Category: Miscellaneous Ramblings

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Inspiration Miscellaneous Ramblings Nutrition/Weight Loss

An Update on the Fit2Fat2Fit Guy

Remember that personal trainer who made the news a number of months ago for purposely gaining a ton of weight, just so he could ‘walk in the shoes’ of a fat person? At the time, I thought it was a complete farce. And, quite frankly, I still do. I won’t go into why again – my reasons are in my original post on this topic and have not changed.

I’ve been meaning the last few weeks to check on his progress. I have no doubt he’ll ‘miraculously’ return to Jersey Shore shape quickly. And, as I suspected, he’s got all the ‘As Seen On [insert TV show]!’ ads lined up already for his future benefit on his site, which, let’s be honest – that’s what this is all about. A publicity stunt.

But, here’s where it gets interesting….I just looked at some of his daily meal plans on his site, that outline what he’s eating every day in order to get back to his ‘fit’ state. And guess what? He’s not only doing low-carb….he’s doing VERY LOW CARB. Isn’t that interesting? Looks like he knows how to lose weight very effectively.

Here is a typical day’s worth of food for this guy. It’s super low carb. Full of processed junk, but if your only goal is to lose weight then there’s nothing wrong with eating shakes, ‘protein bars’, etc.:

From https://www.fit2fat2fit.com/Post/667/day-182 –

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DAY 182

First thing upon waking up is to chug a 16 oz bottle of water

Meal 1 approximately 375 calories- Spinach Shake without the ½ banana–  (1 scoop of IsaPro Vanilla Whey Protein (or whatever kind you decided to use), 3 cups of spinach, 2 tbsp. of peanut butter, ¾ cup of unsweetened almond milk, 2 cups of ice

-Men’s Essential with Product B from Isagenix (or other multivitamin after your shake)

– 1 serving of Ionix Supreme (For those that bought it. If you did NOT then don’t worry about taking it)

Meal 2 approximately 350 calories (Approx. 3 hours later) – 1 can of tuna with 2 tbsp. of mayo with olive oil, 1 handful of almonds

Meal 3 approximately 500 calories (Approx. 3 hours later)  – 2 cups of leftover Low Carb Turkey Chili with 2 cups of kale/broccoli mix with zero calorie butter spray.

Meal 4 approximately 250 calories (Approx. 3 hours later) – 2 scoops of WholeBody Green (or protein shake of your choice) mixed with 1 scoop of Vanilla Whey Protein with water and 1 packet of naturally sweetened powdered drink mix

Meal 5 approximately 500 calories (Approx. 3 hours later) – Caramelized Onion Glazed Salmon- 4 filets of salmon, 1 white onion, 8 slices of turkey bacon, 1/3 cup low calorie brown sugar. Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the onion into small slices.  Cut the slices of turkey bacon into thirds.  Spray 9×13 pan with cooking spray.  Place filets of salmon in the 9×13 pan.  Place slices of onion on each salmon.  Next, layer each salmon with turkey bacon.  Then, sprinkle the low calorie brown sugar on top of each salmon.  Cover the top of the pan with foil and cook for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for 10 more minutes or until salmon is cooked all the way through.  Eat 1 Filet tonight with about 2 cups of steamed green beans on the side. Save the other filets for tomorrow.

Meal 6 approximately 250 calories – (This meal will be used as your pre and post workout meal depending on when you work out during the day) – 2 scoops of Isagenix Vanilla Whey Protein. Drink ½ of your shake 30 min. before your workout and the other ½ immediately after

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The above daily meal plan is typical, based on the handful of other days I looked through on his site. Aside from some misguided, senseless decisions he’s making (egg whites instead of the whole egg), he’ll surely drop lots of weight on that plan, and if that’s how he’s directing his clients to lose weight, then I’m all for it. I applaud the guy. And I sincerely hope that that is truly how he’s been telling his clients in the past how to lose weight, instead of the ‘low fat, calories-in/calories-out’ mantra that Conventional Wisdom dictates.

Of course, his current diet is not a practical long-term way of eating, in my opinion, unless he wants to eat Quest Bars and protein shakes every day for the rest of his life. But for an initial phase of a diet, it’ll do. And do well. Of course, he could be eating tons more dietary fat and be feeling more full/satiated and lose weight just as quickly yet more comfortably, but that’s his business…

I gotta admit – I’m both very disappointed and encouraged at the same time. On one hand, I wanted to see him go on a low-fat diet, do lots of chronic cardio, count ‘points’ or some other assenine diet, etc. But when push came to shove and he knew he had to lose weight, he’s doing it – low carb.

He’s set to ‘unveil’ his new-found body on national TV in a few weeks. And, I’m sure he’ll say it was all about watching calories, etc. instead of the real reason he’ll inevitably return to Mr. Atlas form – he’s doing a very-low carb diet. Will he be allowed by the network to admit that? Will he call it something else? We’ll see!

 

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Daily Update Miscellaneous Ramblings

One Problem with Being So Healthy – It Takes A While To Know You’re Sick!

Just a quick post to update my status.

I’m sick. Feel like garbage.

It started last Saturday, which happened to be a big day for a basement finishing project I’ve been working on the past couple of months (see below). My brother, an electrician and all-around guru, came over to do the circuit design and ‘home runs’, switch wiring, etc. I felt ‘out of it’ all day – couldn’t concentrate, and just didn’t have much energy. I’ve been drinking 2 coffees per day, up from my usual single Starbucks Grande Americano’ with heavy whipping cream that I have Monday thru Friday as the price of admission for leeching a seat/table and wifi from Starbucks while working. Lately I’ve upped that to a Venti (that’s the largest size) and sometimes later in the day I’ll have a Kuerig at home. Gotta cut back on the caffeine.

So last Saturday went well – my brother hooked me up, then the next day I started finishing up the wiring of the receptacles and recessed cans, etc. So far, unlike when I tried finishing my basement in a different house about 11 years ago, when I was all stressed/nervous about it and it seemingly took forever to make any progress (and it turned out to be a mess at the end), this project has gone super well and has been fun. But this week it was hard to get motivated to work on it. Didn’t know why. Until Thursday, when I woke up with a nasty upper respiratory infection. I had apparently had it for a week but didn’t realize it. In prior years, when I ate like shit and felt like shit, I would have known I had a URI within hours of its onset. And would have sat on the couch for 2 weeks as a result. Now I can still function just fine. Just feel like shit doing so.

I get these URIs at least once per year, sometimes twice. Been getting them since my late teens. It was to a point where the last 3 or 4 times, the doctor has been very reluctant to give me antibiotics to knock it out – I have become immune to the one he was prescribing. And, without antibiotics, these things never go away – I always waited a minimum of 2 weeks of pain and suffering before I would break down and go to the doc. The last visit I had a new doctor (I go to one of those ‘Medical Associates’ places where you can choose from a few different doctors, all in the same office). This new doctor told me to try this natural ‘NeilMed’ thing from the drug store, I did, and within 2 days I was cured! The procedure is really gross so I’ll leave the details out, but it worked.

I was *hoping* that, with my newfound health I would not be getting one this year, but I think the huge amount of work-induced stress I’ve been under the past few months is really wreaking havoc with my immune system.

Regardless, back to the purpose of this blog – I’m down to a steady 195lbs now. I don’t weigh myself very often these days – maybe once a week. I’ve definitely noticed my belt getting looser too. This is surprising because, quite honestly, I have been slipping lately and eating some junk here or there. In fact, the other day at SaladWorks with a co-worker, I even ate a whole ‘Healthy Whole Grains!’ roll. I smothered it with butter to counteract the ‘Healthy Whole Grains’, but still. I guess I’m so active now that I can eat some junk and still burn them off. That said, it’s amazing how radically different my day-to-day is now versus just a year ago or even 7 or 8 months ago, while I was losing so much weight.

For example, yesterday I ate McDonald’s for the first time in a LONG time. When I was really dropping weight (the first 4 months of last year I dropped about 40 pounds) I was going to fast food joints at least 3 times per week. No, I’m not lying.

  • Twice per week for lunch, to Wendy’s to eat either a BLT Cobb Salad (yum!) or I’d get the Chili and a side salad (I used to live on the Chili but haven’t had that in many months)
  • Once per week with my son, who is addicted to junk food, I would give up and take him to McDonalds to satisfy his McNuggets fix. I would always get the Grilled Chicken Caesar or Ranch salad, which sucks, but it’s the best option there.

The last 4 or 5 months I’ve basically, unconsciously, just not gone to fast food places. Yesterday, it hit me that I have not been to a McDonalds in months. How cool is that? I just realized this yesterday morning when my son started begging me to take him to McDonald’s so he could personally taste test the all-new McBites that were unveiled by the illustrious chefs/chemists that McDonald’s employs. (That job ranks right up there with working for RJ Reynolds, but that’s a post for a different blog….). Incidentally, I had the Grilled Chicken Ranch BLT salad. It was okay. I also partook in some of those new McBites. They’re kinda blah. If you haven’t seen the commercial for McBites yet – imagine if you were the deep fry chef at McDonalds and you had cooked up literally 1,000,000 McNuggets for a year in the same deep fat fryer vat, without changing the grease during that time. Then, you went and changed out the vat grease by draining it out. After it’s all drained out you have a bunch of crunchy, sludge-like ‘mini nuggets’ that are mostly just ‘breading’ at the bottom of the vat. Those are the McBites! : )

That’s all for now. I’ll be glad when this URI is gone so I can start working out again. Haven’t been to the gym much lately (which is another reason why I’ve lost a couple more pounds!). In another few weeks, hopefully with this URI behind me, it’ll be time to start getting in shape for the Summer. Thinking about quitting my gym membership and doing pure Primal workouts in natural terrain – monkey bars, trail running, etc.

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Inspiration Miscellaneous Ramblings

As Obi-Wan Once Said – Nothing Here…

It was exactly one year ago tomorrow (November 1, 2010) that I decided I’d had enough of being tired all the time and not able to enjoy sports, being outdoors, etc. I weighed 258lb. I had just gotten back from an annual work event – a conference that the company I work for puts on for our customers once a year. Last year it was in Orlando. This past week it was in Las Vegas, which is why I haven’t posted.

I normally work out of a Starbucks or local cafe, going into the office maybe a couple of times a week for face to face meetings, since it’s only 10 minutes away. Because of that, I normally don’t do ‘business casual’ dress. My workplace is very casual – shorts in the summer, etc. But over the years, with a constant stream of new hires, the place has morphed into a dressier climate. You know – those dorks that think Dockers and plaid shirts are a fashion staple.

I promise to post something of value soon! I have an idea to research further what the original Weight Watchers diet was. It was, believe it or not, pretty low carb. They had it right, but I guess they had to chase the money. A successfully skinny client is no longer a client when you’re in that business…

Needless to say, I haven’t had clothes that fit me, outside of workout gear, in months. Didn’t really need it until this past week when I had to be dressed for various presentations, cocktail parties, etc. while in Las Vegas. Many of my colleagues and industry contacts only see me once a year, during this event. A handful came up to me, wide-eyed with a look of concern, and whispered, “Are you okay? You look like you’ve lost a lot of weight. You sick?” It was funny. It was fun. It was even more fun putting on a size large shirt and a 36″ waist pants, all of which I had to buy for the trip. Last year I was a size 44″ waist and 2XL shirts, and the shirts were too tight.

So it’s been one year. I’ve done it. 60 pounds dropped. Moving on to year two of this total transformation. With the majority of fat gone, I no longer need to worry about the workouts stunting my weight loss, which is what happens. Beginning today the focus for this year is on getting ripped – the goal is to put The Situation’s six-pack abs to shame. In my 40’s now I think it’s possible. Not sure yet about the best way to go about it, but I’ll get there. Miracles CAN happen. With just a lot of research and a little sacrifice. Just a little.

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Miscellaneous Ramblings Nutrition/Weight Loss

Naturally Fit Guy Getting Fat on Purpose: A Flawed Experiment

Just came across this interesting story about a misguided personal trainer:

Flawed experiment, but helluva PR stunt!

So this guy has purposely eaten a boat-load of food (really carbohydrates (see below)) in order to gain weight. He’s eating like crazy and putting on as much weight as he can for 6 months, and then will attempt to “work” his way back to his previous weight. On the surface it sure sounds like an interesting little experiment, and it is perfectly designed: if you are a personal trainer looking to drum up business.

The problem I have with what he is doing is that it won’t prove anything other than the fact that a naturally fit guy (who also works out like crazy, hence the muscles), who gains some weight can ‘normalize’ back to being naturally fit, once he stops eating more than he would have naturally (i.e., what his body is naturally causing him to eat). Wow! What a surprise! What determination and self-restraint he must have! What willpower!

Of course, he’ll tell everyone that, after he loses all of the weight that he gained during the 6 months, and I have no doubt he’ll lose it quickly (faster than he gained it), he will start spouting off something to the effect of, “If I can do it, even you naturally fat lazy slobs can do it!” He’ll of course leave out the words “naturally” and maybe “lazy slobs” from the proclamation, though he may use some other coded insults.

People who have been naturally fit their entire lives are the ones who are predisposed to being fit, even if they eat some carbohydrate. Their bodies process them efficiently. Fat people’s don’t. And as fat tissue grows, IT is the culprit that naturally causes the fat person to eat more. Unfortunately, the misconception is that it is the other way around: fat people are fat because they are lazy and/or eat too much. Of course, research has shown conclusively that the cause is in fact the opposite:

Fat people are lazy and/or eat too much BECAUSE they are fat.

This is a big paradigm shift that, until people accept, and the Dr. Oz’s of the world quit ignoring, will always cause the flawed prescriptions of ‘eat less, workout more’ as the cure for obesity, when we know that doesn’t work long-term.

Alas, all is not lost on this personal trainer’s ‘experiment’ – there is one cool thing about the interview that I liked seeing. When he was asked about ‘unhealthy foods’, he told the truth:

FFTV: Are you enjoying eating all those unhealthy foods?

DM: Yes and no. To some extent, all of these foods that I’m eating (sugary cereals, granola bars, juices, white breads, white pastas, sodas, crackers, chips, frozen dinners, mac n cheese, etc.) taste delicious. But then I feel like crap later on and I get hungry again and crave those same foods. 

Notice what all of those foods have in common? If you said they are carbohydrates, then give yourself a round of applause! All he needed to round out the list was to add “low-fat yogurt.” Or “rice cakes.” And if he really wants to put on more weight, then add on some “healthy whole grains” to his plate while he’s at it.

What this guy is doing is akin to Fabio shaving his head and then proclaiming that if he can grow his hair back then anyone can do it.

Problem is, his body naturally does it. Not everyone else’s does. Those of us (ahem…) who are naturally predisposed to baldness have a medical problem. We’re bald not by choice. We’re not bald because we’re lazy. We’re not bald because we “overbrushed”. Being fat is the same damn thing – we’re naturally predisposed to being fat, and the primary culprit that triggers the storage of the fat tissue is carbohydrate. We’re not fat by choice. We’re not fat because we’re lazy, or “overeat” (in terms of pure calories-in). We’re fat because our bodies are not able to process the now common diet that consists of carbohydrate as the dominant macronutrient.

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Miscellaneous Ramblings

Surprised Philadelphians Aren’t Even More Fat (or Phat)

Just yesterday I was listening to the local Philadelphia sports talk radio station and heard one of the countless adds for a local powerhouse roll bakery, which is often followed by an ad for one of their customers, a hoagie chain. It got me to thinking – Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, where I grew up and frequent from time to time for its wonderful downtown bar and restaurant scene (if you want to be hip, you gotta go where the hip are!), must be full of fat people considering the foods it is known for: all high carbohydrate foods. Consider the ‘traditions’:

  • Soft Pretzels (<sarcasm>but they’re low-fat so they must be okay! </sarcasm>)
  • Cheesesteaks, on a big ass roll
  • Pasta, courtesy of the wonderful Italian-American community in the city
  • Hoagies, again on a big ass roll

What do all of the above ‘foods’ contain? A lot of carbohydrate, of course!

I started to look for pics of the above foods to include, but I held back knowing that many of this site’s visitors are on induction and don’t want the temptation. But I just couldn’t hold back, knowing that many readers have no idea what a ‘Hoagie’ is. Sorry.

And so, like fate, today appearing on Philly.com is an article about what the various take-out orders are, by city. While I think the accuracy of this list overall is a bit dubious (Bostonians order more Thai than any other take-out food? No way.), I am not surprised that Philadelphians order more pizza than anyone else. I grew up in Philadelphia and ate pizza at least twice a week it seemed. No wonder.