Having read that title you may be thinking I’ve been called out by another pilot for some egotistical display of ship vs ship combat. There is enough war going on to satiate any lust for killing. I have no need to justify myself to anyone.

No, this callout came via Double J, one of the people I have had the privilege of working with to better their lives.

‎I’m calling you out on something. You have stated in the past that the order of importance is 1) Nutrition, 2) Sleep, 3)Exercise.
Yet you post almost every day in your blog about your exercise, but hardly ever about your sleep or nutrition.
Shouldn’t your blog posts reflect the order of importance of those three things?

I’m going to elaborate on the response I gave to him, hopefully to benefit someone here.

GETTING STARTED

Making any type of life change is difficult. At times, it can seem impossible, insurmountable, and we often fall victim to ourselves before we even attempt the change. This is the hardest part. Believing in one’s self is critical. Overcoming any doubt that we are deserving and capable of the best life possible is a mental battle that one must be victorious in before change can occur.

EXERCISE

Exercise has always been a hot topic. The entire fitness industry is built around it. All our physical role models talk about it. It’s almost an obsession. Here’s the kicker – exercise is the easiest part.

A good workout routine shouldn’t last more than an hour. An hour equals four percent of your day. Do the math. 100% effort for 4% of your day. That’s easy.

I often focus on this because if someone can strengthen their mental resolve to the point where they can fall into a regular exercise routine, I believe there is nothing they can’t accomplish. Exercising strengthens self-belief. Exercising yields almost immediate results. Exercise strengthens willpower as well as muscle.

Exercise allows us to take that first step when we are overwhelmed by what is about to follow.

SLEEP

Sleep is more important than exercise when combined with proper nutrition and exercise. Sleeping on its own is not necessarily productive. As human beings, we each need 7 – 8 hours of sleep per night, but it’s more than that. It’s creating a regular sleep routine. Go to bed at the same time every night. Wake up at the same time every morning. Your body wants this.

I know, we have our excuses ready. “I have kids” or “I’m too busy with work” or anything else you want to say here. Get over it. Remember how we were just talking about mental resolve and enforcing changes on your life? Sleep is one of them. Bad enough I’m asking you to find an hour each day to exercise. Now I’m asking you to enjoy regular sleep patterns? Hey, it’s your health. I’m just here to tell you how it is.

There are perks to regular sleep patterns. For one, I have more energy. Secondly, even on weekends, I get up at 0530 hours. This gives me ample opportunity to get so much done before my day really starts – chores, exercise, computer time, errands, meditation, shopping, anything else I want to do on my own before I need to engage with others.

Regular sleep leads to more free time. Ironic isn’t it.

NUTRITION

Of the three, nutrition is the single greatest challenge and by far the most important factor of good health. It’s the one that society blatantly fights us on. Crap food is cheap. Healthy food isn’t. Crap food is easy and pre-packaged. Healthy food isn’t. Crap food is yummy. Healthy food is yummier. You heard that right. Natural and healthy foods are more enjoyable to the palette than crap food once you’ve purged your taste buds of all that toxin and garbage.

“But Roc, I don’t want to spend every evening preparing my meals for the next day. I already have a busy life.”

Yeah, so do I. Here’s what I do. Each Sunday, I spend two to three hours cooking and preparing food. I then put each food in its own container and store them in the refrigeration unit. Each morning, I spend five minutes planning my meals for the days, grabbing what I need from the containers and combining them in individual meal containers I then take with me anywhere I go. Not so much effort after all, is it?

Beyond food preparation, nutrition is a challenge because it’s not only about what you eat. It’s about when you eat and how much you eat. We need to eat 5 – 6 times per day, 3 – 4 hours apart. I’ve personally integrated Intermittent Fasting into my nutritional program with great success, but it’s not for everyone.

A good nutritional program is customized to your weight and bodyfat percentage. As a rule of thumb, men should be eating 10 calories for every one pound of their ideal weight. Women should be consuming 8 calories per every pound of their ideal weight.

You need to drink one litre of water for every 50 pounds of body weight.

Your meals should loosely look like this:

1. Protein + Carbs. No fat (fat means MUFA, or monounsaturated fatty acid. Read good fat).
2. Protein + Carbs. No fat.
3. Protein + Fat. No carbs.
4. Protein + Fat. No carbs.
5. Protein + Fat. No carbs.
6. Protein + Fat. No carbs.

Your first meal should be within an hour of waking up. Your last meal shouldn’t exceed 8 PM at night.

You should also give up anything that will work against your body:

• fast food
• junk food
• soda
• coffee
• nitrites
• anything pre-packaged
• etc

Some people think giving up a lot of these foods is hard. It really is. This is why people incorporate cheat days into their program. I don’t believe in cheat days. I eat dark chocolate at least once per day. It’s a great MUFA. Why would I need a cheat day when I eat sweets each and every day?

The topic of nutrition is a complex one and cannot be generalized, as I mentioned before. If you want some help to develop a nutritional program custom tailored to meet your needs, just drop me an email using the contact form in the About Roc page.

SUMMARY

I hope this gives a little insight into my strategy regarding healthy lifestyle. I don’t want to overwhelm the general public even though that is sometimes what is needed. I believe in setting tangible goals that can be accomplished. Successful goal completion leads to positive reinforcement which leads to bigger and better goals which leads to the healthy lifestyle you want.

It’s not an easy path at first. Nothing worthwhile is. Looking back now at my own trials and tribulations, I can tell you with certainty that it is hard, and that is gets easier. I don’t even think about it anymore. I just do it.

You can too.