The Endless Diet Chase (And Some Fundamental Principles)
It all begins with an idea.
From Director of Health Alex Maples
The Endless Diet Chase
Over the last decade I’ve searched high and low for the “perfect” diet. From strict veganism to eating like a carnivore and many things in between. Trying to find something that would finally make keeping the weight off easy. I failed time and time again. Each time I tried one of these diets, with all of their specific rules and their good food/bad food paradigms, I would have success at first. But then, I’d ultimately find a way to regress back to my old ways. So why did this pattern continue even through these different approaches?
All diets work the same way. They restrict your options with the intent of limiting the amount of calories you consume. For some people this can work really well. For others, like myself, it works for a while. Until we figure out how to circumvent the system.
The Vegetarian High
The first diet I identified with was vegetarianism. It spoke to my young, idealistic self. “I can eat in a way that creates less suffering in the world? Plus all these crunchy chicks think it’s cool? I’m in!” This was the diet that helped me drop from 350 pounds down to 185. Pretty incredible results right? Well, yeah, but it’s worth mentioning that during this time I went from being unable to jog for more than 10 seconds at a time to competing in triathlons and spending 20 hours a week either running, swimming, or biking. With that level of activity, I likely would have lost weight with any reasonable dietary approach.
Eventually my body rebelled, I developed severe overuse injuries- tendonitis in both Achilles and elbows. Looking back, it was my body’s way of shutting me down, because I was pushing it too hard and not fueling it appropriately. This is not to say that vegetarian diets are bad, or that you shouldn’t compete in endurance sports. Instead, I was being dumb about how I was choosing to go about it.
The thing is, I was just following the rules of the vegetarian diet: no meat. That left everything else on the table and, seeing as I was burning an absurd amount of calories from all of the activity I was doing (and I spent so much time training I didn’t have time to eat all that often), I lost weight – a lot of it.
The Protein Awakening
Even though I had success, my approach was fundamentally flawed. I would ride my bike 10 miles to a friend’s house for a party, drink a bunch of beer, and then ride back, stopping at a gas station for a couple of Clif bars on the way home. I never even thought about protein. No wonder my joints started to wear out.
I ate eggs and beans for breakfast and dinner so I figured that would cover my bases. If I had to guess, I would bet I was only eating somewhere between 50–70 grams of protein a day as a 185 pound man with a huge training load. If I were coaching someone with that profile today, I would tell them to eat at least 140 grams of protein – preferably more.
When the injuries started piling up, my mileage plummeted. I didn’t have any other dietary tools, so I ballooned back up to 220+. Panicked after watching my hard work unravel, I knew I had to do something. A friend of mine recommended a podcast, The Fat Burning Man, which in turn led me to Mark Sisson and the primal blueprint.
The Paleo Pivot
That’s right folks, I went from being a vegetarian, eating almost nothing but carbs, to a full-on paleo/keto diet. Pretty much a 180. And you know what? It worked. I dropped back down to 200 pounds and started feeling better. I ate pounds of meat and giant salads. I also swapped out some of the mileage for kettlebell training and found that, despite being 15 pounds heavier than when I was full bore into endurance training, I was happier with how I looked and felt better because I had some muscle on my frame.
This approach served me initially, but then I started gaining weight back – again. It happened slowly, but over a couple of years I gained 20 pounds. I was still lifting weights, so some of it was muscle, and I was still a far cry from 350. But it was a slow creep that was worrying me, particularly because I didn’t understand how or why it was happening. I was only eating “clean” food. How could I still be struggling with my weight?
The “Clean Food” Trap
The diet gurus I followed insisted calories were irrelevant. Dave Asprey said things like “Your body is a chemistry set, not a calculator.” Gary Taubes famously promoted “Good Calories, Bad Calories.” Jason Fung said “When you eat and what you eat matters more than how much you eat.”
While food quality matters and building a diet on unprocessed natural foods is wise, the claim that “calories don’t matter” is fundamentally misguided.
Being young and dumb, I fell hook, line, and sinker. Everything I ate was “clean,” but I would gorge myself on these foods and then wonder why I would still not be able to keep off those last 20 pounds. Even when I went full bore on intermittent fasting, priding myself on how small of an eating window I could stick to.
For the record, I eventually compressed my eating to daily 2 hour “feasts” (more accurately, binges), felt like crap everyday, but was propped up by stress hormones that created the promised mental clarity. Meanwhile, I wondered why my physique and my health deteriorated when I was so disciplined about eating clean foods once a day. In reality, I was pounding fatty meats, mixed nuts, kale drenched in bacon fat, and dark chocolate to the point of feeling like I was going to explode every night and then starving myself for most of the next day, every day.
The Social Cost of Diet Extremism
Beyond physical impacts, my dietary zealotry affected relationships. I brought my own food to family gatherings and refused to eat anything they prepared because it wasn't organic, contained preservatives, or (horror of horrors) included seed oils. The result? I alienated my family, making them feel judged and shamed because I, "Mr. High and Mighty," was doing everything "right." My food issues became entangled with a broader pattern of arrogance, one I'm still working to overcome.
The Training Misadventure
My training approach during this period was equally misguided. The same "experts" convinced me to focus exclusively on "functional" training with kettlebells, clubs, and sandbags. I believed bench pressing would destroy my body and that exercises became more effective when performed in unstable positions because they would "recruit maximum muscle fibers." (Spoiler: they don't.)
I honestly believed that any exercise was better if you figured out a way to do it on a bosu ball. That anybody doing curls was a vain idiot that didn’t understand how the body really worked. That every session had to be different because of “muscle confusion.” Meanwhile, I was swinging weights around with no thought as to what muscle I was training or any method to see if I was making progress. All the while pulverizing my joints in the process.
And if HIIT training was supposedly the fat-loss holy grail, wouldn't it work even better after an 18-hour fast? So I'd fast as long as possible, train intensely, then gorge myself on "clean food" once daily—convinced I was optimizing every variable. Yet somehow, I remained overweight.
The Fundamental Principles I Finally Discovered
My approach to nutrition and training has transformed over recent years. By setting aside rigid dogma and focusing on evidence-based principles, I've achieved better results with less restriction. Instead of chasing dietary perfection, I now follow these principles:
1. Calorie Awareness Matters
Looking back, I see that despite all my dietary experiments, I never addressed the fundamental issue: I was consistently overeating. Each new diet worked initially because limited options forced me into a calorie deficit temporarily. Then my adaptable brain would find diet-compliant foods I could overeat, and weight would return. In all of my dietary shenanigans up to this point, I had never once even thought about how many calories I was actually consuming.
Now, I work to keep my calories in check. Sometimes I track calories, sometimes I don’t. Tracking has been a powerful tool for me personally to become aware of how many calories the food I’m eating actually has, and what a portion size really looks like (I’m looking at you, peanut butter).
For anyone pursuing weight loss, I strongly recommend tracking calories and measuring portions for at least a couple of weeks. The awareness this creates is transformative. Countless clients have returned shocked after discovering they were consuming an extra thousand calories in nuts daily or adding 600 calories of creamer to their morning coffee without realizing it. Addressing these behaviors represents low-hanging fruit that can yield significant fat loss with minimal effort.
In addition to finding surprising caloric offenders, tracking helps establish how much food you need to maintain, lose, or gain weight. Understanding these ranges and how different intake levels affect you is crucial for eventually regulating consumption without constant tracking.
2. Prioritize Protein
Most of the meals I eat are built around protein. Protein is a big deal when it comes to both satiety and muscle mass. For me to consider something a protein source it has to have a 2:1 protein-to-fat ratio (in grams). I use boneless skinless chicken thighs, 90 or 93% lean ground beef, 93% ground turkey, shrimp, zero fat greek yogurt, and egg whites and whole eggs mixed as the base for a large portion of my meals.
You could always opt for leaner cuts, like choosing chicken breast over chicken thighs or just using egg whites, but I find having a little more fat makes things more palatable, meaning I’m more likely to actually eat them regularly. I still eat fattier meats like a good ribeye, skin-on chicken, and fattier pork, but when I do I balance out the extra fat in that meal by opting for something leaner in the meals before or after.
At my current weight of 210 pounds, I aim for 210 grams of protein daily. Based on available research, anywhere from 0.6–1 gram of protein per pound of body weight appears optimal for maximizing benefits. I don't stress if I occasionally fall above or below this range—consistency over time matters more than daily perfection.
3. Emphasize Whole Foods Without Absolutism
I make sure to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and other whole foods like potatoes and beans. These foods help me to feel satisfied with fewer calories. They also contain micronutrients and fiber that help support overall health. Nothing is off limits, I just recognize that if I have too many high-calorie, high palatability foods, I have a harder time keeping my calories in check because I don’t feel as full when I eat those foods.
Going out to eat is no longer taboo. If I am actively trying to lose weight, I generally avoid eating out, but during times of maintenance, eating at restaurants can be totally fine and enjoyable. I just work not to go overboard.
I also find things like diet soda can be a great way to have something palatable without wrecking my calories (sorry for shaming you about the Diet Coke, Mom). If you are concerned with aspartame, even though most of the evidence says it’s innocuous, there are stevia-based options like Zevia. It is not necessary to completely deprive yourself of pleasure to be healthy. Just be smart about how you indulge.
4. Rethink Fasting
I stopped making fasting central to my approach. While not inherently harmful, constant fasting creates physiological stress that affects my overall function. Instead of testing my willpower through hunger endurance, I now distribute adequate calories at regular intervals so that, even during caloric restriction, I maintain energy and well-being throughout the day.
Occasional fasting can be helpful to reconnect with genuine hunger signals, but it's not the ultimate weight loss solution. Depending on your goals, extended fasting may actually impede progress. Regular protein consumption helps prevent muscle loss, whereas prolonged fasting creates extended periods without protein, potentially slowing muscle development or even accelerating muscle breakdown.
5. Implement Diet Breaks
I don’t perpetually diet anymore. There are times when I am dialed in and times when I am more relaxed. I find it easier to be adherent when I take time to let myself relax a little bit. There is even evidence suggesting that, the longer you are in a calorie deficit, the more your body will adapt and do things in the background to decrease your expenditure. Taking breaks can actually re-sensitize your body to a calorie deficit, lessen food focus, and improve results.
In recent years, my goal has been to gain muscle, which means I have even started having periods of intentionally gaining weight. Given my history of being obese, this stressed me out at first. Seeing the number on the scale go up was uncomfortable. I had spent so much time trying to lose weight that it felt like going backwards. Now, I don’t panic because I know I have the tools to lose weight when it’s time to do so.
Letting go of that mindset has been enormously beneficial. The number on the scale is just data, not a reflection of whether I have been bad or good. In the appropriate context, gaining weight is actually good, and even when it isn’t my goal, I don’t panic because I know that I have the tools to lose weight when the time comes. As a result, holidays and family gatherings aren’t stressful anymore (at least not because of the food). I don’t ask my family if the food they want to share with me is up to my standards. I say thank you and enjoy it knowing they made it with love. I recognize it’s just one day and there is no reason why I can’t go back to the healthy habits I’ve built right after.
6. Train Smart, And Hard
My exercise approach has similarly evolved. I bench press. I do primarily stable exercises because they actually do recruit more muscle fibers. I even do “vanity” exercises like lateral raises and curls (GASP!). Turns out bigger shoulders are often also healthier, more functional shoulders. I still like to play around with “functional” movements that challenge balance and coordination, I just view them more as a supplement instead of THE way to train.
Rather than maximal exertion every session, I follow a systematic plan prioritizing gradual improvement. I've learned that progress doesn't require destroying myself each workout and that leaving some energy in reserve actually enhances long-term development. This approach has dramatically reduced injuries, allowing more consistent training.
Having a plan is also helpful to make sure you don’t overdo it on one specific muscle or movement. Most muscles, especially big ones like your legs, chest, and back, respond best to twice-a-week training. You don’t have to be super sore after every workout – but odds are if you are never sore you could be working a little harder. Anywhere from 5–30 reps is good for muscle growth. After the havoc I wreaked on my shoulders in my early days of weight training, high rep sets like 12–20 helped me rebuild the ability to lift pain-free over time. Now that my shoulders have less pain, I have been able to work back into lower rep ranges and lift heavier again. I use both low and high reps because they both feel good and are effective for my goals.
7. Rethink Cardio
I don’t spend hours doing cardio anymore. I was using cardio as a means to balance my caloric budget, but it was actually counterproductive to my goals. I wanted to be healthy and fit. Trying to use cardio to accomplish that just made me skinny. Excessive cardio not only consumes time but can actively deplete muscle mass. We often mistakenly assume that if a little bit of something is good a lot will be better.
Running and biking are great ways to build cardiovascular endurance, but if you build your entire movement practice around them you will end up stiff, injured, and under muscled. Playing dynamic sports like tennis, pickleball, soccer, and ultimate frisbee are also great ways to build cardiovascular endurance while also asking your body to move in dynamic ways. They are also done in community and can be a ton of fun. Walking is also an underrated way to move your body and receive the benefits of balancing the caloric budget without accumulating a bunch of fatigue on your joints. I’m not saying don’t run, but rather if running is all you do for fitness, consider expanding your horizons – you might find other things you enjoy.
The Results: Progress Without Perfection
As a result of these changes, my body is in the best shape it’s ever been. I feel great, am happy with my appearance and, while I am not quite satisfied (I’m not sure I ever will be), I am proud of the body that I have built. Better still, I enjoy the process of improving it now that I actually know how to do so and can see measurable progress happening. More than anything, this exploration has helped me to fall in love with the physical practices that I do – so it doesn’t take a ton of discipline to stick to them.
Laying this all out there I feel pretty silly. I now can’t help but laugh when I look back at my younger self, so strong in all these convictions. Kurt Vonnegut said “There are times in life where your only two options are to laugh or cry, and I choose to laugh because there’s less to clean up afterward.” It’s that kind of laughter, because when I think about how hard I was working, in all the wrong ways, I feel sad. I look back and think that, if the younger me just had some of these insights, he would get so much more out of all that work he was putting in.
I hate to see other people doing the same thing. Trying their damnedest to slay a giant that is actually just a windmill when what would really benefit them is right under their nose. I don’t regret my journey. Instead, I’m incredibly grateful. The lessons sting, but not without purpose. I had to go through all this to know what I know now. To give me the experiences that help me help others navigate their own journeys.
Regardless of what diet you choose, make sure it’s built on a foundation of the basics. Focus on managing calories, getting enough protein, and exercising in sustainable ways. Everything else is just preference.
Slow Road to Fit
It all begins with an idea.
From Founder & CEO Brent Beshore’s 2024 Annual Letter
Last year’s letter TLDR: I peaked at 252 lbs and started 2023 at an out-of-shape 235 lbs. I lost 30 lbs last year and put on 10 lbs of muscle. Everything about how I ate and exercised changed. The results were slow, but steady.
I said the following in last year’s letter, which is pertinent to the story: “I wanted to try to get off all substances and see how I felt. I had already been off caffeine. Dropped alcohol beyond celebrations. No allergy meds. Not even an Advil when I was sore.”
This year I just kept at it through the first six months of the year and dropped another 5-7 lbs. Then progress started slowing dramatically. At 41, with a demanding career, some unexpected turbulence at work, and four kids, including a baby, it got hard to stay focused. Exercise was steady thanks to the “sweat every day” lifestyle change I’ll tell you about below. But, I hopped on and off the struggle bus with sustaining a 250-500 calorie per day deficit. Experience has taught me that losing weight is a magnitude order more difficult than maintaining.
I tried to understand what was going on and consulted a number of experts. What I learned was that we have two hunger mechanisms that interact: System 1 and System 2. System 1 sets your appetite based on your recent (2-4 days) caloric load and needs. If you overeat in a given period of time, your body nudges you to eat less temporarily. This is why you tend not to over-eat the days following Thanksgiving. The opposite is also true. If you diet, this system is going to rev up. I knew this, as I had experienced it since about day 3 of my journey. In my experience, it’s hard, but straightforward in muscling through it with enough protein and some distractions.
System 2 is more complicated and interacts with System 1. System 2 is a long-term system that adjusts your hunger based on your energy balance over the previous 6-12 months. System 1 is concerned with making sure you can fuel your lifestyle, while System 2 is concerned with you trending towards literal starvation. The more you lose, the more active System 2 gets. If you lose a meaningful amount of body fat, no matter your recent intake, it will override your System 1. This is why body builders coming out of a hard cut are almost uniquely able to put on body fat quickly after the show.
I experienced this phenomenon in a way that shocked me. No matter what I put in my mouth and no matter what combination of protein, fat, and carbs, I couldn’t get rid of this deep ache. It was a constant distraction. And, I naturally ate more in response, slowing or stopping my weight loss. My temporary solution was to exercise more. I started doing at least 90 minutes/day of cardio, and sometimes far more. My body started to hurt all the time, which became its own distraction. And I learned about this delightful phenomena called Exercise Energy Compensation, which still is not fully understood by scientists, but shows that the body can adjust down your non-exercise caloric needs up to 600 calories per day. Said differently, your body will compensate for exercise beyond a point and it’s a waste calorically speaking.
Then one of the doctors I was consulting recommended I try Tirzepatide, which is a dual GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist and goes by the names Mounjaro or Zepbound. He called it, “a painkiller for hunger.” I laughed and said no. I got on my high horse about not using caffeine, or alcohol, or anything. I had even stopped taking any supplements. This year I’ve had 7 alcoholic drinks, down from approximately 1,000 in 2022. I wasn’t interested in going down that path. Plus I hate – emphasis on hate – needles. He pushed back on me and told me I should start reading the studies on it to make an informed decision. I agreed to start reading up.
As I did, my position softened. It became clear that while there are tradeoffs (side effects) to every decision, the benefit of quieting hunger seemed large and the tradeoffs seemed mild and well-studied at scale. His argument to me was that I had already lost a significant amount of weight by rebuilding my habits, so I was in a far better position to sustain any additional weight loss after going off of it. I was lifting weights consistently and eating high protein, which guards against muscle loss. He said I was an excellent candidate for it to be successful.
I gave it a go, and, well, it worked as advertised. I kept doing what I had been doing, but that deep ache was quieted down. I’m still hungry often, but I’ve stopped thinking about food all the time. In the absence of near-constant pain, my body relaxed. The biggest tradeoff I experienced was in my exercise performance. By keeping your glucose levels within a narrow range, it eliminates your body’s ability to dump glucose into your system during high-intensity exercise. It felt like I lost my 5th gear. Honestly, it sucks, but thankfully I’m not performing for anyone but me.
I broke through 200 lbs, then 190 lbs recently. I’m about 7-9 lbs from my original goal and plan to start coming off tirzepatide soon, which I suspect isn’t easy or straightforward. System 2 will be roaring and I’ll have to readjust to a lower basal metabolic rate. I can’t wait to get my 5th gear back. Although I’m not on social media much these days, I’ll try to share how that’s going.
As an aside, I’m not encouraging anyone to go on Tirzepatide, or any medication. And, I’m certainly not encouraging someone to do so without first renovating their lifestyle, exercise, and eating habits. It’s a powerful tool, but not a magic cure-all. In fact, the body of evidence clearly shows that if you go on these drugs and don’t make lifestyle changes first (lift heavy things, eat plenty of protein), you’ll likely lose a disturbingly large percentage of muscle as your weight loss. This will set you up to be lighter, but far weaker. And, if you regain the weight, you’ll end up at a much higher body fat percentage at the same weight than before you started.
My goal ultimately is both quality and quantity of life, and while this hasn’t always been an enjoyable experience, I believe I am significantly better off where I am than where I started.
What I Learned About Health
I’ve had quite a few people reach out and ask me what I’ve learned along the way. Here’s a short summary in hopes that it helps someone out there who is ready to get started.
Note: I’m a sample size of 1, have no fancy degree in anything including exercise physiology, am not trying to sell you anything, am not sure everything below is completely correct, and didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
It’s Slow — Unless you’re the first human to break the laws of thermodynamics (which I thought I was for a long time), to lose a pound of fat, you have to under-eat by 3500 calories. And, your body has to preferentially burn all of that as fat, as opposed to muscle, which is rare. A 500 calorie per day deficit is a pound per week. Everything else is water-weight. I’ve found that a deficit of 500 calories per day is about the limit of what can feel sustainably normal. More deficit than that is going to feel hard. I can only do a 750-1000 calories per day deficit for 4-6 days. Then I need a break, even on Tirzepatide.
Lift Heavy, Eat Protein — Assuming you’re in a calorie deficit, to get your body to preferentially burn a higher ratio of fat to muscle requires you to lift heavy things (whatever heavy is for you) and eat plenty of protein. It’s a signal to your body that the most metabolically expensive tissue (muscle) is worth keeping. My experience is that 3 days per week of lifting has gotten great results, but 2 days per week keeps me from losing ground. But, it’s personal. Progressive overload with compound movements has the biggest effect. I aimed to average 180 grams/day of protein (1 gram/day x target body weight), but didn’t always hit it.
Count Calories, Until You Know — I’m allergic to structure and systems, so the idea of counting calories for the rest of my life was a non-starter. But, I did count calories 3 separate times, each for about 3 weeks, and it was revelatory. It’s one thing to know in theory that there are 400 calories in 3 ounces of pistachios. It’s another to grab a small handful of pistachios and realize you just ate 400 calories. Within a short period of time I was able to eyeball my calories in a way that made me conscious of what I was eating and made me realize how frequently I overate.
Measure Glucose, Until You Know — A big part of keeping hunger in check is making sure I don’t spike/crash my blood glucose. I used Levels once for two weeks to eat normally and see how different foods/exercise affected me. The biggest takeaway was how food order seemed to matter (protein first helped a ton) and how much standing or walking affected post-food glucose spikes compared with sitting. I started eating protein first, incorporating a standing desk at work with a treadmill underneath it, and walking whenever I can.
Sweat Every Day — My friend Shane Parrish convinced me that it’s easier to do something 100% of the time than 80% of the time. 23 months ago I decided that I was going to do something active every single day, no exceptions. A 20-minute walk counts. Just be active. Prior to that, I worked out at most once a week, and hated every minute of it. Now my body craves movement.
Quit Negative Self-Talk — I used to joke that I was a “fat kid.” I remember where I was as a 9-year-old when someone called me that, and it stuck. Identity drives behavior. That identity made/allowed me to do stupid stuff like binge eat, because that’s what fat kids do. My friend Patrick lovingly told me to knock it off. He said that’s not who I am and asked me why I kept saying it. I didn’t have a good answer. It was a huge wake-up call.
Cardio Matters, With Caveats — I keep hearing that cardio is a poor way to lose fat, but good for longevity. Also, cardio can burn a lot of calories, but it’s hard outside a lab to measure exactly how many – and my anecdotal evidence is that fitness trackers considerably over-count. During bouts of long exercise, there’s a gap in expected calories burned and what is practically observed called Exercise Energy Compensation. Bottom line…it’s confusing. Having done a LOT of cardio, here’s where I have landed — 30-60 minutes of hard cardio is an excellent appetite suppressant and helps my body feel much better. Beyond that, it’s still “healthy” but I’ve noticed a compensatory response with hunger that diminishes the fat-loss benefits. I’d build in intense cardio (running, biking, swimming, etc.) a couple times a week and see what you notice.
Supplements, Toxins, Heat/Cold, Red Light Therapy — Over the last couple years I’ve had well-meaning friends recommend all kinds of supplements and techniques that they say helped them, and I’m sure they did. From what I’ve read and observed myself, heat/cold exposure, supplements, and reducing exposure to toxins can and do matter, but they’re the final 5-10%. If you’re focused on these, make sure you’ve already nailed diet, exercise, and sleep.
Sleep Matters — There’s tons of evidence on this. Seems almost like common knowledge at this point. Anecdotally, everything gets easier with good sleep. It’s worth prioritizing. Go dark, cool, and quiet. I use an Eight Sleep and love it.
Fasting Works, But Not How I Expected — You know the quickest way to drop weight? Stop eating. I did quite a few 36-hour fasts, four 3-day fasts, two 5-day fasts, and one 7-day fast. All of them resulted in me feeling food-focused, depleted, and irritable. I lost a little weight, but not as much as expected. My body would get lethargic and stressed. The more research I’ve done, the less I think fasting is beneficial long-term for fat loss, or more precisely, the less I think that the benefits outweigh the costs because of associated muscle loss. But, what fasting did was adjust how I viewed hunger. I realized that not being full isn’t hunger and normal hunger, like skipping a meal, isn’t a big deal or dangerous, and shouldn’t create anxiety.
Seek Support — 2 years of trying to “get fit” felt like an eternity. My hope is that I sustain this for the rest of my life. There’s no way I could have done it for long without friendships, community, and help. But to get help, you have to be vulnerable and honest. Some days I screwed up and gorged myself. Other days I felt terrible and didn’t want to work out. Feeling discouraged is going to come up often. Alex Maples, who recently joined Permanent Equity as our Director of Health and Fitness, has been there every step of the way and deserves a lot of credit.
Grace Not Shame — It took me a long time to gain weight, and I had 40 years of entrenched habits. When I started trying to get fit, I wanted it quick. That led to frustration when my old habits weren’t gone and I couldn’t tell a difference in the mirror. It took a solid year to completely reset my habits, and it has only been recently that people have even noticed that I’ve lost some weight (look up the paper towel roll effect). My advice is to go slow, set low expectations, and just try to get a little fitter every day.
I’m sure I’m wrong on half of this stuff. But, I’d encourage you to eat the fish and spit out the bones. Cheers and hope it's helpful!
Sleep Hygiene: Levers & Troubleshooting
It all begins with an idea.
From Director of Health Alex Maples
Target for Sleep Duration: 7-9 hours
Individual needs can vary but consistently getting less than 6 or more than 10 is associated with worse outcomes.
Biggest Levers to Ensure Quality Sleep:
Consistent Sleep schedule: Keep a consistent (30 minutes +/-) sleep and wake time
Bedroom Temperature between 60-67 degrees. Avoid heavy bedding like down comforters and duvets. Cotton blankets that breathe are ideal.
Dark and quiet: Cover LEDs Black out curtains No illuminated clocks. White noise is fine and can be beneficial in noisy environments.
Have a quiet wind down routine that begins 1hr before bed.
Dim lights in house
Avoid work or stimulating content like News or intense shows/books
Consider light stretching or mindfulness practice
Cut off food and liquids beyond small sips to wet mouth
Trouble Shooting Common Issues:
Trouble falling asleep
Warm shower or bath 1-2 hours before bed
Meditation, progressive relaxation exercises, journalling, relaxing breathing exercises
If you mind races when you lay down for sleep, it could be a result of unresolved emotions from the day and this is the first opportunity your brain has had to process them
Consider blue light blocking glasses (mixed results some people get massive benefit some get no benefit, worth a shot if you are struggling)
Trouble waking and returning to sleep
Don’t check the time!
If it persists, get out of bed and if possible go to another dimly lit room and do something relaxing, read light fiction, guided mediation, light stretching, calming breathing practices. When sleepy again, return to bed.
Dim lights in bathroom or use cell phone as flashlight.
Naps
Naps should be ending by 3pm. 20-30 minutes is good for alertness or 90 minutes for a full sleep cycle. Avoid the in between as it will likely cause grogginess.
Substances and Sleep
Caffeine: Cut off Caffeine early! 1pm (good) 12pm (better) 11am (best) or maybe no caffeine but who wants to live like that?
Alcohol: Avoid 3-4 hours before bed (Yay Day Drinking!) alcohol might help with falling asleep but it fragments sleep (causes mini wake ups you don’t remember) and wrecks sleep quality
Cannabis:
THC: Low dose 5-10mg THC can help with sleep onset but it impairs REM sleep Best practice ingest 3-4 hours before bed (inhaled) 4-5 hours (edible) this ensures THC is processed when REM sleep starts (Later in the night)
CBD: Low does CBD 10-25mg is actually mildly stimulating so it might be counterproductive, Moderate Dose 40-100mg relaxing and might help with sleep onset (doesn’t impair REM like THC)
Supplements for Sleep:
Magnesium 200-400 mg taken 2 hrs before bed (look for chelated and one that includes magnesium glycinate or Threonate, watch out for oxide as it can have a laxative effect.)
Glycine 2g 3-4 nights per week 1 hr before bed
Gaba 100mg 3-4 nights per week 1hr before bed
L-Theanine 100-400 mg 3-4 nights per week 1hr before bed (May cause vivid dreams)
Melatonin useful for jetlag, not a good idea for regular use .3-1mg look for 3rd party tested because dosages can vary wildly from label.
Outlive to Outperform
It all begins with an idea.
From Founder & CEO Brent Beshore’s 2023 Annual Letter
This year was the first year in my life that I took my health seriously. The hardest part of compounding is to be around for it. And even if you survive, it doesn’t matter much if you can’t enjoy it. The key is both lifespan and healthspan. As I turned 40, contemplated continuing to raise 30-year funds, and figured out the implications of a new baby on the way, it became obvious what I needed to do. Took me long enough!
The stories we tell ourselves shape our lives. I grew up overweight. I remember at ten years old the first time someone called me a “fat kid.” That phrase stuck with me, and is an identity I’ve lived with ever since. That identity shaped my behavior, excused my behavior, and limited my possibilities. I told myself, often subconsciously, that fat kids eat a certain way, look a certain way, and can only do certain things. I vividly remember a few years ago when I joked about being a fat kid to my friend Patrick. With a stern voice he said, “You gotta knock that off. That’s not you. Quit saying it.” Good friends encourage. Great friends tell the truth.
When I started the business I was already overweight and I went through a long season where I was primarily focused on Permanent Equity to the detriment of everything else – my health, my marriage, my friendships. Something I’m working on is being kinder with myself, so I’ll withhold judgment and merely say that there’s a real cost to success in business.
The last five years, and especially the last three years, have been a hard look at who I am, what I prioritize, and why.
I started the year weighing about 235 lbs, which was down from my peak of around 252 lbs. Body fat was around 35%. ApoB and triglycerides were elevated. Blood glucose and A1c was decent, but could use improvement. Thankfully, I wasn’t nearly in as bad of shape as I expected.
Through the years I tried to diet and “get in shape.” It never worked. I’d go hard for between two-to-six weeks, see little progress, get distracted, and go back to my previous weight or even higher. Something deeper was broken and willpower wasn’t going to get me there. If I was going to get a different result this time, I knew I needed to do something different. I prayed for God to show me a better way and about that time, two things unlocked progress. I’ve found that help from God often looks a lot like friendship.
First, on the recommendation of a great friend, I had started working with an incredible counselor, and food was one of the many things that we tackled. I’ve struggled with over-eating my whole life. I want to eat when I’m stressed and when I’m relaxed. I ate to give comfort and to be hospitable. My default state was to eat, and eat a lot. When I explored the why underneath the eating, I started to feel a new freedom with food. I no longer needed to stuff myself, and I started to view food with gratitude and not with danger.
The second unlock happened unexpectedly during a podcast with my friend Shane Parrish. It was early January and I was complaining about trying to work out, but not feeling motivated most days. Shane then made the comment, “Oh, I just work out everyday. It’s part of who I am. If I had to decide if I was going to work out, I wouldn’t most days either.”* I remember thinking to myself, “Huh. That makes complete sense. I should do that.”
And, I did. I don’t know what else to say other than it really was that easy. I went from trying to work out a couple days a week and grinding through it, to just doing something active every single day with no exceptions. The choice now is what to do, not whether to do.
What started small, with a 20-30 minute walk, a short Peloton class, or some bodyweight exercises, evolved into five mile runs, long walks, high-intensity interval training, 50 mile bike rides, and three days a week of strength training. The emphasis here is on the slow evolution.
As I did more exercise, I ate healthier, lost fat, and built muscle. Losing weight, exercising, and eating healthier made me feel better and increased my stamina. I even began to enjoy the workouts and look forward to them. Even saying that now shocks me.
Being that I have a full time job that I love, I started thinking about how I could combine work and working out. Often I’ll talk with someone during low-and-slow rides or walks, or try to be considering something work-related during the more intense workouts. Think of it like a scheduled internal debate, with weight. I’ve found some of my best thinking is done when my body is moving.
After building momentum on the exercise front, I focused on the intake side. I prioritized unprocessed food and protein and tried to pay attention to being properly fueled versus stuffed. At the encouragement of a few friends, experiments in fasting reset what I considered to be satisfied. Turns out I didn’t realize I was stuffing myself nearly every day, as that’s what I considered normal. And when I slipped up, I gave myself grace and got back after it the next day.
I wanted to try to get off all substances and see how I felt. I had already been off caffeine. Dropped alcohol beyond celebrations. No allergy meds. Not even an Advil when I was sore.
The results have been slow, but encouraging.
I’ve lost about 30 lbs of fat, gained muscle, and my bio markers have all moved sharply in the right direction. Body fat percentage is now in the low 20s. A1c dropped to 5.0. Triglycerides dropped from 171 to 70. VO2 max has gone from high-30s to low-50s. Run times and power output on the bike all have consistently improved, and I’m playing the best tennis of my life.
One medical group told me that my biological age was around 32 years old and I was aging slower than most, so as Bill Murray so aptly put it in Caddyshack, “I got that going for me, which is nice.” Best of all, I have far more energy for my family, friends, and colleagues.
If you’re where I was for most of my adult life, I get how hard this all seems. I’ve realized health is like wealth. Proverbs 13:11 says, “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.” Get rich quick and get healthy fast schemes don’t work. They never have and never will. What works is making good choices daily and watching compounding slowly take hold. And if you don’t believe me, that’s ok. It took me 40 years to believe it myself.
*Note: There’s a new book out called Outlive by Peter Attia, which I highly recommend. I first came across Peter about 12 years ago and we became friends. Having followed his work closely for longer than most, I can confidently say that he’s the gold standard for health information, and I’m so glad more of the world is realizing it.
*Note: Shane talks about this concept in his excellent new book called Clear Thinking. You should buy it, read it, and re-read it.