No Resolution

Make positive changes, no wishful thinking

Read some stats on how often people follow through on New Year’s Resolutions. They’re abysmal.

Most people set vague goals for the upcoming year - that’s great. But they never make a substantive and useful plan for how to get there - that’s why it fails.

In this article, I will give you a framework to make positive changes for your health in the new year. If you’ve already made (and abandoned a New Year’s Resolution, maybe it’ll help reignite your fire. If you don’t know where to begin, this will help.

Systems > Goals

I have talked about this in the past. The idea of creating a system to improve your health (or anything in your life, really) was originally popularized by Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert cartoon and author of, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. I highly recommend reading this book, as it will completely change the way you operate in this world - in a good way.

In this book, he describes why systems are better than goals. They are steps you take, a way of living, a way of manipulating an environment so that being healthy is just something you do. You don’t have to think about it, you don’t need to expend mental energy, it just happens.

This is how the healthiest people I know operate. They may pretend it’s all the hard work and mental toughness, but most of the time that’s just flexing for attention online.

They create a system and simply live their life incorporating that system.

My System

I decided it was time to change my system in late November, or early December. I didn’t wait until the New Year.

One thing I was seriously slacking on was my regular consumption of creatine. It may sound like a small thing, but the mental and physical benefits of regular creatine consumption cannot be understated. It is probably the most studied supplement in history, safe, and found naturally in meat.

My goal is to take 5–10 grams every day. I used to take 5 grams, but there is some evidence that 10 grams is superior, so I’m giving it a try and seeing how I feel.

The problem is, I forget to take it probably 4–5 days per week. I don’t like mixing the powder with water, which is what I drink mostly throughout the day. To make up for this I made 2 changes:

1. Creatine Gummies: it’s so much easier to throw 5 gummies in my mouth and go on about my day. This gives me 5 grams of creatine, it’s easy to remember, and it tastes good. I was skeptical about creatine gummies at first but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I use Gimme Gummiez.

You can save yourself 10% using the promo code “Renegade” plus more off if you get a monthly subscription - they’ll be sent to you every month without having to worry about it.

2. Making my coffee: I normally drink coffee at work. This meant I had to put my creatine powder in a container and bring it to work every day, bring that home, refill it, and repeat. It’s easy to forget. I started making coffee at home and bringing it to work. I can add my creatine powder directly and drink it on the way to work. Much easier.

Creatine powder is quite cheap. Don’t overthink it. I buy a large bulk bad on Amazon like this one:

Making these two changes ensures I get at least 5 grams of creatine every day, and 10 grams most days. It takes very little willpower on my part. Just a small change.

Some Changes You Can Make

Make it easier for yourself. You don’t want to rely on willpower because you will eventually crack.

Dietary Changes

An underrated piece of advice is to cut back on calories more than you need to for “optimal” weight loss, instead opting for a more aggressive plan. This does a few things:

• allows you to have occasional “cheat days” aka refeeding days - you’ll want to increase calories every week or so to make up for the calorie reduction

• allows for mistakes - if you are eating 300 calories under maintenance calories (“optimal”) and then eat one bag of chips, your entire day of progress is negated. If you are eating a 600-calorie deficet, you don’t lose any real progress. I personally aim for 2 lbs/week weight loss which is 7000 calories per week, or 1000 calories per day. This is a steep cut, but it never ends up being that much because of tracking issues, cheat days, etc.

Find healthy foods you enjoy and eat them. Healthy eating doesn’t need to be (and shouldn’t be) all salads and kale. I am perfectly content eating chicken breasts almost every day with different toppings. I find a lot of success eating chicken breast with avocado. Or mix it with unflavored Greek yogurt (tastes like sour cream). Find easy solutions like this and it will be easier for you to stick to your diet.

Exercise Changes

This tends to be the hardest one for people. If you’re not used to working out the barrier to entry can seem high. You need a gym membership, a trainer, equipment, and so on.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

I recommend you hire a personal trainer for a month and have them show you the basics. After that, you can buy a decent program online and follow it. As your knowledge and experience grow, you can change to suit your needs.

A simple fix is to take a walk every morning. Just wake up and go for a walk. It doesn’t need to be long, 15 minutes will do. Do it while your coffee is brewing. This will set the tone for the day and make it much easier to get proper exercise. You’ll feel strange doing nothing for the rest of the day after exercising first thing in the morning.

Circadian Rhythm

You should probably be focusing more on this than you are. Morning sunlight and limiting artificial light after sundown is proving to be one of, if not the most important, aspects of health.

A few ways to force yourself to adhere to this:

• Put your router on a timer and have it shut off at sundown - your TV is a big source of artificial light after sundown

• Buy blue blocking glasses - wear them every day starting at sundown

• See the sunrise - take that walk at sunrise

• Phone Settings - schedule your phone to shut off the blue light at sunrise

There are many other ways you can optimize your circadian rhythm. You should be working on this.

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I don’t think I need to belabor this point any more than I already have. There are about a million ways you can improve your health by improving your system. You must individualize it for your own life.

If you’ve got questions or suggestions for people, please leave a comment.

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In other news, the newest version of Renegade Health Magazine will be coming out very soon. We made some significant changes and I recommend signing up for the newsletter.