Video summary
Sam Sulek argues that a primary mistake people make when dieting to build muscle or lose weight is adopting an all-or-nothing mindset, viewing adherence strictly in black and white terms where one either tracks every calorie perfectly or fails entirely. He emphasizes that consistency over time matters far more than perfection on any single day; for instance, maintaining a caloric deficit six days out of seven can be completely undone by just two large meals if the individual lacks discipline to manage hunger later in the week. Sulek illustrates this with his own experience of having 10,000-calorie days where he let floodgates loose after tracking everything for weeks, proving that even a small lapse or "unfiltered" moment can reverse substantial progress made previously. To combat these vulnerabilities, particularly regarding nighttime snacking which is often the biggest vector of weakness, Sulek advocates for strategic timing rather than relying on willpower alone against ravenous hunger. He suggests waiting until noon to eat breakfast and delaying subsequent meals so that one eats when hungry but not starving, thereby avoiding the desperate desire to consume excessive calories in a single sitting. This approach prevents scenarios where half of daily caloric needs are consumed in one meal, leaving little room for proper nutrition later; by managing hunger thresholds effectively, individuals can maintain their deficit without feeling deprived or resorting to unhealthy pantry raids late at night. The discussion also touches upon the psychological trap of perfectionism versus realistic optimization in fitness routines. Sulek contrasts two approaches: raising the bar with intense effort and discipline, such as doing high-volume workouts like five sets per movement despite fatigue, or lowering oneself to a sustainable routine that ensures long-term adherence even if it means less intensity initially. He acknowledges his own history of performing excessive volume because he believed "more is better," but notes that true progress often requires optimizing routines for efficiency rather than blindly following outdated methods. The key lies in having the hard-headedness to push through initial difficulties while simultaneously building a system that makes success easier, avoiding the coddling mindset that leads to abandonment when challenges arise. Sulek further explains that dieting is inherently difficult because it involves being hungrier most of the time compared to not eating much, requiring individuals to raise themselves to meet these demands rather than expecting life to adjust to their comfort levels. He uses an analogy from a surgeon regarding pain management—being ahead of the pain before chasing it—to describe how one should handle hunger; allowing oneself to get slightly hungry and addressing that feeling immediately prevents spiraling into overeating. This disciplined approach ensures that dieting remains manageable without sacrificing quality of life, proving that success is achievable not through flawless execution every second but through consistent average performance week by week. Ultimately, the core message is that while perfectionism can be paralyzing for some who feel they must achieve ideal results or quit entirely if imperfect, a balanced strategy combines serious effort with practical adjustments to reality. Whether one chooses an optimized routine of going to the gym once a week or engaging in high-frequency training depends on individual capacity and goals, but both require accepting that life is not perfect and adapting accordingly. By focusing on average weekly deficits rather than daily fluctuations and managing hunger strategically, individuals can achieve their body composition goals without falling victim to the common pitfalls of extreme scrutiny followed by inevitable burnout or failure.
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What do you think are the biggest
mistakes that people make when it comes
to diet when trying to build muscle?
>> I Oh, it's because it's it's very black
and white, I feel, because you're either
a real hardcore like I'm going to track
everything. I got a scale or I'm like
pretty good at reading all the nutrition
labels and I'll make sure I eat enough
food because it's really you're either
eating enough or you're not. And for
someone like no one is going to track
their calories 25% of the time like the
nobody's going to be on their diet 50%
of the time and even if they were well
then it's not going to work. You're not
going to notice any substantial changes
from it because um like dieting the
scrutiny I consider close to the
scrutiny of like uh getting a medical
degree. It's not like getting a business
degree or an accounting degree or
something where you know you got a 2.0
GPA. Here you go. You did it. You know,
70 average, you pass. Like if I only
dieted 70% of the time or 70% as, you
know, somehow 70% of what was actually
necessary, then if I went on stage,
I' I'd look a fool. I'd be literally way
too soft. in in relation to the guys who
actually did it like or or even someone
just trying to lose weight.
>> You can be on it 70% of the day. You
could be on it 95% of the day and that
>> a lot of damage in that 5%
>> 5 minutes unfiltered in a pantry. You
can completely you can completely
unsound like a Sam Sulic sex tape. Five
minutes unfiltered in a pantry
>> but you can completely undo all your
work. And uh that happens a lot. I was
good today.
I'm gonna have a milkshake.
>> Just ruined it
>> just with the one thing.
>> But the margins are very tight, right?
>> Yeah. Because you're either in a deficit
and it's not necessarily on a day by day
cuz sometimes you throw refeeds in or
whatever, but you're either in a deficit
consistently on average week by week
>> or you're not.
>> Or you're in a surplus consistently
average week by week or you're not. And
even if you and it's like honestly a
week is probably a good chunk to
describe because if I was in a good six
days I can I can undo that in a day.
>> Yeah.
>> I can undo. So 300 calorie deficit for 6
days 18 1,800 calories is likeal. It's
one meal or it's like half of a crazy
meal if you're like really nuts and
you're already cuz you're already in a
in a dieted state. Like you're already
subject to like suck up carbs. Like I've
had um you know cuz rather than just
reverse dieting very slowly like I I've
had like a 10,000 calorie day one day
and it wasn't like 10,000 calorie
challenge like that was I tracked
everything just cuz I wanted to know
like that's just what happened because I
let the floodgates loose.
10,000 like a 4,000 calorie day on a
Sunday could throw off all your stuff
Saturday to Friday.
>> So, it's um you know, it's something
where these they either someone could
either step it up enough where they
actually make it happen or they're kind
of just caught toiling or they just
don't even want to deal with it. M
>> and I know it's I'm not saying it's
easy,
>> but I'm saying if you do track
everything on a scale and you count it
all and you like disperse your meals
evenly throughout the day so that you
are not like dying hungry cuz you just
starved yourself all day. Well then the
likelihood that you'll actually like get
lean if you did everything right it's
like 100%. Where are the biggest uh
vectors of weakness in uh dieting for
you for it sounds like you and me have
the same thing which is nighttime
snacking tends to be a big temptation
which means if you can just discriminate
a little bit more calorie expenditure
toward the end of the day you can go to
bed feeling not like you're going to go
do the pantry sex day.
>> Yeah. I have never blown my calorie
deficit from breakfast. It is always
later in the day. So, what I do is I
just wait till sometimes I'll just wait
until kind of as late as I feel like.
Usually noon is a good like when I cuz
right now I'm going from eating a ton of
food to now eating like basically a
normal amount of food which just that
change even though I'm not in a serious
deficit is still enough to start to get
me a little bit lighter and actually get
some fat reserves burning but nothing
like really what you call locked in yet.
Like fast forward a few months, we're
like, "Okay, I've got 2500 for today and
I need to make them count because I'm
getting hungry. I'm going to wait until
maybe one." Usually not beyond one. And
it's not because of the magic of
intermittent fasting, but you can skip
breakfast
>> and you're not dying. You can wait a
little bit and then I just want to time
it where it's I'm hungry but I'm not
starving. Cuz if you wait until you're
really starving, well then now you're
starving. you want to eat,
>> you're at the mercy of that desire to
eat.
>> Yeah. So, there's like a threshold of
hunger where if you wait until you're
too hungry, it might make you more
likely to overdo it.
>> There's a I had an Achilles repair after
playing cricket, which is the most
British way to snap an Achilles. Yeah.
>> And the advice from the surgeon was
don't chase the pain when he was talking
about using the painkillers that you
always want to be out ahead of the pain
a little bit.
>> Uh and it's kind of the same like don't
chase the hunger with this. allow
yourself to get I'm starting to feel it
a little bit and I'll just I'll nip that
in the bud as opposed to being ravenous.
And that's how you go from needing a 500
calorie meal to a,000 calorie meal and
you go that was two-fifths of my entire
day
>> on 2,500 gone in a single meal. God, the
rest of the day is going to suck.
>> Right? So that's um that's something I
always have to
it's like a dichotomy of trying to get
good at anything or trying to really
progress at something because there is a
perception that I have to be either
Rocky Baloa and run do 10 miles every
morning and drink egg whites and or if I
can't do that I'll do nothing like
that's there's a good reference a guy
was like people will have a slasht tire
approach to dieting where if one tire
gets slashed. Like he had a bad day. He
I' I've had days where I I cheated. I
didn't say it till later,
>> but I I had a couple really big days on
my diet. Um but the idea that okay,
today was a little off.
>> Screw it.
>> Done. Mhm.
>> Like it's either perfect or nothing,
which is it's so crazy cuz it's uh it's
like just
>> what you'd call someone's hypothetical
like perfection where they imagine like
the perfect version of themselves and
they set the bar there and like real
life is nothing like that. But now to
like if they think that this is the bar
to be anything short makes them feel
comfortable like it's just not for me.
>> If I can't be perfect, I don't want to
be anything at all. But with with
working out like what I was about to
really get into is it's a combination of
of for one you do have to be serious
like with dieting the whole point is
literally on average you are hungrier
than you are not hungry and you don't
get to eat a lot of stuff like it's just
it's difficult it's something hard so
you have to like kind of raise to the
occasion like I can handle this I will
be tougher to be able to do it and like
really bring it and put a lot effort
into it, but at the same time, you want
to give yourself a routine that makes it
the easiest for you. So, for me to say
like, you know, if you if I really time
out my diet, well, it actually doesn't
feel like I'm dieting that hard because
I had very low calorie, high volume
meals and like an egg white omelette
with a full pack of like a salad mixed
into it,
>> rice, potato. So, it's um but that only
comes after that hard-headedness of
saying I'm going to do it in the
beginning because if your first instinct
is to coddle yourself, well then that's
not a position where you're ever going
to, you know, deal with it when it gets
hard.
>> Grounded.
>> Yeah. But you have to be able to like
that's where I like I used to do
basically
three to four times the amount of volume
in a workout than I do now. I used my
mind was five sets on five movements. So
for one chest day as 165 pound Sam I was
doing five sets of bench, five sets of
incline bench, five sets of flies, five
sets of dips, five sets of something
else. And like it it was a little
fluffier volume. Like I wasn't capable
of the intensity that I can reach now
from doing it for so long. But in my
mind more is better. I don't care that
it's going to take a while and be long.
like that's just this is what I want to
do and this is how I'm going to do it.
>> Dose response, increase dose, increase
response.
>> Nothing is going to change that. So,
it's this like hard-headedness where it
was hard for me to even go from 25 sets
down to 11 cuz that's I just cut it in
half. Isn't that half the work more
results? I think that's nuts. But, you
know, it's something where you even
though you're reluctant still trying
things like that and changing it up like
that's that's sort of the whole point.
like you want to optimize this routine
so that you can do it the most
efficiently. But you can look at that as
though, oh, for me, an optimized routine
is I go to the gym once a week.
Sometimes I don't even go like that's
just the the routine that's optimized
for me.
>> And that's where it's more of a coddling
than it is like a bringing it. You
either raise the bar or you lower
yourself to the bar.
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Thank you very much for tuning in. Oo, a
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there. Well, full meal available
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