Humble. Hungry. Happy.

How to live a fulfilled life.

Jun 27, 2023

CrossFit coach Ben Bergeron describes his mission as,

Building A Family of Humble, Hungry, & Happy people who Kick Ass Into Their 90's.

This means being coachable and open to feedback. It means never complaining. A victor mentality instead of a victim mentality. And doing what we love until we die. His book Chasing Excellence goes deep into his mindset and methods for training athletes at CrossFit New England. It is worth reading his book and worth dropping in his gym if you’re ever in Boston.

My friend Rich Howe trains at CFNE and has been on a fitness journey paralleling my own – balancing family, finance, and fitness. We mostly overlap on the investing side of our lives, but today I want to hear from him on health and fitness. So I hand this edition of Vale Tudo over to Rich:

Reflecting

Any diet/workout routine can work. You just have to find the one that is right for you. The bigger battle is finding something that is sustainable and that you can stick with. To that end, I’m a big fan of James Clear. His website and book have helped me understand the science of habit formation.

Training

I love playing squash. I love all sports, but squash is great because: It’s really fun, it’s social (you play with someone else), and it’s very efficient. You sweat like crazy for 45 minutes.

Fueling

I love eating the same thing day in and day out. Most people think I’m crazy, but I don’t really need variety and find it lessens the cognitive load of eating healthy to just eat the same meal again and again. My favorite meal:

Nutrition

Calories: 302
Protein: 36 grams
Carbs: 38 grams
Fat: 6 grams

Ingredients

6 ounce baked potato
1 cup egg whites
1 tsp of butter
4 tsp of salsa

How to prepare (5 minutes prep/cook time)

Cook the potato in microwave for 4 minutes.
Dice the potato in a bowl.
Season with salt and pepper.
Melt 1 tsp of butter in a pan so egg whites won’t stick.
Pour 1 cup of egg whites in the hot pan, cook for 3 minutes on stove top until done.
Put egg whites on top of diced potato. Season with salt and pepper.
Top with 4 tsp of salsa. Enjoy!

Supplementing

5 grams creatine mixed in with protein shake per day. Creatine has been studied extensively and has been shown to improve exercise performance and recovery.

Measuring

I use Myfitnesspal to track my calories and macros. My goal is to eat 180 grams of protein per day and stay under 2,300 calories. I can eat as much fat and carbs as long as I stay under 2300 calories. I measure most of my food with a kitchen scale which sounds onerous but isn’t. When I go out to eat or am eating at someone else's house, I just try to estimate what I’m eating. I weigh myself once a week and take a picture which I track using Myfitnesspal. Weight is a good tool, but I also like to see how I look over time.

I wear a Fitbit and like to track how many calories I’ve burned throughout the day. When I have a squash workout, I like to see how much “credit” I’ve earned. The other nice thing about the Fitbit is it tracks my resting heart rate. It was eye opening to me to see how much my resting heart rate spikes on the weekends when I’m drinking alcohol. I still enjoy drinking socially, but it’s helpful to be aware of its impact. I haven’t done it yet but would love to get a DEXA Scan (to measure my body fat %) and VO2 Max test done. According to longevity expert Peter Atia, VO2 Max is highly correlated with longevity. I want to see how I compare to other 39 year olds!

Recovering

Whenever I have an intense workout, I usually need to take a nap. Many times, when I’m feeling cranky or feel like eating junk, I’m just hungry. I’m lucky because I work from home and can nap during the day if needed. I’ve found these ear plugs (recommendation from Chris!) help me stay asleep and sleep better.

Connecting

If you are into investing, please follow me on Twitter!

Closing

2 truths and a lie (guess which is which):

I ran a half marathon.
I’ve lost 45 lbs since my peak weight in my 20s.
I played DIII college soccer.