Should you completely restrict yourself when working on your health and fitness goals?

There are few more polarizing battlegrounds outside of politics, religion, than health and fitness.

As such, people build camps, tribes, and belief systems around methods that match their biases and keep them safe. Anyone who thinks differently is labeled as uninformed or worse, stupid.

One of the battleground issues for the last 5-10 years has been the recurring narrative that moderation is better than restriction. That restriction always leads to catastrophe. That restriction is no way to live. That restriction absolutely 100% leads to bad things…unless you’re in the camp that think the opposite of course.

If you’re in one of those camps then nothing less than total restriction from bread, vegetables, meat, vegetables that looks like meat but tastes like carpet tiles, or (insert random food or substance here) is paramount to not just your health, but the safety of humanity.

All jokes aside, restriction, is simply a method to achieve an outcome. The concern comes from the notion that restriction is unsustainable long term. Yet sustainability and long term are both relative to the individual.

Restriction from something is simply a method. It’s a way of doing something. For some people, restriction works incredibly well as a method to achieve their desired goals.

I for one, don’t drink alcohol - not because I’m some high and mighty monk/arsehole, but because it makes achieving both my short and long term goals more realistic. I completely restrict it and it works amazingly well.

Chocolate on the other hand, I choose to restrict for certain periods and goals, because complete restriction long term doesn’t make sense for me or my goals. In the short term however, it’s a perfectly reasonable strategy.

Restriction and restraint live on the same spectrum and are both completely reasonable and powerful methods to utilize in your health, fitness, and physique efforts.

“No” isn’t a forever decision.

Budgeting

Think of it like a budget. If you wanted to comfortably spend money you don’t yet have on a trip, you’d make a plan to save enough money to cover your costs. Maybe you stop eating out or skip your daily latte to make this happen. You’d restrict your spending now so you can enjoy your trip later. The next option is to restrain your spending now by only eating out 1x per week instead of 3, and only having your latte on a Friday. This would make saving up for your trip take longer, but you’d still be able to enjoy a meal out and a nice coffee each week.

Alternatively, you would need to appreciate that if you aren’t willing to restrict or restrain your spending, you will likely take on some debt to afford your trip straight away.

All completely reasonable until we think about doing this within our health and fitness and the zealots come for us.

But, the same scenario applies. If you want to be able to indulge at an upcoming birthday dinner, or have some flexibility around food on vacation, then you might consider saving some calories for the previous weeks/months to be able to afford your spending and not go into extreme debt.

This is just a tool and as such it might not be the best tool for you OR it could be the perfect tool for you.

At builtXyou we know that there are no must use methods. Instead we build a custom plan for every guy using the most efficient and effective methods for their goals, circumstances, preferences, and needs. Thats why we’re called builtXyou.

If you’re a busy guy that wants to follow a system that guarantees transformative health, fitness, and physique results so that you can live the life you want in a body you are confident in and proud of, then apply to work with us today.