175: Setting Up Your Diet To Lean Out & Lose Fat

26:08Nick Bare:And like, what are those sacrifices? If the sacrifices, this is just the way that I see it. If those sacrifices are that I don't get to eat whatever I want, whenever I want, that's probably a pretty good sacrifice. That's going to reinforce discipline and learning how to eat healthier, not just for myself, but potentially for my family and teaching them how to eat healthier, that's sustainable and should be viewed as a good thing, fuel for the body, fuel for the mind. So yeah, you're going to have to make some sort of sacrifice, but sacrifices aren't bad. I think sometimes we think of sacrifices as this negative bad thing.

26:55Nick Bare:The sacrifice doesn't have to be massive unless you make it that. And that's typically the all or nothing approach. The bigger the sacrifice, price, generally, the harder it is to sustain. So take it low, take it slow, make it sustainable, make it enjoyable, but we got to focus on energy balance and there are consequences to getting too lean too fast. So here's some of the things that I do. Again, these are methods that I incorporate that help me make adjustments to my diet to be in a core deficit. I'm going to talk about nutrition timing for starters. Now, when I'm trying to maintain my weight or even put on size and gain weight, it sometimes feels like I'm force feeding food.

27:53Nick Bare:And this is just based off my metabolism. generally a lot of the foods that I consume are cleaner foods. I thoroughly enjoy lean meats and well-cooked vegetables and big salads and lots of fruits and clean carbs. And a lot of the foods that I'm drawn towards and attracted to are lower in calories. I personally don't crave, and we'll get to this point because I know a lot of people do crave highly satisfying, highly processed foods, especially in the evenings, but I don't really have those cravings that I'm fighting. So when I'm trying to maintain or put on size based off the foods that I'm drawn towards in my metabolism and just the amount of training that I'm doing.

28:54Whether I'm trying to get leaner or I'm maintaining or I'm building, I'm always incorporating resistance training and cardiovascular conditioning.

29:08Nick Bare:If I'm in a big marathon or endurance training block, I'm running more. I might be cycling and swimming. I'm in a triathlon. but right now I'm just trying to maintain. I'm actually trying to get a little leaner right now going into the summer and I'm running 20 to 25 miles a week. I'm strength training about five days out of the week. And one of the things that I will do because in order to maintain and gain size, I have to eat a lot of food. It feels like I'm force feeding sometimes. So going into a leaning out phase, I actually enjoy because I feel like it does my digestive system good. But when I'm maintaining or bulking and building, I will consume four big meals a day in one snack.

30:04Nick Bare:And when I'm leaning out or trying to lean out like right now, I'll have three meals per day in one snack. So when I'm eating four meals a day in one snack, I have to make sure that that first meal is consumed pretty early. As soon as I'm done with my morning run, I'm getting a meal in me that is comprised of foods and calories and macronutrients that looks different from what I'm trying to lean out. And the reason I try to consume that first meal as early as possible when I'm maintaining or building is because I know a few hours later, I'm gonna have to have another big meal. A few hours later, I'm gonna have another big meal.

30:49Nick Bare:And a few hours later, we're gonna have dinner, which is another big meal. And then before I go to bed, I'll have my snack. That's when I always have my snack is, you know, about an hour before bed. But four meals and a snack, five meals per day, or five eating times on the day. It's a lot. I personally don't like these big bowls of meals at once. I would prefer smaller meals spread out on the day. It just makes me feel better energy-wise and digestive system-wise. But when I'm leaning out, I will pull one meal away. So three meals per day and one snack, that's what I'm consuming right now. and what I have found helps is time-restricted eating or intermittent fasting.

31:42Nick Bare:Now you can take intermittent fasting to different extremes. You can do the eight-hour feeding window. You can do the four-hour feeding window. And if you do a four-hour feeding window, then you're fasting for 20 hours. If you're doing an eight-hour feeding window, then you're fasting for 16 hours. If you're doing an eight hour feeding window, just to put some context behind it, your first meal might be at 10 a.m. And then your last meal would be at 6 p.m., which isn't actually that crazy, but that is technically considered time-restricted eating and or intermittent fasting. You have these different feeding windows.

32:35You can even do a 12 and 12. First meal at 6 a.m., your last meal is at 6 p.m. That is a form of time-restricted eating. The question is how restricted you want to get

32:48Nick Bare:within that window of feeding. So I share that to say that if you are going into a leaning out phase, a fat loss phase, this is something I'll do. I will incorporate, not every day, but some days, time-restricted feeding or intermittent fasting where I'll push back that first meal as late as possible. I'll wait till I'm really hungry. When I'm maintaining or bulking, I rarely eat when I'm hungry. I eat based off time and when I know I have to get calories in. That's why it feels like I'm force feeding. But when I'm in a dieting phase and I'm leaning out and trying to lose body fat, I will push back that first meal until I am truly hungry and ready for it.

33:42That might be 9 a.m.

33:45Nick Bare:That might be 11 a.m. in some cases. I would rather go the morning without food and feeding as opposed to having to wrap up my diet at 5 or 6 p.m. and go throughout the back half of the evening or the night hungry. And the reason is if I try to fall asleep hungry, I will wake up in the middle of the night. I will have trouble falling asleep. I won't sleep as good. Now, this is definitely a personal decision. Like some people sleep better on an empty stomach, but not me. I know that if I'm laying in bed and I have the slightest ounce of hunger, I will not sleep good that night. I just know that about myself.

34:46I've tried it before. I've tried it many times. I'll wake up at 2 a.m. I'll wake up at 3 a.m. I'll wake up at 4 a.m. There's been times where I've fallen asleep a little hungry. I wake up in the middle of the night and I'm like, I know I'm not gonna be able to fall asleep until I go eat. And I'll go in the kitchen and I'll eat the Go Bar or I'll cut a piece of Steph's freshly baked sourdough and I'll throw some Kerrygold butter and sea salt in there. And I'll sit on the couch in our living room and just eat this snack to go to bed. so I know I can fall back to sleep. So that's just my personal preference.

35:21I would rather go the morning, wait till I'm truly hungry to eat, as opposed to being hungry in the evening and that affecting my sleep. I've also found that, you know, with time-restricted eating or intermittent fasting, it just makes it easier to stay within a caloric deficit when that feeding window is smaller. When that feeding window is very spread out, you have more time in between meals, it's easier to get hungry and you find yourself waiting for the next meal as soon as you finish the previous meal, depending on how big of a caloric deficit you are in. I've also found with time-restricted feeding or intermittent fasting, it just helps with digestion.

36:11You know, when you have a smaller feeding window and you have more time when you're fasting, I have found that my stomach feels better. Digestion is more optimized and better. My bowel movements are even better. My energy in the morning is improved. When I fast in the morning and I push back that first meal, even by a few hours, it doesn't have to be anything crazy, a few hours. I'll still consume my coffee in the morning and my water and my electrolytes. But my mental clarity is very strong. My energy is very strong in the mornings where I do that. And when it comes to nutrition timing, I do think it's important to create predictable and consistent meal timing patterns and behaviors.

37:05If you are someone who just eats based off of feel, hunger, what's convenient, this isn't applicable to everyone, but generally people who follow random eating patterns often have increased cravings and they experience impulsive eating. So whether I'm trying to lose body fat, maintain, or build in bulk, I have predictable and consistent meal timing. And I generally know going into a day what I'm going to consume. Dinner is the one meal where we incorporate a lot of variation. but when you create predictable and consistent meal timing from day to day, it reduces inconsistent food cravings and impulsive eating.

38:02Nick Bare:And it just allows you to like, okay, I'm going to sit down and have this meal. And then the next meal, I'm going to sit down and have this meal. And the next meal, I'm going to sit down and have this meal. As opposed to, I'm going to grab like a protein shake here. And then 10 minutes later, I'm a little bit hungry. I'm going to grab some fruit. And then 10 minutes later after that, I'm going to grab a sandwich and I'm going to put some extra stuff on it and maybe grab a bag of chips. And before you know it, your lunch has turned into 1500 calories. I'm going to grab some trail mix here. That trail mix could have been 500 calories.

38:35So creating predictable and consistent meal timing in options is really important alongside nutrition timing. to maintain appropriate results when you're in a leaning phase. You know, for years I've talked about auto-regulating your training, but you can also auto-regulate your calories. So when I talk about auto-regulation

39:02Nick Bare:when it comes to working out, say for example, I wake up and it's a Tuesday morning and I have a five mile run that I planned on doing in the morning and then training lower body in the afternoon. But if I wake up Tuesday morning and the previous day was a really stressful day, I didn't sleep well, the kids were up, the kids were sick, you wake up Tuesday morning and you just do a quick assessment of your body. Okay, I didn't sleep good. My body feels like trash. I under-consumed food yesterday, but I know I have a five mile run this morning and I'm training lower body legs this afternoon. Yikes.

39:45that's where auto-regulation comes into play. You make a smart decision. Okay, I'm not going to do that run this morning

39:51Nick Bare:and maybe I'll do a 60-minute high rocks circuit in the gym this afternoon just to get the body moving, a little bit of cardiovascular conditioning, a little bit of strength. You make adjustments based off a self-assessment and analysis of how you're feeling to be able to perform at the level that your body is prepared to. You can do the same thing with calories. And I was listening to a podcast. It was a Mind Pump Media podcast. I love those guys over there. And they used a term that I'm going to give them credit for. It's called undulating your calories. And this is essentially being able to adjust your caloric intake based off of your life, your lifestyle, events, anything really.

40:52Nick Bare:So some examples. If you're going to undulate your calories, let's say you're in a caloric deficit and your caloric deficit calorie goal daily is 2 ,000. 2 ,000 calories. Yes, you could consume 2 ,000 calories seven days a week and be very consistent with that. Or if you wanted to, you could undulate your calories. Some methods. If you struggle with the weekends and you know that on weekends, you and your family always go out for dinner, you always overeat a little bit, you want some more freedom on the weekend. Well, what you could do is lower your calories even more during the week to allow for you to eat at maintenance or maybe even a slight surplus on the weekends based off of more flexibility.

41:48So maybe during the week,

41:49Nick Bare:if your maintenance or your goal calories for your deficit are 2000, like I said, maybe during the week, Monday through Friday, you consume 1800 calories a day. so then on the weekends, you have some more flexibility and room to consume more calories. That's one method you could approach. Or we even get more granular with this. If you know like me, you get hunger in the evenings and you're not as hungry in the morning or throughout the day, you can keep your calories intentionally lower, make different food choice options in the morning and the early afternoon and save most of your calories for the evening.

42:37That's one approach. If you know you are someone who is tempted by food late at night, get ready to go to bed, you have a sweet tooth, you have cravings, you just want to munch on something, set yourself up for success.

42:51Nick Bare:Do lower calories throughout the morning and throughout the early afternoon so that the bulk of your calories are at dinner and then after dinner. That way you're still within your caloric goal for the day, but you are not struggling and starving yourself in the evening or afternoon. And then this is something that the guys at Mind Pump brought up that I thought was a really

43:19Nick Bare:valuable drive home reminder. myself included, I find myself eating based off of the clock a lot of the times, as opposed to when I'm hungry. I think it's important to listen to your body. If your body is telling you, I am hungry, eat. But if your body is not telling you you're hungry and you're just eating based off of patterns and routine and structure, feel the openness, the ability to just eat when you are hungry. I know that sounds like common sense, but for me, I know a lot of people in the fitness industry who live this lifestyle, we eat based off of routine. We eat based off structure.

44:17Nick Bare:We eat based off of the clock. I know my first meal I have at 7 a.m. My second meal I have at 11 a.m. And then I have dinner at 5 p.m. And then I have my late night snack at 8.30 p.m. That's how I typically eat. But it can be powerful. Just allow your appetite to regulate when you consume that food. So another way to undulate your calories, if there's a day where you're really hungry, eat more. And the example these guys used in the podcast I was listening to, after a big lower body strength day, typically for a lot of people, the following day, appetite is increased. Your body is trying to recover from the big effort you did.

45:07Nick Bare:You probably broke down some muscle. your appetite is stimulated. It's trying to recover. Well, allow yourself to eat more on those days. But maybe a random Wednesday where you're not running, you have an easy biceps and triceps workout. Just for an example, you're not putting forth massive energy or effort. you're not burning a lot of calories, there might not be a lot of movement that day, your appetite might not be as stimulated, it's okay to eat less on those days and reserve those calories for a day that's much more needed. So we can auto-regulate or in mind pump media's terms, undulate your calories day to day based off your appetite, based off the effort, based off when you know you have cravings or you're hungrier, even within a day, that is a powerful option and method to incorporate to make sure that this journey, these results, this process is sustainable.

46:27Nick Bare:Okay, let's talk about how I like to make changes to my macronutrients. when I'm in a dieting phase? We've already said calories are king. Calories in versus calories out and being in a caloric deficit is what is going to facilitate weight loss, fat loss, getting leaner. But some of the nuances of that, how do we approach those specific macronutrients being proteins, fats, and carbohydrates? This is the way that I approach it. So protein, I always prioritize protein, whether I'm dieting, whether I'm maintaining, whether I'm bulking and building. At a minimum, for me, one gram of protein per pound of body weight.

47:22Right now, I weigh 200 pounds. I'm consuming at least 200 grams of protein per day. protein is four calories per gram of protein fat is the most calorically dense nine calories

47:41Nick Bare:per gram of fat carbohydrates the same as protein four calories per gram of carbohydrate protein is the most satiating macronutrient meaning that it is going to keep you fuller it's going to fill you up the fastest and keep you full for the longest. Here's an example. You give someone a bag of chips, they will eat the entire bag. And then they might go open up a second bag and finish that one off. For me, my like one struggle food, I'd say is purely Elizabeth granola. There aren't many foods that do this to me, but purely Elizabeth granola, especially the cookie granola. Oh my gosh. That stuff is addicting.

48:38There's not many things I can say are addicting for me food-wise. Purely Elizabeth cookie granola is dangerous. And if you ever weighed out a serving of granola, it's pathetic. It's truly depressing. You look at the bag, there's seven servings of, I know all of this, trust me, seven servings of granola in these bags. And I could easily eat two bags in one sitting. That's not an exaggeration. That's the one food where, I don't even keep it in the house anymore because of this, but we used to, Steph and I did. I make a bowl at night. I put some purely Elizabeth granola in a bowl with some milk and I eat it like cereal.

49:22and it was so good. And when it was over, I was so sad. So I'd go back and I'd make a second bowl and sometimes a third bowl. That is the one food that I can't stop with. It is so addicting and so good. For some people, it's chips. It's the combination of savory and sweet and it's processed and it's dangerous. but you give someone a boatload of chicken breasts, they're going to eat until they're full and content and then they're going to be done. Like there are times when someone puts a massive steak in front of me and I'll eat it till I'm full.

50:06Nick Bare:I'm like, I just don't want any more steak. I'm like, I'm stuffed, I'm satiated. You ever go for barbecue? Your barbecue joint down here in Texas, our eyes are always bigger than our stomachs. I'll take half a pound of brisket. I'll take half a pound of pulled pork. I'll take four of those ribs. I'll take a few of the jalapeno cheddar sausages. I'll get a few sides. You sit down, you take a few bites. You don't even put a dent in that barbecue sometimes. That's how it is whenever we go for barbecue. We order way too much. we eat way too little. Protein is satiating. It's the most satiating macronutrient.

50:53Protein is also muscle sparing. So when you're in a dieting phase or a caloric deficit, making sure you consume enough protein is going to help reduce the risk of muscle being catabolic, breaking down and burning up. So we want increased protein or at least prioritize protein more in a leaning out phase.

51:22Nick Bare:And I tend to prefer leaner protein sources when I'm dieting. When I'm not dieting, I might go for the ribeye and the 80-20 ground beef and just fattier options. they taste better. I'm not going to lie than these leaner protein sources. But when we're prioritizing protein, we don't necessarily want all the extra fat that comes along with it. Yes, fat is essential for our body, but there's a point of diminishing return. More fat does not necessarily mean more health or better. It means more calories. So some of my go-to lean protein sources that I'm consuming at this moment and when I'm trying to lean out a little bit, at night before bed, like my go-to snack incorporates Greek yogurt and cottage cheese.

52:21And it's even full fat cottage cheese. But if you like full fat cottage cheese per serving, it's about four grams of fat. It's not significant. And full fat cottage cheese is so much better than reduced fat. cottage cheese. So Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, chicken, chicken breast, but also chicken thighs.

52:42Nick Bare:Instead of like some fattier ground beef, I'll do leaner ground beef, 93.7 as opposed to 80.20. I'll do more bison, elk, turkey. A lot of the ground meat that I'll buy is from Force of Nature and Forest of Nature has a great selection of leaner options, elk, bison. Like I said, they have a ground chicken, which is good. I'll do egg whites, more egg whites and whole eggs. Certain fish, we still incorporate salmon into our diet weekly, which is a fattier fish. I'll do sardines. Sardines are, let's say mildly lean. You can do a can of sardines and it's about 18 grams of protein and maybe eight grams of fat, but you're getting really good omega-3 fatty acids there.

53:35But there's some really lean fish out there. Whiter fish is lean. And protein powder. Protein powder is not the most satiating, but it's a great way to get more protein in your diet. I do two scoops of protein every single day. It's part of my breakfast right now, which I'll share here in a little bit what my diet looks like or at least some of the meals that I'm consuming. But protein powder is lean. You can get 25 grams of protein with a few grams of fat. With our isolate, it's about one gram of fat. So it's a lean option of protein. So I'm always prioritizing protein, whether I'm dieting, maintaining, or building and bulking.

54:19But especially when I'm dieting, prioritizing protein is so important. and I'll opt for leaner options.

54:29Nick Bare:When I'm dieting, I will reduce dietary fat. Like I said, fat is the most calorically dense macronutrient, nine calories per gram of fat.

54:44Nick Bare:I like to pull back on fat just because it saves a lot of calories. Now, like I mentioned, fat is essential for hormone optimization, for brain function, for just a lot of bodily processes. Healthy fat. I get a good mixture of saturated fats and monopolyunsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acids I'm always prioritizing.

55:19When you're bulking or building, during building or even maintaining, having a more fat dense diet helps because you don't have to get a lot of volume in. It's easy to add some oils and butter or peanut butter to your meals when you're maintaining or building and bulking

55:44Nick Bare:to get some more fat in. But I like to reduce my dietary fat pretty significantly when I'm in a dieting phase because it saves a lot of calories. Something else that I've recently learned. So by working with my doctor, we did a GI map test, which is a stool sample test. You essentially put this basket over your toilet and you go to the bathroom in this basket. And then you have these tools and you, you know it's it's you're up close and personal you're kind of taking this tool and putting your stool in this tube and then you shake it up and you put in this bag and you ship it back to this testing facility it's a wild process i've done this multiple times in my life and if you haven't done a gi map or stool test before i recommend it because you get some really good data back from it and recently I did one.

56:50Nick Bare:This was after Ironman prep and got the results back a few weeks later and went over the results to my doctor. And what we found is, you can identify how much of what bacteria, good and bad you have within your gut, your intestines. You want bacteria, you want good bacteria in your gut, you need it. But sometimes you can have an overgrowth of certain bacterias, which can cause constipation or diarrhea or gas and bloating. There's something called SIBO, S-I-B-O, small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. This is when certain bacteria in intestines in the gut grow at a significant rate that produces these unwanted effects and just uncomfortable feelings.

57:48Nick Bare:But with all that being said, one of the things that my doctor and I identified in my most recent GI map test is that my body and my gut doesn't digest high amounts of fat very well, either in one sitting, one bolus, or throughout the day. So something I experimented with, which made it pretty convenient going into this, you know, leaning out phase that I'm in right now, pulled back on dietary fat a lot. I stopped eating eggs in the morning actually, changed my breakfast up, chose leaner protein sources, stopped eating all of the avocados I was eating at night before going to bed. I was eating a bunch of avocados and nuts before going to bed.

58:39Nick Bare:And by reducing my dietary fat intake significantly, after talking to my doctor, my stomach and my digestive system felt so much better. So much better. I didn't have as much gas or bloating or stomach discomfort. So that was a win that also helped with this lean out phase. But that's one change I'll make to my diet is reducing dietary fat significantly. Not too much, but significantly while in a dieting phase. And when it comes to carbohydrates, I like to incorporate my carbohydrates while in a dieting phase, trying to lose body fat around my training when I'm going to need it. So instead of consuming 150 grams of carbs for breakfast, like I was during Ironman prep, I will do a lower carb approach in the morning sometimes.

59:37Nick Bare:And then I will put all my carbs or most of my carbs around my workouts. So if I know I'm training at 2 p.m. and I have my lunch at 11 a.m., I will do a lot of carbs in that pre-workout meal. I might do some carbs with my pre-workout solution that I mix up. I'll do pre-workout, pump enhancer, and maybe a scoop of G1M Sport to get 20 grams of carbs to fuel that training session. And then post-workout, I'll incorporate carbs to replenish what was lost and to promote recovery along with protein. so you know if you're dieting you're in a core deficit you're prioritizing protein you're pulling back fat a little bit you're pulling back carbs a little bit I'd rather pull back fat more and keep carbs higher just for the energy that it provides and the performance outcomes you get from just having carbs around training sessions but I will make sure that those carbohydrates I'm consuming throughout the day are around my training just to have the best workouts possible.

1:00:48Nick Bare:The deeper you get into a cut, the deeper you get into a deficit, you will maybe, depending on the person, experience some fatigue, reduced energy. But if you still want to have solid training sessions, keep those carbohydrates around the training session. Okay, so when I prompted the question on Instagram earlier this week, where people struggle with weight loss, fat loss, dieting, one of the most common questions I saw pop up was around late night snacking. And it seems that a lot of people struggle with binging in the evening, late night snacking, and it goes back to, I think this is one of the reasons that it's important to have structured, consistent, predictable meals and having a plan throughout the day.

1:01:50Nick Bare:If you go into the evening and it's like, I'm just going to eat a little bit here, eat a little bit there, that's where you end up binging or overeating. Or you're passing the pantry, I'm going to grab a handful of trail mix and then you do something, You pass the fridge. I'm going to grab a handful of leftover potatoes from dinner. You go around the house, do some stuff. I'm now going to open this bag of chips. And before you know it, you're 2000 calories in before you go to bed, just within that late night snack. So what I like to do is have a plan, have a structure. All right, I'm hungry. I'm now going to go make what I'm going to eat.

1:02:31Nick Bare:It's all going to go in this one bowl. And this is what I'm eating. and it's going to fill me up, and that's it. As opposed to have a little bit here, have a little bit there. As I kind of prefaced earlier, my go-to late night snack right now is one serving of cottage cheese, one serving of Greek yogurt, some cacao nibs sprinkled over top, and a bunch of berries. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, I get my protein. I get some quality fiber and antioxidants from the berries and some good antioxidants from the cacao nibs. And it's tasty. It's a little sweet and it satisfies me.

1:03:22Nick Bare:I'm full. That is my go-to late night meal and or snack right now. But I'll be honest. Some of you guys who struggle with late night snacking and binging, you might just need a little bit more discipline and willpower and self-accountability. There's some things you can do methods wise, like I just shared, not grabbing snacks here and there throughout the night for the last two hours before you lay down and go to sleep. But making that snack, making that meal, putting it all in one bowl, this is what I get to eat. This is what I'm going to consume within my daily caloric range and I'm good. That's it.

1:04:08But you might just need some discipline, some willpower and accountability. And discipline, willpower and accountability, self-accountability, those are muscles that you have to flex and they become stronger the more that you train them. The truth, the reality. Many people can start off a day strong,

1:04:29Nick Bare:but fewer people can finish the day strong. Why? This is the reality. Willpower and decision-making energy is depleted throughout the day. And I believe this is probably why most people struggle with late night snacking and binging. Think about it. You go the whole day making decisions. Some hard decisions, some easier decisions, but a lot of decisions throughout the day. From the time you wake up, to the time you go to work, to the time you come home, all of your life and family responsibilities. And by the time you might put the kids down and you have an hour to yourself, willpower and decision-making energy is depleted.

1:05:16Nick Bare:That's why a lot of people are tempted by food and falling off the plan. And willpower is gone, discipline's gone, self-accountability is gone. But you got to build in structure and routine consistency and just work really hard to maintain that willpower. Go into that decision of what you're going to eat and consume before bed, very intentional. It's a muscle, like I said, that has to be flexed.

1:05:51Nick Bare:Alongside dieting and training, which we haven't talked much about, but sleep. You know, sleep actually does play a critical role in some of these decisions we make throughout the day and especially at night. Poor sleep increases hunger hormones. So if you aren't sleeping well, you're not sleeping a lot, you're continuously getting poor sleep. What happens is ghrelin, which is the hunger hormone, it rises. and leptin, which is the satiety hormone, telling you you're full, you're satisfied, it drops. So poor sleep leads to disruptions in your hunger and satiety hormones, which leads to bad choices, which leads to binging, which leads to weight gain, which leads to and results in little to no progress of losing weight, losing body fat.

1:06:54so as much as you need willpower, as much as you need discipline, as much as you need self-accountability, it's important to also prioritize sleep so that we're setting ourselves up for success, setting the conditions to be able to succeed.

1:07:17Nick Bare:One of the things that has helped me with late night snacking, like I talked about earlier, the purely Elizabeth granola. That used to be a struggle for me. But it was also when I was in a season of heavy endurance training so I could get away with it. I know that if I have purely Elizabeth granola in the house right now, I have enough willpower to not consume it. Because I know as soon as I pour one bowl, that's probably gonna lead to two bowls, which might lead to three bowls. so I don't even pour a bowl of it anymore because I know how good it is and what that leads to. So have your go-to dieting meals.

1:08:00Some of my go-to dieting meals, like how my breakfast has changed. My breakfast used to be multiple eggs, some egg whites, sourdough, Kerrygold butter, maybe some dried figs and some berries.

1:08:16Nick Bare:it was a calorically dense and higher fat breakfast. Now as I'm in a leaning out phase, my breakfast is a protein shake. I do one and a half frozen bananas. I do 40 grams, which is one serving of oats. And I weigh those oats out on a scale. And I do two scoops of our chocolate whey protein isolate with almond milk. So I'll put it in a blender. I'll blend it up after I get back from my run. And then I put it in the freezer until I'm ready to eat it. So when I take it out of the freezer, it's a little frosted over, it's very cold. It almost tastes like a milkshake. I don't drink my shakes ever. I make them so thick that I can eat it with a spoon.

1:08:55That's the way that I prefer to drink or eat my shakes. Delicious. I look forward to that every day. It's high in protein, it's moderate carb because it's typically after my morning run, but it's low in fat. So it's lower in calories compared to my maintaining or building breakfast. I've already shared how lunch has kind of changed. I lean towards or opt for leaner protein sources, either a 93.7 ground beef, bison, elk, or turkey, or even chicken, as opposed to say an 80.20 ground beef, like I'll normally consume a fattier meat. how dinner has changed in a dieting phase for me. I do less carbohydrates, more veggies, along with a leaner protein.

1:09:49So we do a lot of bowls or just big plates. Like Steph will do a bowl, but I'll do a big plate because I want more surface volume of the food that I can put on that plate. And instead of making the base, say a carb, where it's pasta or rice or quinoa, or potatoes. I will make that base when I'm in a lean out phase, salad or a bunch of veggies, leaner protein,

1:10:19Nick Bare:still a lot of food. I won't add as much additional fat, but when I'm in a dieting phase, I'm definitely adding in more vegetables, more volume. Keeps me full. It's great sources of fiber, which is going to help with digestion. and then fiber is also very satiating. It hits those feelings of keeping you full, not wanting and needing more. And then when we go to dinner, because we still go to dinner often as a family, and when I go into a lean-out phase or a dieting phase, it doesn't take over my life. Now, I'm not dieting to step on stage and for a body. building show, if I'm dieting or leaning out right now at this phase of my life, it's just to be a little less bulky, get a little leaner, feel a little lighter and faster, but it's not to be five or 6 % body fat.

1:11:24Nick Bare:So I'm making these easy changes to my lifestyle without it disrupting my life and my family's lives. So we still go to dinner frequently, out to dinner and I'll make more intentional choices and decisions. Some examples here. We go to Hopdotti, which is a burger spot here in Austin. They have multiple locations and they've expanded outside of Austin now. So you might have a Hopdotti close to you. Really good burgers, really good shakes, really good fries. Their parm truffle fries and their sweet potato fries are so good and you get a massive bowl. If you get a massive bowl of the fries, the fries alone are probably 1200 calories.

1:12:09But what we'll do when we go to Hop Daddy now, Steph and I both do this, is we'll make our burgers into a bowl. So they'll take this massive bowl and they'll put the lettuce and tomato and onion and all the veggies in there. And then I get two bison patties, some bacon and then ketchup, mustard, a little bit of their house mayo, mix it all up. And it's very filling, it's very delicious and it's a healthier, leaner option. So I'll turn my burgers into bowls where we go. Not all the time, but occasionally. If we're going to a restaurant that's not hot dotty, I'll typically just opt for a leaner cut of meat, whether that's a steak or chicken.

1:13:06And then maybe I'll get a side plain baked potato. Like in my opinion, when you go to a steakhouse and you just get a plain baked potato, the way they cook it, I'm sure they roll it in oil and they have that big thick salt crust on the outside, but it's just cooked perfectly, a little crisp. I'll get a plain baked potato and a lean steak. And that's a delicious meal for me. Instead of getting something that's loaded with calories and sauces and just something that's a little bit more out of control at restaurants. You can make modifications and substitutions at almost any restaurant you go to to make any meal healthier.

1:13:56So I would encourage you to. Yes, there's a time and place to have whatever you want. But we go to dinner frequently with the family. And every time we go to dinner, I don't view it as a treat. It is a convenient way for the family to get out of the house and share a meal together.

1:14:17Nick Bare:And it doesn't mean I have to have dessert with every meal. It doesn't mean I have to have a drink with every meal. It doesn't mean I have to have a burger and fries at every meal. Now, every meal we go out for does not have to be viewed as a treat. It is a meal and you can make healthy options, substitutions at any restaurant you go to. And I have found that your server and the cooks really don't mind. It's not a huge burden or it doesn't have to be a big burden. So those are some of the things that I do while in a dieting phase, to lose body fat, to get leaner. I hope that it is applicable to some of the things that you do or are planning to do if you are trying to lose body fat and get leaner.

1:15:09But it's the small things that add up

1:15:12Nick Bare:and make a difference. It doesn't have to be the all or nothing. You don't have to make these massive sacrifices to every aspect of your life. It's the small incremental changes that you incorporate that pay off in big wins in the long term So Thank you guys for tuning in. I appreciate you. I love you and we'll see you in the next episode