#44: What Are My Daily Health Habits?

Recently, my DM’s have been full of messages asking all sorts of things about my daily routine. What do I eat in a day? How much do I train in a day?

Well, there’s not much to it. I pretty much try to practice what I preach. I’ll tell you what I’m currently doing and maybe some time, I’ll talk about what I wish to change.

1: 10,000 Steps Per Day

I try to hit my 10,000 steps by the end of each day.

Although these steps are accrued throughout the entire day’s activities (I train people for a living, so that helps), I always get the ball rolling with a 30-minute walk in the morning, often-a-time fasted, with my wife and two kids. In doing so, I’d have bagged some sunlight like a truly primal MF.

On the rare occasion that I’d have missed a training session, I’d try and compensate with an additional walk while listening to an audiobook.

2: I Train Every Day

I know, I know. I always said that you don’t need to kill yourself in the gym to stay in shape. And I believe that. But by this point, I am somewhat of a fitness nut and there is no turning back.

I lift heavy weights 3-4 times per week, train martial arts (taekwondo) 2-3 times per week, and play 1 game of football somewhere in between.

My resistance training schedule is based on two upper body workouts and two lower body workouts. During lower body routines, I sometimes engage in outdoor sprints.

If I am particularly jaded on one day (or had an awful night’s sleep) then common sense would triumph and I’d skip a session.

Side note: I wear an AppleWatch and track my activity with that. Even though they are notoriously unreliable, I still enjoy hitting 600 move-calories per day to try and keep myself accountable.

3: I Eat Three Meals Per Day

Being a 32-year-old male, 178 cm tall, 72 kg heavy and training hard for at least an hour every day (if not more), then I guess I could burn off around 3,000 calories each day (some calculators estimate I could even do 3,200 calories).

Regardless of the number, I don’t count calories. I just eat three meals. Breakfast at 07:00, lunch at 13:00 and dinner at 19:00, every day. Often-a-time, I try to stop until I am 80% full.

Oh, and I don’t drink anything but water and black coffee.

4: I Eat My Own Approved Foods

For breakfast, I would enjoy oatmeal blueberries, plant-based milk, whey protein, and walnuts. I’ll be sprinkling some cinnamon on that bad boy to give it a Christmassy texture.

At lunchtime, I’d have a protein source (normally fish, eggs, or sheep/goat cheese), a plant-based protein source (beans), some carbs from resistant starches (like sweet potatoes, chilled black rice) and plenty (and I mean plenty) of veg. If I’m still hungry I’d have a fruit - often-a-time an apple for dessert.

Come dinnertime, I’d have a head-sized salad with all the greens. 90% of the time, this would be an entirely plant-based meal. But in order to keep my game in check (as far as workouts and work are concerned), I’d add in some vegan protein in the form of tempeh or tofu. Each day, I’d like my protein intake to veer somewhere around 1.5g per kg of my body weight (around 108g per day). If I’m feeling cheeky, I’ll sneak in a couple of cubes of dark chocolate (> 90%).

5: I Drink Coffee Every Day

Guilty as charged. I love coffee. I’ll have one with breakfast. One between breakfast and lunch and one in the afternoon to keep me from killing someone.

Every coffee is a standard black coffee with no sugar, no honey, no creams and no bullshit.

6: I Engage In One Scary Endeavor Every Day

Ever heard of hormesis? If not, then read this article. Hormesis is when one places the body under a perceived state of ‘stress’ in order to activate certain longevity genes.

Luckily for me, I train martial arts with a bunch of folks who relish the prospect of kicking me in the head. So a good tussle with these guys is an excellent way to jumpstart a fight-or-flight response.

If I can’t fight, I’d partake in some grueling exercise during my regular training session (like an ambitious lift). If that’s not possible, I’ll try and stay a little hungry during the day.

On rarer occasions, I’d try to hit a cold shower, especially after a training session.

7: I Spend At Least One Hour In Direct Sunlight

The first order of business, every morning, is a 30-minute walk around town, with family. Doing so not only gives me some uninterrupted family time but also puts my body under direct sunlight exposure. Throughout the day, I’d be sure to spend at least another 30 minutes outdoors for whatever reason, in order to soak up as much of that sun whilst regulating my body’s Circadian clock.

And I guess that’s pretty much it. My routine isn’t perfect by any stretch. There are some things I would like to change. But maybe I’ll get there eventually.