A thought for today: what is the simplest path for you to get that result you want?
Let's say the result is physique change (just guessing that's why you're here). You want to either lose fat or gain muscle. Or maybe you want a combo of both. So, what's the is the simplest path? Let's really boil it down. You may think it's incredibly complicated. Maybe XYZ fitness influencer that you want to look like has convinced you that it's super-duper complicated and only they know some miraculous method that no-one else knows that will make all your dreams come true. They are lying to you. To get your money. Sorry, not sorry. They need you to believe that they have some secret knowledge. The reality is, it's not that complicated. Fat loss is simple. Muscle building is simple. I think you know that, deep down. You don't need a new workout program or a new diet. But, that's what you're seeking because you think that maybe you just haven't found the right "trick" yet. I'm here to tell you what I wish someone had told me when I started my own journey in 2017: there is no trick or hack. You already know what you need to do! To lose weight: You need to eat less calories. How much less? Well, enough to move the needle, in other words, enough to create a calorie deficit. You can do this in a variety of ways. In the news this past week, a celebrity lost 100 lbs in 40 days by not eating (he reports that he did it by using a so-called "water fast" - only drinking water, no food). He didn't enter "starvation mode", because that doesn't exist. He just lost weight because that is what always happens when you consume signicantly less calories over time. Obviously, this is a pretty extreme example. You don't need to fast to lose weight, it's just one of many different strategies that get a person into a calorie deficit. A more realistic approach for many people is just reducing daily calorie consumption by a percentage from what you eat to maintain your current weight. You could try reducing daily calories by, say, 15-25% and see how your body responds to that and then adjust. The hard part here is getting really really really honest with yourself. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, it's helpful to track your food to see what you are currently consuming and then reducing from there. If you are averse to tracking, you will need to follow some sort of a diet/plan. We humans are all pretty bad at "guessing" how much we are eating, so this is an opportunity to get honest with yourself and start paying attention. To build muscle: You need to follow a progressive overload training program. This means that you are lifting weight in a way where you are challenging yourself to increase difficulty over time. It's methodical and requires you to push yourself. There's no hack or shortcut to growing muscle. I doubt any of this is new information. But, you may be feeling stuck at the point of: okay, but what do I do specifically? I need a program to follow for training and eating. Enter AI! This is where many people believe that an "expert" is needed. I disagree. I think that there has never been a better time to set up your own training and eating towards your specific goals. Obviously, the internet has been around for quite a while now and you could always do some digging to find books and articles about optimal training splits, nutrition, and so on. But, the new thing that large language models like ChatGPT are bringing to the table today in 2023 is a really easy interface where you can directly ask a question about personalized training/nutrition and get immediate answers that leverage all of that lovely information on the internet that you previously had to painstakingly comb through manually. So, you want to set up a general hypertrophy training program and diet plan for free? Let me show you how you can do it yourself today with the free version of ChatGPT: First: Go to: https://chat.openai.com/ Create a free account/log in. Here's 2 prompt paths (one for training, one for nutrition): Training prompt idea: "Create an optimal full-body progressive overload gym training plan for with ___ 1-hour gym sessions per week." Notes: I'd fill in the blank with whatever number of training sessions you think you can reasonably commit to each week, consistently. You'll get a very reasonable response and you can print that out or copy it into a training app or journal to bring with you to each session. You can further customize your training plan from here by asking ChatGPT to refine your program to include only exercises using (for instance) dumbbells (if that's what you have at home). You can also customize your program around physical limitations you may have etc. This is how you can use a free service to get really dialed-in advice. Nutrition prompt idea: "Calculate the daily calories to create a calorie deficit for a ___ year old __(gender)____ who weighs ____ lbs, lifts ___ days per week, gets ___K steps per day, and want to lose ____ lbs in ___ weeks." From this prompt (customized with your information), you will get a really nice, simple explanation of BMR, TDEE, and what a daily kcal amount might look like that would produce a calorie deficit and should produce weight loss. If your goal was muscle gain, you would optimally create a calorie surplus (in which case, you'd specify "create a small/moderate calorie surplus" in the prompt above, depending on your goal). From here, daily macros: "Create a sample macro split using ____ kcal/day that includes at least ___ G protein per day." Here you can fill in whatever your protein goal may be. General rule of thumb is to aim for around .8-1 g/lb of bodyweight. If you are very heavy, such a high protein goal can be difficult to achieve, so sometimes people use .8-1 g/lb of their goal bodyweight instead of their current/starting bodyweight. This will generate a daily macro plan for you allotting a percentage of your daily kcals to protein, carbs, and fat. If you are used to tracking macros or want to adapt from here, you can just take those numbers and follow them by tracking your food in a macro tracking app like MyFitnessPal (which has a free version). From daily macros, a meal plan: "Using the macros you just generated, come up with a daily meal plan." From here, you'll get a sample meal plan that you can follow. You can also customize the meal plan with prompts like this: "Using the macros you just generated, come up with a daily meal plan with 4 meals." "Using the macros you just generated, come up with a daily meal plan that's vegetarian." And so on. You can keep customizing this by adding and removing meals, ingredients and so on to whatever your dietary needs and preferences are. I hope this is helpful. I know a lot of people struggle with nutrition and exercise and it can feel like it's so complicated that you'll never figure it out. I wanted to show you how to utilize new AI tools to build yourself a no-cost plan. I do think there is value in hiring a coach, even with so much free information out there. But, not everyone can afford coaching and many just aren't ready for that level of financial commitment at this point in their lives. I don't want to be the kind of coach that hoards information. My goal is to be helpful. Always. What I (or any good coach) can offer you is guidance and accountability. Once you realize that a lack of information was never the problem, you'll start to notice where the real resistance is. It's not about a lack of knowledge... it's about the difficulties of consistently executing, even and especially when you don't feel like it. Because whatever changes you need to make to move closer to your goals, there will be internal resistance. We humans are creatures that resist change and gravitate towards our established habits and patterns. Old patterns are worn in our brains like footpaths through a forest. Setting up new patterns is hard work. But it is possible. I believe that changing your life is always an option. That will mean different things to different people. I certainly don't think this only applies to fitness. We are the ones in the driver's seat of our own lives. There will sometimes be factors you cannot predict or control. It will sometimes feel like the world is against you and that others have it easier, but that's just noise. Control what you can control. In other words: do what you can with what you have. As Gandalf so wisely says to Frodo, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring. Wishing you good health. - Julie
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