Eat whatever you want for dinner on a diet + Don't Take Things Personally

Hey hey!

Hope you’re ready to crush another week. I’m getting married this week and seeing my parents and brother for the first time in over six months, so pretty pumped up. It’ll be a good one.

This week at a glance:

• The most simple, low-maintenance way to hit keep your nutrition on track (I tell virtually all my clients to do this)

• How not taking things personally can change your life

A Quote

Fitness Hack: Protein Loading

It’s easier for a young single person to track every macro that goes in their body.

But for people with families, who eat shared meals and may not be preparing the food themselves, it’s a lot harder.

Most of my clients fall into this camp. The good news is there is an easy and simple strategy you can use to ensure you get enough protein, stay within your macros, and avoid stressing out about what you eat for dinner.

It’s called protein loading.

Protein loading is where you focus on consistent high-protein meals during the day, and aim to save some room for a flexible dinner.

The goal is to get close to the amount of protein you need while still having enough calories saved for dinner to eat nearly whatever you want (within reason).

And if you get close to your protein during the day, you’ll hit your protein goal as long as there is a protein source in dinner.

Your meals during the day should be:

• Calorie-wise (have a good protein/calorie ratio)

• High Protein

• Consistent

They should be calorie-wise to save the bulk of your calories for a satisfying meal at the end of the day.

High protein because you have a protein goal to hit, and you want to get close enough to this goal not to worry about the protein content of dinner.

And consistent because this makes it easy to put on rinse-and-repeat. Find a few meals you like that get the job done during the day, and get your variety fix through dinner.

Here’s an example of protein loading in action.

Let’s say I’m eating 2300 calories per day and shooting for 180g of protein.

My goal is to get 150g of protein in about 1100- 1200 calories in my meals during the day.

If I can do this, I have 1100-1200 calories saved for dinner. Does this mean I can slam back large pizzas or buckets of KFC?

Of course not.

But it leaves enough room for a decent meal.

The tricky part is getting the 150g of protein in under 1200 calories. But if you rely on foods with a great protein-calorie ratio, it can completely be done.

• Breakfast: 2 eggs + 150g Egg white + 2 slices black forest ham + hot sauce

• Lunch: 100g cooked rice, 150 g cooked lean ground turkey with light cheddar & 0% Greek Yogurt Tzatziki

• Snack: 0% Greek Yogurt + fruit & whey protein

Epic foods for protein loading are:

• Shrimp

• Chicken Breast

• Turkey

• 0% Greek Yogurt

• Egg whites

• Protein wraps

• Sliced Ham

• Cottage Cheese

If you can handle the predictable routine for breakfast and lunch, you can relax and enjoy a satisfying dinner, confident that you’ll hit your nutrition goals.

An Idea: Don’t Take Things Personally

“The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz is one of the most impactful books I’ve read and one of only a handful I reread regularly.

One of the agreements: “Don’t take things personally,” is particularly profound, but it’s not every day I get to put it into practice.

I got the chance yesterday.

I was walking down the sidewalk in Montreal, and a bunch of young teenagers came buzzing by on rented bikes that they should have been riding on the street.

The first bumped into me as he rode by. When the next one did, too, I had a moment of weakness and yelled at them to “go on the fucking road.”

The kid looked back, said something in French that was probably an insult, and spat in my direction.

It made me so mad!

I was fuming for an hour.

It took me an hour to realize how stupid it was for this to occupy any space in my mind for more than a second.

Why do we let moments like this bother us?

We perceive these instances as personal affronts: this kid spat at me. He disrespected me.

But he actually didn’t.

He doesn’t know anything about me.

He didn’t spit at me — he spat at a representation in his mind.

A representation of authority who had told him to follow the rules and who, in his mind, had disrespected him (probably shouldn’t have dropped the f-bomb).

It is completely absurd for me to take that moment personally.

It is never personal when you have an altercation with a person who doesn’t know you well.

If they don’t know you, it can’t be personal. All you are is a representation of something in their mind, and they take their anger or dissatisfaction out on that representation.

It can’t possibly have anything to do with you.

How someone reacts is reflective of their internal state; They’re not reacting to you, but what you symbolize to them at that moment.

Taking things personally serves no purpose and will destroy your peace of mind.

It’s easier said than done, however. This recent experience has made me promise to be better in future situations.

Whether with haters online, bad drivers on the road, or anywhere else, how much stress could you save yourself if you learned to truly not take things personally?

In the words of the great Don Miguel Ruiz, when you can learn not to take things personally, you make yourself “immune to needless suffering.”

It’s easier said than done, but certainly something worth striving for.

-Colin “Don’t ride your bike on the sidewalk” Matson

When you’re ready, here’s how you can work with me.

I want to help you build sustainable habits to optimize your health, fitness, & mindset so you can finally get your dream body and thrive in all aspects of life.

If you’re tired of spinning your tires, failing to get results, and wondering what you’re doing wrong, apply for 1-1 coaching now.

Results are guaranteed.

You’ll hit your goals, or I’ll work with you for free until you do.

Book a free consultation call below to see if we’re a good fit.