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If your goal is to:

• Improve your energy, both for your physical activities and life in general
• Keep or gain muscle to stay strong and keep your metabolism revving
• Sleep better
• Not feel like an angry parrot deprived of food

Here’s the “secret” to getting there: eat a satisfying diet (both in quantity and taste) that supports your goals.

Keto, fasting, small meals, Atkins, ultra-high carb, high-altitude-food-grown-on-sand diets might work.

But every body is different. And to say that one diet works for every woman is a hyperbole if there ever was one.

Still, the best diet for you will likely revolve around these three pillars:

1. Eat enough protein (around 1.2g per kg)
2. Eat a metric shit ton of vegetables and fruit (8 or more fist-sizes per day is ideal. But start with what feels doable)
3. Adjust alcohol and caffeine intake to whatever makes you feel the best.

Once you have those pillars in the ground, experiment with carb/fat ratios, meal times, and spacing to see what hits the mark.

-J

It takes a lot of willpower to resist the temptation in the moment.

Saying no to a third glass of Pinot. Saying yes to a workout after a long day at work.

It takes way less willpower to plan ahead.

Buying half a bottle instead of 750ml. Scheduling the workout as the first thing in the morning when you feel fresh.

Staying away from the challenging situation makes progress a whole lot easier.

-J

If you value the convenience of food but try to follow an elaborate cooking schedule to reach your goals, there’s a clash.

If you’re eating strict meals because they align with your goals, but you value the culture and connection around food, there’s a clash.

Let’s say you value feeling energetic in the morning, but the few glasses of wine each night make you feel lousy when the alarm goes off; there’s a clash.

Conversely, if you value socialising, wine tastings and organising get-togethers, maybe a moderate amount of alcohol could be a part of your plan.

What about exercise? Do you value performance so you can finish a marathon or complete a challenging hike? Or do you prefer efficiency so you can move on to other things with your day?

There are many ways to reach your goals. But things get a hell of a lot easier when your actions and habits match the values you hold high in your life.

-J

This week’s Fitt Insider newsletter had some encouraging facts on how little it actually takes to improve our health.

The TL;DR version? Anything away from zero, and we’re winning.

“It’s becoming more clear that even a few minutes of movement goes a long way. 

• Just 3.4 minutes per day of vigorous lifestyle physical activity (like climbing stairs or fast walking) led to a ~17% decrease in cancer incidence; 4.5 minutes translated to ~31%.
• 30–60 minutes of strength training per week reduces all-cause mortality by 10–17%, with additional inverse links to CVD [cardiovascular disease], diabetes, and some cancers.
• 20 minutes of physical activity yields a 43% drop in the risk of developing depression, while exercise was found to be 1.5x more effective than leading antidepressants.

Even the vaunted 10K steps per day rule is getting rolled back, with 2.3K steps improving heart health and 4K shown to reduce the risk of all-cause mortality.”

And for those of you in high places:

“…if employers encouraged their workforce to walk an extra 15 minutes per day (~2K steps), the global economy would gain $100B from improved productivity and life expectancy.”

-J

Live longer.

Improve the quality of those years.

Compress the morbidity/disability decades to years. Maybe even months.

Nothing’s given. But the actions we take today increase the odds in our favour.

I can’t think of anything as effective as strength training for improving those odds.

Keep at it.

And if you haven’t started yet, today’s the day for it.

-J

One of the coaching clients is training for the NYC marathon, and she’s been gradually racking up the kilometres in the last four months.

She’s also managing a business and navigating family life with two kids.

It’s been hectic.

She’s on holiday this week, and we were discussing how her training should look for the week. It took us a few messages back and forth to come up with the most effective plan:

Do whatever she feels is right for her body and mind: chill. Relax. Take it easy. Rest.

Instead of doing what she feels she should be doing: more running and strength workouts.

Here’s where it’s at.

Reaching big goals takes a lot of discipline and focus. And that goes both for the work and the rest.

Especially as we get older.

-J

I have obsessive, perfectionist tendencies whenever I set myself a habit-based goal.

If I decide not to drink alcohol for a year, there is no way you can convince me otherwise.

If I decide to do push ups when I make my morning coffee, I will do push ups regardless of how my body feels that day.

If I decide not to eat meat, I will live off room-temperature tin beans if I have to.

The upside is that I am good at keeping myself accountable.

The downside is that I become very rigid in my approach. I force these habits, regardless of how logical or appropriate. Times when skipping a day would make sense if for nothing else than to increase the joy in life.

And the more days I string together, the harder it is for me to break the habit. Because doing so makes me feel like failing.

A few years back, I started to feel like I was being held hostage by the healthy habits I kept setting. I felt like my past self controlled my actions instead of my present self.

So I started to break long strings of habits intentionally. More so, I became more conscious of not letting myself build a habit into a super long string in the first place. Just to release the pressure of having to keep going with a perfect record.

And for someone who was often held back because of perfection, this has been one of the keys to learning to be ok with just good enough.

-J

We all do.

It’s an inevitable part of getting to your goals.

The key is not to let your failure-induced negative thoughts about yourself define who you are.

Ideally, you want to acknowledge what’s going on. And then move forward without dwelling on the negativity for longer than necessary.

In Good Inside, Dr Becky Kennedy has a mantra when parenting moments have us feeling disappointed or mad in our reactions:

“I am not my latest behaviour. I am not my latest behaviour.”

It’s a fitting mantra for when struggling with health and fitness-related behaviours too.

-J

ps. “failure” is probably a harsh word to use here. But it did make for a captivating headline.

What are the results you desire with your health and fitness?

Do those desires match the reality of everything that you’ve got going on with your life?

Not only the reality of your external circumstances. But also the reality of simply not being a 20-year-old anymore. Sorry.

And if the reality and desires don’t match, what changes will help you narrow that gap?

-J

Let’s play a game. You have to distil your daily health and fitness-related activities to just 20 minutes.

That covers any physical activity and meal planning, cooking and whatnot—all of it.

What would make the cut? What would you stop doing, delegate or streamline?

Placing yourself in such a situation forces you to think outside the box to adopt the first principle of thinking. Breaking down a problem into its basic elements and building a solution from scratch.

It’s about ruthless prioritisation. You’re making sure that the time you spend reclaiming your energy and strength really has an impact.

Leaving you more time for yourself and your family.

-J