You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet. Lots of people have tried (including me). But that doesn’t mean you have to be obsessive about food.
I’ve had several people talk to me this week about messing up on their diet or indulging in a treat. Invariably, they all felt guilty about it. And I’ll ‘fess up too. I’m writing this at a Second Cup (Canadian equivalent of Starbucks—only better of course…), and I had a biscotti with my double espresso. Yep, I’m feeling a bit guilty about it.
In Bodyweight Blueprint For Fat Loss, there is an amazing audio report from nutrition expert Brad Pilon. He’s famous for popularizing the idea of obsessive compulsive eating and dieting. His insight into our societal attitudes about food is uncanny. And he very accurately pinpoints any dysfunctional all-or-nothing associations we have with food.
One of the points he makes in the audio report is that life happens, food is tied to life and our social interactions, and we have to be able to interact with food in this way without succumbing to guilt and dejection about not following a “perfect” diet. In other words, if you’re going to indulge in delicious but calorie-dense food, enjoy it fully and move on. Don’t make a habit of it, but don’t dwell on it either.
How High School Math Can Help
90% — 10% Balance
I often frame this as the 90% rule. Pick a nutritional strategy that works for you and that makes sense. Then stick to it like glue 90% of the time. The other 10% you can indulge reasonably and you’ll do just fine.
To get the hang of it, you can chart it out at first. Figure out your ideal week and make up a sheet with every meal mapped out. Put the chart on the fridge. Count the total number of meals for the week.
Once you know how many meals and snacks you’re working with, multiply that by 10%. So if you’re eating 4 meals and snacks a day, that’s 28 meals. 10% of that is 3 meals that you can use as leeway.
80% Full
That does NOT mean you can pig out during those meals. It just means you can loosen your restrictions on what you eat. So if you go out with friends for lunch, pick whatever you want off the menu, then eat until you are ALMOST full, but not quite. CST Head Coach Ryan Hurst recommends eating until you are 80% full. This is a custom which comes from Japanese culture (Hara hachi bu).
Don’t Try To Be Perfect
The most effective way to ensure you will fail is to set yourself up as perfect. When you fall, dust yourself off and keep trudging along. Every single day you get to start over again in the quest for a better you. That’s a pretty amazing gift. Embrace it.
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Guys,
The only problem I have with the 80% full strategy is that most processed foods bypass the hormone leptin (the hormone that signals your brain when you’re full) and triggers the hormone ghrelin (the “glutton” hormone) so that by the time you’re “80% full” you’ll probably have consumed enough calories to fuel a large bovine. It may work in Japan, where there are plenty of seaweeds and vegetables to eat, but here in the land of processed everything I think that strategy is a big mistake.
I do agree that trying to be perfect is setting yourself up for failure. If you screw up, admit it, go back to being a goody-goody, and move on!
Keith – You have a point. But on the other hand, most people will keep filling up until they are gorged—which means in reality to the point of bursting. So at 80% full, 10% of the time, you’ll probably be fine…
One of my teachers (Swami Veda Bharati) suggests a similar strategy–just eat 5 mouthfuls less at a meal–it certainly can be adjusted–it helps more than in just caloric restriction–helps strengthen focus and will power and sure can use all the help i can get
This may work but I think the most destructive thing is feeling guilty. I can feel mega guilty and then continue eating crap for a couple of weeks before I snap out of it. Need to look at eating something off-plan as normal (as part of the programme) so you don’t feel guilty. Need to train your brain to think like this.
Maybe I can’t eat off-plan as not only do I feel mega guilty but it just sets me up for mega cravings for carbohydrates.
Keith makes a good point – which c0ntains its own answer – almost. Eat whole foods! That processed stuff isn’t really food is it? Okay, so if you’re out with friends and you know you’re gonna have junk – drink a couple glasses of water before you start eating (and drinking other stuff) and that will help you feel full faster – even with the junky stuff. Another strategy is to put your fork down between bites…and to actually swallow a bite and feel it get to your stomach (or at least out of your throat) before you take another one. Many of us are shovelers, unconsciously of course. It will take you longer to eat, and your body has a chance to signal you before you go overboard. Try it sometime – I used to be a shoveler, and it is a hard habit to break!
We ditched grains and starchy veggies (potatoes & beans) over a year ago. Ditched the sugar as well, save a jar of honey. I have lost about 25 pounds without even trying. I do miss french fries (the glycemic load of a potato is astounding) , but that’s about it. No cereal, no bread, no milkshakes nor sodas. The first week was a little rough, but now the thought of a shake or a sub sandwich has zero appeal to me. Nada. We rarely need to venture into the aisles of a grocery store anymore – everything we need (meat, veggies, eggs & cheese) are on the perimeter.
You can shovel all the food you want and still have trouble hitting 2500 calories a day, thus our weight loss.
Jeff
Peter – Interesting tactic.
Sue – Spot on, and exactly what Brad is getting at. Our relationship with food—thanks to the freakish over abundance of it—leads to serious guilt issues. When you deviate from you “plan,” the guilt takes over and you end up in a funk of crappy eating for days, weeks or even forever… Life is going to make you deviate. The takeaway is to accept that as part of the process rather than a deviation.
Sue G – Putting the fork down is HUGE. Great point.
Jeffrey K – The perimeter of the grocery store is where it’s at man! Do you do dairy and nuts? Congrats on ditching the grains. It takes guts to go against Conventional Wisdom like that…
I lost 70 lb ditching the starchy white stuff – perimeter shopping and eating whole foods and have maintained it for two years. I am never hungry. I do exercise too mind you but the paleolithic type eating (minus the hunting and gathering) is soooo important.
Now down to the gym to do bodyweight workout.
Once again, great post Coach Steer!
Yes, there are loads of seaweed and veggies over here but that still doesn’t keep Japanese away from the processed stuff. Must… eat… strange sweet-bean filled doughnut… No matter what you eat, I say you put the fork down after every bite. Takes longer to eat. But that means more time for quality conversation over the dinner table.
Way to go on ditching the white stuff Christine! That’s my big thing; if it’s white, I don’t eat it. Which is sometimes difficult to explain in the land of rice.
I have a very simple rule of thumb along these lines: No Sweets, No Snacks, No Seconds (except on days that begin with “S” – ie the weekends). I got this from the “Shovelglove” guy, Reinhardt Engels, who expanded it to a nicely done paperback. It’s amazing how many earing pitfalls this one simple idea helps you bypass – especially when it comes to overconsumption. One plate of food, three times a day, is a powerful tool in helping set up your habit energies, and in the end, weight control (and fat control) is all about habits.
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Sure you have the point there guys, but I don’t time I can take all that.. hopefully!
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OK. I get it. I have to drop all the white items from my diet. That has to be the reason I am not losing weight. I have been working out since mid May and It is amazing that I am still determined and motivated to continue…since the scale only goes up some and then back to where I started again. I added body weight exercises by June and intervals in all of my cardio. I am a workout horse. It just isn’t fair that I haven’t seen the results I crave. (I know, life isn’t fair) I won’t give up! I am determined to lose the weight! I have seen an increase in muscle but that really isn’t my intent. Weight loss is. My doctor said I am borderline diabetic and he just perscribed a cholesterol pill because my chol. is 168/48 which is too low on the good stuff and too high on the bad stuff. I really don’t want to be dependant on a med. of any kind and haven’t picked up my perscription yet.
Are their any white items that you can eat? cauliflower? the white beans is one I had’t thought of before. (I love cannelli beans)
So, taboo; sugar, flour, white rice, mayo(good bye tuna),cereal, bread, pasta another favorite that I knew would have to go although it is already eaten in moderation. salad dressing(ranch), cheese, and I am sure I forgot some. Perhaps it would be easier to try and name the white items that can be eaten. What about eggs? are they considered white? Cauliflower and chicken? just wondering because I know I have been reading about eliminating the white stuff for a little while now and noticed that there were many more whilte items than I had originally thought. I will put this into action tomorrow.
Thanks for the FUN damentals I tested them out last night and plan on “adding them” to my workout in the morning. I read the tips and plan on easing into the pistol since I didn’t do so well on that one.
Thank You!
Great post. What seems to work for me and my clients and is not a diet but a way of life is the 4-3-2-1 rule
4 servings fruits and vegetables
3 servings protein
2 servings whole grains
1 serving fats,oil
This has kept of the weight for years and my clients find it easy to follow.
It also helps tremendously to eat slowly and mindfully.
Great advice! And it’s so true – you can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet. Many years ago, I worked out 2 hours a day trying to lose weight. I didn’t even eat that badly – “healthy version of the standard American diet.” I wasn’t overweight, but I couldn’t get lean. More recently, I have transitioned to eating almost only whole foods (veges, beans, fruit, nuts/seeds), 50-75% raw (at first 50%, now 75%), with an occasional egg from pastured chickens and occasional wild Alaskan salmon. I went to my leanest ever WITHOUT exercising regularly. Wow! So now it’s time to add back in the regular exercise and finally get the body I’ve wanted for so long. The really cool thing I’ve found is now that I eat this healthy, I no longer feel guilty when I choose to indulge. I think it’s because I know I’ve made a reasoned choice to indulge, and I know that it doesn’t change how I eat 90% or more of the time.