Nick Bare

But have your go-to meals at night.

Know what you're going to be consuming if and when you get hungry and that you're not just grabbing whatever sounds good.

Set yourself up for success.

So those are the four things I wanted to share on how to take ownership of your diet in this next year to see huge transformational progress.

With that being said, now we're going to get into my diet and training approach and philosophies for this next year.

Okay, the first one is to be in a caloric surplus over a caloric deficit.

Let's first define what is a surplus and what is a deficit.

So you have your maintenance calories.

Your maintenance calories are the amount of calories you need to consume on a daily basis to maintain your current weight.

Let's say, for example, my maintenance calories are 3,500 calories.

meaning that if I consume 3,500 calories a day, I will maintain my current weight.

A surplus is anything over 3,500 and a deficit is technically anything under 3,500.

Now, I'm not saying your maintenance calories are 3,500.

That's something you have to establish on your own, but a surplus is more and a deficit is less.

Why am I pursuing a caloric surplus down this next year?

Well, to be honest, I want to gain size and strength.

During my Ironman prep in the back half of 2025, I lost a lot of weight.

I lost a lot of muscle.

I lost a lot of size.

I was consuming a lot of calories, but I was training a lot.