#22 80/20, hip surgery, and red meat
And the surprising lesson I learned from all three.
About a year ago I had a major hip surgery.
I have always been a “healthy” guy, ate all the right foods, worked out everyday, all the “stuff” you’re supposed to do to live healthy.
The problem was I still felt like shit most of the time.
Always tired…
Moodiness…
Weight gain…
GI problems…
Joint pain…
Chronic arthritis…
Developed granulomatous rosacea…
You name it, and at 35 I was beginning to worry what 50 would look like.
Anyways, about 10 days before surgery I read about “extreme elimination diets” and how well they worked.
I decided I would give it a shot and decided to eat nothing but red meat and eggs for 30 days.
No cheat days, no exceptions, no excuses.
Fast forward 30 days and…
Fatigue - gone.
Moodiness - gone.
GI problems - gone.
Rosacea - gone.
Joint pain (outside the obvious post surgery pain) - gone.
To put it mildly, I was stunned.
Right around this time I was talking to a buddy of mine who thought he would check on me to see how I was doing post surgery.
I told him about my “extreme” diet, and the insane results I was having.
His response?
That’s awesome, but what you really need is to be eating grass fed beef, supplementing with specific vitamins/minerals, and fasting.
Mind you, this is a guy who will try a diet for 2 weeks, go back to eating junk, and get on a new diet for another 2 weeks.
So what’s the point? Why am I telling you this?
First, it’s not to tell you that you should only eat meat. Everyone is different so you should do what works for you.
But more importantly, I say this because trying to optimize before you start will cause more problems and get in the way of any progress you’ll inevitably make.
I could have spent weeks researching
The best times to eat…
The best things to eat…
The best supplements to take…
The optimal mix of vitamins/minerals, and more…
Should I have done that? Maybe.
But I probably never would have started and stuck to it.
Instead, I made a decision, eliminated everything, and got started. That one small action accounted for 90%+ of my results.
It’s much easier to optimize once you have momentum. Focus on what will get you the biggest results and worry about the rest later.
What about you?
How can you simplify your situation to maximize your results?