Calories….Smalories … “All Calories Aren’t the Same”…The search at 50 years old.
I have been into what many consider “Bodybuilding” for a couple years. When I decided to get into the act of preparing for a “Show” (Men’s Physique Show) I did it by mistake. I was getting close to the “Big 50” and about 8 months before I was to turn 50 the conversation about, “What am I going to do turning 50”, came into play. In my mind the first thing that popped up, and hilarious really at the time, was to say, “I want to have abs for my 5oth birthday.”
The idea of this craziness started a couple years before when I saw an old friend of mine, Scott Burr, post a picture of himself and his teenage son holding their shirts up and it said something like, “This is what 50 looks like”. His abs were to say the least….sticking out like a teenage athlete. I remember thinking, “How can this be possible? I have never had abs (even as a 5 sport athlete in High School) and have been lean for the last few years. Fast forward to April 2020. I unlocked the nerves and said to the wife that’s what I wanted to do for my “half-century” birthday. Next….the reality.
“You can’t outwork a bad diet”. These words became the truest words of the plight of my journey. I contacted a trainer that was referred to me, Daniel Treat, and we met with me wanting one goal….abs. As we met, he explained to me, even though I was overweight, but somewhat in shape, that he was going to “Feed my like a horse” to lose weight, mostly my fat. I was perplexed to say the least. I had always been told or read that to lose weight-fat you have to eat less (cut calories) for you to “get lean”. He said, not on his watch. He also told me that the only way that he would train me for my journey was that I had to sign up for a “Physique Show”. I was like, “What is that?”….Then he explained.
I left our meeting with me telling him I needed to think about it. This was not something I ever wanted to do. But he promised me that if I followed the program, ate like a horse (follow his food choices exactly), did what I was told when it came to workouts and cardio I would get into the best shape of my life. I had 6 1/2 months until my 50th Birthday so time was crucial. I decided in a few days…..to be “all-in”.
My first question, and many beginners ask this same question to me was, “How many calories am I going to eat?” Then I started learning the best thing I have ever learned about proper nutrition…..”All calories aren’t the same”. To make a long story short we must remember that for each gram of protein and carbohydrates a gram of each is 4 calories. But a gram of fat is 9 calories each. So, this hit me like a ton of bricks when he sent me my nutrition plan for the first week of my prep. I realized I could eat so much better, muscle building foods if my meals were portioned with high amounts of lean protein, good clean carbs and low fats.
I have since helped over 20 people in the last year lose hundreds of pounds of weight. I do it with the simple ratio of eating multiple meals a day which helps the metabolism. I also incorporate high amounts of carbs and protein. Funny how the new fad of “Keto” is really the old fad of the heart attack waiting to happen, high fatty “Atkins diet”. Think about it. Fat intake equals…..ahh fat. The American male just in the last three decades is 27 pounds heavier and we are still the same height as we were then. What is the difference? Fat and sugar driven fast foods, fad diets, processed foods and the sugary drink capital of the world. But we label all foods now with how many “Calories” it has in it on almost all menus, when this is not the way we should approach our weight or health.
We have over 325,000 obesity related deaths a year in our country [1]. We have over 2.8 million worldwide.[2] We have millions of people in the United States with type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure and hypertension; and almost all people with these will be cured of the issue if they are out of the “obese or morbidly obese” category. You will not get there with today’s food bought from a restaurants, fast food places, boxed “low…whatever the new sales pitch is” meals.
Our country doesn’t want to speak about the issue because it has become such a health problem that we have played the slight of hand card of it’s called “Fat shaming” or “People look good no matter how they look” mentality. But it is killing people and making them sick. And the craziest thing about it is, and sorry someone needs to say it, you can fix your own sickness without a drug…you can fix it with a proper diet based on a good macro-based diet and not a calorie count. Yes, calories in and calories out matters but the kind of calories is the key.
People are blown away when I tell them I eat 6 meals a day to “lose weight” and cut for a competition. I have no idea how many calories I eat. I eat a large amount of proteins and carbs, but I have a small amount of fats in my diet. Even more amazing is that if you eat this way you will not hungry, and your health gets better”. Sounds too good to be true. Well, I thought so too until I did exactly what I was told. I “Ate like a horse”. The abs did appear…..Welcome to the next episode after 50.
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10546692/
- https://www.who.int/news-room/facts-in-pictures/detail/6-facts-on-obesity
