain from absorbing nutrition information or tips from the news.
Nutrition is poorly taught in schools or not at all
It is crazy to think that nutrition (a skill that we need to use 3-5 times a day) is not taught in school. We spend months learning subjects that are useless later in life. Its an outrage that the school system does not have a solid nutrition component (other than the small dose in PE).
Take home message: Nutrition education should be part of a child’s development; we would have less overweight citizens and reduced rates of health problems.
Corporate greed and addictive foods
Above is an infographic showing all the major food brands and how they are all owned by a few large companies.
Corporations rarely care about your health and wellbeing. They care about selling products and improving their profit margins. Many of them will fill their products with sugar (or any of its 50+ substitutes) to improve the taste and satisfaction of their product.
Some companies will even trial out a huge range of food items (their product) with hundreds of participants (invited to eat their food) and study which food item is favoured. They KNOW what food to sell because they have developed it to be delicious and addictive.
These companies have a lot of money and can fund these ‘research’ products to help them develop their products so they can sell sell sell. It is reported that some product researchers have used brain scans to see how much the ‘pleasure centre’ of your brain lights up when you consume various products. The use this info to find out which product give the best pleasure response and then it is more likely to be accepted by the masses and promote reoccurring sales.
Take home message: Try to avoid many of these foods, yes they are delicious, yes you “LOVE that food” but, you are not a special snowflake for loving that food, you are a victim to a well designed product that triggers your primal reward centre in the brain (more on this later)
Persuasive marketing
If the addictive / delicious product was not bad enough, marketing has taken it to another level. Marketers know what images, fonts, icons and trigger words to use to grab your attention. We aware of trigger words such as gluten free, gmo free, vegan, low carb, low fat or my personal favourite; high protein. These eye catching statements DO NOT mean the product is healthy, but rather they are just using a smart marketing tactic to tick one of the boxes that you use to make food choices.
Up-and-go (now the most popular breakfast food) is a great example of marketing success. They say “the same protein and fibre as two weetbix and milk”. This is smart because weetbix has a good rep as a healthy breakfast and you also know protein and fibre being healthy. The consumer is left thinking “it’s easier to consume the liquid and I get the same nutrition?”. Not exactly true… it contains more sugar, higher calories and much lower nutritional value than actually eating weetbix. All three Up & Go flavours contained around 20g of sugar and cost $4 per serve, compared with a bowl of Weetbix which cost 24 cents per serve.
Many breakfast cereal products use these same tactics to promote their products as healthy. Do you think ‘the iron man food’ is food?
Take home message: Be aware of packaging and ads – it can be misleading and trying to trigger you to make misinformed choices
It takes awhile before new science reaches the masses (outdated advice)
Just think how long it took for Intermittent fasting to become accepted as a norm? I have been praising the health benefits of intermittent fasting since 2016, and now it’s finally common knowledge. There is a huge delay in what we are recently discovering and what is accepted as the ‘norm’.
I believe this delay is decreasing as the internet is providing ample ways to assimilate new information. However, it is good to remind ourselves “my opinions are only based on what I know, and I may not have all the information on this topic. There is great quality information out there that is well beyond the common consensus if you are willing to seek it.
Take home message: Be a nutrition agnostic and question everything you hear. Do your own research and read proper nutrition books or follow university level gurus
Information Overload
The digital age has brought the ability to access endless amounts of information. It is great to be able to find recipes, formulas, how-to videos etc. However, many people get lost in this clutter and do not know how to filter out the truth from the lies and sales websites. Especially with nutrition or training, these are longer term commitments and you want to know that you are following a method that is proven to be successful. Finding good information sources on the internet can take awhile as you need to map out the landscape.
Take home message: Try to find information sources you can trust
3. PROBLEMS ON THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL
Lack of knowledge
This is an obvious one, many people struggle with dieting as they do not understand the basics of nutrition. Understanding proteins, carbs, fats, calories, metabolism, energy balance can get you a long way! It also REALLY HELPS if you know what macronutrients are in which types of foods. I try to ensure that each of my dietary clients understand these basic skills.
These nutrition skills and knowledge is a worthwhile investment of your time as it will affect your body composition, health, immune system, sport performance, recovery and longevity (how long you will live).
I respect anyone who is willing to put in the time to grow their nutrition knowledge, as without it you can easily be a victim to unexplainable fluctuations in weight, energy levels and mood. If you truly wish to perform optimally, you must learn the basics of nutrition so you can make educated choices.
Take home message: Learn to accept that nutrition is a skill you need for life, and you need to invest some effort into becoming good at it! Be sure to download my FREE E-book – Basics Of Nutrition. This will help you get started!
Lack of cooking skills
Many people hate eating healthy foods because they don’t taste great in comparison to KFC and other fast foods. You need to know some basics of cooking in order to turn real foods into delicious meals… This one is simple, I won’t get into details – learn to cook bro! You can make healthy foods delicious AF.
Take home message: Don’t be lazy, learn to cook delicious foods
Parental influence
Think back to the information that was fed to you from your parents about what constitutes a healthy diet… anything coming to mind? It’s not their fault, health and nutrition advice are much better than it used to be. Doctors used to tell people smoking and consuming sugar was good for you. Our parents (generally) had a lower level of nutrition education than we currently have.
Poor quality information and habits still float around between communities and families. These group habits take a long time to change and can hugely effect someone’s eating habits. I have consulted many people who are overweight or even underweight and it had a lot to do with how they were raised. The eating habits you develop as a child or teenager can make a dramatic influence on your weight, growth and self-confidence.
Some countries have made it a punishable offence if your child is overweight or obese, and so it should be, they depend on the parents to make good food choices for them
Take home message: Be mindful of the eating habits you have acquired from your family
Lack of direction
Many people haven’t been shown a way to succeed with nutrition – it can be incredibly discouraging when the only dietary experiences you have attempted have failed miserably. I have a lot of clients come to me amazed when they lose weight… I always think, WHY? It’s proven to be effective.
They are amazed because all of the other solutions they have tried have failed.
There are 1000 ways to skin a cat and there are also 1000 ways to lose weight. All diets work if you have a calorie deficit. The best diet for you is the diet that you can stick to in the long run and gets you the results you want at the level of commitment you are willing to endure.
Take home message: Reflect often and ask yourself these questions – Can I improve my nutrition more? What areas of my life can I change in order to see results? What protocol can I try that fits my lifestyle? Where am I getting my nutrition education?
Lack of self-discipline to change
Some people are not able to change just because they lack the willpower to move out of their comfort zones. Changing your nutrition IS changing your lifestyle. You have to change your shopping habits, your cooking habits, your meals, your snacks etc. The foods you may have loved eating regularly are gone and it may take some time to adjust to the new routine. Self-discipline to change means you have a solid goal to a brighter future, where the healthier happier version of yourself is able to sustain good eating habits all year.
Self-discipline is also required to “get back on the horse”. Everyone encounters obstacles, setbacks and failures. Life rarely goes to plan. When this happens, you get back on track, and keep moving forward! That fight that you had with your sister or friend is no excuse to let your diet crumble for 2 days. That wedding / hangover you had is also no excuse to quit.
Take home message: Set a goal and stick to it long enough to see results!
Social pressure and unhealthy friends
This is a big deal for a lot of people. Many of us have friends who are more than willing to eat a whole pizza and coke and not bat an eyelid. Or the friends who drag you to MacDonald’s after a night out drinking. These friends may not respect their health or care about their nutrition. There is a famous saying “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.
Take home message: Find friends who hold nutrition and health to the same or higher standard than you do!
Habitual eating times
Did you know that when you eat regularly at the same times your body releases appetite hormones to make you hungry at that same time. If you are a constantly snacking of changing your eating times, you may be battling against inconsistent appetite signalling
Take home message: Eat regularly at the same times to avoid appetite inconsistencies
Environmental triggers
What if I told you that your environments can trigger you to think and feel in certain ways? I don’t think its too much of a stretch to say people get more work done in the office, study better in the library and train harder at the gym compared to home.
Environments have an impact on how you think and feel, and some environments are built for disaster. If your workplace is constantly full of poor-quality food. If your house has heaps of snacks. If you find food in your mouth shortly after opening the fridge (GUILTY). If you usually snack while sitting on a specific couch. All of these occasions you could find yourself consuming food without even putting much thought into it, its habitual, its autopilot, it’s the environment triggering a habit. It is good to try and set your environments up for success – remove snacks from the fridge or find healthy snacking alternatives.
Take home message: Set up your environments for success, clean out the fridge and pantry! New habits take time to form, until then, eat healthier alternatives.
The Rebound Effect – aka – diets do not work
Everyone has heard the expression ‘diets don’t work’. This is a common shared experience for a few reasons:
- Reason 1 – Diet was a bad fit – The diet was not a good fit for you and contained meals you didn’t enjoy eating
- Reason 2 – No flexibility – You never learnt how to adjust your diet or create your own meals
- Reason 3 – Tracking is difficult – You are not mathematically inclined, so asking you to track everything was unrealistic
- Reason 4 – Didn’t diet long enough – You spent a few days or weeks attempting it then some life event happened, and you didn’t see results so why bother trying
- Reason 5 – Adherence – You didn’t adhere to the diet properly (your calories were too high) and thus you didn’t see results
- Reason 6 – Template diets -You got sick of sticking to the same boring “chicken and rice” template diet
- Reason 7 – Reliance on others – after using meal services such as jenny craig, weight watchers, meal prep companies etc many individuals never learnt how to diet/cook for themselves
As you can see there is a multitude of reasons why ‘diets’ don’t work for many induvial and they usually rebound, feeling sad and sorry for wasting their time and efforts. Many of these solutions didn’t offer the flexibility or education that is required for long term results!
Take home message: Many “diets” don’t work because they are too restrictive, they deprive people of foods they enjoy, or they lack nutritional education. Many people who eat amazingly healthy and achieve results do not think of it as a diet – they have learnt how to eat the right foods in the right amount and satisfy their cravings in a healthy way.
The primal ‘reward’ centre in the brain
As mentioned earlier, this pleasure reward centre of your brain can be triggered by foods. Thousands of years ago this pleasure response was originally there to help us find calorie dense foods so we could survive. It is a primal survival mechanism, much like how we have acquired a taste for salt (as salt was hard to come-by in ancient times).
Foods high in sugar or fat were hard to find so our brains evolved to reward us when we consumed these foods… this would provide you with some dopamine, helping to form the habit, and assuring the body has energy stored for the tough times to come (long winters, harsh environments, etc).
Brain: eat more of this, it feels good 😉
Stupid monkey who doesn’t know anything about nutrition: Okay!
Monkey consume more calorie dense foods and survives.
Your taste sensations and associated pleasure response mechanisms were originally intended to help you consume calorie dense foods in order to survive. Now that calories are easy to come by, this system does not help us as much anymore. Rather, people are falling victims to this pleasure-response relationship and consuming too much because it feels good to eat.
Some people self-identify with their “love” for a specific food or junk food… the question is, is person really in love with the food, or have they been repetitively programmed into loving that food. They are more-so a victim of their primal reward hardwiring combined this with calorie dense foods that are engineered by corporations to trigger this reward centre.
Combine this “reward factory” with calorie dense addictive foods and you have yourself a population of people addicted to eating their way to an early grave. It’s a hard cycle to kick but you need to learn to eat 70-90% for function and enjoy these pleasure signals to an appropriate amount.
Take home message: You are not a unique special snowflake for enjoying calorie dense foods, you are human, and you are programmed to seek it. Controlling this primal urge is important for body composition goals and long-term health!
Sugar cravings
Sugar is highly addictive due to this primal reward centre giving you spikes of dopamine. No wonder it is added to the majority of processed food products. Did you know that bacon usually has some added sugar?
Aside from the potential dopamine addiction, there also appears to be ANOTHER reason that sugar is addictive!
Sugar also promotes the growth of bad bacterial in the gut which feed off of the sugar and multiply in numbers. Additionally, recent studies have discovered that bacteria have the ability to send signals to the brain to encourage consumption of the food they thrive off. The more bacteria that grow, the stronger these signals can become. Consumption of sugar increases the number of bad bacteria in the gut, which increases the signal those bacteria send to the brain. It’s a vicious cycle of addiction.
These addictions are one thing, but sugar is actually terrible for your health. If you just search on the internet you will find hundreds of studies that support this. It is believed that sugary drinks ALONE contribute to 184,000 deaths every year.
Take home message: Sugar is terrible for your health. Quit! Quit now! If you do any 1 thing to improve your health you should quit sugar! Do it yesterday!
Lack of mentors or good role models of healthy eating
It is hard to find people out there who really have a firm grip on their nutrition. Even the ones who are shredded and full of muscle, many of them have no idea to adjust their diets and consume a wide range of foods. Its hard to find those around you who are regularly eating amazing foods and engaging in conversations about how to improve their nutrition.
I think talking about healthy eating should be more common and people should be passionate about it as it brings so many benefits! Through good conversations we can learn ways to improve.
Take home message: Find people to talk to about nutrition
The impact of sleep on appetite hormones and fat loss
This one is not common knowledge. Did you know your sleep cycle can have a dramatic impact on your level of cravings and also the metabolism of your fat cells? One study found participants on the calorie-controlled diet lost 55% less weight when they were deprived of sleep. For tips on how to improve your sleep quality, read this article I wrote!
Take home message: Improve your sleep to regulate your appetite hormones and improve fat loss
So what is the answer?
It’s amazing how many people can get stuck on ONE or a few of these sticking points and never get over it.
I know this can be very overwhelming, I know, I have lived and breathed nutrition for the past 6 years and have learnt so many skills along the way. I started off as a humble personal trainer, trying to get my clients in shape and failing because I had never addressed their nutrition properly. I struggled getting into amazing shape myself until I followed my first strict dietary protocol (wasn’t sustainable but gave great results).
You need to think of yourself as a nutrition student – constantly learning new skills and ways to improve your dietary intake. Try various methods! Education and practical nutrition skills are the key to long term results.
Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results – Albert Einstein
I think there are heaps of other methods available for you on your nutrition journey. Like I said earlier, there are 1000 different ways to diet. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to dieting, this is why I offer my dietary clients a range of options for how often they eat and what types of meals they wish to be eating.
I have found that you need to have some structure to your day, a variety of choices of foods to eat, and a good understanding of what foods to choose. No long-term results with nutrition are possible without these skills. If you want me to help you along this journey, send me a message. Following a proven formula is the fastest way to get results!
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Stay Frosty
– Simon
