Be a robot, ruin your life, THEN you can have food like a normal person

I write content for competitive and aspiring bodybuilders every day for 3DMJ.

Through that lens, nutrition is quite simple and straightforward.

That particular audience is already deeply interested in maximizing results via whatever means necessary in their first few years as a lifter.

They say things like, “I’m 100% dedicated, just give me a plan and tell me what to do and I’ll follow it no matter what.”

To me, that’s totally relatable.

In fact, here’s me 12 years go literally saying the exact same shit around 12:12 of this video 👇

(it’s very embarrassing how cringe i was altogether as a baby fitness youtuber lol 🥴🥴🥴 but i’m glad i have these online records to see how far i’ve come)

Sure, it feels cool to know you have the capacity for extreme discipline.

But nobody tells you how stupid it is to create these types of fake, temporary prisons for yourself.

• You think you’re all hardcore because you’re willing to isolate yourself.
• You have no problem cutting off every other person and activity to get it done.
• You are a machine.
• You are a robot who is better than all the other weaklings.

However, that’s actually the easier, less impressive route.

Following a super rigid diet isn’t that difficult when you don’t have a life.

Like anything in life that requires sacrifice, most people are really good at focusing with all their might in the short term, only to learn that it’s unsustainable after a certain point.

• Anyone can cram for a test and pull an all nighter to get the grade they need.
• Anyone can burn the midnight oil for a big work presentation.
• And loads of people can work their asses off for 6 week weight loss challenges only to learn that what got them there won’t keep them there.

Ask the millions of weight watchers and jenny craig flunkies who yoyo dieted for decades only to end up right where they started every time life got in the way…

Nutrition is so much more complex than “tell me what to eat.”

It’s such an intricate domain of learning that I think it took me a solid decade to master it for myself.

I knew how to track every gram of food I put into my body MANY years before I could say I had a real handle on my relationship with food.

And 90% of the fitness industry “experts” online are preaching to you from a similar, hyper-focused place.

Most physique influencers CURRENTLY HAVE DISORDERED EATING BEHAVIORS that they are blind to.

• They are VERY sure they know what you should be consuming.
• And they are VERY unaware of how little they know.

I was one of these people.

I was this very same personal trainer and youtuber and ebook publisher.

Here’s the first video I put online where I began to realize how fucked up I had been the past couple years before:

I didn’t yet know that once I stopped competing I would have such a hard time gaining weight because of the orthorexia I developed.

I didn’t yet know that I had severe body dysmorphia, heightened by the fact that I posted videos of my half naked body online all the time.

I hadn’t actually mastered sustainable nutrition habits at all.

I was just really good at mentally focusing on what my brain wanted, while silencing all the blaring signals of what my body wanted.

My hormones were fucked, I wasn’t sleeping, and I wasn’t having periods.

BUT I LOOKED GOOD AND THE INTERNET WAS NICE TO ME ABOUT IT SO FUCK IT!!!

lol okay, but I genuinely couldn’t see any of that while I was in the middle of it.

And most fitness influencers can’t see it either.

Not all, but most FOR SURE.

It’s easy for me and my colleagues to spot it now that we’ve all been training and studying this for so long as well.

The red flags are obvious.

But I’m no better than any of those who swear they know everything even though they just started focusing on this hobby in the past 1 to 3 years.

Hell, I even had a masters degree in exercise physiology and I didn’t couldn’t see my blank spots.

That’s because knowing the numbers and the science doesn’t mean you understand people, psychology, sociology, customization, prioritization, lifestyle design, and how to collect more qualitative non-measurable data.

It wasn’t until I gained and lost weight on purpose multiple times over a few different years and eras that I could see food as a tool rather than an enemy to my appearance goals.

I’ve starved myself for looks and physique sport, gained weight past the point of hating how I looked for strength sport, and finally accepted my body type for musculoskeletal health in order to feel good while competing in gymnastics.

It takes failures and lessons from all angles to fully understand a domain.

True experts in any field should be able to argue for and against every side of their industry’s disagreements, and still understand that what works in some scenarios for some people will not work for others.

Even though I’ll never coach again, I know I’d be WAY better at it now than I was as a younger, more (misguidedly) certain version of my self who was getting paid top dollar to do it.

ALLLLLL this crazy shit said, I am still very grateful for my few years as a robot without feelings.

I learned the hard data super fast on paper and buried myself in it to the point of no return.

There’s no way to unlearn what I know about food, calories, macros, etc.

That wasn’t a waste of time.

I gained a deep awareness of the puzzle pieces that are the building blocks of a solid and low stress nutrition plan, which will be valuable for the rest of my life.

The truth is that the people and athletes who actually holistically understand nutrition don’t worry about it too much.

They know enough to keep themselves nourished, have solid energy levels, stay at a healthy body weight, and have a few social meals per week without derailing themselves.

I try to keep all of this in mind when I’m learning any new skill that feels like a struggle.

🧠 1 - Personal nutrition mastery took me a decade or so, which is a reminder to be patient with anything worthwhile.

🧠 2 - Also, whatever I’m very desperately trying to learn might be best kicked-off by a period of immersion and intensity.

🧠 3 - As I gain comfort with the new skill, it will become more subconscious over time while yielding the same or better results.

🧠 4 - And most importantly, the things I might THINK are success in the early stages usually aren’t the TRUE markers of success once I become more educated.

With nutrition, my newbie brain thought being lean and looking hot was the goal.

After a few more years of learning and coaching, it turns out that feeling good and nourished without excessive monitoring or stress is the real goal.

There’s no way I could have seen this any sooner.

I don’t blame myself for this. (any more)

The biggest enemy to genuine progress is assuming that there is any sort of fast track.

If a concept or lesson seems very easy or straightforward in my first 5 years of learning something, I likely don’t yet have the depth to recognize where the gray areas lie.

I love that I know this now.

Because I can keep myself from blasting all my fake knowledge on the internet!

(Because 2012-2017 Andrea on the internet is hella embarrassing lol)

Anyway, I’m obsessed with finding the gray.

And I just felt like telling you about it today.

And that’s it.

And thanks for reading.

And I’ll talk to you soon.

xoxo,

AV ❤️