Simple Dieting – 5 Rules for Sustainable Fat Loss

I maintain that the enemy to almost anything is Clutter. Excess. Stuff getting in the way. We can apply this idea everywhere, even to dieting. How about I talk you through it?

My Very First Diet

I used to joke that dieting is what my mom did whenever she wanted to gain weight, and I have a feeling many of you have had a similar experience. (Statistically the likelihood of someone sticking to a diet is severely low, somewhere like three or five percent.)

I went on my first diet when I was just fourteen, called the Low-Fat Animal Cracker Diet. It wasn’t bad. I’d carry a tub of Sam’s Club animal crackers up into my bedroom, quietly, so my sister wouldn’t hear, and have at those while playing video games and chatting online with my friends. Because they were low fat I thought I was being good to myself – I was being good to myself. They were tasty little things. Only I gained weight and kept gaining weight and didn’t know what was happening.

Protein, veggies, and water. Scientifically we know these are the staples of a sound diet. We can argue all day and all night and through all of next week whether Paleo or Veganism or This or That is better, but come on. We’re adults. And as adults we know the secret to any good diet is minimalism – leaving things out that shouldn’t be there, and replacing them with things that should be.

I’m going to take the opposite approach, here, and say if you’re diet is lacking, instead of subtracting, add. This may not sound very minimalist to you but I’ll back my way into it by arguing when you focus on bringing the good stuff in, the bad stuff finds its own way out. This isn’t always true. But it is mostly true.

So…

1. Have protein (whey, hemp, or eggs) within 30 minutes of waking up. We can talk about fasting later.
2. Eat a bowl of greens before every meal.
3. Have fruit for dessert. Strawberries are what I like.
4. Follow the rule of 3, 100’s for daily intake: 100 grams of protein (or more), 100 grams of carbs (or less), 100 oz of water (or more).
5. Eat slowly and until you are (about) 80% full.

Yesterday, I had:

1. Eggs – 4, scrambled
2. Salmon over greens with EVOO
3. 2 glasses of Idaho wine
4. Crockpot chicken and greens and wild rice
5. Protein shake + 12 perfectly plump strawberries

As for my workout? I didn’t have a lot of time, since I’m in the middle of promoting Minimalist Workouts (have you had a chance to look at that, yet?). So my workout was a Minimalist Workout. Swings, goblet squats and push ups for time.

The Power of Simplicity

Many may discount the power of simple guidelines because of how easy they look. Don’t. None of this is actually all that easy. But it is doable and something anyone can stick with when you care enough to try. I eat this way 80% of the time. The other 20% I do more of the tough stuff – 14-Day Fat Funeral, Aggressive Cut, HardBody Blueprint, etc.

I’m going to show you my abs now. Don’t take this the wrong way.

…

Strong ON!

– Pat

PS – I have a lot of aggressive programs out there, and that’s fine, but with Minimalist Workouts I’m going to bundle in a map of what Simple Eating should look like. It’ll follow the principles here, add a few in, and expand on others, while giving you a concrete, actionable plan to follow.

I’m calling it the 80% Diet, or how you should eat most of the time so to maintain a steady level of energy and fat loss.

Interested? Come aboard Minimalist Workouts!

It’ll be available to all members Friday.