Let me tell you something you already know.
If you want to cause a massive change in the leanness, athleticism, and the rockstar-hotness of your body this month, you aren't going to feel full 100% of the time.
That over-stuffed feeling that most Americans mistake for normal fullness, you're going to have to leave behind.
You're going to have to stop looking for the next sugar-high followed by sugar-coma.
You're going to stop getting drunk.
In fact, you're going to have to completely cut out self-medicating with food.
Comfort Food is Not Very Comfortable
Comfort food makes you fat.
Food is not your friend.
Food is not entertainment.
Chocolate is not physiologically the same as sex, no matter what any study says.
You don't eat until you feel full.
Most people have no idea what full is.
The Reality of Fuel
You need enough fuel to drive your car.
You don't need to pull a whole fuel truck behind you. (yes that is a metaphor for your butt)
Eating For Rockstar Hotness In The Real World
Lets say you are planning to eat 3 oz of chicken and a cup of brown rice, both seasoned to taste good, and a salad with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and a balsamic vinaigrette.
If you are used to eating fast food, or you are used to "topping off" your meals with desert, when you finish this meal you will feel fake hungry.
You'll be very fake hungry.
You don't actually need more nutrion… you've got all the nutrition you needed.
You are fake hungry because you are addicted to that over-stuffed feeling, and you need some sugar, fat, or processed carbs to get it.
If you eat just enough, and no more, you'll have an edge.
You'll be extra alert.
You'll have more energy.
You'll actually "be there" in your life, instead of being in a constant haze from your last meal.
You'll have a sharpness that most people don't have.
Your boss will probably even give you a raise at work.
What About Free Meals?
Have free meals 10% of the time.
Give your body just enough fuel to propel you in the gym 90% of the time.
Any other questions about that?
Rockstar Fuel Tastes Awesome
Organic whole food has way more flavor.
Food from the local farmer's market is always amazing.
Grass fed beef always tastes better.
Wild caught salmon is like a totally different fish from farmed salmon.
Some Like It Hot
Don't fool yourself into thinking you have to have a naked piece of chicken to eat right.
Add seasoning.
Add salt and pepper and oregano and basil or onions and cilantro and sriracha sauce or salsa.
However you like it.
There's no calories in spices.
Spice that shit up.
Addiction to Being Grossly Over Full vs. Addiction to Results
Most people are addicted to an over-stuffed feeling.
When you start in earnest on your road to results, you'll get addicted to that edge you feel when you ate what you need and then stopped.
At the end of some meals, you may feel like you could eat more… but you don't need to.
You could have some desert… or you could be free to wear a bikini this summer instead of a one piece.
You could eat processed crap… or you could be the dude who can't wait to take his shirt off by the pool.
You could feel over stuffed and want to take a nap… or you could be alert, on edge, and ready to kick ass all of the time.
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Josh News: Thanks SO MUCH!
Thanks everyone for responding to the survey about what questions you guys have and what you are interested in! I really appreciate all of the great feedback you all gave me.
Really amazing questions, and definitely some recurring themes that I wouldn't have thought of.
Right now I'm going through and taking notes on each and every answer you wrote.
I'll keep you posted on the new articles and the new program that's going to come out of what you asked for!
By Josh Hillis
Josh is the author of the ever-popular fat loss e-book: The Stubborn Seven Pounds
If you've already completed The Stubborn Seven Pounds, take it to the next level with one of these two programs:
Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss orFighter Workouts for Fat Loss for Women
"I've seen more results in 6 weeks training with Josh than I saw in the previous two years working out on my own" -Stephanie Weis
Josh has been featured in USA Today and The Denver Post.
© Joshua Hillis 2009
You always tell it like it is. I heart you.
Fantastic! I like “addicted to getting results!” That’s my new mantra . Thanks for sharing.
Great post!
It made me remember a passage from Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Rudyard Kipling’s story about a mongoose:
“It was a temptation to eat the whole banana, but Rikki remembered what his mother had taught him: A full meal makes a slow mongoose, and if he wanted his strength and greatness ready, he must keep himself thin.”
Who’s the girl in the bikini photo? GORGEOUS.
Seriously, you give the absolute best food/exercise advice. I own both of your e-books and I recently got my first kettlebell (sooooo much fun). I’ve been reading your site for a little over a year and a half and I wouldn’t be the shape I’m in now if it weren’t for your help! Thanks a million,
Katelyn
I LOVED, absolutely LOVED this article!! I could NOT be further from the truth!! I am a SEMI-HEALTHY eater..i’d LOVE, LOVE to eat chicken n brown rice for dinner, but I ALWAYS feel I need to add something processed, or a big fat nasty dessert afterwards..and I work out like a damn fool. I SHOULD have a rockin’ body – but since I don’t eat properly – I don’t.
I am going to get addicted to eating rite.!
I LOVE YOUR SITE!
It is blocked at my work for some reason, tho 🙁
Wonder why???
you’re so right. the “fake” hungry feeling is addicting but its also sedating and not real hunger. we lose the ability to read our bodies cues this way which is sad.
Great read and h0t photos too!
Hi Josh,
Perhaps as a follow-up to this, what would you recommend for those of us who are transitioning to this style of eating (i.e., not until you’re completely full, without some sort of dessert to “top off,” etc.)? I’ve been eating more vegetables/fiber/protein, drinking more water, eating smaller meals more frequently, but I still find that I’m really, really hungry. Is this just “fake hunger?” I’m a female at about 25% body fat, so I’m not in the rockstar zone yet – what gives with the hunger?!
That swing photo is money!
Great post! Loved it, quite inspirational [:
but what do you do when those craving hit? working out daily is easy enough… it’s the eating right that is the most difficult part.
I agree with J. The hardest part is definitely eating. Not only the cravings, but the moeny aspect, too.
I bought salmon the other day – 8.99 a pound! That gets expensive!
still lovin’ the article tho! VERY inspirational.