October 24, 2025 • 34 mins
Can you really get in elite shape while only eating out? Ben Olliver, Dr. Taylor Waters, and Ryan Stevens talk about why calories, protein, and consistency beat food “purity,” especially for high performers who travel. They map a full day using Starbucks egg whites, Subway high-protein builds, Chipotle bowls, Chick-fil-A grilled options, and explain how chains improve tracking accuracy for real-world fat loss. You’ll learn flexible dieting rules, when food quality starts to matter, behavior design that sticks, and simple swaps that make fast-food fat loss and travel nutrition work, all without living out of Tupperware.
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction
(01:12) Real Travel Life vs Living Out of Tupperware
(05:03) A Full “All-Fast-Food” Day That Works
(08:54) Health-Halo Traps & Why Chains Help Tracking
(16:11) Body-Comp ROI Beats Food “Purity”
(20:33) When Does Food Quality Start to Matter?
(23:39) Minimal Effective Change, Weaning, Route Hacks, Easy Wins
(28:13) Practical Rules, Temptations, and “It Takes What It Takes”
What’s your go-to fast-food order that actually keeps you on plan when you’re slammed or traveling? Let us know in the comments below.
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Results may vary depending on your condition, starting weight, and commitment to the program.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Could you get stage ready on nothing but fast food?
McDonald's, Subway, Starbucks, Chipotle.
I think I could get really shredded no problem.
Are there options that you coulduse to still meet your target
and stay on? Plan.
If you haven't managed body composition and you're looking
at food quality, the return on investment there can be quite
minimal. Like John says, it takes or it
(00:22):
takes, nothing more, nothing less.
You are here, but you're living like a bodybuilder who lives out
of a Tupperware chicken and rice6 times a day.
But you might not even need to live like that to get all you
want. I'm Ryan Stevens.
Doctor Taylor Waters. I'm Ben Oliver.
Welcome to the Superhuman show, Yeah?
Taylor, could you get stage ready on nothing but fast food?
(00:48):
I couldn't get stage ready anymore because I used to, yeah.
This is this is. I really like this one because
we, we have so many clients thattravel and don't want to or have
any desire to live like a bodybuilder out of Tupperware
and you know, travel with a cooler and everything.
(01:12):
And not to say that's, that's bad, but they're a lot of times
they are last minute having to travel needs something,
something to get. And it's, it tends to be fast
food that they'll opt for. Are there, are there options
that you could use to still meetyour targets and, and stay on
(01:33):
plan? Or do you, do you think it's, I,
I guess, like how difficult is it?
Is it healthy and what like what?
What would your go to's be in that situation?
What was the there was someone was it like a muck shredded?
There was a guy who did do a fatloss or got as lean as he could
on on McDonald's only. Was it he was he could only
(01:55):
order off McDonald's? Or was it fast food?
I know there was a, there was a professor that wanted to prove
that it was just calories in, calories out.
And so he ate I think 1600 calories a day.
But it was it was, I think he did processed foods.
So he was eating like Twinkies and he was still eating fast
food, but he didn't eat any fiber vegetables, you know, was
wasn't tracking protein intake was just hitting 1600 calories.
(02:16):
And he lost like, don't quote meon this, but it was around like
30 lbs in like a four to five month period or something.
Yeah, I think it's. Well to be honest, when I was in
prep through the start of it, through a face like 8 weeks, I
would actually I would actually grab stuff from like fast food
places and things just like to get it done.
(02:39):
I think like, that is what that guide is the most extreme end,
isn't it? But like, if you talk about like
all fast food places, like you've got war, Subway,
McDonald's sell egg whites in America.
Yeah, you know that that menu isway better.
Than us and if you think about where most people go, they go to
like Starbucks and stuff. You can get pretty decent
options at Starbucks, it's just most people go for like a
croissant. Yeah, you got the What is it,
(03:00):
the Turkey, Turkey bacon and eggwhite.
Yeah, Muffin, they sell packs offruit there.
Yeah, you know, so you can pick decent options where like in all
these places if you think about.It it's someone, one of my
clients together, you had a double quarter pounder with
cheese meal. And he's like, yeah, but I was
in McDonald's and I was like, but that's not the only thing on
the menu. Like there was other options.
(03:20):
It was like salad box, but. That's the that's a good point,
though, because I think it's if,if you've always got the same
thing when you go to a certain place, it's almost like, yeah,
your old self kicks in and, and it's like really powerful and
overrides any kind of logic or smart choice.
It's like, well, when I go to McDonald's, I have double
(03:44):
Quarter Pounder with cheese and this and that's that's my meal
when I go. And that's why you're 40 lbs up.
It's like you're on autopilot and you don't think about
anything else. That's just what I do.
Exactly. You just see the gold nuts
double cheese. Yes, but I, I think, I mean one,
I think fast food chains in general have got a lot better, I
(04:05):
want to say in like the last five years, like from being like
protein conscious, using better ingredients, having lower
calorie options like Starbucks and the egg whites, McDonald's
and the egg whites, Chick-fil-A with egg grilled Nuggets.
Like there's it, it's a lot easier than it used to be.
You know, it used to just be like, it was just shit and
that's all. That's the only way you could
(04:26):
stay on plan is to like have like 1/4 of the meal just from a
calorie perspective. But it was still, you know, just
real high fat, high carb, low, low quality protein.
Go on, that's it. And is like, it's really, it's
much easier now to make like a great choice, but it's also very
easy to make. Yeah, they're both easy.
Which is easiest? Is like, which one are you going
(04:47):
to take, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, I think if if I was
going to like if I was in a fat loss phase now and they like you
can't buy any normal foods. You've just got to go to fast
food style places. So like, what are we talking
like McDonald's, Subway, KFC, Starbucks you'd put in there
because you can eat there anyway.
Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell I wouldn't spend much time in.
(05:10):
Taco Chipotle. Isn't a bad option.
You could go to like a Chinese take away and get like steamed
chicken and stuff. Yeah, breakfast straight to
Starbucks last black coffee. I'd get 2 Turkey bacon, egg
white muffins and I would Chuck the bread off the 1 and I would
stick the other to I'd stick theTurkey bacon and the egg whites.
(05:32):
Got double Turkey bacon and egg white muffin, black coffee fruit
bag. Boom, done.
What are we talking? 350 cal's?
25 grams of protein. Do you know what we've missed
out our tradition in America? Chipotle.
Yeah. No, we got that.
We got yeah. But the problem is we got to
Chipotle. It's a little bit different.
OK, so 6 lbs up in the morning. That's that's breakfast.
(05:56):
I would like subway. I used consistently in fat loss
phases for lunch one because there's one around the corner
from the gym, but it was just I,I'm lazy when it comes to lunch
prep in general. Like I'll, I'll make breakfast
and make dinner, but lunch like lunch is one of those meals that
I just do not care for. Like it's just like readily
(06:18):
available. It's a sandwich.
Like lunch is a sandwich to me. Like that's, it's like school
lunch kind of thing. Breakfast.
I love a good brunch. Like that's my thing.
Dinner, some kind of meat, whatever.
But lunch I, I don't give a crapwhat it is like like a wrap a
sandwich, whatever. But Subway it would be, I would
do a A6 inch sub and I would basically get quadruple meat and
(06:39):
they would look at you funny. But I would basically just get
Turkey, ham, quadruple meat, loads of the veg.
And then they got the the, you know, some light Mayo if you
wanted a bit of fat and then andthat was it.
And then like a Diet Coke. That's brilliant.
You know, it's about 4-4 hundred450 cows, 7580 grams of protein,
easy. If you go and quit.
(07:00):
Post workout as well. You know you got about 40 grams
of carbs from the from the breadDecent.
The good thing about Subway is that you can control like the
ingredients in it as well. So you like you can have a salad
bowl because obviously I got a massive appetite and play the
volume gear. Like give me as much of that
lettuce as you would give me. Just load it on the volume.
How much do you want? How much we got is the question.
How much am I allowing? Like load, what's the rule?
(07:22):
Load or like the tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, quadruple
meat. Job done.
You basically got a decent and salad.
Yeah, you know. What's that if you go 6 inch
sub, I think like Turkey breast and ham, I think it's like 300.
And was it 2/2/90 for six inch just like plain Turkey breast
and ham? Six, Yeah, I think it's about
290. So obviously if you're going
like quadruple meat with some salad in there as well and a bit
(07:46):
of light meat, you've probably got like 550.
Yeah, at most. At most, Yeah, play, play safe
side. And again, protein's going to be
up. So now between those two meals,
you're looking at what, like 8? Protein for the day yeah,
already, you know, they're they're not bad tasting meals.
No, you know, it's, you know, it's not as fun as a meatball
(08:07):
marinara sub, but it's a little bit on the white top.
But yeah, so that I mean that's that's breakfast and lunch
dinner. I mean, if I was in the States,
it would be Chipotle. Like that's the that's the go to
just. Don't have the burrito?
But again, it's like you've got the the option of the portion
size and the control. Like I think, I think Chipotle
(08:30):
uses chicken thighs, not chickenbreast, because the steak's
leaner than the than the chicken.
But you know, you can do. You could literally just do like
lettuce and steak. If you salad bowls.
If you salad and rice. Bowls, you could add beans if
you didn't want the rice, you could add the rice if you need
more calories. Like there's there's loads of
it's quite versatile. It's it's literally like like
(08:52):
Mexican subway. Yeah, it's it's brilliant.
Those restaurants are great because they're single
ingredient. You can control what you have in
it, you know, So what about moredifficult restaurants?
So imagine you had to go to likean Indian take away.
What do I have like? Chinese and it like, I mean
Chinese like you said, you've got steamed options a lot of
times and you can get steamed rice, steamed veg, steamed
chicken, and that's probably as clean as you can get as this,
(09:15):
yeah. Indian tandoori chicken, They
just use slices. Yeah.
Probably cooked in a little bit of oil, yeah.
Yeah, you could just go some steamed rice and you go.
Yeah, Tandoori. And then the side packet, a
salad, they would give you that bag of.
Salad the onion. The red yeah, I normally I have
with a box and I got that. That's not needed.
Pappadong's a noun. Bread.
(09:35):
Yeah, leave the noun bread. Jesus.
Yeah, I, I, but I, I think like the so, so we've laid out kind
of what we can do and I think most people listening probably
are aware of the, the options that they have there.
I, I honestly think the, what I see the most is if you offer
those suggestions to a client, sometimes you'll get the
(09:58):
response of, Oh, no, I don't, I'm not going to eat fast food.
Like that's not, that's not goodfor you when they're 50 lbs
overweight and they've been snacking on chocolate cakes,
whatever, you know, on the weekends.
But it's the, their perception of a fast food chain is like,
this is bad, even if it's lower calorie, like the, the food
(10:21):
quality is not good. Or it's just like a no, I'm on a
diet, I don't eat fast food. And you have to kind of break
that belief of of it's not good or bad.
It's like it's is it the most perfect food?
No, like, but no one's life is perfect.
And doing that is going to be a million times better than
saying, well, I couldn't, I couldn't find anything.
(10:42):
So either one I didn't eat at all, which sometimes isn't a bad
option. But also they that, you know,
maybe they don't eat, but then they overeat later at night and
say, what if you had just had the, the Turkey ham sub, You
wouldn't, you wouldn't have, youknow, been balls deep in the
chips that night because you were starving because you didn't
eat lunch. And it's like you have to like
(11:03):
zoom out a little bit and look at the day.
And because, because I in the past, I've done that where I've
been so regimented with my meal plan that you go somewhere and
I'm like, no, I'm not in that. I'm not in that because I can't
track it. It's not perfect, but then it
would always end up in me being so rigid with my plan that, you
know, the moment I would have a bite of like a like a doughnut
(11:24):
or a chocolate bar or something,floodgates open.
Yeah. When really it was, if I just
had a little bit of it at lunch or something, I wouldn't need it
in the evening. I wouldn't crave it in the
evening. So I think a lot of fast food
places is funny because we're like a like a fitness podcast
and promoting fast food, but thebest podcast.
But there's like, I don't have aproblem with like those places
(11:47):
like McDonald's, Subway and stuff.
Like, I think people have like areal gripe, gripe against them,
maybe more from like a corporation side.
You know, it's like big pharma, they're trying to keep this fat
kind of thing and it's like it'sfucking egg whites.
Yeah, yeah. People having a people have a
negative association with like fast food, but like if I go to
(12:07):
like McDonald's and they order egg whites, pretty damn awesome.
Yeah. And and and and I.
Had the the Chick-fil-A grill Nuggets.
That's fine. But but, but also you could go
to say protein house, which everyone's like protein house is
great. You know, it's, it's all healthy
ingredients, blah, blah blah. But if you get 3 of the bison
burgers or whatever, you're looking like 1500 cows.
(12:28):
If you're more and say well you'd be better off going next
door to Starbucks and just getting an egg white Mcmuffin.
Yeah, I'll tell you what, those peanut butter balls they do
Inglo, they are. They are.
They are. So they're like Dandy's flip
flop. Like when you put them in your
mouth and you're just like. They're weird, those things,
because they're not like they'renot great, but there's something
(12:49):
about them that I quite like as well, and I don't know what it
is, yeah. It's a.
It's a weird text. But it's like, because of the
name protein house, you go, oh, proteins go.
Then you go in. It's like 100 grams of peanut
butter squished into a bowl. Yeah, there's no protein in it.
It's like it's literally from peanuts.
Branding is huge, like you'll get a, a fitness meal that is
literally like it's low, low quality meat.
(13:11):
You know, it's they've, they've,they've added some fats to it.
Whatever it's, it's an 800 calorie meal because it's
branded the way it is, it's perceived to be extra or you
see, like cereal is really common.
Like they'll, they'll brand the cereal very healthy and it's
like, mate, you have a bowl of that and it's like 900 calves.
Like like, like it was it like 75 grams of fat in the one
(13:32):
serving or whatever? Like it's just huge.
And then you'll have something which is like not, you know, a
real common one here is like pork.
It's like it's not a pork scratching, but they sell it.
But it's like a pork rind. Yeah.
And you look at that and it's like, it's a pub snack.
They said behind the bar, which you have with your lager and
it's like 120 cows, 20 grams of protein.
(13:53):
And it's like, hey, that's but someone would look at the pork
rind. They'd be like, no, that's a pub
snack. I'm not having that as someone
would look at like the the fit, the fit blast of 500 and be
like, oh, that's the one that I'm going for because it's
branded in that way. But it's like, but it's not that
one is actually more more supportive of your goals than
the one that you think is sort of is.
Yeah. So it's where people would like,
(14:14):
you know, they'd have like, a granola bar or, you know, nut,
nuts and seeds and dried fruit being like, oh, it's a healthy
snack. What's that like?
A trail mix, trail mix trail. Mix you've had 600 cows of trail
mix when you you could have had a fat subway for less calories
and and more protein yeah. And so it's, I, I, I think it's
(14:36):
one people understanding the, the concept of, of total
calories. And I, I think as well, like
some people just need to get offtheir high horse when it comes
to like food quality. Now I think food quality in the
UK is is probably a little bit better than in the US.
Well this is where subway in theUK is it.
I generally found quality in subway is half decent like it's
(14:59):
always been fine. So I've I've heard in the US
it's there is a drop off. That we haven't mentioned is the
I think normally, like in the UKanyway, the consistency of fast
food places is you're pretty certain what you're getting from
a calorie standpoint because theburgers are coming pre pre made,
pre cut by a machine. Like they're not someone's not
(15:21):
making them. Whereas you go to like a stand
alone restaurant or something and you order a burger, it's
like it's going to be made slightly different every time
depending on which chef is working.
Maybe they like cheese a bit more and they throw a bit more
in, but they use a bit more oil when they cook.
Whereas you when, when you go toplaces like Subway, Chipotle
stuff, it's like a, it's like a machine chain.
(15:41):
Even sauces, it'll be like a pump.
It's not like I've just dumped it.
It's like it's. The the portions are very very
consistent which. They need to control because
their margins are quite small. They need to control because if
someone just pour in oils and stuff, it's like that.
We're losing our profits here. So they just control everything
very tightly. So even if you're off with like
your tracking is going to be consistently, it's off
consistent the same amount. So when it's when you're looking
(16:02):
at the list of priorities, again, it's when you're looking
from a body composition standpoint, it's people are
looking at more about like the, the, the food quality, when
again, that's not even on that list, but it can be quite far
down the pack and all that. And it's like, yeah, but you're
missing out on the big rocks in order to satisfy those smaller
things where the return on investment isn't quite as high.
(16:23):
So it's just, it's just a poor move from a body composition.
That's where we've and you know,you, you could debate this with
different people and then have different opinions.
But I mean, my general opinion is if you have excess body fat,
provided you're not doing something very, very extreme,
(16:45):
regardless of the food quality, if you're in a calorie deficit
and you drop body fat, your, your health markers will
improve. So even if you like, you do like
the junk food study like the professor did or so that was the
other thing that we didn't mention.
That is all of his blood work improved.
So even though he was eating Twinkies and all this and all
this stuff, all of his blood markers improved because he
(17:06):
dropped excess body fat. Then I think there's, there's
going to be a point of negative like kind of results where now
he's lost all the excess body fat, but now you're just fueling
yourself with junk food. Your blood markers probably
going to slowly get worse now. And so there's kind of like a
like a peak where everything improves.
And then no different than even if you're getting lean on
(17:28):
organic gluten free, you know, chicken, rice, potato stuff, if
you get too lean, all your hormones go to shit like your,
your bloods don't look good. Yeah.
And so I I don't think that's like a food quality thing.
That's more like a body composition.
Yes. Well, there's.
There's a, there's the argument to be that the biggest return on
investment from a health standpoint would just be to
manage body composition. Yes.
(17:50):
So it's like, well, if I regardless of which way I do
that, if I just do that, that's going to give me the biggest
return on investment. Now we can look at food quality,
but if you're, if you haven't managed body composition and
you're looking at food quality, the, the return on investment
there can be quite minimal because it's like, oh, but you
still, you still got 20 lbs excess body fat.
(18:10):
You know, your lipid profile is all skewed up and everything and
it's like, but not on your bloodpressure is up.
But now, OK, your food quality is down, but you're now sitting
20 lbs of body fat lighter. Your lipid profile is better.
Your blood pressure is more is, is, is like better.
So it's like the that's always going to give you the biggest
(18:30):
return on investment. So focus on that one.
If that one's perfect effect andthat one looks great, now we can
go down the other rabbit holes and start.
Otherwise, again, it's just. I think pull move with because I
know the other argument is kind of like, well, if you eat the
right foods, then you won't overeat because they're
satiating and you know, they're giving your body what it needs.
And then your body can, you know, work how it's supposed to
work kind of thing. And I, I, it's one of those
(18:52):
things where it's like 99%, right, 100% right?
Where like, like again, it's you're, you're assuming that by
doing those things, they're going to reduce their calorie
intake. Whereas I'm kind of like, well,
why don't we just go straight tothe source and just cut the?
Calories the indirect and the direct.
Because also you, you, you also kind of forget like there may be
a lot of mental baggage with that person that it's, it's not
(19:14):
a food quality issue. It's like AI eat when I'm
stressed. And so it doesn't matter if
they're they'll, they'll eat a broccoli stem if they're
stressed, it's like, it's the, it's the action of like eating.
And, and so even if you say like, yeah, yeah, you know,
healthy nuts, healthy seeds, fruits and stuff, their, their,
their mindset is still an oat like excess.
(19:36):
And so that's where you see it all the time where people clean
up their diet, they cut out their junk, they lose a little
bit of weight and then they don't lose anything because
again, it goes back to calories.And so it's, I would rather just
say, let's just put calories where they need to be to be in a
deficit and start dropping weight.
But then you can do both at the same time, you know, because
that's what we start to do. We start to be like, hey, like
now your calories are lower. You know what's going to fill
(19:57):
you up? Vegetables and fiber, like it's
more protein. And like, so it's not, it's not.
And because this is what people take it at is we're, we're,
we're not saying eat what you want.
Just take your calories. Like that's a great way of
feeling like shit, but you will lose weight.
But also it's it's, you can't disregard one or the other, But
(20:17):
there's it's always like this. There's going to be some phases
where the food quality is going to be really important when
you've got calories in check andmaybe you've got some digestive
issues or something is going on.Yeah.
But then also there's going to be a point where it's like
probably 300 lbs. We don't need to worry about
where you're sourcing your beef from right now.
Like we just need to put the pies down.
(20:38):
Yeah. And it's like, we'll we'll worry
about the the gluten free, organic, you know, whole food
stuff down the line. But right now we just need to
get you like half in your. Internet it's like.
Go on. I was going to say, most people
are like really overwhelmed to begin with as well.
It's like you just want to manage the big rocks and just
give them one thing to focus on.They worry about all the other
little things after. Pull on the biggest levers
first, then worry about the rest.
(20:59):
You know, I like the, the analogy of the tightrope where
like when you're, you know, whenyou're like 300 lbs, you've got
a pavement now. So it's like not as if they need
a pavement, but it's like that's, that's how much room
room there is. So you don't need to worry about
all the smaller details because there's a lot of room.
And then as you start going down, down the path, now you're
(21:20):
250, now you got a pathway. It's like now you're £200, now
you're on a low, you're on a small step path.
But then when you start getting like shredded, now you've got a
tightrope to walk on. So now the room for error is
much, much smaller. So it's like now we have to look
at, you might have to look at like the the food quality or
your fiber intake or where your carbohydrates are coming from
(21:42):
and all this stuff. But while you're, if you're
quite far away from that, you don't need to worry about that
stuff yet. It's like, let's nail the other
things because those things are only going to give a return on
investment down there. They're not really going to give
much of A return on investment here.
So focus on things that are, that's what.
You find is that most people actlike they're on a tightrope when
really they have a big pavement,often like the big rocks.
(22:03):
Like managing calories. It's pretty damn it's much
easier to worry about if I'm getting enough fibre to begin
with, you know? And that's why they act like on
a tightrope when really they've got a huge.
Pavement and that's how they fail because it's like they
haven't even they're not even walking on that path on that
path yet, but they're on they'reon the tightrope but it's like
oh I failed again is it because you're trying to walk the
tightrope and you haven't even managed to walk in a straight
line yet I think the. The other thing that people
(22:23):
don't wear as well as if you've,if you've been eating loads of
processed foods and say McDonald's and KFC and Popeyes
and. I don't like KFC.
Those hot wings. But when you're like, your body
gets used to whatever you put init.
And if you suddenly drop out allthe junk and start eating
(22:46):
chicken, rice, egg, steak, you like day one, you don't suddenly
just go, oh, I feel so good eating this food.
You feel terrible because your body is like, what's going on.
You'll get headaches, you'll, you'll be lethargic, like you'll
have mood swings because it's, it's like coming off a drug.
And so if, if you're expecting someone that's, you know, spent
(23:08):
the last 10 years eating this stuff and then cutting it
outgoing from like from 100 to 0, they're going to go for about
a week and just, you know, they'll be like pushing chicken
around their plate being like, Ifeel sick.
I don't want to eat this like, and their body will crave the
junk food, not just mentally, but it's like their bodies like
craving it. And so I would say like, well,
(23:29):
let's wean off that. Like, let's, I'm not going to
say to you, like, no junk food from now on because it's so
unrealistic. And then they'll they'll feel so
bad that then they'll just bingeand go back on it.
And so I'm going to say like, yeah, like, OK, we're at the
moment we're eating 5 different fast food places.
We're going to cut it down to three, like, and then when we've
done those three, let's look at some different options that we
can get whilst we go there. And then because then even if
(23:52):
someone's always going to McDonald's for lunch, I would
much rather say, well, let's just change what you get at
McDonald's rather than saying no, no more McDonald's, don't go
there anymore. Yeah, because it's we're we're
always looking at like, what's the minimal, What's the minimal
degree that I can move somewhereand get a massive change.
And it's like your your client where it's like, we're just
going to change the route that you drive home.
(24:12):
We're not going to say, you know, you need more discipline,
you need more this you need to pack your food with you.
Like all of these things. It's like all you're going to do
is just drive a different way home so you don't drive past
Wendy's and Burger King and FiveGuys, you know, and that's it.
And so it's sometimes the the. More and more these places,
sorry, the more and more these places pop up, yeah, you end up
(24:33):
having to go like 2 hours. Over and over a mountain just to
just to avoid. It, I think that's what we say
though, isn't it? Like we, you try and meet the
client where they are and look at what the next step is.
Whereas like what they do is look at what, 50 steps ahead and
ultimately you set yourself up to fail that way, you know, So
even if it's like, right, we're having 5 takeaways a week,
right? We'll have 3 or 4.
(24:54):
Do you know how we go? On with.
That it's the path of least resistance.
Yeah. And I think people think there's
something noble or prideful about choosing the hardest way
because generally speaking, the harder something is, the greater
the reward or the greater the return.
But if you've never done something before, I'm going to
(25:14):
be like, well, let's, let's get some easy wins.
Like let's, let's choose the easy path 1st and we can.
It's like any, any game that youplay, you don't start on level
100. You start at level 1 and you're
like, that's a joke. But then when by the time you
get to level 50, you're like, I messed that up a few times.
I'm going to have to actually focus now.
And then you get stuck on a level for six months and you're
like, I'm not playing anymore. And, and then you come back to
(25:36):
it and then you manage to do it.And it's, it's, it's just like
that when you build these skillsor, you know, you're changing
from fast food to to more Whole Foods, whatever.
It's like level level one, stop eating two Big Macs and have one
like, oh, that was easy enough. Cool, let's switch to a
cheeseburger. Like let's, let's do the small
fries instead of the large fries.
There's like 50 steps before we then go, well, let's not have a
(26:00):
burger now. Let's go for like an egg white
Mcmuffin. And then it's like, and then
maybe eventually you stop eatingMcDonald's, but like people are
going to go like, you need to cut that out.
You need like here, have plain chicken and rice.
And it's like, where, where did we like what?
Like there's such a massive disconnect there.
And I, I think you just have to,you have to be realistic with
your, with your behaviour, like be, be realistic and honest with
(26:23):
your behaviours. Because if you really ask
yourself like, am I, am I never going to eat this again?
It's like, no, right, Like, do you really like this food?
Yes, right. So let's, let's use that when it
comes to building our plan, not just saying like, fuck you,
you're doing, you're doing this.And that's it.
It's, I think. And that's where like the art of
coaching comes in, I think, versus just looking at like a
(26:45):
book being like, well, there's all these chemicals in these
foods and all these things, but like you're completely ignoring
the human behaviour that comes with it and the the 10 years of
ingrained pattern that you're about to try and break.
And it's like it's not a small feat to do.
But that's just going like you're currently you, you need
to live like him. That's what that is.
(27:06):
It's like you need to live like this textbook says you to it and
say, well, no, there's it's it'sabout playing the best with the
cards you've got and like, if you can get away with it, you
don't want like, oh, give me thehardest job for an average pay.
Well, no, you like if someone offered me the easiest job for
the most money, that's what a great deal.
It's like I can, I cannot work that much and I can in loads of
(27:28):
money doing it like that's that's that's what we're trying
to do. I always remember there was a
fighter in the UFC and he was like, I want the easiest fights
for the most money. Like that's the business that
I'm in. I don't want the hard ones.
Give me the easy guys. And it's like from a food
standpoint, it's like I don't want to make the job any harder
than it is. So it's like when I'd be getting
(27:48):
like if I'm in a fat loss phase,like what am I trying to do from
a meal structure standpoint, I'mtrying to get moderate calories,
relatively high protein in termsof the calories I consume in
ideally get some decent volume in there.
Well, I can drive through a McDonald's drive through.
I don't have to get out my car. I can get a grilled chicken
wrap, which is like 350 Cal, 25 grams of protein.
(28:10):
I can add a fruit bag on the side of that and a diet soda.
So what am I? Like 420 calories, 25 grams of
protein, decent food volume, taste good, convenient, priced
well, sound like I've ticked allthe boxes that I needed to take.
Now there is an argument. You could say OK, but how
accurate is that? Because someone else is making
(28:31):
it OK. Well when I get to a point in my
fat loss phase as to where progress are stalled, now I can
look to remove that. However, if I could get
completely shredded while makingit as easy as as easy for myself
as possible, I'm going to do it until it gets to a point where
this is no longer good enough toprogress any further.
Now I can look at that, but there's probably something else
(28:51):
I'm doing that I can turn the dial anyway.
However, if I need to do that now, now I'll do it.
But why do it right from the getgo?
Again, just making the job harder than it needs to be.
Like John says, it takes what ittakes, nothing more, nothing
less, right? It's like you were here, but
you're living like a bodybuilderwho lives out of a Tupperware
chicken and rice 6 times a day. But you might not even need to
live like that to get to all youwant.
(29:12):
So look at where you are. What's the next step?
It's the it's the funniest thingwhen you know, we'll, we'll
probably see it when we go to SHX next next week.
You know, when you're the fitness coach and you're eating
like a like a Mars bar or something and someone I didn't
know you ate that. I thought you were, I thought
you were a coach. And but it's like it always
makes me laugh because it's likejust the fact, you know, maybe
(29:34):
they're saying it making a joke,but like when they're serious
and it's like you have no concept then like I've, I've
like the, the rocks that actually matter because like you
have no idea of what I've already eaten today.
Maybe this is all I'm eating today and I have 250 calories
all day. Like, and so it's, it's, but
it's so funny. Again, people will throw certain
foods in that like under the buskind of thing being like, oh,
(29:57):
like you should, you shouldn't be eating those things.
You know how bad that is for you.
It's like think how bad it is for you to be a fat fuck.
Like, and it's just like I like because I remember like you used
to get crap for like eating likethe the low Cal ice cream and
stuff. And then you go down a local
pool and you just shred it and it's like, I seem to be doing
all right, but yeah, I think. Well, a good example at these
(30:20):
events like the last hours, likenetworking with like cocktails
and stuff, isn't it? You know, So it's like you look
at that. What fitness company, like the
number one fitness company, likedrinking alcohol, It's like,
yeah, but it's how you manage it.
You've got the skills to manage it, you know, and also you don't
have to drink alcohol if you don't want.
To anything like if if someone said to me you can drink
alcohol, you can, you can eat whatever you want as much as of
(30:41):
like you want, still be shreddedand healthy.
I take it every time. Of course I will.
Yeah. But it's like.
But I can't. So.
OK, well, how close can I get tothat is the game I'm trying to
play. How could I still be healthy,
still look good, still be lean, still perform well and still eat
some of the stuff that I enjoy and be be able to grab something
(31:02):
on like the move and be able to have a bit of a blowout whenever
I want it? How can I balance all these
plates as best as I can without,without having, you know, a poor
effect on my progress or my health?
It's just like like booze, like people say, it's not like should
you drink or shouldn't you drinkor how much is too much?
Like generally I'll say, well, does it affect your health?
(31:24):
Does it affect your relationships?
Does it affect your business in a negative way?
If it does, you drink too much, so you need to scale back.
But if you're like, I know people who drink on paper a bit,
what I would consider as too much, but their health's great,
their relationships are great, their business is great, they
feel good. So I'm like, well, to me it
(31:45):
doesn't it again, it doesn't, itdoesn't seem too much when you
look at the outcomes. So it's like it's, it's always
there's again, there's no need to it's, it's not so black and
white like you should eat this, you shouldn't eat this, you
can't eat this, you can't eat this.
Can you eat this and still get the outcome that you want?
If you can crack on again, We said at the start, I think from
a fast food standpoint, I could,I think I could get pretty damn
(32:07):
shredded. I'd probably be hungry, but I'm
going to be hungry anyway, so. But I think that's never going
to change. So I think I could get really
shredded in fast food places no problem.
Yeah. I just think the oddest part
would be there'll be more temptations around so if you
didn't after you just cook and eat your own where you wouldn't
be surrounded by other options. Yeah, now I've got to eat this
(32:29):
while looking at that. No way the cost the same as
there's. There's always like a cost, cost
benefits, like it's, it's convenient, it's easy, it's not
that expensive. But the risk is you're
surrounded by, you know, you walk into McDonald's and you
smell it and you're like, oh, like I fancy a Big Mac.
So it's yeah, it's do you have the discipline to actually order
(32:50):
what you should order? Because you know, the amount of
times people go out to restaurants and you say eat
these things and then they're like, yeah, I, I didn't.
I'm just like. That's the hardest part.
It's like going into Subway, seeing a foot long meatball and
then you go. Chicken salad.
Chicken salad, please. Yeah.
You've got like a really sad face.
Chicken salad bowl. Just stare at the meatball fuck
(33:11):
long. And then the waiter goes no, no
sub, don't ask me again. I think in in general though, I
think it's just the devil's in the dosage.
I don't think fast food is good or bad.
I think it can be a great way tostill stay on plan whilst you're
travelling if you make sensible choices and keep an eye on the
(33:33):
calories. Should you eat nothing but fast
food? Probably not, but I think it
it's definitely overlooked and can be a a tool in your arsenal
if if needed during a fat loss or a muscle building phase if
needed. But thank you as always guys for
tuning in. Be sure to like and subscribe on
(33:54):
iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube andwe'll see you next time.
If you love this show, please like, share and leave us a five
star review so that we can help more people.
I'm John Matson, reminding you to always go get what's yours.
Could you get stage ready on nothing but fast food?
McDonald's, Subway, Starbucks, Chipotle.
I think I could get really shredded no problem.
Are there options that you coulduse to still meet your target
and stay on? Plan.
If you haven't managed body composition and you're looking
at food quality, the return on investment there can be quite
minimal. Like John says, it takes or it
(00:22):
takes, nothing more, nothing less.
You are here, but you're living like a bodybuilder who lives out
of a Tupperware chicken and rice6 times a day.
But you might not even need to live like that to get all you
want. I'm Ryan Stevens.
Doctor Taylor Waters. I'm Ben Oliver.
Welcome to the Superhuman show, Yeah?
Taylor, could you get stage ready on nothing but fast food?
(00:48):
I couldn't get stage ready anymore because I used to, yeah.
This is this is. I really like this one because
we, we have so many clients thattravel and don't want to or have
any desire to live like a bodybuilder out of Tupperware
and you know, travel with a cooler and everything.
(01:12):
And not to say that's, that's bad, but they're a lot of times
they are last minute having to travel needs something,
something to get. And it's, it tends to be fast
food that they'll opt for. Are there, are there options
that you could use to still meetyour targets and, and stay on
(01:33):
plan? Or do you, do you think it's, I,
I guess, like how difficult is it?
Is it healthy and what like what?
What would your go to's be in that situation?
What was the there was someone was it like a muck shredded?
There was a guy who did do a fatloss or got as lean as he could
on on McDonald's only. Was it he was he could only
(01:55):
order off McDonald's? Or was it fast food?
I know there was a, there was a professor that wanted to prove
that it was just calories in, calories out.
And so he ate I think 1600 calories a day.
But it was it was, I think he did processed foods.
So he was eating like Twinkies and he was still eating fast
food, but he didn't eat any fiber vegetables, you know, was
wasn't tracking protein intake was just hitting 1600 calories.
(02:16):
And he lost like, don't quote meon this, but it was around like
30 lbs in like a four to five month period or something.
Yeah, I think it's. Well to be honest, when I was in
prep through the start of it, through a face like 8 weeks, I
would actually I would actually grab stuff from like fast food
places and things just like to get it done.
(02:39):
I think like, that is what that guide is the most extreme end,
isn't it? But like, if you talk about like
all fast food places, like you've got war, Subway,
McDonald's sell egg whites in America.
Yeah, you know that that menu isway better.
Than us and if you think about where most people go, they go to
like Starbucks and stuff. You can get pretty decent
options at Starbucks, it's just most people go for like a
croissant. Yeah, you got the What is it,
(03:00):
the Turkey, Turkey bacon and eggwhite.
Yeah, Muffin, they sell packs offruit there.
Yeah, you know, so you can pick decent options where like in all
these places if you think about.It it's someone, one of my
clients together, you had a double quarter pounder with
cheese meal. And he's like, yeah, but I was
in McDonald's and I was like, but that's not the only thing on
the menu. Like there was other options.
(03:20):
It was like salad box, but. That's the that's a good point,
though, because I think it's if,if you've always got the same
thing when you go to a certain place, it's almost like, yeah,
your old self kicks in and, and it's like really powerful and
overrides any kind of logic or smart choice.
It's like, well, when I go to McDonald's, I have double
(03:44):
Quarter Pounder with cheese and this and that's that's my meal
when I go. And that's why you're 40 lbs up.
It's like you're on autopilot and you don't think about
anything else. That's just what I do.
Exactly. You just see the gold nuts
double cheese. Yes, but I, I think, I mean one,
I think fast food chains in general have got a lot better, I
(04:05):
want to say in like the last five years, like from being like
protein conscious, using better ingredients, having lower
calorie options like Starbucks and the egg whites, McDonald's
and the egg whites, Chick-fil-A with egg grilled Nuggets.
Like there's it, it's a lot easier than it used to be.
You know, it used to just be like, it was just shit and
that's all. That's the only way you could
(04:26):
stay on plan is to like have like 1/4 of the meal just from a
calorie perspective. But it was still, you know, just
real high fat, high carb, low, low quality protein.
Go on, that's it. And is like, it's really, it's
much easier now to make like a great choice, but it's also very
easy to make. Yeah, they're both easy.
Which is easiest? Is like, which one are you going
(04:47):
to take, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, I think if if I was
going to like if I was in a fat loss phase now and they like you
can't buy any normal foods. You've just got to go to fast
food style places. So like, what are we talking
like McDonald's, Subway, KFC, Starbucks you'd put in there
because you can eat there anyway.
Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell I wouldn't spend much time in.
(05:10):
Taco Chipotle. Isn't a bad option.
You could go to like a Chinese take away and get like steamed
chicken and stuff. Yeah, breakfast straight to
Starbucks last black coffee. I'd get 2 Turkey bacon, egg
white muffins and I would Chuck the bread off the 1 and I would
stick the other to I'd stick theTurkey bacon and the egg whites.
(05:32):
Got double Turkey bacon and egg white muffin, black coffee fruit
bag. Boom, done.
What are we talking? 350 cal's?
25 grams of protein. Do you know what we've missed
out our tradition in America? Chipotle.
Yeah. No, we got that.
We got yeah. But the problem is we got to
Chipotle. It's a little bit different.
OK, so 6 lbs up in the morning. That's that's breakfast.
(05:56):
I would like subway. I used consistently in fat loss
phases for lunch one because there's one around the corner
from the gym, but it was just I,I'm lazy when it comes to lunch
prep in general. Like I'll, I'll make breakfast
and make dinner, but lunch like lunch is one of those meals that
I just do not care for. Like it's just like readily
(06:18):
available. It's a sandwich.
Like lunch is a sandwich to me. Like that's, it's like school
lunch kind of thing. Breakfast.
I love a good brunch. Like that's my thing.
Dinner, some kind of meat, whatever.
But lunch I, I don't give a crapwhat it is like like a wrap a
sandwich, whatever. But Subway it would be, I would
do a A6 inch sub and I would basically get quadruple meat and
(06:39):
they would look at you funny. But I would basically just get
Turkey, ham, quadruple meat, loads of the veg.
And then they got the the, you know, some light Mayo if you
wanted a bit of fat and then andthat was it.
And then like a Diet Coke. That's brilliant.
You know, it's about 4-4 hundred450 cows, 7580 grams of protein,
easy. If you go and quit.
(07:00):
Post workout as well. You know you got about 40 grams
of carbs from the from the breadDecent.
The good thing about Subway is that you can control like the
ingredients in it as well. So you like you can have a salad
bowl because obviously I got a massive appetite and play the
volume gear. Like give me as much of that
lettuce as you would give me. Just load it on the volume.
How much do you want? How much we got is the question.
How much am I allowing? Like load, what's the rule?
(07:22):
Load or like the tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, quadruple
meat. Job done.
You basically got a decent and salad.
Yeah, you know. What's that if you go 6 inch
sub, I think like Turkey breast and ham, I think it's like 300.
And was it 2/2/90 for six inch just like plain Turkey breast
and ham? Six, Yeah, I think it's about
290. So obviously if you're going
like quadruple meat with some salad in there as well and a bit
(07:46):
of light meat, you've probably got like 550.
Yeah, at most. At most, Yeah, play, play safe
side. And again, protein's going to be
up. So now between those two meals,
you're looking at what, like 8? Protein for the day yeah,
already, you know, they're they're not bad tasting meals.
No, you know, it's, you know, it's not as fun as a meatball
(08:07):
marinara sub, but it's a little bit on the white top.
But yeah, so that I mean that's that's breakfast and lunch
dinner. I mean, if I was in the States,
it would be Chipotle. Like that's the that's the go to
just. Don't have the burrito?
But again, it's like you've got the the option of the portion
size and the control. Like I think, I think Chipotle
(08:30):
uses chicken thighs, not chickenbreast, because the steak's
leaner than the than the chicken.
But you know, you can do. You could literally just do like
lettuce and steak. If you salad bowls.
If you salad and rice. Bowls, you could add beans if
you didn't want the rice, you could add the rice if you need
more calories. Like there's there's loads of
it's quite versatile. It's it's literally like like
(08:52):
Mexican subway. Yeah, it's it's brilliant.
Those restaurants are great because they're single
ingredient. You can control what you have in
it, you know, So what about moredifficult restaurants?
So imagine you had to go to likean Indian take away.
What do I have like? Chinese and it like, I mean
Chinese like you said, you've got steamed options a lot of
times and you can get steamed rice, steamed veg, steamed
chicken, and that's probably as clean as you can get as this,
(09:15):
yeah. Indian tandoori chicken, They
just use slices. Yeah.
Probably cooked in a little bit of oil, yeah.
Yeah, you could just go some steamed rice and you go.
Yeah, Tandoori. And then the side packet, a
salad, they would give you that bag of.
Salad the onion. The red yeah, I normally I have
with a box and I got that. That's not needed.
Pappadong's a noun. Bread.
(09:35):
Yeah, leave the noun bread. Jesus.
Yeah, I, I, but I, I think like the so, so we've laid out kind
of what we can do and I think most people listening probably
are aware of the, the options that they have there.
I, I honestly think the, what I see the most is if you offer
those suggestions to a client, sometimes you'll get the
(09:58):
response of, Oh, no, I don't, I'm not going to eat fast food.
Like that's not, that's not goodfor you when they're 50 lbs
overweight and they've been snacking on chocolate cakes,
whatever, you know, on the weekends.
But it's the, their perception of a fast food chain is like,
this is bad, even if it's lower calorie, like the, the food
(10:21):
quality is not good. Or it's just like a no, I'm on a
diet, I don't eat fast food. And you have to kind of break
that belief of of it's not good or bad.
It's like it's is it the most perfect food?
No, like, but no one's life is perfect.
And doing that is going to be a million times better than
saying, well, I couldn't, I couldn't find anything.
(10:42):
So either one I didn't eat at all, which sometimes isn't a bad
option. But also they that, you know,
maybe they don't eat, but then they overeat later at night and
say, what if you had just had the, the Turkey ham sub, You
wouldn't, you wouldn't have, youknow, been balls deep in the
chips that night because you were starving because you didn't
eat lunch. And it's like you have to like
(11:03):
zoom out a little bit and look at the day.
And because, because I in the past, I've done that where I've
been so regimented with my meal plan that you go somewhere and
I'm like, no, I'm not in that. I'm not in that because I can't
track it. It's not perfect, but then it
would always end up in me being so rigid with my plan that, you
know, the moment I would have a bite of like a like a doughnut
(11:24):
or a chocolate bar or something,floodgates open.
Yeah. When really it was, if I just
had a little bit of it at lunch or something, I wouldn't need it
in the evening. I wouldn't crave it in the
evening. So I think a lot of fast food
places is funny because we're like a like a fitness podcast
and promoting fast food, but thebest podcast.
But there's like, I don't have aproblem with like those places
(11:47):
like McDonald's, Subway and stuff.
Like, I think people have like areal gripe, gripe against them,
maybe more from like a corporation side.
You know, it's like big pharma, they're trying to keep this fat
kind of thing and it's like it'sfucking egg whites.
Yeah, yeah. People having a people have a
negative association with like fast food, but like if I go to
(12:07):
like McDonald's and they order egg whites, pretty damn awesome.
Yeah. And and and and I.
Had the the Chick-fil-A grill Nuggets.
That's fine. But but, but also you could go
to say protein house, which everyone's like protein house is
great. You know, it's, it's all healthy
ingredients, blah, blah blah. But if you get 3 of the bison
burgers or whatever, you're looking like 1500 cows.
(12:28):
If you're more and say well you'd be better off going next
door to Starbucks and just getting an egg white Mcmuffin.
Yeah, I'll tell you what, those peanut butter balls they do
Inglo, they are. They are.
They are. So they're like Dandy's flip
flop. Like when you put them in your
mouth and you're just like. They're weird, those things,
because they're not like they'renot great, but there's something
(12:49):
about them that I quite like as well, and I don't know what it
is, yeah. It's a.
It's a weird text. But it's like, because of the
name protein house, you go, oh, proteins go.
Then you go in. It's like 100 grams of peanut
butter squished into a bowl. Yeah, there's no protein in it.
It's like it's literally from peanuts.
Branding is huge, like you'll get a, a fitness meal that is
literally like it's low, low quality meat.
(13:11):
You know, it's they've, they've,they've added some fats to it.
Whatever it's, it's an 800 calorie meal because it's
branded the way it is, it's perceived to be extra or you
see, like cereal is really common.
Like they'll, they'll brand the cereal very healthy and it's
like, mate, you have a bowl of that and it's like 900 calves.
Like like, like it was it like 75 grams of fat in the one
(13:32):
serving or whatever? Like it's just huge.
And then you'll have something which is like not, you know, a
real common one here is like pork.
It's like it's not a pork scratching, but they sell it.
But it's like a pork rind. Yeah.
And you look at that and it's like, it's a pub snack.
They said behind the bar, which you have with your lager and
it's like 120 cows, 20 grams of protein.
(13:53):
And it's like, hey, that's but someone would look at the pork
rind. They'd be like, no, that's a pub
snack. I'm not having that as someone
would look at like the the fit, the fit blast of 500 and be
like, oh, that's the one that I'm going for because it's
branded in that way. But it's like, but it's not that
one is actually more more supportive of your goals than
the one that you think is sort of is.
Yeah. So it's where people would like,
(14:14):
you know, they'd have like, a granola bar or, you know, nut,
nuts and seeds and dried fruit being like, oh, it's a healthy
snack. What's that like?
A trail mix, trail mix trail. Mix you've had 600 cows of trail
mix when you you could have had a fat subway for less calories
and and more protein yeah. And so it's, I, I, I think it's
(14:36):
one people understanding the, the concept of, of total
calories. And I, I think as well, like
some people just need to get offtheir high horse when it comes
to like food quality. Now I think food quality in the
UK is is probably a little bit better than in the US.
Well this is where subway in theUK is it.
I generally found quality in subway is half decent like it's
(14:59):
always been fine. So I've I've heard in the US
it's there is a drop off. That we haven't mentioned is the
I think normally, like in the UKanyway, the consistency of fast
food places is you're pretty certain what you're getting from
a calorie standpoint because theburgers are coming pre pre made,
pre cut by a machine. Like they're not someone's not
(15:21):
making them. Whereas you go to like a stand
alone restaurant or something and you order a burger, it's
like it's going to be made slightly different every time
depending on which chef is working.
Maybe they like cheese a bit more and they throw a bit more
in, but they use a bit more oil when they cook.
Whereas you when, when you go toplaces like Subway, Chipotle
stuff, it's like a, it's like a machine chain.
(15:41):
Even sauces, it'll be like a pump.
It's not like I've just dumped it.
It's like it's. The the portions are very very
consistent which. They need to control because
their margins are quite small. They need to control because if
someone just pour in oils and stuff, it's like that.
We're losing our profits here. So they just control everything
very tightly. So even if you're off with like
your tracking is going to be consistently, it's off
consistent the same amount. So when it's when you're looking
(16:02):
at the list of priorities, again, it's when you're looking
from a body composition standpoint, it's people are
looking at more about like the, the, the food quality, when
again, that's not even on that list, but it can be quite far
down the pack and all that. And it's like, yeah, but you're
missing out on the big rocks in order to satisfy those smaller
things where the return on investment isn't quite as high.
(16:23):
So it's just, it's just a poor move from a body composition.
That's where we've and you know,you, you could debate this with
different people and then have different opinions.
But I mean, my general opinion is if you have excess body fat,
provided you're not doing something very, very extreme,
(16:45):
regardless of the food quality, if you're in a calorie deficit
and you drop body fat, your, your health markers will
improve. So even if you like, you do like
the junk food study like the professor did or so that was the
other thing that we didn't mention.
That is all of his blood work improved.
So even though he was eating Twinkies and all this and all
this stuff, all of his blood markers improved because he
(17:06):
dropped excess body fat. Then I think there's, there's
going to be a point of negative like kind of results where now
he's lost all the excess body fat, but now you're just fueling
yourself with junk food. Your blood markers probably
going to slowly get worse now. And so there's kind of like a
like a peak where everything improves.
And then no different than even if you're getting lean on
(17:28):
organic gluten free, you know, chicken, rice, potato stuff, if
you get too lean, all your hormones go to shit like your,
your bloods don't look good. Yeah.
And so I I don't think that's like a food quality thing.
That's more like a body composition.
Yes. Well, there's.
There's a, there's the argument to be that the biggest return on
investment from a health standpoint would just be to
manage body composition. Yes.
(17:50):
So it's like, well, if I regardless of which way I do
that, if I just do that, that's going to give me the biggest
return on investment. Now we can look at food quality,
but if you're, if you haven't managed body composition and
you're looking at food quality, the, the return on investment
there can be quite minimal because it's like, oh, but you
still, you still got 20 lbs excess body fat.
(18:10):
You know, your lipid profile is all skewed up and everything and
it's like, but not on your bloodpressure is up.
But now, OK, your food quality is down, but you're now sitting
20 lbs of body fat lighter. Your lipid profile is better.
Your blood pressure is more is, is, is like better.
So it's like the that's always going to give you the biggest
(18:30):
return on investment. So focus on that one.
If that one's perfect effect andthat one looks great, now we can
go down the other rabbit holes and start.
Otherwise, again, it's just. I think pull move with because I
know the other argument is kind of like, well, if you eat the
right foods, then you won't overeat because they're
satiating and you know, they're giving your body what it needs.
And then your body can, you know, work how it's supposed to
work kind of thing. And I, I, it's one of those
(18:52):
things where it's like 99%, right, 100% right?
Where like, like again, it's you're, you're assuming that by
doing those things, they're going to reduce their calorie
intake. Whereas I'm kind of like, well,
why don't we just go straight tothe source and just cut the?
Calories the indirect and the direct.
Because also you, you, you also kind of forget like there may be
a lot of mental baggage with that person that it's, it's not
(19:14):
a food quality issue. It's like AI eat when I'm
stressed. And so it doesn't matter if
they're they'll, they'll eat a broccoli stem if they're
stressed, it's like, it's the, it's the action of like eating.
And, and so even if you say like, yeah, yeah, you know,
healthy nuts, healthy seeds, fruits and stuff, their, their,
their mindset is still an oat like excess.
(19:36):
And so that's where you see it all the time where people clean
up their diet, they cut out their junk, they lose a little
bit of weight and then they don't lose anything because
again, it goes back to calories.And so it's, I would rather just
say, let's just put calories where they need to be to be in a
deficit and start dropping weight.
But then you can do both at the same time, you know, because
that's what we start to do. We start to be like, hey, like
now your calories are lower. You know what's going to fill
(19:57):
you up? Vegetables and fiber, like it's
more protein. And like, so it's not, it's not.
And because this is what people take it at is we're, we're,
we're not saying eat what you want.
Just take your calories. Like that's a great way of
feeling like shit, but you will lose weight.
But also it's it's, you can't disregard one or the other, But
(20:17):
there's it's always like this. There's going to be some phases
where the food quality is going to be really important when
you've got calories in check andmaybe you've got some digestive
issues or something is going on.Yeah.
But then also there's going to be a point where it's like
probably 300 lbs. We don't need to worry about
where you're sourcing your beef from right now.
Like we just need to put the pies down.
(20:38):
Yeah. And it's like, we'll we'll worry
about the the gluten free, organic, you know, whole food
stuff down the line. But right now we just need to
get you like half in your. Internet it's like.
Go on. I was going to say, most people
are like really overwhelmed to begin with as well.
It's like you just want to manage the big rocks and just
give them one thing to focus on.They worry about all the other
little things after. Pull on the biggest levers
first, then worry about the rest.
(20:59):
You know, I like the, the analogy of the tightrope where
like when you're, you know, whenyou're like 300 lbs, you've got
a pavement now. So it's like not as if they need
a pavement, but it's like that's, that's how much room
room there is. So you don't need to worry about
all the smaller details because there's a lot of room.
And then as you start going down, down the path, now you're
(21:20):
250, now you got a pathway. It's like now you're £200, now
you're on a low, you're on a small step path.
But then when you start getting like shredded, now you've got a
tightrope to walk on. So now the room for error is
much, much smaller. So it's like now we have to look
at, you might have to look at like the the food quality or
your fiber intake or where your carbohydrates are coming from
(21:42):
and all this stuff. But while you're, if you're
quite far away from that, you don't need to worry about that
stuff yet. It's like, let's nail the other
things because those things are only going to give a return on
investment down there. They're not really going to give
much of A return on investment here.
So focus on things that are, that's what.
You find is that most people actlike they're on a tightrope when
really they have a big pavement,often like the big rocks.
(22:03):
Like managing calories. It's pretty damn it's much
easier to worry about if I'm getting enough fibre to begin
with, you know? And that's why they act like on
a tightrope when really they've got a huge.
Pavement and that's how they fail because it's like they
haven't even they're not even walking on that path on that
path yet, but they're on they'reon the tightrope but it's like
oh I failed again is it because you're trying to walk the
tightrope and you haven't even managed to walk in a straight
line yet I think the. The other thing that people
(22:23):
don't wear as well as if you've,if you've been eating loads of
processed foods and say McDonald's and KFC and Popeyes
and. I don't like KFC.
Those hot wings. But when you're like, your body
gets used to whatever you put init.
And if you suddenly drop out allthe junk and start eating
(22:46):
chicken, rice, egg, steak, you like day one, you don't suddenly
just go, oh, I feel so good eating this food.
You feel terrible because your body is like, what's going on.
You'll get headaches, you'll, you'll be lethargic, like you'll
have mood swings because it's, it's like coming off a drug.
And so if, if you're expecting someone that's, you know, spent
(23:08):
the last 10 years eating this stuff and then cutting it
outgoing from like from 100 to 0, they're going to go for about
a week and just, you know, they'll be like pushing chicken
around their plate being like, Ifeel sick.
I don't want to eat this like, and their body will crave the
junk food, not just mentally, but it's like their bodies like
craving it. And so I would say like, well,
(23:29):
let's wean off that. Like, let's, I'm not going to
say to you, like, no junk food from now on because it's so
unrealistic. And then they'll they'll feel so
bad that then they'll just bingeand go back on it.
And so I'm going to say like, yeah, like, OK, we're at the
moment we're eating 5 different fast food places.
We're going to cut it down to three, like, and then when we've
done those three, let's look at some different options that we
can get whilst we go there. And then because then even if
(23:52):
someone's always going to McDonald's for lunch, I would
much rather say, well, let's just change what you get at
McDonald's rather than saying no, no more McDonald's, don't go
there anymore. Yeah, because it's we're we're
always looking at like, what's the minimal, What's the minimal
degree that I can move somewhereand get a massive change.
And it's like your your client where it's like, we're just
going to change the route that you drive home.
(24:12):
We're not going to say, you know, you need more discipline,
you need more this you need to pack your food with you.
Like all of these things. It's like all you're going to do
is just drive a different way home so you don't drive past
Wendy's and Burger King and FiveGuys, you know, and that's it.
And so it's sometimes the the. More and more these places,
sorry, the more and more these places pop up, yeah, you end up
(24:33):
having to go like 2 hours. Over and over a mountain just to
just to avoid. It, I think that's what we say
though, isn't it? Like we, you try and meet the
client where they are and look at what the next step is.
Whereas like what they do is look at what, 50 steps ahead and
ultimately you set yourself up to fail that way, you know, So
even if it's like, right, we're having 5 takeaways a week,
right? We'll have 3 or 4.
(24:54):
Do you know how we go? On with.
That it's the path of least resistance.
Yeah. And I think people think there's
something noble or prideful about choosing the hardest way
because generally speaking, the harder something is, the greater
the reward or the greater the return.
But if you've never done something before, I'm going to
(25:14):
be like, well, let's, let's get some easy wins.
Like let's, let's choose the easy path 1st and we can.
It's like any, any game that youplay, you don't start on level
100. You start at level 1 and you're
like, that's a joke. But then when by the time you
get to level 50, you're like, I messed that up a few times.
I'm going to have to actually focus now.
And then you get stuck on a level for six months and you're
like, I'm not playing anymore. And, and then you come back to
(25:36):
it and then you manage to do it.And it's, it's, it's just like
that when you build these skillsor, you know, you're changing
from fast food to to more Whole Foods, whatever.
It's like level level one, stop eating two Big Macs and have one
like, oh, that was easy enough. Cool, let's switch to a
cheeseburger. Like let's, let's do the small
fries instead of the large fries.
There's like 50 steps before we then go, well, let's not have a
(26:00):
burger now. Let's go for like an egg white
Mcmuffin. And then it's like, and then
maybe eventually you stop eatingMcDonald's, but like people are
going to go like, you need to cut that out.
You need like here, have plain chicken and rice.
And it's like, where, where did we like what?
Like there's such a massive disconnect there.
And I, I think you just have to,you have to be realistic with
your, with your behaviour, like be, be realistic and honest with
(26:23):
your behaviours. Because if you really ask
yourself like, am I, am I never going to eat this again?
It's like, no, right, Like, do you really like this food?
Yes, right. So let's, let's use that when it
comes to building our plan, not just saying like, fuck you,
you're doing, you're doing this.And that's it.
It's, I think. And that's where like the art of
coaching comes in, I think, versus just looking at like a
(26:45):
book being like, well, there's all these chemicals in these
foods and all these things, but like you're completely ignoring
the human behaviour that comes with it and the the 10 years of
ingrained pattern that you're about to try and break.
And it's like it's not a small feat to do.
But that's just going like you're currently you, you need
to live like him. That's what that is.
(27:06):
It's like you need to live like this textbook says you to it and
say, well, no, there's it's it'sabout playing the best with the
cards you've got and like, if you can get away with it, you
don't want like, oh, give me thehardest job for an average pay.
Well, no, you like if someone offered me the easiest job for
the most money, that's what a great deal.
It's like I can, I cannot work that much and I can in loads of
(27:28):
money doing it like that's that's that's what we're trying
to do. I always remember there was a
fighter in the UFC and he was like, I want the easiest fights
for the most money. Like that's the business that
I'm in. I don't want the hard ones.
Give me the easy guys. And it's like from a food
standpoint, it's like I don't want to make the job any harder
than it is. So it's like when I'd be getting
(27:48):
like if I'm in a fat loss phase,like what am I trying to do from
a meal structure standpoint, I'mtrying to get moderate calories,
relatively high protein in termsof the calories I consume in
ideally get some decent volume in there.
Well, I can drive through a McDonald's drive through.
I don't have to get out my car. I can get a grilled chicken
wrap, which is like 350 Cal, 25 grams of protein.
(28:10):
I can add a fruit bag on the side of that and a diet soda.
So what am I? Like 420 calories, 25 grams of
protein, decent food volume, taste good, convenient, priced
well, sound like I've ticked allthe boxes that I needed to take.
Now there is an argument. You could say OK, but how
accurate is that? Because someone else is making
(28:31):
it OK. Well when I get to a point in my
fat loss phase as to where progress are stalled, now I can
look to remove that. However, if I could get
completely shredded while makingit as easy as as easy for myself
as possible, I'm going to do it until it gets to a point where
this is no longer good enough toprogress any further.
Now I can look at that, but there's probably something else
(28:51):
I'm doing that I can turn the dial anyway.
However, if I need to do that now, now I'll do it.
But why do it right from the getgo?
Again, just making the job harder than it needs to be.
Like John says, it takes what ittakes, nothing more, nothing
less, right? It's like you were here, but
you're living like a bodybuilderwho lives out of a Tupperware
chicken and rice 6 times a day. But you might not even need to
live like that to get to all youwant.
(29:12):
So look at where you are. What's the next step?
It's the it's the funniest thingwhen you know, we'll, we'll
probably see it when we go to SHX next next week.
You know, when you're the fitness coach and you're eating
like a like a Mars bar or something and someone I didn't
know you ate that. I thought you were, I thought
you were a coach. And but it's like it always
makes me laugh because it's likejust the fact, you know, maybe
(29:34):
they're saying it making a joke,but like when they're serious
and it's like you have no concept then like I've, I've
like the, the rocks that actually matter because like you
have no idea of what I've already eaten today.
Maybe this is all I'm eating today and I have 250 calories
all day. Like, and so it's, it's, but
it's so funny. Again, people will throw certain
foods in that like under the buskind of thing being like, oh,
(29:57):
like you should, you shouldn't be eating those things.
You know how bad that is for you.
It's like think how bad it is for you to be a fat fuck.
Like, and it's just like I like because I remember like you used
to get crap for like eating likethe the low Cal ice cream and
stuff. And then you go down a local
pool and you just shred it and it's like, I seem to be doing
all right, but yeah, I think. Well, a good example at these
(30:20):
events like the last hours, likenetworking with like cocktails
and stuff, isn't it? You know, So it's like you look
at that. What fitness company, like the
number one fitness company, likedrinking alcohol, It's like,
yeah, but it's how you manage it.
You've got the skills to manage it, you know, and also you don't
have to drink alcohol if you don't want.
To anything like if if someone said to me you can drink
alcohol, you can, you can eat whatever you want as much as of
(30:41):
like you want, still be shreddedand healthy.
I take it every time. Of course I will.
Yeah. But it's like.
But I can't. So.
OK, well, how close can I get tothat is the game I'm trying to
play. How could I still be healthy,
still look good, still be lean, still perform well and still eat
some of the stuff that I enjoy and be be able to grab something
(31:02):
on like the move and be able to have a bit of a blowout whenever
I want it? How can I balance all these
plates as best as I can without,without having, you know, a poor
effect on my progress or my health?
It's just like like booze, like people say, it's not like should
you drink or shouldn't you drinkor how much is too much?
Like generally I'll say, well, does it affect your health?
(31:24):
Does it affect your relationships?
Does it affect your business in a negative way?
If it does, you drink too much, so you need to scale back.
But if you're like, I know people who drink on paper a bit,
what I would consider as too much, but their health's great,
their relationships are great, their business is great, they
feel good. So I'm like, well, to me it
(31:45):
doesn't it again, it doesn't, itdoesn't seem too much when you
look at the outcomes. So it's like it's, it's always
there's again, there's no need to it's, it's not so black and
white like you should eat this, you shouldn't eat this, you
can't eat this, you can't eat this.
Can you eat this and still get the outcome that you want?
If you can crack on again, We said at the start, I think from
a fast food standpoint, I could,I think I could get pretty damn
(32:07):
shredded. I'd probably be hungry, but I'm
going to be hungry anyway, so. But I think that's never going
to change. So I think I could get really
shredded in fast food places no problem.
Yeah. I just think the oddest part
would be there'll be more temptations around so if you
didn't after you just cook and eat your own where you wouldn't
be surrounded by other options. Yeah, now I've got to eat this
(32:29):
while looking at that. No way the cost the same as
there's. There's always like a cost, cost
benefits, like it's, it's convenient, it's easy, it's not
that expensive. But the risk is you're
surrounded by, you know, you walk into McDonald's and you
smell it and you're like, oh, like I fancy a Big Mac.
So it's yeah, it's do you have the discipline to actually order
(32:50):
what you should order? Because you know, the amount of
times people go out to restaurants and you say eat
these things and then they're like, yeah, I, I didn't.
I'm just like. That's the hardest part.
It's like going into Subway, seeing a foot long meatball and
then you go. Chicken salad.
Chicken salad, please. Yeah.
You've got like a really sad face.
Chicken salad bowl. Just stare at the meatball fuck
(33:11):
long. And then the waiter goes no, no
sub, don't ask me again. I think in in general though, I
think it's just the devil's in the dosage.
I don't think fast food is good or bad.
I think it can be a great way tostill stay on plan whilst you're
travelling if you make sensible choices and keep an eye on the
(33:33):
calories. Should you eat nothing but fast
food? Probably not, but I think it
it's definitely overlooked and can be a a tool in your arsenal
if if needed during a fat loss or a muscle building phase if
needed. But thank you as always guys for
tuning in. Be sure to like and subscribe on
(33:54):
iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube andwe'll see you next time.
If you love this show, please like, share and leave us a five
star review so that we can help more people.
I'm John Matson, reminding you to always go get what's yours.
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