The “Never Two in a Row” Rule | Nerd Fitness

I was talking to a friend recently who said he had reached a sort of plateau.

We’ve all been through that uncomfortable situation – where weight gain stops, or strength gains slow down.

Hey, I even wrote a whole article about it Breaking the Plateau,

As I was reminiscing over the last 15 years of Nerd Fitness, I suddenly came across one of my old videos.

This is Steve, the kid from 11 years ago, sitting on a brown couch (why did I think this was the right color couch to buy?), with his hair like a helmet.

This video made me laugh, but I’m also so proud of my past self for putting it out into the world!

The “Never Two in a Row” Rule

The “never put 2 in a row” rule is simple:

• Eat healthy foods after any “unhealthy” meals.
• If you missed an exercise, do it the next day.

In other words, who cares if you “mess up” once? Just don’t “mess up” twice in a row. Because two consecutive misses quickly become 3 or 5 or 10 or even a year’s worth of losses. But if you miss, you can lose money. Once? OK! Just get back on your way.

Think of it this way: If you eat one healthy food after every unhealthy food, at least 50% of your meals will be healthy! That’s a pretty good percentage.

It can also help us avoid an “all or nothing” mentality.

Now, I wanted to update my philosophy about plateaus and this rule, so let’s talk weird.

Plateaus are not a bad thing.

Plateaus are often frustrating, because we humans like progress.

Here’s the thing: When the alternative is “moving in the wrong direction,” a plateau is progress, especially if you’re used to losing weight and then bouncing back.

If we are not losing or gaining weight, we are eating approximately the same number of calories as our body burns daily. That’s it. It’s neither good nor bad, it’s just math.

In other words, a plateau can actually be a very good thing. It could mean that you’ve chosen to tread water for a while, or that you’re taking a strategic break.

Even if you’re not getting stronger in the gym, warming up your muscles with a basic workout is beneficial, even if it’s no improvement over the previous workout.

When life is a dumpster fire, a “plateau” can be a huge victory.

Next, let’s talk about “never two in a row,” and how I’ll be updating my language these days.

Healthy vs Unhealthy

In my video above I say, “Eat healthy food after unhealthy food.”

15 years later, I don’t like using the term “healthy” vs. “unhealthy” because it attaches some morality to the foods we eat.

(I realize that most of us Know That’s broadly what we mean by healthy, so I wouldn’t remove the term from my vocabulary altogether!)

Instead, let’s talk about redefining “healthy vs. unhealthy”:

Sometimes, we eat fast food because our kids want it (or because we’re traveling and it’s the only option at the airport). We don’t always need to optimize for weight loss or calories. Sometimes we optimize for convenience, or family, or sustenance.

It is neither morally good nor bad. It is simply a food we choose to eat.

If our goal is a calorie deficit, great! We can eat a low-calorie meal followed by a high-calorie meal. No morality, shame, or judgment needed. Just math and progress.

Because “calories” are just a unit of measurement, not an indication of its quality!

This is how a professor lost weight The “Twinkie Diet” Specifically to show that the math of weight loss really does depend on calories:

With his “convenience store diet,” he lost 27 pounds in two months.

For a project in class, Haub restricted himself to less than 1,800 calories per day. A man of Haub’s pre-dieting size typically consumes about 2,600 calories per day. So he followed a basic principle of weight loss: he ate significantly fewer calories than he burned.

His body mass index increased from 28.8 (which is considered overweight) to 24.9, which is normal.

Two-thirds of his total intake came from junk food. He also took a daily multivitamin pill and drank protein shakes. And he ate vegetables, usually a can of green beans or three to four celery stalks.

As I said in my article 5 beliefs I’ve changed my mind aboutI’ve overestimated my fears about certain foods — we trouble ourselves so much, and our weight is incredibly complex and nuanced.

So where does that leave us?

We are adults and we can make our own choices. We can choose a more nutrient-rich lower-calorie food over a high-calorie food. We can mix and match.

It’s not an all or nothing thing, and it’s not immoral to eat chips or ice cream. It just is!

In our “Guide to Healthy Eating,” We explain which foods are nutritionally light and high in calories (processed foods, snack foods, candy, soda, etc.), and which foods are nutritionally dense and low in calories (fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains).

You can decide what “healthy” means to you and what “unhealthy” means to you. You can even decide to change your language to “more calories vs. fewer calories.”

And then apply the rule of never having 2 in a row!

not exercising

Sometimes we forget to workout.

It doesn’t require any shame or guilt, either.

Nor does it mean “I’m useless and I’ll try again next year.”

It’s just an incident that happened.

Instead of saying, “I didn’t have time to exercise today,” which leads to feelings of guilt, shame, and sadness…

Instead we might say, “Working out wasn’t a priority today.” Strategic! Sure, we may need to do some self-compassion work Why It wasn’t a priority, but sometimes it just happens because life was a total mess that day!

Last week, my workout schedule went haywire, and I wasn’t able to workout on my regular workout days.

It wasn’t because I didn’t have time to exercise… but because exercising was not a priority… I had other things to do that were more important to me.

Plus, I knew doing so would benefit my mental health. Some?So I did my two half-hearted workouts, went for a short walk on the other days, and that’s it.

never two in a row

to recap: If you miss a workout, who cares! Just try not to miss it as much as you can Two Working out consistently can help us avoid losing too much momentum.

If you eat a high-calorie meal, great! I hope it was delicious. Then eat a low-calorie meal, hopefully it’s filling and nutritious.

An all or nothing approach doesn’t work. And we don’t have to be perfect.

And if we eat too much at one time, make adjustments at the next meal.

If we forget to do any exercise then do the next exercise.

Just don’t miss twice in a row, and you’ll be surprised how much progress you can make!

Even if this progress is a plateau…it’s better than going in the wrong direction.

-Steve