Fundamental Questions: "What?"

OVERALL STRATEGY

"What?" means "What do I eat?" and "What don't I eat?"

"What?" means "What are my constraints?"

There need to be some guardrails.

Eating anything and everything isn't working!

I want to make this as easy on myself as possible.

I want to be able to know right away, that's "allowed" and that's "not allowed."

I don't want to always have to negotiate, "Can I have this? Is this on the diet?"

Ideally, not too many rules and exceptions, I don't want to make it too complicated.

ALLOWED

What diet am I going to follow?

The "protein and vegetables diet!" LOL

  • Protein
    • Chicken
    • Beef
    • Turkey
    • Pork
    • Eggs
    • Beans
    • Tofu
    • Beyond Burger/Beyond Breakfast Sausage and related products (Impossible, veggie burgers)
    • Protein powder
    • Nuts
    • Fish (very little, because of mercury concerns)
  • Vegetables
  • Rice
    • Potential issues with lettuce/salads in the U.S. right now
    • Base for lunch/dinner bowls
    • Satisfying
    • White or brown
  • Dairy
    • Spicy feta and tzatziki yogurt sauce at Mediterranean-inspired fast casual lunch places
    • Cheese at a party, but not crackers
    • Tahini adds dairy-like creaminess to Mediterranean bowls
  • Fruit
  • Drinks
    • Water
    • Tea
    • Spindrift (Lime is my favorite)
    • LMNT (electrolyte packets, Pink Lemonade is my current favorite)
    • Bai (Brasilia Blueberry is my favorite)
    • Seltzer water 
    • Mas+ if I can find it

NOT ALLOWED

  • Noodles
    • Pasta (spaghetti, fettuccine alfredo)
    • Ramen
  • Bread
    • Bagels
    • Sandwiches
    • Pita bread/pita chips
    • Naan
    • Rolls
  • Tortillas, wraps
    • Quesadillas w/ sour cream
  • Pizza
  • Mac and cheese
  • Mozzarella sticks, and other foods with fried breading
  • Potatoes (Sweet potatoes and yams are OK)
    • French fries
    • Waffle fries
    • Potato wedges
    • Mashed potatoes
    • Crispy potatoes
    • Tater tots
    • Home fries
  • Hummus
    • This is one of my biggest "domino" foods (h/t 4-Hour Body)
    • Especially tubs of hummus with crackers or chips
  • Falafel, chickpeas
  • Nut butters (easy for me to overdo it)
  • Corn
    • Tortilla chips, Tostitos, Fritos, Cheetos
    • Corn salsa
  • Sugar
    • Brownies
    • Cookies
    • Brookies (brownie + cookie)
    • Crookies (croissant + cookie)
    • Cheesecake
    • Gatorade
    • Lemonade
    • Ginger ale
    • Soda
    • Other sugary drinks
    • Restaurant meals may have hidden sugar, I'm not expecting myself to be 100% perfect
  • Processed foods (anything in a bag, box, jar, can, or tube, h/t Dr. Alejandro Junger)
    • Exceptions for pantry staples like cooking oil or salt
  • Condiments
    • Olive oil
    • Mayo
    • Ketchup
  • Coffee (my personal preference)
  • Alcohol (my personal preference)

MONTHLY SPECIAL OCCASIONS

I'm not going to say "I'm never having pizza again."

"Never again" is hard, and probably counter-productive for me.

For me, daily, weekly, or biweekly "cheat days" are too frequent.

I'll have "monthly special occasions" instead.

  • Not a regular delivery option (Wonder, DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, etc.)
    • Not an "everyday indulgence," like a pizza from the neighborhood pizzeria
    • Ordinary
    • Too easy
    • Not special enough
  • Ideally with family or friends
  • Requires planning
  • Opportunity to add to my life experiences while living in NYC
  • Ideally something I haven't tried before, but I can return to an old favorite
  • Hopefully a monthly cadence will help lower the volume of the voices in my head that want me to indulge

Examples of monthly special occasions:

  • Birthday party
  • Anniversary dinner
  • Wedding
  • Michelin-star restaurants
  • 50th birthday dinner at NYC Wine and Food Festival with Food Network star chef Maneet Chauhan
  • A restaurant on a "Best of NYC" list

CASE STUDY: CHIPOTLE

  • Bowl
  • White rice 
  • Chicken, steak, barbacoa, or a limited-time option like Honey Chicken or Carne Asada
  • Pinto beans or black beans
  • Medium salsa 
  • Fajita vegetables
  • Cheese
  • Guacamole
  • No chips
  • No soda or juice

Fundamental Questions: Overview

You learned them in grade school.

I call them the Fundamental Questions of food/diet/nutrition.

  • Who?
  • What? (I'm going to combine What? and Which?)
  • Where?
  • When?
  • Why?
  • How?

For me, "What?" is the most important Fundamental Question, but I'd like to briefly address the other ones in this overview.

Who?

I don't mean "Who do you eat?" -- though that would be funny! (The Cannibalism Diet -- it's high protein!)

I mean "Who do you eat with?"

I'm currently single, so the vast majority of my meals will be solo meals.

"Who?" might matter if I was in a relationship, and my partner and I had very different diets.

"Who?" also relates to social situations, which I'll cover when I get to "Why?"

Where?

I remember from the Ocean's Eleven director's commentary that Brad Pitt's character was always eating on the move.

I don't have a huge problem with eating all my meals while standing up or walking.

"Where?" could also refer to eating lunches somewhere other than your work desk, or eating dinners at the dinner table vs. your couch.

When?

To me, this mostly refers to the concept of intermittent fasting.

I've used a "12 hour window" before (for example, if I stopped eating at 8 PM, I couldn't start eating again until 8 AM the next day.)

This could also mean consistent meal times during the day.

I'm probably not going to worry so much about "When?," as I expect that "What?" will be much more challenging for me.

Why?

We eat for so much reasons besides nutrients and calories.

  • Emotional eating
  • Stress (eating as medication, h/t Institute for Integrative Nutrition)
  • Boredom (eating as entertainment, h/t IIN)
  • Mental strain (h/t MyBodyTutor)
  • Happiness, celebration
  • Social situations - parties, dates, business dinners, going out with friends
  • Travel/vacations
  • Special occasions - birthdays, holidays, anniversaries

These require their own strategies, which I'll cover in future posts.

How?

There are approaches to nutrition that focus on how you eat:

  • Chewing every bite 50+ times
  • Putting your fork down between bites
  • Mindfulness, Fullness Scale, asking yourself "Am I actually hungry?" (h/t MyBodyTutor)

There's also "How much?", which is a world that many of us are familiar with:

  • Calories
  • Macros - protein, carbs, fat
  • Tracking everything you eat
  • Taking photos of what you eat

It kinda sucks to have to do this! LOL!

What next?

I think for now, I'm going to focus on "What?" and "Why?" to get to 155 lbs. 

I will probably have to do a lot more of the tracking in "How much?" to get to 15% body fat. 

We'll see...

The 75% Strategy

In my last post on cheating, I asked the following question:

"What will keep me from turning to my old favorite comfort foods in future moments of stress, boredom, or happiness?"

Pizza, mac and cheese, brownies, etc. will always taste good to me. 

They're always going to set off the pleasure centers in my brain.

It's possible that my tastes will change over time, that these foods will have a weaker hold on me the less I indulge in them.

What I need is a viable alternative.

One approach I'm getting back to is something I call The 75% Strategy.

I'm not trying to convince myself that pizza doesn't taste good.

I'm giving myself an alternative to pizza that's 75% as good as pizza.

At one of my favorite lunch spots in New York (RIP Fotia Mediterranean), this was my go-to lunch formula (calories and protein are rough estimates from the Lose It! app):
  • Spinach (7 cal, 0.9g protein)
  • Chicken Shawarma (330 cal, 33g protein)
  • Spicy Feta (80 cal, 4g protein)
  • Tahini Caesar dressing (90 cal, 2g protein)
  • Bai Brasilia Blueberry (10 cal, 0g protein)
  • Total: 517 cals, 40g protein
I found that this meal tasted good, satisfied me, and gave me a significant amount of protein with an acceptable number of calories.

You can do this with any similar healthy fast casual lunch place.

You may need to tweak different dials to get to 75%.

For example, I found that adding olive oil didn't really add much in terms of taste/satisfaction, but it added more calories than I wanted.

As you conduct your own food experiments, you might need to turn down the cheesiness, or turn up the crunchiness.

See if you can create your own 75% Strategy meals as alternatives to your old favorite comfort foods.

Cheating During My Honeymoon

Last Thursday I ate khao soi ramen and pork gyoza at my favorite local ramen spot, which led to Ritter Sport milk chocolate with crispy flakes, which led to potato salad, mac and greens, a brookie (brownie + cookie) and a San Pellegrino Aranciata.

I said "I do" to myself on Monday. 

By Thursday I was tearing the clothes off a smoking hot stranger in the janitor's closet of my honeymoon island resort.

--

It had been a mildly stressful day.

A Wayfair tech came to assemble my nightstands. 

He opened the boxes and saw that the nightstands were already assembled. 🤦🏾‍♂️

He asked if there was a place he could put the boxes and trash, but he would have to bring them downstairs to the trash area of my apartment building. 

I didn't want to ask him to do that, so I told him I would take care of it. 

But that meant I had all this trash in the middle of the entryway of my apartment.

I'd have to borrow a dolly from my super to bring the trash downstairs. 

The mild stress caused me to go into a tailspin.

Maybe a big part of myself didn't *want* to pull out of the tailspin.

--

Lessons

1) My old favorite comfort foods still exert a powerful influence on me.

They taste good!

I tend to smash the "instant gratification" button, rather than the "delayed gratification" button.

What will keep me from turning to my old favorite comfort foods in future moments of stress, boredom, or happiness?

2) I wasn't clear enough about how I wanted to eat. 

Millions (billions?) of people around the world eat noodles, but I needed to be more explicit with myself about whether or noodles are "allowed."

3) I need more help!

My awesome My Body Tutor coach Chris strongly encouraged me to read and implement "The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person." 

It's a cognitive therapy approach to weight loss.

I'm not sure why I kept resisting this book, but I need to revisit it. 

I'm going to need a different level of structure/commitment/support to help me, especially since I'm no longer taking a GLP-1.

--

Over the next few posts, I'll dive deeper into these lessons.

I can't divorce myself.

I need to renew my vows during the honeymoon!

Daily Report - July 8, 2026

Breakfast (7:14 AM)

  • Momentous Whey Protein Isolate, Vanilla Flavor (2 scoops, 50g) - 40g protein, 4g carbs, 0g total fat, 0g dietary fiber, 180 calories

Lunch (3:29 PM)

  • Wonder/Yasas build-your-own bowl (Beef Souvlaki, Za-atar Roasted Carrots, Hummus, Spicy Pepper & Feta Spread, Toum, Marinated Beets, Roasted Broccoli, Pickled Red Onions, Feta Cheese Crumbles, Roasted Garlic Red Wine Vinaigrette)
Snack (4:45 PM)
  • Perfect Bar, Peanut Butter (2 bars) - 34g protein, 54g carbs, 38g total fat, 6g dietary fiber, 680 calories

Dinner 1 (5:20 PM)

  • Farmer's Fridge Chicken Sausage Breakfast Burrito + Hot Sauce - 16g protein, 43g carbs, 20g total fat, 5g dietary fiber, 410 calories

Dinner 2 (6:51 PM)

  • Farmer's Fridge Baja Chicken Wrap - 18g protein, 57g carbs, 19g total fat, 7g dietary fiber, 470 calories

Thoughts on today's choices

  • Had a call at noon and ended up having lunch later than I wanted
  • I may have to treat Perfect Bars as if they're chocolate
  • Farmer's Fridge is OK, but probably best to focus on their salads rather than their wraps
  • I thought it would be a good idea to have several Farmer's Fridge options available, but I think it just leads me to overeat









Daily Report - July 7, 2026

Breakfast (7:29 AM)

  • Momentous whey protein shake

Lunch (11:34 AM)

  • Wonder/Yasas build-your-own bowl (Chicken Souvlaki, Za-atar Roasted Carrots, Hummus, Spicy Pepper & Feta Spread, Harissa Dip, Pickled Slaw, Roasted Broccoli, Feta Cheese Crumbles, Roasted Garlic Red Wine Vinaigrette)
  • Spindrift Grapefruit
  • Spindrift Lemon

Dinner (10:07 PM)

  • Beyond Breakfast Sausage (6 patties) - 33g protein, 18g carbs, 36g total fat, 3g dietary fiber, 540 calories





Daily Report - July 6, 2026

Hopefully one way I can be helpful is by sharing daily reports about my food/nutrition, exercise/training, sleep, etc. 

These will be a work in progress as I get back into my own rhythm.

--

Breakfast (10:36 AM)

  • Momentous whey protein shake

Lunch (1:33 PM)

  • Seabear Smokehouse Smoked Salmon Chowder (This was from a care package from friends in the Pacific Northwest)

Dinner (6:54 PM)

  • Wonder/Yasas build-your-own bowl (Chicken Souvlaki, Za-atar Roasted Carrots, Hummus, Spicy Pepper & Feta Spread, Tzatziki, Roasted Broccoli, Pickled Red Onions, Feta Cheese Crumbles, Roasted Garlic Red Wine Vinaigrette)
  • Spindrift Grapefruit
  • Spindrift Lemon



"I Do"

Yesterday was the bachelor party.

Instead of strippers and tequila, it was carbs, carbs, and more carbs.

My go-to order at my local diner is guacamole and chips, followed by spaghetti carbonara.

The bartender mentioned a chorizo omelette as one of the specials, and I ordered that instead of the guacamole and chips.

The omelette came with potatoes, whole wheat toast, and tiny pats of butter. 
Round 1.

I looked at ESPN.com on my iPhone as I shoveled food into my mouth.

The spaghetti carbonara arrived just as I was finishing the omelette. 
Round 2.

The carbonara came with small thick ovals of sesame toast. I asked the bartender for more butter. I set aside two pats for the bread and I folded the third pat into the carbonara.

I was aware of a couple also sitting at the bar. I wondered what they thought of me and my Round 1 and Round 2.

I felt my heart beating heavy.

I paid my bill and left the diner.

My "last night of freedom" gave me a food coma instead of a hangover, and it confirmed that I was making the right decision the next day. 

--

Today I'm sobered up for the wedding. 

I'm committing to publishing a blog post every day for the rest of my life.

I'll be writing about "The Long Road to 155 Pounds @ 15% Body Fat, without using a GLP-1."

It's a little impulsive, like eloping to Vegas to be married by an Elvis impersonator.

Am I really giving up the one-night stands with pizza, the vacation flings with cheesecake?

I've always heard, "You can't just go on a diet, you've got to make it a lifestyle."

Today I'm hoping that making a public commitment helps me (and maybe others watching me) in a world of food temptations, attractive strangers, and divorce attorneys.

Today I hold my own hand, slip a ring on my own finger, and recite the vows I wrote.

Today I say "I do."


Cold Feet

It's almost 1 AM and I know I need to get back to "eating right and exercising" tomorrow.

It's a constraint that I'm going to say yes to.

The freedom of eating anything and everything I want has only gotten me a big belly and trouble with my heart and other organs.

I feel intimidated by the thought of publishing every day for the rest of my life.
A lifetime commitment.

Feels like I'm getting cold feet the night before the wedding.

Am I going to leave myself at the altar?


Introducing the 7-Day Fitness Over 50 Jumpstart

I've struggled with weight for most of my adult life.

On 1 January 2024, I was back up to 222.6 lbs.

The owner of my local pizzeria knew my order by heart. “Hey buddy, fettuccine alfredo, garlic knots, pepperoni pinwheel, 2 peach Snapple, 1 lemon Snapple!”

But in 2024, I was able to make big changes, and it showed on the scale:
  • 8 July 2024: 218.8 lbs
  • 31 December 2024: 179.9 lbs (down 38.9 lbs)

In 2025, I’ve lost even more weight:
  • 15 August 2025: 166.1 lbs (down 52.7 lbs)

Here are photos from 15 July 2024 and 11 August 2025.



I didn’t just lose weight, I lost inches (164.5 inches to 144 inches, down 20.5 inches).



I got stronger, too! Leg press went from 700 lbs. to 850 lbs., and my compound row went from 160 lbs. to 240 lbs.



Finally, I went from 41.3% body fat to 30.9% body fat, while only losing 2 lbs of muscle mass.


I’m on my way to 155 lbs at 15% body fat on or before 15 August 2026, aka “cut,” “ripped,” “shredded,” and “hench.”

For a long time I didn't want to talk about health, because it reminded me of my own failures.

Today I'm excited to share The 7-Day Fitness Over 50 Jumpstart!

It's my $10 playbook about how I got started with this new chapter of my health/fitness/weight loss story.

If you know someone who might find it helpful, please share the link below!