Daniel Clough

Just another WordPress site

Health

Daily Habits: Aug 2023 (it’s time for a comeback!)

If you’ve been following my updates, you’ll know that things started to slip in June and July. There were reasons for that (getting a puppy, being sick etc.), but at some point I need to man up and stop the slide and bounce back.

So, my goals for August were to improve sleep, steps and intermittent fasting as close to 80% as I can – whilst maintaining all other habits at 80% +.

Let’s see how that went…..

Well, that didn’t work out very well did it?

Sleep went down. Steps and intermittent fasting stayed about the same. And, protein dipped below 80% for the first time this year! 🤦‍♂️

OK, OK, let’s back up a second before we get too bent out of shape about it. I have some more reasons. 🤔

On reflection, I should have seen this coming. I was still in the last stages of getting better from being sick, so that hit my steps pretty hard. Also, August (along with December) is a month that’s typically very hard to hold onto a routine. I should have adjusted my expectations. We had school holidays, so there was a lot of unusual stuff happening – not to mention I went on three trips for a total of nine days. I was out of my environment for at least a third of the month.

One more reason (it’s the last, I promise!). I’ve changed my fitness goals and am now focused on strength and building muscle. As a result, I’ve started to become more flexible with my intermittent fasting. If I want to get the most out of my weight sessions, they are better done with some food (fuel) in my body. What that means is that I’m choosing not to fast on weight training days (3 days per week), so that’s naturally bringing my average down. That’s fine. There’s no point in being dogmatic on consistency if it doesn’t serve me. For the foreseeable, that means my consistency for intermittent fasting will naturally drop to 55% ish. I’ll find a way of re-thinking this metric in September to better track against my new plan.

So, where does that leave me?

September truly is a month to start the bounce back. It doesn’t need to be green across the board, but I do need to start seeing things shift towards that direction.

So far, I’m tracking towards that!

See you next month!

Get my ideas straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter below:

* indicates required

Seven Common Mistakes That Can Lead to Injury (The Uncommon Life Podcast – E4)

I don’t claim to be an expert on anything. But, if there’s something I have a ton of experience in, it’s getting injured. 😂

If you’re training hard or playing sports, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll run into getting injured at some point – especially as you get older. This week, Luis and I (Rich is on holiday) cover what we feel are seven of the most common mistakes that can lead to injury. And we also share some tips and tricks that have helped us reduce the risk of getting injured ourselves.

Spotify: E4: Seven Common Mistakes That Can Lead to Injury

YouTube: E4: Seven Common Mistakes That Can Lead to Injury

Apple Podcasts: E4: Seven Common Mistakes That Can Lead to Injury

P.S We’re on roughly a weekly cadence with the podcast. I’m thinking about whether I’ll continue to do a post / email for each new one, or if there is a better way to share the episodes (I don’t want to annoy you with too many emails). Of course, the best way to be notified of new episodes is to either subscribe to the YouTube channel, or follow wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Get my ideas straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter below:

* indicates required

.

The Uncommon Life Podcast – E3 (Where to start when making health a bigger priority in your life)

We made it to episode three! We have a new intro, improved the sound quality (yeah, Rich got a mic!) AND we managed to keep it under an hour. Win.

Spotify: E3: Where to Start When Making Health a Bigger Priority in Your Life

YouTube: E3: Where to Start When Making Health a Bigger Priority in Your Life

Apple Podcasts: E3: Where to Start When Making Health a Bigger Priority in Your Life

(It’s also available on all other major podcasting platforms)

In episode three, we discuss what might be the best way to start making health a bigger priority in your life.

We know at the beginning it can be hard. You might be overweight. You might be lacking energy. You might be wondering where you’re going to find the time to work out. Perhaps you’re struggling with confidence. You might just not know where to start.

But, there’s always a place you can start. And there’s a bunch of things you can do that will make it easier to take those first steps, and to start to build some consistency towards better health habits.

We hope the episode is useful for helping you to do exactly that. Enjoy!

Get my ideas straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter below:

* indicates required

Daily Habits: July 2023 (am I on shaky ground?)

In June, my 6.5 hours sleep and 10K steps habits slipped below 80% (blame it on the puppy!).

I was hoping to tighten these up in July, getting all eight habits back to 80% or over.

Drum roll….

(Click here for the full 18 month journey)




Not only did getting 6.5 hours of sleep and walking 10K steps drop further, but I also fell under 80% for intermittent fasting. On top of that, I also saw a lot more consecutive misses.

I’m not about to panic. As I commented in last month’s update, I can’t expect a perfect run each month. July had a very unusual amount of curve balls, that can help explain why a few oranges are creeping in.

  • Toby the new puppy is still impacting my sleep. He’s waking up very early (although this is slowly getting better) – so my sleeping window is compressed on some days. Also, I haven’t done a great job of getting to bed early when I know I’m on the early shift.
  • I’ve been on-off sick for the last two weeks of July. This made 10K steps more challenging, particularly towards the end of the month (I was pretty much in bed). I also made a conscious decision to give my body more calories and to eat breakfast towards the end of the month. I think that’s what my body needed to recover. The consequence of that was I skipped fasting for five days in a row.

So, yeah, July wasn’t great.

I’ve had to reframe some of my expectations over the last couple of months. When I hit a three month 80%+ streak on all habits in May, I constructed an expectation that anything less than 80% for any habit would be unacceptable going forward. On reflection, that’s not realistic. There will be months where some habits may take a dip. And you know – that’s OK. It doesn’t mean I’ve lost the habit. It just means I’m going through a challenging period that makes 80% consistency difficult for some habits.

Now, that doesn’t mean I can get soft. When I see challenging periods around the corner, I still need to think about sensible ways to mitigate them. And when I’m in the middle of them, I need to try my best to limit the damage. If I happen to fall below 80% in a given month for a habit, I also need to think about what it takes to regroup and build it back to 80% when possible. That’s what real life is about.

And that’s what I will do now. Yes, I’ve taken a step back. But, with the right conditions, I know I can easily build back to 80% across the board very soon.

So, let’s talk about August. My goal is to get 6.5 hours of sleep, walking 10K steps and intermittent fasting upwards, and as close to 80% as I can – whilst maintaining all other habits at 80% +.

I think fasting will be easy. Steps will be difficult because they will continue to take a hit for the first few days of the month as I recover from being sick. Sleep, whilst easier than steps, will still have the whole new puppy thing going on. I also have a few trips planned in August, which may test the consistency here or there (although I am generally pretty good at mitigating against these nowadays).

A fantastic month would be all eight habits at 80%+. But, even if I get intermittent fasting back up to 80% and sleep and steps closer to 80%, that would be a good step forward. If that happened, I could then use September to get back to 80% across the board – as long as I had a clear run at it.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll take it a month at a time. August is for making some ground up, and taking a step forward.

As usual, see you next month.

Get my ideas straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter below:

* indicates required

The Uncommon Life Podcast – Episode 2

We’re back with another episode of The Uncommon Life Podcast!

Spotify: E2: Sharing Our Journeys Towards Being in the Best Shape and Health of Our Lives

YouTube: E2: Sharing Our Journeys Towards Being in the Best Shape and Health of Our Lives

In episode two, Rich, Luis and myself talk about each of our journeys towards being in the best shape, and best health of our lives.

We’re active every day, and we train hard most days. We’re very intentional about what we eat to support our goals. And we consistently keep good habits, that help us feel great and be in good health.

But, it hasn’t always been like this. It’s been a journey for each of us, which we’ve had to build towards it. Each of our journeys have been different – as they should be.

YOU have to go on your own journey, and you have to do the work, to build towards being in the best shape and health of YOUR life. And there’s no excuse to not be on that journey. You owe it to yourself, and you owe it to those who depend on you.

We at least hope that you can relate to some of our journeys – and that you find them useful for charting your own.

We tried hard to make this episode a bit tighter and shorter. Still a few sound issues, but we’re working on figuring those out for next week. Get a little bit better each week is our motto!

P.S – If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you could leave a rating and review on wherever you are listening to this. It only takes a few seconds, and it’s a great way to support the show.

Get my ideas straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter below:

* indicates required

Two Years Sober

Well, it arrived. I’m now two years sober!

As with most big changes, they usually happen in phases. These phases are often hard to predict, because each one usually helps to shape the one that follows. Only looking back now, can I connect the dots.

The first few months were difficult. I really missed a glass of red wine in the evening. I also felt awkward when out with friends or colleagues – relying on non-alcoholic beers to soften things. That said, the short-term tradeoff (no hangovers and less anxiety) was so obvious, I was able to push through. At this stage, I wasn’t sure where the journey would end. I hoped I would arrive at a place where I could have a couple of glasses of wine now and again. You know – take it or leave it.

At around six months, things started to get easier. It became more normal to not drink alcohol. Yes, I still missed a glass of red wine, but much less so. I continued to drink non-alcoholic beers to fit in, and it still felt great to be hangover free and to have less anxiety. I remained hopeful that this would help me build a better relationship with alcohol. Maybe then I could introduce it back in less frequently.

Around this time, I also started to build better habits in my life. I didn’t realise it at the time, but being free of alcohol played a part in me starting this. If I was able to change my habits for alcohol, why not a bunch of other stuff that would make me feel better too?

At about the year point, quite a few things clicked. The big one was how important sleep was for my mental and physical health. I was just an all round better person with more sleep – more optimistic, more confident, less anxious, more productive, and happier in myself. I also noticed how much easier it was to be consistent with my new health habits when I was well rested. When I was tired, I was much more likely to skip workouts, eat processed food, drink enough water etc. The light bulb had gone off. I now started to prioritise my sleep much more than ever before. I still consider it the base of the pyramid for self care.

The second thing that clicked was the relationship between alcohol and poor sleep. It’s not like I didn’t already know this. This message had been coming through loud and clear for a while now on some of the podcasts I listen to. [1] [2] [3] And it’s not like I couldn’t see it for myself. Almost every time I had a drink, my Whoop metrics were a mess the following day (if you want a free Whoop and one month free, use this link).

And then it all finally came together. It wasn’t that alcohol was the real problem here. It was that alcohol was causing poor sleep, which in turn threw everything else off. Another light bulb had gone off. Being sober might actually be for good. How can I have something in my life that so obviously disrupts my sleep, and then holds me back so significantly? It’s as if a decision to have a few glasses of wine is choosing to give myself a week’s worth of anxiety and low confidence.

You’ll notice I used the word ‘might’ be for good. I was 90% there. But, I still wanted to believe that there was a way to have my cake and eat it. I wasn’t sure how, but committing to being sober forever felt like a massive decision.

In the last few months, something changed in me. I started to identify and become comfortable with someone who didn’t drink alcohol. Up until this point, I always felt a bit awkward and embarrassed to tell people I didn’t drink. But, now I started to like standing out and being the guy who didn’t drink. I didn’t care at all what anyone else thought about it. I liked what it stood for. I liked that it showed a level of discipline and commitment that was uncommon. It showed I was in control of my life. I had decided to put something that wasn’t good for me in a box and throw away the key.

And that’s where I find myself today. Two years sober, and convinced I’ll never drink again. I’m a much, much better version of myself without it – why would I go back?

I’ll leave you with this clip of Steve-O (from Jackass). I haven’t seen anyone else so elegantly describe why giving up alcohol can be so powerful. His take on ‘kind of having alcoholism’ is so perfect. You don’t have to be an alcoholic to give up. You might just want to release the handbrake and starting living life to the full.

Notes:

[1] Alcohol: Kristen Holmes and Emily Capodilupo break down everything you need to know about how alcohol impacts your sleep, recovery and performance.

[2] Peter Attia discusses the impact of alcohol on health, particularly on sleep and the risk of neurodegenerative diseases.

[3] Matt Walker explains how alcohol affects the quality of sleep.

Get my ideas straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter below:

* indicates required

I started a Podcast – The Uncommon Life

This has been a fun project to bring together. But, why start a podcast?

A couple of reasons:

  1. Writing is my comfort zone. Always has been. I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and start doing some audio and video. It’s going to force me to be a better talker.
  2. Getting out of my comfort zone is one thing – but, I didn’t want to do audio and video for the sake of it. I needed a topic and format I was really into. So, I sat on it for a while, waiting to get excited about something.

Over the last few months I’ve been having more conversations with my friends Rich and Luis on everything health, training, nutrition and discipline. All three of us live a very disciplined and healthy lifestyle. We’re very active and train hard. We eat in a very specific way to be in good health and achieve our goals. We’re all in the best shape and health of our lives because of it.

So, taking this conversation into a podcast felt very natural. It’s fun for us, and I think it can be very helpful for others – no matter where you are on the journey of health, fitness and discipline.

Here’s the first episode of The Uncommon Life – E1: Our Goals & Nutritional Approach (Including the Carrot Hack & Cheat Porridge!):

(Watch it on YouTube)

Watch / Listen on Spotify – E1: Our Goals & Nutritional Approach (Including the Carrot Hack & Cheat Porridge!)

Listen on Apple Podcasts – E1: Our Goals & Nutritional Approach (Including the Carrot Hack & Cheat Porridge!)

We’re not trying to be over-polished with this. We have a bias towards putting out episodes and improving as we go along. So, expect the odd sound and wifi issue. Doorbell interruptions too!

I hope you enjoy it and find it useful. If so, please follow (you’ll get notified of new episodes) and rate the show on Spotify and YouTube. And any feedback at all is super welcomed.

Get my ideas straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter below:

* indicates required

Daily Habits: June 2023 (are the cracks starting to appear?)

I absolutely smashed May – 80%+ across the board for all eight habits. The goal for June was exactly the same, as it will be for the rest of the year.

You may have already guessed from the title of this post, I might have got into trouble in June.

Let’s see how I did:

(click here for full size image)

OK, I have some explaining to do. Let’s talk positives to start with:

  • I rarely achieve 100% consistency on anything outside of no alcohol. So, it felt good to drink three litres of water every day in May. I find this very easy now.
  • I only missed eating 150+ grams of protein one day, hitting 97% consistency. At the end of last year, I found 120+ grams a day hard. Only eight months later, I have an average of 175 grams. Something very unusual has to happen for me to miss 150 grams. That’s a massive improvement.
  • Fasting, supplements and caffeine were all safely above 80%.

Now for the slip ups.

  • Sleep and 10K steps took a bit of a beating (67% and 73% respectively).
  • Some consecutive misses started to creep in

And that’s because of this:

Yep, we got a puppy (Toby). And well, he’s being a puppy!

We knew it would be hard work, but I under-estimated the impact it would have on my sleep and steps. He likes to wake very early, and doesn’t like to be left alone for too long!

On one hand, it’s a tough pill to swallow. I’ve worked so hard to build eight habits to 80% consistency. I hate to see some yellows creep in. But, if I take a step back, I realise that these habits are too strong to unravel because of a temporary life event. Life is not perfect. I can’t expect a stable and predictable environment every month.

What’s important is that I take the hit, and now focus on how to temporarily mitigate the changes in my situation. I need to hold my head above water as much as I can. And soon enough, Toby won’t rise so early and will be able to be left for longer (this is already happening).

So, what can I do?

I’m going to focus on two things:

  1. Go to sleep earlier. If I’m going to be woken up at 5AM, I have to mitigate that by going to bed earlier. I’ve resisted this so far as I like to have a full evening to myself. But, that’s just not viable right now, and sleep is absolutely a higher priority. It’s the base of the pyramid for me. At least for a while, I need to be hitting the sack around 9PM.
  2. Time block when I’m going to get my steps in. I tend to have a rough plan and then be opportunistic and flexible throughout the day. That usually works. But, with less flexibility, it falls apart. I need to block time out in the day, and then be more disciplined about walking at that time.

Bring on July. I have a real challenge in front of me. But, the goal remains the same – all eight habits at 80%+.

Get my ideas straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter below:

* indicates required

Daily Habits: May 2023 (I’m BACK)

My goal for May was 80% across the board for all eight habits.

This was very ambitious for two reasons. I took a lot of April off, so I was definitely feeling a bit rusty with my discipline and routines. Also, 10K steps is a new habit I’m building, and I only had one month at 68% under my belt (March).

So, let’s see how I did:

(click here for full size image)

Now, that’s what you call a SMASH.

I’m so happy with hitting 80% across the board and seeing a full column of green. Sure, things came in a little hot (a few 81% ‘s) – but, I got it done. And I have to keep remembering that I took most of April off, as well having some bank holidays and a half term in May. That makes this an even a more impressive result.

As I type this, I’m taking a step back. I’m able to hold down EIGHT foundational health habits at 80%+ consistency.

I’ll say that once more.

I’m able to hold down EIGHT foundational health habits at 80%+ consistency.

That’s insane for me to think about. Two years ago I couldn’t do one. Just over one year ago, I had two (and it was for only one month, so not a properly established habit).

I struggled for literally over ten years trying to build these types of health habits. So, what helped me finally do it? Three things.

  1. A change in mentality. There have been a handful of things I’ve had to think differently about (a good example is, 80% is good enough).
  2. My habit tracking systems (the notepad and spreadsheet) have kept me on track every day, and every month. That mix of zooming in on the day, but also seeing the bigger picture has been super important.
  3. Accountability. Having friends who are on the same wavelength that I can talk to regularly has been a game changer. We share strategies and help keep each other accountable.

One day, I’ll wrap all of this into some type of course that can help others make similar changes. If this sounds like it would be useful, let me know (I’ll be looking for some guinea pigs!)

Lastly, my goal for June? Exactly the same as May, and exactly the same for the rest of the year. All eight habits at 80%+. I’m not interested in layering on anything new. Instead, I just want to strengthen my consistency on these eight habits for the rest of the year.

See you in a month!

Get my ideas straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter below:

* indicates required

Have you normalised, feeling lousy?

I watch this video from Joe Rogan back at least a few times a week:

It’s SO spot on.

When you get used to eating like this, you realise there’s a whole new way of feeling and living your life. I know that sounds hyperbolic – but it’s absolutely true. It’s night and day.

Yes, it’s super hard (at least at first). Our shops, restaurants and workplaces are hazard zones – full of the wrong choices. I can guarantee, you’re going to need to build more discipline and better habits to deal with them.

You have to put in the work to educate yourself on how to make the right choices. There’s never been more free and high quality information out there. But, that’s super hard too. If you don’t have your wits about you, you’ll be led to believe Cheerios are a health food or Flintstone Vitamins are actually good for your kids.

You’ll have to start being intentional about what you eat. It’s not good enough to grab food on the go, or eat whatever is available. What you’re eating needs to fit into your goals and activity levels for the day.

Why? You’ll live longer. You’ll live better. You’ll feel better. You’ll think better. You’ll look better. Everything will be better.

If you’re eating a Standard American or Western Diet (most people are), you don’t even know how lousy you feel. You’ve normalised to it. What an opportunity. Just wait until you start feeling what it’s like to opt out.

So, how do you practically get started? I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s one very simple, and obvious place to start.

Track everything you eat for seven full days (Monday through Sunday). There are lots of apps that make this very easy (myfitnesspal is what I use). All you have to do is scan the barcode from the packaging of your food, or search their crowdsourced database. It takes a matter of a few minutes to put in a full meal.

If you’ve never done this before, I can almost guarantee, you’ll be surprised by what you find. You’ll be eating too many calories. You’ll be eating too many carbohydrates and saturated fats. You’ll be eating very little protein. And you’ll be eating too much sugar.

And that’s where your journey starts. With this new level of self awareness, you can start to better educate yourself and make different choices. Where it ends, is up to you.

P.S If you want to chat about some of the best places to educate yourself on nutrition, or ways to approach making better choices – feel free to reach out.

Get my ideas straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter below:

* indicates required