[aaron_straker]: 0:29

What's up, guys, Happy Tuesday. Welcome back to another episode of each train. Prosper today, Brian myself are going to give a little bit of life updates of what we have going on. I'm going to recap my thirty days without caffeine experiment, and then we're going to get into the details of our current meal feeding frequency and what our meal composition structure looks like With each of those as we are in myself, kind of in. uh, the end of my diet. And then Brian, I think is still May, in the thick of it a little bit more. so we're going to talk about that and then answer a couple of questions we have as well before we get into these, Brian. What's the latest

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:02

Not a whole lot going on here. Um, I am on day one of my active recovery week outside of the gym, so we can talk a little bit more about that as we get going,

[aaron_straker]: 1:12

we should

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:12

because I think that ties into the to the diet stuff and training stuff, and basically everything else in life. but I'm excited about it and I am mostly excited about hearing about your thirty day of uh, no caffeine recap, So let's see what's going on, dude,

[aaron_straker]: 1:31

for? I get into that. I'll provide one little quick life update that I find is a a comical. Um, so we' here, M by by we, my girlfriend and I, uh, living with air. quotes, here, uh long vacationing? I guess in Utah and someone backed into, backed into our car at a stoplight when I was heading to the gym on last Wednesday and it was a big truck. And now I'm like going through the rounds with insurance and we find out it's probably going to be total and I'm like damn it because we're not going to be here long and we bought the car when we were in Texas, and we' well, let's just get a car for a couple of months and it was super. You know, I felt kind of strange like I'm like. I feel like I have to go lie to the d. M. V, about being this like Texas resident to buy this car because I'm not and I don't plan on it, And now we're like Okay. Finally we got it done like you know, we. No one knowing you know out out at us and I'm goingnna have to do it again here, years out, and they' like we just bought this like three months ago. Mean in April. so yeah, like three months ago. And now you're going to have to probably go do it all over again. And you know used car prices right now are like absolutely insane because of like the weird economy stuff going on. And then it took us like almost three days to get a rental because there's this like a nationwide

[bryan_boorstein]: 2:43

Mhm.

[aaron_straker]: 2:44

rental car shortage because apparently the the companies have to like sell off their fleets to stay afloat during covet, and all this stuff. And I'm like Why why is this happening right now? So um, and then like always there was they were supposed to tell me on Friday, Uh, I never got a call. They werere supposed to tell me on Monday. I never got a call so after the podcast whens it reaches like noon, I'm goingnna call and me like, Like What is going on Like? Can I get some sort of information here So I know Um what I need to do and how quickly I need to go find and purchase another car. So just a wild kind of um, life update there. But

[bryan_boorstein]: 3:19

Oh, man, that's too bad. At least the car got you to Utah. So you got the cool road trip out of it

[aaron_straker]: 3:26

yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]: 3:26

and you know you should, you should get some money or a new car out of the steel. right,

[aaron_straker]: 3:31

and well, one thing we did find with the old car, Um, the air conditioning like works until it's like a hundred degrees and then the air conditioning

[bryan_boorstein]: 3:39

Oh no,

[aaron_straker]: 3:39

doesn't work. and then Um. Ironically enough, it is always a hundred degrees here in Utah,

[bryan_boorstein]: 3:45

right, right.

[aaron_straker]: 3:45

like every single day. The the forecast is like one to one, one, oh three, ninety nine. I think I think I think tomorrow or something like that's supposed to be like one oh six. so, Um, just rolling around with the windows down

[bryan_boorstein]: 3:58

Yep,

[aaron_straker]: 3:58

to deal with that, Um,

[bryan_boorstein]: 3:59

there you go. man

[aaron_straker]: 4:02

but yeah, it's been. It's It's just interesting and I'm I just trying to make the best of it, but I'm hoping that you know it's not a big pain in the pain in the ass to go get another vehicle registered and stuff. It's just like a time sink that I don't want to deal with. Is really what it is?

[bryan_boorstein]: 4:13

right, right, You hate when stuff like that comes up like bills you have to deal with like wrong bills or something like that, And you expect like an hour on the phone with people

[aaron_straker]: 4:20

Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]: 4:21

Aful,

[aaron_straker]: 4:21

Yeah, so it's kind of one of those situation, but on a more po positive note, I finished my thirty days without caffeine. Uh challenge. So

[bryan_boorstein]: 4:30

Yes,

[aaron_straker]: 4:30

what it? What it started with was a thirty days without coffee. And what I really meant by that was like, you know, I, by way of less caffeine, and I was going to Mc Gou in the first couple of days I was having, like you know, a couple of green teas, which are you know, approximately like one third of the the caffeine content of like you know, your traditional Um coffee. And then, as I kind of started thinking about it and stuff, I'm like. Well, maybe I just want to do like a no caffeine thing 'cause I, people like set me people. I would' say called me up. They were like. Well, why don't you just do decalf and then foolishly. I didn't even think of that, so I was like. Well, I'm already in the thick of it, so I might as well keep going. So after like three days into it I decided I'm goingnna go. you know, No caffeine. Um, so I pulled out the green teas and stuff, and then I ended up doing like, Oh, not the full thirty without coffee. I added back Decf on like day twenty, seven or twenty eight, 'cause it was like the fourth of July and we were at the lake and I just like having a coffee there in the morning, you know on the lake, so I was like, I'll just do a decaf, you know there, and then I wrapped it up on Sunday. Went on big hike. I got um, uh, a coffee on the way out. Fortunately or unfortunately, it wasn't very good, which kind of like was like a little bit of a a. a downer on the whole experience right. But the first couple days were really really rough, and I was really surprised that, 'cause like you think that you don't depend on something like that, you know, we have this kind of strange. Ah, and by we, I mean, maybe like a societal standpoint, this strange kind of perspective on addiction, and you know it's kind of like looked down upon a little bit. And but then at the end of the day, like the majority of us like, we have an addiction to caffeine. And then when you take that away like you go through withdrawal symptoms and my energy levels were crazy low. those first few days like the first four days were rough, like right around the like, noon to two p. M. If I didn't go to the gym like I, I would just get this overwhelming weight of like bro, We need to take a fucking nap and I'm not an napper. And like both days that I didn't go to the gym in that first couple of day period, I had to go upstairs and lay on the couch for like thirty minutes. and the one day Jenny had to come over and wake me up because my alarm that I had set set like a twenty minute alarm on my phone. It was just a foot in front of me just repeating going off and going off, and she was like you're just sleeping through it. and like that's very uncharacteristic of me like I have to put my phone away, like on the floor in the room, Because if it's too close to the bed, like a, a text message notification and email notification will wake me up in the middle of the night and that's on a carpet,

[bryan_boorstein]: 6:59

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 6:59

so I'm like not a deep sleeper. Um, but it was just crushed me and then as I, you know, kind of went through and immediately my sleep was really really nice, so that was awesome and then that kind of faded back into its baseline and I needed to put a little bit more effort there be, really, you know, conscious of my, my blue light and blue blockers and stuff at night, But then, as it kind of went through and then I, you know, also picked up this audiobook by Michael Pollen, called Caffeine, Um, which is a very cool audio bookook that I. Would recommend it's pretty short, maybe about like three hours in total and he talks about the history, which was pretty pretty cool to learn, but also there's a bunch of like, s, uh, conversations with like sleep researchers and these different people, And it's one of those things that like people pull their consumption back. Like by a lot, Um, it's and it. It was kind of an eye opening thing for me, and what I ultimately landed on on what I'm sharing now is for me like. I love the the flavor, the taste of like a black coffee. Um. but I want. I don't want to be reliant on caffeine just to get back to baseline every single day to be a human. And that is where so much of us have found ourselves right. Um, it doesn't like it. It wouldn't work for me anymore. Like if I were like, Oh man, I want. I need some energy like I'm goingnna have this coffee like I wouldn't get like a a net positive, but if I didn't have it, I would have a net negative. So it would just like create that baseline again and I don't like that. I don't like the fact of like needing something just to create a baseline. I equate it to the people who like can't work out without their pre workout or have like a shit workout like. at that point it, it is not a tool anymore. It is a crutch type of thing, and that's exactly how I felt with with caffeine. So moving forward what I've decided upon is I love to have that you know, cup of you know, hot coffee in the morning. I'm just going to drink decaf. You know, I'm going to experiment with different ones. I like the I. I prefer a dark roast to you know, a medium or a light, so I'm using that just finding what I like. I'll I'll brew it, and then I'll uh, maybe take some like neutropics, like some lions, Maine, or something like that, and alpha g, P. C, to help off like that, concentration and focus in the morning, and then just be, you know, habitual decaf drinker, I still get the the, the hot drink that I like and enjoy it. You know, I have one right here, but I don't get that like addiction or the feeling of that, You know it. It's it's not. uh. It's like like a, like a, like an inversion of control type of thing you know. And that's kind of from a from a psychological standpoint. What I didn't like. So and then kind of the. The cherry on top, Hopefully is then times when I do need it like, let's say you know, we have like a travel day. I only sleep four hours because we have to take some red eye or something like that. I can get that

[bryan_boorstein]: 9:45

Mhm, Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 9:45

coffee that caffeated one and then it actually does something for me, which is the you know, the the entire goal um. of having the coffee in the first place. So that's what I landed on. What are your thoughts about that?

[bryan_boorstein]: 9:57

I think that's awesome. I, I think that uh, being able, like the way that you phrased it where you basically like it stopped having an effect. It was like all effect. essentially so you had to drink the coffee was like a dependency where you have to drink the coffee or else you don't feel like yourself. And at that point it just it iss not really a positive in your life. It's like an addiction. So the way that

[aaron_straker]: 10:20

exactly?

[bryan_boorstein]: 10:20

now you use it is almost like, like the way you would go, go out and like party if you did it once a week versus somebody that's like an alcoholic and has to drink every day. And I think that you get a lot more enjoyment out of like parting once a week than you would feeling like obligated, because you're like you're dependent upon the substance to feel okay for the day.

[aaron_straker]: 10:40

You kind of hit the nail in the head of sumrizing that perfectly for me.

[bryan_boorstein]: 10:43

Yeah, well, I, um, I think it's interesting with the caffeine and stimulants in general, because when we were doing crossfit stuff and I was, you know, doing the gym and cross fit and overtrained plus over stimulated all the time, I really did kind of depend on like at or all and caffeine and like I was doing all the things to like, keep me in this overtraed state and still functioning. Okay, Um, and since training changing to more of like this physique focus, you know style a number of years ago, my caffeine consumption has gone way down. I haven't had any other stimulants other than caffeine and I the last couple of years. I've even gotten to a point where I just have a morning, two hundred milligram like caffeine pill or whatever, and I don't have caffeine the rest of the day, and like you kind of alluded to when you work out, it kind of gives you that that energy and focus that maybe the caffeine was providing you, so I'll take like my caffeine or coffee or whatever it is in the morning at, you know, six a m, and then by nine a m, I work out and that just kind of pushes me through the rest of the. Day and gives me that energy that I need. Um, so that's been like a really cool balance for me and obviously like no stimulative pre workouts or anything like that.

[aaron_straker]: 11:56

Yeah, it's the. the sty worko is like. I mean not not to change the subject too much, but that's one of the first things I'll generally pull with a lot of my clients

[bryan_boorstein]: 12:05

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 12:05

unless they're working out, you know, like first thing in the morning and then not having coffee or whatever when they go to work, but I kind of very strongly encourage everyone to get on like a Stm free

[bryan_boorstein]: 12:16

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 12:17

just because you don't need three hundred milligrams of coffee at Bes caffeine at four pm, seven pm. When you're going to

[bryan_boorstein]: 12:23

yep.

[aaron_straker]: 12:23

work out like you, You going be? we will fight an uphill battle with everything else specifically because of that decision.

[bryan_boorstein]: 12:29

yeah, I think mine has alpha g, P, C and Siterline in it. Um. I, yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 12:35

What's the other one? Beta heenne? Perhaps

[bryan_boorstein]: 12:37

yes, I use the one from Flex brands, which is Steve's company, the co owner of Paragon, Um, and

[aaron_straker]: 12:42

okay,

[bryan_boorstein]: 12:42

it's really good. It's like blue raspberry. It's really bomb, Um, sweet, but yes, that's uh. that's good, dude. I'm glad that that now you have your natural energy back and you don't need an Na anymore in the middle of the day, too,

[aaron_straker]: 12:54

Yeah, that was. I mean. really. I objectively feel like a pile of crap.

[bryan_boorstein]: 13:00

right, right,

[aaron_straker]: 13:04

cool. so um, I know that you are moving into this active

[bryan_boorstein]: 13:08

umhum,

[aaron_straker]: 13:08

recovery, um face week. Do you want to talk about that and then won't get into our dits a little bit.

[bryan_boorstein]: 13:13

Yeah, totally so One thing I've always been a big proponent of Um that I talk about you know on other podcasts and in Facebook forums and stuff is the importance of just taking a week away from the gym where you're not actually training every like six to twelve months. Uh, and it had been at least at least a year for me. I think I've have had a number one of these. So one of the things I talked about on my story, Uh, the other day was was a frequency deload, So I've done a number of these recently and I actually really liked them as a tool. So essentially, if you have like your normal five days that you train in like a week, or call it call it a week. Say you extend those five days over a week and a half or whatever, then you're essentially just getting three or four extra days of rest, But you're not actually taking like a deload week. You're just kind of continuing to train as normal and I really like those because, Um, you do feel recovered from them, but I don't think that they're a permanent solution. At least not for me like. it's not like I could just do a frequency deload every two or three months and then never have to actually take like a fully load. Um. So because of these frequency deloads, I didn't actually take a fullol deload. I just did two of these frequency deloads over like a three month period, and I just kind recently in the last week have found myself starting to feel fatigued. You know the not diet fatigue like I'm not. I'm not having issues with with my diet or with food or anything like that. I'm not feeling super hungry. I'm just feeling a little bit less motivated in the gym and motivation in the gym is for me personally, one of the the main factors that tells me that it's time to deload. And so when I realized that that I was kind of feeling this way, i decided that I was going to complete my microcycle, And then I thought about the last time I did an active recovery, Phe, And that has been, you know, like I said a really long time ago, I've been doing frequency deloads, and then actual deloads, but I never actually get out of the gym and just don't really do anything in there, so I decided it was time and I'm actually really excited about it, like as soon as I made that decision it. Almost felt like there was kind of a weight lifted off of me 'cause the notion of like having to go through another microcycle was kinda like just weighing on me. Um, so I feel great. I, uh, I'm going to go out and walk. I'm going to go biking. I haven't been able to bike in a really long time, because I just don't have an hour of time to like get out there and just go explore, so I'm going to take my bike out instead of working out. I'm goingnna go for like some, some casual bike rides around town. Maybe do a trail or something like that, and uh, play basketball. maybe one day something like that, so I'm excited about it and then I will come back on uh, July nineteenth, So I guess by the time this episode drops, which is July twentieth, Um, I'll be training again so you guys may

[aaron_straker]: 15:55

Mhm,

[bryan_boorstein]: 15:55

not even notice that I took a week out of the gym. Um, but um, but I'm excited because my hip extension machine just shipped today, so it should be here in time for me to begin my new, Uh, my new messo, and I don't really think I'm going to change anything. I can actually talk about that more on the next episode, but I really really really like the structure that I have in my training right now. Uh, with the kind of muscular one muscle group being like a priority in a session, one or two muc groups, and then kind of filling in the gaps with small or doses of volume throughout the week, so I really really like that. I like the order that I have them in and everything, so I'm going to keep everything mostly the same and just bring in the hip extension instead of I. I. I don't know. I think I. what I might do to start because I don't want to completely abolish the good morning. Um is, I'll probably do one good morning set and one hip extension set, and then based on whichever one of those I end up preferring, I may end up just doing two sets of one of those. Um, but anyways, that is future talk and um, yeah, Ab training. We totally started training our abs as well, which is cool. I, uh. I think I'm actually going to continue doing my abs twice a week in my uh, in my week out of the gym, and I'm just going to go do them on a playground or something like I, while I'm out for a walk. I'm just going to like

[aaron_straker]: 17:15

Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]: 17:16

do some hanging knee raises or something like that and just do it in nature. Um, because I did commit to doing Abs, so I think that that makes sense. and uh, they were sore for three, kind of almost a little residual soreness in the fourth day. Still, Um from the from the Ab rollouts How about you Did you get sore from your Ab work

[aaron_straker]: 17:38

so the first day I went in to do them, which was Saturday. Believe Wesage and I couldn't find the Ab wheel. I

[bryan_boorstein]: 17:45

right?

[aaron_straker]: 17:46

looked everywhere and I knew I'm a hundred percent certain I had seen one in the gym before and I could not find it. So I did the um, like the reverse crunches, like on on a bench you know with with a dumbll, and went super light fifteen pounds cause I was like I always do this. I overcome it and then they crushed for like a week,

[bryan_boorstein]: 18:04

right?

[aaron_straker]: 18:05

and then it will impact my leg day and stuff, because they' so smoke,

[bryan_boorstein]: 18:08

Yep,

[aaron_straker]: 18:09

so I didn't really get sore from that.

[bryan_boorstein]: 18:10

good.

[aaron_straker]: 18:10

Um, but it's different like that. The Ab wheel. That's the whole reason I like it. It's a very demanding you know, um. movement, so I'm going to look. I guess either today tomorrow when I go to the gym and if I I find, I'm just going to buy one. you know, like ten dollars on Amazon. Um, I'll biy and leave it at the gym when I leave Min. I don't care about that at all. Um, I just want to be able to do it be cause it's

[bryan_boorstein]: 18:33

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 18:33

like realistically one of the few a movements that I like don't despise doing. and I feel that it's a very effective you know for for me personally, So Um, that is going. You know. I'm I'm down. I'm sticking to it.

[bryan_boorstein]: 18:46

yep.

[aaron_straker]: 18:46

you know, I going going through with it, So I uh, have to find that a wheel for sure.

[bryan_boorstein]: 18:51

yeah. Well, the reason I think the Ab wheel gets see so sore is because it's a lengthened overload movement right,

[aaron_straker]: 18:57

Yep,

[bryan_boorstein]: 18:57

so we take it back to the to the overload range like very much like when I was doing them. And I would approach failure. It was that very very bottom stretch position where it's like if I can get out of this stretch position, the rest of the rep is pretty easy. Um. but getting out of the stretch is is the the real challenge. So uh, yeah, that's a. that's a hell of an overload. When that's the position that that you're stuck in versus like in a crunch, you know. the, it's a shortened position Overload.

[aaron_straker]: 19:26

Mhm.

[bryan_boorstein]: 19:27

Um, so it's like the top of the movement where where it's going to be hardest and significantly less damage. Um, so I think it's it's I think the weighted reverse crunch that we're doing. I don't. I think that's actually a lengthened overload movement too. but um, but I think that's okay because we're only doing two sets a session, so I think that it's probably good that we're choosing damaging movements. Whereas, if we were going to commit to like six or seven that Se session, we would probably want to opt more for like short range overload movements.

[aaron_straker]: 19:56

I agree one hundred percent.

[bryan_boorstein]: 19:59

Yeah, um, word up. Well, let's talk about our diet. Are we ready for that? You want to?

[aaron_straker]: 20:04

Yeah, let's get on the diet stuff.

[bryan_boorstein]: 20:05

Yeah, So we're going to talk about. Uh, kind of like a normal day of eating for us. Like timing, and uh meal. What it's made of? so Uh

[aaron_straker]: 20:14

Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]: 20:14

composition. So yeah, go, ahe, go for. Tell us what's going on? How do you eat?

[aaron_straker]: 20:18

so I guess I'll uh, before I get into that specific, just kind of where I'm at. I'm on the very tailland of my diet. Um. decided you know, for better, for worse, it's going to be over like pretty much August first. Um, I'm just I don't really see a benefit in me getting any leaner at this point. Really, Um, and some of that is I just one. I'm I'm you know, reaching a number on the scale, I kind of do not like to see. you know. I don't really have any plans of seeing one eighties, you know, one eighty nine, and anything on the scale ever again, and I'm getting pretty close to that so that is a little bit of just like a bigerxia type thing. Um, I don't have any plans of of getting on stage any timee sooner or anything like that, so I just don't see a benefit of going like you know, I'm I'm at ten percent body fat. I have abs. Sorry, Have abs. I have like some veins coming through on my abs like there's no benefit to me getting any leaner in my in my

[bryan_boorstein]: 21:13

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 21:14

personal opinion right now. So and plus, I love like I love the phase of transitioning out of a diet when you're like adding the carbohydrate back in. you subjectively feel so much better. Your training

[bryan_boorstein]: 21:23

Yep,

[aaron_straker]: 21:27

sessions are better. You have more energy and then on like top of that your, you know muscle glickage and stores are filling out and you look better on top of it, So

[bryan_boorstein]: 21:35

mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 21:35

it's like Across the board is a net positive with everything like you're eating more. You have more energy levels. Your sex drive starts to return. You look better. It's like it. It's just it's it's literally fucking awesome, so I want that to happen, So it's another aspect there. Um, and I have. Like just in the past couple of days have started to get that like a little bit of diet fatigue. Um. and how I've I've noticed it in two ways. I am generally, uh. I generally recover very very well from training. It's unless I ramp something up, you know, way too quickly or something like that, I'm generally recovered in like forty eight hours. Rarely do I have to modify my. um. Excuse me planned intervals of training

[bryan_boorstein]: 22:16

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 22:16

because I'm like overly sore and I can just tell it's like it's lingering a little bit more. Um, and then I can just feel a little bit of like the like, a subjective, like pressure on myself, which is just like means like I have just a little bit less energy. My legs are like a little bit heavier. Um, I'm not as interested in like you know, going out on a on a you know, a big hike or something like that. It's just like a little bit disinterested, and I can tell that that's setting in. Um, so I mean, that's how I know. It's kind of for me, like I said For my goals. It's that's where I'm pretty much at and then getting into kind of how I, how I structure it. Um, I like to do. I. I have found what works best for me is five meals per day. Um, those are a combination of different meals, And then that basically what it looks like is I have a a breakfast. I will have a pre workout meal. Um, I'm still doing an inchure workout. That's a. That's a change that I have taken with this Um, particular diet phases. Instead of having like carbs with dinner or something like that, I've opted to keep my carbohydrate in my inchra workout. Um, so that is like technically a sixth meal, although it's it's not really meal to drink. Uh, and then I will have a post workout and then I'll have basically like uh, lunch two, or sorry, lunch, 'cause I called the first one pre workout and then I have dinner. So how I have 'em is my three highest carbohydrate meals are going to be my intra workout, my post workout and my pre workout, so stacking my carbohydrate mostly around those, and then, uh, recently, as of my you know, last, um, diet update where you know my coach is removed, Um, some more carbohydrate. I am now doing no starches with my lunch or dinner, and just to be clear, I'm calling at lunch and dinner, but from a time standpoint that lunch is generally around four p, m, five p, M. And then

[bryan_boorstein]: 24:09

Hm.

[aaron_straker]: 24:12

that dinner is anywhere from like seven to nine or nine thirty. In the case of last night, 'cause I got like was paying attention in working. so um, it's not like I'm having lunch at noon and and no carbs or anything like that, and then breakfast willll have um carbohydrate. So uh, that is kind of my structure. And then do you want to talk about your structure and then maybe we'll um, you know, cover like specific foods that we're doing.

[bryan_boorstein]: 24:36

Yeah, I think mine are tied a little bit together, because essentially I only have liquid food up until about noon or one usually, and then I have two meals in a snack, so I guess that's my structure.

[aaron_straker]: 24:54

H.

[bryan_boorstein]: 24:55

The composition is probably a little bit more important, as far as the details of that structure go.

[aaron_straker]: 25:01

Definitely okay, Yeah, let's talk about the the details, then I'll uh, I'll start. So my breakfast is, I eat the same thing. Basically every single day with breakfast I will modify something things like slightly, but I love it. It's like my. It's literally the highlight of my day and I look forward to it so much, which sounds kind of corny. I suppose, but um, I'm here for it. so I always do a lot of spinach pretty much as as uh, as not as much as I can, but at least seventy five grams of spinach. Um, and then I'll usually do two eggs and I will f. I, I aim to split my protein throughout those you know, five meals approximately evenly, so depending on Um, how much I need, but that my egg whites that I then supplement those two eggs with will scale up and down. Um. So I generally I'm aiming around like fifty to fifty five, Um, about fifty to sixty. I should say grams protein with each of those meals, and then that you know would correspond how much E, wee I do, uh, liquid egg whites in grams, and then I will do approximately like half a avocado, which is going to be approximately fifty to seventy grams, depending on the size of it, and then a little bit of fruit. Generally a berry, uh, strawberries right now, just because I don't have that much carbohydrate, I can eat, you know in that meal and you get the most volume out of you know, strawberries, as opposed to you know pretty much all other types of fruits, but that might be berry sometimes too, and then I will, Um, for my starchic carbohydrate with breakfast will be, Um, is eko bread, Um, so I, I've recently converted to try and remove as much, um, unnecessarily like a gluten and stuff from my diet just to kind of hedge my bet, Um. My, my digestions never been really really fantastic. and just the more stuff I pay attention to with the increasing incidents of like auto immunity and stuff, I'm just kind of playing it safe. I enjoy it just as much as bread that has gluten in it. So it it seemed like a no brainer for me. Um, right now, that's only one slice. Once is approximately forty grarams, but uh, you know, in times where I have much more carbohydrate that'll up to like three slices or something like that, and then more fruit that first, um meal I, my pre workkout meal, which is about an hour before training will be Uh, some way, isolate cream of rice and blueberries, Um, I really really like the cream of rice. It digest super super easily. Uh, so that is something that for most people, I probably wouldn't recommend keeping in this laate into the diet because you don't get to eat that much of it, but my hunger's been surprisingly really low. Um, so I'm like it. If it, if it's not broken, don't fix it, type of thing, and I've just left that in and then I will put right now about five grams of uh caca nibs on that just to get a little bit of extra quality fats and diversify my fat andtake a little bit there. So I'll do that. The intra workout's pretty, just pretty much just uh, gatery powder, Um, pretty self explanatory. there. The post workout is very similar to the pre worko. It's going to be some way isolate. and then what I will do is go with Um oats for this one and then a like. right now. it's about only half a banana, so about forty forty five grams of a banana. Just because I just don't have that much carbohydrate, but generally, when I'm not dieting that will be, you know, a full banana, Um, and a lot more oats than I'm doing now. and those are pretty much my. three. You know, technically four if you include that uh, intro workout of my carbohydrate meal, so I'm pretty much done eating starchy carbohydrate in any uh, meaningful degree by two to three p. M in the day after I'm done training. And then that leaves me

[bryan_boorstein]: 28:36

And how many have you had at that point?

[aaron_straker]: 28:39

Um right now, one hundred and eighty, so that my high day is one hundred and eighty of grams of carbohydrate, and then my kind of lunch and dinner, Um, right now, I've just been doing stir fry, Uh, because it's really really simple. I enjoy the shit out of it and it gets me a lot of vegetable intakes. so then I will do um for the lunch and the dinner are pretty much identical, except I will swap a protein source. So, for example, yesterday, for for the lunch I did chicken, uh, chicken breast, and then for dinner I did a top syloin Ah, that I kind of like had previously cooked, and then I'll like slice it thinly, Um, and then I have a mixed vegetables that I've been doing. So this week I have uh, Brussels sprouts, I have red bell peppers, yellow bet, yellow bell peppers, green bell peppers, Uh, white onion broccoli, cauliflower, um, carrot and snap peas, and maybe one that I can't think of, But those are like the seven vegetables that I just you know, chopped up and put it together in a big container. And then I will do you know, approximately two hundred to two hundred and twenty five grams of those raw vegetables with that stir fry I put ' in the pan, cook ' up with a little bit of avocado oil spray. And then I will use one tablespoon of which is approximately fifteen grams of like a stir fry sauce. So I have found if if you really go to the grocery store and like compare ' you, there's really aggressively, um, macro friendly sauces, Um, especially in the low quantities, so like a, like the Kevins, you know Paleo foods. I think it's called mix, a tarioaki, One that's only two grams of

[bryan_boorstein]: 30:15

Mhm.

[aaron_straker]: 30:15

carbohydrate per serving, So two grams and then I'll use like this spicy ah sauce in the in the evening that has Uh, four grams and I'll make sure I save. you know, approximately five to six scrams get me through that, Um. And that's you know, that's my lunch and dinner. And those are, you know, big volumes of food. you know, the the. the amount of chicken and steak, or you know, pork, like I did last week is anywhere from like a hundred and seventy five to like two hundred and twenty five grams. So that I mean it keeps me satiated. I am the only time I am truly hungry is when I wake up, because I've been fasting, for you know, ten hours or whatever. And then if um, I end up working too long and push my training session back and go too long between like that second meal and the third meal, and that's just from timing standpoint. But uh, I mean that is what the majority of my you know eating looks like at this point.

[bryan_boorstein]: 31:06

Are you over boodywight and protein gras day?

[aaron_straker]: 31:10

Oh yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]: 31:10

That's what I thought, cause, if you're only eating like a hundred and eighty or two hundred grams of carbs on your high day, then if you're not eating like two hundred and fifty grams of protein or something like that, I mean your just total color consumption is low, because I know that you're not like a huge high fat guy or anything.

[aaron_straker]: 31:27

no fats are fats are low.

[bryan_boorstein]: 31:29

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 31:29

I mean well low for me, which is fifty five. Um.

[bryan_boorstein]: 31:31

that's really well. Yeah, I mean, so if you have two, you have eight hundred calories from carbs, and then you have five hundred calories from fat. so you're at thirteen hundred calories and

[aaron_straker]: 31:41

Mhm,

[bryan_boorstein]: 31:42

then you basically have the rest of them to make up from protein. So if it's like two fifty, it's like a thousand calor from protein. That's twenty three hundred calories. Is that about right?

[aaron_straker]: 31:51

my protein is higher than that right now. it's two eighty five.

[bryan_boorstein]: 31:54

Okay, so you're at like twenty four hundred calories more or less

[aaron_straker]: 31:57

Yeah, and I mean that's

[bryan_boorstein]: 31:58

with a lot of protein.

[aaron_straker]: 32:00

yeah. I mean, I, I prefer a higher protein

[bryan_boorstein]: 32:02

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 32:03

intake. Um. it's just like, Like what we know from those from those overeing

[bryan_boorstein]: 32:07

right,

[aaron_straker]: 32:07

studies. You're never going to ste as body fat. I mean, at the very worst case you, your body will convert it to Uh, a carbohydrate through glucocom neogenesis, which you're essentially burning calories by, you know, cleaving that in that process anyway. So at the very worst you, it becomes an expensive carbohydrate

[bryan_boorstein]: 32:26

yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 32:27

It's it's uh. it's just very safe in my, in my opinion,

[bryan_boorstein]: 32:30

for sure, Yeah, it's interesting to see that. Um, because I actually take the opposite approach, like my fats are similar to yours. Like sixty or sixty five. Um, but I'm like, probably two hundred grams of protein a day and two eighty five to three hundred on the carbs. So it's like literally the inverse of what you're doing with the protein and carbs. and I think that I. I. I think I prefer that, I guess for like to provide more more glycogen and fuel and whatever, and I and I think I feel better that way, but I guess I've never really tried jacking the protein up and and keeping the carbs lower, so that might be an experiment for me at some point

[aaron_straker]: 33:08

it's I mean. Mine are generally not this high when I'm die. sorry when I'm dieting. Yes, but then as carbohydrate becomes more available, like the protein will kind of scale back down. Uh,

[bryan_boorstein]: 33:18

right,

[aaron_straker]: 33:19

it's just a. I don't want to call it a conseences. It's a design for for dieting right.

[bryan_boorstein]: 33:22

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 33:23

it's It's really hedging your bet, saturating the protein because I mean one, the goals to to protect as much uh lean muscle mass as

[bryan_boorstein]: 33:31

right.

[aaron_straker]: 33:32

possible when dieting carbohydrate is, you know, Um like muscle protective, but then when there's you know, I don't want take too much carbohydrate. But the more carbohydrate the less fat you're going to be burning, because you have a fuel source there. Um, so it's just it's it's uh. it just makes a lot of sense. Um. from my standpoint

[bryan_boorstein]: 33:49

for sure. No, I. I agree, I've always just kind of felt that the extra carbs would provide me like more of the the instant energy. Maybe that I want.

[aaron_straker]: 33:58

Oh, definitely

[bryan_boorstein]: 33:59

Um, So so it's interesting. Like how long do you know how long that process takes to convert Uh, excess protein into carbohydrate if it's needed to do so.

[aaron_straker]: 34:08

I, I don't have a time on

[bryan_boorstein]: 34:10

okay,

[aaron_straker]: 34:10

you and I don't know. the the. the. The One circumstance that I do know. it happens like really frequently In is the people who train fasted

[bryan_boorstein]: 34:21

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 34:22

and do like. If you like the people who go do cross fit it F am and don't eat anything, and they're on that low carbohydrate diet like you are literally cattibalizing your lean muscle

[bryan_boorstein]: 34:31

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 34:31

mass as a fuel substrate for your cross fiit workouts. So that is like one scenario that I do know where it happens. You know kind of regularly, but you're setting yourself up for a perfect know scenario for that to happen in people who are eating like consistently higher protein and stuff. I don't know. the the constraints of when that will happen.

[bryan_boorstein]: 34:53

gotcha. Do you know whether there would still be as much cannibalizing of muscle tissue if said person was training fasted in the morning, but ate a shit ton of carbohydrates the night before and then went to bed

[aaron_straker]: 35:10

It would be less so so. Yeah, when I have my clientele who trained firsting in the morning for like schedules, constraints or whatever we load. their you know final meal of the night as a pre workout. Mual.

[bryan_boorstein]: 35:23

Mhm. that's what I figured. Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 35:24

Yeah.

[bryan_boorstein]: 35:25

cool. um. Yeah, So with my diet like I kind of went over what my macros are. Just then about two hundred protein, more or less, kind of three hundred itch on the carbs, and that depends on the day and then usually I try to stay around six or sixty five fat. Sometimes it goes up a little higher, a little lower, Um. But the reason that the carbohydrate number kind of changes is because I've kind of found a cool and sustainable model in a three day uh calorie cycling system for myself, Um, where I essentially usually will have a rest day and then train two days and then have a rest day and then train two days, And that's kind of the structure that I usually use. Um, so I've essentially been eating less, or the least on my rest day, which has kind of come up to about twenty two to twenty three hundred calories most days, and then on my first training day up it two or three hundred calories, and then on my

[aaron_straker]: 36:27

s.

[bryan_boorstein]: 36:27

second training day I up that another two or three hundred calories and then I have another rest day where I drop it back down again, And Uh, that has actually worked really well and I don't exactly know why, Um, I theorize that it's because the second training day im. I'm already carrying the fatigue from the first training day and I need a little bit of extra recovery, so uping those calories on that second training day gives me just a little bit more boost. Uh at a time when I might need it, And then I kinda go into the rest day and I, I really don't need anything and I actually find myself not hungry on that day, which is fantastic because I prioritize things like doing work and being outside and staying busy, and I just kind of eat less. Um, so that three day rotation has been phenomenal and the main variable that I adjust in there is carbs, so on the day that's like twenty three hundred calories like a rest day, my carbs might be something like two hundred to two, twenty five, and then on the next day they're like two fifty, two sixty, and then on the higher day they're like three hundred to three twenty or something like that. Um, and then protein is usually pretty stable plus her mine is two hundred, like one, eighty five to two, fifteen, range, and fat, like I said is like fifty to seventy range. So, uh, that's pretty typical, and then, as far as composition of of food, so regardless of the day, my first consumption is go to be way plus Gaateer aid. And uh, I usually have two of those on a training day and only one of them on a non training day. And then, uh, that would mean that on the non training day I have a slightly larger uh protein portion at at my first meal, which is usually you know, noon or one or whatever, And then the first meal usually is some leftover meat with some rice and veggie fruit. Um, I've been usually a lot more fruit, especially on training days. Uh, 'cause the Gator raid is all dexterous and they've They've actually done studies showing that the the utilization of fruitoast with socros has a an added benefit when you're trying to recover from training, so I eat

[aaron_straker]: 38:38

yep.

[bryan_boorstein]: 38:39

a lot of fruit with my gator aid drink, um at that lunch meal on a training day and then I eat a little bit less fruit on a non training day, just kind of as a way to to save some carbs there. so it's like a meat portion, a starch like a rice. Usually, um, although I'm thinking about changing out to oatmeal, 'cause I feel like rice. Just I love rice and it's amazing, but it doesn't really like fill me up. it kind of goes

[aaron_straker]: 39:00

potatoes.

[bryan_boorstein]: 39:01

right through me. Yeah, so potatoes are? I have potatoes almost every night, so that was gonna be like my.

[aaron_straker]: 39:05

Okay

[bryan_boorstein]: 39:06

So usually after lunch, Uh, we like lunch for me. Is you know oneishish something like that and then I'll usually get hungry again at like three or four, so at that point I'll have like a quest bar, and like maybe a string cheese or something like that. It kind of depends on what the kids are eating and what I decide to grab from their food, but usually it's like a cheese of some sort, and like a quest bar, a bilt bar or something like that, And then um at night it's always like a meat and a starch, and I really try to make that starch at night a potato I've become a huge fan of of the way I cook potatoes, and they actually almost taste kind of like french fries like they get kinda well done, so I put, I slice them. Really thin and I put 'em in the in the oven on a baking sheep, spraying with a little olive oil, spray, garlic, salt pepper, and cook 'em for like thirty minutes on four hundred, and I don't even flip 'em or anything 'cause the side that's on the pan basically just cooks and gets like, kind of crispy. and and literally I enjoy these like they're amazing. They. Actually, for whatever reason, I can convince myself in a diet that they're like french fries, and I know that of course they're not like french fries, but to me in that moment they're like they're really really enjoyable, so I usually try to make those at least a few times a week. Uh, maybe we'll have mashed potatoes or some sort of like, Uh, other form of potato. But we do eat a lot of sweetatoes and rust potatoes in our house. Um, and then usually that will be like a red meat at night for me, Uh, I usually have like a steak or some lean ground beef or something like that. and uh, The the lunch meals usually like chicken. I think. Um,

[aaron_straker]: 40:43

's generally what I do as well,

[bryan_boorstein]: 40:44

yeah, and then uh, that will also have like fruit and or veggie, kind of depending on on my day, I don't eat enough veggies. I eat a lot of fruit, but uh, but I don't eat enough veggies, so I'm looking on ways to to kind of improve that, but I pretty much just eat the majority of my veggies raw like I'll grab raw carrots. I'll grab raw snap peas. I like cooked broccoli and cooked cauliflower. Um. but I love the the carrots and snap peas raw, so I just munch on those throughout the day a lot of times. Um, and yeah, that's pretty much it. I don't. uh. I guess I eat protein pancakes sometimes and if I do that, it throws m everything else off and I have to make adjustments because they're uh. They're kind of like the same similar macro nutrient profile. It's like a perfect bar where they're just like high and fat, high and protein and high in carbd. They're just like like everything,

[aaron_straker]: 41:35

dense,

[bryan_boorstein]: 41:36

so

[aaron_straker]: 41:36

just dense.

[bryan_boorstein]: 41:38

yeah, yeah, so I, uh, so I love them and uh, when I'm not dieting I can literally eat like a thousand calories worth of them and they're so amazing, but now it's like I have four of them and I think it's like two hundred and something calories. So um, when I do that I do. I do have to kind of make some sacrifices later in the day, but uh yeah, that's the food man. Any questions on that?

[aaron_straker]: 42:01

No, the one thing that you brought up that I wanted to kind of you know, go deep on a little bit is eating a lot of fruit

[bryan_boorstein]: 42:07

Mhm?

[aaron_straker]: 42:08

when you're diing. And the thing that's really cool and like diing gets such like a kind of a bad rap Because people bastardize it and just do it poorly. Right and don't get me wrong. There is no negative consequences that will happen and like that, but one thing that happens, I think is really cool with dieting is your, your palate will begin to change a little bit, so one of

[bryan_boorstein]: 42:29

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 42:29

those things like fruit becomes so incredibly incredible, tasting, especially like in the summer. It's like summer timee now, which is often when people diet strawberries are in season, they're ripe and they taste like absolutely

[bryan_boorstein]: 42:41

yep,

[aaron_straker]: 42:41

incredible. like I cannot tell you like when you get that right pack of strawberries and you're eating them like it will give me this incredible

[bryan_boorstein]: 42:45

yep,

[aaron_straker]: 42:49

amount of joy and I'll like I'll tell like geny'. like jeany, These strawberries are absolutely fucking incredible. Like, why can't they always taste like this and like when you're not having like hyper, palatable foods and stuff that are literally engineered like

[bryan_boorstein]: 43:02

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 43:02

teams. The companies have like engineers. To you know, Uh, create these taste teams. The companies have like engineers. To you know, Uh, create these taste profiles and stuff like natural foodits, like fruit and stuff like some, profiles and stuff like natural foodits, like fruit and stuff like some, maybe mango, or like, Uh, cantalopes and another one like they'll just taste maybe mango, or like, Uh, cantalopes and another one like they'll just taste absolutely incredible. absolutely incredible. Oh, and that's something I always like. Really, look forward to as well.

[bryan_boorstein]: 43:20

yeah, summer fruit is the best fruit. Um, cherries are my all time number one favorite. If only we could find a way to take this the pit out so that I wouldn't have to eat them slowly. then I could eat so many more cherries. but it's just such a battle to like de pit each one in your mouth. I mean God, they' just like a perfect diet food.

[aaron_straker]: 43:42

Yeah, yeah, I like

[bryan_boorstein]: 43:43

Um,

[aaron_straker]: 43:43

'em when you're like on a walk or something, Because then you can just like, kind of kick the pit or something like that. Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]: 43:46

Yeah, like sunflower seeds or whatever. Um,

[aaron_straker]: 43:49

yeah, yeah, The the fruit is the cool.

[bryan_boorstein]: 43:50

no, but yeah, fruits, great apricots, peaches. I'm a huge fan of fruit, and Um, and I eat a lot of it and I definitely don't think it needs to be like mastardized on a diet. so so yeah, a huge fan.

[aaron_straker]: 44:03

The only thing there is. I. I will kind of say like when when it comes to effective dieting right, it's food selection is one of the one, one of the best things, and certain fruits like namely, Like bananas. they're just high in

[bryan_boorstein]: 44:15

Mhm.

[aaron_straker]: 44:15

carbohydrate for the volume of food you can eat. I would say the worst offender is dates. anyime I see dates in

[bryan_boorstein]: 44:21

Yup,

[aaron_straker]: 44:22

someone's food log. I'm like, Hey dog.

[bryan_boorstein]: 44:23

well, that's dry, dried free man. Dried fruit

[aaron_straker]: 44:25

Listen,

[bryan_boorstein]: 44:26

is like not even real fruit.

[aaron_straker]: 44:28

yeah, so it's just um. Just compare. Compare what what you're looking

[bryan_boorstein]: 44:33

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 44:33

at and see berries are one of the best you know. Um, ba, for your bu carbohydrate to volume type

[bryan_boorstein]: 44:38

mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 44:38

fruits like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, Um, some of whom pretty high fibre as well, So those are just going to help you eat more volume of food for fewuer carbohydrates, Unsless, you eat a higher total volume of food on the day

[bryan_boorstein]: 44:48

mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 44:53

increases. Your, you know opportunity for uh, increasing the nutrient density in your diet and that is really like the name of the game

[bryan_boorstein]: 44:59

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 44:59

of dieting effectively

[bryan_boorstein]: 45:01

Um, Totally, when we talk about food, fruits that are in season and not in season or whatever you know, so like right now, blackberries and and raspberries are really not. I feel like every batch I get is just awful and it

[aaron_straker]: 45:13

and they go bad in two days.

[bryan_boorstein]: 45:14

they go literally. They, sometimes they show up and they already have that white shit on them. Um.

[aaron_straker]: 45:18

Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]: 45:19

I, I'm so angered when that happens. it all just fucking whole foods like Amazon delivery. Can't you just pick me like good fruit? Why you got to give me the shatty foodruit all the time? Um, But anyway, so it reminds me of a mem that I saw. That was like The problem with fruit is that sometimes you get one and it's amazing. Sometimes it's awful Rease Cups are bomb. Every time it's like it's very very true.

[aaron_straker]: 45:45

it really is too. yeah, y. it's uh. there isn't as much variation in what you're going to get. For sure.

[bryan_boorstein]: 45:51

Yeah, uh, shall we do a question here?

[aaron_straker]: 45:54

Let's diick into it.

[bryan_boorstein]: 45:55

Do you want to do that? Uh one about number five?

[aaron_straker]: 45:57

Let's um, I think it'll be really really cool and I, I allude to some of it already, but let's di into it. So the question is what are the signs to call it quits, On a cut. How far can you push? Do you want to take a stap at this one first? Do you want me to?

[bryan_boorstein]: 46:13

Go for it

[aaron_straker]: 46:15

Um? How far can you push? You'd be surprised how far you can push. Just you know, Dig into. like Google. You know, the The, The Natural Bodyuilding Federations and see what those guys do. F. follow some of them on integram. If you really want to go down into that world, they will die it like a year straight, if not longer, to get you know. Peeled on stage is that healthy, objectively absolutely not, Um. And that's just we have to call it for what it is. What are the signs to call it? quits, On a diet. the first one. Uh, I would say, Um, Have you reached your goal? Has you know getting leaner not are, Are you in your your area of diminishing returns, which I'm about to find myself, And I'm as lean as I really care to be, So getting any weaner, I'm in that point of diminishing returns. I don't get any more, you know, subjective benefit happiness, anything from that, So I'm pretty much kind of good here. I picked the date, Um, and I'm going to stick with it. Other signs to call a quits. Has your uh quality of life decreased? Um, are you affecting your personal relationships? is it affecting your work relationships? Another one that was really, Uh, kind of cool to to talk about. I saw on a story yesterday. Um, is it negatively impacting your sex life? Like once you get lean enough, your sex drive is going to go away. has nothing to do with your relationship with your significant other? Anything like that Is your phys. Is is a physiologic and hormonal response to the environment you provide in your body. Your sex drive will decrease and that may become a problem for you know, people, and in their lives and things like that. So that is something to consider. Um, are your energy levels like suffering, really really badly. Are you becoming incredibly food focused? Are you like you know is are you? Are? It Is your stress level increasing at a rate that outpacs the subjective benefits that you get from You know what you're doing, So there's a lot of these lifestyle aspects. Um to me, like a hard number I like to put is ten percent like once you get, unless you're getting on stage like there's really no, in my opinion benefit to being leaner than ten percent in body fat. Um, your hormone levels can still be pretty decent at at ten percent from like a a natural, uh, inoigenous production of testostern and those sorts of things you look fuck and fantastic. And and just to be clear, here, ten percent for Uh, males, for females, that would be approximately like eight to twelve percent higher. So for females maybe now like seventeen. To like you know, twenty two percent, Depending everyone will will distribute a little bit differently. Um, that's and and how far have you have you come right? Have you lost already more than like ten to twelve percent of your total body weight? Uh, that is a. That is a a nice. uh, indicative factor as well. If you people think they're going to, you know, cut from like thirty percent body fat to like ten percent body fat. and one go. it's going to be really really hard on you. Um, it's best to take breaks and even you know, return to maintenance and stuff like that in periods so generally that ten to twelve percent of one you know, at one Uh, an entire uh. go at it. Um. and it could take a while. you know. you might be Dting for six or seven months or something like that, and again, we, in my opinion, are nearing into that Um. phase or or or area of it is not become healthy anymore, unless you're starting at like a very very high body fat percentage. We just you know, reducing that body fat, Um, by a large degree does have improvements on your health markers. Um, and that's just the last thing I will say there. Um, you know, get blood work done, but do not get it at the end of a diet facease, because you're just going to scare yourself, because everything, not everything, but things will not look very good, especially hormones.

[bryan_boorstein]: 49:58

unless you' like me, and you purposefully get it at the end of the dieting face so you can compare to how was at the beginning of the Ph.

[aaron_straker]: 50:05

Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]: 50:06

knowledge power Ba, But um, so yeah, I think you pretty much smash that. I think that you know every decision that you make like this has like opportunity cost, or you have to wait kind for the pros and cons, so to speak, and I guess that's when it's no longer providing you Um, more benefit than it's causing you harm, so Um, you kind of can make a a pros and conslst in your head or on paper and figure out for you whether it's worth it to continue that process, Um, things like whether certain relationships in your life are being sacrificed like I don't know if you have a family. But for me, uh, when someone actually asked me a similar question of this like they asked me on intigram, Is it worth it or something like that? And it it is worth it. As long as it's not too burdensome on me, and that comes down to that personal opportunity cost. But then also that it's not a burden on my family. That that. not that. Not that my dieting, the actual act of eating my food is a burden, because of course I'm goingnna have to be eating different foods, but more that my behavior isn't impacting them negatively in such a manner that it's it's obvious that I'm clearly depleted and I'm no longer able to be in control of the way that my stress is. Um, how how I outlet my stress on a daily basis. And so these are things that I'm very cognizant of, Because when

[aaron_straker]: 51:37

Ss.

[bryan_boorstein]: 51:37

I went through the de cut in two thousand fifteen to step on stage for men's physique, that was my top priority. I put it above Kim. Uh. Luckily we didn't have kids at the time, but it was like everything was like. I have to go for my walk. I have to do my training. I have to eat my food. No, I can't go out with your friends because they're go to be drinking. Like all of these things were very selfishly about me, Um, because this thing I was doing was so important And and now this thing that I'm doing is important, but it's not uh important enough to do that. So uh, there comes a point where you just kind of have to assess your situation and determine if you're at that point or not, and then uh, kind of the other checklist of items of whether it's worth it. Um, so I think those are, Those are important things to keep in mind, And then, uh, I also have a practical idea of a way that maybe you can kind of test it on yourself and determine so if you're at a point where you're like O, I don't know if it's worth it anymore. Why not put yourself into like a two to four week maintenance phase or slightly above maintenance, where you kind of take yourself out of the diet, and like kind of test the waters and see how you feel, See how you act, See if these kind of negative behaviors that you were experiencing on the diet suddenly are are now diminishing, And then you kind of have this this choice that you can make of of wanting to just continue in the place that you are where you're happy and content, or kind of jumping back into the diet. Now, with this knowledge of knowledge' power of experiencing what it's like to be out of the out of the diet. so um, just some additional dots there,

[aaron_straker]: 53:17

Yeah, the last thing I will add there. I like the thing you said with the with the practical kind of taking the the two week break. However, a pattern that you want to avoid is dieting taking a two week break. dieting taking a two week break. like the perpetual never ending diet

[bryan_boorstein]: 53:33

M

[aaron_straker]: 53:34

Because it will eventually just you know you will hit that point of diminishing returns, and even the complete opposite. Um, you know, I don't know what it's called, but things will get bad. Basically, like, hormones will only suffer more like you will eventually need to return to maintenance for a considerable period of time at the bare minimum, so just make sure.

[bryan_boorstein]: 53:50

unless you're trying to do the Mador diet,

[aaron_straker]: 53:51

like yeah, but I mean eventually, like. like, let's say you're You know. you want to lose like thirty pounds

[bryan_boorstein]: 53:59

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 54:00

and then you decide like Oh, I'm going to lose fifty pounds, lose seveny

[bryan_boorstein]: 54:02

M.

[aaron_straker]: 54:03

pounds And it's like Been like eight, nine, twelve, like thirteen months.

[bryan_boorstein]: 54:06

right.

[aaron_straker]: 54:07

You're eventually going to get to a point where like you've dug the whole way too deep.

[bryan_boorstein]: 54:10

W.

[aaron_straker]: 54:11

You need to, just you know,

[bryan_boorstein]: 54:11

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 54:12

take your winds, and, and then come back at it again in like four to six months or something.

[bryan_boorstein]: 54:17

Yeah, that goes back to the diminishing of returns thing like it just reaches a point where you're just not getting anything for the effort that you're putting in.

[aaron_straker]: 54:24

exactly.

[bryan_boorstein]: 54:25

Yeah, Im cool. Well, that's good, dude. Do we want to do? I think we'll probably safe the rest of the questions because they arere like training related, right,

[aaron_straker]: 54:33

Yeah, let's live this with. like a, like, a mostly, um, a diet episode. You know, we haven't have like a purely kind of diet

[bryan_boorstein]: 54:39

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 54:39

episode. Um, So there's anything else you want to add on this one?

[bryan_boorstein]: 54:43

No, So we're going to do a training episode next week And then, is it the week after that we get to the talk to the great Doctor Helms,

[aaron_straker]: 54:50

I mean it is. It's going to be super cool,

[bryan_boorstein]: 54:53

Very nice. I'm excited about that.

[aaron_straker]: 54:55

Um on the topic of dining, and I can't believe I. I didn't think of this in the beginning. I, when this episode launches, I will be in an open intake for my nutrition coaching. Um. there will probably be when this episode comes out maybe five to six days left of applications. opening Um. it is for my twenty two week Um. nutrition coaching training education program called the metabolic performance protocol. It will be the final time that I take on new clients for the year of twenty twenty, one, So after this one I will not launch another one until January. So if that interests you, Um, check out myigram. I have stories and highlights up on there. check out these Strake Nutrition Co website. I have uh, tons of before and afters, Uh, testimonials transformations, A lot of information about it. Then you can submit an application and uh, set up a console with me is. Uh, we will go through discuss your goals and make sure that we're good fit for each other. and like I said, if that interests you reach out to me and uh, that is all I have for this episode. So that gu. uh, thank you for listening, as always from Brian and myself. Have a great day and we'll talk to you next week.