It’s my Birthday today (yeah me!)… and for some crazy reason I was up early.
Early because I had to drive into Toronto (which, being a non-Toronto guy I HATE doing), but Toronto is where the Bone Wellness Clinic is, and the Bone Wellness Clinic is where I go to get my DEXA scan done.
In case you don’t know, A DEXA scan is a highly accurate body scan that measures your lean mass, bone mass and fat mass. I typically do these scans two or three times per year as I test out new diets and workout programs, however this DEXA was easily the one I’ve looked forward to the most.
The reason this particular scan was interesting is that I just completed almost 7 weeks of no workouts, and no fasting.
For 7 weeks I ate normally – still higher protein, still responsibly, just a little higher than normal and without any fasting. I also did ZERO training. No weights, no body weight stuff, not a single pushup was done in 7 weeks. I didn’t do cardio or really anything other than play with my kids.
Guess what happens when you take almost 7 weeks off from training and fasting?
The Impossible happens…
Why do I say ‘impossible’? you ask… Because common internet knowledge states you can’t build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
One is catabolic and one is anabolic, and apparently, according to common internet knowledge, you can’t be in both anabolic and catabolic at the same time.
Unfortunately this just isn’t true, at least it’s not completely true.
Granted, I didn’t gain muscle and lose fat, I did the opposite – I gained 5 pounds of fat and lost almost 7 pounds of muscle.
So not the same, but in principle, it still disproved the idea that you can’t be anabolic and catabolic at the same time.
Lesson learned.
The other lesson learned is I am not special. I don’t have special genetics, or some weird inability to gain fat – when I don’t fast, and just eat as I please, I gain fat just like everyone else.
And I’m not ‘naturally muscular’ either… Even with maintaining my protein intake around 100 – 150 grams per day ( a little higher than normal because it’s BBQ season here in Canada) I still saw my lean mass drop by almost 7 pounds, essentially putting me right back to ‘average looking’… so average, that I won’t be posting any pictures on this blog anytime soon. 😉
So here’s the truth – The way I look, the pictures you find on the internet – are all due to my consistent training and my fasting… My Eat Stop Eat lifestyle.
(No gifted genetics here)
Without the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle I would eventually turn into your average skinny-fat thirty six year old male. It would take longer than 7 weeks obviously, but it would happen.
lessons learned.
The conclusion of this entire story is that for my birthday I gave myself some new, incredible motivation to get back in the gym and start fasting again.
Now, It’s time to get my body back 😉
Your Friend,
Brad
PS – Please don’t forget today is the last day to get your new copy of Eat Stop Eat and get access to the teleseminar, and YES, I’ll be going into more detail about my DEXA results on the call. Get your copy HERE –> THE NEW EAT STOP EAT
