Eating Clean Made Me Fat

Eating clean made me fat, while eating cookies and Chipotle made me lean...

wink wink ;)

Ok fine, you got me. Eating cookies and Chipotle didn't make me lean. Cookies and Chipotle aren't anything special. They're not made from unicorns, containing magical ingredients that allowed me to lose body fat for the first time.

However, the mindset I had while eating those things certainly did help with that.

A BIT ABOUT MY JOURNEY

If you don't know my story, there's a lot to it. But for the sake of time (knowing that you have a life and most likely don't want to sit down and read what I have to say all day long), I'm going to skip most of it and start with my fitness journey. I found my love for health and fitness after college ball. Once baseball was done, I spent a lot of time in the gym. I needed something to distract me from the fact that I wasn't a baseball player anymore.

My dad competed in bodybuilding back in the day, so weight training had always been a staple in his routine. He brought me along and lifted with me as I was trying to get out of my post-baseball depression.

If you know me, you know I don't really have much of an on/off switch when it comes to anything active or physical. Ask me to play against you in any sort of physical sport or activity, and I'm going to give it my all. I may suck, but I'm going to give you everything I have. It was the same thing with resistance training. I didn't have the best form, and my mind-muscle connection was far non-existent. But I tell you what, when I was in that gym, I gave each rep my all.

After a while, I actually began to see a change in my body. It's not the reason I was in the gym in the first place, but there were definitely changes in my body that I could see as a result of simply working hard. So because of that, I obviously asked myself what could happen if I took things seriously. And right before your eyes, I became your typical bro-like gym rat.

I started listening to what all of the Olympia and instagram guys were doing (being too much of an idiot to even take into consideration that those dudes are the 1% of the 1% of genetic freaks, and take a good serving of anabolics each day). I trained one muscle group per week, and I went to absolute failure on every single set. I completely killed my body in the gym. On top of that, I ate A TOOONNNNNNN of food. But hey don't worry, it was "clean" most of the time so I wouldn't get fat. Or so I thought..

Over time, I got pretty freaking huge. I reached a whopping 240 pounds while eating anywhere between 4,500 and 5,000 calories each day. I did have a ton of lean mass, but my body fat was at an all time high. I believe it was around 25%. At first, I didn't give a crap about my body fat. Why? Because it was bulk season all year, baby. Needless to say, I kept shoveling food down my throat to put on more and more "muscle". As you could imagine, I just got fatter and fatter, and finally hit a point where I started caring about my body composition and wanted to make a change.

Once I reached the point of feeling too heavy, I decided it was time to cut down. Gotta look good for the beach at some point, right?

The cut consisted of a little less food (because all hell would break loose if I lost muscle mass), and some cardio when I felt like it. I figured that if I kept eating around 4,000 calories of clean food and added in some cardio every now and then, I'd easily lose weight!

Yeah... that didn't happen.

Months later, I found myself in the same spot. 235ish pounds, tons of fat on me. I thought to myself "HOW IN THE WORLD IS THIS FREAKING POSSIBLE? I'm eating clean, how could I not be losing fat?"

Here's what I'd say to my younger self: "You didn't pay attention to the real science, you idiot!"

WHAT I FAILED TO SEE

The present me is right. The old me wasn't paying attention to anything but what the 290-pound Olympia competitors were doing. I was doing what THEY did for THEIR body to succeed. I missed the biggest piece.

I WASN'T A 290-POUND OLYMPIA COMPETITOR.

It didn't matter if I was eating clean. I was ignoring the facts. The 2 big things that I failed to acknowledge were the following:

1. Gaining/Losing weight is about calories in vs. calories out. Simple math.

2. I was a 20-year-old ex-baseball player. I failed to do what was right for ME. I did what THEY did because it worked for THEM.

I didn't take the time to understand how the human body works. I simply accepted the fact that eating clean is just what you're supposed to do to lose weight. The first time I heard it, I accepted it as truth and I went on with my life.

So what's so wrong with eating clean?

Nothing really, it's just that I placed eating clean on a pedestal above the most basic understanding of weight loss: calories in vs. calories out.

Here's the truth: Weight loss and weight gain comes down to calories in vs. calories out.

Since I was eating more calories than I burned in a day (even though they were "clean" calories) I gained a ton of body fat. Whether I was eating chicken and broccoli or donuts, I would've gained weight. Same thing goes for fat loss, I could eat nothing but Hostess snacks all day long and lose weight, as long as I'm burning more calories than I eat in a day. In fact, a Kansas State professor did just this to prove the point. Don't believe me? Google "Twinkie Professor."

Now don't be that person that just closes the browser and decides they're going to eat nothing but Twinkies all day long because Adam said it's good for fat loss. That's not what I'm saying. You don't need to have a PhD in nutrition to understand that eating nothing but Hostess snacks is unhealthy. All I'm saying is that weight gain and weight loss comes down to calories in vs. calories out.

And that's what I was missing.

I didn't take the time to figure out how many calories I burn in a day. I didn't take the time to figure out how many calories I'd need to eat in order to lose fat and build muscle.

Not wanting to continue this hellish cycle of gaining 10 pounds and losing 2, I began to track my intake in order to figure out what the problem was. Once I began tracking my intake, I slowly began to see what and how much of it I was actually putting into my body. I also found two big rocks (they kinda go hand-in-hand) that needed to be addressed.

1. Being "strict" while allowing myself cheat meals

2. No moderation whatsoever

The lack of moderation in my diet absolutely killed me. I would eat clean all week long, and then allow myself a cheat meal or a cheat day where I'd eat an extra 1,500 calories in a meal, or an extra 4,000-5,000 calories in a day. Once I saw that, it all made sense. My weekly caloric intake was through the roof because I binged and went completely out of control.

Moving forward, I allowed myself to enjoy the things I wanted when I felt like it. I'd have some Reeses or a cookie here and there. I noticed that my cravings went down a ton, I didn't feel guilty about eating those foods, and my weekly caloric intake dropped tremendously. I FINALLY STARTED TO LOSE BODY FAT!

Did the cookies allow me to lose body fat? No, of course not. But moderation did.

Once I began to fully understand the concept of calories in vs. calories out, I learned a ton about MY body and what I needed to do for MY body, given MY history, MY genetics, and MY goals. Hitting those goals slowly became a LOT easier. I learned how to adjust my caloric intake to build muscle and to burn fat. I learned how to treat my boy well by eating natural whole food sources while treating myself when I felt like it.

With time and effort, I went from a place of unconscious incompetence to conscious competence.

THE TAKEAWAY

Managing your nutrition and learning how food works with your body is a lot like managing money. If you were to invest your money in some sort of stock, you would (I hope) study its history, its habits, and see how it reacts to certain changes in the market. The same thinking applies to your body. Before you invest your calories, time, and attention to your goals, figure out how your body will best use them, that way you can develop a plan that works best for YOUR body, allowing you to trust the process as you're climbing toward your goals.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life. If you’re interested in hiring Adam as your coach, fill out an application here.

My Opinions on Intermittent Fasting

If you haven't heard yet, intermittent fasting is all the buzz in the fitness and nutrition world. As history has shown with any other type of nutritional approach, some people are big fans, and some can't stand it. In today's article I'd like to take the time to inform you on IF (intermittent fasting) and state whether or not I think it's a good idea to implement it into your program. 

WHAT IS IT, AND WHAT'S THE IDEA?

Before we head into the details of IF, we need to know what it is. IF is a term used for diets that go back and forth between stages of fasting and non-fasting. IF is well-known for it's lengthened periods of calorie deficit phases. These fasted periods can last 16-24 hours (sounds like hell if you ask me). 

When it comes to IF, the big picture idea is to deplete an individual's calorie consumption. This is similar to any other weight loss diet. It all comes down to calories in vs. calories out. Deplete the body of calories, and weight is lost. It's not that special, but it does have a twist unlike any other nutrition plan out there.

Rather than taking down calorie consumption on a slow consistent basis like most plans, IF calls for severe restriction, just like fasting. As I mentioned before, said individual would fast for a 16-24 hour period, then return to normal (dependent on the goal) eating for 8-24 hours. I'll admit, when I first heard of IF, I thought it was completely bogus, especially since the people I knew that were doing it weren't making any changes to their physique whatsoever. It turns out there is some science that can show positive effects to both health and physique while fasting.

WHAT DO WE KNOW?

Before I looked at any of the science behind IF, I was extremely against it for the following reasons: 

1. IF calls for me to fast. Forget that garbage. Food is good. I will eat food. All the time. 

2. I have used different methods with my clients and they all have worked tremendously.
3. I had a hunch fasting for that long can lead to protein breakdown and catabolism.

Now that I've looked at the research, I don't have so much hatred towards it. Thus far, the effects on body composition, performance, and mental health are not extreme in either direction. Let's look at the details.

BODY COMPOSITION

As I talk about body composition, it must be known that I am speaking in terms of individuals who are overweight. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of body composition research on those who aren't. Taking a look at a 2011 study (which was only conducted on women), we see that IF is just as effective for weight loss as continued calorie restriction. Unfortunately, there was another study conducted that showed possibility of increased protein breakdown. If you're like me, and you've spent years building lean muscle tissue, the last thing you would want is some crazy fasting plan ruining all of that. It's possible to put those effects at a halt by taking supplements out there that you can use to try to stop those effects such as BCAAs. It's not guaranteed, though.

PERFORMANCE

There isn't a lot of research on IF and performance, but there are a couple studies out there that show decreased power. Additionally, it is shown that individuals might feel fatigued, even if their strength and endurance isn't down. Personally, I don't want to feel fatigued in the gym. If I'm pushing 100s on the dumbbell bench while fasting or not, I would prefer to feel fully energized.

MENTAL HEALTH

When I don't eat, I get extremely hangry (hungry and angry). I'm no fun to be around and I turn into a complete diva. Fortunately for the individuals in a specific study, they decreased their binge eating or emotional eating while on an IF diet, and improved their healthy restrictive eating. How? I have no clue. 

MY FINAL STATEMENT

Based upon the research and studies that have been conducted thus far, it seems to me that IF isn't too bad after all. It has been shown to decrease body fat as well as upkeep performance. BUT, I wouldn't touch IF with a ten foot pole. I enjoy eating when I'm hungry and when I'm not hungry. Anyone that asks me to go without eating for more than five hours is no friend of mine. Additionally, I work too hard to risk losing lean muscle tissue that I've built. I hope you feel the same way. Having said all of this, I want to be clear that this is my stand and my opinion based on my preferences and goals. I can definitely see how this could be a great plan for an individual who claims they have no time to eat and is only wanting to lose body fat. It's completely up to you. Your body is your own and no one else's. You shouldn't expect everything to work the same for every individual.

For any other questions regarding diets, fasting, or fitness in general, send me an email to adam@poehlmannfitness.com or message me on the following!

Thanks for reading!

References

Harvie, MN, et al. “The Effects of Intermittent or Continuous Energy Restriction on Weight Loss and Metabolic Disease Risk Markers: A Randomized Trial in Young Overweight Women.” International journal of obesity (2005). 35.5 (2010): 714–27. Web. 23 Aug. 2016.

Tsalikian, E, et al. “Increased Leucine Flux in Short-Term Fasted Human Subjects: Evidence for Increased Proteolysis.” The American journal of physiology. 247. (1984): n.pag. Web. 23 Aug. 2016.

5 Fitness Myths

Aside from time (which is a b.s. excuse), not knowing what to do is one of the biggest reasons people avoid making the decision to improve their health. Even if they think they know something, odds are that it's turning them even further away from fitness, because the information that was delivered to them was either misrepresented or just plain false. Similar to those nutty Christians on the street corner. It's like "bro, no wonder Christians get a bad rap when you're screaming at people telling them their souls are doomed." Know what I mean? It just drives me crazy. Anyway, I'm here to set the record straight on some of the biggest myths in fitness. Once you've read through this article, you'll have a better idea of how your body operates, and you'll save yourself months (maybe even years) of wandering aimlessly in the gym and in the kitchen. 

1. IF I WANT TO LOSE FAT, I JUST NEED TO DO CARDIO AND HIGH REPS, RIGHT?

I put this one first on the list because I hear it most often. "Adam, If I'm trying to lose weight I should just do a bunch of cardio and 15-20 repetitions when I'm lifting, right?" Nope. Not at all. 

Don't misunderstand me. Cardio burns fat, and weightlifting burns fat. But you need to understand how both work with the goal of fat loss before you implement them into your program. Let's talk about cardio. 

Cardio is very interesting to me because it has a lot of beneficial versatility. While performing cardiovascular exercise over time, your body's ability to use oxygen improves and your body uses different sources of energy to burn calories. Did you pay attention to that? Your body uses different sources of energy to burn calories. Depending on the state of your body, it chooses to use digested energy sources, fat stores, or even muscle tissue as energy. So if our ultimate goal is fat loss, we need to preserve as much muscle as possible and set our bodies up to use stored fat as energy. How do we do this? 

Proper nutrition is the answer. When your body is properly fueled with quality sources of carbohydrates before a workout, your body will choose to burn fat stores during and after your workout. If you are depleted of those carbohydrates and glycogen, your body may choose to use muscle tissue as fuel, which isn't good because we want to maintain as much muscle as possible while cutting fat.

In order to properly hold on to that muscle tissue, we must keep them in as much of a growth state as we can for as long as possible. That means low reps for strength, high reps for endurance, and mid-level reps for hypertrophy. Although we are in a "cut" we must treat our resistance training the same by shocking our muscles, tearing them down, and fueling them to properly recover. 

2. I can spot-reduce my body fat

There isn't much to explain here. The only way to spot-reduce your fat cells is through liposuction. Depending on you body and it's genetic make-up, it will reduce fat cells from wherever it wants to. 

3. cardio before weights burns more fat

Muscle burns fat. Not hours on the treadmill. It is easier for your body to perform intense cardio after weight training than it is for your body to perform intense weight training after cardio. Cardio should always come second to weight lifting. Remember, we want to hold on (maintain) or increase lean muscle tissue because it it helps boost our resting metabolic rate. And, lean muscle looks freaking good, too. I always recommend HIIT (high intensity interval training) with some form of cardio after a resistance training session. 

4. All protein powders are the same

Before I go on, let me say this: it is important for women to be taking some sort of post-workout supplement to re-feed muscles. Don't worry, protein powder doesn't make you look like a guy, testosterone does. And you don't have enough flowing through you to look like a guy anyway. So no more fuss. 

There are all types of protein powders like soy, egg, casein, bean, whey, and more. I believe that some of the best powders for post-workout nutrition are whey, soy, and egg. They all have great Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Scores. I personally take whey protein as it is absorbed by the muscles at a very fast rate. Other forms of protein (let's say casein for example) are digested much slower and therefore are perfect for a late night treat to feed your muscles overnight. 

5. Completely cut out carbs to lose weight

The myth that carbs is the only thing that makes you gain weight has been disproven for such a long time. Anything can make you gain weight. If you eat too much fruit, you'll gain weight. Too much meat, you'll gain weight. It doesn't matter what it is. The truth is that in order to lose weight and cut body fat, you must make conscious, balanced, goal-oriented choices that meet you where you're at. Losing body fat involves a good balance of weight training, cardio, hydration, and good nutrition. It's a very simple process that we often overestimate. This is why all of my clients have custom nutrition guidelines (notice how I said guidelines, not diets or plans). They all come from different walks of life, have different beginnings, as well as different end goals. Are there certain nutritional guidelines that need to be applied to lose weight? Yes, but completely cutting out carbohydrates should never be a part of the question. 

There ya go. 5 myths and their truths. My wish is that you take this with you and apply it to your life. If you have any questions regarding fitness, nutrition, great cheat meals, or anything else in life, reach out to me on these platforms or send me an email! Thanks for reading!

Email: adam@poehlmannfitness.com