There are a million and one diets out there.

A million and two if you count your mom cutting the crust off your sandwiches as a kid. Or as an adult. I’m not judging.

With all these available options, picking the right diet is tough.

And at some point in your search, you stumbled upon the Military Diet….which HAS to be amazing.

Come on. It’s a diet, so it helps people lose weight. And folks in the military are super fit, which means the Military Diet must be great for quick weight loss.

Even better, the whole diet only lasts a week!

Surely this is a recipe for success, right?

Not so fast there, cadet!

Although this diet is crazy popular thanks to, sigh, the Kardashians (I promise this is the last time you’ll ever hear their name on Nerd Fitness), we’re here to offer a very different opinion than what you’ll find out there on the internet.

Depending on how long you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness (if today is your first day, welcome!), We’ll give you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on this trending diet.

And of course, gifs and jokes.

So let’s dig into the Military Diet:

• What the #$%! is it?
• Should you drop everything and try it?
• Are there any better recommendations out there?

Now step in line!

If there was a high school yearbook of diets, The Mediterranean Diet would certainly win “most popular:”

U.S. News tied it #1 in their “Best Overall Diet” category.^[1].

Fitness Magazine calls it the “The World’s Healthiest Diet.” ^[2]

WebMD flat out said they “love” the Mediterranean Diet. ^[3]

As far as mainstream media goes, you can’t get much better coverage than that.

Impressive? Absolutely.

Accurate? Maybe.

Here at Nerd Fitness, we love nothing better than digging into popular trends to give you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And LEGO photos and cute animal gifs.

So you’re here full of questions, which I bet go something like:

• Steve, what is the Mediterranean Diet?
• Can I lose weight on the Mediterranean Diet?
• Why is this diet so popular?
• Can I do the Mediterranean Diet wrong?
• Can I eat pasta and pizza on the Mediterranean Diet?
• Will you buy me a plane ticket to Santorini?

These are all great questions (though maybe not the last one), and I have no doubt I can help you make sense of this and start changing your nutrition today.

Let’s get weird.

“I wanna be a strong princess, like Wonder Woman!”

“I wanna be able to run really fast, like the Flash!”

“I wanna climb all the monkey bars like Tarzan! ”

“I should lose a few pounds off my love handles.”

One of these things is not like the others…

When we’re little kids, we swing from monkey bars and run up multiple flights of stairs and climb trees and chase imaginary bad guys and crawl through mud and we love every second of it.

We try new things because they seem fun (and nobody is telling us that we can’t). Or, we try new things specifically because we’re told we can’t!

We never once think “oh I wonder if my body is capable of such a thing….” We just DO. We fall down and pick ourselves back up and laugh it off and each day learn more and more about how we interact with the world around us. It’s awesome. And fun.But then…over the next 15-20 years, life happens.

Schoolwork. A job. Chores. Bills. Mortgage. Responsibilities. Kids! Late nights at the office. More and more meals from a drive through window.

As our responsibilities (and the scale) goes higher and higher, we set our sights lower and lower:

• Instead of wanting to run fast like the Flash, we just want to not get winded going up the stairs.
• Instead of being strong like Wonder Woman, we just want to not be sore after don’t want our arms to hurt from carrying in the groceries.
• Instead of swinging like Tarzan, we avoid activities that are new because we don’t think we can, and we don’t want to look foolish.
• Instead of wanting to climb mountain or run a 5k, we instead set the goal of “winning a solo Fortnite battle” or getting more instagram followers because the first goal seems entirely unrealistic.

It’s no wonder our expectations continue to wither as we age: growing up can suck. Sure we had dreams and goals and hobbies as a kid, but now that we’re adults, our goal has been minimized into a single sentence:

“Lose weight and don’t hate what I see in the mirror.”

Brutal? Yup.

Honest? Yup.

And that’s okay.

Not liking what I saw in the mirror is why I started exercising, and the reason I started Nerd Fitness 10 years ago. After all, wanting to look better and feel better is a powerful motivator, and that usually involves weight loss.

All of these thoughts above sprung from a conversation I had recently with our head of Coaching, Lauren – who I’ve known for like 13 years and I was a bridesboy (you heard me) in her wedding, but that’s besides the point.

I asked her about success stories we’ve had from people who have been in our NF Coaching program for 6, 9, or 12+ months and actually kept the weight off, and I started to see a pattern:

They all set out to lose weight as an initial goal, and many of them DID lose weight.

But a recent study showed: “The chance of returning to a normal weight after becoming obese is only one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women over a year.” ^[1]

So what was different with these clients?

Why are they having success with losing weight and KEEPING it off!?

Although they all succeeded in their own unique way, they did have a common element to each of their origin stories:

It started with weight loss, but as they started to lose the weight, they got back to trying new activities they could do and feel as a result of that weight loss:

• Doing pull-ups.
• Going on hikes.
• Getting back to martial arts.
• Dunking a basketball (video proof below)!

In other words, these people reclaimed a childhood sense of joy and wonder that comes from asking “what can I try to learn today?” and “what can I do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?”

And in many instances, they all had activities they thought they could NEVER do. And six months later, they had already done it and were setting even bigger goals!

You’re damn straight I’m proud these people are all coaching clients of Nerd Fitness, but I don’t care if you ever spend a dollar with us.

I want you to learn from their stories and remind yourself WHY you’re here working hard to better yourself!

If you can shift your mentality from “when I lose the weight, then I’m done” to “I’ve been building this new body, what is it capable of? Let’s find out,” that’s how you find long term, permanently improved healthy success.

And that’s when you become a superhero.

Running.

Some people live for it, chasing faster times and that unbelievable “runners high.”

Others despise it with the passion of a thousand suns (which is an excessive number of suns).

As somebody who used to run cross country in high school, and will probably never run a mile again, I have strong opinions on this stuff.

Today we’re going to cover it all: running your first 5K, if you even SHOULD run a 5k, and all the details of the famous Couch to 5K program.

After all, Couch to 5K is the most popular 5K running program since “run for your life” invented by a human like 150,000 years ago.

“Don’t run for your life” was equally popular, it just…didn’t last long.

Quiet, I know. This was a way better gif than a human being chased by a wild animal.

Plus, dinosaurs.

Anyways!

You’re here because you wanna know if you can build up to running a 5k without losing your breath or having to stop.

So here’s what we’re gonna cover in this article:

• What is it about Couch to 5K that makes it so dang popular?
• Does Couch to 5K actually work?
• Will I lose weight training for a 5K?
• How do I not hurt myself running a 5K?
• What if I own a futon, but like, it’s a nice one. Can I still do Couch to 5k?

If you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness for longer than this article, you know my thoughts about running for weight loss (spoiler: I think it’s an awful way to lose weight).

HOWEVER…

I also think running can be a fantastic activity (for the right person if they do it the right way)!

So, are you that person?

And what is the right way?

Keep reading and I’ll tell ya.

In exchange, I can promise hilarious gifs.

And maybe also Michael Jackson.

Meet Jaime.

Apologies in advance if her story makes you cry.

But don’t worry, it’s not the ugly crying from watching Inside Out or Toy Story 3. The inspiring kind of crying that makes you go “there’s hope for humanity yet!”

I met Jaime in person at one of our big events we’ve done in the past, Camp Nerd Fitness, and I remember two things specifically: she was very nice, and very shy 🙂

Little did I know that event would be the “radioactive spider” that bit Jaime and gave her permission to transform herself into a real life superhero.

I’m proud to say that Jaime is a member of our Nerd Fitness Academy, but I guarantee this story is full of information you can start to implement TODAY.

I love inspiring success stories.

I especially love sharing stories from real people with busy lives who have struggled in the same way most of us struggle:

• Multiple failed attempts at weight loss.
• Mental baggage and challenges to overcome.
• Negative self talk.
• Yo-yo dieting.

Christina, a years-long member of the Nerd Fitness community, is somebody who has gained and lost the same weight more times than she can count. She grew up with negative self-talk, chased lose-weight-quick strategies, and struggled to love herself through the ups and downs.

After her husband stumbled across Nerd Fitness (smart fella), he told her to consider joining our community, and I’m so thankful she did!

Two years ago, we launched a beta version of our super fun 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program, and Christina was one of our guinea pigs that signed up!

In those two years, she has transformed inside and out, and I’m so excited to share her story today. In these two years, she has had this great level of success without access to a gym without crazy dietary restrictions or calorie starvation, and finally loves herself in the way she deserves to be loved!

Although I’m very proud of the fact that Christina has invested in herself through coaching program month after month, I know you’ll learn a lot from her story.

At the end, I’ll share with you EXACTLY how to make your changes today. No more negative self-talk, no more reliance on motivation or willpower, but a focus on systems and progress and accountability!

Let’s see how Christina transformed…