Stop Weekends from Derailing Your Diet + Why Michael Jordan was the Best

Happy Monday, friend!

Welcome to episode 16 of the Thrive Protocol Letter.

The TPL is back on Mondays for now (since I’m down to once per week for the moment).

Today at a glance:

• A potential solution to the most common dieting problem

• Why Michael Jordan was the best

Fitness Hack: Calorie Banking

The more I talk to people about their fitness challenges, the more I see one concept returning again and again.

Weekends and events.

It’s one thing to be on point when you’re locked into a schedule, but take away that routine, and it’s a lot harder to make healthy choices.

Make no mistake — you can’t afford to derail on the weekends completely.

If your weekends are a whirlwind of brunch mimosas, french toast, and chimichangas, your waistline will expand no matter what you do from Monday to Friday.

But you can work with that natural inclination to eat more on the weekends within reason.

It’s called calorie banking.

Here’s how it works:

You look at your metabolism over the course of an entire week, not as individual days.

Say you’re a 6 foot, 190 lb, 33-year-old man who exercises three days per week.

You sustain approximately 2800 calories per day (I’m getting that figure here if you’re curious).

If you want to get leaner, you might eat approximately 2400 calories per day (since you have to eat fewer calories than you burn to lose fat, as I’m sure you know ).

But instead of imagining that you need to eat 2400 calories every day, you can see that as 2400 x 7 for the entire week.

That’s 16,800 calories over the week.

Our hypothetical fella can reduce his calories from Monday to Friday to allocate more of that energy budget to the weekend.

Let’s say he eats 2100 calories from Monday to Friday, thus saving 1500 calories.

He can now add 750 calories to Saturday and Sunday.

2400 + 750 = 3150.

He can now eat 3150 calories on Saturday and Sunday and still be in a deficit during the week.

That’s a pretty good deal.

It doesn’t mean he can go nuts, but he can relax a bit and include a couple of “fun” meals that would be much harder to fit in if he was limited to 2400.

If you struggle with discipline on the weekends, you’ll probably still have to work on that.

But calorie banking can make it easier.

Get a sense of your TDEE at tdeecalculator.net.

An Idea: Manage Your Focus, Not Your Time

I’m not a basketball fan.

I’ve barely ever watched a full game.

But The Last Dance documentary on Netflix about Michael Jordan’s final year with the Bulls is the best documentary series I’ve seen.

It provides a rare behind-the-scenes look at the mindset of a top competitor — maybe THE top competitor ever to play professional sports.

There are a million things you could choose to write about Michael — infinite ideas for principles to derive from his habits, commitment to excellence, and work ethic.

But the thing that stood out to me was his presence.

Multiple people reflected on how Michael was completely present in whatever he was doing.

His mind wasn’t anywhere else.

Michael was completely in the zone when it came to training, competing, practicing, and playing.

He spent his entire career in the zone.

Michael’s trainer of 15 years, Tim Grover, is featured in The Last Dance.

Tim has an epic story himself — he pitched the Bulls his coaching fresh off of his Exercise Science degree (before he had any experience), and Michael Jordan became his first client.

One of the best athletes in history as your first client. Can you imagine?

Tim Grover has two fantastic books I highly recommend: “Relentless” and “Winning.”

One of the many actionable ideas he explores in his writing is:

Think about it — nobody “manages” their time.

Time is constantly slipping away from us.

Unforeseen circumstances come up; things take longer than expected — the concept of controlling time is an illusion.

But we can all control our focus.

We can all choose to be completely present and focused on the task at hand.

We can choose to optimize our environments and give ourselves fully to what we’re doing.

Time isn’t in your control.

Focus is in your control.

The people who reach great heights are those who have mastered their focus and are completely present in what they’re doing.

It worked out okay for Michael.

How would you feel if you could be 10+ pounds lighter & have more muscle by mid-Summer?

I’m looking for 3 people who want to ditch diet culture and build their dream body in a sustainable way that fits for their life.

Results are guaranteed.

If you don’t hit your goals or don’t feel you got great value, you don’t pay.

If you’re ready, reply “Lean” to this email with a brief outline of your health & fitness goals for 2023.