Dieting Plan For Weight Loss I Walk & Talk With E Ep 003
In this solo Walk‑and‑Talk episode, Eric Roberts discusses how to structure a realistic, sustainable daily diet for fat loss. He argues against extreme restriction and food‑group elimination, promoting flexible dieting that allows any food that fits within a calorie and macro target. The core of his advice is to base the majority of calories on nutrient‑dense, minimally processed “one‑ingredient” foods—fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and other foods that come from a single source. Roberts explains why such foods are more satiating and provide better “calorie‑for‑calorie” value than highly processed items, making it easier to stay in a calorie deficit. He introduces an 80/20 rule: 80 % of daily calories should come from whole, one‑ingredient foods, while the remaining 20 % can be allocated to treats or less‑nutritious items, keeping the diet enjoyable yet disciplined. He emphasizes simplicity and routine—repeating similar meals daily reduces decision fatigue and improves long‑term adherence. Throughout, he ties diet quality to energy levels, workout performance, and overall health, urging listeners to view food as more than fuel and to balance moderation with consistency.
Chapters
What is going on, guys? Welcome back to— I think it's the 3rd episode of Walk and Talk with E. Hope you're doing well. Again, pretty nice weather outside today, about 85-degree weather, a little bit of a breeze. I don't know if you can hear it in the mic. Hopefully it's not too bad, but a little bit of breeze, feeling good. So in this Walk and Talk today, I'm gonna be chatting about what your daily diet should look like. And I think there's almost some Misconception about what not only a healthy diet should look like, but also what a sustainable and what a realistic day-to-day diet is going to look like. And so I want to start by saying this: if you know me, you know that I'm a big proponent of not over-restricting yourself, of not cutting out certain food groups, of not doing those things to that extreme, because that's just fucking stupid. But I also need to make sure we balance this with the fact that there is gonna be some restriction. And when I say restriction, I just mean if you're looking to lose body fat, for example, going into a calorie deficit is the definition of restriction because you're restricting calories, right? So I want to talk about what this means in terms of your daily diet. And I've had people ask me before, what does my diet look like? How do I I'm pretty notorious for like quote unquote not eating junk food and so on and so forth, which listen, I eat some junk food, don't get me wrong. But with the rise of flexible dieting, with the rise of this overall concept that listen, if it fits in your calories, you can have it. And again, I'm a big proponent of that. I'm a big proponent of if it fits in your macros, if it fits your macros, you can and should have it. You should not restrict foods. You should not over-restrict foods. You should not over-restrict food groups or anything along those lines. But that doesn't mean that you should— if your calorie deficit is 1,800 calories, you should not eat 1,800 calories of Starbucks coffee and chips and guac and things along those lines. Most of your food should still be coming from nutrient-dense, Minimally processed whole foods. Foods that either grew from the ground, flew in the sky, roamed the earth— that's the last one— or swam in the ocean. One of those 4 things. And also, one, one-ingredient foods I think is huge as well. And I oftentimes get people asking me what one-ingredient foods are. One-ingredient foods are just what they sound like. For example? Oatmeal, one-ingredient food. Avocado, one-ingredient food. Chicken breast, one-ingredient food. Egg, one-ingredient food. Apple, one-ingredient food. One-ingredient foods that are not like made up in some lab. And what is the reasoning for this? The reasoning for this is because there's a vast difference between what these minimally processed whole foods are going to give you as opposed to, you know, things you buy from the grocery store that have 16 different ingredients in there. Number one, those foods that are higher processed— and again, I'm not saying don't cut these out altogether, but what I am saying though is the majority of your diet should be coming from these minimally processed, nutrient-dense whole foods. Because when you're eating a lot of these highly processed foods, it's gonna do a few things. Number one, typically They are less satiating and higher in calories. So what does that mean? They're— you're going to be able to eat more of them without getting, without getting full, without getting filled up. So if you don't get full easily and you can eat more of them and they're higher in calories, well, guess what? It's gonna be a lot harder to stick to your calorie deficit, whatever, whatever your calorie deficit number may be. It's gonna be a lot harder to stick to that, right? And they're also, you know, this is where some people get into the argument of like, oh well, certain foods just make me hungrier, or certain foods make me binge, or whatever it is. For some people, yeah. I mean, again, if you are constantly intaking foods that are not giving you a high return on your investment— and what I mean by that is like, let's say for example you have 100 calories from a Big Mac versus 100 calories from a salad, right? Let's just use those 2 examples. 100 calories from a Big Mac probably is like maybe 2 bites of a Big Mac, maybe 2 bites. It's not much food. It's not going to give you much bang for your buck, not going to give you much return on your investment of those calories, right? It's just like if you were investing money, it's not going to give you much return on your investment for those calories. Now, 100 calories from a salad, or again, any of the, you know, Nutrient-dense whole foods. 100 calories from a salad, it's a lot of food. Although it's not a lot of calories, a lot of food volume, right? So you're able to not only have more food in your stomach, but as well, these foods tend to fill you up more. So if you get full easier, and you can fill your stomach up more, and you get proper nutrients, and they're lower in calories, Guess what? That's going to allow you to stick to your calorie deficit that much better, which is going to allow you to see progress that much better. Not only progress for right now, but progress forever. Progress in the long term. Sustainable progress. If you ask me what my diet looks like, 90% of the time, it's just the exact same shit. And I'm— and So many people freak out when people talk about, I don't wanna eat the same thing every single day. Listen, I get it. It's understandable. But realizing that, like, you know, for example, if my dinner is going to be, I don't know, let's call it rice and steak and spinach. I have that very often. Number one, those are all one-ingredient foods, right? Notice that. Number 2, that can be changed out. I can have salmon and potatoes and a salad, or I can have ground beef with sweet potato fries and some other sort of— some broccoli or asparagus. I like asparagus. So the point being, you're keeping things simple and you're keeping it to where— I'm not saying for dinner one night I'm gonna have steak, rice, and spinach. And the next night I'm gonna have a bowl of Fruity Pebbles, which by the way, for the past like 3 months I've had a bowl of Fruity Pebbles every single day and I'm totally fine. But why is that? That one bowl— I'm so glad I brought this up— that one bowl of Fruity Pebbles, that's the thing. That's the thing, right? To where, yeah, maybe not the most nutritious, maybe not the most nutrient-dense, but guess what? The rest of my day looks like steak, rice, spinach, protein shake, clementine, banana, chicken, sweet potatoes, some salad. That's what the rest of my day looks like. It doesn't look like morning, I'm gonna have my Fruity Pebbles, breakfast time or lunchtime, I'm gonna have, I don't know, fucking Starbucks coffee with some random crisps. Like all these things that are, again, the more on the processed side. So while you can enjoy foods in moderation in your calorie deficit and still lose weight, don't lose sight of the fact that, listen, there's a reason fruits and vegetables are such a huge proponent of any healthy diet, right? Which, by the way, this is not just about your overall body composition, this is about your health as well. I think we oftentimes forget that. Number 2, there's a reason You know, lean meats are always such a big proponent of most diets. They keep you full. They're pretty important. They can help you stick to your deficit better. They can help you stick to overall calories better, right? So don't let the fact that just because people like myself talk about calorie deficit, eat these calories, good to go— you want to make sure you're optimizing Those calories you're eating. Because if not, it's gonna be a lot harder to stick to. It's gonna be a lot harder to not only stick to but enjoy yourself and feel good, right? Like, if you're always eating nothing but like processed foods and, and, you know, not including many fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whatever it is, it's gonna be a lot tougher for you to not only stick to it, but because your energy is gonna be low, your cravings are through the roof. Like, your workouts are gonna suck. You're not gonna be able to build as much muscle because your workouts suck, right? There's a direct correlation. We'll use workout performance. There's a direct correlation between what you're putting in your body and then how you perform. The old adage is like, food is fuel. Listen, food is much more than fuel. You know, we use food for social gatherings and so on and so forth. It's much more than just fuel. But again, this, this Balancing this, this moderation line. Yeah, food is fuel. So if you're constantly fueling your body with, you know, these shit foods— and I don't want to say shit foods, they're going to make it sound like it's bad. It's not bad. But if you're constantly fueling your body with nothing but, you know, these highly processed foods, it's probably how you're going to feel. And guess what? If you feel like that, it's probably what your result is going to be, right? So That's my little rant for today when it comes to the overall concept of, yes, calories matter for damn sure, but there's so much more that matters than just calories, and you should take everything into consideration when looking at your daily diet. I think I want to leave you with this, like, the 80/20 rule. And actually, what I just told you earlier is a perfect example of this. The 80/20 rule. 80% of your foods should be coming from nutrient-dense whole foods, one-ingredient foods. You know, again, things like sweet potatoes, one ingredient. Chicken, one ingredient. Spinach, one ingredient. Fruit, one ingredient. Now let's say, for example, let's say you combine oatmeal with, I don't know, peanut butter and banana. Sounds great. Or let's do this, protein with— this is one of my favorite things. Protein— I'm sorry, oatmeal with protein powder and Greek yogurt and a banana, or whatever fruit you want. You can combine one-ingredient foods, but you know what those foods are. They're one ingredient, right? So 80% of your food choices should be coming from that, and then 20% of your food choices can come from things you enjoy, like birthday cake Fruity Pebbles that I eat every single day for the past— I don't even know how long now. But it's 20%. So if your calorie deficit is 1,800 calories, 1,500 of those calories should be coming from those nutrient-dense whole foods, whereas 300 come from things you enjoy, whether it's a treat at night or whether it's this or whether it's that. Whatever you're, you know, whatever you want to have, have it. But you got to realize you still have to practice this moderation. You still have to practice that and realize that a majority of what you're supposed to be doing Yes, vegetables, protein, lean meats, fruits, like, you know, minimally processed foods. You can enjoy things, but you gotta walk that balance line and find— and honestly, it's not easy— but find that balance line where, you know, the majority of your day probably is gonna look pretty simple, pretty basic, and pretty routine. Which, by the way, makes it a lot easier to stick to it for a long time. If it's simple, if it's basic, and it's routine. I know you might be scared of like eating the same thing every single day, but it's pretty routine, it's pretty simple, it's pretty basic. It takes out a lot of the guesswork, so you're probably gonna be able to stick to it for a long period of time. And if you can stick to it for a long time, aka the rest of your life, well, guess what? Probably gonna see better results. So a lot— again, 80/20 rule. I'm gonna end with that. 80/20 rule. 80% of your food should be coming from nutrient-dense whole foods. 20% of your foods can come from foods you enjoy. Use that rule. Truly think about what that rule means. Again, that's 300 calories. That's not the majority of your day. It's only 20% of your day. The majority of your day coming from pretty simple, pretty basic foods. Again, you can spice it up how you want, but not every single meal is going to look like what you see on Instagram or what you see on TikTok or what you see on YouTube. Like, if I did a day in the life eating of Eric— so basic, man. And I'm a basic person, but maybe I can do a video. But that being said, a lot of what the successful people who maintain a healthy body weight for the rest of their life— a lot of my clients included— it's pretty basic, man. So don't be afraid to do that, and don't You know, don't, don't get it confused with, yeah, you can eat whatever you want, but there has to be that moderation, that's that balance. So that's the talk today, guys. Feeling pretty good. Hopefully I can get some sun. Pretty, uh, pretty pale. You saw that? Pretty pale out here. So hope you enjoyed. If you did, please feel free to let me know below and we will chat soon. All right.
