Kill it, crush it, nail it – and other terrible food advice

Normal, healthy eating doesn’t seem to be enough anymore. We must MAX out on all good things until we can’t stand them anymore. Open Instagram or TikTok and you’ll find a dizzying amount of creators talking about how you need to MAX your protein, MAX your fiber, MAX your hydration. You gotta kill it, crush it, nail it or you might be considered a weakling. 

But when did eating become a competitive sport? 

And more importantly – who decided that optimization is the same as improving health? 

This post is about rejecting the wellness & hustle culture mentality that’s infected everything from our morning walks and journaling to our dinner plates. It’s about finding your version of “enough” and trusting that your body isn’t a machine that needs to be hacked. And learning how to find a really enjoyable version of taking care of yourself. 

A story about my yoga teacher’s simple wisdom

Every time I’m in yoga with my favorite teacher here in Austin, Marnie, I think of something I want to write about. She’s simultaneously the most unconventional teacher I’ve ever had and the one who makes me feel like everything is going to be okay, even when it’s not. 

She often reminds us to back off… just a little. 

She suggests we don’t need to “kill it, crush it, nail it” the way we may think we do.  She lovingly reminds us that hustle culture mentality has infected everything, even yoga.

Behind her words, I hear this: 

Pushing yourself too hard is not helping you reach your goals. It’s not helping you get more out of yoga. It’s not bringing you closer to the reason you showed up today. It’s not making you more flexible or stronger or more… you. 

I’ll just speak for myself when I say that one reason I go to yoga is to learn to be nicer to myself. 

I am there to learn to back off and find my version of “enough.” To find the ability to notice when I don’t push myself and when I do. To find myself there every time, allowing the answer to be found. To find my joy, my peace, and my limitations. Pushing is not the only thing happening. 

But this kill it crush it nail it mentality is ALL OVER wellness culture. 

The New Wellness Trend: Maxxing Everything

If you’ve been on wellness TikTok or Instagram lately, you know what I’m talking about.  Fibermaxxing means choosing fiber to obsess over, to track, to fixate on, to distract yourself with. Proteinmaxxing means insisting that everything you eat has protein in it. Hydromaxxing means drinking a gallon or more of water daily while monitoring your urine color. It’s all just a little much. 

It may seem like these things are in service of optimal health, better digestion, more muscle, perfect hydration. But the reality is that this is just all a new way to obsess over food and health.

We can’t just eat healthy anymore. We have to kill it with our macros, crush it with our fiber goals, nail it with our water intake. Every meal becomes another opportunity to prove we’re doing enough, trying hard enough, caring about our health “enough.”

I guess you could argue this extreme is better than trying to eat less of everything. Less calories, less fat, less carbs. Less joy, less life, less pleasure. But it doesn’t have to be one or the other imo. 

Fibermaxxing and its relatives

Fibermaxxing and its relatives might, on the surface, seem like they’re about health. Isn’t eating lots of protein and fiber and drinking plenty of water good for you?

Yes, yes it is. 

DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT HEALTH?!?!?!

Sigh, yes I do. 

But I am also painfully aware of what happens internally to people who overdo it in the name of health. There’s nothing wrong with optimizing your health if that is really what’s happening. But if you’re so preoccupied with eating enough protein that you’re not getting enough other nutrients (yes, carbs too), or worrying about it all day, or beating yourself up for not being able to reach your maxxing goals, I’m not sure this is a net positive. 

Research shows that chronic stress, including food-related anxiety, has real health consequences, from increased inflammation and auto-immune disease to cardiovascular risk. And studies on orthorexia, the unhealthy obsession with ‘healthy’ eating, show it’s associated with increased anxiety, depression, and ironically, worse overall wellbeing. Meanwhile, Americans are already more anxious about food than any other industrialized nation.

Protein, fiber, and water all matter. 

Let’s talk about what your body actually needs versus what hustle / wellness culture wants you to freak out about. 

Protein: Most people need 0.8-1.0g per kg of body weight (not per pound). For a 150lb person, that’s about 55-68g daily, not 150g. If you’re lifting weight and  trying to gain muscle, you could get a little more, up to 1.2g/kg. 

Fiber: 25-35g is plenty. Going beyond 50-70g causes digestive distress and doesn’t add benefits.

Water: Your body has a built-in thirst mechanism. It works. Pale yellow urine is fine. You don’t need to pee clear.

More Is Not Always Better

Too much protein is unnecessary and will make it really hard to enjoy your food. Ever tried to choke down your fourth protein shake of the day or felt so full of chicken breast you wanted to cry? 

That’s your body saying “no.”

If you’re lifting heavy and trying to build muscle, great, yes, get more protein. But that’s a specific goal for a specific purpose, not a general “health” recommendation for everyone. For most people, obsessing over protein is solving a problem you don’t have and honestly, could be creating a new problem. 

Obsessing about food all day is not a sign of health. 

Doing weird things like slamming a bag of spinach with your morning coffee is, well, eww. Just try and get a good fiber source at most meals and snacks, letting yourself off the hook once in a while when it makes sense. 

The Maxxing Mentality

At its core, this trend isn’t about health. It’s about something deeper.

In maxxing culture, rest equals weakness. Enough equals settling, being lazy, not trying hard enough. Optimization becomes a moral virtue, a sign of your shining superior discipline and worth. 

This is not well-being. 

You can care about your health and not max out your protein. You can eat fiber-rich foods without counting every gram. Taking care of yourself doesn’t require a PhD in nutritional biochemistry. Enough can really simply be enough. 

Hustle Culture Is Deeply Ableist

The idea that you need to count and track everything assumes you have unlimited time and have literally nothing else to think about. 

The mental bandwidth alone is insane. Tracking every macro, calculating every meal, logging every glass of water, weighing your food. This is a part-time job that doesn’t pay you. This is a lot of thinking about food. 

Maybe you’re working multiple jobs, parenting solo, managing chronic illness, neurodivergent and overwhelmed by meal planning, or depressed and “just eat something” is the daily win.

But even if you’re single and have plenty of what you need, you definitely do not need to be spending this much time thinking about how to eat perfectly. 

The idea that everyone has the capacity to optimize their nutrition is a fantasy that ignores real systemic barriers. 

All food is good food when you need to eat. You have to work with where you’re at, whatever your capacity. A protein bar from the gas station? Good food. Canned soup? Good food. Frozen pizza? Good food. 

Some days whatever you can access and actually eat is GOOD FOOD. 

And if you’re healing from an eating disorder or chronic dieting, you may be in a phase where any food is good food and that is freaking great. 

What You Lose While You’re Busy Optimizing

While you’re tracking every macro and logging every meal, life is happening around you.

You’re missing the spontaneous dinner invitation because you can’t track the restaurant’s food. You’re missing the joy of your grandmother’s cooking because it doesn’t fit your targets. You’re missing the connection that happens when you just eat with people you love without your phone out calculating.

You’re losing time you could spend doing literally anything else—reading, creating, resting, playing, connecting. You’re losing trust in your own body. You’re losing the simple pleasure of eating something delicious without doing math first.

And for what? To hit arbitrary numbers that some influencer decided were “optimal”? To prove you have discipline? To earn the right to exist in your body without shame?

The promise of optimization is that if you just track hard enough, control tightly enough, try perfectly enough, you’ll finally feel at peace in your body. But peace doesn’t come from control. It comes from trust.

What if instead of optimizing every bite, you were just… living? What if the time you spent tracking could be spent learning something new, or resting, or laughing with friends, or literally staring at the wall doing nothing?

Your life is happening right now. Not after you hit your protein goal. Not when you finally get your fiber dialed in. Not when you achieve perfect hydration.

Right now.

An Anti-Diet Approach To Nutrition

What if “enough” was actually… enough?

Instead of proteinmaxxing, just include protein at meals because it helps you feel satisfied. Notice how different amounts affect your energy and hunger. One less-than-perfect meal doesn’t erase anything.

Instead of fibermaxxing, eat plants in forms you actually enjoy. Add beans to things you’re already making. Choose whole grains when they taste good to you. Notice how your body responds and adjust accordingly. Gradual increases over time is the way to go. 

What “Doing Better” Actually Means

Doing better might mean accepting yourself as you are and taking baby steps from there. It might mean not maxxing anything and just consistently getting enough.

You are not failing at eating well just because eating is hard for you.

If getting one vegetable into your day feels like a win, it is a win. If remembering to drink water is an achievement, it is an achievement. If you made it through the day without berating yourself for your food choices, that is massive progress.

The Goal Isn’t Maximum Anything 

The goal is to feel good in your body, have energy for your life, and not spend all your mental bandwidth tracking nutrients. 

What if backing off – just a little – was exactly what you needed? Your body knows how to use nutrients. It can handle a day where you don’t hit arbitrary targets. Gentle, consistent care beats aggressive optimization every single time. 

If you’re wanting to improve your diet because you want to take good care of your body, amazing. You can absolutely do that without maxxing. 

If this resonated, you might be ready for something different.  My Love Food Again  program helps women break free from food rules, stop obsessing over macros, and find an actually sustainable way to eat well. It’s 6 months of guided support, community, and learning to trust your body again. Learn more about Love Food Again. 

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If you enjoyed this, share it with a friend who needs permission to just… eat normally. The more people finding liberation with food, the more permission we’ll all have to just be.

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