Last week I went on a date (eating in the context of real life)

Couple on dinner date

Last week I went on a date.

Not sure if you’ve been on a date recently but most of the time you get something to eat on these things.

Eating well is important to me. Choosing high-quality foods often matters to me too. And hey, aesthetics matter as well. I want to look great naked.

When I go on dates and eat off plan I get a little food anxiety. Not sure why. I know one meal off plan isn’t going to ruin anything like one perfect meal isn’t going to lead to dramatic progress.

But for some reason, it feels like a tiny failure. It’s the perfectionist in me ๐Ÿคท. FML.

We went to Shake Shack.

Best burger I’ve had. Sorry, all you In-N-Out zealots.

I got the Shack Burger and skipped the fries because this felt like a 1% better solution for me and my goals.

She got the Silver Lake Burger (only available in Silver Lake) and skipped the fries as well.

Most likely because she was like, “shit, this guy is a nutritionist. I should pass on these fries too.”

๐ŸŸMe: “You skipped the fries because I’m a nutritionist didn’t you?”

๐ŸŸHer: “100%”

๐ŸŸMe: LOL. “Why don’t we get one to split.”

We didn’t end up splitting the fries but had a good laugh about it. It led to a great conversation about all the weird eating, diet, and health hacks we’ve tried over the years.

If you have health and fitness goals like weight loss, building muscle, or choosing better foods more often.

๐„๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐›๐ž ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ .

There are dates, special events, travel, office outings, social gatherings, and more.

Sometimes this means youโ€™ll be saying no to things like alcohol, fries, and fun (jk jkโ€ฆ sorta).

Other times it means youโ€™ll be looking to make slightly better choices like 1 alcoholic drink instead of 2, small fries instead of the large, and some fun instead of all the fun.

The cool thing is youโ€™re allowed to do whatever you want and as long as youโ€™re ok with the tradeoffs it was the best choice for you.

๐Œ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ฏ๐ž๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ง ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐ข๐ง, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐›๐š๐ค๐ž๐ ๐ ๐จ๐จ๐๐ฌ.

They also donโ€™t need me to tell them to work out more consistently, go to bed, or practice some sort of de-stressing practice.

They need me to help them identify what tradeoffs will and will not help them move closer and further away from their goals.

And to help them choose which ones they are ready, willing, and able to make based on their past, present, and future circumstances.

๐ˆ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐“๐„๐‘๐‘๐ˆ๐๐‹๐„ ๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐๐ž๐จ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ฌ.

We believe we either need to make ALL of them (like no sugar, carbs, alcohol, or fun ever again). Or we donโ€™t think or want to make any. Usually, thereโ€™s some middle ground.

If you have goals youโ€™re working towards. Whether it be health, work, relationship, or something else. One of the most important things you can do is spend time identifying the tradeoffs youโ€™re willing and not willing to make.

Then communicate those changes with the people you spend the most time with and ask for their support.

If you read this far I appreciate you.

Send me an email and let me know your favorite burger joint ๐Ÿ”

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Photo by Wiktor Karkocha on Unsplash

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