A question I’ve thought about quite frequently is, if protein is relatively static (0.36g/lb body weight) and the only other two places calories can come from is carbs and fat, How can I determine how many carbs I am supposed to eat? Well, let’s break it down: Carbs give 4 calories per gram Fat gives 9 calories per gram (over 2 times more calories in the same weight!) Often times it makes more sense to determine about how much fat you’d want to consume in your diet and then by process of elimination you have the amount of carbs to eat everyday. As fat has over twice the calories in the same weight when concentrated it’s also the easiest to adjust to hit your particular caloric goals. Perhaps an example would help here so I’ll use my own; Michael Age: 30 Weight: 215 lbs Goal Weight: 200 lbs Height: 6’4” Gender: Male Aesthetic Goal: Put on muscle and drop body fat percentage (recomp) Performance Goal: Run a 5k faster than before, 24:49 Total caloric intake before exercise = 2354 kcal / day Protein per day = 89g (1.2g/kg of lean body mass which is slightly more than 0.36g/pound because I am running more to get my time down which burns muscle very fast) Fat per day = 52g (20% or so of my daily calories before factoring exercise) Now that we have 2/3 metrics for calories the last is the easiest! It’s just whatever remains in the budget. In this instance for me it’s: 382g of carbohydrates or ~1500 calories daily. Okay that’s all well and good now I have my macros but what does that mean? And when I said above that it’s “fat before exercise” what does that mean exactly? Let’s say I go for a 5k run that day or hit the gym for an 45 min to an hour, that’s roughly about 400-500 calories burned for me (varies per individual quite a bit). Simply put I’ll take on an extra 500 or so calories of carbs into the diet which is about 125g. That’s great and all we understand the math to an extent now but what does this mean in terms of actual change in habits and foods eaten?

This question seems to come up a lot for me with clients. But never phrased this way. Almost everyone is concerned they are not getting ENOUGH protein daily when this couldn’t be further from the truth. Let’s think about it this way. Body builders and wrestlers and anyone who goes through a “bulk” phase… what do they eat a lot of? Protein. Why? Surely they can put on muscle with less than 200g of protein daily? They do it because protein promotes WEIGHT GAIN! While some of the weight they gain isn’t muscle. Some is and when they cut later on they do away with that extra soon after. There’s no shortage of personal trainers, advertisers, and people with a pulse online willing to tell you that you need to eat more protein! 1 gram for every 1 pound of body weight. This is asinine. Even at such insane quantities, they tout this as the end, all be all for improving your health and losing weight. Again this couldn’t be further from the truth. The actual calculation for protein intake has been proven time and again. The Estimated Average Requirement set forth by the Institute of Medicine is a mere 0.3 grams per pound of body weight or 0.66g/kg. How does this math work out then? Well take me for instance. I weigh 210 pounds or 95.5 kg. Multiply that by the estimated average requirement and bam E.x. 210*0.3=63. So I should have about 63g of protein daily. If you’re a female and weight let’s say 160 pounds you should have 160*0.3=48. This is likely about half what you consume now on a daily basis. We as a society have become addicted to protein in everything. Protein bars, protein snacks, protein energy drinks, heck even protein water! Now that you know the math, take a moment to write down your weight and expected protein intake. Then compare that to what you eat daily. You’ll be shocked!

One of the greatest things about the Skool platform is the Classroom tab! I’ve got a bunch of courses that I’ve been working on over the last months! I’ll have the first one, The Whole Food Plant Based Starter Toolkit out for you to either read or watch later this week! So excited to see all your feedback and try and improve them. P.S. Here’s a sneak peak of the courses you’ll have access to that are in the works: 1. The WFPB Starter Toolkit 2. Meal Planning Framework Bundle 3. Complete Shopping System 4. Fitness & Movement Guide 5. Advanced Nutrition Protocols 6. Personalized Accountability System 7. The Complete WFPB Recipe Collection 8. Custom Nutrition Plan Template 9. Custom Workout Program Template 10. Weekly Check-in System 11. 3-Day Energy Reboot

Got a few new members today wanted to say welcome and info is coming soon as I’m building this out in real time! If there’s anything specific or any questions you have ask away! I want to make sure I’m making a group that feels valuable for you all

Had sort of a down day. Just beating up on myself for not being further along in my journey yet. Normally when I’m feeling stressed or less than I tend to comfort myself with foods that I’ve been eating for a long time. Many of you know that I’ve been Vegan for over 15 years but few of you know that for quite a few years I was not a “healthy vegan” I ate a ton of highly processed foods and snacks sometimes living off of vegan frozen corn dogs a package at a time. Bouncing between starvation from a lack of energy to actually prepare food and extreme feeding frenzies eating 2-3 impossible burgers with vegan mayonnaise and the works. Lately, I’ve been listening to and watching a lot of Dr. Michael Greger’s content via NutritionFacts.org and the audio version of his book ‘How Not To Die.’ The more I seem to surround myself with good quality information and think more and more about being healthy the more I seem to want that for others and myself. So as a nighttime snack on this not so great day I decided to slice up an apple with some peanut butter (a childhood favorite of mine) and grab a large handful of raspberries. This came not from a place of shame or disgust in myself or my choices but from a place of love and honoring my future self. It’s a small act. A small snack. But hey, life is made up of just small snacks that our body thanks us for the next day.