Hello,

Week 2 is done, and nutritionally, it’s been a really successful one.

I created a set of simple principles and, surprisingly, I’ve stuck to them 100%: protein with every meal, plenty of colourful vegetables, whole-food carbohydrates, healthy fats, no ultra-processed foods or gluten, 2–3 litres of water a day, and three balanced meals with minimal snacking.

And it hasn’t actually felt that hard.

I think these principles have almost outsourced my decision-making. Rather than constantly asking what I fancy or what I should eat, I just run the decision through them.

I looked into this, and it’s known as decision heuristics, mental shortcuts that reduce unnecessary decision-making. “Make half my plate vegetables,” for example, gives me a useful rule without having to weigh, calculate or track everything. There’s a place for that level of precision, but right now, with life being busy, I’m choosing simplicity over precision.

Since cutting out gluten, I’ve also noticed a big difference. The stomach pains I was experiencing have completely gone and my digestion has improved dramatically. I’m increasingly suspicious I have some sort of sensitivity, but it’s only been a week, so I’ll keep experimenting.

Interestingly, a dry patch of skin on my elbow is clearing up too. Related? Too early to know, but I’m keeping an eye on it.

Exercise didn’t go quite as well.

I still managed two strength workouts, with increased intensity, plus a cardio session. But I didn’t actually schedule them. I just told myself, “I’ll do it after work.”

That didn’t happen.

So, my main lessons from Week 2:

Principles reduce decision fatigue. Simple rules make good choices easier without having to think everything through from scratch.

Make progress visible. I need shorter feedback loops rather than waiting six weeks for another health check. I’m going to track weight, body composition, energy, digestion and my daily behaviours, not to obsess over individual numbers, but to see whether what I’m doing is working. In behaviour-change terms, this is self-monitoring.

Systems AND goals matter. Systems make behaviours easier, but I still need a concrete outcome to move towards. The goal gives me direction; the system helps me get there.

Define a successful day and week. Instead of constantly focusing on the end result, I want clear daily and weekly actions I can control. Stack enough successful days together and, hopefully, the bigger result follows.

Physically schedule things. “I’ll exercise after work” isn’t a plan. I’m going back to putting training sessions in my diary like appointments, turning a vague intention into a specific plan for when it will happen.

Healthy food still needs to taste good. I coached someone this week who was trying to stop eating after 7pm, but their dinner was basically a dry baked potato and chicken breast. No wonder they wanted to eat again later! If healthy eating is going to last, it still needs to be enjoyable. With planning, things can be healthy and enjoyable.

Lower the threshold when motivation is low. After a couple of drinks on Friday, I felt pretty jaded the next morning. So I reduced the goal to “just turn up to the gym” and ended up having one of my best workouts. Sometimes lowering the expectation removes enough friction to get started.

Small wins are motivating. Even switching to a 500ml water bottle helped. Finishing each one gives me a small sense of achievement and makes progress visible, almost gamifying something as mundane as drinking water.

Pre-decisions work. Before going out on Friday, I decided I’d have no more than three drinks. I had two. This is essentially precommitment, making the decision beforehand rather than relying on willpower in the moment.

Support and accountability matter. I contacted a lecturer who trained me as a PT nearly 20 years ago and is now a nutrition coach. We’ve agreed I can book some one-to-one time with him after I’ve spent a couple of months working on this myself. Strangely, just knowing that support is there has given me another boost.

So, Week 3.

The nutrition principles are staying exactly as they are.

The big change is exercise: I’m physically booking my sessions into my mornings rather than hoping I’ll do them later.

I’m also introducing some proper feedback loops: daily weight, weekly body composition and a simple visual tracker to tick off my behaviours each day.

I’m craving something more concrete now. I’m exercising and eating well, but I want to actually see and feel that I’m making progress.

So that’s the focus for Week 3:

Make progress visible.

Catch up in a couple of days with my first Week 3 post.

Dan