I’m getting shredded for South Africa!
It’s week one of implementing my routine to get absolutely lean for my three-month life in Cape Town. So far, so good. I feel energetic, my body is sore from my lifts and playing some hard basketball, and my fasting protocol is on point.
There have been a few modifications however.
- I won’t count calories. Reason being is I want to integrate habits and rituals that can easily work anywhere in the world. Counting calories is definitely NOT something you can do on airplanes or at restaurants — at least not efficiently. This brings me to my next change:
- Eating a SHIT TON of vegetables for my first meal. This serves a couple of purposes: one, I get more potassium in my diet, a crucial electrolyte for insulin resistance; and two, I stay full with less calories. You could also make the case that I’m still fasting after I eat a bunch of veggies!
- Setting a feeding window of 4–5 hours. This enables me to average out a 20-hour fast. Not every day will be 20 hours though — I will break my fast when I feel incredibly hungry or groggy. I think this will be more in-tune with my body and definitely more sustainable when I travel.
Tiny tweaks, but I believe they will make a considerable difference when it comes to habit formation.
Week One
Monday
Broke my fast at 2:30 PM with some Chipotle because my girlfriend Jess wanted me to go with her, and you’re not not going to get Chipotle (duh). I went to LA Fitness at 5:30 for my B-day workout (if you want to know my lifts, check out Week Zero). After that, Jess and I walked to the grocery store, got our weekly food, then made bacon-bleu cheese burgers with potato wedges and a big bad salad.
Tuesday
The 4th of July! I kicked off this day with some basketball, followed by a long walk with Jess to our favorite cafe. We got our drinks — hot chocolate for her, mocha for me — and I got a panini at 2 PM. Afterwards, I got together with family and friends, celebrated America — ironic— and ate a ton of veggies and pulled pork (and a slice of fruit tart plus other sugary things).
Wednesday
I was very lax the day before, but today I cleaned my (eating) act up. I broke my fast at 2:30 PM with a whole cucumber and Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo sauce. (A weird combo, but delicious.) Then I lifted my A-day at 5:30 PM — the next time around I should see some PRs. I rounded off the night with bacon, bleu cheese, sautéed mushrooms, potato wedges, and an entire chocolate bar.
Thursday
Consistency is key. Cucumber+Frank’s at 2:30 PM, along with a delicious mango. Then early dinner at 6:30: Jess’ famous Spitfire Chicken with rice, broccoli, and — surprise, surprise — another chocolate bar. Basketball at 8 ended my day.
Friday
I decided to make this my refeed day, seeing as Friday is my last lift day of the week. I broke my fast at 2:30 PM with some MOD Pizza, lifted hard and fast around 6 PM, and then dined on some leftover Spitfire Chicken, salad, and freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies courtesy of the best gf ever.
Saturday
This day was kind of screwy. I broke my fast at 1 PM because I was “hungry” (though not sure if it was my brain saying that) and had breakfast burritos with a Caesar salad. After that, Jess and I went to my cousin’s graduation party, where I had a burger with bacon (no bun), and some fresh raspberries (and a small cup of pink wine). Then it was Murder Mystery time, where I grazed a little, having chicken, kebabs, Jess’ guava cake, veggies, and some potato chips.
Sunday
Sleeping in helped with the fast, plus the day before I slipped a bit with my nutrition rules. So I didn’t break my fast until after basketball, around 6:30 PM. Half of a chocolate bar, chicken enchiladas, and an entire salad with a guava lemonade was my food for the day.
The First Thing to Getting Lean: Nutrition is Key
Food is the toughest part for me; it’s also the most important. I believe what you put in your body is key, and without deliberate decisions, you’ll end up overweight and unhappy, no matter how much exercise you get.
The issue with American culture is that we don’t treat food like the fuel that it is; we treat it like a reward.
That’s why it will be way easier to have a healthy diet while living abroad; less processed foods, more high-quality protein and vegetables, and a more active lifestyle are all available when you go out and explore the world.
As far as my nutrition protocol goes, I follow an 80/20 split: 80% of my calories come from healthy, nutrition-packed foods, and 20% come from foods I love but aren’t necessarily the best for me.
For example: Thursday I had a cucumber, Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo sauce, Spitfire Chicken, rice, and broccoli. Those were my 80% healthy foods. The chocolate bar, while it was 72% dark and actually has a lot of benefits, was my 20% unhealthy food.
I believe that you shouldn’t deny yourself the foods that make you feel good. They definitely have their spot on your menu. But it can’t be all that you eat. Your body craves nutrition, and you find that in lean proteins, complex carbs, healthy fats, and fresh vegetables. This gets easier when you travel to other places; less processed foods and more natural ingredients make for a healthier body and more energy for exploration!
The script says go out to eat on every other day and go out for drinks on Friday. That’s bullshit.
Sure, you can go out and have a good time with family and friends, but you don’t have to sacrifice your priority of being healthy for a night you might forget. If you love to drink and you want to make it work in your nutrition, then plan accordingly. If you HAVE to have a coffee from Starbucks daily, take into consideration the amount of sugar you’re consuming and make sure the rest of the day is a little bit cleaner.
You can make vices work within your diet, if that’s what will help make it sustainable. But consider this:
We consume to produce — eat food to live day to day. The better you eat, the better you consume, the better you produce.
And in a world where we want to produce quality work, or a life to live to the fullest, doesn’t it make sense to love your body and fuel it with amazing nutrition?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Ditch the script and come along with me!
Every Wednesday I will provide practical, applicable articles for you to develop and structure your international workout regimen and nutrition protocol.
Every Sunday I will post updates regarding my own physique and routine, showing you firsthand that somebody about to leave the country can develop a ripped body and maintain it around the world!
Stay locked in on The Mission and my Vaga-Bod journey!
Next week: Week Two — Will a coffee (or three) a day keep the fat away? Stay tuned!
