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Habits and Hustle

Episode 309: Adam Bornstein: The Shocking Truth Behind Diet and Fitness Myths

Habits and Hustle

Jen Cohen

Entrepreneurship, Education, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Business

4.5818 Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2024

⏱️ 73 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When it comes to health and fitness, myths abound. From the latest diet fad to the "perfect" exercise routine, it can be challenging to discern what's factual and sustainable. In this episode, I’m joined by Adam Bornstein, a fitness expert and author of “You Can’t Screw This Up”, who shares his knowledge and experience to help navigate the complexities of dieting, weight loss, and the psychological barriers associated with forming new, healthier habits.  We discuss the importance of forming sustainable health and fitness habits over quick fixes, the need for debunking common health myths and understanding science-backed information, and the role of psychology and environment design in habit formation and change. Adam Bornstein is the editorial director of Livestrong.com, and former fitness editor at Men's Health. He co-authored the bestselling The IMPACT! Body Plan, The Men's Health Diet, and has been featured on Good Morning America, The Early Show, and E!'s The Daily 10. What we discuss: (0:02:00) - Adam's transition from university researcher to fitness editor and media icon and the importance of disseminating science-backed health information (0:12:47) - Why making small, sustainable changes in diet and exercise is more effective for long-term weight loss than drastic calorie cuts and intense workouts (0:27:49) - Why aligning diet with individual lifestyle is more sustainable than following fads (0:30:03) - The consequences of consuming ultra-processed foods, supported by findings from an NIH study on increased calorie intake and weight gain (0:40:34) - The psychological aspects of weight loss, stressing the importance of accepting occasional deviations as part of a sustainable health plan (0:45:59) - Common weight loss myths and the need for setting achievable goals and forming habits to prevent reliance on willpower alone (0:50:21) - The importance of being present during meals to regulate food intake and the underestimated calorie count in restaurant meals (1:00:07) - Personal eating boundaries, such as closing the kitchen at specific times, to prevent overeating and improve nutritional discipline Thank you to our sponsors: Therasage: Head over to therasage.com and use code Be Bold for 15% off Pendulum: Head over to www.pendulumlife.com and use code JENCOHEN for 20% off. Head to factormeals.com/habitsandhustle50 and use code habitsandhustle50 to get 50% off. Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HUSTLE and depending on the model, you’ll receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off! Find more from Jen:  Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen  Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagement Learn more from Adam Bornstein: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bornfitness/ Book: https://www.cantscrewthisup.com/

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.

0:08.0

My podcast today is with the one and only Adam Bornstein. And we're laughing because it is so freaking hot. And we haven't even started yet. We're in my kitchen. Long story. I don't want to bore you with all the details of why I'm not in my actual

0:21.6

studio as normal. But we are both literally like sweating through our clothes and we haven't even

0:26.4

started. It's like a sauna podcast. I'm really excited I chose to wear jeans today. I was going to

0:31.8

say. And black. Jeans and black. I didn't know this was the sauna episode, but, you know, sauna has benefits.

0:39.0

So by the time we are done, we are going to be so healthy.

0:42.3

Sauna has a lot of health benefits, which is so apropos for what this podcast is.

0:46.6

So let me just give you a very brief intro on who Adam is, because if you don't know, you don't know, but if you know, you know. So

0:54.9

Adam is like the guy in the health and wellness, fitness business, that he's like the, like, we all,

1:01.0

everyone knows who he is in that space, right? But not necessarily outside of that space. Because

1:06.1

his career is so vast. He was the fitness editor at men's health years ago. Like, probably one of the first

1:12.5

things you probably ever did. And he's written eight books. He builds fitness brands. He did it,

1:18.3

he does things with like Microsoft, Google, Eric Schmidt, Tim Ferriss. I mean, the guy is the guy.

1:24.6

And we're going to get into like your whole origin story but he's on because he has a new

1:28.5

or yeah almost pretty new pretty new called you can't screw this up even though i almost screwed up

1:35.4

the title again no no judgment and we're going to talk all about fitness health trends myths and so myths, and so much more. So thank you for being on. Thank you for having me. And in the sauna today. In the sauna. Yeah. I know. You're welcome. Thank you for being in the sauna with me today because it takes a big person to want to sweat for two hours for no apparent reason. Oh, there's a reason. I just didn't. I knew there was a reason for being here. I just didn't know the sweating was going to be the side benefit. Yeah, it is definitely. So, Adam, let's start by, can you just kind of give everybody, even though I kind of gave your brief little bio, like who you are, like, what is your origin story if you had to say the best way to put it is I am a university

2:19.6

researcher turned editor at big magazines when magazines were a thing yeah turned online media

2:28.2

editor so when online sites ruled the airways before social media took over and And I ran Livestrong.com at a time that

2:35.7

when Livestrong.com was the biggest site on the internet. We were getting 40 million plus

2:40.3

coming to the site a month. And then I kind of went on my own path to go and help many different

2:47.0

businesses grow, reach audience, create products and resources for people, write books.

2:52.6

And as time went on, I think I realized the biggest impact I could have would be by helping

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