Obesity is running rampant throughout our Army and society, and a huge part of it is due to widespread misguided principles like the “Food Pyramid” and “Calories in equals Calories out.”
Make no mistake, the other major contributor to the problem is a lack of personal self-discipline or simply not caring. This article by no means disregards personal responsibility.
However, there are thousands of soldiers out there that are fat but don’t want to be fat. They work out constantly, have tried all the “conventional nutritional guidance” and just aren’t seeing results. This lack of results is not due to a lack of trying, but because much of the “conventional nutritional guidance” is absolute bullsh*t… starting with the famous “Food Pyramid” (but more on that later). PT is only 50% of the battle. If you work out constantly, but have plateaued and never see any strength or weight loss gains, then your diet probably sucks.
If any of this offends you; don’t worry, I used to have a glistening “dad-bod” myself. That is until I read The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss and Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes. These two books completely changed my relationship with food. Once I began to view food as “fuel” as opposed to comfort, I began to see a marked difference in my body composition aka I actually began to look halfway decent with my shirt off. I went from 205lbs to 180lbs in about three months and I’ve kept it off for the past six years.
That is not to say that you can’t enjoy food! On the contrary, I am specifically writing this article to help soldiers change their crappy eating habits but still enjoy life. Food is a huge part of life. My goal is to teach you a healthy yet sustainable way to lose weight and keep it off without having to constantly give yourself coffee enemas and lick ice cubes.
Bottom Line Up Front
The key is the 80/20 concept… essentially eating clean, healthy foods 80% of the time and eating the not so healthy foods 20% of the time. The 20% splurge time is absolutely critical to making a long-term lifestyle change vs. a short-term diet blip. Try to be too perfect and you’ll fall off the wagon.
6 days a week: Eat lean meat, vegetables, legumes, nuts, certain fruits, and drink a lot of water. No portion restrictions! Don’t eat fried meat, carb-heavy food (bread, rice, pasta, etc.), or sugar (this includes most fruit). Don’t drink dairy, sports/energy drinks, or alcohol.
1 day a week: EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT! Eat pizza, ice cream, donuts, and drink all the beer you want.
Again, I have zero interest in temporary success for you. If you go full “Zone” diet for 60 days to fit into smaller pants, only to return to your previous way of eating once you’ve “made it,” your rollercoaster relationship with the scale will continue. However, if you make small changes and adopt a “nutrition plan” that becomes your new normal relationship with food, then 10 years from now you’re going to still be living those changes.
Let’s get to it.
Amplifying Information
Why We Got Fat
Ahhhh the 90’s! That magical time where bread, cereal, and tons of cardio were promises for a healthier, sexier body. In fact, the USDA advised Americans to eat a whopping 6-11 servings of bread, cereal, rice, and pasta a day! That’s great if you are competing in Ironman competitions. My bet is most of you are not. This was the food pyramid many of us were taught in elementary school:
Instead of loading up on meat, vegetables, and seasonal fruits; we became dependent upon grains – bread, pasta, rice, corn, and so on. The government continues to recommend 6-11 servings of grains a day, and people continue to get fatter and fatter by the day.
Additionally, for the last two decades or so, we were sold the lie that “fat” made us fat. This widespread belief STILL runs rampant today. “Fat-free” foods lined grocery store shelves, and we ate up those Skinny-branded cream-filled cookies and “fat-free” BBQ chips with wild abandon because the USDA told us to eat fats sparingly. And now we have children getting diagnosed with diabetes.
The big problem with that logic was that in order to make things taste good without fat, manufacturer’s added copious amounts of sugar, corn syrups and extra carbs into these products, creating highly addictive Franken-foods that ended up making us fatter than ever! Why? Because…SPOILER ALERT…fat makes you feel full… not fat!! This is a key difference. Ever wonder why you can eat an entire can of “fat-free” Pringles and still not feel full?
Watch this short video demonstrating why carbs/sugar make you fat.
The bottom line is that refined carbs and sugar make you fat and lethargic, and are the culprits for heart disease and diabetes.
Calories Are NOT Created Equal
Calories are all alike, whether they come from beef or bourbon, from sugar or starch, or from cheese and crackers. Too many calories are just too many calories.
—Fred Stare, founder and former chair of the Harvard University Nutrition Department
Many mainstream health gurus perpetuated the myth that all calories are created equal and that as long as you expend more calories than you take in, you will lose weight and be healthy. The phrase of the decade became “Calories in equals calories out.” The narrative stated that it really doesn’t matter what you eat; simply work out really really hard, you will expend more energy and then you will lose weight.
If only that were true! I used to believe this myth. I grew up eating southern fried food, casseroles, and Texas toast but I always worked out really hard thinking it would cancel each other out. This strategy worked great until my early 20’s… then it very quickly stopped working and I started to look like Seth Rogen in The Neighbors.
Simple Fact: 400 calories of Doritos do NOT have the same effect on your body as 400 calories of high-quality vegetables and protein.
There is no shortage of clinical studies to prove that beef calories do not equal bourbon calories (despite what the good doctor said). One such study compared three groups put on calorically equal semistarvation diets of 90% fat, 90% protein, or 90% carbohydrate. The outcomes were drastically different:
1,000 cals. at 90% fat = weight loss of 0.9 lbs. per day
1,000 cals. at 90% protein = weight loss of 0.6 lbs. per day
1,000 cals. at 90% carbohydrate = weight gain of 0.24 lbs. per day
In short, different sources of calories = different results. If your goal is to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle, don’t worry about “counting calories” or eating “fat-free” foods; worry about eating the RIGHT food.
Read this article if you would like to know more.
What is the BEST Diet?
Great question! Ask 10 different people what the best diet is and you’ll get 10 different answers. There is the Slow-carb Diet, Zone Diet, Paleo Diet, Primal Diet, Whole 30 Diet, Keto Diet, South Beach Diet… who can keep up with it all! A lot of these diets share many similarities but militantly disagree on certain components.
There is nothing more frustrating (yet comical) about watching different diet “camps” rage at each other over minute aspects of their diets (ie beans vs no beans or fruit vs. no fruit).
What is important is that all these diets SHARE the same major concepts: the elimination of refined sugar and processed carbohydrates from your diet with a focus on consuming lean meat and vegetables.
That being said, tons of people have found success with all the diets listed above. Also, different people have different metabolism’s which means different diets work better for different people. So the real answer to the question is that the best diet is the one you stick with!
However, I dislike the word “diet” because it implies something temporary. Fix your lifestyle, don’t go on a diet.
My goal is not to teach you a specific diet to follow, but to instead give you a set of general guidelines that promote a sustainable healthy lifestyle. I have zero interest in temporary results for you; where you lose 20 lbs only to gain it back six months later because you got tired of counting calories, weighing food, or keeping food logs.
What TO Eat
Six Days a week (~80% of the time) eat as much lean (grilled) meat, vegetables, and legumes as you want. No serving size restrictions! Eat until you are full. If you feel hungry, eat some more. Ideally, you want your meat to be “grass” fed instead of “grain” fed. However, don’t get hung up on that too much; eat what is available and affordable.
Protein (listed in order of healthiness)
- Eggs (Preferably organic)
- Poultry (Chicken, Duck, Turkey Bacon/Sausage, etc.)
- Seafood (Fish, Shrimp, Lobster, etc.)
- Red Meat (Beef, Lamb, Duck, Bison, etc.)
- Pork (Pork Chops, Bacon, Sausage, etc.)
Legumes (beans)
- Lentils
- Black beans
- Pinto beans
- Red beans
- Lima beans
- Green beans
- Kidney beans
- Chickpeas
Vegetables
- Spinach
- Mixed vegetables
- Carrots
- Asparagus
- Peas
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Sweet Potato
- Celery
- Lettuce
- Cucumber
Fruits
- Tomato
- Avocado
Nuts
- Almonds
- Pecans
- Walnuts
Liquids
- Water
Supplements
- I recommend no supplements in the beginning so that you can see how your body responds without them. However, a Whey Protein Isolate shake (containing less than 2g sugar & less than 8-10g carbs) with water immediately following a hard work out won’t kill you.
- If your goal is fat loss, and assuming you are not training for endurance competition:
– If you’re male and not 12% bodyfat or less, no post-workout carbs.
– If you’re female and not 20% bodyfat or less, no post-workout carbs
Eat as much as you like of the above food items, but keep it simple. Pick three or four meals that you enjoy and repeat them. If you are forced to eat out for lunch/dinner, don’t worry. Simply substitute the typical french fries with vegetables and leave off the hamburger bun. For reference, here is a typical week of my meals:
What NOT to Eat / Drink
6 Days a Week: Don’t eat fried meat, carb-heavy food (bread, rice, pasta, etc.), or sugar (this includes most fruit). Don’t drink dairy, sports drinks, or alcohol.
Don’t eat sugar
Health experts tend to disagree about almost everything, but they all concur that added sugars are the devil. Sugar causes an immediate but temporary energy spike followed by a crash in your system, turns to fat unless it’s used immediately, and wreaks havoc on your body.
Compounding the problem is that sugar-filled foods are very convenient and are highly addictive, especially the poorer-quality options (chips, bars, etc.).
People who depend on sugar, carbs, and caffeine as their major fuel source — let’s call them “sugar burners” — fall victim to the whims of insulin spikes. Sugar burners display symptoms that include sugar cravings, mood swings and the predictable energy roller coaster that usually crashes around 2 to 3 in the afternoon.
Sugary foods can be as physiologically addictive as many drugs. During the first week or two of this diet, it is likely you will experience sugar “withdrawals” as your body detox’s itself and craves the addictive sugar it’s been used to. Don’t worry, it will pass and you will be amazed at much better you feel and the renewed energy you have.
Don’t eat processed carbs/grains
There is a massive difference between “slow” carbs (such as those found in vegetables, almonds, and legumes) and “fast” carbs (such as those found in bread, bagels, and pasta). Slow Carbs are bound up with indigestible fiber and take much longer to be digested and enter our bloodstream. Conversely, Fast Carbs are extremely high-glycemic (lots of glucose) and the body rapidly transforms them into sugar if they are not used immediately. That sugar is then either burned as energy or stored as fat.
So, fewer carbs = less glucose in your system, which means your body will have to start burning fat as your fuel source. Which means… decreased fat storage and decreased body fat percentage and increased good-lookingness.
While not the focus of this article, “Event” Nutrition will differ from “Day-to-Day” Nutrition. If you have a significant multi-hour endurance type event coming up (12-mile ruck, Triathlon, Ranger School, etc), then you need to supplement your diet with additional carbs, gels, etc. to help fuel that event or risk bonking. And no, doing the “overhead-arm-clap” for an hour during morning unit PT does NOT fall into this category. I’ll discuss Event Nutrition in a future article.
Don’t eat excessive amounts of fruit
This one is controversial. Many folks are absolutely horrified at the prospect of not eating fruit. It’s natural, it’s healthy, what’s the problem? The truth is that even all-natural fruit is loaded with sugar – fructose to be precise. You may be shocked that a serving of grapes contains 23g of sugar. While “natural,” this sugar will still cause a massive spike in your insulin and make it challenging to lose weight. Tomatoes and Avocados are allowed.
Bottom Line: If you are struggling to lose weight and fruit makes up a big part of your diet, scale it back significantly and eat more fat/protein/vegetables instead.
Don’t eat Protein / Energy bars
This really falls under the “don’t eat sugar/carbs” rule, but I wanted to specifically highlight this category because the marketing campaign behind these products is so insidious. These bars are marketed as a quick, easy, healthy snack when in reality many of them contain more saturated fat, refined carbs, and sugar than a Crispy Creme Donut.
The ones that aren’t insanely terrible for you are meant for very specific purposes such as mass gain or endurance event fueling. Yet I constantly see soldiers chowing down on these things like candy thinking they are eating something nutritious. You might as well eat a Snickers Bar.
Don’t drink/eat Dairy
Did you know that no other animal in the entire kingdom drinks milk beyond infancy? Weird right? Dairy causes bloating, spikes insulin, and will make you feel lethargic. It’s also full of saturated fat and is linked to heart disease. Cut it out of your diet completely for a couple weeks and I guarantee you will feel leaner and have more energy.
Another carryover myth from the “low-fat” craze is that low-fat Yogurt is healthy for you. Most people don’t realize that this supposedly healthy snack is just like supposedly healthy fruit drinks: loaded with sugar, sodium, and empty carbs.
Don’t drink calories
When it comes to weight loss, what you drink is just as important than what you eat.
Most people know that soft drinks and energy drinks are terrible for you… but drink them anyway. However, so-called “healthy” drinks such as Gatorade, Vitamin Water, fruit juice, etc are just as bad if not worse. They are all chalk full of sugar, sodium, empty carbs and will completely sabotage your diet. Did you know that a Gatorade actually has MORE sugar it that a Coke?
How many people with weight problems have consumed products like Vitaminwater in the mistaken belief that the product was healthy and carried no consequences? The very name “Vitaminwater” suggests that the product is simply water with added nutrients, disguising the fact that it’s actually full of added sugar. Stay away from it!
Cheat Day Explained
One day a week… EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT! Eat donuts, ice cream, cereal, snickers, you name it.
Ideally, you’d never eat ice cream again, but a) who wants to live that way and b) the thing about diets is that everyone slips eventually. The key is planning & controlling that slip instead of letting all your hard work spiral out of control. Why do you think so many Biggest Loser stars balloon back up to their original weight despite their extreme success on the show? They tried to be too strict, they started to slip, and then said f*ck it and completely fell off the wagon. The decent method you follow is better than the perfect method you quit.
420lbs to 225lbs to 375lbs
The 80/20 nutrition plan accepts the fact that most of us are not as disciplined as we think we are and strategically contains the damage to one day.
This day gives you something to look forward to and helps you avoid sabotaging your diet throughout the week. Additionally, you’ll be shocked at how your body responds when you reintroduce crappy food to it on Cheat Day. You will immediately feel it’s detrimental effects and by the end of the day, you will not want to look at any junk food for the rest of the week.
Paradoxically, dramatically spiking caloric intake in this way once per week also increases fat-loss by ensuring that your resting metabolic rate doesn’t downshift from extended caloric restriction. That’s right: occasionally eating pure crap can actually help you lose fat. Pretty awesome right?
Finer Points of Cheat Day
- On this nutrition plan, you should weigh yourself every day EXCEPT the day following cheat day. It is completely possible that you will gain 6-10 lbs in water weight following 24 hours of increased carbohydrate intake. Don’t worry, I promise you it will disappear over 48 hours.
- I do my cheat days on Saturdays. Personally, I like to eat a healthy breakfast and work out hard that morning before starting the “festivities” around noon. This is not required but I find it helps my metabolism quickly process the unhealthy stuff I’m about to put into my body.
- Whenever possible, try to eat out on cheat day. This will keep you from having a bunch of tempting, unhealthy food in your house once cheat day ends.
- This is cheat day, not cheat weekend. You don’t start the night before and you don’t keep going the morning after.
Tips for Saving Money while Eating Healthy
- Cook your own food
- Not only will you save a crap ton of money by not constantly eating out, you will avoid the temptation to eat those amazing free peanuts and buttered rolls that Texas Road House shoves in your face. You don’t have to become a gourmet chef; making some grilled chicken, black beans, and broccoli really isn’t that hard. Save the eating out for your cheat day.
- If you hate cooking, buy frozen/canned food
- Ideally, you want to buy fresh vegetables that you either sear or boil. However, if you aren’t a good cook or hate cooking, you aren’t suddenly going to embrace it. When I first started this, I simply bought a ton of frozen microwaveable Steamers Broccoli, Carrots, and Cauliflower; and a bunch of various canned beans. Luckily for me, my wife has fully embraced this way of eating and cooks me amazing healthy food.
- Buy in bulk
- Get a membership to Sam’s Club or Costco and buy your meat and veggies in bulk. You will save a ton of money.
Common Mistakes
- Coating your salads in dressings, cheeses, and croutons.
- This completely defeats the purpose of a salad. If you must use dressing, use a vinaigrette.
- Coating your meat in BBQ sauces
- Sorry, most BBQ sauces have tons of sugar in them
- Eating too much fruit
- I’ve already talked this above. Once again, if you are struggling to lose weight and fruit makes up a big part of your diet, scale it back and eat more fat/protein/vegetables instead.
- Not eating breakfast
- Breakfast is the single most important meal of the day. If you absolutely don’t have time to make breakfast or just absolutely hate eggs, at the very least make yourself a Protein shake instead.
- Not eating enough
- Do NOT try to restrict portions or calories, and try to get at least 20g of protein per meal. Eat until you are full, and eat as much as you like of the approved foods. If you don’t, you will either downshift your metabolism or cheat between meals with banned-food snacks
- Sabotaging your diet with supplements
- Having a Whey Protein Isolate shake in the morning or immediately following a workout is fine. Going overboard with creatine, BCAA’s, casein meal replacements, and Jack3D Pre-workout is not. If your goal is fat loss, drop all the craziness. It will save you money too.
- Turning your Trail Mix into Trail “Candy”
- Almonds, Walnuts, and Pecans. NOT chocolate covered almonds, salted walnuts, caramelized pecans, with M&M’s and Pretzels.
Key Takeaways
When you feel mired in details or confused by the latest-and-greatest contradictory advice, return to this paragraph. All you need to remember is:
- Eat as much lean meat, legumes, & vegetables as you want.
- Don’t eat sugar.
- Don’t eat processed (fast) carbs.
- Don’t drink calories.
- Don’t eat excessive amounts of fruit.
- Take one day off per week and go nuts
That’s It
Obviously, I have a contrary view of nutrition from most mainstream “scientists”. However, if you do your research you’ll find that these mainstream “scientists” can’t agree on just about anything. This is a sustainable nutrition plan that works for me, my wife, my 73-year-old dad who had a heart attack and cancer, and thousands of other people. That being said, don’t assume something is true because I say it is. Do your research and form your own opinion. Everything in The Four Hour Body and Why We Get Fat absolutely gets results, but the chances are good that the information we have now won’t be the same information we have in five years.
However, don’t use skepticism as an excuse for inaction or remaining in your comfort zone. If you want to sit on the sidelines and play full-time skeptic, suspending action until a scientific consensus is reached, that’s your choice.
Are you happy, healthy, and like what you see in the mirror? If you can say yes to those three things, by all means, keep doing what you’re doing – it’s working for you. Everybody is different and no one diet works for everybody.
However, if you can’t say YES to all three questions above, consider adjusting your diet.
Take 30 days and give it a shot – cut out the grains and dairy, start eating more vegetables, eat more grass-fed meat, cut out the liquid calories and sugar, and see how you feel after the month is up. If you’re analytical and want numbers to use in your final verdict, get your blood work done at the beginning and end of the month.
Take a picture of yourself now, and then another 30 days from now. I bet you’ll be surprised with how your body transforms. I hope that AFTER those 30 days you’ll have adopted some of these principles, noted how much better you feel, and continue to live with an improved relationship with food.
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