How To Stop Stress Eating

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Today’s Health Upgrade

• Arnold’s 2024 Blueprint

• Everything to gain, nothing to lose

• How to stop stress eating

• Addition > Subtraction

• 30+ free workouts

Arnold’s Corner: The 2024 Blueprint

Yesterday, you figured out your vision. You sat down and thought about who you want to be and why.

Today, it’s time to start the work of making that vision a reality.

Your vision might be big. You might want to lose 50 pounds or learn a new language. No matter how big or life-changing it is, I want you to break it up into smaller daily goals. 

One of the parts of my book that people love the most is where I explain why you should start with small goals. As you find daily wins, it allows you to zoom out and find the bigger vision. 

You change your life by changing your days, one day at a time.

Instead of just making a vague resolution, my goal for you is to simply write down three daily goals.

Make your daily goals something that stretches you, but don’t make them something so big that you’ll fail.

If you walk 5,000 steps a day now and want to walk 10,000, let’s start with a smaller goal: 7,500 steps a day. Write that down, and then mark it off every day with a tally mark. After a couple of months, when you’re hitting 7,500 easily, grow your goal to 10,000.

If you read 12 books last year, don’t set a goal to read 50 this year. Shoot for reading at least 10 minutes a day and mark that off until it becomes automatic, then grow your goal to 20 or 30 minutes.

Success creates more success, so we want to pick goals that make us a little better but not goals so big that you fail and get derailed and give up.

We gave the Pump app an easy way to track their three daily goals and mark them down off. The members love the daily action planner, so you can use that or you can just do it the old school way with tallies on a notecard.

You might think that just focusing on three little daily goals seems small. Trust me, as your wins add up and you achieve your goals every day, you will see huge progress after a month or two.

You’ll look back and wonder how you achieved so much and realize that big, long-term success is about the little things you do every single day until they become routine.

Now it’s time for your homework. Go write down your three daily goals. I’ll be checking in with you all month to pump you up and keep you on track!

Everything To Gain, Nothing To Lose

Today is the first day of the year. And we have a warning: don’t fall for the same trap.

Most diets and workouts promise the end result in just a few weeks. It’s tempting, but it’s a trap.

Instead, spend your time finding a plan that you can trust, doesn’t over-promise, gives you constant support, and helps you build habits that can become automatic.

Arnold designed The Pump app to be the positive corner of the internet. A place where you could become healthier, build routines that support your goals, ask your most pressing questions, and interact with the best experts (including Arnold).

But Arnold knows that many different approaches to fitness work. That’s why the first 7 days in The Pump are free. You have a week to try out the plans, read the articles, participate in the Q&As, and use the habit tracker. And if it’s not a good fit, you can cancel and you’re not charged anything.

Try the free 7-day trial, and see why The Pump is unlike any other fitness community. Use the code Arnold to get started. It’s time to join the village and make your future self proud.

Put The Cookie Down

When you feel stressed, reaching for foods loaded with fat and sugar is common. That’s because those foods trigger chemicals in your brain that make you feel better. Higher stress levels make it harder for you to feel full, making it easier to overeat. But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

A recent study suggests you can train your brain to crave healthier options and reduce your stress at the same time. 

The scientists used Pavlovian conditioning, a trick that’s nearly 100 years old. They had participants practice a 6-minute relaxation technique that’s proven to reduce stress. During the middle of the stress reduction, they had participants eat a piece of fruit. 

By training the mind to associate the two actions, the participants saw that eating fruit alone (without the relaxation technique) reduced stress and anxiety. Even better, once this happened, participants started to desire fruit during stressful times because they knew it would make them feel better. 

Here’s how you can make it work for you. The next time you’re stressed, set a timer for 6 minutes (that’s all it takes). Practice tensing every single muscle in your body and then letting go and relaxing (this is called progressive muscle relaxation, and this video walks you through a sample). This can reduce anxiety and stress. About 5 minutes in, start eating fruit. Ideally, it will be something you don’t eat very often (so you don’t have prior associations). Keep tensing and relaxing as you eat the fruit. In the study, participants did this once per day for seven days and then saw a difference. 

To start the new year, you can build this habit during the first week of the year and then help make sure that stress is less likely to derail your health in the new year.

Addition > Subtraction

No matter what you do in the new year, make sure you add to your life. Most diets focus on restriction. But providing better fuel is a more effective way to support a healthier lifestyle than just focusing on removing things from your diet. 

When you eat more of the foods your body needs, it helps you stay fuller, reduce cravings, feel better, and upgrade your life. 

Here are Arnold’s nutrition additions that have worked throughout his life. 

1. Add protein. You can choose if you prefer animal or plant-based. Both are good options. But aim for including protein in each meal, which will support muscle building and fat loss.

2. Eat more fiber. Arnold gets most of his fiber from oatmeal, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Higher fiber diets are good for controlling hunger and supporting cardiovascular health.

3. Enjoy your post-workout meal. It doesn’t matter if you like to eat before your workout (Arnold doesn’t), but you need to eat foods that help your muscles grow and recover. Arnold has his biggest meal of the day after training.

4. Don’t Abandon Dessert. Don’t remove everything you love. Life is about balance. If you cut out all the foods you enjoy, you’ll crave them more and are more likely to stray from the plan. 

If you need help fueling your life, we recommend Trifecta. Their meals can be made in just minutes, check all the boxes Arnold would approve, and are designed by a two-Michelin Star Chef. And instead of worrying about whether you’re eating enough protein or fiber, Trifecta does the work for you. Having healthy food in your house makes eating healthy an easy option instead of falling into old habits.

This year, embrace better nutrition by simplifying your diet with 50 percent OFF your order. Use the code “Arnold” at checkout to receive your discount.

Workout of the Week: 30+ Free Workouts

We didn’t want to start your year with just one workout. We wanted to give you more options for every possible scenario or goal.

We created this free workout guide to provide more than 30 different programs. The guide includes short and long workouts, bodyweight and equipment plans, and even the template from Arnold’s legendary Friday workouts with Franco. 

Download the guide here and enjoy! (It’s completely free)

We hope you all have a fantastic first day of the year.

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell