#261 What Are You Getting Back?

You Are What You Eat

Everyone’s heard this famous cliché, right? But it’s one of those things where it’s 100% true.

To me it sounds easy. As someone who’s been in the fitness and nutrition space for 20+ years, I’ve learned an incredible amount of what works and what doesn’t work.

When you approach your diet and lifestyle with built-in, planned dysfunction – a la cheat meals – it’s much easier to stay on track most of the time.

Diet vs. Lifestyle

What’s the difference?

On a diet, you’re saying that you’re not always going to be on it. On a lifestyle, you’re saying that this is just how I eat and operate.

One is sustainable, and one isn’t sustainable.

Your body is made up of what you’re putting into it – plain and simple. You can’t hide from this truth. You can’t hide from what you see in the mirror every morning.

What about genetics? Some of it is genetic, some of it isn’t. But guess what? You can fight the genes by eating quality foods and training regularly. Think about the compounded effect of this if you did this for a year.

What Are You Getting in Return?

Think about this as you’re eating pretzels and cheese and drinking beer every night before bed. Is that the kind of body you want? Soft and fluffy with a beer belly?

Start asking yourself, "If I'm putting this in my body as fuel, what am I getting in return?”

It’s that straightforward. By being blunt and honest with yourself you can make better food choices. It shifts to “I’m not depriving myself of this pizza. I’m choosing to fuel my body with quality food so I can feel better, think better, and be more confident.”

Confidence + Discipline + Consistency

Do you think you will be more confident or less confident by eating shitty food?

I encourage you to reframe your outlook…

Rather than being so caught up in what you can’t eat, think about what you can eat. Doing this, then thinking about your food as fuel will give you the results you want. You will feel better, look better, and feel more confident.

It makes the tough times easier. It makes putting the bag of chips or Oreos down easier. It helps you look at the bigger picture and the long-term effects.