Why Nutrition Matters
A not-so-short story

Today I’m going to tell you exactly why I get this excited talking about calories, macronutrients, habits, and broccoli.
To be a little more precise, and because I love bullet-points as much as the next article-writer, I’m going to list what this article is going to cover.
By the end you’re finished with this, you should understand a few things about me, but more importantly, about you and what your next step should be.
- The Backstory: How I started. What drove me, and what were my desires the first time I started looking into this nutrition thing.
- The Wall: What I was doing wrong. And what you’re probably doing too.
- The Epiphany. The first time I realized it, and started seeing results.
- The Plan. The exact plan I used to see those results (I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.)
- The Result. What I achieved and how it had transformed me. (and how it will probably transform you).
These are probably the 5 stages you are going to go through. But with the right coaching, (or learning from my mistakes), you may skip one or two. And make the whole thing faster.
Let’s start with the beginning. I’ll try to keep it short. But no promises.
I remember back when I was 18–19 years old, I had poor lifestyle habits. I was overweight, partying way too much and besides working a physically demanding job, I had no exercise.
As a kid, before that, I was always pretty active. When that stopped, it felt like I lost a big part of myself.
The bad part is that I didn’t even realize this whole thing wasn’t normal. This wasn’t who I was supposed to be, and it made me feel miserable.
It’s quite ironic how the worst time of my life laid as a foundation for my passion, my lifestyle and my career.
Long story short, I somehow decided to make a change, and to start working out. I didn’t know where to start, but I knew I loved cycling. So I bought myself a bike and decided to go for a 30 km ride.
But, as you might have guessed, 30 km was a little too much for me back then. It was really hard. I barely made it back home.
The whole thing took me more than four hours. That was the first time I realized I was completely out of shape.
So, I decided to lose weight, and start training.
I wanted to get in shape, to lose weight, to look and feel better, but above all, to get in touch with my body once again.
I knew I wasn’t in shape for a long time, but now I realized I was in a body that cannot move, and my mission was to change that. I realized that the first step was losing all the weight I was carrying around.
The funny thing was, during those four years I spent drinking, eating poorly and getting really bad at moving, I actually thought I was leading a pretty healthy lifestyle.
After that bike ride, I realized that may have not been the case, but I had no idea where to start getting back in shape again.
“ It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows” — Epictetus.
And that was the problem. And I bet that if you’re stuck with nutrition, this is your problem.
I thought I was making the right choices. I always ate home-cooked food. I drank green tea instead of coffee. I ate fruit daily. I tried to stay away from meat (excessively), and I never ate later than 6 p.m.
What I didn’t realize is that I was focusing on details. I followed random tips I gained from my family, from the TV and of course, the Internet. But there was no foundation to it. No plan. No strategy.
I knew nothing about the things that really matter. I had no idea (besides vague myths) how my digestive system works. And thus, the path wasn’t obvious to me at all.
Think of it this way. You want to sell a product online. You go on google and search for: How to sell XYZ online. You go to the first page, click on the first blog article that pops up: “ 5 easy tips to sell XYZ even if you hate marketing”.
You go on, follow those tips, and nothing happens.
Of course, you blame the person who wrote the article. But even if those 5 tips were the best in the world, there is no way it could work, no matter how good your product is, unless you had a plan, a strategy and a clear understanding of how marketing and sales work.
The same goes for nutrition. Drinking green tea and eating bananas won’t get you very far. Sure, under the right circumstances, both may help, but alone are nothing.
So, the problem was that I had no idea I knew nothing.
Until I realized it.
3: The Epiphany.
The first moment you realize you really don’t understand a thing properly is amazing, yet quite humbling. Especially if you thought you knew everything. (like every 19-year-old does). Lucky for me, I didn’t realize it all at once. So I got to keep my ego intact. And to make a ton of mistakes. But more on that later.
The moment I realized I needed a plan, and that drinking green tea and eating bananas just wasn’t going to cut it was when I stumbled upon one of my favorite nutrition blogs. The almighty:
https://www.precisionnutrition.com/blog
Now, if you know me at all, you know I love Precision Nutrition. (that’s why I chose to team up with them to deliver the greatest coaching program possible).
But back then, I didn’t know how to differentiate a good blog from one like … Healthline. So, from that moment, I made a clear decision to master my eating. I read every article I came across on the subject, besides PN ones. I completely forgot about them.
But that’s just a minor mistake. 3–4 years later I rediscovered them, and some 8 months later than that, I was the proud owner of a PN1 Sports Nutritionist Certification.
I don’t remember the exact article that hit me so hard, but I remember it was something about habits, and setting up your environment for success.
It was about consistency, planning and building a structure. That was what was lacking in my attempts. I was doing all sorts of things desperately trying to make it work.
And I felt they did. But the results just weren’t there. If I was going to succeed, I needed to work smarter, not harder.
That’s when I first made the clear decision to master my nutrition. And then, I started building my first plan.
Of course, it was dumb, but it was the beginning.
4: The Plan.
I was 18 years old, and my life motto was something in the lines of: “Go for it.” I wasn’t much for planning and thinking back then.
The internet also helped me with a lot of misinformation, but somehow every mistake I made back then helped me learn a valuable lesson, and recognize it in my coaching clients after I got certified.
Like I was saying, not being one for planning and thinking too much, I tried every diet that was trending back then. Intermittent Fasting was a big thing ( and I stuck with it for around 3 years), low carb was big too, keto and paleo, and so on.
I even went vegetarian for a year and vegan for some horrible 3–4 months. (just kidding, it wasn’t that bad).
But I stuck with all this dieting thing because it actually worked from the start.
I started with low carb and intermittent fasting. But at the same time, I decided to do fasted cardio (ride my bike to work 25 km) daily. I also decided to go to the gym and increase my lean protein intake.
So, my plan looked something like this:
6 a.m: Short bodyweight workout. (20 min push-ups, squats, etc.)
7 a.m: Ride my bike to work.
6 p.m; Come back from work.
7 p.m: Go to the gym.
9 p.m: Eat something and read for one hour.
10 p.m: Have no life and go to sleep. (I still do this)
That was my daily routine.
6 days a week.
With a physically demanding job.
And on 1200 kcal.
And I lost 30kg in 3 months.
Yet, although the results were great, I would never, ever, ever recommend this to one of my clients. I was overtraining, overworking and undereating. I can’t even begin to imagine what happened to my hormonal balance, metabolism, and joints back then, but to quote (or more likely paraphrase) Arnold:
“When you’re 20 you get away with a lot of stupid things”.
5: The Results.
With the risk of sounding boring, I’ll say this:
I don’t regret my “plan’. Or the years spent trying stupid diets. I don’t regret doing it all on my own. Because everything I did wrong serves as a constant motivation to help others do it better from the get-go. That is what I am trying to do, through my writing, through my coaching and through talking to people whenever I get the chance.
This is one of those things that change you and shape you as a person. It’s not only about being in shape. It’s not about just feeling good in your body and looking good. It’s not even just about health.
It’s something I became obsessed with. Something I love to share with others, and something I look forward to continuing to learn my entire life.
That’s why I love calories, and broccoli and habits. Everything I learn eventually gets useful to somebody.
The same as with training, it’s a journey, with many many checkpoints. And it’s a rewarding one.
Because of those mistakes and failures, I realized that I had to build a sustainable eating plan.
To improve my habits and to make long-lasting changes to my lifestyle. Change that lasts for more than just a season, change that is built on stone.
And this should be your next step. Figuring a way to make nutrition work for you. No matter where you are now, how deep in the dark, or how much you think you know, (or really do), if you feel that you didn’t figure out nutrition yet, or if you still stress about when and what and how you should eat, just remember:
Everybody was there at some point. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Take the next step.
Make a clear decision to figure out nutrition. To master your body and your habits. And always remember, consistency wins.
It’s not an easy journey, but it’s one that pays off.
I’ll be opening 10 spots in November for my Nutrition Coaching program. You can learn more about it here.
Hurry, there may still be some spots available.
Talk to you soon,
Sorin.
Originally published at https://m-motivation.com on November 1, 2019.