Are Nuts Ruining Your Fitness, How $100 Is Worth $30,000 Per Year, & Uncovering Limiting Beliefs (Fit Rich Life Newsletter No. 63)

"The only thing that's keeping you from getting what you want is the story you keep telling yourself." — Tony Robbins, Motivational Speaker

Greetings friends & colleagues,

Summer is right around the corner and we have about 7 months left in the year.

The older I get the faster times seems to fly by.

Without further ado, let's proactively build your Fit Rich Life.

This is your weekly dose of actionable tips, tools & strategies to take your Fitness, Money, and Life to the Next Level.

FITNESS: Are nuts and nut butter holding you back from reaching your fitness goals?

Nut butters are often said to be good sources of protein.

Both are often touted as solid health foods that are good for brain health.

But will they actually empower you to reach your fitness goals?

Back in my 20s, I used to have a "cheat day" every Sunday after 6-days of "clean eating" which consisted of chicken and broccoli for every meal.

Part of my cheat day included getting a jar of nut butter (usually Justin's Maple Almond Butter) and a decent-sized container of honey-roasted cashews because supposedly they were packed with protein and I was trying to lock in those gym gains I had been working on all week.

Throughout the course of my cheat day, I would usually eat the entire jar of almond butter and the entire container of cashews (because protein, right?).

But let's take a closer look at what these two supposed protein-packed foods actually contain.

At 190 calories per serving and 14 servings per jar, Justin's Almond Butter contains 2,660 calories.

While the jar of Almond Butter does contain 84 grams of protein, the majority of the calories come from fat (224g of fat to be exact).

1 gram of fat contains 9 calories, while 1 gram of protein contains 4 calories.

That means 2,016 of the calories in that jar of nut butter are from fat, which is over 76% of the calories.

Now let's take a look at my other pastime favorite cheat day snack, the 8.250z Planter's Honey Roasted Cashews.

Each serving contains 160 calories and there are 8 servings per container.

That adds up to 1,280 calories with 88 grams of fat and 32 grams of protein in the entire container.

In this case, 62% of the calories are coming from fat.

Nuts and nut butter are super calorically dense with "some" protein, but in truth, they primarily contain fat.

They are not great sources of protein because they will cause you to eat way more calories (and more fat) than you need in a day.

Eating just that jar of almond butter and a container of cashews put me at 3,940 calories for the day which is way over my maintenance calories, and even further above what I would need to be eating calorically if I wanted to lose body fat.

In my case, those two items were not the only things I ate on my cheat day which resulted in me being way over on calories for that day and on average way over my daily maintenance calories for the week (which is why I struggled for 15+ years to get the body I wanted).

Nuts and nut butter led me to undereat the amount of protein I needed and overeat the amount of fat I needed to create the muscular body composition I desired (this is another common mistake I see in my newer coaching clients, eating too much fat and not enough protein).

In my years of coaching people with their fitness, one of the most common problems I see is that the client is eating way too many nuts and way too much nut butter and going way over on calories for the day.

Even if you're not eating the whole nut butter jar and container of nuts like I was, multiple handfuls of nuts and multiple scoops of nut butter throughout the day are going to derail you from achieving your fitness goals.

To lose body fat you must be in a caloric deficit and eating high-density fat-laden things like nuts and nut butter are going to lead you to overconsume both total calories and the total amount of fat you should have in any one day unless you carefully manage your intake.

I keep a container of Sugar-Free PB Fit on hand for when I have a hankering for nut butter.

This product is peanut butter powder with most of the fat taken out so it's high in protein and low in fat.

When you mix it with a little bit of water you can make a fairly creamy peanut butter. While it's not as rich and creamy as regular peanut butter, it still hits the spot.

As far as nuts go, I may have 5-10 almonds in a day or a few Brazilian nuts, but I no longer fool myself into thinking I can eat daily handfuls of nuts to hit my protein target or achieve my fitness goals.

MONEY: Every $100 you shave off your monthly expenses is $30,000 less you'll need to retire.

The 4% Rule of Thumb states that you can live off 4% of your stock investments each year and potentially never run out of money.

Therefore to achieve Financial Independence one would need to save up 25x of their annual expenses and put it into the stock market.

You could also get this number by dividing your annual expenses by 4%.

For example, someone who spends $75,000 per year (or $6,250 per month) would need to build an investment of $1,875,000.

Here's the math: $6,250 x 12 months x 25 = $1,875,000

At this point, one could retire OR relax knowing that all work is now optional.

Using this same math we can see that for every $100 we shave off our monthly expenses results in $30,000 LESS that we would need in our investment portfolio to achieve Financial Independence.

Here's the the math: $100 x 12 months x 25 = $30,000

Everyone can claw back $100 on their monthly expenses if not multiple hundreds by analyzing and optimizing their expenses to be aligned with their true values and goals.

We all suffer from lifestyle creep over time, signing up for subscriptions that we use for a month and then forget about even though we're no longer using them in addition to overpaying for groceries, food delivery, restaurants, etc.

Other ideas to optimize your expenses:

- Reduce your car and home insurance cost by taking an hour to shop around

- Switch to a lower-cost cellphone provider like Mint Mobile

- Refinance your loans & pay down high-interest debt

- Limit your impulse buying by using a 24-72 hour shopping wait list

While those strategies above will help with a few hundred bucks, the big financial moves are reducing your rent/mortgage, driving a reliable older car (instead of leasing a new luxury car), and focusing on eating at home over eating out or doing meal delivery.

Every $250 you shave off your monthly expenses is $75,000 less you'll need to retire.

Plus, investing that $250 each month will shave YEARS off of your Financial Independence Journey.

$250 invested each month will turn into $372,611 in 30 years assuming an 8% return which is what the S&P 500 averages over any 30-year period.

Whoever thinks $100 isn't a lot of money doesn't understand compounding investment returns.

LIFE: Do you have a limiting belief holding you back?

A limiting belief is a false or unhelpful notion that an individual holds about themselves, others, or the world that constrains their potential and behavior.

These beliefs act as psychological barriers, preventing individuals from achieving their goals, taking risks, or making positive changes in their lives.

Limiting beliefs often originate from past experiences, societal conditioning, or negative feedback and can significantly impact one's self-esteem, confidence, and overall mindset.

Examples of common limiting beliefs include:

"I'm not good enough."

"I don't deserve success."

"It's too late for me to change."

"I'll never be able to do that."

"People like me don't succeed."

Recognizing and challenging limiting beliefs is crucial for personal growth and achieving one's full potential.

Techniques such as cognitive restructuring, positive affirmations, and seeking support from mentors, coaches, or therapists can help individuals overcome these detrimental beliefs.

Everyone has limiting beliefs holding them back in some area of life, myself included.

For several years, I dreamed of having my own podcast but for some unconscious reason, I kept putting it off, despite claiming to my wife and others this would be the year that I finally launched a podcast.

Eventually, my wife got fed up listening to me talk about it (and not be about it) and she encouraged me to work with a coach.

During my work with my coach, we uncovered that I held a subconscious belief that my parents would not love me if they knew how successful I was because I didn't want to outshine them.

Even writing this out, I see how crazy this belief seems because most well-adjusted parents want their children to achieve higher levels of success than they have, but that's the thing about limiting beliefs -- they often make no sense or have no real validity or may have even been passed down the family line from an older generation.

I later came to find out that my father's father (my grandpa) did get super jealous and angry with my dad when he found out how much money he was making.

And since I planned to cover my journey with money, success, and financial independence on my podcast there was a secret part of me who feared losing my parents' love if I brought this long-held dream alive.

So I continued to hold myself back.

However, once I became aware of the limiting belief I was able to have an empowering and healing conversation with both my parents and hear directly from them that they did indeed want me to be successful and share my story with others to provide insight and inspiration to others on their path to Financial Independence and success in life.

My current rule of thumb is if I've been thinking and talking about some dream or goal for 3-6 months and I still haven't made any real progress on it then it likely means I have some limiting belief holding me back and that I need to work with a professional coach to help me uncover and overcome it.

If you've been sitting on a dream or goal for more than 3-6 months it may be time for you to work with someone to get out of your own way.

Closing Thoughts:

What is one thing you can do this coming week to improve your Fitness, Money & Life?

Maybe that's cutting out nuts and nut butter to lean out for the summer.

Or maybe it's reviewing and optimizing your expenses to propel you along your Financial Independence Journey at a faster rate.

Or maybe it's time to get professional help to break through an unconscious limiting belief so that you can go on to achieve a long-held dream.

We're nearly halfway through the year and there is still plenty of time to make this a year for the record books, but not if you keep doing the same thing while expecting different results.

>>If you found value in this newsletter please consider sharing it with a friend.<<

I am sending you all lots of Energy & plenty of Dragon Magic!

Your Fitness, Money & Life Coach,

Justin David Carl

Whenever you're ready, here is how I can help you:

I run a custom-tailored 1-1 & group mastermind coaching program that will empower you to get into fantastic shape, master your money, & live your best life.

Yup, it's a proven Fitness, Money, and Life Coaching Program unlike anything else out there.

You can book a free consultation with me, just drop me a note on LinkedIn to find a time to connect.