Dan John joins me again for his third appearance on the show. You can reference Episodes #100 and #181 to hear those. This go-round, we discuss his brand new book “Attempts”, Dan John University, the importance of habits, thoughts on fitness “hacks” and so much more. Dan John is always a guest you’ll want to tune in for. Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.
My mother and I just returned from a very quick weekend trip to my hometown in Tennessee (Union City) to see my Grandmother and visit my father’s gravesite in nearby Ridgely. I’ve always credited my grandmother for teaching me to read when I was still very young. She, herself, was an elementary school teacher many years ago and it was always a priority of hers to know that all of her grandchildren were proficient readers. To this day, I love devouring books.
On this particular trip, I was perusing her bookshelves and came across an old book called “The New Way To Eat and Get Slim”. It was originally released in 1941 and written by one Donald G. Cooley. The edition she had was the 7th one which had been reprinted in 1945.
Diet books, regardless of when they were released, fascinate me. Like many things in the world of health, it is always interesting to see what concepts have held up over time and which things have since changed due to the ever evolving nature of science.
While I don’t make a habit of doing “book reports” on this blog, I found the book of particular interest on more than a few fronts. Bear in mind, that we’re talking about dieting the way it was spoken of 80 years ago. When you hear the adage ‘there is nothing new under the sun”, it is books like this one that remind you just how true that actually is.
Let’s start with most of what I felt Cooley did right in the book.
For one, there was a great explanation of calories and, what we now call macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats and protein). He explains the importance of all of them and how getting “slim” is just a matter of reducing calories, or in his words, being on a “reducing diet”.
He also reminds the reader that while exercise is important for the physique, aesthetics and cardiovascular function, it is not the most efficient way to burn calories, thereby putting the focus back on controlling intake for more effective weight loss.
Cooley notes that for those who think their weekend hike burned a fair amount of calories, it likely didn’t burn anywhere near what they think it did and it would be prudent not to eat those calories back into the equation as a reward for good effort.
There is mention that the reader needs to be mindful of added fats, processed sweets, and foods low in nutritive value. He also talks about alcohol and gives an interesting breakdown of what certain drinks look like in total calories compared to their food counterparts.
Within the context of alcohol is the understanding that the body has a preference to work on filtering alcohol out of the system before it focuses on burning fat. While he doesn’t suggest one should be a teetotaler to lose weight, he does encourage limiting alcohol on a “reducing diet”.
Somewhat surprisingly, Cooley took one page in the book to comment that even though the reader might think their thyroid is keeping them from losing weight, a visit to the doctor will most likely show that it isn’t so. He then reinforces his belief that a sub-maintenance (low calorie) diet will still do what’s necessary. To be honest, I assumed that just because people thought that now didn’t mean they had the same feelings in 1940…
More than once, I found myself nodding my head in agreement not just with the recommendations in the book but with how little things have actually changed in the nutrition world over 80 years.
So, what does his diet actually look like?
Well, that’s where it gets a little bit more interesting.
Cooley lays out a blueprint for a 10-Day Miracle Diet in the book. The focus of the diet is primarily lean proteins, vegetables, a “vitamin cocktail”, water, black coffee and clear tea. Total caloric intake on his Miracle Diet would be well south of 1000 calories a day.
After the 10-Day plan is another set of food plans which wisely allows the reader to swap proteins for proteins or vegetables for vegetables in order to allow some flexibility and these meal plans sit at phases of 1000 calories per day, 1250 calories and 1500 calories depending on your respective starting point.
He reminds the reader of the thermogenic effect of protein and is so adamant of the nutrient’s importance that he suggests no fewer than 400 calories of every day coming from protein (100g for those of you counting).
When you look at the breakdowns of his meal plans, what you frequently see if a macronutrient breakdown of approximately 50% protein, 40% fat and approximately 10% carb. For those of you wondering, this is not an early incarnation of the keto diet. However, it is absolutely a low carb diet during the “reducing” phases.
Of the book’s 200+ pages, Cooley spends at least 60 pages discussing the importance of vitamins and minerals in the diet. He talks about not only the ones you should be most aware of, but the foods needed in the diet to help you achieve those levels. While some of the claims may be somewhat far-fetched, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t encourage a varied, whole foods approach to balancing your diet for better health.
So, where does he go wrong?
It’s interesting to note that fat shaming was definitely a thing in the 1940s and not just something that magically appeared with the rise in social media. Cooley makes the claim that a slimmer person is healthier, more envied, has a better libido and is essentially the talk of the town. He uses the words fat, pudgy and portly liberally throughout the book. I’m not entirely sure how Mr. Cooley might have felt about the Health At Every Size movement (despite some inherent issues within the movement itself).
It’s also important to note that due to the timeline of when the book was written, smoking had not yet been proven to be as detrimental to one’s heath as we know it is now. As such, when smoking cigarettes is mentioned, it’s not outright discouraged as a reason to improve one’s health.
In addition, scurvy was still a problem in the 40s and Cooley references it several times when he is speaking on the importance of vitamins and minerals in the diet.
Another thing I found troubling was that despite his mostly correct understanding of “calories in”, Cooley attempted to make a claim in reference to how many calories we actually expend in a day. Granted, this was the 1940s and I don’t know that people were quite as sedentary then as they are now.
If you were going to take his advice to heart, I would suggest not following the guidelines of how many calories you actually burn in a day. They seem to be grossly inaccurate. As with anything in the diet world, take what you read with a grain of salt and don’t accept everything as truth simply because it made the written page.
While he does reference many nutritional studies such as ones that came from Yale and the Mayo Clinic, science does continue to evolve and life in 2020 is not exactly the same as it was in 1941. What does remain the same is that your control over what you put in your mouth is paramount to your weight loss success. We could argue over the right balance of macronutrients but you’d likely not find a person on this planet who wouldn’t lose weight on his 10-Day Miracle Diet or even his comparatively more balanced 1000 calorie or 1250 calorie diet plans (assuming you can follow them).
Simplified further: eat lean proteins, get a variety of vegetables and fruits in your diet, drink water, black coffee and clear tea, reduce processed sugars and extra fats, reduce alcohol and move more. Contrary to the title of the book and the article, there are no new ways to eat and get slim. What might have been considered new back then is certainly not the case any longer. It’s the basics of most sound nutrition plans and if they worked 80 years ago, there’s a damn good chance they still work now.
P.S. You probably don’t need to do the 10-Day Miracle Diet anyway.
Initially, it was my intent to get as many of my clients on the show who had the desire to do so before I had a repeat performance back on. However, Erin’s story I knew would resonate with so many of my listeners that I had to bring her back to talk about it. You can hear her first episode with me back at #179. This episode does have some explicit language, so listener advised depending on how you like to enjoy tuning in each week. Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.
Today would be my father’s 69th birthday. Each year since he passed, I normally write something inspired by him around the anniversary of his passing, Father’s Day and/or his birthday.
This year, I decided to revisit a post I wrote a year ago. For one, I didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to write something new about him. I know there’s more to say and more stories to tell.
However, since last year, a lot has happened for me, my family and the rest of the world. I thought that many of my sentiments shared last year would still be applicable (and maybe more so) now.
I’m leaving the original post up on the website and have changed some minor details to the article below.
A strange thing happened when my Dad passed away.
For the first time in my life, I looked at the age he was when we lost him (59) and the age I was at the time (35) and started to count down the years.
It was unfair and probably unreasonable for me to do so.
The likelihood that I will pass from the same cancer that took my Dad from us is not likely.
I started to look at my life from the viewpoint of: What if my days are numbered more so than I realize? What if I only make it to 59? What am I going to do with my life for the next 24 years?
And now, the gap has closed and I still think about it. I’ll be 45 this year, Dad would be 69 today.
What am I going to do with my life for the next 14 years?
Some people take the viewpoint that they are going to experience all of the joys, the thrills, the excitement that life can offer.
I feel like I got enough of those thrills in my 20’s (otherwise known as my ‘lost decade’.)
And, for me, it’s how I am going to inspire enough people to change their lives with the time I have left? Whether it’s 5 years, 15 years or 42.5 years…
I watch people spin their wheels, agonizingly accomplishing nothing with their health, their lives, and their ambitions. It’s like they’re tied ball-and-chain to a past they can’t let go of and they keep forgetting that the key to unchain themselves is within arm’s reach.
Literally within sight.
Literally within grasp.
But, they don’t take it. They just stay with the familiar.
No matter how painful or depressing it is.
I have struggled for nearly ten years since my father passed to write this.
Every time I feel like I’m ready, I tell myself “No, not yet. It’s not time. You’re not ready.”
But then come back to that same series of questions ultimately ending with “If not now, when?”
And it’s the question I pose to you.
To me, I don’t care what you need to change. I care THAT you change. You don’t have to be a client of mine. You just have to make that decision.
I think if you have been fortunate enough to have lived longer on this earth than my father did, you were given a gift. A gift that every day you get another breath. Are you wasting it?
I think that if you are nowhere near the age he was when he passed, you have the same gift. Every day, you get another breath. Are you wasting it?
I have struggled to write this because I didn’t know how it all would be interpreted. I have struggled with a lot of other things too: self doubt, moral failings, poor decisions, the seemingly endless cycle of not knowing how to fill the shoes he left behind.
After my father was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, we were given nine months left with him. Nine months where I saw some of the most beautiful and poignant sides of him and nine months where I saw a man who was the pinnacle of strength and poise in my life be reduced to a shell of himself by a miserable disease. And if you haven’t heard the sentiment…fuck cancer.
I don’t take a lot of moments to stand on a soapbox and beg more from you.
I’m doing it now.
Because if you won’t ask better of yourself, who will?
And if you’re waiting for the perfect time to do better, stop waiting.
Do…something.
The picture you see below is among my most treasured. If you are reading this and you recognize this picture, it’s because it was at my father’s calling hours.
Dad was admitted into the hospital shortly after Valentine’s Day 2011. He would remain in the hospital for almost one month to the day. My mother and I would go to see him every day. Every chance we got, we would bring Jackson with us. Jackson had just turned three and it was around this time that he received his official diagnosis of being on the autism spectrum.
Jackson didn’t mind being in the hospital room with my Dad. But he didn’t want to be near the hospital bed. It broke my heart because I knew how much it would mean to my Dad to be close to his grandson. My father loved being an Opa. Seeing him fulfill that role were some of the best times of my life. Not surprisingly, he was as great of a grandfather as he was a father.
The doctors released my father to come home and have his remaining days with us. On Sunday, March 20 Jackson was at the house with us. Dad was resting in the bed. Jackson went into the bedroom and climbed into the bed next to my father. That’s when I took this picture. It’s one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking things I own.
Dad passed away on Wednesday, March 23.
When I ask you what you will do with the time you have left, I don’t mean to browbeat.
I just want you to look at the gift you’re given, the life you’re given, and I want you do better.
I’m joined this week by the owner of Rackhouse Whiskey Club, Dannie Strable. We veer slightly out of the norm with this episode but we cover a lot: a fondness for bourbon and whiskey, the story behind Rackhouse Whiskey Club, an appreciation for exercise and, of course, how the pandemic has affected his industry and how they’ve used their resources to help the distilleries they partner with. Stay tuned at the outro for a special coupon code for listeners to get $25 off your first box with Rackhouse Whiskey Club. Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.
To learn more about Dannie’s work with Rackhouse Whiskey Club:
If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you’ve been seeing a lot of Don M. His wife, Amy, started coming to me a little over a year ago for weight loss and while she got off to a good start, she began to plateau and held steady there prior to the pandemic.
All along the way, she kept telling me how much she wanted to get her husband, Don, in to see me.
When I met Don, I liked him instantly. We share more than a few common bonds: we’re relatively close in age, we each have two sons (one on the autism spectrum and one who is neuro-typical) and we’re both musicians (he, an active musician and I loving say, am a recovering musician).
Don’s immediate problem was pain. We both agreed that, even with our lack of medical degrees, much of that pain could be alleviated if he lost weight. In his words: “Jason, I could lose 100 pounds and I’d still be fat.”
I’ll come back to that…
Don was plagued with so much pain in so many different areas of his body that I wasn’t sure just how few things I could comfortably get him to do in the gym.
When he decided to start, I told him this would be a long, painful journey. I wasn’t trying to be snarky. Long, because he has a lot of weight to lose and painful because of how much pain his body was in day-in and day-out.
As I do with all of my incoming weight loss clients, it’s a lot of conversation about food. If you don’t know much about the work we do, when it comes to weight loss, the major mover is food intake NOT how hard we can crush you with a workout.
Don gave me a tour through his diet. On paper, it didn’t look terribly off path. However, that’s one of the interesting things about nutrition coaching. Some people will give you every gory detail of their diet and some are a bit more reserved. That’s not a good or bad. It just sometimes requires more digging.
So, I asked Don: Where do you think your diet goes sideways the most?
His response: Definitely dinner.
Now, I have something to work with.
Without discussing in great detail how many calories, or how much protein, or any of those things, I asked Don to do something “simpler”: Eat the same size dinner as your wife is supposed to eat.
Allow me to caveat this. I knew what Don was eating throughout the day. I knew what the scope of his day looked like. This tactic was aggressive and, killed two birds with one stone, if you will. It got Don into a deficit and it got his wife, Amy, back on the plan.
This next part can’t be understated. Don is extremely motivated. That’s not a slight on anyone else. When someone comes through my doors, motivation is at least somewhat in place. The problem is that dieting is harder than people give it credit for. It takes focus, it takes patience, it takes consistency and it requires a fair amount of change to make it work and make it stick.
Don is motivated by pain: to be in less of it. He is motivated by his sons: he wants to be alive and healthy to enjoy a lifetime of raising them. He has his own stories about his relationship with his father that motivates him to provide something different for his own children.
This motivation is what is giving him something of a dietary compass.
As for his exercise, we saw some interesting things early on. I knew I would be limited with the training I could do for him because standing too long would give him pain and sitting too long would do the same.
We experimented with a handful of exercises on his first couple of sessions and while some of them were relatively pain-free movements, others would fire his system up (notably his midsection) where he would sometimes be paralyzed in pain, sweating profusely and unable to continue.
So, I pulled together a small list of exercises he could perform on the two days he’s here each week. We focused on those and on progressing them in weight or reps each time he came in.
He is currently doing no cardio.
I mention that because, it never fails that someone who is unable to lose weight immediately jumps to the conclusion that they need to do more cardio to succeed. Cardio can help, don’t get me wrong. However, it is nowhere near as efficient as calorie/food management.
In Don’s case, it’s barely even an option for him until we get more weight off his frame and have fewer and fewer bouts of pain holding him back.
To date, Don is down 37 pounds in 9 weeks. Results are not typical. If I could get 37 pounds off every weight loss client who walks through this door that quickly, I could likely retire on a remote island.
What you’re seeing (or in this case, reading about) is a man who is driven to succeed. His diet isn’t perfect and it doesn’t have to be. It has to be more “in line” than “outside the lines”. It is more about caloric content than food quality (although better food quality certainly makes the process easier).
It’s about a father who wants better for his sons and a husband committed to a plan with his wife.
I chuckle with him because every time I post about his weight loss success, those posts do extremely well on social media. I lovingly call it The Don M— Fan Club. People love him. And, it stands to reason, that his friends, his family, and extended RevFit family very much want to see him succeed.
To the man who said: “I could lose 100 pounds and still be fat”, that may very well be the case. The journey will be to see him get beyond 100 pounds lost, to a weight he feels he can maintain, be happy with and fulfill all that his motivation is driving him to be.
What Don is doing is tremendously inspiring. It is for anyone who solves their weight loss riddle and makes the plan work. We have no fads and no gimmicks here. Just a path.
He sent me a text over the weekend and the last part of it read: “Brother, you will just never know what this means to me and what YOU mean to me. Thank you for your wisdom, your superior leadership, but most of all, thank you for believing in me when most wrote me off. You are my friend more than anything else and you gave me my life back. I don’t even know how to begin to say thank you. I love you, brother!”
On that note, I’m going to grab a tissue. I wouldn’t give myself near as much credit as Don does. The hero here is him.
I’m honored to share time this week with Parmjit Kaur. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008 and has spent her time since then undergoing a successful experimental procedure for MS, advocating for MS and learning how to rebuild her body through strength training. Special thanks goes to Jim W. for making the recommendation to connect with Parmjit to make this episode happen. Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.
It’s been an interesting last year, to say the least, with our (now) three year old.
To look back on a year that includes the experience of the pandemic with a toddler who appreciates quarantine about as much as he appreciates time outs has been eye opening for the entire family.
In many ways, Sebastian is almost exactly the same at three as he was at two. He still has an obsession with home appliances: vacuum cleaners, blenders, washing machines, toilet bowls, food processors and the coffee grinder.
He oscillates between wanting to be fiercely self-sufficient: “I want to do it by myself!!” (also, stated as “I want to do it on myself!”) and the team player “I want to do that with you!” Of course, if for some reason his mother and I don’t give him precisely what he wants, a colossal meltdown is not far behind.
However, as with age comes a more animated personality, fewer naps, a greater vocabulary and (dare I say) more drama. It’s not uncommon for him to say “I want something to drink.” To which we’ll ask:
“Do you want milk? “
No.
“Do you want water?”
No.
“Do you want juice?”
Yes.
“OK, here you go.”
NO! I don’t want it in that container, I want it in that one!!
*cue meltdown in 3, 2, 1, go*
It’s not all meltdowns though, I promise. As Marissa has been working to keep her own workouts consistent, she and Sebastian have been at the Rev at least 3 days a week. Sebastian is getting more and more comfortable around the gym. He grabs kettlebells, dumbbells, battle ropes, gym rings, you name it. He wants to get his hands on the same toys all the rest of the clients do.
Sebastian still adores his big brother, Jackson. While it’s always been the case that Jackson appreciates having his own space when he’s here, he does a pretty good job interacting with his little brother (assuming that Sebastian isn’t touching Jackson’s toys!)
He is absolutely his mother’s child, though. Sebastian has been involved in musical theatre through all of his mere three years. Prior to the pandemic, when Marissa would be directing or choreographing a show, Sebastian would frequently be at the theatre learning the big numbers of each show and promptly coming home to cue Alexa to play those numbers again and again and again and again. I’m not sure Marissa or I can handle the numbers from Mamma Mia or School of Rock in this household ever again.
Of course, as a result of the pandemic, the silver lining for those who enjoy theatre was the inclusion of Hamilton with Disney Plus. Sebastian loves it. In fact, as much as Marissa enjoys it, it’s debatable over whether Sebastian likes it even more.
I got to recently relish in the fact that I’ve had my little guy turned on to 70’s era punk music and while I might be able to boast that Sebastian loves “Blitzkrieg Bop” by Ramones, Marissa can just as easily say: Yes, but he also has the entire first half of Hamilton memorized! You win, Mama. I’ll keep working on the rock and roll though.
I’d say that, by and large, Sebastian survived quarantine okay. Certainly, there were aspects of missing out on his “Buddy and Me” 2-year old class and the interaction with other kids his age was obviously impacted. We’ve even had to pare down the size of his birthday party so that the few attendees we invited will be able to socially distance while they celebrate with Sebastian.
And then, there’s the aspect of his life that I likely contributed to the most (for better or worse). Over the last several months, Sebastian has seen my bourbon collection grow in our dining room. While neither his mother nor I are heavy drinkers, we’ve both been favoring bourbon over things like wine and beer in the house.
As a result, Sebastian frequently follows me into the dining room when I go to pour a shot for us. That interaction usually goes something like this:
“What’s that bourbon?” Sebastian asks.
It’s (insert type here).
“I want to smell that bourbon.” He says.
Ok, buddy. You can smell it but you can’t drink it.
“Mm, it’s strong!”
Yes baby boy, it is strong. They’re all strong. Too strong for a little boy. What’s it smell like?
“Bananas.”
No, Sebastian. It does not smell like bananas!
Such is the conversation each night we do this. I have yet to smell bananas in the bourbon bottle. I think my child is hallucinating.
I heard the term “threenager” for the first time a year or so ago. I’d say it’s appropriate for our guy. He’s three going on 13. He’s laughter, smiles, meltdowns and attitude. Sounds about right. I know who his parents are.
To our (mostly) sweet little boy: Happy 3rd Sebastian. We love you.
I kick myself for not getting legendary coach, Lee Boyce, on the show sooner. That problem is solved with this week’s episode. We cover a lot of ground in this episode: his evolution as a writer, learning how to recover and train around injuries, how he and his clients have been reacting to the pandemic and why the path to fitness success shouldn’t necessarily be the easy one to take. Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.
You’d think that after all these years of coaching clients to weight loss success, that there would be some new pitfalls under the sun.
There really aren’t.
In fact, I find myself, more often than not, trying to tease out the little details from someone’s diet to get down to the bottom of why the scale isn’t going the right direction.
I do have to add that often the biggest hurdle is our own mentality and mindset around how we diet. I spoke at great lengths about that in this article awhile back.
However, once we’ve wrapped our minds around what has to be done, it’s about finding those sneaky little places that slip us up along the way.
For instance, let’s start with condiments. If you’re making a sandwich/sub, what do you dress it up with?
Mustard (10 calories per TBSP)
Ketchup (20 calories per TBSP)
Mayonnaise (95 calories per TBSP)
Dressing (60-100 calories per TBSP)
Olive Oil (120 calories per TBSP) and Vinegar (3 calories per TBSP)
Just to keep things on the up-and-up, try using a TBSP to measure your condiments before putting them on a sandwich. Then determine if that’s all you need (or if you’ve been using more than that in the past).
While I’m thinking about olive oil, what about the other oils you use to cook your food with like coconut oil, vegetable oil, sunflower oil, etc?
Then I think about the snacks that many of my clients resort to when they’re in between meals:
Trail Mix (350 calories per 1/2 cup)
Almonds (150 calories per 20 almonds)
Peanuts (200 calories per 1/4 cup)
String Cheese (160 calories per two sticks)
Pretzels (200 calories per 60g)
Tortilla Chips (300 calories per 1 cup)
And what about the things we use to dip chips or even veggies?
Hummus (200 calories per 1/2 cup)
Guacamole (200 calories per 1/2 cup)
French Onion Dip (320 calories per 1/4 cup)
Ranch Dressing (350 calories per 1/4 cup)
And yes, I’ve been just as guilty as you have of piling that dip on whatever piece of food is in my hand.
Then, I have to think about all of my fellow parents who nibble and bite at food that their children didn’t finish: a chicken nugget, some dry cereal, popcorn, goldfish crackers, or a couple of spoonfuls of mac-and-cheese…
I certainly can’t forget all of my fellow coffee drinkers who think that their low-fat (or high fat) creamer doesn’t need to be measured (It does. Seriously).
When was the last time you measured out the appropriate 2 TBSP of peanut butter for that sandwich? That’s 200 calories. Have you seen what 2 TBSP actually looks like? It’s damn depressing, that’s what it looks like. It looks like 2 TBSP of sadness.
Sometimes, the problem is actually bigger. Maybe you’re the person who needs to put the brakes on after the first serving of a meal (No seconds, thanks). Or, you just need to cool it on dessert for a little while.
Or maybe you’re the cook who starts with one (unmeasured) glass of wine while you’re cooking and another glass with dinner (at the minimum). That’s between 200-300 calories right there…
If none of these ring a bell, maybe you’re the person who eats really well Monday through Friday afternoon and then has a back-to-back set of “oops” on Friday night and Saturday night. What did that “cost” you? You very well may have lost the progress you made throughout the week.
I say all of this without trying to come across cynically. The thing is, this is a lot of what I see each day with my clients. If it’s happening to them, it’s probably happening to you.
Are you aware of it?
Are you wiling to change it?
Let’s shift slightly from food intake too.
Maybe the “small stuff” that you need to be aware of is the fact that you’re not sleeping well and, as a result, you can’t reign in your cravings the next day.
Or, maybe you think that you burned a lot of calories in that workout earlier so you can “reward yourself” with more food at your next meal (please try not to do this).
The important thing to remember is that the answer to your fat loss problems is probably not the new diet book/trend you’ve been hearing about. It’s the “small stuff”.
-It’s the details you think that don’t add up when they actually do.
-It’s the little nibbles and bites that you forget to log into your tracker that make the difference between eating in a deficit and eating at maintenance.
-It’s the complete inaccuracy of your fitness tracker telling you that you burned more calories in your workout than you actually burned.
-It could be the fact that you’re a lot more sedentary than you give yourself credit for and by raising your steps per day from 3000 to 6000(for instance), you’re spending time doing something that not only burns a few extra calories but is less time you might be spending eating food.
If you think the small stuff doesn’t matter and you’re not succeeding at weight loss right now, I would argue the small stuff absolutely matters. It’s about finding what small stuff is derailing you right now.
Left to right: one measured tablespoon of peanut butter (100 calories), one container of half and half (10 calories), 21 almonds (approx 170 calories) and 9 pretzels (110 calories).
Jason Leenaarts 