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Dec. 21, 2025

Can't Lose Fat No Matter What He Tries, "Health Hot Seat" Live Coaching- 35

In this episode of Driven For Health, Coach Brian Parana hosts the first Health Hot Seat live coaching session with Jeff, a 61-year-old sales leader who has struggled to lose fat after major weight changes, health setbacks, and a demanding career.

Jeff shares how he once dropped from over 300 pounds to 180 through a strict bodybuilding-style diet, but the plan was hard to sustain long term. After COVID, work stress, alcohol, marriage strain, a hip replacement, pacemaker issues, and reduced activity, his weight climbed back up before he started working to take control again.

Coach Brian helps Jeff identify why his fat loss has stalled: less daily walking, inconsistent calorie intake, low protein earlier in the day, meal timing issues, and hidden calories from foods like nuts, peanut butter, protein bars, and higher-fat prepared meals.

This episode gives men over 40 a real coaching example of how to break a fat loss plateau without guessing. Coach Brian walks Jeff through calorie awareness, protein targets, plate structure, fibrous carbs, starchy carbs, strength training, walking, hydration, sleep, and how to rebuild progress with a simple plan.Jeff

This is episode 35 of the Driven For Health Podcast and the very first Health Hot Seat.

In this episode, I coach a real man, Jeff, whose over 50 who feels stuck with his health. He works hard. He stays busy. He feels like he should be making progress, but the scale is not moving and his energy is not where it should be.

This is a live coaching session and not a lecture.

We break down his work schedule, stress, sleep, eating habits, and workouts. Then I show him exactly where things are breaking down and how to fix them without blowing up his life.

If you are a man over 40 dealing with stubborn weight, low energy, or inconsistent habits, you will hear yourself in this conversation.

In this episode, we cover:
• Why fat loss gets harder after 40 even when effort is high
• How stress and long workdays slow progress
• The most common nutrition mistakes men make
• Why eating too little can stall fat loss
• How to structure meals without tracking every bite
• What realistic consistency looks like for busy men
• Simple changes that create momentum fast

This episode is for men over 40 who are tired of guessing and want a clear plan that fits real life.

The Health Hot Seat is where I help men get honest about where they are and what actually needs to change. No extreme diets or confusing information. Jeff gets a deep dive into clear direction and practical coaching for his lifestyle and goals.

If this episode hits close to home, you can apply to be on a future Health Hot Seat and get your own personalized game plan.

Hereis the application form.

https://forms.gle/viBo1VvHaW7P5wrz5

Listen in and you will likely hear the exact reason your progress has stalled and what to do next.

Want help applying this to your own health, weight, energy, or lab numbers?

Coach Brian Parana offers Health Hot Seat coaching segments for men who want a clear next step with nutrition, fitness, weight loss, blood pressure, cholesterol, A1C, or daily consistency.

Learn more about The Call To Rise, a 100-day coaching program for driven men over 40 who want to lose weight, improve their health, and rebuild confidence:

www.thecalltorise.com

To connect with Coach Brian:
brian@brianparana.com

Disclaimer: This podcast is for education and coaching support only. It is not medical advice. Always work with your physician before changing medication, treatment, or medical care.

Welcome back to Driven for Health podcast. I'm Coach Brian and today's a special episode. This is episode 35 and it's the inaugural health hot seat. What is a health hot seat? Well, it's a live coaching session. It's a conversation where I sit down with men in their 40s and 50s and help them break down exactly what's holding them back, what are challenges or situations, whatever that is in their way.
We'll look at habits, a schedule, nutrition, fitness, whatever we need to. That this gentleman is going to leave our conversation with a clear understanding of what to do and why he's doing it. All right? It's not about theory. We're using sciencebacked information applied in everyday life. I've been doing this 23 years. I've had thousands of conversations.
And welcome Jeff. Here is he's our first health hot seat. He's 61 years young and a sales leadership position and he's had a couple health setbacks. We'll jump into those. That has kind of thrown him off his game a little bit and but he's ready to take charge 2026, not as a New Year's resolution, but actually moving back into the health that he's experienced in his younger years.
And we definitely want him thriving. Now, welcome Jeff to the to to our conversation here, the health hot seat. How are you doing tonight? >> Good. Thank you, Brian. Thanks for uh having me on uh your podcast. Uh I'm grateful to be here and uh looking forward to uh learning lots and uh taking copious notes here. >> Yes, please take lots of them.
Now, we haven't talked, right? But outside of going back and forth, we met each other on Instagram and we had a conversation and I said, "Hey, here's three ways I can help and this is the one that you picked and here we are. So you ask and you shall receive and and so we have no prior conversation." So tell me a little bit about yourself.
Uh the general ballpark of who Jeff is and then we'll move into the what's holding you back. >> Sure. Well, I am a professional. Uh I work in the sales industry. Uh I've been in sales for 35 years. I've had leadership positions for the last uh let's call it 28 years in sales. So, um, very fast-paced life from a career perspective, high stress levels, but I've, uh, always been very active physically.
Um, outside, well, during work as well as outside of work, I've been in men's hockey leagues. I played rugby, but I've always been a gym rat. So, probably eight years ago, I was probably in the best shape of my life ever. Um I was with a um bodybuilding coach. Uh this guy trained probably 40 uh bodybuilders. Um I wasn't in bodybuilding competi competition per se, but um I trained with him and uh this gentleman was extremely knowledgeable uh in terms of uh nutrition and uh what it took to get your body in shape.
Um he got me there and he got me there quick. I went from 305 pounds down to uh 180 pounds. >> Wow. We had abs that, you know, were showing for the first time in my life. The only problem with it was it's not sustainable. >> Yeah. Was it the chicken, broccoli, and rice thing? >> Yeah, pretty much. A keto ketosis uh program basically.
>> All right. So, you were very low carb in that situation. >> Low carb. Yes. Um, and the other issue with it was >> real quick. Were you actually peeing on strips to measure ketosis or >> No, no, it was >> just just low carbs. All right. Okay. >> I basically checked in uh weekly with him.
uh sent pictures of my physique um and did a weighin and then pictures weekly and then uh he would give me a prescribed diet where he would dial back this off in introduce this, take this out, add more of this. The other thing that kind of was uh detrimental with that experience was, you know, there was nothing that was off the table in terms of supplements.
So I was 52 years old at the time. I wasn't about to start doing steroids at that juncture in my life. Uh I did it all clean and through regular steroid not steroids but supplements let's put it that way. But again, protein shakes, creatine, branching am mean elastins, those same things. >> So, just basically proteins, fat burners.
>> Okay. All right. >> Um, >> were you buying these at GNC or something or >> uh some of it I was, but uh other stuff I was just getting uh through him. He carried uh supplements because he did have a gym as well. >> Yeah. Okay. I did when I'd go there, uh, I would, um, purchase them off at him. Then, uh, basically I took after I got in shape, I kept that going.
Um, I maintained it myself, but I noticed that the weight would ketosis diet. I was still in the gym and still doing the same amount of cardio, the same amount of weight workout exercise, but weight was creeping back in. >> Yeah. What was the timeline on that? How much did it creep or was there a rebound right after say the the peak physical condition? Um, it was probably uh it was a slow u slow metamorphus.
I wouldn't say it was extremely quick. Um, but the weight came on within probably I want to say probably probably 16 to 18 it probably came about a year and a half later. >> Um, but I had also introduced some other bad habits that were not healthy. All right. >> That time real quick and then we'll we'll jump into bad habits.
Do you know what your calories were or were you doing calories macros or any of that type of stuff or he was just literally old school bodybuilding? >> Yeah, he was counting u my macros doing all that as far as what I was the amount of calories I was ingesting and the macros. Um, I couldn't tell you cuz that's what I paid him for.
>> Ah, okay. There was no transfer of knowledge. He just >> to do this thing and then you did it and you got great results but it wasn't sustainable. There wasn't necessarily a a transfer of knowledge or skills or longevity even because I imagine if you could get down to 180 and do it in a way that you could stay there, you probably wouldn't pass.
I probably should knock off what I'm whatever I'm trying to get away with here and and then two days later it's right back down in the middle and it's not a lot of work, >> right, >> to maintain. >> Yeah. Again, my goal was just to attain achieve what I wanted to achieve as far as my my body image. I really wasn't anywhere.
I wasn't concerned with learning. >> Okay. That's what just on the road >> there. And >> yeah, >> that's what paying you to do. So, >> and he he earned his money. He was um he was very good at >> Yeah, definitely. He he definitely did. He got you the result that you're looking for. >> Yeah, he did. >> Exactly what it was. >> He'll be with him today if he uh he's deceased now.
>> That's unfortunate. >> Yeah, it is. He was died at the age of 37. He was probably 6'2 and his biceps are probably as big around as my head. >> Wow. Okay. So, it's a massive guy. >> Yeah. So, when you're that tall, you don't get that kind of mass unless you're juicing. So, >> yeah. >> Uh >> yeah, >> you know, probably led to his demise.
>> Unfortunately, it could have. I'm 40 I'll be 43 here in about two weeks. My arms have basically always been this size. >> Bicepo curls I've done just for goodness sake. >> Doing something completely different. So much concerned with trying to build bulk. I'm I'd rather be lean than bulk. Let's put it that way.
>> Yeah. Yep. Yep. Fit athletic, lean, healthy, those type of words. >> Exactly. >> Yeah. That's a good identity to to really thrive with because it's nice to say look like a superhero, but there are means and ways and and things that you have to do to get there and then maintain it because >> the latest example say The Rock, right? He looks a little different now just overnight it seems.
It's like wait a minute, wasn't he just this behemoth in this last movie and now he's he's trimmed down a little bit. You look at a lot of uh NFL players after their careers are over and they are considerably um their physiques are quite different than they were at the peak of their careers or their playing days. >> Yep.
All right, let's get into some of the habits that you picked up here in the last couple years. >> Yes, alluded to a little bit earlier. I did form some bad habits where I just stresses of the job and then along came COVID and that kind of I think derailed >> very hard for a lot of people. I that was one of my best years unfortunately. Yeah, it it kind of had a a you know negative effect on me from a personal you know personal standpoint and from a career standpoint it affected me and it led to me consuming alcohol almost on a regular basis, a daily basis and it really kind
of deterred me from doing all the healthy things that I'd done over you probably the last 15 10 years of my life and then really regimented strictly done. I was in the gym five to six days every single day and I got away from that completely. Mind was just not not in it. My headspace was completely different uh during that time frame.
So really kind of derailed all the successes and kind of all the accomplishments that I've uh achieved u back in 2015 2016 and 17. So it it kind of u really really put me in kind of reversed the whole table on me turned the tables on me as far as my progress and I put all that weight back almost back on. I went, you know, from 180 back up to like 265.
It really got to the point where I was like, "Oh, man. Look what you did. You said you were never going back." Yeah. >> And here you are. >> So, I, you know, finally said, "It's time to wake up." >> Yeah. What was that turning point there that slapped you back into taking action? Well, there was uh some I guess my marriage was in jeopardy as well.
There was a lot of >> my high school sweetheart. It's I I always have to make sure that I'm focus on taking care of her. It doesn't matter how long we've been together. I still need to >> Yeah, those things were in play. Uh that was in play. That was a huge concern. Then my health. I got into a situation from my past life with rugby, football, ice hockey.
I always gravitated towards physical sports. >> Some pretty tough on the body sports. >> Jitsu for a while, uh, boxing. So, anything that was contact sports, I pretty much gravitated to it. I loved it. But I I started my joints started to feel it. I really dealt with some severe back pain. I was in a pretty physically demanding uh career early on in my life.
Took a toll on me. So, I had to get a hip replacement uh health issues and then uh I had some I used to run six miles when I was in my peak fit. I was running six miles a day. Three miles in the morning. I'd get up at 4:00 a.m. do three miles. uh before I started work and then after I got done throwing iron for about two hours, I'd do another three miles at the end of my my weightlifting.
>> Okay. >> Uh so >> you're very active then. >> Yeah. Um but it also uh gave me a situation they call it athletes heart. That's what I call it. Some doctors have called it that. that had a very low heart rate >> as I >> what's very low just to frame this for people average is 60 for a lot if you're above that you're definitely unfortunately not in any good shape then we get to 50ish then you're in really good shape if you're say 40ish or Lance Armstrong if if I'm talking to the right generation here right [laughter]
>> yeah um my resting heart rate uh would get somewhere in the range of around 30. >> Yeah, that's very low. >> 28 30. So, as I aged, I thought and it really came to light when I had to get my pre-esting for my hip replacement. So, that's when I thought, well, I better pay attention to this. It might be >> better look at.
And they suggested I get a pacemaker, which I fought tooth and nail. I didn't want to do. And then they botched that. >> Really? >> They didn't take the first two times they tried to put it in. >> Third times a charm, maybe. Hopefully. >> I went to a major metropolitan area and had it done by some some really good good doctors, good team.
So things keep my fingers crossed things are working well. So I think that was kind of the catalyst for me, kind of a wakeup shot. Uh those events in my life kind of told me life is short, man. You better take care of what you >> what you God has given you and treasure every single day you have on this earth and the time you have with your family, your kids, your loved ones, and be the best you can be.
Um and honor the life you're given, you know. You can't do anything good if you're not around. And my my goal is every day to try and be blessing to others and to help people as much as I can. >> Yeah. >> And you've seen different phases in your life where you're over 300 and then you're 260 and is going through some health issues and COVID.
you've seen some some big ups and downs and that's bringing you to this place of life is fast. It feels as if it keeps speeding up on me. So, who's pushing the the plus.1 every year? Like, why I'm at 08 speed now? What's going on? >> Uh I don't know. I I just it it's a I I think I really, you know, we all have a tendency we all have the ability to do good and be our best. Yes.
>> And we also all >> have the ability to be our worst. >> The daily choice one way or the other. I had a interview earlier today. It's going to be episode 41 with Cliff. He said the very opening sentence was choose your hard. It's hard to live healthy. It's hard to live overweight. It's hard either way.
Life throws curveballs and all sorts of stuff. But the hard of being healthier, the outcome of that is significantly better and the ROIs that you get on that are are tenfold as opposed to being unhealthy. So that brings us to this point. What are some of your goals right now with your health? So, uh we have to talk about the hip, its functionality, the heart rate and how you can manage cardio in a sense and movement.
Those will be things we do go over and certainly nutrition a fair amount on. But where So, you're at what 216 or something like that right now? >> Yeah, 215.7 right now. >> Yeah. Um, so, um, done a good amount of work so far. >> Yeah. >> And and taking the weight off, but I'm kind of plateaued at this point. So, >> I need you doing then as far as you you got down.
Are you still good trying to do the chicken broccoli rice thing or what are you doing? >> Yeah, I'm still really reduced carbs uh because that's what works for me. trying to stick more so to a Mediterranean type of diet. So, extremely lean meats. So, a lot of fish, chicken. Um, you know, I'm not completely cutting out red meat.
Um, because when I was at my best, I was eating steak almost every single meal. Uh, a bit actually. But I do um have red meat probably twice a week. The rest of it's chicken or salmon, something like that, or white fish like, you know, cod, something like that. But um the the basic ingredient is eating natural foods. Yep.
>> So if it's grown uh if it comes out of the ground or off a tree, it's good for me. >> Okay. Yeah. Uh thousand%. It's pretty simple recipe. >> It's not real hard to figure out. Um, the less you stay away from the ultrarocessed stuff and that comes >> Yep. >> the better off you're going to be and the more success you're going to have.
>> Yeah. >> Do you still do you know how many cows you're eating? I'm generally eating around 21 to 2200 daily. Um, some days I'm not hitting that at all. Uh, some days I'm less than that because I just don't have the appetite. I don't want it. I don't need it and I'm not going to force myself to do it if I don't it don't feel it mentally something I'm not going to want to do.
There's other days where I'm less like, wow, I I'm hungry. I'm really hungry and I'm going to eat. I think at the end of the day, it kind of they balance each other. Is it exact science for me? No, it's not. But I'm not going to to be to live your life, there has to be some kind of balance. And I'm not going to I'm not going to continually deprive myself.
I don't think that's the way they're intended to live. >> Three words, moderation, balance, flexibility, big key factors in what I always coach and teach people through. And also, as people are listening in, the things that I go over, I've already gone over in prior episodes, the nutrition pyramid started at episode five, the strength pyramid started at episode 17.
So, there's been this conversation if you've listened to some of these things bringing us to Jeff's conversation here. All right. Now, okay. So, you're How long you been plateaued? >> Um, I want to say it's probably been probably close to two months. >> Two months without any progress. >> Probably. Yeah. Not really seeing progress.
I'm not notuating u a tremendous amount. Um there are fluctuations and I think that's water weight gain. >> Yeah. But not enough to consistently go down and to the right. >> Right. >> All right. Now, is there any observation of why there's a plateau in the first place? Oh, when I look back, it's the holiday season and all of a sudden since Halloween, I've been sneaking in extra little candies or something, little bites here and there, or just you were doing have been generally consistent, but just still not making progress.
>> No, I think uh I'm sure there's some of that, but it's not like I can say, yeah, I definitely been six o'clock every Thursday night. I'm slamming down a a bag of Oreos. No, I can't. No, I'm not doing that. >> Right. >> So, I can't really pinpoint it or say this is the culprit or the cause of it. I just I I don't there's something that on my dayto-day schedule that needs to be refined and needs to be tweaked so I can get that metabolism cranked and fired back up.
>> What's movement look like? We have a hip replacement. What's your mobility and movement in a day? >> Like um previously we when we kind of you know in that questionnaire or whatever we filled out. So I was doing some walking. Um >> how many steps in a day? It was probably 15,000 I want to say because I walked from 50 to 60 minutes a day.
Uh, and I would do where I would be doing that. Um, it did include inclines. So, I was elevating my heart rate good probably a third of the the time that I was doing it. >> Yeah, definitely. what he's referring to for listeners is when one I'm a big fan of 10k steps or more a day. I actually have the million step challenge.
It's literally just 10k steps for 100 days and then you get a million steps and people can't believe that they actually walk that much and it's it's really cool when you actually get there. 10k a day that's been a cheat code that I've had for years. Now when you put it on incline you are increasing the rate of calories burned but not placing a lot more strain on your body.
You you might sweat but not necessarily. Your heart rate goes up but not that much per se. You're not on the elliptical or running. It ends up just say burning calories X plus a little bit more. Now, have you been consistently doing that still in the last couple weeks? >> Last couple weeks, no. >> Okay. All right.
And then when did that fall off? >> Uh it fell off probably uh October. >> All right. So, this is definitely some sort of a correlation there, right? There's a formula. You can write this down. I move this much. I eat this much. And this is what my body does. It's a basic formula. And episode 30, I have brineisms. And I I go over that one.
And and that is a constant formula. So if you're eating say 22 21,100 2,000 in that range and you were doing 15k that makes a lot of sense and you were losing weight. But if you were say continuing to eat around that amount but then moving less than because of work and and so I imagine that's the is that the major constraint was work or is there other things that that popped in? >> Yeah, work is a major constraint.
Um weather is another issue. What's that? >> It's cold out now. >> Yeah, it's cold and we had >> a lot of snow. >> Yeah. major. >> I'm in Akran, Ohio. We It was 53 today. Actually, I went out and ran six miles and to shorts and a t-shirt, which is This would have been cold a couple weeks ago, but it's warm now because it was nine and nine's really cold, but 50 is really warm now.
>> Yeah. I just had I don't know about 10 inches of snow last weekend and last Saturday it was four degrees. >> Okay. Yeah, that's very good. Not really interested in going outside then. All right. So, we have that. Now, let's go over some other things. How's water? >> Water, I generally drink six, just on general average, 6 12 ounce bottles a day.
>> All right. >> I at least eight. Sometimes that's not possible just because of what's going on. Uh, but I try to intake at least six bottles. Uh, my day always starts with a full bottle of water before I ingest anything. That's before I ingest coffee or anything else. >> Well, okay. So, you got that.
That's good. Easy way to start and get that water going. I like that. How much coffee do you drink? >> One cup. >> All right. So, 8 ounces. So, we're at about say 80ish ounces of fluid, maybe. All right, that makes sense. Now, I'm a big fan of hundred of anything that doesn't have a lot of calories in it. That's important.
It's a keeping your body hydrated, keeping you mobile, keeping your joint health, keeping your muscle tissue quality up. Really important there. All right. Now, sleep. What's sleep look like? >> Sleep hours. >> Okay. And is that you you did mention that when you wake up, you're up and your brain's going. >> Do you allow enough time in bed to get more sleep? >> Um I I will lay in bed to try and um cope to get back to sleep and encourage sleep.
>> Yeah. >> Then it just doesn't >> brain is active. It's it's a little difficult. >> Yeah, totally. stress and work and all is is and all the other things. I'm I'm capped. I have my wife likes to stay up. She's night owl and my kids are up by 6:45 for school. I don't know how much she wants to She goes back to sleep after I take I leave the house and take them to school. I'm stuck.
That's a very routine thing. All right. What's energy looking like consistently throughout the day? energy is is in the morning I'm ready to rock and roll. I'm solid through consistent through the day. 3:00 you can definitely feel um to start to it waines you can feel it start to come down a little bit but I'm deep in the thick of it at that time of day uh is really uh at the apex of my workday.
I'm really getting after it. So, um, that power through it. Um, >> what time is that again? >> 3:00. >> When do you eat lunch? Around 1 or 12:1, something like that. >> It usually hits around about4 to 12, I would say, or noon. >> Okay. Yeah, that's not bad at all. Okay. Do you eat before that? How many meals in a day? So you eat at 3, you eat around or sorry, you eat at noon, but what other meal times do you have? >> I will eat at 5 for dinner time and then I will eat at if I can swing it in the morning.
I'll eat something at like 7:30. >> Okay. What are you eating at 7:30? Generally, >> generally I'll do some Greek yogurt with some berries or some hard-boiled eggs because I don't have time to be cooking something up. >> Yeah, exactly. >> So, hard boiled eggs or some cottage cheese. Half a cup of cottage cheese. >> How many grams of protein are you having there? >> What's that? >> How many grams of protein are you having? >> Whatever comes in a half a cup of cottage cheese.
>> Not a lot. Not a lot. Yeah, a couple things. One is if you're moving less, we probably need to bring those calories down. I would have you become calorie aware at the very least, whether you track calories or not. I'm a big fan of chronometer. Not everyone I ever work with tracks calories, but we have to be calorie aware.
Some of the calories days of hunger are could be because you didn't have enough the other day or because you're not getting enough protein earlier on. In general, you're going to want at least 150 grams of protein as a minimum amount is just being an active male. Lean protein sources just like you had been eating land, sea, air creatures, those those type and and dairy is going to be a good amount as well then.
But we need to break it up to get enough in and some of say your afternoon slump could be because you haven't had enough calories earlier on in the morning or having a suitable breakfast. Now you do need to actually do some form of preparation. You don't have to wake up earlier to make something per se, but you could put an egg bake in, as an example, say 200 grams of protein in there between eggs, egg whites, and other lean proteins.
Could be chicken, turkey, chicken sausage, whatever. Chop up a bunch of different vegetables, and then throw in some rice, beans, potatoes. Cut it into four. Then you have four servings of 50 grams of protein and you can just literally eat it out of the fridge if you wanted to be that lazy and you got you just got 50 grams of protein in you in a minute of of eating.
Probably throw some hot sauce on that, but you could heat it up, but we want to think of ways to make things a little bit more convenient for you. >> Okay. >> Yeah, sure. I'm not getting the amount of protein that I need. Um, that is definitely something that I have to strive to increase. >> Yep. >> And I think now that you mention it, that is probably the culprit for the maybe the lag or the drag in the afternoon.
>> It's [clears throat] exact just hit the nail on the head for him. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's a pretty common thing that 3Mish slump is usually you're you're overwhelmed with stress. you're not caffeinating like a lot of people do in a sense and they're just using stimulants to overrun it. That is a big issue there.
But I I would target your calories around like 1,800ish right now until you can get more activity or you need to pull in some sort of activity in the house or go to the gym or get a walking pad, something like that to get more activity and steps in the day because steps are going to be a really easy way to understand how much movement you're doing.
And I see that my steps are down because it's cold out. You still don't want to be outside. And I do have to be more conscious of my food choices in this time of season so that I don't end up overdoing it and and then making myself work harder the next day. All right, there's that. Is dinner heavy or light? >> No, it's actually um I think it's just right for me.
I've been doing the factor meals. So, >> do you know how many grams of fat are in one? >> I'd have to go grab one to tell you truth. >> Yeah, that's all right. >> The factor in general, usually they have, let's say, chicken or lean protein source and lots of vegetables and not much else. That's a general protocol. But when you look at the nutrition label, they have tons of fat in them.
Like 30, 40, 50 grams. Sometimes it's bananas. Like, where is this coming from? it's in the sauce or the oil or some cooking preparation thing. And to be honest, if if we were familiar with say macros, generally I'll have guys about 50ish, maybe 70 total grams of fat in a day. And your factor meal could take up a large percentage of that.
Okay? So, that ends up being a challenge for you to do and manage that. Now, if factor's fine, usually you could add some more vegetables in there. Uh if if you're not having a lot of fat in other meals, it's really not too big of a deal. But that is something there are other meals out there that you could do.
You literally just go to the grocery store and buy a in quotations lean cuisine in a sense that has better macronutrients in it. Uh Brett, he's a guy who travels a lot that I work with and he just will do two of them. Sometimes he'll get about 50 grams of proteinish from them and about 40 to 60 carbs depending on what constitute the carbs in there and then it's usually about 15 maybe 20 grams of fat.
And so he'll just eat two of them sometimes or he'll have one and then he'll add a a protein source say fish like tuna or salmon or canned chicken or something because he's working all the time and that ends up being a challenge there. So, so there's another reference point for ease of making dinner a little bit better.
How's late night eating going for you uh after dinner? >> Uh good. It's not um it's not like I have a terrible cravings or anything like that, but when they do happen, you know, I'll grab some, you know, like almonds or I'll get a protein bar, maybe put some peanut butter on it. Um [clears throat] or like last night, um you know, I had a a cup of blueberries.
Uh I love blueberries. Yeah. >> Uh raspberry, so stuff like that. Or I'll do, you know, cup of the single serve Greek yogurts. >> So >> those are Go ahead. No, you know, those are the things that, you know, if I do have uh, you know, something where I have a craving, that's what I'll those would usually take care of it for me.
>> Okay, great. Just throwing this out here, berries are about 70 calories in a cup. Your yogurt somewhere around 100ish on average, just for easy math. The protein bar about 220. that peanut butter is going to be 100 calories per tablespoon. And so you can see that there's a difference between which things you pick and how many extra calories just show up out of nowhere, >> right? >> Okay.
[snorts] All right. when you're building meals, what's your thought process or how do you go about that? >> Uh, building meals is generally I want to fill my plate up with the greens, uh, the natural >> foods, um, first and foremost. So, half the plate is definitely going to be, uh, organic in nature.
So, you know, plant-based, uh, so legumes and then greens, >> stuff of that nature. >> Real quick, are you defining organic by the store brand store? >> No. >> Or just organic? It came out of the earth. >> Came out of the earth. >> All right, cool. Just needed to make sure. I don't necessarily promote organic over non-organic.
I mean it could have just got mixed up by someone at the store who didn't know what they were doing in a sense but uh even for the cost you if you do want to go in organic great go do it for me I've got four kids five there's six of us house and it just that that doubles or triples the grocery bill real quick >> and I guess it could be beneficial but you see where I'm going with with that.
So, >> okay. >> Don't really purchase, you know, vegetables that say organic on it. Um, >> just for the reason that you outlined. So, >> yeah. >> Um, but try to fill half the plate with things that grow out of the ground. So, vegetables, um, legumes, um, so beans, um, to get protein. And then I'll go with a meat source, a protein, lean meat or red meat, whatever I'm eating that particular meal.
>> So basically a third of the plate try to put meat and then the rest u vegetables. >> Yeah, definitely. Now if we were to say here is you draw a circle on the on your pad there, it doesn't have to be a huge one. Uh, we draw a line across to cut in half. And then then we do a little bit from the middle of the line down.
Not all the way through, not cutting into fours, but a three. So, two equal parts on the bottom and then half of it up top. And just a really simple what the plate method plating your food. We have a quarter of the plate of a lean protein source. We want to try and keep those lean protein source.
there's a reason why that you had lean proteins and you were able to lose the weight there in the the prior attempt way back then because you can eat a lot of lean protein sources without a lot of calories which is important. So, [snorts] um, right >> then we have the other quarter of the plate's going to be full of, >> uh, vegetables or sorry, uh, starchy carbs, your high calorie starchy carbs.
Y >> and then we're going to have half the plate, uh, full of vegetables or fruit in a sense. Now, I like to think of say base or baseball, softball, same difference, right? And in that, >> right, >> is is going to be about if we're having three meals in a day, which is fine, and we're going to do better at having that first meal, not necessarily calling it breakfast or not, but the first meal is going to have more to it, right? It's going to have better energy throughout the day, more consistent. So, we're looking at maybe
one and a half baseballs worth of protein, about one and a half baseballs worth of a starch, and then three to four baseballs worth of the the vegetables or a piece of fruit. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And then we do things like the nuts and seeds and all that stuff. We have to be very conscious because those are healthy fats, but they are a lot of calories.
And when we're in a fat when you're trying to lose weight and get back down to the goal weight is I would imagine under 200. >> Yeah. 180. >> Yeah. 180. So you have what 20? uh yeah 20 30 35 pound 36 pounds to go. So calories are the most important thing to be paying attention to regardless of if it's protein, carbs or fats, but we do need to manage those and fats end up being it are going to be >> uh the the challenge there.
>> All right. And because they get say the peanut butter, it's 100 calories a tablespoon. A lot of people definitely eat more than that. >> Right. >> So, all right. Um, so we have we've gone over calories. So, if you aren't losing weight and you've been eating a consistent calories, then you either eat less or you move more.
Movement is the biggest, easiest thing that most people do before they actually eat less. But it's freezing [laughter] and there's lots of snow. So, we have to mitigate that with whether you you just eat less for this small time frame while you are in the house. >> And when you get hungry, that's when you need to eat more vegetables, more fibrous carbs, more volume of food, not at a lot of higher calories.
thinking of the Greek yogurt with the berries. Great combination. A cup of berries, 70 calories. And then when you amplify your Greek yogurt, ideally it's a lot of protein and not a lot of carbs or fats. I'm a big fan of too good okios, but ultimately you just got to look at the label and see protein 15 to 20 grams and carbs and fats as low as you can.
Those two brands names from Danon too good and Okios are just really good orchani zero sugar those ones usually have a good taste to them with lots of protein not a lot of carbs and then you can add the carbs to it the the the berries and such to make it a lot more food without adding a lot more calories and that would be good for morning or evening or whatnot.
Uh now let's go through a quick meal building process. And the idea is [snorts] we're going to put a a protein source. Then we're going to pick some vegetables that compare with it. And then we're going to pick a starch to compare with those. Okay? So think of we're gonna have say chicken.
What are four three or four different protein sources you like? So we have yogurt. We've got chicken. Uh we have steak. Uh anything else? >> I like any kind of legumes. I like >> Yeah, those are going to be in category. Those are a plant-based protein source, but they are carbohydrate heavy. That's what they are.
They're just a stretchy carb. Say 30 carbs in them. 30 to 40ish for a cup. And then they have about eight to 10 grams of protein. They've got a lot of fiber, too. They are thumb two thumbs up. Let's eat those things, but they're going to be in a controlled manner, but those go into the starchy carb category in a sense.
And and so you can even write this down. So we have proteins, then we have I like to just call it fibrous carbs. Those are low calorie fruits and vegetables. Think of an easy way to categorize this category is 50 calories or less per cup or serving. >> Uh example being a beat. You probably don't know how many calories are in a beet, right? Most still and but it's under 50 calories.
And the fibrous carb category signals to your brain, I can eat a lot of this food. Okay, >> just do one, two, or even three in that category and the meal is fine. So easy example of onion, >> tomato, and cucumber. Those go well together, right? [snorts] >> Yeah. >> They're all about 40 to 50 calories depending on the size.
So, at most you're eating 150 calories between all three of those, which is a lot of food, a lot of calories. And that's what we want to do is maximize a higher protein, moderate carb, lower fat type of approach. And that's what you did with the bodybuilding is you had that type of approach. You just didn't realize it.
And you were just using say bodybuilding protocol to follow a certain amount of calories that you eat in a day. and then following that type of a protocol because as you understand food and the currency of food, it's just calories, protein, carbs, and fats. And when you realize at the end of the day, you just need to eat this many calories and protein, carbs, and fats, you can mix in a lot of different types of foods into those categories.
And that's what I'm trying to teach you here. So, we have these three buckets in a sense for most meals. Not every meal, but most meals. And this is how we build meals [snorts] to work in our favor. So, recapping again, we're going to pick four protein. So, we have uh yogurt, chicken, steak, and uh do you have another I mean >> fish? >> Yeah. Fish. Okay.
>> Pork. >> Yep. Now, with fish, there is salmon that's got a lot of fat and all the most of the white all the white fish have no fat in them. I imagine on the bodybuilding diet, you ate a lot of white fish. Occasionally, salmon threes. >> Yep. I ate a lot of white fish. >> Yep. Because it's no fat.
That's why, >> right? >> Same thing with steak. You had a lot of steak, but it was probably a lean cut of steak. Flank steak. >> Yeah. sirloin tri tip are some of the the more popular ones. Occasionally a filt, but you didn't have a ribeye because fatty and it's got a lot of calories. It tastes really good, but it's takes us away from our [laughter] goals very quickly.
>> Can I have a 16x ribby, please? Yes, please. [laughter] >> Right. >> Now, so we have those four categories. What are some ve? Most people don't pair vegetables with the yogurt, but they will pair fruit with them. So, berries. >> Yep. >> Other fruits. Would you enjoy eating with berries? >> Uh, I love raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, any kind of berries.
>> Awesome. Apples, oranges, bananas, any of those. >> I ate apples all the time with the bodybuilding. Yeah. >> So, apples, pears, anything like that, I'll eat it. >> Now, the berries, >> pretty much. >> Go ahead. >> Pretty much any fruit I'll eat. >> Yeah. Excellent. Fruit is about 100 calories a serving.
You can write this down. Have generally about two or three pieces in a day works just fine for you. Say you had a piece of fruit at every meal. Cool. That'll be fine. It'd be 300ish calories on average. Not a big deal. A lot of people think that you can't have fruit and that's just not true. So, >> yeah. >> All right.
Now, with the chicken, what are some vegetables that you would pair with chickens? Think of about three of them. >> Um, black beans, green beans, um, >> black beans are going to be in the starchy carb category. And I don't I can't I don't think I said this, but starches are about 125 calories or more per cup.
It's just a general way that I have people categorize them so that when they look at the nutrition label, they can make an educated decision around what is this food? Uh let's let's give you a test. Are you ready for a test, Jeff? >> Sure. >> All right. What what is an egg? Is it a protein, a fat, a carb, a combination? What's an egg? >> An egg is a protein.
>> Okay. By definition, an egg is 70 calories on average. It has what I would call a one:1 fat to protein ratio. Okay. >> What does that mean? That means it has the same amount of carbs and fats. Now, are you aware of how many calories are in a gram of protein, carbs, and fats? How many grams of >> how many calories? >> One gram of protein, carbs, and fats.
>> Do you know >> of protein, carbs, and >> I want to say one gram. So, I'll say >> one calories. >> Yeah. Yeah. One gram is how many calories? >> I want to say 20. >> 20. What? One gram is four calories for carbs and protein each and nine for fat. So, write that down. That is the currency of food, calories, protein, carbs, and fats.
Okay? And that's what all those numbers back to the label read. So, when you look at that label and you see, oh, it has nine grams, say the factor meal, it has 35 grams of fat. And my what I see is wow, where's all the fat that I'm not seeing on the plate and I can't eat say an avocado for that amount of fat, right? It's just it's in the sauce or the liquid or the cooking process or whatever.
Then there's four for protein and carbs. So, we go back to the egg, 70 calories. So, you can write this down. 70 calories for what it has five grams of protein, five grams of fat on average. I just want to say on average so no one quotes me and they hit me up in the comments like you're wrong about the like oh my gosh leave me alone just trying to help this guy geez.
Um [laughter] so five times for protein because that's what you said five times how many calories for protein conversion? Uh, four. >> Got it. So, >> 20 >> 20 protein calories. >> 20. >> And then five times how many calories for fat? >> Four. >> Nine. >> 20 or nine, excuse me. I'm sorry. >> It's all right. They're nine.
So carbs are the other four and then fat is nine. So 5 time 9 is 45 fat calories out of 70. It is by definition a fat source that has protein in it. Okay. One egg white has 17 calories and about threeish fourish grams of fat or carbs of protein. Gez O has about three to four grams worth of protein. What does that mean? That means that in the yolk it is fat but it also has some protein in it as well. Okay.
So when we can see food for what it is, you become more empowered about how you combine food and build it and put it together and get it to work for you because you understand how the currency of food is and how to spend it. Another [clears throat] example would be is I like using this one is we we're going to build a puzzle.
So you you open the box up and we built it. And as long as you put all the pieces into place, then we did it. Good job. You built the puzzle and that's our say overall calorie intake for the day. Doesn't matter when you ate it or how you ate it or was it balanced or not. Good job. You you built the puzzle. But if we have some pieces missing or somehow we pulled pieces from another and there's a bunch more, then then we're in trouble in a sense if we're trying to hit our goal.
Now, going [clears throat] back to say your calories consistently, you would want to probably eat the same amount of calories day in and day out within a certain percentage of error, of course, but you'd want to eat, say, 1,800 calories every day until your activity moves. But when your activity goes up, chances are you'll see the scale go down.
Why? Because we're in a calorie deficit and you burn more now. And I will always tell you and every single other person, move more rather than eating less to burn. And at 61, you want to preserve as much muscle on your body as possible because it's going to fall off you anyways at some point. Good old Arnold Schwarzenegger, you're not quite the same as he once was, or The Rock >> or me.
I'm I'm somehow going to find my way back down to my high school body weight and I'll be >> like, "Wow, what the heck?" >> Like, where did all my muscle go? >> Yeah, >> I already feel that my calves or my thighs are starting to to shrink and I was like, I better start doing legs twice a week. [laughter] >> Get those things going again.
So, back to the food. All right, so an egg is a fat source with protein in it by definition. Okay. So, you're not off, but you see what I mean now? >> Yes. >> So, when we eat eggs, we would still want to add more protein to it. Lean protein. Uh eggs with the lean cuts of steak, but not fatty because then you add a lot of fat.
But with chicken or with uh turkey or or even Greek yogurt on the side because it's a high protein, lowfat source. And then we have balance. We have 50 grams of protein but less fat. Now back to the meal design. >> So [clears throat] we've got chicken with green beans because the black beans will go in the starchy carb category.
>> Okay. >> So you can move that >> to the starchy category and we'll get there momentarily. >> Okay. >> Starch. Just checking in with you. You hanging with me? Everything making sense? >> Oh, yeah. >> All right. Good. >> I'm just trying to keep up with the uh notes. >> Yeah, no worries. We can slow I can slow things down. I like to talk fast.
I get animated. >> Okay. You You do you. I'll I'll make it work. I'll get my notes together >> and and you'll be able to replay because it it's going out tomorrow morning. [laughter] >> There you go. There you go. >> All right. Next up is going to be we need more vegetables. Okay. Fibrous carbs. 50 calories or less.
Think broccoli, carrots, uh green beans, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, onions. Those are going to be the ones. Brussels sprouts. You can eat a lot of those greens. Lots of those. Multiple baseballs, right? three baseballs worth on your plate because it'll fill you up without adding calories.
And then calories are the things that going to help you lose weight. Then we have the steak and the fish are likely going to have the same type. So you pick one, two, or three types of that uh the that those vegetables to go with it. Now, let's let's take a quick time out and put some portions to these things. To get to about 50 grams of protein, there's generally for one ounce of protein, it's usually about eight grams of protein.
1 ounce weight, physical weight, 1 ounce is about eight grams of protein. To get 50 grams of protein, >> you would need roughly six ounces on average. >> Now, we'll throw this in here. If you have beans or lentils in your starchy carb category, those have protein, too. So, then you wouldn't necessarily have to have 6 ounces.
You could have five ounces because the cup of starchy carbs is going to cover the balance. >> Gotcha. So, you have about six ounces of a protein. We're going to have about three to four cups of the fibrous carb category. Okay. The vegetables or add a piece of fruit in there. So, it could be four cups vegetables.
It could be three cups of vegetables and a piece of fruit. Something like that. Cool. Now, the starchy carbs are your rice, pastas, beans, lentils, potatoes, those things. >> Are you allowed to eat those? Just let us ask that question first. >> But yes, >> good answer. >> Yeah, I have no restrictions any of that. >> Good answer.
Good answer. Those just have higher calories. I already said about 125 calories or more, right? So that they end up adding a lot of calories to the plate if you're not careful. And people then put fat on them, butter, oil, and really make them really tasty. And then we multiply calories. And that's why I don't, especially in a fat loss phase, we're not trying to put a lot of fat into the diet because it gets out of control very quickly.
Okay? And then if you have a factor meal, just like, well, where did all the fat come from? Well, we already went through that. It's it's in the oil or whatever they put in there. All right? [clears throat] So, we can have and then with the yogurt, we have things like um we're going to have things like uh um [clears throat] oatmeal, cereal, things like that.
We're not going to have granola because it's high calories. It's too risky, >> right? >> Order a third of a cup is 100 calories. It's it's bananas. A full cup is over 250. It's too costly. But you would have roughly a cup worth of starchy carbs on average across those meals. Okay? So make with beans or rice or potatoes, we're having about a cup with that.
So a basic meal, especially with a meat-based protein, is going to be about 6 ounces of protein, about three to four cups of vegetables or a piece of fruit, and then a cup of starchy carb. All right. That's going to give you a lot of fulfillment on your food, your meals. Okay. >> Gotcha. >> So, the the the take away then then there's a lot of other things that start to come up. Okay. We have a simple plan.
I need to move 10k steps. I need to work out a couple thus a week. Weather is challenging, but in general, say the course of a whole year, you're going to do that, right? But with in this particular season right now, we have to lower the calories if you have been on a stall, a plateau in a sense.
I don't see plateaus when I'm working with people. Why? Because we're constantly tweaking and adjusting to get the scale to go down. And if we see a pattern behavior show up, there's usually breadcrumbs that tell us a story of why it is what it is. If you got a goose egg, a zero from weight loss, I start asking you a bunch of questions.
So, what happened last week? What's going on? And then we start to see things unravel. So, it's it's not that you don't know why you're you're at a plateau. were at a plateau because you're moving less consistently for the last six weeks and now >> right >> that and then with inconsistency in your food.
Some days you eat more and some days you eat less. >> There's your problem. Less movement and erratic amount of calories in and out. >> And people are notorious for underestimating, not overestimating. They usually underestimate. they gave you an extra three, four, 500 calories than they realize. And that's why I explained the the protein bar and the peanut butter combo versus the yogurt and the berries.
There's a big calorie difference between those and the impact that it would have on your your goals. Okay. So, that's how we say with calories, how we have a meal design. Most guys are going to eat three to four meals at brass stacks. If you have three meals, you're having 600 calories.
If you're having four, you're having about 400 to 500 on average. You can write this down, too. We're roughly looking about 50 grams of protein per meal. About 50 grams of carbs per meal, and about for for uh for three meals, you could say 40 to 50 if it's four meals. Then uh pro uh cut fat daily total maybe 60 at most.
So you could divide that by 20 or maybe it's 15 if we're having four meals. So 15 to 20ish on that. 50 grams of protein, 40 to 50 carbs, about 15, maybe 20 grams of fat per meal if it's three or four with the average of about 600 calories or maybe uh 500ish depending on what you got going on. Okay. And you just got to move >> you got to move more one way or another.
You got to move more >> and stretch. >> Yeah. >> Hip replacement. We want to keep that thing loosey goosey. >> So, what questions you have as we we wrap up here? So, we got a pretty solid plan for you. Hit me with some questions because we have about 10 minutes left. >> No, I think uh it's been very eyeopening.
Um cuz like you said um you know the big epiphany here for me is uh look it you know it's very simple there is a reason you're plateauing and you just hit the nail on the head for me or you know turn the light switch on. >> Yeah. >> It's because of this. Well guess what? You stop you stop doing your walking or you stop doing your activities. Bingo.
That's one of the reasons. And then you're fluctuating on that reality some of the fatigue. Yes, you have stress and we didn't get into a lot of things. We could we could spend another whole Zoom recording and still run out more time. But um [clears throat] movement is energy. Again, episode 30, Brianisms. Movement is energy.
And with less movement, you are actually more tired because you're not physically moving your body. Your blood's not flowing. You're not taking a say a walk break in the middle of the morning when it's stress is starting to ramp up and you're not say relieving the valve the pressure valve in a sense by being active and you don't have enough calories either to be able to manage the uh the the the dependency uh and the needs for especially like say blood glucose to your brain because you are >> tired All right. You're tired. Absolutely. And
you're dealing with stress >> and that's a problem. >> Yeah. >> I agree. >> Back on that. So, uh, keep going. >> No. So, those are very, uh, things I should have realized. Um, but I just for whatever reason kind of did not and you've opened my eyes to that. So, um, starting [snorts] immediately, uh, I do have access.
I've got, you know, equipment in my home. So, I will be using I've got a treadmill here. So, there's no excusing why I can't walk. >> Ah, get back. >> And treadmills don't have to live in the basement. You can put them in your living room as well. They can be decor if you can get that past your wife. [laughter] [snorts] >> Yeah.
So, I have I have uh I have a Pelaton. I have a treadmill. So, there's no excuse. Um and then I also have weights that I am going to start using. Um it's just been um I've been putting it off due to the the pacemaker, but I'm it the time has come now where I can get full movement in my chest and I'm going to start uh lifting weights again.
So, um, deer season's winding up. That's another reason I kind of put things off because that >> takes precedence for >> Yeah. >> So, you know, um, the commitment will be to be consistent with the meal um, kind of based on what we just discussed here in the notes I took. Um, and then getting the activity back on track.
>> Yeah. And I think with if I get the meal and the calories and now that I have a better understanding of kind of how meals are built >> and kind of how food goes together uh with the activity piece of it, I think we can start to see things go in the right direction again. >> Yep. Exactly. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Well, appreciate you.
very energy and this is just for anyone listening. I I'm going to be doing a lot more health hot seats. So, if you're interested in your own health hot seat, you can just comment or send an email to brianbrienprana.com and I can get you uh and you do have to fill out a form and we got to make sure that uh I can help you for it as well.
But I've had I've worked with thousands of people, so I've had a lot of calls, a lot of conversations. Jeff, thank you so much for your time, effort, energy. We're scratching the surface here, but we gave you some really good simple needle movers that you should be able to see progress happening.
[snorts] And that was the point, right? To get you unstuck, to give you some value, to give you some education under it. And my final takeaway is look at calories. start understanding actually how many calories you eat. Uh you are in sales and I imagine you probably have to know your numbers when you're in the sales field, right? >> Yep.
Same thing calories and you're in your own sales field in a sense of fat loss. You have to know calories to be able to know your numbers to know, oh shoot, I'm at 2300 calories today. I need to get an extra 2500 steps in to balance it out and bring it back into balance so that I can see progress happening. All right. All right. Well, >> absolutely >> so much and I appreciate your time, your energy, your effort today on our call and I think you said it pretty well on the statement.
One of the last things is that uh why wait, right? What was that line that you said? I'd love for you to close us out if you can remember. >> Um, life's short. Why wait to be uh your best self? >> Exactly that. We're wrapping on that. So, thank you. Thank you. Off we go. Thank