
Eat Train Prosper
Eat Train Prosper
Resolutions, 75-Hard, Making Lasting Change | ETP#178
In this episode, we’re kicking off the New Year with some reflections, personal updates, and a deep dive into the 75 Hard challenge. We talk about how identity plays a huge role in making real, lasting changes and how peripheral elements like your environment shape your behavior.
We shift into the challenges of sticking to your word—especially when family, friends, and social events come into play. Ultra-processed foods, managing your surroundings, and even the less thought about psychological stuff like the sunk cost bias all make an appearance. We cover the positives of a high-energy lifestyle, why moving around after meals matters, and how to handle social situations without losing ground on your health goals.
Timestamps:
00:00 - New Year Reflections and Updates
11:14 - The 75 Hard Challenge: Pros and Cons
22:15 - Successful Change: Identity and Social Circles
26:19 - Habit Formation and Environmental Influence
32:53 - Controlling Your Environment for Healthier Choices
34:35 - The Challenge of Ultra-Processed Foods
36:36 - Understanding Sunken Cost Bias in Eating
38:56 - The Importance of Structure in Eating Habits
41:38 - High Energy Flux Lifestyle Explained
46:41 - Post-Meal Movement and Its Benefits
52:43 - Navigating Social Situations with New Goals
59:36 - Being Your New Self Around Friends and Family
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What is going on, guys? Happy Tuesday. Welcome to the very first Eat, Train, Prosper of 2025. And of course, with the turn of the new year today, Brian and I are discussing resolutions, a little bit of 75 hard, but most importantly, making change happen. So it's been two weeks since we've had an episode and we will not have an episode next week. So we'll do a brief update and then dive into the nuts and bolts of today's episode. Brian, can you kick us off, please? Yeah, it's been a while since I've talked to you beautiful people. Happy New Year 2025 year five of the podcast commencing. So all exciting things. So I spent Christmas or I guess between Christmas and New Year's in in Mexico. Really awesome trip with the fam. We did a similar trip three years ago and it was a disaster. Just the kids were foreign. almost two at the time. And it was terrible. Like we basically said we were never going to do another trip like this again. So three years later, now the kids are seven and almost five. And it was amazing. Like everything went as well as you could hope for the kids slept well. They enjoyed the kids club, which meant that Kim and I got some free time to ourselves. The food was great, which was one of our other concerns with the last place we went to for anyone booking these trips do not go to the palladium. That's where we went the first time the food was almost inedible. so this time someone hit me up on DM when they found out I went to the palladium last time and they're like, no, no, you need to go to finest. Of course, finest. so naturally we went there and the food was, was solid. So overall amazing trip. the only downside of the whole thing really was that the day before we left for the trip, I was doing my final lower body workout before the vacation. And I have never in my life experienced a low back injury, like what I experienced on this day. And it occurred from leg curls. literally I was sitting there doing a set of leg curls. said a PR didn't feel anything weird or wrong. Got up from the leg curl machine and could not straighten my torso. Like literally I was bent over hunched over like an old man and I could not get myself to stand up all the way because there was some limiting factor, something pulled or whatever happened along the top of my coccyx, the butt bone, all the way across on both sides. And I knew immediately that this was just a really bad injury. Like I usually have these little QL tweaks that occur from RDLs or from picking a kid up wrong or something like that. And these things are, are mild and they're annoying and they last for a while, but they're mild. this was not mild. I literally could not walk. for the first few days. Once I could start walking, couldn't walk faster than a 30 minute mile. And then it wasn't until day five that I finally was able to be good enough to walk at like a normal pace. Still now we're in day 13 as we record this, this episode and I'm unaffected in daily life. Like I can do all daily tasks, no problem. I can even lift weights if I'm careful. But I am far away from being able to load an RDL like even for me to bend over in a proper RDL position like to keep my legs at 10 degree knee bend Have my hips move back while my torso descends down Even to do that with no weight. I have to like warm up stretch and get my body into position like literally just a bend over with no weight so really really bad injury The only thing I can really relate it to or think about why it occurred is probably that I was dehydrated. Usually when I go into workouts, I make sure that I've had either some food or some element, electrolyte, something like that. I was playing with the kids. I didn't have breakfast. I probably didn't drink enough water. I go into this workout and on the first work set, whatever happens happens. I don't want to be scared of leg curls now, but I do have a little bit of, of timid approach to leg curls. Quad work is fine. did pendulum squats yesterday. Totally fine. No big deal back supported. but this definitely is super unfortunate. And, I guess the only real change I can implement to try and make sure it doesn't happen again is to make sure I'm more hydrated going into workouts. so yeah, that's update number one. I'll pass over to you and come back to me. Okay, yeah, so my first update I broke my Instagram posting desert. What do they call it? With with everything that happened in the desert fast, not fast, but like no, like like you take a long break from doing things I haven't posted on Instagram in a very long time. With my year long kind of progress update and I made sure to. have my first starting be once I had already started testosterone just to be completely transparent. I really don't like when people post like before and afters ones with, you know, exogenous testosterone. One is not very obvious in that in that degree. And it's been I mean, obviously people were I got a very good response out of it and it and it was a little bit helpful to be I'm very overly critical of myself, especially with things that I don't have as much time to do as I may. otherwise want. So I have been frustrated with the fact that I'm only up 35 pounds and it's closer to 40 to be completely honest. But I wanted to top out around like 240 to 43 ish and I'm only at like 230. So that and I just don't see it happening in the next like six ish weeks before I start my my first prep. But it is what it is. There was A lot of moving pieces in a, you know, obviously an operation and stuff in the middle of the year that I hadn't planned for, but it's been good. You know, a highly productive 35 year, 35 pounds, still decently lean, you know, from, from the grand scheme of things. it's been a big year of learning and stuff and I've stayed mostly healthy. and I'm excited for the first prep to start as I'm very overeating all of my food right now. Can you project forward what your intended stage weight would be and how much that's different from where it would be if you had gained an extra 10 pounds per se? The hard thing is it probably wouldn't be that different. I really don't know, to be completely honest, you know, it depends on how much I hold, how I respond to the change in PEDs, because there is like different PEDs you use in prep than verse not. And I've never taken in any of them before, so just I have no idea how I'll respond. I'm assuming somewhere around like 95 kilos, maybe a little bit less, maybe like a 92 ish something on stage or like weigh in. or the morning of or whatever. know if if for my stature and stuff in the Pro League, my weight cap would be 90 just under I think it's like 97, nine or 98 to or 98 for something like that. Sweet. You got anything else? Just by the time this episode airs, we will be about second, almost third week of the new year for anyone out there. If they are finding that your resolutions have not quite stuck so far and you find that you do need some help, you know where to find me, right? So always reach out. It's a very, very busy year, a busy time of the year for coaching. And I already have a really good new influx of clients, a lot of old clients as well. And I just like the... You don't put it out there, right? You're gonna find out that you don't have the tool set and for really the accountability standpoint that you really probably need to. And that's where I come into play and I'll be happy to help. You can DM me and we'll go from there. Yep, highly recommend Mr. Straker. I don't know if you guys know that, but I like that guy. So real quick for me, last two updates. I've talked a bit on here about the new podcast I'm starting, Life Reflected. It's not super fitness based, but has obviously some components involving fitness. I was intending on recording the first episode with my great friend Greg and having him be my first guest. In December, we've had some sickness and some scheduling issues. So we still have not recorded the first episode. So for anybody, I know that a few of you guys that listen to this that have reached out and put your name in the hat for potentially wanting to be a guest on my new podcast. For anyone that isn't familiar with it, the idea is that we want to interview regular ass people that have unique insights or characteristics. and then kind of investigate those and talk about some other kind of tangential fitness based stuff along the way. and so, yeah, I'm looking forward to getting that going, but it just hasn't happened yet. So everything's being pushed back. So if you reached out to me, just hang tight and I'll get to you eventually. the last thing I wanted to say is just that, I, I noticed a trend in my heart rate over the last few years and it seems to be higher. my resting heart rate seems to be higher every December and January than the rest of the year. And so I was noticing that this year and then I was like reflecting and thinking about how I think it was the same last year. And I looked back like three more years and literally for the last four years, I always have a higher resting heart rate in December and January than the rest of the year. And I am sure there's a number of reasons probably, you know, over eating over the holidays. Possible like latent sickness or you know, little mild sickness that's kind of existing under the frame that always happens around that time of year because kids are home from school and bringing stuff in and whatever, whatever. But I just thought that was really interesting because my client was doing his check-in report to me and noting that his heart rate was also higher. And he was like, am I over-trained? Like what's happening? And I reflected back on that and let him know. And so I'm just curious if anyone else that tracks their heart rate data as closely as I do. If you've noticed any spike potentially in your resting heart rate over the December, January period, that's maybe three to five beats higher than the rest of the year. So marginal, not huge, but when I see my resting heart rate at 48, 49 as an average instead of 43, 44, I just think that's interesting. So anyway, curious if anyone else has experienced the same. That's all I got. All right, let's dive in. So one of the first things that we thought talking about is because it's highly, highly popular is 75 hard, right? And in full transparency, I have a both like a kind of like a love hate relationship with it. I do love the Challenge that it presents and to be in full transparency. I've never done it. I never plan on doing it I think a lot of it is incredibly superfluous and almost I don't say detrimental but superfluous is a very very good term to use there My biggest gripe with it is it's very overbearing and consuming and then when it's over you get the like I Need I need this break from it And then what happens is it's unsustainable is what it is. And it's like the tide shifts the other way. I haven't had any alcohol in these 75 days. You end up drinking more than you you would in a lot. And then you end up like over consuming. And I just know like I've watched friends and kind of acquaintances go through it. They get an amazing shape. Seventy five days after 75 hard is over. They are in the exact same shape that they started in. Right. And here's now. whatever that is, 150 days and you're back to square one. And that's my issue with it. I pretty much agree with all of that. I think it would be helpful for us to go over what the rules are of 75 Hard, because I mean, it is very popular, but I would assume that not all of our listener base is fully aware. So 75 Hard has five or slash six different rules to it. The first one being that you work out two times a day for 45 minutes minimum each time. One of those two workouts has to be outside. So think you could do a 45 minute weightlifting session and then you could go for a 45 minute walk. To me that that's just the way I live. that's not hard to me, but I understand why that is challenging for people that don't in fact have the same lifestyle that I do. So I think it's great. Like I think, you I don't love the forceful nature of saying you must work out two times a day for 45 minutes, but I understand why it's there. for the accountability piece and stuff like that. So I think that makes sense. The one B to that is no rest days. And I think that that's implicit, obviously within that. So I just put it there because that was also stated as no rest days. Got it. No rest days, workout twice a day, 45 minutes. Follow a diet of choice with no cheating. So it could be keto, it could be vegetarian, it could be zone or paleo or whatever, like choose a diet that works for you and Don't cheat on that diet. Cool. Read a nonfiction book, 10 pages a day. Love that. Don't really think that should be that hard for most people. Drink one gallon of water a day. Again, takes a little bit of thought potentially if you're not somebody that naturally drinks a lot of water. I would also keep in mind, I don't know how the rules state this specifically, but my understanding of drinking a gallon of liquid a day is that it should be liquid and not necessarily water. So if you have like coffee or juices or things like that, like that milk, that like all should count towards your liquid. I don't know if that's true or not in 75 hard, but that's the way I would approach it. And then the last one is a daily progress photo, which I think it's kind of crazy to do daily. I don't know why that's necessary. Like you're not going to see change daily, but I guess it would be cool if you're done with the 75 days and you could do like a a carrot, what? like a really fast, like 20 second thing from beginning to end. that'd be pretty sweet. So I don't know. Overall, I think that it's, it's got a lot of positives, but much like Aaron said, I think the, the risk is that you commit so hard for 75 days that you either come off it and you quote binge in some way, whether it's alcohol or food or a complete cessation of exercise. One of those, the one of those things, I think the other side of it from like a psychological perspective is that even if you have this thoughtful approach to how you're going to approach, to go about your, your commitment to these things after the 75 days, it seems like anything you do less than that feels like you're somehow diminishing. what you were doing. like 75 heart is not sustainable. kind of both agree on that. But what is sustainable? Like if you decide that one workout six days a week is sustainable, and maybe a diet that you're following where you cheat twice a week, maybe you're not so dialed in on having a gallon of liquid a day, but you're still doing a pretty good job having three quarters of a gallon or something along those lines. Like do you now look at yourself as a failure, because you were doing this thing this one way? And then you cut back to what is actually more sustainable for life, but it feels like you're just not doing enough because it wasn't what you were doing prior. So I don't exactly know whether I feel super positively or negatively toward it. I definitely have very mixed emotions. Yeah, I think my kind of gripe is it's rules without context. Without context of a goal, without the context of someone's size. Like you and I drinking a gallon of water per day. But let's just call it a gallon of water outside of other fluids. It's not really that hard, right? We're larger people. Like you take your, like some of my female clients are like 115 pounds. That's a lot fucking different, you know? And it's again, it's just missing context. What is what is your goal going into it? You know, and unfortunately, like a lot of things are like, my goal is like, be healthier. I love it hard to objectively quantify. How do you know you've succeeded? Where is where is that? Where do you where do you draw the line of like success and failure in a very subjective goal? And it plays a lot into that. What is the graduating out of the back of it? Right? How do you? It's like the it's it's the same problem that like post dieting now comes this phase of auto regulation, and because there are not hard rules, it becomes very hard to govern yourself. Right. Like the example that I like using. It's very common for here, at least for like a coffee to come with a cookie. And last year or I guess two years ago now. Yeah. One of my things was like, the phase of not having the cookie with the coffee and like that mental win. When do you decide to start having that cookie? And then if you had it one time, when the next time happens, are you going to have it again? Because you justified it the last time, why can't you justify it again? Right? That self-governance without objective goals becomes incredibly challenging. Yeah, no, mean, it's really well said. Who do you see as the people, the primary population that does 75 hard? Are you seeing people in our industry, other coaches and stuff that are very fitness-based already doing it, or is it primarily general population people? I wouldn't necessarily say general population. I could be wrong here because it's been around for a number of years now. I believe and I believe Andy for Sela created it and he's first form and I think like the people who are in that, you know, fans of that of that supplement brand in that sort of thing. If I really had to, I'm probably going to piss some people off here and by no means is that my intent. I. If I'm really thinking about everyone that I've watched do it, it does seem to be more of that like. Republican ask fans of guns, people that Andy for Sela typically, you know, response has a positive, a favorable look on. And I'm not trying to put my opinion in there like I'm in. I just don't fucking care. I'm not a voter like I just I do not care. That is my stance. I'm just saying that is the kind of crowd that I have personally seen do it. Mm-hmm. some reason, you know, he resonates with them or the brand does or whatever reason. Yeah, that's interesting. It does seem like there's a shift in our culture, and I don't want to get into the politics of things either. But it does seem to me like there's more of a health movement and a caring about your longevity and your general sense of well-being on the conservative side right now. Which I think is really interesting. I don't think I would have expected that. but it is very much the case. And I think it's driven a lot by like the podcast sphere, the bro sphere, which does tend to lean right, it seems. And they're all the ones like the Rogans and Chris Williamsons and stuff like that that seem to be focused on this like longevity and health movement. yeah, there does seem to be a bit of intrigue there on that end. I know the people that I know doing it. at least this year, tend to be the corporate types that, you know, had to schmooze a lot for their work. Maybe they're extremely extroverted in nature, generally drinking as a part of the life that they live as they're out at, you know, happy hours and things like that, rubbing elbows. And so I know a few people in that sphere. I don't even think they're conservative necessarily, but but they're just, trying to improve their life in some way. And they feel like they've gone off the rails over the holidays. And now this is a way for them to get themselves back in order and get back to normal. It just, that type of avatar is also the type of person that really struggles with the transition out of it in mid March after the 75 days are up. That's what it is right mid March. Yeah. Because their lifestyle isn't, isn't conducive to continuing with that, that kind of cleaner approach. So, yeah, I don't know. I guess this kind of transitions well into one of the additional things I wanted to talk about, which is what are the main components of successful change? Like when you hear that and you say, here are the characteristics or the qualities of people that do make successful change. And I'm not even just talking about, you know, I did 75 hard, and then I was able to continue keeping good quality habits. I'm just talking about in general across dieting in general as what you see as a coach. Like what are the qualities and characteristics that create successful change amongst people? The single most one that I've I have found with the clients my clients that have most success a change of how you perceive yourself in your own identity. That's been the number one. Right. And in I mean I have it's good and it's good and bad. It's good for business. I have a lot of clients that come back to me. You know. But if I'm being honest it does hurt me. because I have all this data, right? I have the data. We were together in 2022. We lost whatever 26 pounds. You come back to me now. You've put on 24 of those 26 pounds again, and we're starting over, you know? And I feel very perplexed about that. And it's those people, their identity has never changed. And that's why they lose it. It comes back on because when you're in those familiar social circles and stuff again, it's... It just it kind of sucks you back in. It's in its very human nature thing. And I've 100 percent found myself, you know, in those positions many times. And it wasn't until I became know I'm Aaron, the fitness and nutrition coach that only eats good food, that stopped drinking 100 percent like I've I've been really able to remove that or be successful, not because I've completely changed my identity and how I view myself. I mean, that's super well said. The notion or what you said about social circles, I think is really the crux of this thing. And so I want to steal something from Chris Williamson, which he talks about a lot. He discusses this concept of the lonely chapter. And so his kind of the way he defines that is you've decided you want to make change, but you haven't made significant enough change yet to have a new social circle. you're still like kind of peeking your eyes through figuring it out. You haven't fully developed yourself to the point that this new social circle necessarily even wants you there or that you even feel comfortable there. But you've developed far enough that you can no longer hang out with your prior social circle. So you're kind of in this in-between period, which he calls the lonely chapter, where you just have nobody. You have no friends on your old side and you have no friends on your new side and you're just lonely. And so I think that, I mean, It makes a lot of sense and I think it's very relevant to a lot of people going through that similar type of experience. 100 % having like, I mean, you can call it an accountability partner, whatever, or in my contexts or my context, my significant, my significant other, right? We left the, I mean, I can't really say I was in the corporate world. I worked in startups and stuff like my as in terms of like a full time job, like mine were about as cool as they is they got, but I still didn't like it, right? Regardless, but Jenny and I did it at effectively the same time and we had that support of someone who was always there and then like We bounce business or bounce ideas off of each other. When I was really struggling, like she would help me work through things. And I think I know like for certain without her, I never would have made it. Never, never, never would have made it. And I think it's going to be done on your own. Yeah, I know people who have done it on their own, but it requires a lot of a higher belief of self than I know that I. Yeah, that's interesting to point out the importance of the significant other because in some ways that mitigates that lonely chapter in a small sense. Like you still might be in the lonely chapter with your social circle in general, but having the support of that significant other as you're going through it attenuates some of that emotional stress maybe. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So where do we go from here? Habit formation, I think, is probably like a next good one because, you know, 75 hard is 75 days, but the research seems to demonstrate, or at least it did, man, I haven't probably looked at this research in a number of years, but it seemed to lean towards 21 days of consistency being what's needed for new habit formation to occur. I believe that that was from an old study that had people quitting cigarettes, I think. And they found that if they could go 21 days or three weeks without doing it, that that was enough to instill a new habit. And then you've seen that kind of come downstream, where people talk about creating a new habit of, know, I'm going to become a morning person. I'm going to, begin waking up and working out at 5 a.m. Or something like that. And it, again, it seems that around the three week mark is the point where they do that without having to feel like they're having to pull teeth to do it. where do you stand on that? What have you seen? I mean, it's hard to argue with the data, right? Especially for, mean, I believe that I've seen that study and I'm pretty sure it is. It was around cigarette smoking and that, mean, that is the most classical example, right? It's something that there's a social kind of part of smoking, right? You have the obviously physical dependence, that sort of thing. Like it's a wonderful substance or activity to use for that. What I find with that with the habit formation, the hardest thing is, is when you're trying to form habits, it don't really have an inherent value or meaning to you. Right. Like the example of like, I want to become a morning person. But look, why is it because you feel like you should or there is something that you're typically sleeping through that you would really value doing in the morning? Right. It's a it's a very much. the almost akin to like the phrasing of something saying, I need to do this, meaning someone else told me my doctor, my wife, whatever told me that I should be doing this, but I don't really want to do it myself. And I find that there's been like, what are I think about some for myself? Flossing, right? Flossing my teeth. Like there's been times I've probably flossed my teeth for like eight months straight at night before bed. Right. And then I don't do it for like a week and like a year goes by and I don't do it again, right? And it's, I think it's because it's the, it's like the dentist says, hey, you need to floss, you need to floss, you go see that dentist, you know, once a year, twice a year, whatever. But it's like, until you have like the consequences of not flossing, will it become important enough for you to do it regularly? And I think that's. such a good point. Literally, the consequence associated is almost the main piece of motivation that you need to make it work. So same as you, I'll floss for a little while and then I won't floss and I'll go to the dentist and the dentist will be like, you must have been flossing. Your teeth look great. And I'm like, nope, I haven't been flossing at all. Guess I don't need to anymore. And then sometimes I'll go in and they'll be like, haven't been flossing your gums, you know, they're struggling and I'm like, shit, I need to start flossing again, you know, so yeah, the consequence really does create the action. That's that's very well put. Yeah, and I just found like it has to be meaningful enough for you, you know, and that's where we get into like resolutions and stuff. But like, let's say, you know, I don't know. Let's say your family is like a big drinking circle, right? You and your fiance met in a bar and you guys, that's what you do. You get you drink with your family. You drink with your fiance. You drink with like your university friends, your work friends. And you're like, OK, I'm I'm going to I'm going to stop drinking this year. You have to have a strong why because every like you've created so much of that of your life revolves around that and you have to have like a strong wire. Even if you make it 21 days. I don't think it's strong enough that just because you've made it 21 days for it to actually persist because there's no underlying inherent reason why you want to make that. Yeah, yeah. If I reflect back on corporate America, Brian, post college, before starting the gym in San Diego, I remember I made this change because I reached a point where I was showing up at work and I was so crushed at the end of the day that I would make all these excuses that I would, know, I don't need to do my workout today because I'd rather go do whatever with my friends, go to the beach, go to the bar, whatever it is. I will work out tomorrow. It's all good. I'll combine two muscle groups together, whatever it is. And so I made a decision at some point in there that I was going to start working out in the mornings. And so the reasoning was there. I mean, the, the, the consequence was there. It was that if I didn't do the workouts in the morning, it's likely that I would end up skipping them in the afternoon. so by making the decision that I was going to just get up and start doing my workouts in the morning, I freed up my entire afternoon so that I could go do some of these other things that I wanted to do. But at least I got my workout done and felt like I accomplished something that day. Then I went to work, also accomplished something, made some money, whatever. Then I had the afternoon and the evening free. So I do think that the consequence piece is huge, but the consequences aren't always as profound as maybe like you think they are. Like I'm not gonna die if I don't do this or. I'm not going to get sick or I'm not going to lose my wife or my friends or whatever it is. I mean, it doesn't always have to be that drastic. It could just be something that is important to you. And then you frame it in your brain and provide the significance that allow you to force the action, so to speak. Definitely. Yeah. And I think that's like from like a it's it changes it from like a negative implication of the like fear consequence and you're kind of framing it to more of like a positive in that. yeah, for sure. So I think reframing is super important. One other piece that's sort of related to this in a tangential way is the idea of just not having the things around you that you want to avoid. Yeah, so your environment, I think on a very simple one that we can all relate to is having the food in the house that you don't want to eat. so an example here is over the holidays, we got so many, so many of these C's S E S candies, you know, those ones that come where you like boxes, like a life is like a box of chocolates. You don't know what you're going to get. and literally we got like four or five of these boxes sent to us and we're sitting there we're like opening them and we're trying some of them. And we're just like, these aren't really that good. Like, why are we eating these? The kids are obsessed with them. And so we just made a decision to just throw them away. Like. Screw these chocolates, like really nice to the people to send them to us. Appreciate you. Throw them all in the trash, get rid of them. They're no longer an option. And so that's a very simple, you know, straightforward way of controlling the environment around you. But I think that that expands even beyond something so obvious as chocolates. Like for me, it could be, man, I tend to munch on the cheddar bunnies that I buy for the kids or. the like animal crackers or something like that. And it's really hard as a parent. And I relate to anyone that struggles with this because you don't want to completely abstain your kids from from anything like, no, you don't want to have them consuming a ton of ultra processed food. but being a kid like your metabolism can handle it. You want to have some of those experiences. You don't want to be completely abstained. I get that too. So having that around the house becomes difficult. Trying to mediate that is certainly a challenge too. So When you've been working with clients that have kids that are dealing with a similar situation, how do you guys usually handle that kind of having these ultra processed foods around the house and how people handle their inability or ability to eat them or not eat them? Yeah, the one that comes up most commonly with my clients is the one that I call like the mom tax or the dad tax. Like, my kid didn't finish all the graham crackers and I didn't want to waste them and throw them away. So like I ate them and I'm like. Which I understand, right? I think there I think you you hit a certain age. I know at least as as a male and something happens around like you just start to view wasting differently like all the someone so left the lights on and they're like turning all the lights off and something like. Wait, when did I become like this? know, like the air cons on and the doors open, like we're just letting the air con leak out to like, when did this start? But like I'm there now for some reason it happened. But when it comes with that, it's, we as humans, right? We have this inherent thing where we don't want to throw our money away. And you're like, I bought the kid these graham crackers or whatever it is. They're not eating them. I don't want to waste them. So I'm going to eat them. But in many cases like that action, it's either you waste the money or you waste your weeks going in circles over consuming on calories you don't even want, you know? And it really is black and white. it's when we're in, when you're at maintenance, you eat the graham crackers. When you're in a build, eat the graham crackers, right? But when you're dieting, throw them away. or give them to your wife or whoever. As long as you're not eating them, I don't care, right? But that's how I usually frame it is it's like, it really is black and white. You're gonna take a step back and waste a little bit so that you're not, I mean, call it for what it is. I have a hard time calling it wasting, but spending more months paying me because what we're supposed to do in 16 weeks took us eight months to do. because you wouldn't just throw the fucking graham crackers away. But like one way or another, that money is going to go somewhere as a result of losing that. Yeah, I believe this is called a sunken cost bias. So somebody buys the newspaper and feels like they have to read the entire newspaper even if they don't want to because they paid for it. So yeah, I actually find sunken cost bias impacts my life a decent amount. Like I hate sunken costs. it, the chicken nuggets are the big one for me. Like, I made nine chicken nuggets. So I'd make sure you guys weren't actually hungry and that you had enough, but you only ate six of them. Well, somebody's got to eat those last three. You know, it's chicken. It's got protein in it. So yeah, totally. So I think another way of kind of looking at this is replacement. So if you're not going to eat those things, then what are you going to do to replace that habit? Because you need, you almost want to have something that you can reach for that when you're like, animal crackers, cheddar bunnies, leftover chicken nuggets, like maybe instead of that, there's another snacky type food item that you could grab that more aligns with your goals. Have you had success kind of with that approach? Honestly, no, I always try and steer clients away from snacking. It's that self-governance thing again, right, because it's a it's a little bit of like a repeating habit, right? I always try and really push a firm structure that fits with that client's like meal frequency, work schedule, training schedule, that sort of thing. And it's like we eat at these times, we know what we're eating and then we cannot fail. But if again, so it's human nature and it's not like I know my weaknesses, which are vast. And I get around them by having structures where I'm not like, oh, it's 9.30. Did I eat enough? Should I have some fruit? Should I have some dark chocolate? Like, no, I know at like 9.15 or unfortunately today it will be after 10 when we're done with the podcast. I have a final meal to eat. That's like walnuts, dark chocolate and a little bit of protein, right? So it removes the human nature of Should I fit it in? Should I tinker? I deviate? Because I have a structure. And that's what I found most helpful because it saves us from our human brain, effectively. Yeah, yeah. How many meals a day are you eating right now? seven, including well, intro workout is not really a meal, but it's it's 50 grams of carbs. But yeah. guess that's interesting too, because like, maybe I'm not trying to say like you're snacking per se, but if you set someone up with a plan that's six or seven feedings a day, and that's the plan, then some of those are not meals. Like you might have three like proper meals in there, and then you have three sort of snacky type things in there. And so maybe that snack used to be, you know, eating the chicken nuggets and the animal crackers and the cheddar buddies from your kids. And maybe now that snack is, like you said, a handful of nuts. In my house, maybe it's some shredded cheese or some berries. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So I think that, you know, it's still it's still giving it's like it is that replacement idea because you are replacing what would be these ultra processed foods with things that are more whole and it still could be perceived as a snack because it's not a meal. So maybe it's just in like the reframing of that whole thing and like how you perceive it. But but yeah, if someone's eating three meals a day, then anything in between would now be considered a an unexpected snack versus having the preset plan of you're eating six times a day. I agree with that. I'm not, no one is ever, no one's doing like five meals of chicken and rice or anything crazy like that. The one thing that I find most common, like one of the things I'll do with, taking new clients is I want to collect just a little bit more data of their current structure or especially the people who have been following macros, right? I'm like, okay, let's see what you do. They eat small meals, like let's call them like three, 400 calorie meals, and then they'll eat like 1800 calories of snacks. in the day. And I can't tell you how many times I've seen that. And they say like, I'm not really eating a lot. And like, yeah, you're not eating a lot. And then you're snacking because you're hungry. And your snacks are twice the amount of calories of your meals. Like, do you see? Do you see why we need to flip those? So that's like a that's the real reason I don't love snacks, because what like, aside from like yogurt, you mentioned cheese, which is a good one. We could do like some whey. All snack foods are effectively carbohydrate and fat, right? And in a nutshell, what do people eat? Or what are people overeating? Carbohydrate and fat. And what are people not eating enough of? Protein. So it's, can you make them work? Yes. Are the options severely lopsided in one direction? Also yes, for that reason. One of the other things I wanted to touch on is the idea of a high flux or high energy flux lifestyle. And so we had Brandon on the podcast, number of Brandon D'Cruz, a number of years ago at this point, maybe two years ago, three even, where Brandon came on and talked a lot about his belief in the benefits of this high energy flux lifestyle. And essentially what that means, you can correct me if I don't phrase this exactly or miss some details, but Basically that you're gonna move more so that you can eat more. Super simple. Is there anything you'd add to that? I mean, no, that's pretty much what it is. Is there a top end on that threshold to where your body's it's I don't want to call it a bell shaped curve because it's not really but at a certain point moving more doesn't continue to increase your caloric expenditure. It begins to taper off, but it's at an absurdly high number. I think it was at like 18 or 20,000 steps per day or something outrageously high. would be Ponser's like energy compensation model where, you know, he used the Hadza tribe that was walking an average of 26,000 steps a day, I believe, but not actually getting credit for those calories that they were burning during that period. So yeah, of course there's a point where that tops out, but I guess the other potential risk of a high energy flux lifestyle, if not done properly. is increased fatigue, overtraining, things like that. So, I feel like this, you often hear people say that there is no overtraining, there's just underfeeding. And I guess up to a point that it is true, if you look at these extreme endurance athletes, they're training what, three to six plus hours a day. and eating an insane amount of sugar and other foods that wouldn't be considered bodybuilding foods at all. And they're shredded. It depends. mean, I guess it's like looking at the marathon runner versus the sprinter piece. Like you wouldn't you still wouldn't want to be the marathon runner. Yeah, but I mean, like, OK, maybe shredded was a was a poor terminology and they're quite lean. Let's put it that way. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. say they're, they're metabolically healthy, despite the fact that they're eating a ton of calories and eating a ton of sugar to power the activity. So, so you have that one extreme where maybe high energy flux potentially begins to work against you in that you're just having to put your body through so much caloric consumption that there's gotta be downstream effects on digestion, on, processing and things like that. But I do think that point is really high. And so one thing that 75 Hard does quite well is it almost creates this high energy flux lifestyle. And yeah, where do you sit on that idea? I know that you personally are not a huge mover. Like you don't do a lot of steps. You have your cardio, you have your weights, and you eat really, really clean. Is that the approach that you tend? to foster for your clients? Do you have some that are more on like a high energy flux lifestyle? Honestly, it depends on on the lifestyle, right? Like my clients that have dogs, they're easily doing 13,000 steps per day. And like there's some that I have to like have them actually reduce it because they we can't get enough food in, you know, so so I mean, I do, especially if we're talking like fat loss, bodyweight management, like walking is just wonderful. It's wonderful. It's low effort. Go with a friend, you and your significant other, take an evening walk post dinner and talk about your lives and your goal, whatever you want to do. Like it's such a wonderful low effort addition that is very, very positively favorable or has very positive and favorable outcomes. But it really depends on someone's time schedule, really. Yeah, yeah. I feel like I live an extremely high energy flux lifestyle. We were talking about this on Dave McConney's podcast a few days ago. And so it just got me thinking about this as far as you know, habit formation goes with people. And one of the things we also touched on on Dave's podcast is this idea of the post-Prandial window and exercising in that window. I think, you know, as it comes to these New Year's resolutions or these making change happen ideas, that I don't know, I'm personally just such a big fan of the post meal movement in some capacity. And so I went and gathered just really quickly before this episode, three studies that just talk about some of the post-perennial response that occurs there from movement after consumption of food. So we have Borer 2018. This was a study primarily in type 2 diabetics, so not as applicable to the general population of healthy people, but they did find that doing aerobic exercise decreased short-term glucose area under the curve by up to 26.6 % in some of the subjects. Bellini in 2024 found that 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise post-Prandial had significant impact on glucose control more so than doing a HIIT workout pre-meal. So that would be like, instead of going and doing sprints before a big meal, you were better off doing a steady state aerobic exercise or I guess HIIT as well, but some type of workout post meal. And then the third one, Angeroff, 2023. found that a post meal walk within 15 minutes after the meal had significantly more impact on glucose than pre meal exercise as well. So I just, I think that that's interesting because studies in the past have shown that it didn't matter. Like you can exercise before, you can exercise after just as long as you're exercising. And then the relevance of glucose control as well. So the last two studies I referenced brought a healthy population where the first one was on diabetics. Um, but it's, like, how much does it matter? This is one of the things we were talking about on Dave's podcast. Like, does it matter if we see a glucose spike up to 140, 160, 180, as long as it comes back down and you're a healthy individual? We don't really know. Peter Attia would say that it is that you do want to avoid any spikes. I think his number is 140, like anything above 140. He was like, you should just never see that number. Um, I'm not sure how much, how, how, where I fall on that. Like I, I would imagine that. that having tons of spikes is probably not good for you, but I would also imagine that your body can probably handle it if you're a metabolically healthy individual. So we're getting a bit away from this New Year's resolutions and making change happen idea, but the reason I wanted to kind of loop this part in and bring it through is that the habit formation of some type of movement after a meal, personally, I have found extremely beneficial for the process of digestion. These studies, seem to show that it helps with the glucose response, which at a minimum isn't going to be negative. Like, like if you could choose between having a glucose spike or not having a glucose spike, I think you would still choose not having the glucose spike. and so yeah, I don't know. any, any thoughts on that? Yeah, I mean, it's a wonderful thing. Like if it fits into your lifestyle, your work schedule, your family schedule, like I think it's wonderful. Like one of the things that I did when I was still working my nine to five is immediately after lunch, I would go take like a 30 minute walk around downtown. And I loved it. It was I mean, of course, it was my favorite part of the workday because I wasn't actually working. I was like listening to podcasts and I was that's when I was like consuming all my nutrition stuff because I was planning my exit and, you know, planning to build my business. Of course, I was like super looking forward to it. but it helps. mean, the digestion side of it is, is wonderful. And if you've noticed, and this is contextually specific, I find like when we're dieting, we're much more glucose and insulin sensitive because there's much less of it available in our diet. Right. But like now I'm, you know, super deep into bulking or gaining. I, I get sleepy after meals and it's a simple way to get around that as me. Like once I, and I'm lazy and I don't want to go outside because it's so fucking hot and humid here. I'll just do laps inside the living room and I'll like listen to something for like 15 minutes and just do laps and it helps me avoid that like sleepiness kind of slump on the back end of it. So I mean I am a big fan of it. I think it's pretty undeniable in its efficacy at this point. Yeah. Does that, that reminiscent of the days in Columbia during COVID where you weren't allowed to leave the house doing house slaps? No, this one's much more chill. It's bigger. It's a simple loop. You're not in and out of the it's now much much more favorable this one here. Yeah, yeah. But I, so I do think just to wrap up that topic on the post meal walks or exercise in general, I just think that's part of the process of habit formation. And it's something that, you know, if, if like, obviously, if you're working a corporate job, you can't just get up after every time you eat and go walk for 10 or 15 minutes, a lunch, a post lunch walk. Sure. You probably have an hour for lunch. You eat for 20 minutes, you walk for 30, whatever that totally works. But as far as habit formation, like that is one of those habits that that is great because it helps with digestion, helps with glucose control, and it just gets you extra movement and steps throughout the day, which cumulatively add up to you being, to living a higher energy flux lifestyle. 100 % Where do you want to go from here? I don't have anything else specifically that I want to touch on. The two that I wanted to touch on that I find very, pertinent are changing how you socialize, because that's one of the biggest ones. in our, let's just call it the United States, very, we socialize around alcohol and lower quality food. Let's call it for what it is, right? And that's something that so many people run into. So that's one thing I wanted to dive into a little bit. And then when you make these resolutions or goals around how you're going to change, bringing this or being this new version of yourself for the first time around friends and family. That is one that I talk with a lot of clients about. And I vividly remember doing things as I've transitioned. So I think ultimately the social one is very, very important because everyone's social circle is a little bit different. But things that I have had. success with with clients is instead of doing date night out cooking for the significant other. So like let's say I'm working with male, you know, X and him and his wife would typically go out. I'm going to have him start like cooking and just having the conversation with them. Right. Hey, I'm doing this diet thing. When we go out to eat, the calories are significantly higher. It is impeding my progress. This is important to me. That's always very, very good to say this is important to me. How about for the next 12 weeks? I cook us dinner on Friday night so that I can control my caloric intake. I can have success with this and we can still sit down and spend the time together, right? Prevent or not prevent, provide alternative options that check the box, the check, the necessary boxes, right? So that one I find is really big. And then with socializing. Let's say you have a social group and whatever like one that's really common right now is like a dry January. Share your goals with your social circle, your friends, and don't say, I can't drink anymore. Right. Because you're framing it negatively. You are going to get a negative response. You frame it as I have this important goal. I have hired a coach. I'm spending good money on it. I'm taking it very, very seriously. And I have this very ambitious goal. So for the next four, eight, 12, 16 weeks, I'm not drinking at all. Here are my reasons why. Now everyone knows, and it would be very unrealistic of your friends to say, that's fucking stupid, you're a moron, don't have goals, let's drink instead, right? No one's gonna say that. So it's all in how you phrase it, is the how you receive a response on Yeah, I mean, that's so relatable. And I actually think there's been a shift in the way that men relate to each other over the last five or 10 years. It seems like that machoism of the prior generation, say that of our parents, has been a bit mediated or mitigated rather in these future generations with our generation. I know with my friend group here in Boulder, we have guys night every three or four weeks. And usually we meet somewhere where drinking would be a prominent feature, whether it's a bar or we have like cards night, where we go bowling or any of those really like people are going to be drinking for the most part. But it's interesting because we have this group of maybe 10 or 12 of us. And at any given guys night, half the guys might not be drinking. And it's just nobody even thinks about it. It's like somebody might have a non-alcoholic beer and they're totally cool with that. Someone else might just be like smoking weed and that's totally cool for them. Usually that's me. But like honestly, it's so non-judgmental and people are extremely supportive. Like even when I last January, when I decided to stop doing weed for 33 days, We had our guys nights and I remember the very first one talking with them and they were super engaged talking to me about like what I was going through, how it felt, how hard it's been like a blah, blah, blah, all of that stuff. And then the last guy's night we had was maybe toward the very end, like day 30 or something like that. And they were all very interested. They wanted to follow up and see how the prior three weeks had been and what's my plan going forward and all of these things. And so I feel very lucky in a sense that I have this guy group. But I also don't think that this is necessarily specific only to my guy group. And I see this kind of this messaging and this way of relating to each other more consistent across guys in their 30s and 40s in general. Yeah, I think it might be like a cultural kind of change thing, you know, or a generational sort of thing. Like, for example, one thing I know is like with our generation, fathers are much more involved with like the children than in the generation before, you know, so I potentially it is just like a generational thing, but I do think it's for the better, hopefully. Yeah, yeah. And then I think another piece is just important to touch on. For me, it seems like second nature and I know for you too, but if you go out to eat and you're in this social circle with your guys and we're at this bar and they're known for their cheeseburgers and fries or something like that, like sometimes, yeah, maybe I'll get the cheeseburger and the fries and then that's all good. And I accept that it is what it is, but being able to have the ability to assess the menu. and then modify as needed to get yourself something that more aligns with your goals is also totally reasonable. And so there've been a number of times where we've been out at say the same place and instead of getting the large burger with fries and a beer, I'm like, hey, can I get the grilled chicken sandwich, you know, take that sauce off, put it on a lettuce wrap if that's what I'm doing at that point. And then maybe it's like a side of fruit and veggies instead of fries. And so there are a number of ways where you can still go out and be social and have those experiences that are extremely valuable in our life, because connecting with people is hugely important. And that's why a lot of people go out and do the things like drink the beer and have the burger is because they feel like that's what's necessary to be part of that social circle. But the social circle itself, having those relationships isn't dependent on the food. It's about your presence being there and being engaged in the conversation. And so Being able to kind of see it from that perspective would be helpful. Bingo. Such a good way to put it. I know we're short on time here, so the final thing that I'd to wrap up with is the being the new version of yourself around your friends and family. And I find that. The friends are typically more receptive and respective, typically because there is a chosen dynamic. Your friends are chosen. Your family is like provided to you, right? And in many cases you might be at whatever it is. you know, the holidays that we just came through, birthday party, and there's like, let's say there's some aunt that you don't even particularly care for. And she's all like, why are you in that? Why can't you just hang out with the family? That sort of thing. Like you haven't chosen her and in no universe would you choose her. She's provided to you. You know what I mean? And it's one of the times where I always say like the people that are criticizing you or making fun of your choices or whatever asks, ask yourself, do they have things that I want? If the answer is yes, you know, if they're like shredded and you know, have the body want like, okay, maybe they have some potentially helpful input, but if they're, you know, ex overweight, unhealthy on a shit ton of medication, miserable in their life, like do not let their criticisms steer you from the things that you know are going to be better for you, right? So that's one that people really struggle with around the family dynamic, especially like I've. had clients who have, unfortunately, like parents who are incredibly unsupportive and critical and that sort of thing. And another thing is you do not have to go. We're all adults, that's the beauty of choice. You do not have to go also. So it's a very challenging one when you're doing it for the first time. I remember, especially like me, like I quit, I think I missed it. I think I missed my five year anniversary of not drinking. I think it was like two days ago. So I did that. Yeah. But like when I stopped and then I would see my friends who I would literally get blackout drunk with all the time. Like what? You don't drink anymore. And I'm like, no, I guess I don't. You know, and just just state it. And it is what it is. Right. And my friends, even like my party friends and stuff from PB, like they're still my friends. They're still coming to the wedding. Right. I'm not drinking at the wedding. It's going to be perfectly fine in because they respect me for who I am. And that's like what is most important. So there's always going to be that that abrasive first time of being a new version of you. But if it's important to you, which is again, coming back to having goals that have enough of an inherent importance and just being honest and open about them is the best way to approach it. Yeah, dude, I mean, that's a perfect way to wrap it up. I don't have anything to add. Well done. Cool, hopefully this is a nice little punchy and helpful E-Train Prosper for all of you in the new year. As always guys, if you found it helpful, drop us a comment on YouTube or a subscription on YouTube, a subscribe, a subscription, whatever, a follow, subscribe, yeah. There we go. And always if you have a question for Brian or I, you can DM us on Instagram please and we will talk to you in two weeks.