I’ve made a few adjustments to my nutrition & training over the past few months and I thought I’d share whats working for me.
For those of you who don’t know, before I committed to my design career, I was a personal trainer. So my health, nutrition and training have been a big part of my life since I was 18 years old, almost 30 years now. I am constantly evolving my workouts, nutrition and lifestyle habits.
Nutrition
What you eat is obviously hugely important, but so is the order in which you eat it. This is what I have been consuming that has helped me drop my weight by 10kg’s in the past few months.
Eggs: I have started eating atleast 6 eggs as my first meal of the day, usually around mid-day is when I feel like eating. Getting this protein seems to fill me up and I am able to get on with my day feeling pretty good.
Meat: I have not cut out carbs, nor am I on a carnivore diet. But I am a believer in eating high protein meals and reducing my carb intake. I feel better eating this way. I have not lost any energy from reducing carbs.
Coffee: After giving up coffee for over a year and a half, I have started enjoying it as a beverage more times that I should every day. My sugar intake is lower than it used to be, which was my primary reason for giving up tea and coffee, and I’m not seing too many side effects of having coffee in my body despite the sugar increase. I still don’t drink tea and I consume loads of water.
Suppliments: I take a variety of supplements to keep me healthy, fueled with everything I don;t get from food and my horomones more balanced. This probably requires an entire article, but I can say that I do not skip a day and I am feeling the most balanced ever in my life, physcially and emotionally. So it seems to be working.
Training
Pushing weights is my preferred way of exercising. While I’ve hit a bit of a slump in my consistency and frequency training, I am content to allow myself this period and I’m sure I’ll be back to a 6 day a week rotuine in the near future.
Weights: I train at a gym called Muscle Factory which is a rusty, hot warehouse filled with steal and sweat. I love pushing weights here as my preferred method of training. My legs are my primary focus. If I can’t make it to the gym, I train at the smaller gym at my condo, where I mostly focus on my upper half due to the limited equipment available.
Cardio: I have never enjoyed cardio and while I enjoy being active hiking, riding my bike and swimming, I tend to be limited in activity in Bangkok. So I walk. I now know that 30 minutes of walking is better than all the cardio I could do for burning fat. So this suits me just fine.
Lifestyle
I live a fairly modest and simple life in Bangkok, preferring to have less, live within my means and focus on my mental health a lot more without over thinking and pushing myself unnecessarily hard.
Fasting: I have been tracking fasts for years. I completed over 200 16 hour fasts in 2022 and feel real benefits from having a more restrictive eating window. However tracking anything causes me a lot of anxiety and I made a decision to stop tracking my fasts, and to also ease up on myself. The weight is coming off, I look and feel great. So I’m not going to stress myself out with constantly tracking every minute I fast.
Sleep: The thing that is suffering the most is my sleep. I’m not sleeping consistently or nearly long enough. Theres many reasons for this that I am working through. But if theres an area I want to improve in my life and you should too, it’s getting as much sleep as possible.
Light: I’ve discovered that getting sunlight first thing when I wake up is really important. I’m not sure I feel the effects, but I trust the Andrew Huberman and include it in my daily routine as much as possible.
Attitude: I’ve been a lot of relaxed lately, not putting too much pressure on myself and trying to not take myself too seriously. This isn’t a bad attitude or a lazy mindset, but a choice to be gentle with myself.
Outside of my passion for creativity and design, working on myself has become a lifestyle for me as much as a real interest and investment in myself. I’m not as disciplined as I have been, but I look and feel etter than I have in many years.
I love being in the 82kg bodyweight range, I get plenty of sun, I am taking care of myself fairly well and I’m happy. I feel physically and mentally way younger than I look, but I’m looking pretty good.
Theres room for improvement, but I’m pretty proud of myself for where I am at. Like I’m doing regularly now, and you should too, give yourself a good old pat on the back and be your own greatest competition and biggest fan.