I’ll preface this article by stating I am NOT a nutritionist or a dietitian. I have no formal
education about food or nutrition in general. But what I do have is 10+ years of coaching
thousands of people and teaching them how to build a healthier relationship with food. I
can also say that I’ve maintained a sub 10% body fat level at a bodyweight of 205lb for
the last 13 years without fail. I don’t go through peaks or valleys with my
body…regardless of the day/month/year I’m shredded. Personally, I don’t know any
doctors or nutritionists that can also make this claim and back it up. Additionally, the
information I’m presenting in this article is certainly not new, and has all been well
documented by numerous scientific studies.
In my mind, nutrition is SO SIMPLE it blows my mind how over complicated we’ve made
it for ourselves. This is especially true in today’s day and age of social media where the
fitness industry is so diluted with misinformation you actually never know who or what
to believe.
With that said, it’s important to know that ANYONE at ANYTIME can change their body
at will if they consistently do the right things. My goal with this article is to simplify
nutrition once and for all and explain nutrition in layman’s terms easy for anyone to
understand. S if you’re serious about getting leaner, building muscle, or simply
maintaining while improving your body composition, avoid these 3 rookie nutrition
mistakes:
 

1. NOT KNOWING YOUR NUMBERS-

The first and only place to start when trying
to lean out/build muscle is to calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Your TDEE is basically how many calories your body needs to maintain your current body weight given your current body composition and activity level. Without knowing your
TDEE, you’re basically lost and there’s no way to accurately track whether you’re eating
in a caloric deficit, surplus, or maintenance. Think of it like this…you’ll never know where you’re going if you don’t even know where you are.
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2. NOT EATING ENOUGH PROTEIN-

Protein is by far the most important macronutrient, but oftentimes the most under consumed macronutrient. Adequate protein intake helps build/repair damaged muscles and is also paramount to maintain existing muscle. If you want to get shredded, adequate protein intake is paramount. If the goal is weight loss, aim to eat a minimum of 1 gram of protein/lb of body weight, however you’ll likely get even better results if you can consume 1.1-1.5g of protein/lb of body weight as long as you remain in a caloric deficit. A caveat to that is if you’re overweight (more than 25% body fat) then you do not have to consume 1 gram of protein /lb of bodyweight, instad consume 1 gram of protein/lb of lean body mass
(LBM). So for example if you’re a 300lb male but 40% body fat, you do not need to
consume 300 grams of protein/day. Rather you simply need to consume your body
weight in lbs of LBM of protein (300*0.60 =180lb of LBM). So in this case, the 300lb
male would want to consume a minimum of 180g of protein/day. Another caveat is if
you’re trying to gain weight and build muscle, in this scenario you only need to eat 0.75g
of protein/lb of body weight. Science has shown 0.75g of protein/lb of body weight is
enough protein to build muscle as long as you’re getting in adequate carbohydrates
(carbs should be around 50% of your daily calories) and eating in a caloric surplus. But
for most people who are trying to lose weight, you’ll never go wrong eating 1g of
protein/lb of body weight. So every time you have a meal, ask yourself “where is the
protein?”
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3. NOT UNDERSTANDING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD

Food is very personal to all of us. No one diet works for all people which is why I never
advocate specific diets, but rather I advocate specific principles. We humans are just
like any other animal on this planet and we thrive on a species appropriate diet of real
whole natural foods. A good rule of thumb for food is that if it did not exist 100 years
ago, then don’t eat it. Avoid refined carbs and vegetable/seed oils like the plague. Look
at food like any other animal, eat for nourishment and survival. Eat for more purpose,
and less for pleasure. Rather than eating on impulse, take a moment and THINK about
your food BEFORE you eat it!! Always ask yourself these 3 questions:⁣
1. Why am I eating this?⁣
2. What is this food going to do for my body?⁣
3. Is this meal helping me or hurting me?⁣
When you eat more for purpose and less for pleasure, your entire perspective on food
changes for the better.