The Physique Builder

Every single weight loss ad you see pushes fast weight loss.
This happens so often, people come to expect it. I think the last GLP-1 commercia I saw was something along the lines of, "lose more weight, faster!"

Unfortunately, there is a price to pay for everything. The price you pay for fast weight loss is loose skin, muscle loss, and decreased bone density.

GLP1's do one thing: they make it easier to eat less. Unfortunately, when most people take GLP's, they only do that. They don't hit protein goals. They don't lift weights. Their nutrition becomes erratic and they end up not getting enough micronutrients to support their health.

Let's say you got overweight because you ate a triple meat triple cheese from Whataburger every night. You've been trying to lose weight, so it's the only meal you have all day. However, you work at a desk job. You don't "have time" to workout, and it's too hot outside to walk.

You're also 50 and 5'5. That burger is roughly 2900 calories and 60 grams of protein.
Your maintenance calories are only 2200 a day, so following this strategy has been causing you to gain roughly 1.5 pounds a week. You are confused about why you're gaining weight, however, because you only eat one meal a day.

You get on a GLP-1. Your appetite drops significantly. It drops so much that Whataburger is the only thing you can see yourself eating.

You keep up with your one meal a day at Whataburger. After all, you're working so hard starving yourself you deserve a reward. However, instead of eating a whole Triple Meat, you only eat 1/5 of one. This is 580 calories, which is a significant improvement over the 2900. However, it is only 12 grams of protein. Your daily calorie intake is now 580 calories a day...but only 12 grams of protein.

I'm going to circle back to that. You're also super busy at work, so you don't have time to workout. That's why you started the GLP-1 right? You don't have time to cook or workout, but you're tired of being fat.

Fast forward 2 months. You lose 40 pounds. However, taking your groceries out the car is hard.You can barely walk up a flight of stairs without getting out of breath. You're starting to get lose skin. Your stomach doesn't look any leaner than before. You've lost weight, but somehow you look worse than before. What happened? We all thought weight loss was the secret? Right?

How you look has nothing to do with weight, and everything to do with body composition.
A person who is 160 pounds at 15% bodyfat looks ten times better than someone who is 130 pounds at 30% bodyfat. I say "better" because I know that, deep down inside, looking good in the mirror is what people are really after.

What happened in the scenario above, is your body composition did not improve.
You lost weight. However, you did not do anything to promote muscle and skin elasticity preservation. You decreased your calories, but you decreased your protein with it. You did not lift weights, so there was no stimulus your body to preserve lean muscle mass.

Your brain uses glucose for energy. When there is not enough available glucose from glycogen and food, your body converts amino acids into useable fuel. It also converts some fats (the basis of keto).

The bottom line is: your body burns fat last. It will always convert protein into glucose before it does anything with your stored fat. If your protein intake is low, your body has no choice but to take these amino acids from your muscle tissue and your organs.

That's right, if you eat a low protein diet, you are at risk of catabolizing your organs. Your skin is the largest organ in your body. This is a prime reason why people get loose skin when they have weight loss surgery.

Their body isn't getting enough protein to maintain the health of the biggest organ you have: your skin. You lose elasticity, and the result is pretty terrible for most people.

Nonetheless, you are proud of your weight loss. Forty pounds in 8 weeks is great. It was fast, and because you were on drugs, really pain free.

You get a DEXA scan.
It show that you lost 20 pounds of fat, and 20 pounds of muscle.

Your bone density is now dangerously low as well, but who cares, you lost 40 pounds faster than your friend Maria, who only lost ten going to the gym and eating healthy. You're better than her now.

She lost 10 pounds, and gained 3 pounds of muscle. Ew. Who wants to gain weight? What she's doing is too much work. Who has time to spend an hour in the gym a day? And she eats so much chicken, and never anything that tastes good. That lifestyle sounds lame.

Here are the long-term consequences of your rapid weight loss.
You shaved off 20 pounds of muscle...
Each pound of lean muscle burns 50 calories a day...
You're no longer burning 1000 calories. Now, you have to starve yourself even more.
Eventually, you will crash your metabolism and will gain all the weight back, despite eating 500 calories a day.
You also wrecked your bone density.
In ten years, you will break a limb simply stepping out of your car.
I'm not even going to get into how much more brittle your ligaments and tendons are now.

Maria, on the other hand, burns an extra 150 calories a day.
She can actually eat more and keep burning the same amount of fat.
Her bone density improves, setting herself up for success in her 50s and 60s.
Since she is eating a whole food diet to achieve weight loss, her endocrine system is thriving.
She is staving off PCOS, thyroid problems, and easing her transition into menopause.
Her hair is full, her skin is tight, and she looks radiant, all because she didn't rush things.

In 8 months, Maria will be down 40 pounds of fat, barely any loose skin, sitting on a beach proudly wearing a bikini.
You will be binging on Whataburger, heavier than when you started, because you crashed your metabolism and the GLP medications no longer work anymore because you abused them for too long.

The bottom line?
Stop obsessing over fast results.
Stop obsessing about weight loss.
Do the work and learn to love it.
Stop seeking quick fixes. The long-term results are disastrous.

Suck it up and do the work. When you spend a lifetime smoking, then suddenly quit, you don't magically reverse all the damage you did to your lungs. It's the same thing with weight loss.

You spent a lifetime being unhealthy, and now the Piper is at your dinner telling you to pay up.

You have to pay him, or he's going to take something from you that you value most...your quality of life.

I've been doing online and in person training for the past 17 years.

The people who get the worst cravings are the ones who let their job or business dictate their eating habits.

They don't eat all day because they're meeting with clients (personally I call BS on this one- everyone can take 3 minutes to eat something quickly- and if your clients don't respect your need to eat they probably don't respect your need to pay your bills either).

Then, they're so hungry at the end of the day they binge.

This cycle perpetuates and usually their fitness journey ends in them gaining even more weight- all because they didn't prioritize themselves. They weren't selfish enough.

Let me be clear.

YOU ARE DISPOSABLE.

Your customers can replace you with another business.

Your boss can find a better, younger, more efficient employee.

If you die in a car crash, your job is not even going to have a moment of silence for you.

However, your family cannot replace you.

You cannot replace your ability to move and spend time with your kids.

Stop letting your job or business dictate your life.

Giving in to unhealthy habits is going to ruin your quality of life by the time you attain any kind of time freedom.

Schedule meetings around your meals and gym time.

If your customer is not willing to bend to your needs somewhat, you did not create enough pain in the initial conversation.

You reap what you sow.

If you sow chaos and disorder in your life, your health will ultimately reflect that.

Listen ladies…

I understand that a byproduct of literally all your hormones tanking suddenly is that you get cravings.

However, another byproduct of periods is your metabolic rate decreases, as does fat mobilization. Fat storage increases.

This means that giving in to your cravings leads to more fat accumulation, especially to your stomach, than it would at other times of your cycle.

Here are some tips to push back against the cravings:

Add a fiber supplement: 10g before breakfast and after dinner. These contain soluble fiber which slows gastric emptying, improving satiety and decreasing systemic inflammation.

Up your lean protein: lean protein is rated the highest for GLP production in your gut. It is even more satiating than fats.

Eat frequently, before you get hungry.

If you wait until you are hungry to consume your meals, you risk overeating or overeating something totally off plan that puts you in a gigantic surplus.

Worst case, most cravings come at night.

If you get in a bind, do 2 cups of OIKOS Triple Zero Greek Yogurt and 2tbsp dark chocolate chips. This helps suppress sweet cravings and lowers cortisol.

Regardless, your period is not a valid excuse to go off the rails.

What you during this phase matters, and it matters more than during the other phases of your cycle because your body wants to store more fat.

Prevent hunger by being disciplined with your meals, keeping meals with you at all times, and by actively being mindful of the facts that a craving does not mean you physically need food.

Got questions?

Shoot me a DM!

When I started working with Victoria, she had been eating 1300-1400ish calories a day for quite some time.

Her goal is to compete next year.

We decided that, if she was going to reach that goal, we could no longer continue with that little food.

Eventually, her body and mind would crash out.

She was just coming back from a minor surgery when we got going, so the first week we did not training.

Everything was a focused diet and light walking.

Since she wasn't getting a lot of movement, we went with 1200 cals a day with high protein and fats- to help aid her recovery process.

She recovered very quickly, and by the end of the first week was cleared for light weights.

To be safe, we started with upper body.

The week after that, she moved across the country.

I wrote her a plan that didn't require much, if any, cooking (A VERY TEMPORARY PLAN DO NOT GET IDEAS).

Again, due to lack of movement (driving), I lowered calories and kept her plan low carb.

We left her on that plan for another week while she got moved in and started her new job.

She was on point with her nutrition the entire time.

Just last week, we hit the "full send" button on leg day.

I also ramped calories up to around 1600 and will adjust this as needed, with the goal of adding more cheats/high carb days down the road.

I am super proud of Victoria.

She had a LOT going on, but still remained committed to her nutrition plan.

She was able to make great progress with just one week of "real" training and cardio.

People get caught up on "I have to hit the gym," or eating right as pointless.

The fact is, however, improving body composition has more to do with your food intake and less to do with your training.

Like I tell my weightloss clients, I could care less how often you lift. My concern is how well you're eating and how much you're walking.

Your diet is always the foundation of your results, not your workouts.

“How do you eat clean all the time?”

Drum roll…

Seasonings.

✅ garlic salt

✅ basil

✅ Italian seasoning

✅ oregano

✅ fresh squeezed lemon

I don’t use olive oil or butter.

I also use a flat pan for fish and shrimp, which is great for giving it a nice crust.

I also rinse the shrimp first…this helps big time.

If you want to make exquisite fat loss friendly food, you need to stop rushing.

Take your time and enjoy the process.

This plate is 100g of protein, 16g net carbs (veggies- 6g fiber), and ~4-6g fat. It’s roughly 516 calories.

The fiber will keep me full for several hours and pretty much crushes cravings.

If you struggle to eat clean, learn how to cook.

Your body composition, and your health, will thank you.