Stop Dieting, Start Living: 3 Nutrition Tips That Actually Work

TL;DR: Follow the 80/20 rule: 80% of the time eat quality (veggies, water, home-cooked meals), 20% enjoy yourself guilt-free. Be consistent with whatever approach you choose. And stop trying other people's diets. Just because keto worked for your friend doesn't mean it fits your goals or lifestyle. Diets are temporary. You want permanent results.

I'm going to give you three quick nutrition tips to add to your nutritional plan, no matter what your goals are. We're staying on the general side.

Tip 1: Follow the 80/20 rule

80% of the time your nutrition is quality: you're drinking all your water, eating your veggies, eating the rainbow of those veggies, cooking your meals on your own, etc. Nice good quality.

The other 20%? That's when we're enjoying ourselves more. Going out with friends for a few beers. Going out to eat on Tuesday night. Whatever it may be, just enjoying yourself, living life.

And that should be guilt-free. That's 20%.

People view that as a "cheat day" and then there's always guilt that comes with it. There shouldn't be. No guilt coming with enjoying a night out with friends and having some drinks.

You had a hard week at work. On the weekend, or if it's an impromptu night out with family, you have a few glasses of wine or a nice dinner that maybe isn't the most quality: you should enjoy that.

The way to do that guilt-free is getting back on track the following day. If you go out Saturday and really let loose, have a big meal, have whatever pleasure of yours may be: on Sunday get back on track. A little more healthy, more greens throughout your day, eat cleaner, drink a lot more water, etc. Try to make up for that previous day.

The bulk of your week is that 80%.

Tip 2: Consistency is key

If we're not consistent with anything, we're never really gonna see much results. That applies to exercise. Nutrition is the same.

ApproachResultConsistent 80/20Sustainable progressJumping between dietsBody confusion, no lasting resultsPerfect for 2 weeks then off the railsYo-yo cycle

You can look at it as five days of the week you're consistently quality, the other one to two days you're not so worried about how quality things are. But for the most part, nice and consistent with whatever plan you're on.

Doesn't matter if you're taking a step down on your carbs, a little more fat focus, or vice versa. Whatever path you choose, be consistent with it.

If you're jumping around too much, your body is going to be in a state of confusion and you're never gonna really reach your goals.

Our bodies are stubborn and need time to adapt. A good way to go about this: set small, tiny goals and absolutely kill them. Do that consistently and build off of those. That's how results really come and stay.

Tip 3: Stop trying other people's diets

Stop trying other people's diets, or diets you read somewhere in a magazine or online. Find something that fits for you.

Diets are a temporary thing. You want permanent results.

Trying diets that you saw a celebrity do, or your friend did keto and it worked great for them, or you saw somebody on the meat-only diet and they had great results: that's awesome for them. But that might not fit your goals, your lifestyle, etc.

Find out what works best for you. Those other approaches are gonna bring temporary results, and you end up right back where you started.

You want to hit your goals and stay there, for the rest of your life in a perfect world. To do that, it's just nice small changes.

The first thing you can do: take a look at your schedule, what your daily eating might look like, and pick one small thing you can change or improve upon. Start with that and slowly build from there.