TLDR: What you need to know

• Finding the most simple routine that you can do every single day (nutrition) or week (exercise) will boost your chance of success, exponentially.
• Variety is not your friend. Do the same thing that is working over and over again.
• If you feel any dissatisfaction with your routine, you have to change it and keep searching. It wont' work.
• You must feel satisfied, not missing out, and feeling in control for your routine to stick long term (which is 100% required).

Ray's Take

Variety is not your friend.

Let's assume your goal is to improve your overall health, and look better.

For most people, this means they'll need to update their nutrition habits, and update their exercise plan.

In my experience, from seeing 1000s of people try the above, those that succeed almost always find something that works, and do it every single day (at least every single weekday).

What does this mean?
- Find a meal you like, and have it every single day
- Find a strength exercise lift, and improve it every single week
- Find a zone 2 workout routine, and do it almost every single day
- Find a zone 5 workout routine, and do it every single week

In other words, keep it simple. Find something you like, and then do it every single day or week.

Monitor your progress - are you looking 0.01% better every day? 0.1% every week? If yes, don't change anything. Keep it simple. Don't overthink. Just keep doing it.

Let me give some examples.

1 - "Robert" was a 45 year old man, that wanted to lose 50 lbs. He skipped breakfast (coffee only), had avocado toast (with keto bread from costco), every single day, and lost 80 lbs. (He ate a normal dinner and also wanted to eat out 1-2x a week).

2 - Me, for the last 10 years:
- I have organized my strength workouts basically in the same pattern -> chest, squat, break, chest, dead, break and repeat . I write down what I do, every single day.
- I have had the same nutrition routine -> coffee in the am, BCAA drink at noon, small lunch (right now its just a quest bar), dinner which is just rotation of protein with vegetable (but is always max volume and low cal, protein fluff before bed. [More on what I actually eat]

Has it worked?

Yes, I know I'm a tool for posting all these shirtless pics, but hey its easier to understand a pic than reading data.

Here is recent data from my data driven blood test and my last dexa scan.
- Blood - cholesterol (apoB) is in ideal range. Metabolic numbers are in good range
- Body fat - 11% total, 7% abdominal, low visceral
- Bone density - 99th% - I'm confused at how normal is z-score above 0, 99th% is 2.5, and I am 4.8 (i might need to check this again)

My most recent bench on 1/25/24 is 6 sets of 225 in neutral or wide grip [link].

What does this mean for you?

1 - decide if you are serious about optimizing your health and looking better.

2 - educate yourself on why the key metrics we outline matter (ApoB, glucose/HbA1c, body fat, bone density, lean muscle mass, muscle strength, VO2 max). Even if some of the concepts are nerdy, I find the more you understand, the more you care. Being smart is also fun.

3 - develop the most simple routine for yourself, that you can do every single day (nutrition) or week (exercise).

4 - try it.

5 - assess honestly. This point is particularly important. If there is any part of you that is "sacrificing" or "dieting" or "feeling unsatisfied" or worst of all "hungry," your routine won't work. You need to switch it up somehow to make it so you feel "100% satisfied."

(This is how I've felt the last 10 years. I love how I eat, I eat what I want, I do not feel like I'm missing out on anything. If my friends shake a fry or chip in my face, I just chuckle or ignore, thinking to myself yea i'd rather look like me than you.)