“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless—like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
— Bruce Lee
This philosophy runs deep for me—so much so that it inspired both the mountains in my logo and the tattoo on my forearm. The waves stand for adaptability: how water moves with purpose yet stays resilient, just like we must be with our habits.
When I first noticed my healthy routines slipping, I realisedI’d been approaching nutrition all wrong trying to force rigid rules rather than flowing with sustainable changes. That’s when tracking became my anchor. Not as a strict diet enforcer, but as a reflective tool—like still water showing your true reflection.
The beauty? You don’t need to understand calories or macros yet (we’ll cover those in later blogs!). Like Bruce Lee’s water, we start by simply observing without resistance. Here’s how this mindset helped me navigate my biggest nutritional challenges—not by crashing through them, but by flowing around obstacles with awareness.
Phase 1: Awareness Without Judgment
For two weeks, I just logged:
– What I ate
– When I ate it
– How I felt (hungry? stressed? bored?)
No changes, no guilt—just collecting data. Like water, I allowed myself to flow with the process, not fight it.
Phase 2: Spotting the Patterns
My food diary revealed three key struggles:
1. The Mindless Grazing Cycle
– “3PM: Ate cookies at my desk without thinking”
– “8PM: Ravenous—ordered takeout”
2. Emotional Eating Triggers
– “Finished stressful meeting—ate entire bag of chips”
– “Bored watching TV—mindless snacking”
3. The ‘Too Busy’ Trap
– “Skipped breakfast—grabbed pastry on commute”
– “No lunch prepped—fast food again”
Phase 3: Small, Sustainable Fixes
Only after noticing these patterns did, I start making changes—like water finding its path:
✔ For grazing: Set gentle reminders to pause and ask, “Am I hungry, or just distracted?”
✔ For stress eating: Kept cut veggies nearby (crunching helped relieve tension)
✔ For busy days: Prepped just two emergency meals weekly—no overwhelm
Your Turn: Start Simple
1. Choose your “container” (app, notebook, voice memos).
2. Log for 3 days—no changes, just observation.
3. Look for one pattern to tweak, like water shaping itself gradually.
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