It’s common knowledge, likely at this point, that when you are ON...you are ON.
You’re absolutely crushing life. You’re counting your macros. You’re choosing vegetables. You’re going to the gym & out for walks, and so on.
But now let’s look at those days where you’re not so “on” all the time.
What do they look like?
Do they look pretty similar to your “on” days?? Probably not.
If you’re like most people starting out, or struggling, your off days are on the other end of the spectrum. They’re when things go haywire. Tracking goes out the window. Sugary treats & candy comes in. Pizza is a more common staple. The gym gets forgotten.
The subject of this blog is how to adjust your nutrition for when “life happens”, “shit hits the fan”, “you’re not feeling it”, etc.
Because they SHOULDN’T be all that different.
But in majority of cases, they are.
So keep reading to learn how to adjust your nutrition to literally ANY day you face...and why that’s important.
WHAT DEFINES SURVIVAL
Before we get into it, we need to discuss the definition of needs & wants...and how that relates to your nutrition.
A need is something your body needs for survival. It is something you cannot live without, without which you will not survive. This includes water, food, shelter, air. That's it.
Everything else is a want.
You don’t need to lose weight, you want to.
You don’t need to eat clean, you want to (or maybe you don’t...more on that later)
You don’t need to get to the gym every day, you think you should because that’s how you will get results.
You DO need food. You do need water. You don’t need your friends to be supportive...you want them to support you because that will make it easier for you.
Okay, so you get where I’m going....so now moving on.
Why does this distinction matter??
Because it keeps you in a rational line of thinking.
When you think rationally, you’re more equipped to handle challenges headed your way.
Someone who doesn’t think rationally perceives challenges as “end of the world” scenarios.
On the flip side, a rational thinker perceives them as mere inconveniences.
Two common examples:
When someone forgets to log a protein shake or a meal, an irrational line of thought determines they’ve messed up their entire day & might as well say screw it & bring in the pint...or more...of ice cream. A rational thinker realizes it’s not a big deal, they still had great habits from the day & 1 day out of 365 is 0.2% of the entire year...they’re good.
When a weekend plan goes awry...an irrational thinker lets the whole weekend go to waste...and maybe even longer than that weekend. A rational thinker starts right back with normalcy
In other words, when you think rationally about what it is you WANT (as opposed to need), you’re more equipped to move on from it IF it doesn’t happen.
And when you’re more equipped to handle life’s challenges, you’re set up for big-picture success!! And THAT is what we want.
COMPLIANCE
Now elaborating from above & talking about a very common misconception...
The need to be compliant 100% of the time.
I get this at least once in a client’s time working with me.
If they’re not 100% compliant, a couple things happen
They enter “fuck it” mode and that 0.1% that wasn’t compliant turns into 20%.
They avoid all communications with me & shut down
They quit & give up
Because of a preconceived notion that perfection is a pre-requisite for coaching...which couldn’t be further from the truth.
Do you really need to be 100% compliant??
NOPE. Read above.
For your survival, you don't need 100% compliance. You simply want it & believe without it, you're equal to failure & have thus defined yourself as "bad at this".
I'm going to be honest. You shouldn’t be compliant 100% of the time.
In fact, 80% compliance 100% of the time will get you SO MUCH FARTHER than 100% compliance 1-5% of the time.
Again, we're talking about rational thinking.
When you can be rational about "okay this was maybe just an 80% compliant day. I still got in veggies & protein & found that I could enjoy myself and a beer. I'll start right back on it tomorrow.
Until you accept 100% compliance is virtually impossible...even the best of the best aren't 100% compliant...you're going to always have these conversations.
How does this affect you & your nutrition progress??
HOW TO PLAN REALISTICALLY & RATIONALLY
The biggest area I see this affect is how a client plans for their day.
A client who “needs” to be 100% compliant PLANS for that. They plan for 100% clean eating, 100% control over their day, etc. They ignore all potential road blocks & barriers that could stand in the way.
And the best part is they KNOW they’re not going to succeed that day...but they’ve been forced to believe for so long that perfection is a must.
But...what if instead...you planned for the imperfection?? What if you planned for wiggle room? What if you recognized ahead of time “Okay, I’m working like 30 hours today. I’m going to plan to eat fewer meals & instead grab a bigger meal at Chipotle coming home from work. I know I won’t get to the gym that day either, so I’ll move my rest days around so it works!”.
BOOM. They’re planning for success...NOT for perfection.
Where does this matter?
Weekends - what if you planned JUST your protein or WHEN you planned on eating? Wouldn't you have more freedom in your weekend but still enough control??
Vacations - what if you didn't stress about where you were eating or your specific macros in a city you know nothing about & instead just planned on veggies or fruit at every meal??
Busy days - a pet peeve of mine is when someone tells me their day was too busy for them to make it work...yet they still got up, got dressed, brushed their teeth, drove to work, & did all their OTHER habits in the day! Instead of forgetting you exist as a human, what if you planned for more food the day before or like I mentioned right before...go to your favorite back up restaurant & get a lot of protein & a lot of veggies & hit a 5 min walk by parking further away?
See the difference there? Don't you see how you don't really NEED to be 100% all in all the time?? In fact, if you just realized that you didn't have to be so perfect, you'd likely already achieved your results by now???
TYPES OF DAYS
SO now getting into the TYPES of days you’re likely going to encounter on a given day. Think of it like a bell curve of normal distribution. See below:
If you took statistics, you learned normal distribution, the bell curve, and standard deviation. This should be a review. If you didn't, a quick stats lesson! The curve above basically represents everything. In the middle, we have "normal" or the majority of cases. In this case, we're referring to types of days. MOST of our days fall in the normal category (68%)! O