Ask anyone who has ever worked with on their Nutritional Plan and they will tell you, I never count calories. Sure, I have a rough idea as to how many calories I incorporate at the beginning phase of the Diet Plans that I design for clients. However that number changes consistently with each passing week based on each individual’s results that they send me during their weekly check-ins.
Calorie counting to me is pointless if your goal is to lose body fat and build muscle. Now on the other hand if you just want to lose weight (as in water, muscle and some fat) then go ahead and count all the calories you like. But don’t expect the weight that you lose to be strictly “bad weight” simply because you are in a caloric deficit.
To build muscle you NEED to lift heavy and intensely in the gym. To lift heavy and intensely in the gym you NEED to fuel your body adequately. And to fuel your body adequately you NEED to eat properly. And eating properly does not necessarily mean eating less. Actually in my experience with helping people transform their physiques for the past 20+ years, it usually means eating more.
Let me explain…….
I was fifteen years old the first time I set foot in a real gym. The weight room intimidated me. The cardio room confused me. And the washrooms disturbed me. I had no plan to follow, no Personal Trainer to teach me, and no idea as to what the hell I was doing. I did however have a goal. And that goal was to transform my physique from a scrawny teenage boy, into musclebound meathead.
Little did I know at the time as to how much time, effort and energy it would take on my part in order to achieve the physique of my dreams. And trust me when I tell you that I had no clue that bodybuilding would be the stepping stone to an unexpected 20+ year long career in the Fitness Industry........
I have to be honest.
The idea of working 9-5 bores me.
The thought of working for the weekend makes me feel depressed.
The term "Sunday Funday" gives me nausea.
And the belief that one must take a vacation each year in order to recharge and refresh their body and mind perplexes me.
Look, I'm not normal. I'm not programmed like most people. I don't look forward to days off, because I don't take days off. I love what I do for a living and allow my body to rest and recover when it asks me for it. I don't want to be told when I can take a vacation and I don't have any aspirations to designate one particular day each week to having "fun" just because I'm not scheduled to work on that one particular day.
The problem is that I have a sickening work ethic that does not allow me to stop until the goal that I set has been achieved. This laser focus mentality that allows me to block out all mental barriers that include fatigue, anxiety and fear of failure, has been a significant asset to me for the past 20+years in business. But it's also proven to be somewhat detrimental to my health as I documented this past year in my blogs with my appendectomy surgery back in August of 2020, and than my Grand Mal Seizure that I sustained earlier this year in March.
I'm happy to report that I have slowed down on life since my most recent health scare. However even though I am allowing my body and mind more time to rest and recover from the everyday demands and stresses of life, I remain hungry for success. Actually, I'm not hungry. I'm starving......
It's been awhile since I last wrote about COVID-19 and living through this Global Pandemic. When the Coronavirus was first confirmed to have reached Canada back on January 27th, 2020, I honestly didn't think much about it. Even here in British Columbia, after we confirmed our first case of community transmission on March 5th, 2020, I was still ignorant to the fact of how easily transmissible and deadly this virus had become. In fact, it wasn't until the first public health emergency was declared across our own province that I woke the fuck up and realized the severity of the situation and the destruction and horror that we as a Global Community were about to embark upon.