Volume 2: Food Strategy for my bro-nation

So in reality there's probably about 2 people who read my blog (thanks!), but in my head, I'm a rock star that will change the eventual course of the bro-nation with my vast knowledge of bro-science. Just kidding. I just want to make sure my gym rants at least include nutrition and lifting techniques.

Let's start with mentality. As it's said, mind over matter. I won't bother with trying to tell you what to eat, how to cook it or what color your bell peppers should be - just do a google search on 'nutrition' plan and you'll find a bazillion different diets/plans that will tell you that theirs is the best. I'm going to focus on explaining some of my fundamentals. Again, always keeping things simple will make your life so much easier/better.

First, learn your macros (your daily dietary split of where your calories come from: protein, carbs and fats). Then stop caring about them. Eye-ball your food, don't measure it. Unless you're body building or are capable of micro-managing your diet everyday without becoming insane, just don't obsess over those details - to make things easy, just visualize everything in a fist-size. that's your portion. So eat a fist-sized portion of meat, carbs, veggies/fruit every meal. Easy, right? It really shouldn't be any more complicated than that. Next, you can choose to calculate your daily caloric intake, or if you're first starting out, just focus on what you're eating instead of how much. Too often people step into these insane cardio/diet programs with a thousand new rules and restrictions that are too much to handle. This is the true reason why people fail at these things. Don't make such dramatic changes to your life. Nothing in life that's worth it happens overnight, so accept that the cliche 'it's a lifestyle change' is true.

THINGS TO DO:
- Eat when you are hungry
- Eat consistently
- Eat an equal portion of meat, carbs, fruits/veggies.
- Eat breakfast
- umm. don't have cheeseburgers, excess bacon, soda, that 'extra' kit-kat bar you keep at your desk, etc. (and F it, if you do, split that bad boy up and eat it at 4 different times during the day)

And if you're reading this and say 'well, I enjoy food too much to do all of this' then your mind-frame is not where it needs to be anyway. So come back when it is. In my opinion, the key to a successful healthy lifestyle is being conscious of what you're taking into your body, enjoying the wonderful food life has to offer, but also understanding the trade-off.

THINGS NOT TO DO:
Initially (as you ease into the lifestyle shift)
- DO NOT count calories
- DO NOT weigh your food
- DO NOT decide on a macro split and micro manage the hell out of it
- DO NOT give up on the food you love
- DO NOT starve yourself when you are hungry

Gradually:
- Start being conscious of your calories, macros
- Start deciding which foods you love and decide which you can live with and without. then live without.
- Start allowing yourself to be a little more hungry, your body will adapt.

So I'm sure I haven't said anything you've haven't heard before. The whole purpose of this writing is to now examine what objections you've just made up in your mind as you read this.. and then address those objections. Once you resolve to conquer those objections and actually step up and do something about it. That right there is the 'lifestyle change' I was just talking about.

Cheers.