Philip Pape: 0:01

If you're struggling to stick to your fat loss meal plan, constantly falling off track after a few days, if you're overwhelmed by the idea of overhauling your entire diet and your approach and cooking routine overnight, this episode's for you. Today we're diving into the world of Kaizen, an engineering concept that shows why small, consistent changes lead to big results. That shows why small, consistent changes lead to big results. You'll discover how this one quick and easy change can make a huge difference in your ability to stick to your meal plans, especially during fat loss. Welcome to Wits and Weights, the podcast that blends evidence and engineering to help you build smart, efficient systems to achieve your dream physique.

Philip Pape: 0:54

I'm your host, philip Pape, and today we are celebrating National Cooking Day, september 25th, by exploring how a simple shift in your cooking habits can supercharge your efforts during fat loss. Picture this it's the end of a long day, you're tired, you're hungry. The thought of cooking seems like it's a huge mountain to climb right. You're well past that 3 pm energy crash and you're starving, and the takeout menu is calling your name, especially the Chinese or the pizza or whatever you go for. We've all been there. But what if I told you that by making just one small change to your cooking routine, you could basically set off a chain reaction, start building momentum that transforms how you approach nutrition, especially during fat loss or when the calories are a little bit tight and you have specific goals you're trying to meet, and that's what we're diving into in today's episode. But before we do, the only thing I'm going to ask is that, if you enjoy the show, if you want more content on building muscle, on nutrition training, using intelligent frameworks and principles to do things easily and more efficiently, hit the follow button. Hit the follow button right now. It will help more people find the show according to the podcast gods, the podcast algorithm, and it will ensure also that you never miss another episode.

Philip Pape: 2:14

All right, let's get into the discussion today and we're going to just kick it off with the problem that we're trying to solve. The problem is why is sticking to a meal plan so damn hard? That's the problem, right? We all have goals. We go into fat loss whatever that calorie level is for you, you know, for me it might be around 2,200 or 2,000. For others it might be 1,200 or 1,400. And initially you have all the motivation. Initially you can pretty much bring it out, whatever it's required to make it happen, but before long it starts to become more difficult. You know, we start with the best intentions. We meal prep on Sunday and then by Wednesday we're either elbow deep in a bag of tortilla chips wondering where it all went wrong, or we're going out to eat. Or, you know, by the time the weekend comes, we're just so stressed from the week and we go out to eat all weekend.

Philip Pape: 3:05

Right Now, the issue is usually in the approach itself, the system that we have set up for ourselves. It's not your fault. It's not that you couldn't control yourself. It's not that you quote unquote did bad right. It's that we you, me, collectively as humans, we try to change lots of things all at once and then, when we inevitably slip up, we feel like failures. We then want to give up. We're like forget that, I'm done, that didn't work Right, the all or nothing mindset that sets us up. Now you might be thinking no, no, no, I'm not one of those people. I've got everything dialed in, I do it all, you know, I know, I just need to be consistent, and so on. Even so, there are always ways to improve and make the system work better for you, especially in high times of stress, when life throws us those curve balls and you know you've got a bunch of people staying at your house all of a sudden and you don't know what to do because it's throwing your whole routine out of whack. And this is where our intelligent engineering mindset comes in handy, and that's what you got me for, even if you don't think that way, it's okay.

Philip Pape: 4:08

Today's framework is called Kaizen Kaizen K-A-I-Z-E-N. It's something that I learned years ago at work. It was brought over here by Toyota back in probably the 70s or 80s. It is a Japanese term that translates to change for better, or what we like to call it continuous improvement, and it's a philosophy that focuses on making small incremental changes that compound over time to create significant results. Now, if that sounds familiar, it's because it's underpins a lot of the behavior change and habit formation approaches that are out there, like James Clear's Atomic Habits, where he talks about the compounding of small habits over time. Same idea, but in manufacturing. Kaizen is really about tweaking a single step in a production line and all you're trying to do is you improve efficiency by 1%, by 1%. But when that 1% improvement is made consistently across multiple areas, it then leads to massive gains in productivity and quality.

Philip Pape: 5:13

So how does this apply to you, especially when we're trying to eat in a way that is consistent? We are trying to hit calories and macros and nutrients and all of these things, even with your training perhaps really any system where you're trying to build consistency. It's very simple Instead of trying to overhaul the entire system, your entire diet, your entire training routine, we are going to focus on one small, manageable change cooking just one more meal at home each week. That's it. That is the change today that we are focused on Cooking just one more meal at home each week. As I mentioned earlier, it's National Cooking Day, so what better way to use that as a catalyst for making a very simple, easy, quick change than National Cooking Day?

Philip Pape: 6:02

All right, now you might be asking how is this one meal going to make a difference? I mean, you probably can imagine why. A little bit it would make a difference, but let me give you all the ways. Let me count the ways, okay, the first one is the control that it gives you over your meal. Very simple when you make your own meals, you have complete control. Complete control over the ingredients, portions, the cooking methods, right, which means no hidden ingredients, not a ton of butter or oil or sugar. You can proportion it the way you want rather than restaurant-sized portions, and then even cook it the way you want, so that it's sauteed, roasted, grilled, boiled, broiled, just the way you want. Maybe you don't want to overcook your burgers you know that's my pet peeve and that alone can lead to significant calorie reduction without even feeling like you're being restricted. It's a way to make food not only taste better, but hit the bottom line of your calorie budget even less, and then hit the other things, like protein, right. You can shift the macros the way you want, so you have a lot of control. That's huge.

Philip Pape: 7:06

The second thing is, by focusing on just this one thing one additional home-cooked meal a week we are building a habit gradually. This is exactly the approach I would take with clients for any piece of our nutrition plan. Now, if you work with me, if I'm your coach, we may do two or three of these at a time, because you've got the safety net of someone looking over your shoulder and helping you out and kind of you can lean on. But if you're doing it by yourself, one is perfectly awesome. Okay, it's much easier to commit to one meal than to suddenly decide I'm going to cook every single meal at home, I'm going to meal prep every meal for the entire week, I'm going to put them in Tupperware dishes and it's going to be perfect. That is my goal.

Philip Pape: 7:46

Don't do that. Don't do that. Just do one meal a day, or I mean, sorry, one meal, not even one meal a day, one meal for the whole week. I should have clarified Okay, one meal. Dinner is usually a good place to do that, but it could be lunch, whatever you choose, or breakfast. Number three this is a great learning opportunity, right? Because now you can try different recipes for that one meal and build a repertoire of dishes that you can enjoy, but in a nice, calm, low stress environment. Because you're just doing one meal, you're not out to get a whole you know, pinterest board of recipes or you're. You know, we've got amazing people in our Facebook group who love to post recipes, but you could easily get overwhelmed. So you could just pick one, just one that week, and if you find a winner, awesome. You can make it over and over again. Nothing wrong with that.

Philip Pape: 8:35

Number four as you see the benefits of that one home cooked meal, right, maybe you feel more satisfied from the meal or you realize it freed up some time, even though you're making the meal. You're also not driving to restaurants and spending a lot more time at the meal in a restaurant. You might be more efficient at home. Or you notice that something has improved with your biofeedback, with how you feel, with your body composition, whatever it is from starting to have more home-cooked meals. Right, just your digestion's good, you sleep better, whatever it is that will motivate you to do more often. And then the last reason to do this maybe this is the most important besides control is the reduced decision fatigue. Because you're committing to just one meal, you eliminate the mental struggle of should I cook or order in for at least one meal each week, and then imagine how that's going to compound when you start adding more later. So let's put this into practice. Here's your Kaizen challenge for the week to celebrate National Cooking Day Choose one meal that you typically eat out or order in and commit to cooking it at home instead.

Philip Pape: 9:46

It does not have to be complicated. In fact, the simpler the better when you're starting out, and some of my wife's best meals, honestly, are the really simple ones. You know she will even. She'll even apologize. She'll say, well, it only took me 10 minutes. I'm like, yeah, but that 10 minutes was the most efficient 10 minutes ever, given how awesome this meal is. I mean, that's a definition of efficiency. I love that.

Philip Pape: 10:07

So, for example, let's say you usually grab fast food for lunch on Wednesday, right? Instead, plan to pack a simple salad with chicken I mean, that's just a super simple example with some fruit on the side, right? Or if Thursday dinner is usually when you go out for pizza, make a homemade pizza. I mean, you don't even have to change the food, just make it at home. And now you have control over the crust. What goes in the crust? How many veggies? You know the different types of meat. It doesn't have to be just like like lathered in tons of oil and and have you know? Um, the pepperoni, like the standard pepperoni. You can have whatever nitrate free pepperoni, whatever you want. You know chicken? Uh, pineapple Some people would say how dare you put pineapple on a pizza.

Philip Pape: 10:52

Others are like, well, that is pizza. So, whatever, it is Okay. Um, the goal here is progress. That's it. The goal here is progress because if your homemade meal is not Instagram worthy, that's okay. And in fact I, I challenge you to go ahead and take a picture of it anyway and put it on your story and tag me. I would love to see it and say, hey, national cooking day, september 25th. Today, go post something and just encourage people to do it. In fact, be vulnerable and say, look, my food's not perfect, but it might even not even taste perfect, but you know what it's going to serve me and it's going to be my step toward greatness here when it comes to my nutrition.

Philip Pape: 11:27

The act of cooking itself is a win. So as you get comfortable with this one meal, then you could gradually increase. In a few weeks maybe you're cooking two extra meals at home, then three right, and then before you know it, you might be cooking every single meal at home, except maybe Saturday night. And I'll tell you what. We've gotten to that point, more or less partly because with four of us right, two kids who are now 10 and 12, they eat as much as we do. It gets damn expensive to go out a lot. You know what I mean. It doesn't feel worth it for the quality of food you usually get. It's got to be a more special thing and because we don't do it. Very often it is more special. We might not even go out to eat all week, except we'll go out for an ice cream on Sunday afternoon, and then that's super special. And, yeah, it's ice cream, awesome, we're enjoying it, I plan it in and it's super special, right? So that's another thing. I didn't even think about the fact that it makes going out even more special. And then, before you know it, cooking meals at home is just the thing you do. And that's the power of Kaizen Continuous improvement, change for better, small, consistent changes that compound over time.

Philip Pape: 12:33

Now I know what one of the objections is, philip I don't have time to cook or I'm a terrible cook. So let me just address these real quickly. First, remember we're just talking about one meal, remember, that's the whole point. And you can prepare many healthy meals in less time than it takes to look up order, wait for delivery, even when you're doing takeout, right, not even talking about going to a restaurant. And then, as you get more practice, you'll become more efficient. So I don't think that's an excuse. And then, as far as skills, that's what they are, they're skills. So a skill can be learned and improved over time.

Philip Pape: 13:07

If you tell yourself you're a bad cook. You are going to be a bad cook. That's called a fixed mindset, that's called a self-identity statement. Instead, be open to it. Say, ha, I can learn to cook. I just need to do it. I just need to figure it out right. Start with simple recipes built from there. I mean the internet, google, is full of quick, easy, healthy recipes for beginners. Just use the right word and you'll find exactly what you need.

Philip Pape: 13:34

Okay, the key is to start small and be consistent. Again, that's the essence of Kaizen. In fact, I'm realizing and hopefully I haven't, like, I'm not talking too quickly here I realized that Kaizen itself is one of the most powerful frameworks I've shared on this show ever, because of its ability to be applied to anything and create a foundation of totally sustainable change. And then, when you make that change, what's going to happen is you're going to start to have a sense of control, the sense of agency, the sense of empowerment that, okay, I can do this and I, I'm making it happen, me, I'm making it happen. And then you're then sending a powerful message to yourself. You're saying I'm in charge of my nutrition, I can make choices that will align with my goals. I get to make those choices, in fact.

Philip Pape: 14:17

And then it goes beyond the one meal. You find yourself making better choices throughout the day, upward spiraling. Maybe you drink an extra glass of water. You opt for some fruit for your sweet tooth during the afternoon water, you opt for some fruit for your sweet tooth during the afternoon. And that's the ripple effect of Kaizen One small change creates a wave of positive outcomes. And because the changes are small and they're manageable, they are, that's right. The S word sustainable. You're not white knuckling it through a restrictive diet where you cut carbs. No, you're just building systems, habits, whatever word you like to use. That will stick with you. That will become the essence of you and who you are Now. Imagine where you could be in a year if you commit to this approach.

Philip Pape: 14:57

Today, this week, national Cooking Day. Today, one extra home-cooked meal a week might not seem like much, but that's 52 healthier meals in a year. That's 52 opportunities to nourish your body, to learn new body, to learn new skills, to take control of your nutrition. And that's how the real, lasting change happens. Not through a one-off crash diet, a one-off extreme measure, but these small, consistent steps. So let's just wrap it up, just to really sear it into our brains together.

Philip Pape: 15:26

Number one Kaizen is a concept from engineering change for better that focuses on small, continuous improvements. Number two applying this process of Kaizen to your meal plan means focusing on one small change cooking one extra meal at home each week. This change then leads to the benefits of the change better portion control, improved cooking skills, positive mindset shift all of those things that then spur you to want to do it more often and more frequently. And then you start to be consistent and create gradual progress. It may not be perfect, it doesn't need to be, because it's better than it was before and then, over time, these small changes compound, leading to sustainable long-term results. So, as we celebrate National Cooking Day, I challenge you to embrace the Kaizen approach. Start with one meal, see where it takes you and you might surprise yourself All right.

Philip Pape: 16:25

So today, if you enjoyed this episode and want to connect with others, if you want to get some recipe ideas, if you want to share, for accountability, that you're doing this, join our Wits and Weights Facebook group. It's totally free. It's just on Facebook. You look it up. I'll include a link to the show notes.

Philip Pape: 16:39

It is a community of like-minded individuals quirky nerds, engineers, non-engineers but we all are working toward the same types of goals in the same way. We want to build systems that make our lives more efficient, easier to get the result and have more control at the end of it, all right. So if you join the group, join our Facebook group you can then share recipes, you can swap meal prep, you can find support, motivation as you implement this Kaizen approach to your meal planning, but even to anything else in your fitness journey. Just search for Wits and Weights on Facebook or click the link in your show notes and take that first step today. Until next time, keep using your wits lifting some weights and remember, in the kitchen and in life, small changes lead to big results. I'll talk to you next time here on the Wits and Weights podcast.