Love

Your mission is to fill your love tank. The more your love tank is filled, the higher odds of reaching your objective.

What is love?

Love means you do an activity or eat a food that you truly enjoy.

Doing this activity also helps you make progress toward your objective.

Both conditions must be met for true love.
Enjoy + progress => love

But I love ice cream and pizza. Does that count?

I love ice cream (gelato) too.

However, it's not true love. It's more like a guilty pleasure.

Why is it not a true love? Bc I know having it every day will make me fat. It is anti-objective of "look great" and "six pack" and "prevent disease."

Bc I know its bad for me, I don't truly love it.

Does this mean I never have gelato?
No, I do have gelato....when I'm on vacation in Italy. And i'll have a lot. But will I have it on a regular Tuesday? No

Do you have to learn to love something?

Yes and no.

When you try a new activity, you should like it, at least a little, immediately.

The great thing is, if you're making progress by doing or having it, you'll enjoy it even more. You'll also get better at doing it (this goes for cooking, and exercising). This automatically turns into love.

Did you learn to love it? Kind of, yes? If you enjoy something and it helps you "look jacked" "prevent disease" "feel better" why the hell would you not love it, and do it all the time?

Of note, If you just flat out don't like something, it's better to drop it and avoid pain. There are a million things that can help you make progress, that you will enjoy more.

What does it mean to fill up my love tank?

Filling up your love tank actually means what % of foods you eat are foods you love (like + prorgress). The higher the %, the better.

This does not mean it is required to have many foods you love. Let's say you have precisely 1 meal you love, for example, salmon with vegetables and salsa. If you can have this every single meal, and enjoy it....then just have it every single meal. Your food love tank is full. You will accomplish your objective.

It is GOOD to do the same thing over and over again.

The same goes for exercise. I've done the same movements for 10 years and don't see myself ever changing anything.

That said, most people need at least a little variety...

How do I fill up my love tank

Try new things that you think will help you make progress toward your goals. If you like them and they work, keep doing them.

How do you find out about new things?
1 - Me. I'm gonna tell you a ton of shit I love, and things you might love.
2 - Anywhere else. You can get inspiration from everywhere - every time I eat restaurant food (usually unhealthy), I'm thinking about how I can re-create in a healthy way that I would love. And i'm usually successful.

How do I know if its gonna help me make progress?
Max simple:
I'll tell you what will probably work. You just try it and see if you like it. Like it -> repeat.

Max smart:
For food: Food is just about calories and macros really. If the food you're about to have is high lean protein, high fiber (veg), and moderate fat/carbs. It's probably going to help you make progress. Just be able to mentally estimate the macros, check food label, or calculate with a food tracker. I always know in the back of my mind around how many calories something has and will make a mental calculation of if its "worth it." A simple framework is just to turn up lean protein and fiber, and turn down everything else.

For exercise: Any exercise is always good. Just make progress, and don't get injured.

For medications: Know your numbers, take the meds, see if numbers improve with no side effects.

For supplements: Know why, take the supplement, see if it actually improves the thing it says it was going to improve.

One more example

I love wine. Red wine. There are no health benefits to alcohol.

However, I do have 2 glasses of red wine, almost every single night.

Why?
1 - it does not go against any of my objectives "six pack" "prevent disease" "feel young"
2 - I understand whats in red wine - each glass has 4g net carbs and 150 calories -> I can accommodate that by having less other shit that is less worth it to me. This is my "thing"
3 - I understand how much is too much. If I drink more than 2 glasses, I will be hungover the next day. This is anti-"feel young" so I rarely do this.
4 - There is a question of why I love red wine. Maybe after grinding work for 10 hours, it's fun to have a glass to "feel young." It definitely makes me relaxed, and let my brain loosen up (which often gives me way better ideas than just drinking coffee and force thinking). I very much enjoy the taste too.

Should you drink red wine? No - i wouldn't recommend it. Again alcohol has no health benefits.

But you should find your own version of red wine for yourself, based on what you love.

Next step

I'll give you something I think you'll like. Right now.

Chicken thighs with cauliflower workflow. Make it tonight. See if you like it.