Ask Me Anything: Fat Loss, Labs, and Training Questions Men Over 40 Keep Asking - 127

Coach Brian Parana (0:15.336) Ask me anything. Fat loss, labs, and training from men over 50. Your last blood panel came back worse than the one before it, and you still don't know what to fix first. Welcome back to Driven for Health. I'm Coach Brian Piranha. This is episode 127. And I'm excited to talk with you. These are real questions from guys over 40. I did a recent Coach Brian Parana (0:43.458) Podcast episode number, let's see if I can find it here quickly. It was 118 and 119. And because of that, I got a lot more questions. So I wanted to go through a number of different categories of topics. First one being nutrition and training, blood work, stress and daily life, and then getting stronger as you age. And these were a number of different questions that I get. Coach Brian Parana (1:11.554) Wanted to answer them specifically just for you. Coach Brian Parana (1:17.430) Nutrition. The breakfast that runs your whole day or ruins it. Question was, what should I eat for breakfast to stop snacking in the afternoon? Your morning really sets the tone for your hunger and the next couple of hours that are coming up. A granola bar and a coffee or an energy drink will unfortunately leave you rating the candy tray by three o'clock. You gotta start your first meal off with protein, of course. Coach Brian Parana (1:46.730) It could be three or four eggs. It could be a scoop of protein, maybe two, and piece of fruit. That combination is perfect. And definitely add some vegetables or a piece of fruit with the eggs. And for 30 to at least 40 grams of protein in that serving. Now, when I coach people to guys to stop grabbing a granola bar on their way to work, then they end up stop searching through the break room for donuts later on. Coach Brian Parana (2:13.302) And we end up swapping on the go breakfast for an egg, turkey sausage wrap. And that's helped out a lot for certain guys. Now, let's stop that afternoon crash. I do have a five high protein breakfast meal guide. If you are interested in that, just come in breakfast and I'll be able to send it right over to you. Why clean eating leaves you starving? I I like to eat pretty clean, but Coach Brian Parana (2:43.382) I'm starving by night. What's wrong? That was the question. Here's the answer. Well, you can eat chicken, you can skip the junk, and you still have a clear path to the pantry at night. Now, protein holds you over and keeps you full throughout the day, but just protein alone, you don't have more substance in your stomach to be able to stay full long enough. You need fiber. Coach Brian Parana (3:9.794) So protein first, fiber second. The simple question: where's the protein? Where's the fiber? Simple things to do. Now, coach guys eating chicken and rice all day long, but they're hungry two hours later. We need the vegetables in the mix. I think of Ryan right now. He just constantly keeps coming back with chicken and rice. Bro, where are your veggies at? Okay. Let's put multiple cups there and then. Coach Brian Parana (3:35.796) You'll actually feel full for another three hours longer than that. And that's really important. Then you'll stop running to the pantry by nine o'clock. Now, if you want to understand the easy plate setup that I have for my meals on the go and w how to design them, then just comment what food should I eat. And I can send over a meal planning guide to help you figure that out for yourself. And it's a simple thing that I do with my guys all the time. Coach Brian Parana (4:9.090) The drinks are hiding your results. The question was: why won't the scale move when I'm eating so well? You can fix every meal and still plateau. The problem lies in the glass next to your plate. Think of it. A large sweet coffee hides could be 40 grams of sugar. Two beers at night, add 300 calories to the mix. None of it fills you up. I have Coach Brian Parana (4:38.712) Constantly coaching guys to that are eating well and training hard, but the scale is just not moving. It's like frozen in time for two months. Now we we track the food, but then we start paying attention to what is actually in the drink that they're having, those liquid calories. When we track it up, sometimes calculating they are shocked by the amount of calories that it ends up adding to their plate. Coach Brian Parana (5:7.992) Soon as we can cut out some of these high calorie sugars and stuff, then it ends up making it really easy and simple for us to be able to be successful here. And that's super duper important. Coach Brian Parana (5:22.016) How to eat at a buffet and win. How do I survive a conference buffet without gaining weight all week? my gosh, I have so many guys that travel and they have to put up with this. They get up in the morning, it's a full go day, and there's the buffets for breakfast, lunch, or the box lunches that come out, the the dessert cart that wheels around, and even thinking about we have the Coach Brian Parana (5:50.552) What else? So last one I was at, there's the bagel place too that was all set up there in the beginning. And the guys they just end up they lose control before they even grab the plate because they walk in with no plant. The answer is you got to seek out the protein and the vegetables first. All right. Lean protein sources pile on your plate as much vegetables as possible as you can. Then you could maybe go up for a second serving. Coach Brian Parana (6:19.532) Or even when you say for the carbs in a sense, and a little bit, not a lot, but a little bit of that can really help you. And it'll keep your calories lower by default and not overdo it. Even the boxed lunches, ideally grab two of them, eat all the inside of the wrap, but let's skip the cookie, the bag of chips. That's not really gonna help you. Let's find the zero calorie pop or soda, and that'll Coach Brian Parana (6:49.624) help hold you over in the middle of the day and definitely eat both pieces of fruit in the two boxes. That's what I did at the last conference that I was at. And it helped me stay full long enough to get to the next meal without jamming in what a cookie, the size cookie is probably about 200 calories plus 150 calories of chip. So that's what 250 calories. And if you had double the box, it would end up being a lot. That isn't going to help you. Now if you're Coach Brian Parana (7:18.802) On eating out on the go. I do have an eating on the go guide if like conferences and travel, just comment on the go and I can send it over. The healthy snack that's plateauing you, it's stalling out. Question was I snack on nuts and trail mix. Why am I still gaining weight? Some of the healthiest snacks do the most damage. Nuts and trail mix top the list. I even did a somewhat recent Instagram on Coach Brian Parana (7:48.418) This specifically. It was two-third cup was 180 calories. That is bananas. Now, fat packs nine calories in a gram, while protein and carbs are four. What does that mean? That means that fat multiplies calories. And nuts by the handful could be 200 plus calories real quick in just one handful. You do that twice, you got yourself basically almost a meal's worth of calories there, and that's a lot. Coach Brian Parana (8:17.718) Now, trail mix with all the other stuff, the dried fruits and maybe the candies and stuff, that ends up multiplying it even more and a big challenge. So, coaching guys to put down the nuts, the trail mix and all that stuff is super important in swapping that out. Or at the very least, you have to literally use a measuring cup. Now, if you're looking for healthy snacks, I do have a little snack cheat sheet. Just comment the word snack, and I can send that right over to you. Coach Brian Parana (8:48.418) We have fitness. Fitness is super important of a category. So we just wrapped up nutrition, and now here is fitness. The short workout that beat your hour long broset. The question is do I need to train every day to see results? Daily training sure sounds like a good idea. And I've coached plenty of guys that have maintained four or five days in a row. Coach Brian Parana (9:16.106) Or in the week, that works perfectly fine if it fits, but we don't need to go six or seven. Don't say that around your kids either. But you don't need that in a typical workout week to still be efficient and effective. Now the answer really lies in more days is not the the lever that we want to pull. For fat losses specifically, if you're trying to lose weight, you need say three strength trace strength sessions in the week. Coach Brian Parana (9:45.440) And then you're gonna add the extra time snuck into your day-to-day life around your steps, your activity, and again, anything I've told you about nutrition is find a calorie-appropriate meal loaded with protein and vegetables. Now, when you do that, then you don't have to spend so many hours in the gym, especially if your work schedule is 60 plus a week. And a lot of guys that I work with are full go grind trying to Coach Brian Parana (10:15.294) make things happen in their business and in their companies. When we cut gentlemen down to three to four days of weights and get that extra calories burned through movement of walking or cardio, then they end up burning a lot more calories overall, which helps them in their fat loss phase. Now if you're interested, I do have 20 workout session that I can send you over and it's quick template, just comment body weight and I can send over a quick workout sheet that can Coach Brian Parana (10:44.962) Gets you more time efficient and effective workouts. Coach Brian Parana (10:51.170) Does lifting make you bulky or lean? Well, will lifting heavy make me bulky? That's the question. I want to look lean. I want to have that like surfer guy type. I pull my shirt off and just look like a superhero these days, not the incredible hawk. Guys skip the weights to avoid getting bulky, and then they ultimately end up staying soft because the weights are where that matters the most and what makes them actually lean. Coach Brian Parana (11:20.652) Lifting heavy builds muscle that gives you your shape. Bulk comes from eating in a big surplus for years on purpose. So we don't need to cut bulk and then cut. We just need to be in a subtle calorie surplus, 200 calories a day at most, to help give your body enough to build muscle so that you stay lean and build lean muscle that gives you more of that superhero look. Coach Brian Parana (11:48.610) hourglass figure that B taper that you want to look and feel like and your abs will start popping out. Maybe not like Tyler Durden and Brad Pitt and Bike Club, but you get the gist. We'll have a much flatter, tight and toned up look for you. Now if you're interested in getting toned and lean, I do have a lot of different workout routines I can send you over. It's just got to reply workout and I can send over something that would best Coach Brian Parana (12:18.549) Fit you Coach Brian Parana (12:21.836) The cardio mistake that most guys make. Question was: should I do more cardio or more weights when I'm 40s and 50s? After 40, more cardio can unfortunately work against you, especially if your nutrition isn't dialed in. You can burn off muscle, and that's what keeps you long-term lean, that keeps your metabolism up. Running or cardio, excess cardio is a catabolic system. Coach Brian Parana (12:51.510) or a process in your body, it's not anabolic. Muscle building is anabolic. So you have to be careful not to overdo cardio to burn off that hard earned muscle because it just doesn't come back on very quickly. So going to the gym lifting and doing some higher intensity intervals after a session could be a very effective way to help burn calories or even do a body weight type Coach Brian Parana (13:20.236) workout or something with kettlebells or dumbbells that is more of a circuit style to finish off the workout. In my cross days we call it a METCON metabolic conditioning that really turns up the the the heat, so to speak, and helps you burn body fat. Coach Brian Parana (13:37.206) Why you keep getting hurt? Question. I keep tweaking my back when I'm lifting. Is it my age? Well, if if you keep tweaking your back every time you start trying to build momentum in the gym, it might not be your age. The question I would have is: how do you actually start the sessions that you have and end the sessions that you have too? Coach Brian Parana (14:3.884) Your joints need longer time to warm up and your body needs to slowly add weight to the bar in a sense and not just go like you were 20 again. I myself am feeling this. My kids and I run, and it takes me a lot longer. They're like, when do you want to run? Five minutes. They think, more like 12 or 15 because dad's old now and he has to stretch and warm up. And I have this whole routine now that I do, and I specifically foam roll a lot. Coach Brian Parana (14:32.792) to soften up my muscles before I go make an effort. That's important. So you do have to take care of yourself to be flexible and loose. Now if you don't have a mobility routine or approach, I can send one over. Just comment mobility and I will be happy to do that. Coach Brian Parana (14:54.850) Ten minute walks that outwork the gym. Well, the question was does walking do anything for fat loss? I hope at this point that we can, you know, seal this deal on here. A 10 minute walk after dinner does more than most guys think. And then even sometimes an hour in a gym. And what's important is that walking after a meal pulls the sugar out of the blood and puts it into your leg muscles in a sense, into your the the it Coach Brian Parana (15:23.754) Lessens your ability to have a blood sugar spike because when you move your body, it's like burning gas in a gasoline tank, and then your body is putting gasoline, like what you ate, back into the tank that it's burning up. So it's a self-serving system. So you eat modest amount and then you go move your body and you will feel a lot better that way. Love 10,000 steps for us, maybe even more. Coach Brian Parana (15:53.304) Depending on what your day looks like and that that is okay. But ten K is usually the minimum with the guys that I have. Coach Brian Parana (16:2.446) Blood work, labs, five questions. The first thing to fix on a high A1C. We're talking about anything like 5.7 and up, puts you in the pre-diabetic pay weight, 6.2 or more gives you that label of type two diabetic nobody wants. And doctor says my di A1C is at a nine point two. What should I change first? I'm kind of overwhelmed and panicky almost. Coach Brian Parana (16:32.322) Your A one C didn't just pop up there in the last week or four months or something. It's been climbing for years. Getting seconds after dinner, grabbing a sweet coffee, putting your hand in the candy jar at work again. These are problems that give you high blood sugar levels, high A one C. And yeah, it's usually associated with weight gain, but also skinny people have Coach Brian Parana (17:1.080) Can be susceptible to type 2 diabetes based upon how much they eat in terms of sugar. So let's start off with liquid calories. We want to make sure that we eliminate those as much as possible. Should go to the zero alternative kind, even if it goes from Coke to Coke Zero. I'm a big Coke Zero fan. Have usually one a day or one every other day. Splash of oat milk in it gives me that cream soda-like taste. Tastes so good. And it's something different than just water. Coach Brian Parana (17:29.826) But this is going to be the first thing to do is to analyze how many liquid calories you have coming in. When you do that, you can cut those down. Next up, we're looking to then portion the plate. Six ounces of protein, three cups of vegetables minimum. These are standards. And we want that protein to be lean. Then we stack it with a 10-minute walk afterwards and a modest amount of carbohydrates on the plate, like a cup, your blood sugar level is going to start normalizing very quickly. And that's what you need to do consistently for. Coach Brian Parana (18:0.034) the next three months. And in general, in three months, if you're doing really well, you can drop one full point in your A1C. Now I do have an improve your blood panel scorecard that really simplifies what your blood panel is. It explains it in the easiest terms and gives you an action plan around nutrition of what I just said and starts to help you with that. If you're interested, just comment scorecard and I can send it over. Coach Brian Parana (18:25.482) Is high blood pressure just genetics? Well, question is my blood pressure is 145 over 92. Is this genetics? Well, family history leads is like a loaded gun. Unfortunately, yes, it definitely has potential for being genetic. We have that nature versus nature. Salty restaurant food, sitting at your desk all day, having belly fat for a longer period of time than you haven't. Coach Brian Parana (18:54.348) All these things pull up your the likeless that you will have increased blood pressure. But those are things that you can control through movement, the three levers through movement, improving your food choices, and practicing portion control, that ends up helping you. So 10,000 to 12,000 steps, well, done throughout the day will certainly help control blood sugar levels. Picking better food choices and higher quality foods is going to help lower the Coach Brian Parana (19:23.512) Blood sugar response and the the blood pressure response no matter what. And then if you have to lose weight because of blood pressure, it's gonna put a lot of ease on your system in the first place. Again, I have worked with so many people with blood pressure issues. If you need some help improving your blood panels, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and such, just comment scorecard. I can send the improve your blood panel scorecard over. Coach Brian Parana (19:50.984) It gives you simple, easy to understand, accessible ways to go about practicing better nutrition and ultimately looking, feeling better. Coming off of GLP1 without regaining your weight. I've had so many GLP1s. I actually just did some GLP1 episodes of 123 was and 121 were most recent episodes on GLP1. So listen to those. The question is. Coach Brian Parana (20:20.394) I lost weight on a GLP one, but I'm scared to stop. What do I do? A GLP one pulls you out of the hole, like a deep hole of being overweight and being really unhealthy. And staying out of the hole comes from building habits that you have to constantly work on every single day. There's no cheat code. It's literally an improving behavior patterns over time. The medicine makes you eat less, that, but it doesn't. Coach Brian Parana (20:49.656) Help you manage habits and behaviors either. I've coached many a men who've lost 40 pounds on one or 50 or 30 or 20 or whatnot. And the weight comes off, but unfortunately, afterwards, I also have had people that have been telling me in the last two years where they used it, had success, but are gaining it back. Now, what do we do here? Is simple behavior change. I call it the aim principle. Coach Brian Parana (21:18.106) Am I moving in the direction toward healthier goals? All right. Am I either moving in the direction to be healthy or away from it? Now, if I'm moving toward that the A is just asking a question, you have to ask the question around am I actually doing something that benefits me? I is identify what the behavior is and how to start to improve it. And is actually follow through, make the move to improve your health. So use the aim principle to help with starting that behavior change. Coach Brian Parana (21:47.966) It is important. And if you want habits, I've got a huge 84 pay list of habits on my habits worksheet that I give to all my clients. I can send it over to you. Just comment habits and I'll do that. Coach Brian Parana (22:2.946) Bad cholesterol isn't always the worst thing ever. Let's let me explain. My cholesterol came back over 240. How worried should I be? Now, certainly you don't want to feel like a walking heart attack. High cholesterol can make you feel that way, and the five minutes you spend with the doctors can certainly do that. But most of the time, it's the number that we start with, and we want to then start to course correcting it. So once you acknowledge Coach Brian Parana (22:31.606) And get a blood panel that your cholesterol numbers are in a bad spot. You need to do something about it. What do we how do we get cholesterol levels down? Well, most of the time if you have high cholesterol, there is associated weight gain with it. Not always, you could still eat just high fatty garbage food and not be in an unhealthy body weight, but that is more or less the the the culprit here. Now we have to stay in a calorie deficit. We need to get 150 minimum grams of protein. Coach Brian Parana (23:0.842) And ideally 30 or more grams of fiber. If we cut out the fried foods and saturated fats, then start walking and moving and lifting, then you're gonna see your triglycerides are gonna be first thing to drop importantly. And that's especially when you cut out any type of liquid calories and alcohol. Coaching a lot of guys whose triglycerides were waving red flags at a like a bad day at the beach. And as soon as we start cutting out, Coach Brian Parana (23:29.954) Two nightly beers and on then managing the weekend party getaway like atmosphere. And within three months, went back to the doctors and found that that this were helpful. I do have the improve your blood panel scorecard as I've referenced. It helps you get a clear, understandable way to manage your blood sugar levels and your cholesterol levels, your c and your blood pressure, and all this stuff. You can just s simply comment. Coach Brian Parana (23:58.112) Scorecard and I'll send it right over. Coach Brian Parana (24:2.510) How long until my labs actually move down in the direction I want them to? I just got out of the doctor, my blood panels were awful. Doctor wanted to put me on a bunch of medicine, I refuse. If I start today, how long will it take until my labs improve? Most guys want their panel to improve just in the next three to four weeks, and that's not unfortunately how it goes. Coach Brian Parana (24:31.532) Weight and blood pressure will certainly move first and be the things that happen to see readily available in the next 30 days. And the A1C and cholesterol are gonna be more of a three-month to six-month process to see that. You do need to schedule blood panel tests, ideally, at least ideally three months apart so that you can start to pay attention to this and then start changing your behaviors from there. The podcast, episode five. Coach Brian Parana (25:1.546) And driven for health podcast references. The nutrition pyramid starts five through eleven. Starts talking about nutrition and how to do it properly for yourself. So definitely listen there. And that's the place where I'd send you. Coach Brian Parana (25:16.214) Now dealing with stress and lifestyle, does fat and alcohol really stall your fat loss? Question was does drinking beers all weekend long keep my fat from going down and I have that plateau? Or is it is moderation fine to do? Well, if you're eating clean all week and the scale won't budge and you have a little bit too much fun on the weekends, that could be the whole reason why. It's unfortunate, but true. Coach Brian Parana (25:43.840) Alcohol adds a lot of calories that you may or may not count, and then not even necessarily alcohol that's the issue, but even more importantly, the associated calories that come from alcohol. That is the biggest thing. When you have a burger and beer, it's not the best idea. So you do have to pay attention to those extra calories and how they make you feel and the food choices that you have. If we did a protein, fibrous carbs, like a call, vegetables, like a Coach Brian Parana (26:12.398) for lack of better example, a chicken salad or a fish salad and a beer, a a reasonable one, not the super tall boy, then you'll probably be okay. And as long as it fits into your day, it won't be detrimental. So that would be the plan I'd have you do. Coach Brian Parana (26:29.130) How do we cover after you after a trip? Now we're in the summer season right now, and the question was, I come home from my trips heavier every single time. What do I do the day I get back? The trip didn't ruin your week. Three days after, with no plan, it's gonna be the real damage. Oftentimes I'll ask clients, do you plan to go grocery shopping anytime soon? Coach Brian Parana (26:58.412) And I was like, yeah, that's right. We need food in the house. Well, that's step number one. You really need to be able to manage that and keep it in bounds. So please do that. Number two is that we have to get back to normal everyday behaviors. If you do not do that, it will be days of just getting busy with unpacking and getting back in the workflow, working through your emails and such. The third one is do not step on a scale for at least seven days. It's the Coach Brian Parana (27:27.894) long term bias rule and the get back on it rule, what I call is the get back on it. Now, however many days you're off is about however many days to get back on. With that, if you're gone for seven days, then give yourself seven days to get back on and be able to provide yourself a a a plan of action. Now if you want a quick reset protocol that I have is I call it the lose three pounds in three days, I can send it to you. It's a Coach Brian Parana (27:53.762) The protocol I use for my guys in my men's program and it works like gangbusters to help at least get the initial kickoff. And it's not three pounds of fat, it's just water weight and a little bit of fat, but it really helps to set the tone of what you're gonna be able to do and start creating consistency for long term. Coach Brian Parana (28:13.964) Why Sunday night turns into a free-for-all? I do fine all week, then Sunday night I eat everything. Why? Well you hold it together for the six days, and the Sabbath is the day of rest, from all things, including in quotations, your diet. And one meal earlier in the day totally throws you off. Now Sunday blow ups come from possibly running too low throughout the week, too restrictive throughout the week and the month. Coach Brian Parana (28:43.354) Skipping meals, eating really light or not enough volume of food, that happens quite a bit. And you end up racing to the pantry and the fridge to clear it out. Now to focus on this is that we have to allow one in a quotations cheap meal where it's okay to do that and not have it blow up in your face. So let's not do that, please. Make sure that you have a subtle plan on how you're gonna manage. Coach Brian Parana (29:11.970) the what I call moderation, balance, and flexibility, MBF, you have to have a plan on Sundays or you will falter and it will blow up in your face. So please think through what your actions are gonna be on Sunday so that you can enjoy yourself and still be successful. Coach Brian Parana (29:30.572) What to order when everyone wants takeout, right? I've got a family. Pizza Mutinies come all the time. Question was: my family orders takeout a few nights a week. What won't wreck my progress? Takeout night doesn't have to cost you. Most menus have a really easy to understand menu most of the time. They have calories and even macronutrients on them, so you can definitely need to reference that. Coach Brian Parana (29:58.540) That ends up being the first place. Now, other easy hacks that we can do at a burger place with the leanest cut of beef or a chicken burger in a sense. We ditch the buns, grab as much greens as we can. If we're going to Mexican, we're doing double protein fajitas, skipping the chips. If we're doing Chinese, we're getting grilled protein, vegetables, sauce on the side, steamed rice. That'll help quite a bit. Coach Brian Parana (30:27.486) And keep you managed. Now I do have an eating on the go guide to help you manage this. It has fast food, fast casual, fine dining, on the go, on the road, and the air at the airport, and all sorts of different ways to manage eating on the go. If you're interested in that, just comment eating on the go and I can send that over to you. Coach Brian Parana (30:51.906) Well, that's it for this episode of Ask Me Anything. I hope that you got some really good insights. I tried to get to the point on these things. And remember, consistency over time is the best thing that helps you every single time of the week. And that's important to make sure you manage that and stay successful. So that's it for this episode of Dripman for Health. Thank you so much. And off we go.