How To Drop Two Dress Sizes In 30 Days Without Going Insane #SANE
Table of Contents

Drop Two Dress Sizes In 30 Days Key Takeaways
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Drop Two Dress Sizes In 30 Days Real-Life Insights and Takaways
- April and Jonathan discuss how to optimize your SANE goals so you can get the results you want.
- Many people who have careers, families, or volunteer in their community do not have two hours to spend at the gym and would like their food choices to be automatic.
- When asking yourself what you expect to see in the mirror, remember to consider your age, circumstances, and whether or not youāve had children. What are your health goals?
- If you want better results consider examining your health like you would your family, your business, or any other responsibility that requires effort in your life.
- If you want better results, you will need to diligently plan and think about your health goals daily/weekly/hourly.
- If you want to be successful at anything in life you will not typically āstumbleā upon that talent. It takes effort and planning. You have to apply dedicated time and energy for years in order to get great results.
- If you are wanting to become even more fit, use the SANE template as a guide and ask how much you are willing to give up taste and flexibility.
- Nutritional serenity would be someone who is not willing to compromise on taste or flexibility, and who is fine looking healthy and doesnāt want to think about eating. The other end of the spectrum would be a fitness competitor who is willing to give up flexibility and taste because their goal is to have an extremely fit body.
- On a scale of 1 – 10, a level 5 female would:
- Eat four times a day, no other eating, at each meal eat at least 3 and up to 5 non-starchy vegetables which would mostly be green leafy or green vegetables. One serving of clean nutrient-dense protein at each meal and no cooking with any added oils (use water or spray coconut oil). The best options are canned tuna, lean cuts of grass-fed beef, and fresh salmon (salmon would count as a fat as well). She could have 3-5 servings of whole food fats per day and not exceed 6 servings and remember to count fats in food like eggs and salmon. If you were eating eggs, you would aim for 4 eggs whites and two whole eggs and this would count as one of your fats in addition to protein.
- A level 5 for exercise: eccentric once per week and increase resistance each week with high quality interval training once per week, and physical activity at least 3 times per week for 30-60 minutes of activity.
- A level 5 sleep requirements: sleep minimum of 6 hours, but ideally more like 7-8
- A level 5 liquid requirements: never drink calories unless itās a green smoothie, only water, coffee or tea.
- A level 5 eating out: salad is a good option, with chicken fish, grass fed beef Ā with a side of two vegetables.
- If you are eating full fat dairy (cottage cheese or greek yogurt) then that will count as part of your fat.
- If you are full eating less than described than that is fine as long as you are NOT hungry. Eat double digits servings of non-starchy vegetables, at least 3 servings of nutrient dense protein, and when eating fats, eat omega 3 rich sources such as chia seeds, flax seeds, etc. You will want to eat the best fat because you are eating less of it.
- How do you assess when you are hungry and when you are full? The best way to assess if you are truly hungry is to drink 16 oz of liquid and wait 10 minutes. Then eat your non-starchy vegetables first, then nutrient dense protein, then drink 16 oz of liquid and wait 10 minutes, then if you are still hungry eat more.
- Carrots are a āstarchierā vegetables, green vegetables are the best option for optimal results.
- PB is not SANE because itās a legume and you would want to cut that out if you want better results.
- Fruits are vegetables with more sugar. For extreme results you will want to cut fruit out.
- Shy away from expecting supernatural results with no effort.
- SANE can help you look super healthy and you can feel super healthy at a level 1 effort because eating doesnāt have to be complicated. If you want to be at a level 10, SANE can help you do that as well.
- Whatever your health goals are, do it without compromising your health.
SANE Soundbites
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- 7:38 – 8:15, āSo itās going to become like any skill in life. If you want to have a successful business; if you want to be a successful athlete; if you want to be a successful artist, you will not stumble upon artistic talent. You will have to apply dedicated time and energy for years and then you will be a beautiful painter. If you want to have a wonderful family, you will spend dedicated time and energy on your family and then you will get great results. All weāll do is, weāll take the standard SANE template — non-starchy vegetables, nutrient-dense protein, whole food fats — and weāre going to ask how much are you willing to give up or sacrifice taste and flexibility?ā
- 8:16 – 9:05, āIf you look at two ends of the spectrum, one is, letās call it nutritional serenity, which is, āIām not willing to compromise on taste; Iām not willing to compromise on flexibility; Iām fine looking healthy and I just want to not think about eatingā — Non-starchy vegetables, nutrient-dense protein, whole food fats, and low-fructose fruits; in that order. Treat yourself rarely but you know your body is a temple so youāre not going to put garbage in it. On the other end of the spectrum is, āIām a fitness competitor who is like all over Instagram and I like taking pictures of myself in skimpy clothes and posting them on Instagram because I define myself by how my body looks.ā Thatās fine. Thereās nothing wrong with that. Those people are just going to say flexibility and taste does not matter to them. What matters to them is how they look on Instagram so theyāre going to eat the same basic stuff that does not taste particularly good every single day.ā
- 22:39 – 22:48, āWhat we have to shy away from is expecting supernatural results with no effort.ā
- 22:59 – 23:30, āWhat weāre saying with SANE is, you can look super healthy and you can feel super healthy at a level one effort because eating canāt be complicated, by definition, when you do it correctly. If you want to be a level ten, thatās cool too. We can help you do that and you wonāt get diabetes and a bunch of other nonsense along the way. If you like at most sort of bodybuilding and other types of prescriptions, thereās a lot of inSANE techniques that go into that. Weāre just trying to say whatever your goals are, do it without compromising your health.ā
Read the Transcript
Jonathan: Hey. Whatās going on, everybody? Jonathan Bailor and April Perry and we are back with another SANE Show, specifically Part 2 of an epic two-part series where the courageous and delightful April Perry is sharing some pretty awesome and empowering stuff with us about her personal experience of going SANE. If you havenāt listened to the previous episode, please check it out because weāre going to pick up where we stopped with that one. April Perry is in the house. Whatās up, April?
April: Okay, today weāre pretending like April Perry just met Jonathan Bailor and Iām telling you a little bit about where I am physically and weāre going to talk about how I can make some very safe SANE tweaks to what Iām already doing to just optimize my results. Iād love to explain what my goals are. Does that sound like a good start?
Jonathan: It sounds fantastic. Iām excited to rock and roll with it.
April: Okay, because I know there are a lot of women who say, āYes, health is my number one. Iām not going to starve myself. Iām not going to be crazy with exercise, like devote my whole life to living at the gym.ā A lot of the women I work with are entrepreneurs; theyāre mothers; they care about their community, maybe their churches. Theyāre doing a lot of things in their lives and trying to balance it, they donāt have the time or energy to devote two hours a day at the gym, and they want their food to just be automatic.
Now, the last episode, one of the things Iām really grateful, we talked about, is that where I am right now is Iāve been eating SANE foods for a couple of years; I donāt really think about it; I just kind of have the same things to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; Iāll have some snacks in there; if late at night, I want to eat something, I do. I donāt really think about it and Iām able to fit in my clothes, do what I want, feel really happy — things are good in my life.
For the last couple of years, there has been a lot of just added stresses. Most of them are really good stresses as things have been growing in my life, in my business; Iāve been making improvements in my family. Things are so good right now in my life. I actually have a little bit more bandwidth now to be able to invest a little more time and energy in my health and wellness. So I want to do that but I donāt want to do it in a way thatās going to harm me or a way thatās going to deliver sub-optimal results. So Iām coming to you for help.
I donāt know what my body fat percentage is right now — I just donāt. Iām totally fine with just coming as your client very public. I weigh about 152 pounds right now. I am thirty-eight. Iāve had four children. My parents both kind of struggled with their weight; my mom — always. She had eight children and she was always counting calories and never achieving her goals that way and had a lot going on there.
I do sleep pretty well. Iām kind of a stressed person — not trying to be — but Iām very conscientious so I have to work through not being stressed — not in a bad stress way but just like, Iām very excited about a lot of things so Iām really active; Iām always thinking of things. I shouldnāt say Iām a stressed person; Iām just a very active, very involved person. I donāt just usually sit around being relaxed. I donāt ever lay by a pool; Iām always listening to podcasts or doing something because thatās the kind of person I am.
My goal weight — I donāt know if I have a specific goal weight. After I had Spencer, my fourth — heās nine now — I pretty much starved until I was 135 pounds. I couldnāt get below 135 no matter how much I starved myself, how little I ate, and how many days I went to the gym — 135 was the lowest I could get. In high school, I was probably about 140, being really active as a cheerleader and everything.
Iām 5ā5ā and I do go to the gym once a week to do eccentric exercises. I rollerblade a couple of times a week. I take my puppy. Thatās kind of where Iām at right now. I go walking with my husband a few nights a week. So thatās the starting point.
Jonathan: When you were eighteen — Iām assuming thatās a fair assessment of when you were at your fittest. Would you say that thatās a fair assumption?
April: Actually, no, because when I was in high school, I feel like — I was super active in high school but I feel like I was eating a lot. I would take a really big lunch and I didnāt even think about food and I would eat a lot of breads and things like that. Specifically when I was eighteen and I went away to college, I did gain that freshman twenty. I had no idea what I should have been eating. I would say when I was eighteen, I probably — I donāt even know if I weighed myself but —
Jonathan: The weight actually is irrelevant. What was your size when you were your fittest?
April: My fittest was probably when I was maybe seventeen but then I was actually really fit right when I got married because I started learning about nutrition and eating very healthfully. I would say my fittest was when I was about twenty and I was like, between a size six and a size eight.
Jonathan: Okay, so your fittest is between a six and an eight size.
April: Yes.
Jonathan: Okay. And is your goal to look like a fit thirty-eight-year-old who has had four children or is your goal to look like a fit twenty-one-year-old who has had no children?
April: Iām actually good looking like a thirty-eight-year-old. The thing is, I actually still wear between a size six and an eight. I just feel like around my midsection, my arms, my legs, I feel like I just could get more toned and just feel more comfortable.
Jonathan: Is your goal to look like a thirty-eight-year-old who has not had four children or a thirty-eight-year-old who has had four children?
April: See, I just donāt know. I donāt know. I just want to look better than I do but I donāt know what to compare that to.
Jonathan: What you would generally compare it to is other thirty-eight-year-olds historically who have had children. I can promise you that you are doing quite well. So your goal is actually to look what the female glamor magazines would say that a thirty-eight-year-old who has had children should look like. We can do that. Thatās fine.
Iām thirty — how old am I? Iām thirty-three and I look better than I looked when I was eighteen because itās my job and weāre probably going to record some exercise videos at some point and I want to be like, I want to look really fit. No judgment there. Itās really important to get specific on those goals.
April: Yes.
Jonathan: So what you would do, especially having had four children, having a stressful life, is, youāre just going to need to start to look at food and exercise like you would look at how you develop and strengthen your family and how you would develop and strengthen your business. Or it is something that you diligently plan and think about daily, weekly, hourly. What that means is you will not accidentally look supranaturally fit ever.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: So itās going to become like any skill in life. If you want to have a successful business; if you want to be a successful athlete; if you want to be a successful artist, you will not stumble upon artistic talent. You will have to apply dedicated time and energy for years and then you will be a beautiful painter. If you want to have a wonderful family, you will spend dedicated time and energy on your family and then you will get great results.
All weāll do is, weāll take the standard SANE template — non-starchy vegetables, nutrient-dense protein, whole food fats — and weāre going to ask how much are you willing to give up or sacrifice taste and flexibility?
If you look at two ends of the spectrum, one is, letās call it nutritional serenity, which is, āIām not willing to compromise on taste; Iām not willing to compromise on flexibility; Iām fine looking healthy and I just want to not think about eatingā — non-starchy vegetables, nutrient-dense protein, whole food fats, and low-fructose fruits; in that order. Treat yourself rarely but you know your body is a temple so youāre not going to put garbage in it.
On the other end of the spectrum is, āIām a fitness competitor who is like all over Instagram and I like taking pictures of myself in skimpy clothes and posting them on Instagram because I define myself by how my body looks.ā Thatās fine. Thereās nothing wrong with that.
April: Thatās not me. Thatās not me, Jonathan.
Jonathan: Those people are just going to say flexibility and taste does not matter to them. What matters to them is how they look on Instagram so theyāre going to eat the same basic stuff that does not taste particularly good every single day.
April: Okay. So here is, I think, what can help clarify your prescription for me. Iām actually getting pretty excited about this. Letās say that the effort — scale of one to ten — the ten effort is me trying to look like Iāve never had children and I want people to be like, āWhoa, you look so good.ā Thatās the ten effort. A one effort is just what Iām doing right now; just whatever, Iām happy, Iām busy with other stuff, hereās my food.
What if you could give me a prescription for like a five? But hereās the thing. I want you to tell me what you would suggest I do. But then I want to come back on the next podcast and give a report on whether that worked for me or whether I reassessed my goals because the thing is, unless I really know whatās required specifically, I just donāt know if Iām willing to do it.
Maybe itās something thatās really not that hard for me because Iām one of those people that once you point me in a path, Iām really good at getting things done but that path obviously needs to work with my life. Iām not going to put my family out; Iām not going to sacrifice more than what this increased health or perceived health would do for me. I just donāt know if thatās what I want or not.
So can you kind of explain what a level five would be and then Iāll report back next time?
Jonathan: One hundred percent. Hereās a level five. You can write this down. If youāre listening to this, you can write this down as well. This is for a female. Level five.
April: Okay, Iām actually getting out my pen.
Jonathan: Itās not going to sound sexy; itās going to sound effective.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: Because thatās what weāre talking about here.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: So youāre going to eat four times a day. Youāre going to hear a different tone in my voice than you normally hear because if you want these results, you have to do this.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: Itās not whatevs. Weāre talking about different type of results than we normally talk about. Youāre going to eat four times per day, period. There is no other eating. So youāre going to eat four times per day because I donāt think youāre going to exercise that much, so four times per day. At each one of those meals, youāre going to eat at least three, up to five, servings of non-starchy vegetables with at least eighty percent of those being green leafy vegetables or green vegetables, like broccoli and asparagus, are fine.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: During those meals, youāre going to have one serving, as defined by the SANE framework, which is going to be about the size of the palm of your hand, of clean nutrient-dense protein. If thatās conventional meat, it has to be lean. If itās grass-fed meat, itās fine because itās automatically lean. Youāre not going to cook with any added oils ever, period.
April: Okay. How do you make sure it doesnāt stick to the pan?
Jonathan: Use water or use spray coconut oil — very little of it.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: The best options are things like canned tuna, lean cuts of grass-fed beef.
April: Okay. What about those salmon patties? Do those count or it has to be fresh salmon?
Jonathan: Yes, I would recommend fresh salmon in those cases. The salmon patties have canola oil added to them so thatās not going to be as healthful for you.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: And if youāre eating salmon, thatās going to bleed into the next category, which is one serving of whole food fats, possibly two. You shouldnāt be famished so one to two servings of whole food fats. Sorry, you canāt exceed five servings of whole food fats per day, period, so however you want to divide those up. Youāre going to go between three and five servings of whole food fats across the day. I would like for at least one of them to be —
So youāre going to have basically three meals where youāve got one serving of whole food fats and one meal where you have two. Thatās where things like eggs and salmon come into play. Salmon is a fatty fish — super healthy fats but itās a fatty fish so youāre probably going to get a serving of nutrient-dense protein and a serving of whole food fats in your serving of salmon because itās a fatty fish.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: Same thing with eggs. If youāre going to do eggs, two whole eggs is one serving of whole food fat. So you would do something like four egg whites and two whole eggs. Thatās going to give you a serving of nutrient-dense protein and a serving of whole food fats. The definition of these servings are all available free of charge at SANESolution.com in our blueprint.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: Thatās the basic template. Youāve got three to four servings of non-starchy vegetables, eighty percent of which are green leafy vegetables; a serving of lean nutrient-dense protein or, if itās going to be not so lean, that bleeds into your servings of whole food fats, which is between three and five per day, period. Thatās eating.
Exercise is, eccentric exercise once a week but youāve got to be increasing the resistance every week. Youāre cracking what youāre doing and youāre consciously saying, āIf I did eccentric leg press with 200 pounds last week, Iām not going to just do 200 pounds again because Iām stronger this week than I was last week so Iām going to go up to 205.ā Iām going to continue diligently tracking and increasing that.
Then Iām going to do high-quality interval training once a week and Iām also going to find some way to be active; not jogging, but I mean like, walking, physical activity, yoga, Pilates — all that stuff counts — at least three times per week for thirty to sixty minutes of being active or restorative activity. Then Iām going to sleep a minimum of six hours per night, period; ideally, more like seven or eight.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: And Iām going to just drink an abundance of water and Iām never going to drink calories unless itās a green smoothie that I made — so no milk, no nothing. Iām not drinking calories. Iām drinking water, green tea, black coffee, other forms of herbal tea.
April: If you go out to a restaurant while youāre doing this, do you bring your own food? Do you eat at restaurants if youāre doing this?
Jonathan: Absolutely. Salads or a great option — so I would get a salad, put the dressing on the side —
April: Okay. Does Romaine count as deep green or is that just spinach?
Jonathan: No, Romaine is considered a deep green leafy vegetable.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: I eat out all the time when Iām on the road and I would just generally order just what we talked about. Iām going to get either chicken or fish or grass-fed beef if they have beef and then my two sides would be vegetables and I will say — well, for me, I have different goals than you so I might actually have some butter on them; but for you, you wouldnāt be adding any butter to them.
April: Now, would you ever have Greek yogurt or cottage cheese?
Jonathan: Yes, those could be your servings of nutrient-dense protein if you want. I would be using — but again, remember, we are going above and beyond here. For example, thereās a difference between fat-free Greek yogurt, fat-free cottage cheese, and the different gradations if you had full-fat cottage cheese — thatās going to be some of your whole food fat servings versus your nutrient-dense protein.
April: Okay. The four times a day when you eat — does it matter what hours of the day?
Jonathan: No.
April: Do I have to eat at the same time every day or I can just eat four times a day?
Jonathan: You donāt have to eat four times per day. If you eat three times per day, if youāre full eating less than I just described, the only things that are required are, one, that youāre not hungry because youāre not at level ten yet. Youāre at level five so you donāt want to feel like garbage here.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: You have to eat double-digit servings of non-starchy vegetables, period. You have to eat at least three servings of nutrient-dense protein, period. You have to eat a minimum of two servings of whole food fats per day. If youāre only at two of them, weāve got to make sure that those are coming from therapeutic sources, or make it three rich sources — chia seeds, flax seeds, salmon or fatty fish, or mono unsaturated fats — so olives, avocados, Macadamia nuts — or medium chain triglyceride, which is primarily found in coconut. If youāre eating any fat, we need to make sure that itās the best fat; otherwise, your health will suffer.
April: Okay. Iām actually really excited about this. I love that I donāt have to be hungry and itās just optimizing it. One other question as far as whether Iām deciding if Iām eating four times a day or Iām eating three times a day, do you ask yourself the question, āAm I hungry?ā How do you assess when youāre hungry? How do you make sure that you are eating at appropriate times and how do you assess when youāre full? Do you just make sure youāre eating slowly so you can tell? What do you do?
Jonathan: The best way to assess if you are hungry is to, if you feel hungry, drink a bunch of liquid. Drink like sixteen ounces of liquid, wait ten minutes, and see if youāre still hungry.
April: Okay.
Jonathan: To judge if youāre full or not, eat your non-starchy vegetables first to completion.
April: The three to five servings.
Jonathan: Eat all of your non-starchy vegetables first, then eat your nutrient-dense protein, then drink sixteen ounces of liquid, then wait five minutes, wait another five minutes, and if youāre still hungry, eat more.
April: Okay. Letās say, I did my three meals like you just outlined with the whole food fats and the proteins and Iāve got that in there. Then at the end of the night, letās say, itās like eight oāclock at night and Iām thinking Iām kind of snackerish right now and I could use something to snack on.
Last night when I felt that way, I ate a whole cucumber and then I had some carrots and then I had a cup of plain Greek yogurt with some xylitol in it and a little bit of natural peanut butter. Thatās what I ate last night when I was feeling hungry. If I were feeling hungry at this point and I just snacked on vegetables in the evening, I could just stop with the vegetables; I donāt have to make it a complete meal with protein as well?
Jonathan: Correct. Youād also be sensitive to the types of vegetables youāre eating. Carrots are a starchier vegetable. They are much higher in sugar than, say, spinach, for example. You might crunch more on celery. Green vegetables in general are going to be the way to go. Peanut butter is not SANE; itās in the middle. Itās a legume.
April: Okay, so I just cut that out. Donāt do that.
Jonathan: Yes.
April: If Iām a five.
Jonathan: And if youāre just feeling snacky, if youāre a five, you might just say, āOkay, Iām feeling snacky but I want to look supernatural so Iām not going to totally deprive myself but Iām just going to eat pretty hardcore SANE vegetables right now.ā Because if Iām just feeling snacky — think about it like, Iām Michael Phelps and Michael Phelps feels like not training. āGet in the pool, Michael.ā Because thatās your goal, you know what Iām saying?
April: Okay. One more question. If I were doing — you know we had that banana bread when you came to our house with Angela, that Alia made for you? That had a lot of coconut flour in it but it did have bananas. Would you tell me to stay away from any of that for your whole food fats? Donāt have anything that has fruits in it.
Jonathan: Correct.
April: Iām eating no fruits.
Jonathan: Because that would be not in the servings framework we just talked about.
April: Okay, because incorporating fruits is not a five.
Jonathan: Well, we would have to modify the other — if you want, itās easier to do it without fruits. Youāre going to get better results just using vegetables. Fruits are vegetables with more sugar, basically.
April: Okay. All right. I feel really happy because what Iām excited about is, I have a framework that I can try. Iām not committing to do this for a whole month or whatever but Iām going to take this and Iām going to put it into my life and then, next episode, Iām going to let you know how it goes. Iām going to actually be journaling along the way how I feel. Does it work out with my values? Is it working out with my schedule, my life, and my goals?
On one hand, this could be exactly what Iāve been needing to do to take SANEity to the next level. On the other hand, I might say, āYou know what? Now Jonathanās just explained what it will take for me to achieve that level and Iāve decided that I care about other things more and so Iām not going to do that right now.ā In either case, itās up to me to decide that.
Jonathan: I want to be really clear with everybody that, when I say Iām not making any value judgments, I mean that because, you know what? We talked about April one versus ten. For me, Iām at a nine.
April: Yes. You live that life, yes.
Jonathan: If someoneās going to feel bad because they tried to be polite and served me a piece of chocolate cake, I will very respectfully treat that chocolate cake like someone who is halal will treat foods thatās not — I mean, Iām not going to be a jerk about it but there are no exceptions. I donāt ever — when I travel, itās just, this is how I am and so itās really not a value judgment. But what we have to shy away from is expecting supernatural results with no effort. Thatās the calling card of charlatans, āYou can magically look supernaturally fit without any effort.ā
What weāre saying with SANE is, you can look super healthy and you can feel super healthy at a level one effort because eating canāt be complicated, by definition, when you do it correctly. If you want to be a level ten, thatās cool too. We can help you do that and you wonāt get diabetes and a bunch of other nonsense along the way. If you like at most sort of bodybuilding and other types of prescriptions, thereās a lot of inSANE techniques that go into that.
Weāre just trying to say whatever your goals are, do it without compromising your health.
April: I love it. Okay, youāre a hero. Thank you.
Jonathan: My pleasure. April, Iām really looking — the only thing Iāve got to ask you is, I do need you to actually track the compliance to this every day because thatās really the big difference, how intentional and compliant we are, whether itās SANE or inSANE. If we donāt do it, weāre not going to get the results. Doing it is the key.
April: Okay, I will commit. Iām going to track it. Now, if I decide itās not worth it, Iāll let you know but Iām going to track it. Iām super excited. I just canāt thank you enough, Jonathan. Youāve saved my life in so many ways and I just really appreciate everything you do for me and for everybody.
Jonathan: My pleasure, April. I appreciate the opportunity very much and I look forward to our next episode and I look forward to hearing your results. Now Iām on the hot seat but I have all the confidence in the world because eating non-starchy vegetables, nutrient-dense proteins, and whole food fats in the way we described canāt not work. Itās just science. Itās exciting. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. A special thanks and round of applause for April Perry for putting herself out there. Remember, stay SANE.
