How to Survive Football Season Without Wrecking Your Diet- ERF 1,051

It's football season. The Bengals are gonna win the Super Bowl. But besides that, we wanna make sure that you are equipped with the tools to survive football season and still stick to your diet, still lose fat, not gain a ton of weight, not drink too much alcohol, not indulge in too many nachos. By the way, not a huge fan of nachos myself.

Mm-mm.

I know other people are, but We want to make sure you're good. And that's what we'll be talking about in today's podcast. Uh, as always on Fridays, joined by co-host Sophie. Do you know who the Bengals are? Do you know what the Super Bowl is?

Yes, of course. Oh, come on. Come on. I was going to say it's a good thing that I'm not that big of a fan because we don't really have the time here to debate. But yes, the Bengals are Cincinnati, right?

That's right.

The orange one with the tiger.

Orange.

Yep.

Damn right.

And that is why you like orange so much, right?

Yeah.

Yep. There you go. Love that. Yeah. I don't, I think my team would have to be Tampa, I guess, since I used to live in Tampa. So I, I'll say that that's my team, but—

Nice.

I mean, I don't—

Yeah. We just, yeah, we just beat them week 1. It's no big deal or anything.

Oh.

It's not a big deal.

Wait, but like, this is so like it, but you, you, you should be Going for the DC team. Isn't that closer to you technically?

No, that's lame. Nobody in my family likes the DC team, even though it's where we're from.

That's who Marcelo supports. And he was having a moment last week because he was like, the quarterback got injured or something. I was like, oh.

Yeah, now he knows how I feel. Yeah, tell him now he knows how I feel.

Yeah, but anyways. Mm-hmm. Just so you know, I'm only like at 40% capacity today because I've been sleeping bad for 3 nights in a row now. And yesterday I just like, dude, I just like can't fall asleep. I don't know what's going on. So I can't fall asleep and then I wake up and then I can't, like, I just like stay up and I'm just like wired. And I don't know, like yesterday I couldn't fall asleep. I went to bed, I went to bed at 10:30 or Early. It was like literally there for like an hour and a half, then I fell asleep. Eventually I woke up at 2:30 and I couldn't sleep. I literally sat in the bed for like an hour and then I was like, all right, fuck this. And then I went to my couch, I read my book, and then I was like, I'm gonna go to the beach at 6:30 for the sunrise. So what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna stay up for that. So then like 6:30 rolls around, I look at the weather and it's raining. I'm like, oh, fuck me. I think it's because I took a medication break from my ADHD medication a few days, and then I restarted it, and it always happens this way. It sucks. I'm like, God, I hate this. I think that's what it is. That sucks, dude.

I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, I was about to go into a deep dive diagnosis here, but it's— are you in a deficit?

Yeah, but I just started that.

How many? How many grams of carbs do you have at dinner?

I don't know. I can look. I don't know.

Yeah, pull it up. Pull it up. Pull it up. Pull that shit up.

Okay, let's see.

And because you're tracking in the ERF Clubhouse app, you'll be able to know.

Yes, correct. I had 45 grams of carbs.

And how many do you have for the whole day?

Well, yesterday I had 104.

OK, so almost half of your daily carbs.

Oh.

Mmhmm.

Mmhmm.

That's good. No, I mean, that's— so you want— sometimes what happens is— and it's funny. Remember I was talking about this? Remember I was talking about this in a previous podcast where I was like, I'm pretty sure it's my calorie deficit? When people who are already somewhat lean are in a calorie deficit, like, for yourself, you're not like 50 pounds overweight. So you're already somewhat lean. So when somebody who's already somewhat lean goes into a calorie deficit, what do they typically have to do? They can't cut their protein that much because they're going to lose muscle and they can't really cut their dietary fat too much because they need it for healthy hormones. So the macronutrient that usually gets cut the most is carbohydrates.

Carbs, yeah.

And at night, what allows you to kind of get into the rest and digest parasympathetic nervous system is a little bit higher carbs and your brain will use carbs for energy at night. So if you're having trouble falling asleep and trouble staying asleep, sometimes it's because you're not eating enough carbs at night to give your body enough glycogen to use throughout the night to get to sleep and to most importantly, stay asleep. So like recently what I did with my deficit was I switched around some of my carbs. So now I'm having more carbs at dinner, probably by about an extra like 40 to 50-ish grams. And I've actually been pretty much sleeping throughout the entire night, knock on wood. So I think it's been helping. I think for you, maybe not the case 'cause you used to be ADHD meds and stuff. But I think for some people out there, that could definitely be something they could look at.

Well, it could be that. I also think, I mean, in my case it's hard because I feel like if I add more calories, it has to go towards protein. So I would have to figure out how to increase it. But I've also read that depending on where you are In your cycle, it can also impact how much you sleep. I think the days that you ovulate, I think those days it's harder for you to sleep because you're more wired. So depending on also your cycle. So yeah, welcome to being a woman, I guess.

A lot of stuff at play, huh?

A lot of stuff. How was your sleep last night?

I woke up at 4. I don't know why. Well, so, dude, I am like— I was about to say we should have FaceTimed. I'm not gonna lie to you, Holmes. I was— I'm like, when 8:30 rolls around, I'm out. I'm sleeping. I'm done. It's just game over for me, dude. And it's funny, 'cause no matter what time I wake up, like, 8:30, I'm like, yeah, this is good. I'm done. I'm done for today, and I just go to bed. That's pretty much what's been happening the last week or so.

I love that.

Yeah. I mean, but I don't know, dude. I've said this before on the podcast, but I like getting up 4:00, 4:30. I don't always do it, 'cause sometimes I'll sleep until maybe even 6:00 or 6:30 if I'm feeling kinda crazy.

Uh-huh.

Um, but when I get up at 4:00 or 4:30, I just feel like I'm just fucking rocking, like, just in a complete zone. You're caffeinated. I got 500 millies of caffeine in me, just absolutely ripping. And so, yeah, man. I like that. I had a really good morning. Had a productive morning. Got some good things done. Working on Eric AI a lot. Super excited about— oh, dude, I gotta show you Eric AI, man.

You do. I was gonna say I haven't seen it.

It's gonna be crazy, man. Yeah, it's gonna be pretty— it's gonna be— yeah. It's funny. I was talking to the people who I'm building it with, and they were straight-up like, Eric, like, some of the shit that you're saying— 'cause really, anything is possible with this thing, to a degree. Like, to a degree, but there's always a way to figure something out. And I was like, Hey, I wanna do this, I wanna do this, I wanna do that, I wanna do this with it. And they were like, dude, I'll be honest, out of all the people that we work with who have their own AI, he was like, nobody's doing what you're asking to do. So they're like, you're gonna be pretty innovative with what you have in your AI. I'm like, let's fucking go. Like, that makes me super stoked. So, yeah.

Cool.

That's gonna be something super fun to be coming soon inside for our members. Members only. Members only. If you're in the Clubhouse app, you'll be able to access the Eric AI, so that's exciting.

I can get an Eric pep talk at any time of the day.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Dude, it's funny, 'cause they were even like— it's so funny. They were even like, um, yeah, what else we can do, Eric, is we can build one internally for your team, so your team will never have to ask you questions ever again. And I was like... that's good.

That's hilarious.

It's funny, 'cause Nicole and Judy were both on the call, and they were like, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Whoa.

Yeah, I don't know if I wanna do that.

I don't like that. I don't like that. That's funny. Um, okay, wait, question. I guess I don't know anything about this, but I feel like the way you are, uh, in your content is different than the way that you are as a coach. I feel like I've said this before, but I remember when I started coaching with you, you were much nicer. Not to say that you're an asshole, that's not what I'm saying, but you were just so much nicer than I thought you would be.

Mm-hmm.

So how do you train this AI? to be like you? Is it like based on your content or based on what?

It's based on, uh, con— yeah, so it— every single podcast I've ever done, every single YouTube video I've ever done, every single Instagram post, TikTok video, literally every piece of content I've ever put out in my entire life on any platform anywhere, it's all in the AI. But then also what I did was I took Like, Loom check-in videos that I did. I took— yeah, dude. Yeah. I didn't know that. Yep. I took Loom check-in videos I did. I took all of, um, just all of, like, the human interactions that I've had with clients and all of our team really has had with clients. Um, I've also, like, basically what I did was I made, like, a 20-minute voice note just kind of going through All of my philosophy as a coach, all of my, um, EQ, emotional intelligence, all of, like, my pillars of what I think makes a great coach and how we like to coach people and whatnot. And I uploaded that as, like, the one document where, like, you have to live by this. And so, yeah, dude, it's— yeah, it's pretty fucking crazy, if I'm being honest with you.

Awesome, dude.

Yeah, it's really nuts.

That's amazing. Oh my god, I can't wait. When is that going to launch?

Um, I probably shouldn't say this out loud, but my— so, it's funny. We had, like, an hour-long— we had a really good meeting today. There was like 10 people on this call. Dude, OK, side note. Side note. I felt like, for like a half second, I felt like a real business owner, because, like, there's like 10—

You're like, this is a little too serious.

Yeah, 'cause there was their team, there was our developers, there was my team, and I was like, All right, guys, this is the goal. Like, we got to get this done by this time. Everything we're going to talk about, this is what you have to think about. I don't want you to tell me that we can't do it. I want to ask, like, what will it take to get this done? Like, we're going to get this done. And it was funny because I was like, wow, I feel like a real, uh, a real business owner.

Yeah, you're like so legit. It's so legit.

Yeah, but, uh, I'm hoping, I'm hoping by October 16th. That is the goal. We have— there's 2 things at play, which I don't know if I should say the second one yet or not, because that's kind of like a little bit of a surprise for people who may want to try the app out. But there's 2 things that I'm trying to sync together. We— there's 2 things I'm trying to sync together, AI being one of it, the Eric AI being one of it, and the second one being the other one. So I'm hoping we can converge these 2 things by October 16th at the very latest for our current members. You'll have access to it this week. So you'll test it and you'll be able to go through it and whatnot. Yeah, we're gonna have the team internally test it and make sure it's all good and make sure everything is how it should be. But yeah, dude, so that's the goal.

It's like way quicker than I thought it would be. Oh my God.

Well, we've been working a couple weeks on it. And I mean, I paid a pretty penny to have them like Fucking move their shit together. Um, so, so yeah, dude, it's, uh, it's exciting. Yeah, it's gonna be awesome.

Dude, one more side note, um, because you talked about how you came into this meeting and you had a whole agenda. It like gave me flashbacks when we did the, the meeting with that media team that we had, that you had worked with. And like you jumped into the meeting, you were so serious and so to the point that I was like, there is no like Hi, how's the weather? There's no, like, there's no rapport. It's just like so serious. I'm just like, okay.

Dude, you gotta get shit done. That's how, that's how I was like today. I was the same exact thing because it's like, dude, some— I don't know. I mean, I think, I mean, you know me, like, I'm obviously, I'm pretty chill, but like, sometimes I'm gonna, you know, like, if I feel like there needs to be your foot on the gas a little bit, like, I'm gonna let people know of that. And that's, yeah, that's just all I did for that call too, was like, hey guys, like, I'm just gonna Keep it real with you. This is what the fuck I want. And I don't want you to— like, I want you to ask the question of what will it take to get this done? Not like, oh, this is impossible because there's a way. Like, there's a way to get it done. So yeah, I think sometimes, again, I'm very new in my business venture, but I think sometimes there's a time and place for that sort of stuff.

I love it. Love it. Cool, dude. Well, anything else you want to share before we get started?

No, dude. I'm just stacking up these, just stacking up these miles, dude. Like this week I'm at 15.3 miles ran already. I ran 6.5 today.

Holy shit.

9-minute pace. So, dude, we're just rocking and rolling.

Hell yeah. What shoes do you wear to run? I think special ones.

I have these New Balances. Yeah, they're like running shoes. Yeah, I'm actually probably gonna have to get some new ones 'cause I've had them for maybe 4 months, 5 months now. So I'll probably have to get some new ones soon.

That's cool, dude.

But yeah, dude, running's going really well. Cardio's going really well. So funny. I was thinking about this on my drive home from the gym just now. For such a long time— well, I never liked cardio, so I came up with all the excuses as to why not to do it. But truthfully, I was like, dude, it's really gonna hinder my gains, my strength, so on and so forth.

Yeah.

And granted, I think I've put together a really good program, and I'm dialed with my nutrition, just fucking locked in with that. So, like, in my sleep, I'm going to sleep at 8:30, so I'm recovering really well, but like... I mean, dude, my physique, I think, is... It's funny. I looked at my— so, right now I'm roughly around 246 to 248, fluctuating. I looked at a picture of myself at 250 from this time last year, and I was like, bro, you're fucking fat there. Like, what the fuck? But now I'm like 246 to 248, and I'm like, damn. I can tell my body composition is much different. You look muscle. Hell yeah. Well, it's just like you... Because also, when... And we can get into the pod for sure. But like when you do more zone 2 cardio and even higher intensity cardio, you get better blood flow, you get better mitochondria production, you know, you get better vascularity because you literally have to like push more blood into your muscles. Your heart is pushing more blood all throughout your body. So I'm noticing my body composition is just also changing aside from all the great health benefits that I'm also, you know, obviously getting the benefit of. But, like, body composition-wise, just— yeah, dude, I think people... And it's hard because... Yeah, I know. It's hard for me because, obviously, like I've said for so long, and I still believe this, so, like... But I say walking and lifting and calorie deficit for fat loss, for sure. But I'm kinda more so speaking to the more advanced people when I say this sort of stuff, where I'm like, bro, work in the cardio for sure. Like, if you're getting to that stage where You got the deficit down, you got the protein down, you got the lifting down, you got your daily steps down. Like, yeah, man, it's time to work in some of that cardio. It doesn't have to be as much as I'm doing, 'cause like you said before, like, I, yes, I am doing a lot right now, but it didn't have to be as long as I'm doing it. But I think people should start to work this in. So.

Cool. I didn't know that cardio could make you look better. That's interesting. Huh. Cool. Give me a second. Hold on. Okay, I'm back. Cool. So do you want to tell the people what we're talking about today?

That that lady laughed at my gift. She did.

Yeah, it's funny. Um, yeah. I should try that. Like when people ghost me, just like send. But I I don't know if I can because like my clients are so serious.

You're B to B. Yeah, who knows?

Maybe.

Yeah, dude. Yeah, but at the end of the day, everybody's a person.

So like right. Like sometimes I'm in meetings. I'm like, it's not that deep, y'all. Like it's it's it's fine. Anyway, sorry. Continue.

Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, we're talking about, you know, how to hopefully stick to your diet even during football season. So we know football season comes with events, parties, get-togethers, comes with alcohol, comes with people having get-togethers where maybe you bring something or there's something there. So all these things play a role in obviously staying on track with your diet. And we're gonna hopefully give you some actionable tips. It's funny that you brought this topic up. I wrote an email on this last week.

Yeah.

And people actually found it really helpful. I got a lot of emails back that were like, oh, thank God. Like, I needed this. So this will be good.

That's awesome. Sometimes I'm like sitting on my couch and like a pod idea just comes to me. Like, this was one, like it just came to me randomly. I'm like, oh, that's good. Okay, cool. Okay. So question number 1, what do you think makes attending these events so hard for people? Do you think it's the food itself or is it the environment that makes it easy to overdo it?

I think, you know, that's like, is it the chicken or the egg? I think it's both, obviously.

Um...

I would probably lean more towards the environment, because I think people feel a sense of peer pressure more than anything else. And sometimes I don't even really mean that as in, like, people are fucking in your face telling you to eat or drink this. It's more like being a part of the event, being a part of the social event, Being, you know, we as humans, we want a sense of like belonging. We want a sense of we, you know, we're in the crowd. We're able to be amongst our tribe if you go back all the way. So I would say it's a little bit more of the environment from the social perspective. I think sometimes people have a hard time connecting socially if they're not doing the other things that the social group is doing. That's why, like, you know, is it easier to stay on track with your diet when you are at a football get-together where there's a bunch of drinks and alcohol and food? Or is it easier to stay on track if you guys go for a hike or a run? Like, no matter what, it's probably easier to stay on track if you go for a hike or a run, because like, there's no food, there's no alcohol. It's just the other people who are there are also doing the same thing. So I think the environment definitely plays a role. And then I also just think it's, yes, the food. And I do think there is a way, obviously, to curate your environment as much as possible to lead towards you being as consistent as possible, i.e., bringing your own food, hosting the event so you can be in charge of the food. Eating before the event, eating after the event, taking things with you. So, there's things you can do to curate your environment to be successful, but it's hard sometimes for people because maybe people are at the— they're on the weekends, they're running some errands, they're stopping off at their friend's house, or their spouses like a certain food, their friends aren't really that healthy, so they're not going to make healthy food for them. They're going to just want to make them happy. So, I think all of these things just play a big role. And, you know, as for as much as we can sit here and say, who gives a shit, just stay on track. Like, that's just usually not the reality of the situation, at least for the clients that we coach. Like, we want them to live a realistic life. So yeah. Yeah.

And I feel like what's difficult about football season too is how long it lasts for. And I feel like, I mean, it's a good thing that people get together to do this. Like, it's not a bad thing to get out of your house and be with your friends and celebrating. But I just feel like we as humans, we only want to eat. What is this? Like, why do we only eat with each other? Like, it's— there's so much emphasis around food. Like, it's just interesting to me. Even when you want to hang out with a friend, the first thing that people say is like, let's go to happy hour. Let's go get dinner. Let's go get lunch. Like, That's usually what people want to do together, and I think that's really interesting. Like why we've kind of made all of this like whole thing around food, and like even parties that you go to, there's always going to be food. So I feel like that's one of the issues, and the fact that if you're someone that's staying on track the whole week, and then on the weekend you go to a party, and there's like a whole display of food, I mean. That's like hard. You're not used to being in that environment. And like you, like you said, you want to belong and you don't want to be the odd person out that's not eating or whatever. So, which to be fair, I don't think that people are actually paying attention to you. Like people think that they are, right? Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Okay. So you kind of touched on this already, but let's say that someone is going to a watch party. What can they be doing specifically that day to prepare going into that party? I know you said bringing your own food, but can you maybe go into more detail?

Yeah, so I'll use the typical— so like a typical NFL Sunday is, for most people, the games are like 1 to 4. And I know people on the West Coast, people on— but like, that's the typical slot where the most games are happening. And so people will go watch some. Or, you know, they might even have like, they have games at 4:15 PM Eastern Standard Time. Like if it's the game of the week, maybe it'll be like a 4:00 PM to 7:30 PM game or something like that. So my advice really would stay the same, which is you have to control beforehand as much as possible. So what does that really look like on an action basis? Well, I think first it looks like getting up and being productive with your health and fitness in the early part Of the day. So this means getting up early and having a really good protein-packed breakfast, making sure you're getting good fiber, making sure you're staying hydrated, getting enough water intake. Like, your first meal of the day, I think, should be earlier in the day, and it should be packed with protein, fiber, and water. Those should be like the top 3 things you should be looking to get in that first meal of the day. And then again, don't You know, don't sleep in until fucking 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock. Like, get up, get moving your body, make a good breakfast. And then, like I just said, move your body. So if you know you're gonna be stuck on the couch from 1 PM to 4 PM watching your team drive you crazy, you, you gotta get steps before then. You gotta get workouts before then. Because a lot of times, even if you wanna go after, if you intend to go after, you may not want to go after, or something may happen to where you can't go after the game. So you get up early, you go to the gym early on a Sunday morning. It's always funny, like I'm at the gym on Sunday mornings pretty, pretty early. I mean, 8 o'clock, but there's nobody there. And I'm like, if you guys are gonna be watching fucking football all day doing nothing, like you gotta get up and, you know, get your workouts in, get your steps in, get your runs in. So I think it's really the first main part of it is get up and get your shit knocked out early. That would be number one. And then number 2, In terms of setting yourself up for success, if it's possible, which everybody's different, maybe people go to church, maybe people run errands, I understand that. But if you— if it's possible to also get some meal prep done for the week, because I think also what happens is on Sunday, people just kind of use that as their lazy day. They're sitting in front of the couch and they genuinely enjoy just watching football, but then they forget Monday morning comes around really quick. And so if it's 8 PM and you have no food ready for the upcoming week because you just spent all day Sunday not cooking, well, that's gonna bite you in the ass on Monday. So if you can get some stuff done meal prep-wise before the event, before the games, before the, the, the parties, I think it's also a really good setting yourself up for success. And then The third part of that, going right in line with food, I would always eat before the game. Like, no matter what time of the game, no matter what time it is, don't just say, oh, well, like, maybe I'm gonna go watch the game, I'm gonna eat there. Okay, you can do that, but if you ate 30 to 60 minutes before and you had a good, again, protein-packed, nutrient-dense meal, maybe you do eat while you're watching the game, wherever you do, but maybe it's just like a little bit of appetizer. Here and there. Maybe it's just a little bit of snacks here and there. Maybe it's not like, well, I'm gonna have the snacks and the appetizers and the entrees and the drinks. It's like you're just trying to mitigate, you're trying to do damage control as much as possible. So eating before, I think, could be a really good tactic as well. And then, you know, during the game, you mentioned this, something that we used to tell, or I think we still do, I guess I used to tell all of our clients because I don't coach directly one-on-one people anymore. I would always tell my clients that when you're at some sort of event like this, you know, this goes for anything. This goes for like a buffet too. You want to use typically what we call the one plate rule, where you can eat, you can pick the foods you like, you can eat those foods, but it has to fit on one plate. Because what happens is when you have so many different options, That's when you tend to overeat because you're like, well, I'll have some of this and I'll have some of that. I'll have some of this. I'll have some of that. I'll go back for seconds for this. And like, there's just no— there's no end in sight. Your brain and your taste buds can just continue to get new flavors, new textures, and it knows that, so it wants more. So you just keep eating more. But if you say, all right, out of all of this, I'm gonna eat the grilled chicken, I'm gonna eat the mac and cheese, and I'm gonna have this dessert. And you put those 3 food items on one plate. You have that one plate, you ate the foods that you enjoyed, you had moderation, and you stop. So I would also encourage that for when you're actually at the event. On top of that, you make a plan beforehand for how many drinks you are going to have if you choose to partake in that. And you also try to— not try, you work that into your overall calories for the day. So if you say, I'm gonna have 2 Aerial Spritz, or Aerial— I don't know how to say that one. I don't even know what they're— it's like—

how do you say it? Aperol Spritz?

Aperol Spritz, yeah. Uh, I don't even know what the fuck that is. Um, I'm gonna have 2 Aperol Spritz. Um, cool. That's fine. But, like, you gotta work it into your calories, and you have to decide that upfront. 'Cause, again, going back to kinda the social thing, if you're out and about with your friends, it's really easy to, like, have great intentions to have 1 or 2 drinks, but then, like, very easily get into 4 or 5 drinks. And now that 300 calories you allotted for has turned into 600, 700 calories. And now with the appetizers, with the drinks, with the fact that you have 2,000 steps for the entire day, that turns into a very low calorie burn, high calorie intake day that could very easily set you back progress-wise. So I could keep going, but those are the couple things that come to mind for me.

I really like, I really think that making the plan is key. I mean, at least in my experience, I feel like when I come in without a plan is when I usually will fail. And I feel like I tend to think that it's better to not eat beforehand. Um, and there's been times where that has worked and other times where, like you said, I kind of go a little bit overboard. But I know I remember you had taught me that, um, when you used to coach me. But I do the same, like one plate, like food. And I like to do like, oh, I'll have one protein for sure. Like I have to have a protein source in my plate. And I'll do like, okay, if I'm going to have a sweet, I'm going to pick one. I don't need to pick 3. Or I'll have like a little bit of each one and like I'll share. So like just like those strategies like that I will do for myself. And the last thing I was I was gonna say is it's interesting. I hadn't thought about the activity because I was only thinking about food, but you're right. Like, if you start off your day by going on a walk, you're kind of setting yourself for success there because yeah, you're gonna be sitting a lot. Nobody's gonna be on a treadmill watching football. I mean, you could, but not at a watch party. And also I feel like, okay, so you're starting off the day with doing something hard. Then I feel like it puts you in the right mindset to continue to do the things, if that makes sense. Like, oh, like. It's gonna be harder for you to overeat when you know already, like, well, I already have my 10,000 steps. So, like, do I wanna stay on track or not?

Yeah. Yeah, agreed. I like that. Yeah. Um, like, for example... And I don't really— I don't look at— I mean... So, like, Sundays are my long-run day, so I'll run for like 75 minutes. And so it was funny. I got home at like 10:30 or something, and I looked at my watch, and it was like 15,000 steps. I'm like... OK, well, I don't need to get a fuckton of steps the rest of the day, 'cause I got 15K. I think I'm all right. But that also, you know, it helps you be able to just set yourself up for success. Like I said, set yourself up for success that much more.

Mmhmm.

So, yeah. I mean, and then the other last couple of things I would say is, and I don't know how people do or don't do their shit, but I mean, the way my house is set up, like, I have my living room and my kitchen. It just flows, same thing. So, like, I can easily be cooking and meal prepping while watching the game. Like, the game's on, it's on the TV. I can have some stuff in the air fryer. I can have some stuff on the stove. I can do whatever I need to do and just kind of, like, hope and meal prep there as well. So depending on, obviously, where you're at and that sort of stuff, 'cause some people will just, quite frankly, they'll just, like, couch rot at their house and, like, not do anything and just, like, sit there from 1:00 PM to, like, 8:00 PM, 9:00 PM watching football.

Right.

Which, hey, do your thing. But again, Can we use that time a little bit more efficiently? Like, can we just maybe even just do it at halftime, spend 30 minutes? Because halftime's usually 20, 30 minutes. Spend that time to meal prep a bit, get up and go take a walk. That's what I try to do. Like, during the halftime of the Bengals games, I try to go get a walk in. So, you know, there's just so many ways that you can approach this. But I think just the overall concept of just do— it's just so funny, but do something as opposed to nothing. Like, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Right. Um, so based on what you've said, I feel like the answer is no. But do you feel like there are any cases where people should save their calories for the, their party that they're going to go to?

I think they should. I think you should save your calories, but I don't think people understand what saving your calories actually means. Like, people think saving your calories means not eating, and I'm just gonna have as many calories as I possibly can to put towards This event. That's not, that's not the way I coach it. That's not the way I would recommend you do it. The way I would recommend you doing it is almost like, is, is protein fasting. So what I mean by that is eat the shit out of some protein and some, and some fiber, usually protein, fruits, and veggies. Eat a fuck ton of those before you go to whatever event you're going to. You're going to be so full, you're going to be so satisfied. You're going to have good fiber in your stomach keeping you full, protein keeping you full, blood sugar levels are stable, and you'll save a lot. You'll save a lot of calories for that. So you might go into— let's say there's a 4 o'clock game somebody wants to watch. You might go into the 4 o'clock game already having 100 grams of protein with 17 grams of fiber, and that's like, you're not gonna be hungry. But you're also going to have a lot of calories still for the day. So I would focus on like quote unquote protein fasting, protein fruit veggie fasting, trying to maybe save your carbs for around the time that you want to go to the event because maybe there will be more carbs there. There'll be less protein there, but that's okay because you've already gotten the majority of your protein earlier in the day and you have the room for some extra carbs. While you're at this event and it won't backfire. Because if you go into these events and you don't eat, again, good luck staying consistent, good luck staying on track. Like, it's great you have the best intentions, but very rarely do people come out of that with like, oh yeah, I really crushed that. They're usually like, fuck, I overate as usual.

Other than your one plate strategy, are there other swaps or strategies or like little tricks that you've seen clients do over the years of things that they do to stay in their deficit while they're at parties or during football season? Yeah.

Number one is bring your own food and not like a Tupperware food. I mean, like, if you're— no, like if you're having, you know, you're having a smorgasbord, you're having a buffet of stuff. Cool. You bring the fruit, tray, you bring the carrot and celery tray, you bring the cheese board, you bring— you say, hey, I'm gonna grill a bunch of protein, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna grill a bunch of protein and bring it over. Like, you get to be in charge of one of the foods, so then you get to eat that food, obviously, and you'll know what it is because you're bringing it. So that would be one thing I've found people have some really good success with because it also gives them something to feel very in control of. Which also just helps you feel like, you know, you're not off the rails and you're on track and you're on the right system. So I think that's a first part of it. The second part of it is we were talking about like the buffet and we were talking about like that sort of stuff. And you mentioned like making sure your plate has protein in it. I— this is, this is a situation where I would really encourage not just following the one plate rule, But really following the sequence of how you eat these foods. So really taking your time to eat all of the protein first, really taking your time to eat all of the fruits or veggies first, if, you know, if there's some there and you had on the plate, and then like finish off with the carbohydrates. But having that time, it just allows you to, number one, get more full. And then number 2, it allows your brain and your stomach more time to talk and also to make a more mindful decision moving forward. So it's not just like this, I have to eat all this food right now. There's so much food in front of me. I got to finish my plate. Like, take your time. Eat the protein first. Eat the fruits and veggies second if there are some there. Finish with the carbs. Take a 5-minute— don't go back for seconds yet. Just like slow down. And I've seen that really help people as well.

Yeah, no, I, I like that. I feel like for me, I'm sure people can relate, but from time to time I'll go into frenzy and I don't know how to explain it. It's just like you get in there and you just like wanna eat everything. And like that has happened to me many times. And that's where I think about, it's so interesting how in order to do these things, you kind of have to focus on Making habit changes because it's like just to give you an example, I drink Diet Coke or Coke Zero and I never drink the regular Coke ever again. So like I feel like people sometimes will diet and then they'll completely go back to like how they used to eat. But like focusing on making those permanent changes, I feel like it's what helps you in those environments or that those moments where you kind of have to pick. Like if you're already used to. eating a certain way, the environment doesn't shock you as much, if that makes sense. Or, like, that's what I found for me works, I think.

Yeah, it's interesting you say that. I think you make a great point, because I also think a lot of people correlate watching football with drinking beer, watching football with eating nachos, watching football with eating like shit. And those two things—

Wait for it.

Yeah. Like, those two things don't have to necessarily correlate. Maybe they have for you in the past, but that's also gotten you your past body. So, like, they don't have to correlate with each other. Like, again, I just watch football. Like, I'll watch the Bengals by myself and, you know, whatever. But, like, I'm just gonna have my regular meal. Like, I don't know, I'm just gonna have my chicken thighs with my sweet potatoes. And, like, you know, I don't need to— Order a pizza to watch the Bengals game. Like, I get it. Like, I understand why. I understand why, but then I would just— I would also say you need to challenge that why. Like, it doesn't need to be that way just because it was that way. And if you do choose it to be that way, then you need to practice guardrails and moderation and use some of the strategies that we've talked about in the podcast thus far to practice more moderation. Because Yeah, if you just keep ordering pizza and wings and nachos and not taking into consideration the calorie count and the portion sizes, well then you're not going to change. And so I don't know, you just be an adult and make the decision of, do you— would you like to change, or do you not really care that much and you'll just stay where you're at? Like, there's also a component of that too, you know. You— yes, you can still have these foods, but you have 2 slices of pizza. Because even like a slice of pizza, depending on How you get it is 150 calories. Like, you can have 2 or 3 slices of pizza worked within your day. Why the fuck can't you do that? But it's gonna be hard to do that and not be starving if you don't eat a lot of protein, make sure you get your daily steps, make sure you hit your fiber, drink your water, also have 4 or 5 beers on top of that. So again, there's just choices that you will need to make. But I think you make a great point of those. They don't have to continue to correlate with each other just because that's what they used to be.

Dude, I was literally going to touch on that, that I feel like it's kind of like when people go to the movies that they feel like they need to eat popcorn, like the one thing and then the other are associated. But when you watch a movie at home, you don't feel the same need to eat popcorn. Like, I feel like I've never really done that. Um, but something I did, because I do think people— I mean, whatever, like, I get that maybe it's not the smartest choice, but I do think like maybe it's comfort or it brings more like enjoyment out of an event. But something that I did last weekend, because Marcelo likes to eat wings and watch football, is I just like looked at the— and we went to Wingstop. I just looked at the calories. I got the boneless wings without any sauce. I got the lowest calorie sauce that I could get. And I got literally like maybe 1/4 serving of the fries. And it was literally like, I think, 560 calories or something like that. Like it wasn't bad. So I just tracked it. So I'm like, okay. I don't have to eat 10 wings with ranch sauce on the side with like a whole side of of fries, right? Like you said, you can kind of adjust it to what you want. So... Yeah.

Yeah, and listen, I'll just be very transparent here. Like, sometimes that sucks, if I'm just being real with you, 'cause right now I'm still trying to be in deficit. Like, I went out to eat to a Mexican place, um, on Saturday, and I had a little bit of the chips, and I'm like, this is fucking lame. Like, I want this whole fucking thing. But... I wanna lose fat. So, like, you know, again, this is why I say, like, at some point you just kinda have to draw the line and say, like, which— what do you want more, man? Like, and this is— that's a very, like, trainer talk, but there is an element of that, because you— there's only so much you can get around the suckiness of, like, I would rather eat as much wings as I want, and I would rather be able to have more fries. I understand that, Sophie, but, like, if right now you are choosing to try and be in a calorie deficit, You will have to make choices. Or maybe you do calorie cycling. Maybe you know that one day it's gonna be— I'm just making numbers up— 2,000 calories. Okay, well, that's 500 calories over, so you'll have to pull back 100 calories per day the other days of the week, or whatever the case may be. So you, again, you just have to make these decisions and work it into the plan.

I agree. Um, what would you say to someone who Is preferring to avoid going to anything because they don't want to be around that environment, do you feel like that's valid or would you say that that's not a good strategy? And also maybe we can touch on, I know you've kind of already talked about alcohol, but what if it's someone that's feeling like there's too much pressure around like drinking alcohol and they just don't wanna be around that? Like, is that a good strategy for them to just not go?

I think it's different for everybody. I don't think it's a bad strategy. I think there may very well be some moments in people's journeys where they're not capable quite just yet to be in an environment with a lot of triggers. That's like asking— that's like, OK, this is gonna sound— this is just the first thing I thought of, 'cause I wasn't— I was gonna use alcohol, but you already used alcohol. That's like asking a sex addict to go to, like, a strip club. Like, that's probably gonna end bad. I don't— I mean, but for real, like, that's Yeah, too many triggers. They're probably— yeah, they're just, they're not able to do that yet. And quite frankly, triggers of food and alcohol, I mean, that's— yes, that is a trigger for a lot of people. So yeah, man, there may be a period of time where until you can start to disassociate some of these habits and start to get more in control and feel more confident, yeah, you might say, hey, I'd rather not go to Buffalo Wild Wings and hang out with you guys this weekend to just, like, just endlessly drink beer and eat wings. Like, I don't know, like, I— or I want to go, but like, what am I going to do? Like, I don't want to do those things. I'm just going to go with you guys and sit there, which I guess I could do, but like, that's not what I choose to do. So I don't think it's bad. I think when it starts to get bad is like, I think when people get very anxious around it, when they get very guilty around it, when they— like, it starts to become this this very heavy-wearing thing. Like, I'll just be straight up with you. If someone asked me— and maybe I'm an asshole for this, but I don't really care— someone asked me to go, I don't know, go to Buffalo Wild Wings and watch the Bengals and drink beer, I'd be like, no, I don't want to do that. Thank you though. Like, that's all I'm gonna say. Like, I don't know what else to tell you. Like, I— so I don't have a lot of anxiety around it. It's like, if I wanted to go, I would go, but I would just be like, no thanks. Good. Like, it's okay. So I think it's bad when you avoid it because of the anxiety around it, because that then tells me you have a very unhealthy relationship with food. But I also don't think the person who is declining because they know that those triggers are there, I don't think that's an unhealthy relationship with food. I think it's just you being smart about where you're currently at in your journey and making a decision that is best for you.

Yeah, I agree with that. Like, Especially in the beginning for someone that's starting out and is trying not, or trying to break the cycle. I guess I agree with you also on that. If it's very anxiety-inducing, that's where I feel like it wouldn't be good. Like if it's someone that's just trying to avoid it, because in a way you kind of have to develop that skill of being around food and being able to control yourself. Like, because you're not always going to be able to. Avoid it. So I guess I, I do think that there could potentially be people that do that, and that's where I don't think that that's necessarily good. Also, I think if there are people in your life that make you feel like shit for not wanting to drink, I feel like those are people that you should reconsider either continuing to have in your life or maybe having a conversation, or like just stay like stand your ground. But if someone's making you feel like shit for your choices, that's not okay, if that makes sense. But I feel like some people have a hard time, I guess, dealing with the pressure of someone trying to pressure them, if that makes sense. And that's where I feel like it's healthy to maybe limit, you know, your time with those people. They're not good for you.

Yeah, dude. Like, I— so I think of— well, I think it's really important who you surround yourself with. Like, I think of Coach Jenna. When we were at the retreat, Jenna was mid-prep and like, Yes. She was bringing all of her food, and she— and like, I, you know—

So slay.

Yeah, but like, none of us were like, oh, just have this, uh, have this whatever, you know, have this drink. Like, I was— at least I tried to as much as I possibly could go out of my way to be like, hey dude, like, I know you're in prep, like, do I— I can help find you some meal prep company while you're there. This is the restaurant we're going to for the team dinner. Does this look OK? Hey, on this day we're gonna have Chipotle. Is it okay with you? Like, I'm trying to push her forward and help her in her journey, not be like, this is fucking stupid, or why are you doing this, or just eat whatever, right? So the amount— the quality of person that you surround yourself with, I also think is really important too, because if somebody tells me like, hey, I'm on a calorie deficit journey right now, like, I don't wanna Do XYZ. I'm like, okay, that's awesome. I'll do whatever I can to help you. Like, I don't— if I am or not on a calorie deficit, whatever, but like, I'll be there to help you however I possibly can. And I know those people are rare to find, if I'm being honest with you, but that's why I think it's important to put yourself in a position to be around those kind of people. Like, all the people in the clubhouse have those kind of people at their disposal to be friends with and to communicate with and chat with on a regular basis to make themselves feel You know, a little bit more normal within our community. So if you don't have that in your life, you should go out of your way to get into a community or get into some sort of group that, that does make that normal. Like if someone posts in the Clubhouse about that, that's not like a— we're like, yeah, that's normal. Like, well, yeah, of course. That's awesome. But it's not like, what are you doing not drinking? Like, so yeah, it's important.

Yeah. Yeah. And also, I guess, people encouraging you to do things is not always a bad thing, or it doesn't— people aren't always out to get you, or like there's a bad intention behind it. Some people just may not understand what your goal is, or maybe they're— it's not like this malicious thing all the time of them not respecting you. So sometimes you do kind of have to stand your ground and like not give a fuck what people say. Yeah.

Yeah, I think it's a good point too. It's not always malicious. Like if people are inviting you out, like they're not intentional. And also too, like you said, I used to tell my clients this a lot. I'm like, they can't read your fucking mind. Like, you need to be upfront and honest about how you're feeling, what your goals are, what you are and are not gonna do, right? Like, I— OK, this is another example that I was gonna use, but I'm not going to use. But, like, it's like a first date.

Please do use it.

It's like a first date, you know? Like...

Uh-huh.

No, we're not doing that on the first date. Like, that is a no. That is a no. Like, there needs to be the communication, right?

That is not what I thought you were gonna say.

But you get what I mean. You need to have the communication. It's up to you. It's not like— people can't read your brain. And again, this is not their goals. This is your goal. Why the fuck would they, number one, know, or number two, care, unless you know and care and express that? to them. So it's always looking back at the person and saying, what can I do to reach my goals?

Cool. Last question. What would you say to someone who has been on track all week, they go to a game watch party, they fall off track, they didn't have a good plan? What would you say to them in order to get back on track as quickly as possible.

Yeah, I would say it's a good thing that you fell off track because there's a lot you can learn from. I mean, that's just how— that's how we look at it as coaches, as unemotional. Cool, this is actually a really good thing. This is going to give us a lot of data. It's just like a science experiment. And I did not listen much in school, but I know enough to know that like, you do a science experiment, you get the results, and you figure out What worked and what didn't work? What did it work how you pers— how you thought it was gonna work? If yes, why? If not, why? That's literally all we do. And typically when things don't go people's way, there's so much more they can learn from that. So going back to all the stuff we talked about earlier, okay, well, you overate. Why did you overeat? Did you, did you fast all day and save all your calories for that time? Cool. That's probably why you overate. We'll fix that next time. Great. Move forward. Was it because you got no movement during the day? Was it because you went to the end, there was a buffet, you didn't do the one plate rule? Was it because you overdrank because you didn't have a plan beforehand? Like, there's so many things. Was it a mix of all of these things? There's so many things you can learn from a quote unquote failure, as long as you just don't actually treat it like a failure and you don't throw a bitch fit that you weren't perfect and just assess the reasons why, learn from it, and do better next time. Because guess what? Football is every Sunday. So for the next fucking 7 months of life, there's gonna be football every Sunday. So good for you, there will be more times you can practice this. It's not just like this is the last time you'll ever go to a football watch party, or, you know, go watch a game, or go to a game. There's so many more opportunities you will have. But if you don't learn from why you went off track, you will keep making those same mistakes. So why not just learn from it and do different behavior? Which, by the way, that is actually learning. It's not just about getting information. I've talked about this before in the podcast as well. That's great you have all this information, but that doesn't mean you learned anything, because learning something means you change your behavior. So you can know all of this stuff, but unless you take different actions and change your behavior, you do not actually learn anything. You just now have more Information. And information is quite useless unless you actually change behavior and take different actions. So that's all— that's what we do say. We're like, awesome, cool. We're gonna assess why this happened after we get you to calm the fuck down, usually, and not beat yourself up and be so hard on yourself. We're gonna assess why it happened. And as long as you're willing to do that, you'll win. Like, if you're not willing to do that, you will not win. You will stay overweight. You'll never get on track. You'll never stay consistent. That's just the God's honest truth. But if you are willing to assess why and unemotionally, objectively look at the situation and learn from it and do different things next time, then okay, you'll be totally fine. Like, it's so— it's just so funny at this stage in my life journey, career, business coaching career, whatever. Like, this is such a non— like, it's just such a non-thing for me because it's like, you look at it, you assess what happened, you learn from it, you do something different. That's all. That it, I mean, that's, it's literally as simple as that.

Mm-hmm. I just had a flashback from when you used to coach me and how like whenever I would like fall off track or whatever, you'd always say like, okay, so like how could we have avoided this? Or like, what did we learn from this? So it made me feel like I was never failing cuz like every mistake, like you said, was an opportunity to learn. I feel like that's a really good shift in your mindset and how you can look at life in general and the things that you do. And that kind of mentality itself helps, helps you get back on track because like you said, you're not spending a lot of time shaming yourself or like being an asshole to yourself, which is literally not productive at all.

It's, it's a, it's a waste of time. It's like using the football example. So I've said this before on the podcast, but even better than watching the games, I like watching Joe Burrow's postgame press conference interviews throughout the week, because I like to see how he thinks.

Mmhmm.

And so, like, last week— they won last week. They played pretty good, and they won. And they asked him, and they were like, hey, how did you play? And he's like, I was really average. I did some good things, but I did some things that I didn't like. I feel like I didn't execute on X, Y, and Z, so I'm gonna learn from it, and I'm gonna hopefully get better and not do those things next week. And so it's like he, like he won and he's saying those things. And even after, but even after a loss, it's all the same. And that's why you can be unemotional about these sort of things, because either way, the, the actual outcome is gonna be the same. If you crushed it and you stayed on track, why? What, what did you do to get that outcome? Okay, we're gonna learn from that. We're gonna do that action next time. You didn't crush it.

Okay.

Why? You didn't do X, Y, Z. OK, we'll do the opposite next time, and you'll do better. Like, it's just— no matter what, your life is actually the same.

Right.

So, when I say be unemotional about it, this is really the stuff I'm talking about, which is, by the way, the hardest thing for people to do. I know it's not easy, but the more you do it, just like the more you do a squat, you get better at squats, the more you do this, you will get better at being unemotional, looking at it objectively, learning from it, And then what do you think happens over the course of a month, 3 months, 6 months? That's when you change your behavior and these things become just automatic for you.

Right. Agreed. Well, that is all the questions I had for you today. Anything else you'd like to add on the topic?

No, I just think, uh, I think the last thing is just the accountability piece of all of this, because it's great you hear me talk about this. It's great that you're getting this information. But like I said, You need to implement the information. You need to execute on the information. And so if you want help implementing and executing this information that is specifically for you, and you want someone to hold you accountable, check in with you, make a plan with you, if you know you do better when you have accountability, click the link in the description of the podcast or Google Eric Roberts Fitness 8-Week Challenge to apply for our 8-week challenge. I mean, this is like I can talk about this. Like, this is what we do. I just don't know how— like, this is what we do every single weekend with our clients. We make a plan, we hold them accountable, the plan is realistic for them. Our clients feel confident that they're going to stay on track. And even if they go off track, we do what we just said, which is like, awesome, you went— you overate. Number one, you didn't fuck up. But number two, what did we learn? Let's learn from it. You're not a failure. You're not gonna— you don't have to go spiral. Let's just learn and do better and Change our actions and behaviors next time. So if you— I know this is not easy to do, hence why we do it for a living and help people with it every single day. So you can click the link in the show notes of the podcast below, or you can Google Eric Roberts Fitness 8-Week Challenge to get some extra help, accountability, and personalized implementation. Because truthfully, this information is useless unless you change your behavior. So That's what I would say. And, uh, yeah, other than that, go Bengals, and, uh, we'll chat soon.