75Hard Diet Information

For Those Who May Be Interested:

Recently I've been getting quite a few questions regarding what my diet looked like during my #75Hard journey. While I am by no means an expert on dieting/nutrition (consult a sports nutritionist if you have any technical questions), I did conduct some research on the science of proper nutrition prior to starting the program which definitely helped to inform my personal choices regarding the foods I ate. I also managed to realize some decent results (-4.8% body fat and +3.3 lbs of lean muscle mass) operating with the dieting ideas and the meal plan that I outline below, so I do believe these ideas have merit even if they are not completely perfect. First, I'll lay out some general principles regarding what the science says about protein/carbs/fats - as well as how I interpreted and adopted that science into my diet - and then I'll move into the specifics regarding all the foods I ate for each meal, for snacks, etc. Hope this helps!

My Research/Methodology

Protein

As we all know, protein is the building block of muscle, but a lesser-known fact is that consuming more protein is also related to fat-loss. This is because protein is a more complicated macronutrient for your body to break down, meaning that your body burns more calories digesting and absorbing protein as opposed to things such as refined carbs. Further, protein has the added benefit of making you feel fuller, faster when compared to foods that have a low protein content. This, in conjunction with the fact that protein requires more energy for your body to process, means that eating more protein is a contributor to burning more calories and shedding excess fat.

During 75Hard, I made it my goal to consume anywhere from 1.3-1.5x my body weight in grams of protein per day. So for example, at 140 pounds body weight, I would be consuming anywhere from 182 grams to 210 grams of protein per day. This may have been a bit excessive in hindsight (although that 1.3-1.5x range was frequently cited online by multiple reputable sites), but it was what worked for me so that's all I can really speak on.

Carbs

Carbs tend to get a bad rap, but this is due to a misunderstanding about the different types of carbs and how each affects the body. Fundamentally, carbs are the body's primary source of energy, and we need certain amounts of carbs for our bodies to function properly. There are two types of carbs: complex carbs and simple carbs. Simple carbs are essentially sugars, and these are the carbs that tend to make weight-loss enthusiasts believe that carbs are a dietary evil. Whenever you see high amounts of "added sugars" on the nutrition label of any product, just stay away; these products are going to be counterproductive to your fitness journey (note: I occasionally found it difficult to find certain foods with zero grams of added sugar, so if it was just a couple of grams I didn't stress about it, but anything more than about 6g of added sugar I stayed away from entirely). Natural sugars are also considered simple carbs (found in things like fruits), but they are generally less harmful because they exist in smaller quantities and are accompanied by other naturally occurring nutrients that are not present in processed junk foods. Complex carbs (fiber and starches) are considered to be the healthy carbs, and they are present within many unprocessed foods including fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, and whole grains. Like protein, complex carbs keep you feeling fuller, longer because the body has to exert more energy to break them down. They also contain more nutrients than simple carbs, they aid with digestion, and they are less likely to be stored in your body as fat (especially when you're working out regularly). For these reasons, consuming complex carbs is actually a healthy choice that should not be ignored completely, even when weight loss is a primary goal.

With that said, science tells us that low carb diets DO help with weight loss. This is because when your body is carb-deprived, it is forced to metabolize its second best readily available energy source: stored fat. Now a quick note of warning...there is a difference between a low carb diet and a zero carb diet. While zero carb diets (such as Keto) do facilitate fat loss in the short term, they malnourish your body over the long term and can actually be detrimental to your health (since your body is not receiving nutrients and energy from what would normally be its primary energy source!). Low carb diets can provide the same results over the medium term without sacrificing your health. So, my personal dieting philosophy during 75Hard as it pertained to carbs was this: "Cut out obvious sources of simple carbs entirely (no processed foods, no fast foods, no junk foods, etc). Eat whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and other sources of complex carbs much more freely, but always make sure to eat many more grams of protein per day than carbs per day." That was my rule of thumb (incredibly qualitative, I know). Ballpark estimate: I tried not to let my carb intake get within 60g of my protein intake for any given day. So if I was consuming 190g of protein in one day, I tried to limit my carb count to 130g or less. Was this a good strategy? I can't say for certain that it's the best strategy. But as mentioned previously, I dropped from 13.1% body fat to 8.3% body fat in a 75 day span so the results seem to indicate that this approximate ratio did work in the way I intended.

Fats

Most people hear the word "fat" and automatically associate it with something bad. As with carbs, the true explanation is slightly more complicated. In reality, there are a few different kinds of fats: there are "bad" fats (trans fat and saturated fat) and there are also "good" fats (monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat). From what I understand, the consumption of fats in general does not have much bearing on one's ability to build muscle. However, consuming bad fats is correlated with weight gain (in the form of fat, obviously) and a host of health issues that can develop over the long term (diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, inflammation, etc.). Healthy fats, on the other hand, contain many productive nutrients that can actually help the body prevent/combat many of the health issues caused by the consumption of unhealthy fats. So, my attitude towards healthy fats throughout 75Hard was essentially "They're not going to hurt, so why not consume them whenever possible?" And luckily, they're found in high quantities within many of the food items I ate regularly anyway (eggs, nuts, peanut butter, olive oil) so I never really paid them much mind throughout the program. The only thing I made sure to do was keep trans fats and saturated fats at an absolute minimum (no fried foods, choosing lean protein sources over fattier meats, etc.).

My Specific Meals/Food Items

In this section I will list all of the food items I chose to eat during the majority of my meals in addition to my personal policies on what I limited myself to when I went out to eat.

A couple of housekeeping items...First, as I learned very quickly, having to eat completely clean is pricey. The hard truth is that getting results requires an investment in quality foods which are often accompanied by higher prices. However, I also came to realize that when doing a bulk grocery shop, the per meal price of food is still significantly cheaper than going out and buying meals at a place even as cheap as a fast food joint (something I used to do frequently). So while it's not necessary to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars a month on food, don't skimp on the good stuff, within reason. It will pay dividends for you over the long term.

Second, these meals get very repetitive. Consistency was the name of the game for me because it allowed me to save a lot of time: instead of messing around in the kitchen trying out different recipes and hoping something worked, I instead became very good at cooking a small number of meals that I could whip up quickly and successfully. With that being said...

Breakfast - I ate the same primary meal every morning, with a few optional items that I either chose to eat or not depending on how hungry I was that day.

• Three eggs
• Three egg whites
• A fistful of spinach cooked into the eggs
• Two pieces of Dave's Seed Bread
• Optional item #1: Oikos/Chobani greek yogurt
• Optional item #2: A bowl of Kashi peanut butter crunch cereal
• Optional item #3: A Core Power protein shake (any protein shake would suffice)
• Primary drink: water more often than not, occasional glass of milk

Middle of the Day -  I avoided labeling this “lunch” on purpose because I almost never ate a traditional lunch. I normally ate so much for breakfast that I wasn't getting hungry again until the late afternoon. So the middle of the day consisted of small meals/snack foods, primarily:

• Oikos/Chobani greek yogurt
• A sandwich on seed bread
• Berries of any sort (blueberries and raspberries were my go-to)
• A mixture of nuts (Blue Diamond smokehouse almonds are GAS, usually mixed them with peanuts)
• A protein shake (limit to 2 per day, so I didn't always do this mid-day. It depended on whether or not I drank one for breakfast because I always drank one post-workout near the end of the day)
• Wheat Thins
• Black pepper & olive oil Triscuits

*While I tended to eat many of these items in the middle of the day, I also ate them basically anytime I wanted a snack of some sort.

Dinner - This was the meal where I got in the largest portion of my daily carbs, a vegetable, as well as an animal protein of some sort. 

• Protein consisted of one of three things that I alternated between: chicken breast, a turkey burger (or two), and salmon
• Vegetable options: green beans, broccoli, red/yellow bell pepper, zucchini
• Absolute unit of a carb: Barilla Whole Wheat thin spaghetti
• I didn't care about portion size so much here. I generally ball-parked the portion size of my carb such that I would be full when I finished all three (meat, vegetable, carb).
• Side note: After eating this spaghetti so often and for so long, I don't have a clue why people don't just eat whole wheat spaghetti as opposed to regular spaghetti. It is far healthier, and tastes exactly the same when eaten with sauce.
• Light sauce on the spaghetti (I personally used Full Circle organic sauce)
• Drink: usually water, occasional glass of milk

Late Night - I tend to stay up very late (well after midnight) so I would sometimes get hungry again before I went to bed. While it's not advisable to eat before bed (supposedly, for health reasons that I haven't looked into), I just decided to do it anyway. I will say that working out twice a day may have given me some leeway to do things like this without experiencing weight gain, so keep that in mind before deciding to eat a big pre-sleep snack. That said, I had a three late night foods that I alternated between.

1. Pink Lady apple with peanut butter (I have no idea why this slaps as much as it does)
2. Buttermilk & Vanilla whole wheat protein waffles (made by Kodiak Cakes; insane that they taste like waffles but are genuinely healthy. I usually ate them with peanut butter)
3. Bowl of Kashi peanut butter crunch cereal (this stuff is kind of expensive, but it is one of the few cereals I've found that tastes great while also remaining very healthy)

*As you can see, I was a big frickin fan of peanut butter.

Eating Out - I tried to limit eating out as much as possible, obviously. However, there were times where whether it was because I was out of town or because I was going out to eat with friends that I had to get a meal at a restaurant. In these cases, salads were my best friend. It's hard to go wrong with a salad from a nutrition standpoint (just go light on the dressing), and they're also generally inexpensive. On maybe one occasion the place I was at didn't have salads so I went with a burger, no bun, wrapped in lettuce, and then a vegetable for my side.

Making Healthy Foods Taste Great - One thing I didn't care too much about throughout 75Hard were the "extras" that I would include in a meal (salt, pepper, seasoning, condiments, dressings, sauces, etc.). I basically compromised with myself: since I was eating completely clean foods, I was going to give myself permission (within reason) to make those foods taste good. Therefore, when I cooked chicken, I loaded it up with seasoning. When I cooked vegetables I did the same. Same with eggs (amazing how much better eggs taste with a little blend of Himalayan salt, black pepper, and garlic). I'd used olive oil whenever I cooked both chicken, turkey burgers, and vegetables. I used butter on my toast, spaghetti, and anytime else I felt it was necessary to make something taste good. I used a garlic butter blend when I cooked salmon. When I'd eat a sandwich, I'd eat it with mayo. Many of these things may not be considered "clean" practices, but at the end of the day, I was far more concerned with the actual foods I was consuming than the extras I was using to make it all taste good. And, in the end, it didn't hinder my progress at all. So my personal advice would be that if you're eating clean with regards to your food, obviously don’t over-do it but also don't feel like you need to pay too close attention to these nit-picky details.