How the 20 Food Rule — Like Steve Jobs’s Turtlenecks — Can Eliminate Decision Fatigue

The following is adapted from The 77 Laws of Six Pack Abs by Peter Tzemis and Stephen Campolo.

The founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, was known for wearing the exact same thing every day. He always wore a black turtleneck, blue jeans, and white New Balance sneakers. The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg, also wears the same thing every day: a gray t-shirt, and jeans.

Both of them explained that the less time they spent on making decisions (like what to wear in the morning) the more brainpower they had to make better decisions for the rest of the day.

Why is this? Decision fatigue.

We Can All Fall Victim to Decision Fatigue

Decision fatigue is the physiological condition where making a decision in the present will reduce your decision-making ability in the future. Many studies have shown that as humans, our ability to make good decisions is finite. Our ability to make a good decision at the beginning of the day is much greater than at the end of the day.

Decision fatigue is the reason why normal people spend money on random things they don’t need or buy a delicious but completely unnecessary 1kg bucket of Nutella at the supermarket. It doesn’t matter how much discipline or willpower you have.

We are all susceptible to decision fatigue.

How Our Brain Looks for Shortcuts

The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes, and eventually, your brain looks for shortcuts, usually in either one or two different ways:

1. You become reckless.

You act impulsively instead of expending the energy to first think through the consequences. (Sure, eat half a pie. I trained hard today. I deserve it. What’s the problem?)

2. You do nothing.

Instead of agonizing over decisions, you avoid everything at all costs. The problem: there are actually repercussions to your actions, even if your action is to do nothing. Not doing anything often creates bigger problems in the long run, but for the moment, it eases the mental strain.

Let’s use dinner as an example. If you’ve had a decision-filled day, chances are you’ll say screw it, and order pizza. Your brain gets a much-needed break, but your body and goals take a hit.

Increasing Our Chances for Success

So, when it comes to our eating habits, how do we combat decision fatigue and set ourselves up for success? Having a list of pre-determined foods. It makes deciding what you eat effortless. This leads to more compliance and, ultimately, the achievement of your fitness goals.

Now, you’re probably thinking, “Won’t I get tired of eating the same meals every day?” My clients and I have been eating 90% of the same meals regularly for a few years now, and I have yet to get bored of them. But that’s because I have a few tricks up my sleeve:

1. I do have the occasional all-you-can-eat cheat meal to spice up my life. Doing so gives me a mental break. Plus, life’s too short to miss out on deep-fried cheesecake.

2. I do modify the flavor of my meals by getting different types of cheese, adding different seasonings, spices, condiments, and changing up the vegetables that I use.

You don’t need to be too strict about it. If you feel like you’re getting tired of the same meal, then take a break for a couple of days. Twenty foods, combined with the two previous principles, should provide more than enough variety for, well, a lifetime.

My List of 20 Foods

How many different foods do you eat in a given week? Five? Twenty-five? Forty?

If you are like most people, you fall into the 40+ category. And while variety has been called the spice of life, when it comes to getting a six-pack, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Keeping your diet relatively simple on a daily basis delivers a near bulletproof formula to achieving six-pack abs. If you’re looking for some examples, these are my top 20 foods:

• Protein: Boneless and skinless chicken breast, turkey breast, eggs, burgers, grass-fed steak, and fish.
• Carbs: Potatoes, white rice, banana, strawberries, apples, grapes, and oatmeal.
• Fats: Peanut butter, almonds, butter (grass-fed), chocolate (dark), cheese, avocado, and coconut milk (unsweetened).

Once you start simplifying your diet, you’ll find it’s hard to stop. When eating healthily day in and day out, it becomes effortless, and you will notice how great it makes you feel.

Next Steps to Take

So, what I want you to do is pick 2–3 foods that don’t make you feel like crap when you eat them. For me, that was chicken breast, avocados, and sweet potatoes.

Only eat those foods for one day. Then the next day, add in another food. Then another. Until you find a food that doesn’t fit. Keep testing until you find your top 15–20 foods. Then, eat them for the rest of eternity. Just kidding. Once a month, you can cheat a little bit. Have some pizza, ice cream, or deep-fried Oreos. Want to binge-eat 322 gummy worms?

I understand. But in general, stick to your top 20 foods. It will do wonders for your energy, health, and body composition.

For more advice on finding the right diet to get a shredded six-pack, you can find The 77 Laws of Six Pack Abs on Amazon.

Stephen Campolo is a former fat kid turned weight-loss expert. He lost 100 pounds naturally through sheer willpower and determination. In 2003, he started his journey — running every night along the streets of Long Island, New York. Within three months, he lost nearly sixty pounds. But the result was far from the Herculean look he dreamed of. Instead, he ended up with a bunch of excess skin and no muscle. So he picked up a Flex magazine with Arnold on the cover and started to learn everything he could about building the ultimate male physique. Hundreds of hours later, and thousands of pounds of iron lifted, he had made it. Stephen has competed in natural bodybuilding shows and worked with some of the country’s top trainers and nutrition coaches. Today, he shares his knowledge with the world, and he currently serves as the leading trainer and advisor to various celebrities and CEOs. He has also created fitness programs for the US Military. For more about Stephen, head over to 77laws.com/stephen.

Peter Tzemis is a bestselling author and internet marketer. He started his journey in fitness in 2015, learning how to carve the body of a Greek god. While getting his bachelor’s degree in health sciences, he wrote his first fitness book, Anabolic Stretching, which sold over 5,000 copies in the first few months. Since then, he’s gone on to write multiple books in the health space and become a partner in one of the internet’s most prominent health and fitness websites: romanfitnesssytems.com. Today, he actively plays a role in selling over $50 million worth of online products in various niches. He also blogs about his life lessons at petertzemis.com and his marketing lessons at beatyourcontrol.com. For more about Peter, head over to 77laws.com/peter.