The Diet See-Saw
"You never come out
We didn't think you'd want to come.
You leave early, you don't drink, you never let your hair down.
That's why we didn't invite you Ryan"
What's the point?
Hangs up the phone. This blog post will help you to understand why we do what we do, and how we help guys lose weight while still eating their favourite foods.
A few years back I said no to going out A LOT. My friends would ask me most weekends and I'd always think of a reason not to go. They'd roll their eyes, they weren't stupid. We all knew I was making excuses.
But why did I? I was doing so well with my sprint training and I didn't want anything to get in the way of it. Hanging like a cow’s udder and trying to sprint don't go well.
And I felt guilty if I drank, like I'd taken ten steps back. Having had problems with my diet in the past, I knew this could become a very slippery slope.
So I came up with an idea. I'd go out, but I wouldn't drink.
I thought this was the answer to more balance in my life...
Apparently not.
One of my friend’s birthdays was coming up, but no one had spoken about it. It wasn't until his birthday that I realised what had happened. Flicking through Facebook one of my friends stories popped up. They were all out drinking without me. They'd organised a surprise party inviting everyone but me.
I felt left out. These were the friends I'd known for years and grown up with, and they didn't think to invite me? So I said something.
Ringing my friend asking why I wasn't invited he said -
"You never come out
We didn't think you'd want to come.
You leave early, you don't drink, you never let your hair down.
That's why we didn't invite you Ryan"
What's the point?
Newsflash MATE... I don't have much hair to let down…
I thought I was being reasonable coming out and not drinking. But that's not how they saw it. Apparently, me being there killed the atmosphere. I was 'boring'.
It felt like a tug of war. On one side was my sprinting. On the other, was my friends asking me to go out and drink. And I didn't want to lose friends that I'd known for 15+ years.
So I started going out twice a month. Laughing and joking with them all... getting drunk... and socialising… felt great to be honest. My friends were ringing me more too. I was getting asked to do things a lot more. I felt like I belonged.
But every Sunday I woke up with a throbbing headache. So I sacked off sprinting and stayed in bed. As the weekends wore on... £50 a night became £100. And the thrill of going out on the weekend was wearing off too.
Looking around the club seeing people laughing, dancing, smiling, drinking and having a good time, I wasn't. I thought to myself -
“Do people do this every weekend?
What a waste of money.
Surely there's better things to do?”
I started to feel out of place. I'd had enough.
The next day I met up with one of my friends and said -
"I'm not going out anymore. I miss sprinting.
Getting up on Sundays is becoming harder and harder.
I'm barely sleeping
And my training's suffering. It's important to me I don't miss anymore sessions.
"I don't feel healthy either and the scales are going up."
He looked at me confused. He didn't get it.
I didn't want to lose my friends but I needed a break…
So I decided to stop going and stay in. I went from necking pints of beer to water, greasy kebabs to proper food, and 4 hours of sleep to 9. I felt so much better and healthier.
But now I was missing my friends. Whatever I did, I felt like I couldn't win. I started to think about every possible scenario. And I realised there were three -
If go out and drink loads I'll miss sprinting
If I didn't go out, I can sprint but I'd have no social life and I'd probably end up resenting sprinting.
If I go without drinking I'd stay on track with my fitness goals but I'd get a hard time.
This is when I realised I was struggling to find balance and do the things I enjoy…
Which is when I started researching and reading a lot around how to find balance. All the research I did came back to 3 things that I needed to get right.
Accuracy, flexibility and consistency, which we call The Diet Seesaw.
If you focus on being super accurate with your diet, like NEVER drinking alcohol, your diet will be hard to stick to and less enjoyable. Especially if you like to have a drink. This was me.
As much as I loved being so consistent with my fitness goals, I felt like I had no time to see my friends. When I was too flexible, like drinking 8 pints of beers, I lost consistency with my fitness goals.
But if I go out and have a few drinks I can stay on track AND have more of a social life. Bingo.
So I realised I had a balance problem, and discovered 3 factors that would help me balance my fitness, health and social life. Those factors: Accuracy, Flexibility and Consistency.
So I came up with a plan…
If I was going out, I would sprint train the day before and drink low calories drinks when I was out. Examples: vodka lime and soda, gin and tonic. Which meant I would feel less rough the day after.
Side note: don't hold me to this... I can't promise hangover cures.
This is just one example of what I started to do to balance my fitness and social life better. As great as this process was for me. I realised that I was trying to fit in, because I didn't want to lose my friends and I didn't want to feel lonely.
But as we get older we change and so do our paths in life. None of my friends understood - and rightly so - why fitness was so important to me.
They didn't want a career in fitness. Heck, they barely even exercised. But that wasn't me! I had to be true to myself I lost a few of my ‘friends', and it bought those who understood closer.
I know I don't want to drink all of the time, but I also know fitness doesn't - and shouldn't - define my whole life. Didn't want my gravestone to say -
"Here lies a man who always hit his protein target RIP"
Sod that. But this is why we must approach the way we eat and our fitness goals differently.
Far too often people think when they 'diet' they're going to have to stop eating all of their favourite foods.
We've had guys before working with us say -
"Because I'm starting tomorrow I'm eating all the mars bars, crisps and pizza I can today"
As funny as this is to imagine one of our clients preparing for - what sounds like - Lent or Rammadam...
This approach is flawed.
And we soon changed this anyway.
But there's no strict dieting here at Lean6.
We like a beer, pizza and family bag size of Doritos as much as the next guy...
And we manage to stay in shape all year round and so do our clients. :)
This is a huge part of L6 High-Performance Coaching.
We show you how to find balance in YOUR diet.
