- Hello everyone, this is Gio and Jody. We are trying something new. A friend of mine, actually my best friend growing up asked me a question and he said I could make a video out of it. So this is a good opportunity for Jody and I just to have some fun and help somebody out that we care. That's the reason we have this channel. And so we're gonna give it our best shot. Jody, any thoughts before we listen to the question? - I am super excited to be tackling this, especially from a nutrition front. Nutrition nerd right here. - Yes, there we go. Yes, because as people say, you can get stronger in the gym, but you reveal those muscles in the kitchen. - Exactly. - Let's tackle this. All right, so here is the question that my friend had. It's a two-parter, himself and his son. I'm glad that they're doing this together. So let's listen. - So there's Anthony from Jersey. - I am 48 years old. I will be 49 tomorrow. So I'm here with my son. - Hello. - Hi. And we're going to be asking you for a couple of tips on what we can try to do health-wise. So I'll start with me, first of all. So I have a hypothyroid and as I said, I'm gonna be 49 tomorrow and I'm looking to, I'll probably shed about 30 to 40 pounds. So I could be better fit and healthy. And my son is working out and he's got a couple of questions. Ideally, we'd like, I don't know, maybe if you're gonna offer a schedule, food, recipes, or what, I'll leave that up to you to your magic. We're pretty committed to this. So it would be great. We could start off this coming Monday, which is July 1st. So that's my requirements. I don't need any avocados 'cause I'm allergic. And I think it's about it. I'm pretty open to anything else. Sound put my son 'cause he's got a couple of things that he's doing. - All right. Hello, I am looking to get with the whole working out. I wanna get some abs, maybe have that in there, but also keep my muscle growth. I'm currently on a calorie deficit. And the way that's calculated is to steal some abs online. But I was wondering if there's any more specific way that I should be doing that. And I'm 16 right now. I weigh about 150, 145-ish. So I don't really know if I should be trying to see their bulk or cut, but I'm currently cutting 'cause that's what I believe is the most effective. But I'd like to hear your insight on it. - Oh, that's awesome. I should never mind to me. So I am not working out. He's working out. I am not, right? And I'm about 235, so I think ideally, I probably should be at like 190 to be honest with you. But I think 200. Oh, and then I'm 61. And you're right? - I'm like five, 10, probably, five, 10, five, nine-ish. - Yeah, so that's, I think that's all you need. Hopefully that's enough information. And we are, we're excited to hear what you gotta say. All right, thanks. - Since this is my best friend and his son, I'm honored though to have Jody on this. And so, Toni, I invited Jody because she eats. She's my partner in the podcast, but she is not plant-based like I am. I know you guys eat meat. And so she'll give you insights into that as well. As you heard the question, Jody, what's the first thing that jumped out on you? - Oh, by the way, Toni, we have to do this legally. We are, even though we're certified personal trainers and nutrition coaches, we're not dieticians. And so we're not allowed to prescribe a meal plan. We can tell you about the general principles we follow. And obviously consult any doctor, medical doctor for any issues you may have like the hypothyroid issue, which by the way, I have as well. I suffer from hypothyroidism and I take medicine. And so I'm telling you, it can be done. But Jody, go ahead from what you heard. - From what I heard, I love that it is a father and son doing this together because it's easier, especially kids to get the healthy principles down when they are doing it with a parent or the parent is the example. So right there, I love that you guys are doing this together. So let's look at some of his numbers. I want to put them here on the screen. So he's currently at 207 pounds and he wants, he said he wanted to lose like 30 something pounds, but then he says he wants to be 190. So we got to look into that and I'll put in an ideal body weight calculator here. But he's obviously high BMI. And so we want to get that under control. And his body fat, according to this scales, 23%. Which Tony, you know me, I always tell you straight. It's probably higher than that because these scales are not that accurate. But as I started at 47, you're 48, you're 49 by now. It can be done. And so obviously we're here to help you. As you look at his measurements, according to this scale, anything stands out and where would you like to attack this first Jody? Coming from this, nothing really stands out at me other than like I would want to have him use a T-D-E-E calculator, which is total daily energy expenditure. To get your calorie maintenance amount. And from there, we could determine what your deficit amount should be. This calculator will look at your age, your height, your weight, your current activity level. And it will help you figure out those calorie goals. And from there, you can create a deficit. - There we go, we have it. And so as we know from the video, he's 49 years old. He is six foot one. And according to his scale, he was 207. He tells us that he's not exercising. So he's sedentary or little to no exercise. And according to the calculator, his scale thing, he was 23.8% body fat. And so let's see what that tells us. So according to this calculator, which I recommend, it's a T-D-E calculator that Jodi had mentioned, you are definitely considered overweight with a BMI score of 27.3. Anything jumps out at you as you look at what the T-D-E spit out. - Thank you for zooming in. I was like, (laughing) I've nothing jumping out. Let me say, now nothing stands out to me. How about UGO? - Yeah, nothing. I think the calculations seem to be within reasonable standards. What I would like to say though, is that sometimes these can be off a little bit. These are necessarily not a strict number. This is a starting point. For example, let's say if you want to lose weight at half a pound a week, or it's recommending you eat 2048 calories. Depending on your body and the way it reacts and your lifestyle, whether you're getting enough sleep or rest or drinking enough water, that may not cause the deficit. And so you may have to tweak it, or you may realize you're losing weight too quickly at that amount, and then you may have to tweak it. I recommend, and this is what I want to ask you, is not to pay attention to the scale every day, although I would recommend for me to weigh every day, but look at trends. I look at trends now, in my case, I look at trends every three month, three month trend. Even though I track it every day, I want to see where I'm at in three months. However, when I was losing weight, I wanted to make sure I was losing weight, so I would see the total trend for the week. Your thoughts on that? - Yeah, I'm actually somebody that believes in weighing yourself every day. Now, I know one of my friends was like, "Jody, that sounds disordered. Let me explain why I do it." And of course, if you are fearful that you might be somebody struggling with an eating disorder, I definitely seek medical attention. But the reason why I weigh myself every day is because scale fluctuations are ridiculously common, even if you are being perfectly in a deficit. It could be that you have water retention, you ate carbohydrates late at night. No, I'm not saying carbs will make you fat, but carbohydrate will make you retain water. That's why it's called carbohydrate, too much sodium, or maybe you're building muscle, or if you had an extensive leg day. These are all factors that could cause that scale weight to go up. So it's important to catch the overall trend, so that if you do it once a week and you keep catching the days that you have an understandable spike up, you're gonna think this isn't working, I give up. That's why I like tracking the overall trend. Now, I haven't used this app, but I've heard a lot of people recommend the app Happy Scale, 'cause it helps you pinpoint those trends, from what I understand. - Yeah, and another thing about that is I know sometimes because of ministry, I have a late meal Saturday night. So Sunday morning, that scale tends to be a little higher. And then, obviously, since I look at the trend for the week, I normalize. For example, right now, I'm eating at a maintenance, and if you look at my three-month trend, I'm actually down 6.6 of a pound, right, for the three-month trend, 'cause I've been in maintenance, so that fluctuation. Also, going with the fluctuation notion, there have been days, from one day to the other, that I've been as high as four pounds. Difference, from one day to the next. And it's not because I gained all that fat, it's because, as you said, water retention, eight-a-late meal, or ate too much salty food, and you retained all that water, whatever it is, don't be upset about that. Don't let it throw you off your game. We recommend look at a weekly trend, and obviously, if you're in a calorie deficit, then you should be losing weight. Now, 2004, 2048 calories to lose a half a pound a week, to lose a total pound a week is 1,798 calories. Now, some people like to do this intuitively, and I'll ask you, Jody, I recommend, when you're beginning Tony, at this point, to use an app or use some way to track it accurately. Your thoughts, Jody, on that. - Absolutely, but not only track it accurately with an app, I highly recommend using a food scale, and measure things in grams or milliliters, because it boggles my mind when I look at the nutrition information for a portion, and what they're saying is the portion often weighs a lot more than the grams weight, so it's so easy to not be in a deficit when you think you are, and that's why I like weighing everything just to be as accurate as I possibly can. - Yes, and Tony, as far as you know me, I have five gram scales around my house, and I still do it because I wanna be as precise. I have one that sits at where I sit at my table. I have several around the kitchen island, because when I was losing weight, the number one thing I wanted to prevent was that overt feeling of hunger, and we're gonna get into the nutrition here in a bit, but I didn't wanna feel hungry, and there are ways to prevent it. Jody, when you were losing your weight, what was the number one thing that you wanted to avoid, or what was your driving force? - My driving force was a health scare. And unfortunately, I was not tracking my calories at the time. I was doing weight watchers, so yeah, I lost a lot of weight, but I would not recommend that. Definitely calories are more consistent than weight watchers. Weight watchers changes their plan every two seconds. It's like all of a sudden, this was four points. Now it's three points like now, calories are calories, so you can find that information more easily, and it's important to be able to track calories, 'cause there are other factors that we'll get into later that you need to try to hit to help you with your weight loss journey. - Jody and I both have an amazing transformation, but Jody has lost over 90 pounds, and this is a recent picture of her, so we know what we're talking about here. This is her weight loss. Tell them a little bit about pre-Batmancher. (laughing) - When I started, it'll actually be seven years on July 11th that I was experienced heart palpitations. I was 35 years old, over 230 pounds, and I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. And I did not wanna go down that path of collecting illnesses because my health was just not a priority. I wanted to try to reverse it so I could be around for my kids and be a better example for my kids. - Yeah, and it's amazing because I think one of the biggest things that I've learned from you, 'cause you bring it up and I like it, is that not only have you been able to lose the weight, you've been able to keep it off. And what would you say to them, it's been the biggest factor in you keeping off the weight? - The biggest factor is my why, my reason, when I would focus on just wanting to look better. And that works for some people. I'm not pooping, you're why. But that was not a good enough reason for me because it was easy to be like, oh, I should just love myself the way I am and continue to treat my body like a dumpster fire. And when it became about my health, it was like, it didn't matter if the scale, the number on the scale went up, I needed to focus on my health and do everything I possibly can. So it forced me to quit quitting on myself. - And yeah, and that is important what Jodi said is because we need to find our why, right? Jodi had a health stare, she understood she wanted to be there for her children and it was the same for me. I had a why, I didn't want to look the way I looked. But it wasn't for aesthetic purposes per se, it's just because I know that's not a value I had, right? My value has always been to be in shape, to stay active and fit. And plus, Tony, you and I have go a long way. There's a saying that I got from a movie that says most of my friends say, they can't keep up with their grandkids. I want us to say that our grandkids can't keep up with us, right, because we are in shape. And so Darien, now I'm going to show you my before and after photo. You want abs, the one on the right is when in 2019, I was 47 years old and that's when I woke up. If you look at that, it looks like I could be wearing a beak-up bra and (laughs) - Same girl, same. And I got a big old belly there. And so it can be done. And I mentioned Darien because he wants the abs, you can see my abs. And by the way, that photo was taken at a retreat by yours, Truly Jody Dolo. And she was our retreat photographer. But it can be done. So I mentioned Darien with the abs, 'cause that's what he wants. It can be done. And I talk to you, Tony, because I started at 47. So it's never too late to start. It's never too late to get in shape. That's our story, that's our background. We saw your TDE calculations. Watch the video again. Look at what you should be eating. We recommend you track it on a calorie app. I use LUSE it. Is there a specific app you use, Jody? - I use my fitness pal. I also have heard great things about ChronoMeter. - Yes, I like ChronoMeter as well. I think it's not as easier interface as LUSE it, which is why I went back to LUSE it. I tried ChronoMeter, but as far as the stats is amazing, I just think LUSE it. I was more used to it, 'cause I use ChronoMeter for three months. But the stats are amazing. Okay, now let's talk about, before we get into deeper into the nutrition, just for Tony yet, we'll get to Darien. What kind of training splits would you recommend? And what are some of the reasons you would recommend those splits? - I think it depends on how much time he has. That's like the first factor I would wanna start with and how comfortable he is in the gym. Because I don't wanna say you should do like a five day split, if that just seems unrealistic and lead him to possibly give up. 'Cause like I always say, five minutes of doing anything is better than spending all- - Thinking about doing something. So I would say, what can he realistically commit to and start from there? What are your thoughts? - Yeah, I agree, but since he's my best friend, I'm gonna try to light a fire and into his butt. Brother, you need to give me at least three days a week, at least three days a week. But all joke on the side, Jodie is serious. I'd rather you exercise one day a week than what you're doing now, which you admitted, no exercise a week. But the principles behind that is that you should exercise every muscle group at least twice a week. And so if you hit chest on Mondays, you should hit it at least as early as Wednesday again, or by the end of the week, hit it twice a week. So if you're doing a two day split, then it should be like a full body split. So you can get all your muscles done and hit them twice a week. Your thoughts on that? - No, I think that's good. And yeah, I completely agree with you. - Okay, so what would you recommend on a three day split? If you could do a three day split, full body again? - Push, pull, legs. - Okay, push, pull legs. And so you work on pushing muscles, pull your back muscles and biceps, pushing his bench press and triceps, and then get your legs in there. So upper lower body split. And so now that being said, I don't know what you like. I'll give you an example. Jodie is a weight lifter, and so am I, but Jodie also does crossfit. So tell him about a little bit about crossfit. He may like that. - Yeah, especially if you are very new to the gym and you want that community aspect, that's why I love crossfit is everybody's welcoming. And it's nobody can do every single movement and a workout at crossfit every single day. There's always something you can modify. If you need to use a lighter weight, it's not a big deal. And you have a coach that's watching over you. And for me, Jodie does the whole box gym thing. And she does work out at home, but she does go in. I work out at home. I don't think I can go to a gym and be as consistent as I am. So I work out at home. On top of body building, I also do calisthenics. I've done it before, but I'm getting more into it now. I want total body control. I want to be able to do some of those calisthenics gymnastic type movements. And there are benefits to that because it helps with stabilizer muscles that sometimes people neglect when they're just doing one type, let's say just body building or power lifting. So you have to find out what you like. And so I personally knowing you, I would recommend the combination of weight lifting and body weight exercises. You can do those at home, the body weight. You don't have to go to the gym. You don't have to pay. I know in New Jersey, it can get cold during the winter. Some people don't want to get out the house. So I would start with body weight exercises. You can get them on YouTube and you and I can go more in details, but those are some of the general concepts. Any further thoughts on that? - No, I agree. And it's okay if you do decide to go to a regular gym. Some people get motivated being around other fitness people and some people get intimidated too. So definitely try and see what works for you. And yeah, even if you work out at home, it's okay if you only have a couple dumbbells. I started out with dumbbells and some bands and grew from there. I'm sure Geo has expanded significantly from when he first started out. So it's okay if you have only a couple pieces at home, something is better than nothing and you could always grow from there. - Yep. And as far as cardio, 'cause you and I are not cardio junkies, but we still obviously recommend for a well-rounded plan of fitness. What kind of cardio would you recommend? - You can even just go for a walk. Walking is underrated. - Underrated, yes. (laughing) - It's free. I know there's like content TikTok people saying it doesn't count as exercise. Yes, it does. (laughing) If that's what you have time for, that's fine. Or if you have a stationary bike or an elliptical machine or a treadmill, either one of those. And if you happen to enjoy one over the other or jump rope or I don't know, maybe your friend likes to dance. I don't know. (laughing) That would be extra than that. - Tony can dance. He can dance. He's a pretty good dancer. So yeah, for me, Tony, this is what I do, Darien, this is what I do for when it comes to cardio. My favorite former cardio is walking. I walk over 10,000 steps every day. If you're not there, seek to increase it. 'Cause this is notion of progressive overload that we'll get into. But I average anywhere between 70 to 100,000 steps a week. My second favorite is I have a Peloton bike spinning. And I wanna do that. The main reason I do that is to raise my heart rate even higher than I can walking. But you can lose significant amount of weight. You can Darien, you can get a lot of defined abs just by counting, checking your calories, obviously not overeating, but walking. I also walk on the treadmill in between my sets. And I put it at a 3% incline and that kind of helps with strengthening your lower ab area. And walking, spinning, my brother-in-law, Reggie, who you know, he used to like doing a punching bag, right? You can get cardio or battle ropes. The point being is you have to do that. Before we get to nutrition again, I wanna, let's talk to him about mobility and flexibility. 'Cause people love neglecting that. - Absolutely. - Go ahead. - Yeah, I know it's not sexy form of exercise to a lot of people, but it's important. Like I, even some of the stretching I do before a workout with squats, I've seen a significant difference with my depth, with squatting and it's great for recovery. We have to take care of our body 'cause we can't just keep beating it up with cardio and lifting heavy weights and not do that recovery work or warm up work. - Yes, warming up, especially at our ages, not that we're old, Jodie's in her 40s, I'm 51, is you have to warm up. My kids, I, they're nine, I can handle, especially. I constantly have to remind her, even at your age, you should warm up 'cause she wants to go straight into doing pull-ups. You can do two, by the way. So, Tony, you gotta step up there. Nah, I don't know how many you could do, but anyway. So you gotta warm up. Now, here's something, I don't know if you do this, but I have a five to 10 minute, right before bed, mobility and flexibility routine and it has helped tremendously with sleeping. So if you're having trouble sleeping, that's something to consider right before bed to cool you down. So let's talk about nutrition for Tony. We saw his calories, right? So let's assume he wants to lose one pound a week. That's 1,700 plus calories. What are some of the principles he should be applying as he goes about losing the weight? Definitely focus on lean protein. For protein, it is, you should aim for 0.7 grams to 1 grams of your goal body weight. If you're struggling to get that, lower the bar even more when you're starting out. 0.5 grams, you want to build that consistency up. So even if you can't get the minimum, just start somewhere, strive for that. And once you master it, bump it up from there. Second would be fiber intake. Fiber intake is something that is not talked about enough. It is associated with lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease type two diabetes, obesity, it also keeps you full longer. So does protein. Protein will help build your muscles and repair your muscles, but it'll also help keep you full. And fiber will also help keep you full. 'Cause I am not a happy girl if I feel hungry all the time. So definitely focus on that. And I prefer natural sources when possible. I'm not saying I never use protein powder, but I feel fuller when I'm getting it from natural food sources versus a fiber snack, or I'm sorry, not a fiber snack, a protein bar or a protein snack. - Yeah, and so she said two important things there, Tony, make sure you're getting enough protein, 0.7 for ideal body weight. So for example, if you are wanting to get to 190, and by the way, when I first started wanting to lose the weight, I said I went from 35 plus percent body fat. My first goal was just to get it to 20. Then you can reevaluate, don't set any goal that is so hard fast that once you get there, you feel like you're done. No, you could have incremental goals. So at 190, if you wanted to be 190 times 0.7, it's about 133 grams of protein. So I would start there, see how you feel if you're feeling too hungry because you're in a big calorie deficit, then increase that, increase the fiber. Let them know what's a recommended amount of daily fiber a man should get. - 38 grams daily, and in case we have any female listeners that were curious, it's 25 grams daily for women. - Yes, and so between the protein and the fiber, you're going to feel less hungry. There's still going to be a tinge of hunger, even if you're eating 100% whole foods. But one thing that's important about the mindset as you're going through this is that I turned that slight feeling of hunger at night into the realization that I was losing the body fat, that my plan was working. And so, Jody and I do not believe that there are good foods and bad foods. There are just foods that we say, are they worth it? For example, I used to eat a lot of pretzels and potato chips, testitos to be specific. But they're so high in calorie, and they satisfied my hunger so little that eventually I gave them up because they're not worth it as far as stopping my hunger feelings. That does not mean that if you invite me to Darian's birthday party, or we celebrate your 50th next year, that I won't have testitos if they're there. It just means on a day-to-day basis, they're not worth it. Any thoughts on that? I know we agree, but maybe you have a point of view. - Absolutely, it's got to be worth it. I am somebody that makes some healthy swaps to help stretch out my calories. And there are some things where no, I need the real thing. I think of it like when you're at the grocery store, there is store brand versions of foods, and there's brand names. Sometimes store brand is good enough. That's like the healthy substitutes. And some, it's no, it's got to be the real thing. And the real thing's gonna cost more money, just like the real good for the low nutrient dense foods are going to usually cost you more calories. It's just got to work in with your budget of calories, and it's got to be worth it. But if you look at foods as good or bad, you will wind up craving those bad foods. And when you have it, you'll feel guilty. And you'll go into this over restrictive cycle where you're restrictive, then you lose control, and then you feel guilty. And then you go back to over restrictive, and it's an endless cycle, and you're no longer in control. When I look at foods as low nutrient and high nutrient, it keeps me better in control. And because I'm working in little treats here and there, I have less cravings. - Yup, yup. And for you, Tony, because Darian, if I catch you drinking alcohol, I'm gonna spank you, and so will your father. But I know Tony, you drink, you have an occasional drink. And so understand that alcohol has high calories. It's seven calories per gram. And the Jodi doesn't drink, she used to, right? - I used to, but there's something else with drinking. What usually, when you're drinking, what usually happens after you've been at a club or a bar, and you've had a lot of drinks, you're like, "Let's go get French toast." - What? - "Let's go make tonight." - What's open? What's open at 2 a.m.? Usually you're like more inclined to eat lots of low nutrient dense foods that are full of calories. So it's not just the high calories from alcohol, it's the aftermath of a night of drinking. - Yes, and so for me, going back to calories thing, 'cause I remember after weeks ago, clubbing afterwards, we used to stop at White Castle a bunch of times. They have that in Pennsylvania White Castle? - No, but I have seen them in Jersey. (laughs) - Okay, yes, exactly. To me, calories from beverages, whether it's alcohol or juice, are not worth it. Not saying you can't have apple juice, or when we used to go out to eat, I used to have a lot of cranberry juice. It's not worth it, I'd rather eat my calories. But there's something to keep in mind that sometimes people track their food and forget to track their liquid calories. Those add up, even a healthy smoothie can be 300 to 400 calories. That adds up, and so you have to track that. As far as food timing, what do you recommend? - Now, I know there's a lot of people who love intermittent fasting. I just wanted to drive home. It's not a miracle solution. It is a calorie deficit tool. And if you are somebody that currently does not have a good relationship with food, and you have a history of binge eating, that could cause more binge episodes. So definitely talk to a medical professional before exploring that, but I don't do intermittent fasting, and I have had success without it. I personally just prefer eating around the same time, and I prefer eating bigger meals at breakfast, time, lunch, and dinner, because before I would try to get it to the smallest amount of calories as possible, and what would happen is I would wind up snacking constantly, and it would be harder to stay within my calories, but when I started not fearing a 500 calorie meal, realized that it was keeping me satiate it longer, and I'm snacking less, and I'm staying in my calories easier than I was with the lower calorie meals. - Jody said something very important that intermittent fasting is not a magic pill, because I did it, but I did it because, like I said, I'm weird, but I did it because I wanted to rather at the time when I was losing weight, eat two big meals, and just skip that third meal, because it just satisfied me more. So the reason intermittent fasting works is not because it's a magic pill, it's because it's an internal way to hold you accountable, because it's just about calories. So if that works for you, and it did for me, I don't do it any longer, 'cause I don't have to, but if you want to try it, I ate all my meals and I did 16, eight window, meaning I ate all my food within eight hours, so I had a big breakfast, a big lunch, and then right before my window closed, I had a 116 calorie, 30 gram protein shake, then I wouldn't eat for 16 hours until breakfast came again. And so that's something you could look at, but it's not that intermittent fasting is a magic pill, is that it's a little bit more structured way to eat your food that a lot of people find helpful. That being said, at that time, I used to work out after breakfast, now I work out before breakfast. What do you do specifically? - I eat a little carb and a little protein, about 30 to 45 minutes before I go to the gym or go to CrossFit. I find I have more energy and stamina during those workouts, but I know a lot of people who would get nauseous and feel sick if they tried to do that. So it's definitely not a one size fits all, but I wouldn't be eating anything crazy either before a workout, I wouldn't be eating like a full meal or bacon or some runny eggs or dairy. Just something small, I know people do have a banana often or a protein bar or a protein shake. - Yeah, the few times I have, sometimes I do eat something, I have an eight ounce glass of grape juice with about 15 grams of protein powder, and that's about 180 calories. But since it's mainly liquid, and the reason I picked grape juice is it has the highest concentration of carbs for that quick energy. And then the protein kind of helps slow it down. And so that's something to consider. But find your niche. What we're trying to advocate here is that we're trying to teach you how to fish as opposed to just giving you a fish. Now, I eat three times a day and I occasionally have that morning snack. What about you, how often do you eat? - I consider what I eat before breakfast. I don't consider the meal I eat before working out as breakfast, I feel like it's maybe breakfast instead. - A snack. - And then I have a real breakfast after lunch and dinner. I usually have like maybe one or two snacks throughout the day, before it was crazy how often I was snacking. - Yeah, so one last thing I wanna talk to him about is carbs. Why are you and I not afraid of carbs? Because there's a lot of people who are like carb phobic. - It's the macronutrient that's red bull, it gives you wings, it gives you energy. I noticed when I used to be on Weight Watchers I would unintentionally eat low carb to save points. It was never intentional to be a low carb eater. And when I switched to calorie counting and started eating more carbs, I noticed I wasn't napping every single day like I was. So they definitely give you energy and it should not be feared. There is no one food or macronutrient that will cause you to gain weight. It's too many calories. - Mm-hmm, yes, and that's the key point. So I try to eat Tony as much carbs as I can while controlling my protein, right? Once I know that I'm gonna get my protein for the day, then I try to get as much carbs as they give you energy. You won't have that midday crash as often. You may still have it right 'cause you're in a calorie deficit, but now that we're both on maintenance, Jody and I, you don't get that. So the recommendation is anywhere between 20 to 35% for fat, anywhere between 20 to 30 for protein and then the rest carbs, which is around 40 to 45. You need to play with that and try to get as much carbs while controlling your protein. One thing I wanna say is do people think fat food make you fat? Dispel that myth, Jody. - Yeah, fats are important. (laughs) They help you absorb vitamins into your system. It's great for hormonal health and yeah, you shouldn't have too many saturated fats because that's not good for our bodies, but that alone does not cause you to gain fat. Too many calories too. - Yes, and that's the key, right? Too many calories because this is gonna sound crazy, but you can lose weight on an all McDonald's diet. And now it's not healthy for you, but as long as you stay under calories, you can lose weight on an all McDonald's diet. Second though, is you're going to feel hungry on an all McDonald's diet if you're on a calorie deficit because that stuff is not nutrient dense. And yes, you can lose weight on an all McDonald's diet, but we recommend you guys eat meat. So get the best quality meat you can get, make sure you get a lot of veggies in there. We're not afraid of fruit, make sure you fruit. Obviously you have that avocado allergy, so be careful with that with any other foods you may be allergic to, but make sure you are eating what you like that can be sustainable for life. We're about to get to you, Darien. But let's talk about that with him, about the way you eat and why it should be something that should be sustainable for life. - Because you need, you have this one life to live. You don't wanna feel like you're in a prison sentence. It's gotta be sustainable for you. Are you gonna wind up going off the rails often or giving up? And a lot of people, when they give up, they wind up gaining all the weight, that back that they lost and then some. So if you go too restrictive, it's so hard to keep up with it. And you'll be doing the start, stop cycle that I have been guilty in the past of doing. It's emotionally draining. So I would rather go slow and steady and maybe not lose as fast as this fad diet here that says don't eat this or only eat that. But we want this to be for life. We wanna feel good for life. - For example, now that you mentioned about fad diets, like things like the ketogenic diet, which you may hear or do research or your son may have talked to you about. They work, however, they're not sustainable for life. And so things like that we want to avoid. For example, myself having lost the weight, we saw the pictures, I basically eat the same thing that got me overweight. The only difference is that now I'm controlling the amount I eat. So it hasn't changed. I still eat rice and beans. I still eat my veggie meats. I still eat basically the same way I used to eat. I've cut down on the potato chips and stuff like that. But overall, I'm eating the same way and I know I can continue to eat this way for life. The only thing now, if I wanted to let's say get even leaner, 'cause one day I wanna pursue getting as low as 10% body fat, all I have to do is manipulate the calorie amount, not what I'm eating. And so that's important because you want to be able to sustain what you eat for the rest of your life. Drop 'em with the phrase that you like of the quote you heard about that they teach us the diet. Yeah, go ahead. We are taught how to diet. We are not taught how to eat. But I wanted to throw in something. No, you should not be afraid of carbs. No, you should not be afraid of the fat macro nutrient group. But for somebody starting out trying to lose weight, I think looking at all three macros and trying to hit them accurately plus calories, I think that's too much. I have always mainly focused on protein intake and fiber. I don't worry about getting the other two, that I don't worry about getting the fat macro nutrient group or the carbs perfectly. I just know that if my carbs are very low, I am going to be nodding off and not be energetic. But I don't want people to get overwhelmed. I feel like if you work on perfection, it's going to be the enemy of good enough. It is progress over perfection. - Yup, hey, and Tony, behind the scenes after this video is over, we can talk and we can perhaps program you training program more specific than we're doing on the video. We just wanted to give you guidelines today. Let's talk about his son though. And we have a disclaimer for you, Darien, just part of the profession and Jody's going to share that. - Yes, since you're 16, it's especially important to ensure that any changes to your diet are safe and healthy for your growing body. I recommend you speaking to a medical healthcare professional about your goals and plans. Even the TDE calculator didn't want to give us any information. - And we'll show you that. - Because of your age. (laughs) So I know you're already tracking your calories, but please talk to us just to make sure that you're going to be okay and set up for success. - Yes, and we're glad that obviously your father has your back and you've spoken to your father about this. And so that being said, I want to put up your numbers on the screen, Darien. And here there are, he's 14.1 body fat BMI of 23. So all of it is normal. His free fat body weight is 127.4. And body water 62, that number's pretty good. Obviously these scales aren't necessarily the most accurate, but going with what we have here, you weigh 148.4. Now Jody did mention about the TDE calculator. And I wanted to show you that here. Give me a second, Darien. - Okay. - I put in your information, and I have yet to press calculate, right? You're 16 years old, let me zoom that in. You're 16 years old, you're 5'10, I got your 148, let me put it more accurately, 0.4. You're exercising, so I put it moderate exercise four to five times a week. I know you like playing sports. And so I put your body fat, let me put it at 14.1. And you're 16 years old, but look what it says here. Calculate it, it says, please provide an age between 18 and 80. And we're gonna do that for the purposes of just answering your question, but you'd see that you're considered a minor, and so they would really want you to talk to a doctor first. But that being said, let's calculate it at 18. Now, you stated at your age that your goal is, and we'll get into these numbers here in a second, you stated that your goal is you wanted to have abs, and you saw my abs, I think they're pretty delicious, but they should, I wanted to get 'em even more defined myself. So I understand your goal. That being said, we have to understand your lifestyle. Like, how many calories are you eating? You said you're in a deficit, let's go back to this. This recommends for weight loss is 2,122 for half a pound, for a full pound is 1,872. And that's because you're already at a lower body fat than your father is, so that's why your calories are higher, which is you have more muscle relative to your fat, and so muscle consumes more energy, so you have to pay attention to your energy expenditure. That being said, abs are gained in the kitchen, and so you're on the right track if you're tracking your calories, and muscle gain is gained in the gym. And let's talk about that, Jody. What do you think, yeah, what do you think about his goal and how he should go about getting that? - Yeah, I think that we need to evaluate too, what you could said, his current lifestyle, what he's eating, and we have to, we're not even sure if he needs to be in a deficit at this point, it's hard to say. - Yep, I would agree, because look, I know at your age, I was so active, I could probably eat a lot more calories, and I still had abs at your age. And it's also being in a cut, and from your perspective, or at least for mine, and then maybe you could agree or disagree, is that I don't like being on a cut more than 12 weeks if you're gonna go on a cut. And so you have to evaluate how long you've been on a cut, how long are you willing to stay on a cut? And so your thoughts on that. - Yeah, I agree, I absolutely agree. - Yeah, so I would recommend here, as you evaluate going forward, is to go on maintenance for at least eight weeks, but that doesn't mean that you party hardy, you still have to eat well, what applies to your father applies to you. I know you're young, and I know you hang out with your friends, right? And people love eating pizza, by the way, to set the record straight, I ate an entire pizza pie today by myself. So it's not that you give up these things, but I'm consistent, and so you still have to, at your age, eat, make better choices when it comes to food as well. If you wanna maximize your ab look and muscle strength, and your long-term health, thoughts on that journey. - Yeah, and you also want this to become a strong, healthy habit later in life. You don't wanna wait until you're 35, like I did, and be like, "Oh, I should do something." (laughs) - Oh, 47. - Right, but also just throwing that out there, to anybody in a calorie deficit, or anybody who's trying the track, I know a lot of nutrition apps will add the calories you burn from exercise, don't do that. I'll only get that information, like, about activity level from a TDEE calculator, but do not eat back calories you allegedly burned from exercise, because they're all over the place, and none of them are accurate, and they're going to seem like you burn more calories than you probably actually did. It's just better to not even connect your watch through those nutrition apps. - Another thing about your abs that I wanna talk about, you saw my abs, and people compliment me on my abs, Jody has abs too, but you couldn't see 'em in those pictures as well as, 'cause I was shirtless, Jody can't be shirtless. (laughs) - It's from the pun. I know, is that just because I have great looking abs, doesn't mean my core is automatically strong. I am still working out on having core strength, that it's different than having visible abs, and the way you strengthen your core also helps in developing your abs, because your abs are only going to be seen if you're lean enough, but if you want them popping, you have to exercise 'em. And so things like side planks, front planks, full arm isometrics, which is having your forearm, or forearm planks, things like that, crunches, wall sit, even isometric dips where you're just holding the bar, L sits, things like that are help not only toe your abs once you're lean enough, they also help strengthen your core. Thoughts on that? Because you have visible abs as well, and coming from your perspective. - Yeah, I agree with you, but I also wanna point out that at 16, you're surrounded by a lot of social media, and there's a lot of people who showcase their abs, and they are flexing, and you don't know that they're flexing. They don't look like that every single day, or the lighting is just chef's kiss, and I just wanna throw that out there because there is a big difference. I'm sure, Gio, if you flex your real hard version, - Yeah. - Relax, you could probably poof out your stomach and make your own transformation like in one day, like before, and then flex, and you would have no idea, that was the same day. - Yes, exactly, and so look, when it comes to Instagram, media, TikTok, all of that, a lot of that is lighting, and I'll give you a perfect example. When I wake up in the morning, I go to my sink, and the light there is so bright, I hate that mirror, but I go into my walk-in closet, and I love that mirror, and what change? Lighting and six feet of walking, and my abs look so much better in the closet. Work out, make sure your core is strength, and this is where, for example, calisthenic exercises come in. Let's say one day you're doing bench press, and you do four sets of bench press, and you feel great. I would recommend some push-ups as a finisher. Why the push-ups? Because when you're laying on the bench, you're working out your chest and your shoulders, but your core really isn't that activated as when you're doing push-ups, and you have to hold that perfect plank while you're doing. So include calisthenic type exercises that will help strengthen your core. So if you're doing rope pull-down for your abs, I would also recommend doing some planks. Steve, you can hold it for a minute, two minutes, three minutes. My record is five minutes and 42 seconds, and so try different things like that. Now, that being said, what do you recommend for a split for a young man like Derry? I don't know. What do you think? Especially with him playing sports, too. Yeah, basically the same advice to his father. Find what fits in your schedule. I know you go to school, I know you play sports. Ideally, though, try to work out your muscles twice a week and be consistent with it. Jody and I would rather you work out in utonias while twice a week that you could be consistent on as opposed to try to set a goal of working out six days a week and failing and then wanting to give up. Now, that being said, it can be done. I'm currently on a streak of 143 weeks of working out six days a week. Jody never takes a rest day, so she's been working out since she's a fetus. Now, just get it. You work out a lot, though, so tell them your strategy, though. I track my muscle recovery because I do crossfit and I never know ahead of time what muscles I'll be using that day. So I will base my solo workouts based off of my muscle recovery, but it's not too far from a push pull. Like sometimes I'll do chest and triceps or back and biceps, but it all depends on how my body's feeling if I do need a rest day. And yeah, I go from there. - Yeah, and if you may or may not understand, Darian and Tony, push pull. So let me tell you my six day routine. On Sundays, I do push muscles, which is chest triceps, basically. On Mondays, I do leg. I like splitting it that way. So mine is a push leg pull. So I do legs, I do quads, hamstrings, abductors. I do calves, I do tibialis. Then on Tuesday, I do pull. I like doing pull ups back to that calisthenic. I do body weights and weighted. I do rows, rows are great. Any angle you can get them, rows. And I mix in occasionally deadlifts. Sometimes I do deadlifts on back day or sometimes I do them on leg day. I do Romanian deadlifts and so that's back. And then I repeat that same routine. Then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I rest every Saturday, Tony, in my situation. And Jody takes her rest days, not necessarily systematically, but go ahead, I'll let you explain. 'Cause I know you take some, but we're not gonna do it. - When I was working outside the home, I used to be every Tuesday 'cause I used to be the day if that I happened to be in the office. So it was just easier. Now it's sometimes Tuesdays. I did take one unexpectedly last Saturday 'cause my body was just worn out. But yeah, I usually just listen to my body and see how I feel. - Yeah. And so Darin, when it comes to food and your abs, food is going to be the number one thing that'll show your ass, right? Because there are a lot of strong people who the shortest, the strongest men in the world, they don't have physical abs. They have abs, you just can't see 'em. Because that's not their sport, right? And so the kitchen will control your abs. As far as exercise, I recommend to you as well some body weight, check out CrossFit, check out lifting, but at least twice a week, you need to hit every muscle. And then progressive overload, we haven't talked about that, but that basically means if you can do eight reps of 100 and that's too easy, next week, add some more weight until you reach, let's say 10. Once you get that above 10, add a little bit more weight. But that's not the only way to do progressive overload. For example, if you can do eight and you just wanna leave the weight, then shorten the rest time. So if you went from three minutes rest between sets, lower to two minutes. And then one minute, I wouldn't recommend going lower than one minute, but you can mess with that. Then when you get down to one minute, then you can add some weight and go from there. Any other thoughts on progressive overload, I may have overlooked. - No. - Okay. All right, so to wrap up, we recommend for you, Darien, at maintenance, at least for the next eight weeks to give you an idea for where you are, what you're doing, how you feel. And you're young enough that you can burn the calories above and beyond and still have visible physical abs. Anything recommend wrapping up with Darien, then I'll get back to tone. - It'll be the same for both of them. Prioritize protein and fiber and trying to get those, but I'm trying to get both from natural food sources when all possible. I'm not pooping in something fast and easy, but we want you to feel fuller and we don't want you starving, so. - Yes, and then the last thing I'll say for Tony is that I know you and I, when we were roommates, we're night owls. I'm no longer a night owl, I'm in bed by nine o'clock. Jodi is grandma, she's in bed by eight thirty. So sleep is important. Make sure you get enough sleep and enough liquids. I drink about a gallon of water a day. And so those things will help. They say your muscles will be shown by the kitchen, your muscles will grow, no, will be broken down in the gym and they will grow when you rest. And so if you're not resting properly, you're not going to get the benefits you're looking for. Any closing thoughts before we let them go? - Since you brought up sleep is vital for both of you because if you are not getting enough sleep, your hunger hormones are going to be running rampant, your impulse control is going to be impacted where you're not going to care about staying on track. And it's so much easier to skip your workout, especially if you aim for a morning workout, if you're not getting enough sleep. So yeah, sleep is very important to both of you. - Yes, and the last thing I'll say is I almost forgot. So I do recommend to lose it up if you guys want to try that. But also the app that changed both of our lives. Fit bar, let me put it, yes. The Fit bar app, and let me put it on the screen here. There we go, the Fit bar app. I recommend it. I'll send you guys today a 14 day free trial. It has changed our lives. You can follow the programs. Me at this point, I program make my own workout. And if you guys get the app, I could just send you the link to what I'm doing or program something specifically for you guys. But I highly recommend the Fit bar app. How long have you been using it, Todie? - Since August, 2018. - And at this point, do you program your own program or do you still follow their AI algorithm or mix? - I really like the workout plans from Dana Lynn Bailey, but I absolutely hate the app they use. So I wind up just reprogramming the best that I can. Because it has no control, a perfect example is if they have a superset and two pieces of equipment or at opposite ends of the gym, I'm not doing that superset. But you can't break up supersets in her app. You can't swap anything out. You can't swap, there is zero control. So I don't like that, like a little bit of autonomy. So yeah, definitely Fit Bods still champion to me. - Yes, awesome, awesome. So yes, look, the last thing I'll say is this, you have to be intentional about your fitness. So that means nutrition, the principles we spoke about, that means working out and that means getting enough rest. There is the mindset has to come from you. Once Jodi had that health scare and she decided she was gonna do it, when you saw her picture, amazing transformation, once I decided I didn't like the way I looked and enough was enough, you've seen my transformation. Tony, I know you personally, we go back way back. You gave up smoking overnight. You dropped a dead cold. A lot of people can't do that. So I know you have it in you that once you put your mind to anything, you can accomplish it. And I'm here to cheer you on. And Darien, anytime hit me up, your father can give you my phone number or messenger. And I'll keep helping you guys, but we wanted to do this initial video just to get the conversation started. - And again, I think it's great that you guys are doing this together. So keep each other accountable, but it is also very important that you're kind to yourself. If you wouldn't say it to each other, don't think it about yourselves. It's okay if you, we gave you a lot of information today. It's okay if you only pick up a couple of those tips and work on mastering them first. For me, I had to focus on nutrition first before I implemented a consistent workout routine. Otherwise, I personally would have been overwhelmed and would have given up. If that's the case, that's with you, that's okay. Or if you're one of those people, especially if you quit smoking overnight, maybe you can do all the things right away and do what works for you. There is no one's life that's all planned for everyone when it comes to our journeys. - Yep, and we'll end on that now. Love you, Tony, love you Darien. And this one's for you though, Tony. Bro, you can't let me have you on this. 143 weeks of working out six days or more. If I can do it, buddy, you can do it. Remember all those nights in competition with each other, chests and baseball, basketball? Don't let me win out on this one, you can do it. Until next time on the mindful muscle podcast, God bless you. Hey, look, if anybody who's listening to this outside of Tony and Darien, if you have a question you want us to answer on air, shoot us a little video and we'll do it.
