Coach's Corner With Justin and Ethan
Welcome to "Coach's Corner with Justin and Ethan," where your health and fitness journey gets a simplified makeover! Join Justin and Ethan, two seasoned coaches with a combined 30 years of experience, as they navigate the labyrinth of health and fitness, unraveling myths from facts to guide you towards success.
In each episode, we dive headfirst into the vast world of well-being, shedding light on weight loss, dissecting diet fads, exploring diverse workout styles, and fine-tuning the often overlooked aspect of mindset. Our mission is to demystify the complexities surrounding health, making your journey not only effective but enjoyable.
Get ready for a lively and informative conversation that feels like a chat with your favorite fitness buddies. Justin and Ethan draw upon their extensive experience, sharing real-life stories from working with thousands of clients. No stone is left unturned as they break down what really works and what's just another fitness fad.
Whether you're a fitness enthusiast or a beginner taking the first steps toward a healthier lifestyle, "Coache's Corner" is your go-to source for practical insights, debunking myths, and embracing the joy of the journey. Tune in for a fun and engaging exploration of the truth behind health and fitness, and let Justin and Ethan be your trusted guides to a healthier, happier you!
Coach's Corner With Justin and Ethan
Crafting a Diet Plan That Includes Your Favorite Flavors
Unlock the secrets to enjoying your favorite meals while still achieving your fitness goals. How can you savor a cookie without compromising on your weight loss journey? Join us as Ethan Wolfe and I, Justin Schollard, unravel the concept of flexible dieting, where understanding your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is key. We dive into the art of balancing calorie intake, allowing you to enjoy your preferred treats guilt-free, and emphasizing the importance of personal responsibility in food choices for a sustainable lifestyle.
Together, we craft a flexible meal plan that respects your dietary preferences and supports optimal health. The importance of maintaining a calorie deficit for fat loss is highlighted, alongside the vital role protein plays in preserving muscle mass. Watch out for common traps, such as neglecting food quality, which can lead to muscle loss, as seen in semaglutide users. Our framework breaks down caloric needs into protein, fats, and carbohydrates, offering a balanced approach that accommodates indulgences while ensuring nutritional adequacy.
Embark on a journey of food freedom where you can make small yet impactful choices in your diet. Consider less processed alternatives, like swapping out fast food for Whole Foods chicken strips, and discover creative, healthier options such as Quest protein chips and egg wraps. We share our favorite cooking hacks and ingredient swaps designed to maintain flavor and variety. From high-protein cheesecakes to exciting dry rubs for chicken, our tips will inspire you to embrace a joyful and sustainable approach to achieving your health and fitness objectives.
Welcome to episode 39 of Coach's Corner. I am your host, justin Schollard, along with my co-host, ethan Wolfe, and we are here to teach you guys about flexible dieting today. So if you don't know who we are, we are fitness coaches career nutrition, weight loss, fitness the whole gamut. We've owned gyms together. We were personal trainers together 20 years ago. 15 years ago really Owned some gyms together. Currently, ethan has his own studio in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1:I have a business online but we basically help folks get their nutrition and exercise and lifestyle kind of figured out. And so we come together in this project Coach's Corner's podcast to help you know, cut through some of the bullshit and also just have some candid conversations around why you know, around our perspective on nutrition and exercise. To simplify it for everyone, trim the fat a little bit, no pun intended. So today, flexible dieting yeah, this is a good topic. I think. If you don't know what flexible dieting is, I think it's one of those things where this is actually what you think you want, whether you know it as flexible dieting or counting your macros or eating anything you want as long as it fits into your budget, like if you've ever heard any any version of that. That's essentially what we're talking about today, and this is basically what everybody wants.
Speaker 2:They want to get to this place where they enjoy their meals, but they still can lose weight and look good yeah, and I think any hard occlusion of any type of food group or food item is just not going to be sustainable forever, except carbs, except for carbs, of course. I don't ever eat carbs and animal protein. You know, if you're never allowed to eat a cookie again and that's like your favorite food in the world and this you know it.
Speaker 2:You know, fundamentally, the long term is important and I think if you don't ever have to actually eliminate anything with a hard line. I think that's going to be a more sustainable approach and I think short-term hard line approaches might work and that's okay. And even if it is just a short-term use of it, that's fine. It's a good tool but I think for the long haul, understanding how you can kind of dance the dance and still kind of live your life in a enjoyable way, yeah, I mean like rigid, is doomed to break you.
Speaker 1:You know, typically things in nature that are very rigid snap where things are a little bit more flexible tend to endure the inevitable ebbs and flows, like the bamboo, yes, grasshopper.
Speaker 1:So when it comes to nutrition, you know, fundamentally this is like the big takeaway, this is the big concept that if everyone could just grasp this concept and then sort of backfill food choices to their preference, is that you have to just understand how many calories does your body burn off on average? Yeah, right, when you look at that triangle, sort of pyramid of calorie expenditure, so you know the nerds say tde, the total daily energy expenditure. That's just a fancy way of of graphing and how many calories you burn, and then what part of your day burns what amount of calories, and so you know base metabolic rate is most of it. And then you have like non-exercise activity, which is like what we're doing right now, like sitting up straight and moving our arms and talking, washing the dishes. And then you have like um, thermogenesis of the actual food you eat. And then the very, very tippy top is exercise five to ten percent, depending on the person, the most time I mean that's and so you can just understand this concept.
Speaker 1:It's like okay, there is a aggregate of calories that my body burns through, metabolizes through over the course of a 24-hour period just to stay alive.
Speaker 1:Despite how many calories you think you burn in a workout, it doesn't matter in the big picture, like, oh, I burned 500 calories, like you're missing the point. So if we can just understand that, like hey, get a grip on where your maintenance level is Like for most humans it's between 2,000 and 2,500, give or take. And then from there you either decide okay, I'm going to go into a calorie deficit so that I can burn fat, or I'm just going to hang out at maintenance because I like where I'm at, or I'm going to go into a little bit of a calorie surplus, maybe, like you know, a 10 percent swing in their direction, depending on what your goal is for that phase of your life. And then from there it's like okay, I understand now, like I, to maintain this body size, it's about 2500 calories a day. Let's just say great, right now, the world is your oyster, you can eat anything you want, but just be accurate, right, which is the hardest part, you know and be consistent. But that's it.
Speaker 2:That's, that's flexible dieting it's like it is as simple as that.
Speaker 1:It's kind of crazy you just got to understand how many calories your body burns, and then you get to backfill all of your favorite food choices up to that point. Now there's some caveats, of course right never isn't like ethan said, if you like cookies, maybe a little too much, and all of a sudden you know each cookie is 500 calories, you know you have three. You're like crap. I only have a thousand left to eat, like you know, healthy food whole day's worth of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like that's gonna be a very miserable day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know. So you have to kind of be smart on how you allocate these calories.
Speaker 2:But fundamentally you could hypothetically just eat your calories and cookies and treats and still probably maintain your body weight, if that's what you want 100, and that's the options of finding a cookie, or eating half a cookie, or finding a cookie that has less calories, or making your own cookies out of different ingredients.
Speaker 2:But I also think, think there's a degree of just some form of personal responsibility, even if you choose to like throw it all out the window. Because I think so, there's such a like oh, I'm gaining weight, I don't know what it takes or what, this or that and this diet and that diet. And I think, if you can just understand the simple situation of why you might lose or gain weight, and even if you choose to ignore it, at least own and understand that choice. I think you know, because it's like you know, people have free will, they can do whatever they want. But I think a lot of times kind of just like oh well, I don't know why, or I don't know what decisions are doing what, and I think for me it's like, even if people understand situation and then at least choose to ignore it but own, the fact that they're not choosing to participate is at least more empowering than just like being naive or oblivious, or just going on the rabbit hole, thinking that you have a hormone issue or that you have a low metabolism Right.
Speaker 2:Or yeah, or that you know you need to work out. I mean, there's so many things that spiral out from just not understanding and or owning where your relationship is to that caveat. It's like it is as simple as that. Pick your poison, but just don't like. Don't like, educate yourself and then whatever you want to do with it, that's fine. But don't like pull a sheet over your head and just be like, oh, yep, x, y.
Speaker 1:Z.
Speaker 2:Something's wrong with me, or diets don't work for me, or like I, like I have to go on a home growth every quarter in order to lose weight, and it's just like, do like have a colonoscopy, or colonic, that's what they're called.
Speaker 1:They like, I had a guy and he's a smart. He was a smart guy and then he would be like, um, you know, I just gotta hit the reset button get that colonic. I'm like, oh bro, I mean, that's the thing. It's like button get that colonic. I'm like, oh bro, I mean, that's the thing.
Speaker 2:Whether a colonic is good for you or not, if you're going to start to relate it to weight loss.
Speaker 1:The human body doesn't have a reset button. Man.
Speaker 2:It's got a reset button. You're going to halt every process.
Speaker 1:It's just a cause and effect of a million choices that I've led to where you are right now. There's not a button you hit to just like unplug it for 10 seconds, then plug it back in, clear out the the browser history, you know. But, um, okay, so that's like the big picture on. Really, you know we might have oversimplified it, but fundamentally I mean like they're we're not the first people to say this like for certainly like if you just wanted to not look count macros or anything like that, or not have to like eat healthy food, you could hypothetically just eat your mat, your maintenance, calories and whatever the fuck you wanted and still maintain your body. But there are some, you know recommended, you know calorie, protein, food choice, you know things set.
Speaker 1:And this is where I think now to take a one step further, to like be a nutrition coach.
Speaker 1:Now it's like okay, we understand that unless you're a professional bodybuilder and you have to walk on stage at five percent body fat, then you know what we want to probably just have like ground turkey and white rice and broccoli, you know, because we don't want sodium issues, we don't want like any like chemical reactions in your body from, like preservatives or whatever so, but but then the problem is that people see that and they go, oh, that's what it takes to be fit, and it's like that's a way, but like you could have, you know, um, sugar-free sodas instead of sugar sodas.
Speaker 1:And there are ways to like give yourself the satisfaction of a treat that you like without the calorie ramifications of it. But you know. So now to take it one step further, it's like okay, so we're going to create this like hypothetical flexible meal plan. Right, we understand now that it is a calorie game that we're chasing. We have to understand that first, which you can just google how many calories my body, turned off like Google Gemini AI, will just tell you. It's not that complicated, but now it's like okay, what I would suggest, then, is, of the calorie that we need you to hit, we need to comprise those of certain food items, just so we're not just like not eating fiber or protein.
Speaker 2:Right, I mean, I think there is, because you, you know, I think it's the understanding of, like, healthy food options versus what you're eating in order for body composition. Yeah, because you can eat snickers bars in a certain quantity and still lose weight. But I also there are vitamins, minerals, fibers, your gut biome yeah, a slew of things that come from eating enough protein or not eating. So you know, there definitely is food choice matters. Yeah, food choice absolutely matters. So it's not to say that food choice doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:It's just more that, like, eating a snickers won't necessarily like make you gain weight, inherently in that belief yeah, there's nothing like yeah, right, it's not going to give you cancer and make you obese because you had a snickers bar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, but at the same time like never eating a snickers bar would probably be a better choice for just overall health, right? Sure you know, yeah, but that's that's. That's the here.
Speaker 1:They're there and but that's the balance, because it's like but then if you do that, but then you have to quit because it's not sustainable, then what good was abstaining at?
Speaker 2:you know that's you know somebody and that's the thing some people might. But so food choice definitely matters and I think you know the health that comes from having a balanced diet is undeniable, right. So it's like people often will talk to me about, like the protein requirements from, like, the USDA government food pyramid organization, which is all bullshit, and it's like 40 grams a day, right, and they're just like, oh well, like, why do I need to eat like a gram per pound or 0.75 grams per pound?
Speaker 2:right so much protein, like I don't get it and like I think it's like what you have to understand about that minimum requirement is that is literally the bare bones minimum to like not have disease and yeah away and degrade. So it's like no doubt a person could, scraping by, survive on 50 grams of protein a day.
Speaker 2:They're not going to like wither away and just like actually just die of diseases and other things. You know it's just not going to happen. But to live optimally, yeah, to maintain lean mass, which we've talked about a thousand times.
Speaker 1:There's the minimum requirement and then there's the optimal amount.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I think, and even if you want to like shoot somewhere in the middle, it's just understanding that there is value to then structuring your caloric allotment in a certain way Right, so that you can live optimally, basically.
Speaker 1:So it's like yeah, and so you know what I would say then is okay, let's do this, we need you to stay at. Let's say, your maintenance is 2500, but we want to lose body fat, so we're going to pull you down to 2000. Okay, so now we're theoretically in a, in a 500 calorie deficit, assuming you're accurate on your measurements. And now, of that 2000 calories, well, we don't want to lose any muscle as we die. Because I'll tell you what if you're not eating protein, you're not exercising. Your body is going to lose just as much muscle as it does fat. Which is what's happening with people who take semaglutides is that there's no appetite, so their protein levels are low because they're not eating anything and they're not training, because they probably hadn't ever trained before that, or at least not often, and so. But the same can happen, whether you're on a semaglutide or not, if you're not paying attention to food choice. And so, of the 2,000 calories, let's say you're a 150-pound person, so we need you to eat roughly, give or take, and I always go a little bit higher when you're in a deficit. I always like to have protein a little bit higher, just because you want an abundance of amino acids. So your body has everything it needs to maintain that muscle. Has everything it needs to maintain that muscle.
Speaker 1:So let's just say, back to the napkin math you're 150 pounds. You're going to want to eat about 150 grams of protein a day. Protein is four calories per gram. So 150 times four is 600 calories. So of your 2,600 of that is already allocated towards protein. Okay, so now we have 1,400 left. Yeah, okay, great. So now what we know is that if you're a 150 pound person, typically we like to stay around you know 0.3 to 0.5 grams of fat per pound. Um, so if you're 150 pounds, let's just go in the middle somewhere. Let's just say we want 50 grams of fat a day. Okay, so we now. Fat is nine calories per gram. So 50 times nine is 400 and something 450,.
Speaker 1:I think, 450, thank you. So now we have the 600 from protein, we have the 450.
Speaker 2:Don't hold me to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we have the 450 from fat, and so that's you know, that's I call it about a thousand calories. That's half of your day now, and then. So, basically, now we gotta get our carbohydrates in and you know, make sure you're getting your fruits and veggies and everything like that. And so that's kind of like your wiggle room now where you can kind of have some fun and you know if you want the ice cream or you want the you know cookie or like whatever the case might be. That's like your cushion now to incorporate some indulgences while still taking care of some of your bigger ticket items, like making sure you're not, you know, undercutting your protein and all that good stuff.
Speaker 1:And so I always look at like of your calories probably the easiest way to look at it is this way Just of your calories, 80% of them need to be just good choices, Like quality proteins, fruits and veggies, complex carbohydrates, and then 20% can be like, okay, fine, Like whatever you want to have a bowl of ice cream at the end of the night, you can make it fit, Like that's the idea. It's like that's flexible dieting. It's like, okay, I just got to make sure I hit my protein targets and don't blow past my calorie ceilings. Yes, get my fruits and veggies in, but after that there's wiggle room now where I can have pizza, I can have a glass of wine. I can kind of build all these indulgences into my day, but to gamify it, it's like how do I do that in a way where I stay under my ceiling but I still get to incorporate whatever I want in, because that's sustainability?
Speaker 2:Right, and I think because it's so often it's things like alcohol or desserts or cheese or carbs, whatever is just the mentality is like oh, I just can't eat those if I'm on the path of trying to lose body.
Speaker 1:Right, it's just because that's bad and this is good, and so I got to not eat the bad, exactly.
Speaker 2:The whole binary situation Right and so, and and and. Here's the thing is like I think you know something we were talking about before is that it's there is a level of involvement that is more complex than other options that might be effective even for a short term, and I think this is where most people shy away from this path, and I understand Like I get it. Like sometimes it's a pain in the ass to have to measure everything, but fundamentally it's like if you want to have your cake and eat it too, then you got to step up to what it takes to do that, then you got to step up to what it takes to do that, and so, like, intermittent fasting, as we were talking about before, works for a lot of people, because it's a hard line of this is, this is when you can and cannot eat, and even if you're hungry or you want it, it's just a very stark line in the sand that you cannot cross, and so it's like okay, I can honor that, however sustainable it may or may not be for certain individuals. It's just there's no decision-making, it's simple, it is black and white. I can eat, technically most of the time whatever, and then I can't eat out of this window, whereas here you now have to kind of get a little intricate.
Speaker 2:You got to kind of like weave your fingers together with it of, okay, well, I have to measure, or in some capacity whether it's with my fists and hands or with the scale every grain of rice. Yeah, in some capacity. Now you have to measure so that you know what your numbers are. You have to participate and you got to kind of budget and do that whole game. So there's like a heightened level of interaction and responsibility. But that is also what gives you the ability to lose 100 pounds over multi-year journey if you need to. It's worth.
Speaker 1:It's a worthy trade-off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, while still being like I had that client who lost 70 pounds a lot, you know in this year and was eating snickers and cookies during this journey.
Speaker 2:Flexible dieting yeah, it's flexible dieting and like that was his vice, like he needed, like that was his old ways and eventually he started to switch it out more and more. But like he, you know, first thing was like right, I used to drink sodas and all that. Just cut all that out. Very easy first step. But then it was like he, that sweet tooth and that part of him, whatever the reason, why was something that he couldn't let go?
Speaker 2:And if he had to let it go, then it wasn't going to work Right and so, fundamentally based on that relationship to the situation, if there wasn't the opportunity for flexible dieting, then he would have never lost.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like imagine if he would have came to you and you would have been not the person you are and you would have been like all right man, you know, no eating past 7 PM.
Speaker 2:No refined sugar.
Speaker 1:No refined sugar, nothing fried, no dairy, no alcohol. It's like, does that work?
Speaker 2:uh, no, alcohol it's like. Does that work sure?
Speaker 1:that'll work very well. You'll get. You'll get the time. Yeah, you can do it. You'll be fucking miserable and you're going to quit. You're gonna quit. You just can't do that like no one can, fucking do that like it's just not realistic, especially when you look at somebody who has to lose 70 pounds yes, like that would be the exact opposite of the lifestyle that you have been living and it's just, it sounds heroic but it's like it's that.
Speaker 1:That's like something out of a fucking like bullshit tiktok montage, but it's like not actually what happens in real life. What happens in real life is you go, a good coach is like great dude. So listen, would it be better for you to eat like a good meal of, you know, chicken, rice and veggie for 300 calories? Yeah, but you know if that 300 calorie snicker bar means that you can keep showing up and feel as though you have some sort of like control over this and it doesn't just feel like this empty path you're walking indefinitely, but there's like, oh, this is a trade-off that I'm willing to make, Because it hurts to carry this extra weight around and it hurts to have to give up these foods. But if I can a little bit of overlap, you know what I can live with that. I can live with that.
Speaker 2:I think I mean, you know, and here's the thing, in a lot of ways I think we're referring to the optimal expression of this situation of eating proper servings of fruits and vegetables and fat intake to this degree, and this, that and the other, and this, that and the other, and I think that's all what we should aim for. No-transcript. Had a high enough protein content, the fat wasn't too crazy, and so it's like. On one hand, is like that, like, did I want him to eat these particular chicken strips, breaded chicken strips from Whole Foods five days a week for dinner? No, that's not what I would want him to do. But at the same time, he sought a better choice than maybe like a Vons or a regular grocery store chicken strip in the freezer. That would have been-.
Speaker 1:Or fast food, chicken strips or fast food yeah, that would have been heavily breaded and deep fried and have way high oil content.
Speaker 2:So he did his homework, he found a middle ground, yep, and he chose something that still allowed him to lose the weight and continue on with the process, and whether or not there would have been higher health benefits for making better food choices, like fruits and vegetables and whole foods and whatever you want to say during it, the bottom line is that he lost the weight and the benefit to his health is going to far outweigh him. Eating this particular chicken strip and it's like that to me, was food freedom, and he would like phase in and out, like he would do, like chicken breast tandoori from this one takeout restaurant, which is, like you know, just like a baked chicken breast, and make these wraps out of it, and like that was his go to for like a chunk of time. And he did his homework and he put the time and effort in his homework and he put the time and effort in, but it was still the freedom of choice to be like.
Speaker 1:This is the thing right now for me that I can choose every day. Fuck, yeah, and that's such an important point that you just brought up. It's like people get so caught up in the weeds of like, but is this choice? But in this choice it was like you get you're missing the forest or the trees.
Speaker 1:Nothing is more important to your health than losing that 50 pounds, and so if, if, like, whatever trade-offs we can make, I don't care what preservatives are in there, I don't care what the ingredients are Like. First and foremost, we got to triage this, get your calories down, lose that fat, and then we can go back later and create efficiencies. Yeah, 100%, but like we just got to bring the volume of your body down so you're not like at metabolic disease risk levels anymore, and then we can go back in there. Now, once this is more of an identity and a lifestyle that you possess. Cool, let's start adding in some more veg, some more fruit, crowding out some of the more processed stuff. But if the processed stuff is what we need to do in the beginning, to just get your head around it and not feel like it's this like zero to ten switch but it's just like a zero to one or zero to two transition.
Speaker 1:We're like this is this is a trade-off, okay, I can do this and then another. You know thing to that point is like there are so many interesting alternatives now, like the like dude I I got these quest chips.
Speaker 2:They're, they're way crisps yeah, he's, he's all about dude. 20 grams of protein like the tortilla chips. They taste like doritos. They're they're way crisps. Yeah, he's, he's all about dude. 20 grams of protein like the tortilla. They taste like doritos. They're delicious. He is obsessed with those 20 grams of protein.
Speaker 1:It's a bag of chips it's so good yeah it's so good.
Speaker 1:You know like. There's just little hacks you can do. You're like, you know what like. If you want to just like crack a fucking diet coke and grab a bag of quest protein chips and you're just chilling at home like this would. And grab a bag of quest protein chips and you're just chilling at home like this would have been a bag of doritos and a full sugar coke a year ago, but now it's 20 grams of protein and sugar-free coke. Is it the healthiest thing in the world? Of course not, but it's like. But, dude, that's a. That's an amazing trade-off. Yeah, that is going to change the trajectory of your body composition, your weight loss, and while doing that, while in the process of it, you're enjoying it. Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2:It's good, and I think you know so. To the title of the episode about being a foodie, I mean, I think right now, especially with the internet and all the creative individuals out there, there's so many options for getting enough of what you're looking for, to be satisfied and not deviate, without having to go all the way in right and so like it's like some of some of these like specialty items, like the quest chips, like they can be expensive.
Speaker 2:Some like there's these egg wraps that whole food sells and they're amazing. They're like zero. They're just basically like egg white and they're just like fluffy little wrap. They have almost no flavor. On the plane, they have all these different flavors and so it's like you can use them for a taco. There's like, however, many grams of protein in them. They're awesome, but they're definitely expensive. Like I look at them and I'm like okay, like you're definitely paying for this novelty of an item and so you know, to be fair to the wide range of individuals, out there and wide range of upper middle class people you know, but so, but there are so many creative recipes too, like I was just looking at this recipe for like this cheesecake that was made out of like cottage cheese and like eggs and a couple other ingredients.
Speaker 2:That was basically it's like very high protein comparatively to a normal cheesecake, very low calorie option, that you know I'm looking at this recipe. And now, obviously, if you had like a cream cheese based cheesecake, factory cheesecake next to this, would it taste as good as the Cheesecake Factory? No, but would it be satisfying enough if you really wanted some cheesecake? And that's the takeaway. You know, absolutely, and I think there's just so many ways to tinker and fiddle and you know, prior to the internet, you might have to be creative, especially if you didn't cook, but now there's just like thousands of people that are like people that are like this substitution here's this way use greek yogurt instead of heavy cream.
Speaker 2:Do this, like you know. And there's like little hacks like get some like bone broth or make bone broth. You know like, if you don't want to buy it, it's too expensive, okay, get like cheap rotisserie chickens from your supermarket, eat them, save the bones, boil it in a pot. You don't even need a fucking slow cooker. You know like, I have a like Brian does that. He doesn't, he doesn't, him and his girl. They just boil the bones in a pot, like they don't even use a slow cooker because they just eat rotisserie chickens all the time, because it's easy and fast, and you know so. It's like, whatever the angle is, it's like there's always options.
Speaker 1:And then if you're making a soup or there's so many hacks and it's like and I think that like if you can have ownership over this, because because this is like one of the issues it's like when you're, when you're at that place where you know you want variety in your life, but you've associated variety with, like takeout or ordering in or or, just like you know, frozen dinners, whatever which aren't necessarily the worst thing, but like that's your idea of variety, but it's like.
Speaker 1:But you also know, like if I would eat healthy, if, if, if it was good. But there is a way and I think that you're like, what you're getting out here is like, if you're willing to just like, think of it as like a fun hobby.
Speaker 2:Right when it's like like like I make this.
Speaker 1:This, like you know, high protein like cheesecake quote unquote has nothing to do with cheese, but it's it's 0% Greek yogurt. It's a scoop of vanilla protein. I use the plant-based one because it has a nice little. It has a little bit more of like a good texture for cheesecake. It has a little bit more of a good texture for cheesecake. Crumble up two Oreo thins and then I'll take some low-fat whipped cream over the top. It tastes so good. Do you just blend it? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Stir it all up, mix it up, mix the Oreos in there, just eat it as is, and then boom put some low-calorie whipped cream.
Speaker 1:The whole thing is 300 calories. It's got 30 grams of protein. That and boom put some low-calorie cream.
Speaker 2:The whole thing is 300 calories. It's got 30 grams of protein. That's huge and it's awesome. Yeah, it tastes great, right, and there's just little hacks, except for the Oreos. It sounds awesome, yeah, but their Oreo thins are 35 calories each. That's the trick, but that's the thing, right? So Oreos aren't excluded. Yeah it's like Oreo thillas instead of regular ones. It's it's it's zero fat yogurt instead of full fat.
Speaker 1:It's like all these sour creams, low fat sour cream, I mean like like low fat mayo instead of whole mayo, like all these things can seem so negligible and then you add them all up over the course of day and oh, there's your deficit. Yeah, that was 350 calories. 400 calories like that you just shaved off by going low fat or no fat options or just finding, like dave's killer bread, instead of a full slice, get the thin slice. So instead of 140 calories per slice, it's 70. So you're just saving you're. You're shaving off 70 calories. So that's 140 calories just by making that choice alone in a sandwich. You times that by three or four different choices throughout the day, and there's your four or five hundred calorie deficit. Times um 30 days, that's five pounds of body fat you just burned off.
Speaker 2:It's like frozen shrimp instead of salmon. Yep, you know, like shrimp, or even cod. It's like you know. Shrimp and cod are like literally just protein, zero fat yeah salmon's good, but it's kind of fatty especially the 95 farm.
Speaker 1:Nothing wrong, nothing wrong with salmon, but no if you need to, if you have to make a pivot.
Speaker 2:It's like you know if you're making a teriyaki salmon. I guarantee you the teriyaki cod or the teriyaki shrimp totally, are going to be pretty tasty and fit the bill dude.
Speaker 1:It's all those little choices like that.
Speaker 2:There's tons of hacks, I mean, even if you like, you know I bake chicken thighs religiously because it's just so fast and so easy and it's just for me. It's like this, this, this roundabout wheel of fortune of just what dry rub blend I put on, yeah, and it's basically like is it like a taco? Is it kind of like a Greek herb based kind of thing, you know? Is it like a curry? Is it kind of? You know, it's just like. I kind of have like four I would say like staple flavor profiles that are fairly different from each other. Obviously there's variations within you could go deeper and get more variations, but there's like four really distinct flavors that I kind of move through, cause it's for me it's just easy I coat the fucking chicken thighs in the, in the blend, I throw them on a pan, I cook them for 14 minutes, they're done, they're super juicy, they're great.
Speaker 2:I don't have to be present and I can just eat them up and eat them and they're great. And so it's just like. You know, there's things like that. Even if you want to go like brass tacks, efficiency and simplicity, I might be eating chicken thighs all the time and, yeah, I take a break or I do other proteins. But even if I'm eating chicken thighs all the time, at least the flavor in my mouth is a little different and At least the flavor in my mouth is a little different. And then it's like you get a little creative. It's like, okay, if I'm going to do like a taco flavored one, then I might use those chicken thighs for tacos and a tortilla, and if it's, you know, a teriyaki or something like that, I might do rice or I might do if it's like a herb one, I might do like a potato. You know, it's like these simple choices that fundamentally aren't any different, but they're just now. I can kind of start to create variety that is satisfying.
Speaker 1:It's crazy when you get creative like that and you just think, okay, what are my staples, what are my, you know? Just as simple as the things we were just talking about just finding the reduced fat, reduced calorie, reduced sugar options of your favorite things, which are pretty much ubiquitous Anything you like, any ubiquitous anything you like. Any barbecue sauce, any sauce, any condiment, anything that you like chips, cookies.
Speaker 1:I guarantee you there is a low sugar, low calorie, slash, low fat version of that thing that tastes pretty good, yeah, and that simple switch alone is pretty much guaranteeing that if nothing, all else being equal, and you just make that switch alone, you're gonna probably put yourself into a calorie deficit. I think the biggest issue we can kind of end on this but like the biggest issue is unintentional underreporting. Really, really interesting uh video I just watched. I'm going to make my own version of it here pretty soon. But like this woman, she's like she goes into a clinic, she agrees to be recorded in film because they were documenting this whole thing. And she goes in a clinic. She goes my. I have a slow metabolism. I'm only eating 1200 calories a day.
Speaker 2:Serious, she was dead serious. Yeah, this is actually a person coming in, coming in, she's like I don't think, it's like we're gonna record you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, like so so what's it called double plated water? Double, double sided water, where they can test your metabolism. You drink this water and then you send your urine samples in and they can actually get a really accurate oh wow, I have no idea.
Speaker 1:Read on your metabolism, double, double plated, I think I want to say anywho. So they do this body scan, kind of like a dexascan. They test your blood and they go. Actually, ma'am, your metabolism is perfectly in range of where it should be for for a woman of your age and height and weight and everything. So your metabolism is perfect. Actually, she's like what? And she probably need to lose maybe 80 pounds, let's say okay, so she's pretty overweight in that way.
Speaker 1:But she's like I'm only eating 1200 calories a day and I'm not losing weight. So I have my metabolism, hormone metabolism. They're like thyroid, they're like okay, maybe, but let's do some tests and we'll get to the bottom of this. Turns out metabolism just fine. Great, that was test one, so she was like really interesting test two double plated water where they she drinks it in sends in urine samples and they I don't need.
Speaker 2:We'll have to do some more research on this, but they figure this is the most accurate way now wow that all of all these researchers great of determining how many calories you're eating and how many calories you're burning interesting about that comparison. Yes, gotcha, gotcha, yeah, like your efficiency turns out all that stuff.
Speaker 1:So she sends her, she drinks the water. She's, she's a good patient. Uh, sends her urine samples. In turns out she's, on average, eating 3 000 calories a day. Wait, yeah, so she was a not a crazy person. She's, on average, eating 3,000 calories a day. Wait what? Yeah, so she was not a crazy person. She's a normal woman and she was like a normal woman. You know, she was like I'm only eating 1,200 a day. Turns out, she was eating 3,000. And this is the biggest issue, is unintentional underreporting.
Speaker 2:Or I mean to me that's like that's. I mean, look, she can say she was only eating 1200 calories. So it's either. I mean it's to your point. It's either such an extreme example of what underreporting can be, or it's some form of denial, or lack of honesty.
Speaker 1:I have so many friends and you do too People just who are like, they're like, they're like. No matter what I do, I can't lose weight, I don't even eat anything, and it's just like you think you're not eating or you think you're under.
Speaker 2:You eat like a salad five days a week for lunch. Right and then you know, you have, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean, I know, for me it's like if I allow myself to like have alcohol in the week, maybe it's a drink or two, like that. To me is like I somehow like don't. Like, I'm just like oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I might. To me is like I somehow like don't, like, I'm just like oh, yeah, yeah, I might have a beer. Oh, it's a trip wire, yeah, and then it's, but I don't count, like somehow my brain it doesn't like for it.
Speaker 1:It's like some like that doesn't count. Shadow, yeah. Liquid calories don't count, yeah, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 2:It's just one drink, it's just two drinks and then, like I add up what it would be for the amount of time I'm like oh, okay, I guess that was five, six hundred calories.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and it's that shit. But you know, whatever it is a few drinks, they're folks, it's like they're just they're just going through the cupboard and just nipping on a little chocolate, when every time they go in the kitchen they just throw something, you know, and it's just like dried mango. Yeah, it's like four or five hundred calories later, you know, like shit anyway. So so flexible dieting to wrap this up calories and protein. Understand your calorie ceiling. Don't go above it. Understand your protein requirements. Try to hit that.
Speaker 2:The rest is your oyster have fun, yeah, and then mix it up still, like food can still be enjoyable.
Speaker 1:Don't get too hung up on like is it the right amount of veggies? If you need to lose weight, you just got to get yourself in a calorie deficit. That's the healthiest thing you can do. Enjoy the. Enjoy the the the remainder of your calories after you've hit your protein target and you know, make good food choices. But the idea is like get creative, take ownership over it.
Speaker 2:I love the make. Make it a hobby. Make it a hobby, make make it like a thing you do okay a little effort into it. Yeah, totally get some. Get some spices you might have never used. I mean now, especially there's so many, trader joe's has like such a slew of spicy plants you can make anything taste, like anything.
Speaker 1:You know they have like the elote everything but the elote.
Speaker 2:It's like a cheese spicy kind of corn topping. I'll put that on the chicken. It's so good.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's just so many options now and plus, like all the pre-cooked meats Like you can get, like all the pre-cooked beefs. It it's not that there's no excuses, but I think it's just. If you choose to take the self-accountability and responsibility, it's a walkable path and things can still taste good you don't have to eat plain steamed broccoli and white rice and baked chicken breast every day, and you might even look forward to your meals on a fat loss phase 100% Crazy, I know All right.
Speaker 1:Well, there you guys go. Episode 39, coach's Corner. We'll see you all next.