Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: What's worthwhile healing mind, body and spirit. I'm Ramsey Zimmerman. I choose peace of mind, vitality of body, and joy of spirit over stress, exhaustion, or overwhelm. Together, let's explore and pursue the many ways to build holistic health and wellness.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: And that's the problem. And then with that, what ends up happening? You ended up eating a lot more food than what you should and you end up moving a lot less because you're working out a cubicle or you're working at an office or working at home sitting on a chair like you and I are doing right now. And you're just simply creating the perfect condition for your body to say, well, like, we got plenty of energy now laying around, let's store it for a rainy day.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Hey there, it's Ramsay here. That was Andreas Aesta. Andreas is a registered dietitian, sports nutritionist, and founder of Planos Nutrition, where he helps men and women over 30 lose fat, improve energy, and build sustainable habits without restrictive diets or gimmicks. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm the proud owner of a spare tire that I've been carrying around my middle basically my whole life. It has definitely gotten smaller in the last couple of years, but it's still there. It's stubborn, loyal, a constant companion, perhaps.
Why is belly fat always the last to go?
And what would it take to actually get all the way down to a flat tummy for a middle aged guy like me? Andreas knows what's up. Let's see what he says.
[00:01:48] Speaker C: Hey, Andreas, how's it going today?
[00:01:50] Speaker A: Good, Ramsey, thank you so much for having me, man.
[00:01:53] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I'm excited to talk to you.
You're a registered dietitian and a sports nutritionist and you like to work with busy people who are trying to lose fat and be energetic and build sustainable habits. Those are all things that are right up my alley and all things that I need personally.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: I'm hoping that I can help you and your audience.
Yes.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:02:25] Speaker C: Well, I'd love to hear before we sort of jump into, you know, too far into that, tell me a little bit about sort of where you're from and how you got into this business and, you know, give me a little bit of backstory.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm originally from Venezuela.
I was born and raised there. I grew up there up until I was about 21 years old. So I migrated to the United States in 2009.
So, yeah, grew up in a, you know, I would call it like a medium income family.
I, I Wanted to be a doctor growing up. That's something I remember since I was a little kid, wearing toy stethoscopes and, you know, doctor robes and stuff like that.
And I don't remember where it started or how it started, but I remember I always worked out or worked really hard in my school and my grades because I knew medical school was not easy.
And I think my personality, which is always driven to just try to be perfect at everything that I did, that I did. But I definitely. And then I also had a bit of a competitive spirit, which I still do, and that drove me to want to really pursue like, you know, a career in the sciences, particularly medicine.
So I was trying to be always top of my class and. And I graduated almost top of my class. I was second, almost couldn't get the first girl was in the first place. And that was something. I'm still kind of salty about it, but. Yeah, but the. What was actually a little bit more discouraging to me back then when I was graduating high school was that I didn't get into medical school like I have planned and. And that I thought was going to happen. And that really.
That really hurt me mentally. I didn't really know what I wanted to do at that point because I didn't really have a backup plan. I think it was something like either medicine or architecture. So, like complete different things.
And I didn't even go in the route of design or architecture. I just decided to stay within the sciences. Now, in the time where I applied to the school that I did back in Caracas, which is the main city, I.
Somebody told me there's something called a nutrition school. It's called School of Nutrition and Dietetics. It's part of the same faculty of medicine. And you can easily transition over because it's the same university.
And it could be just like a stepping stone or like, just like a little side move. And I remember I started that I had no idea what nutrition and dietetics was. It just sounded cool. And I was like, okay, out of nursing, physical therapy and nutrition, I think I'm more inclined to do nutrition. I also wanted to work with. With athletes. I will grow up an athlete my whole life, right? And there was again that competitive spirit. And I really wanted to work with people that were in the competition arena and different things. So I realized it was a whole entire area called sports nutrition. So the long story short of this is the fact that I stayed. I stayed there. I realized that after working with therapists, after working and actually in getting into the nitty gritty detail of, of nutrit and the science behind it, understood it so well, and I loved it. And I never, never ever transitioned over to medicine. Never even questioned why. I actually didn't really try because I didn't even try to transition over.
And the rest is history. I became a registered dietitian. I migrated here in 2009 because of political climate in Venezuela was one of those ones.
You read the news, you know what stuff has, what's happening there. It's been happening for 20 years. I was one of the lucky ones that kind of got out of there, like way before people were even doing that. So, so I came here, I went to school here in Indiana, and I wanted to pursue the dream to become a sports dietitian and I wanted to work with pro athletes. That was my big thing, which I did. I ended up graduating from college with honors. I did my, my, my sort of residency or my clinical hours in Texas in a very prominent Texas medical center.
And then I moved to Florida. And Florida I had the opportunity to work in with some of the top athletes, places like IMG Academy, I work in NFL combine programs. I worked with NFL athletes, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, like mls, Olympians, you name it. And it was an amazing experience.
And at some point I realized I wanted to kind of start my own thing because I was working in facilities and training facilities and different type of, you know, research centers and things like that. And I figure I wanted to work for my. On my own. So I took a lot of that knowledge and eventually I started my own company, which is now known as Planos Nutrition, which is a company dedicated to help people build their blueprint for their own wellness and health, whether that's weight loss, losing the extra tire, or optimization of health, longevity improvements of your relationship with food and your mindset around it. So we try to, like, focus on a few different things. And we support people over, you know, 30, 40 and 50 years old. We're just really trying to, to, to make this count. And ultimately I tell people what health is wealth. So if you're not really paying attention to how you're taking care of yourself, like, it doesn't matter how much money you have or the status you have, if you don't have health, you don't have anything. So that's kind of what sounds like you.
[00:08:05] Speaker C: It sounds like you'd, you know, you had this idea when you were a kid that you were going to be a doctor, but I suspect that really what you had an idea was that you Were going to help people and get people healthy. And you know, you, you dove into the sciences straight away and when you sort of dug into the nutrition aspects of it, it sounds like you came at it both from the really scientific perspective, but then also from the, you know, fitness and sports.
Were you a big sports fan when you were a kid?
[00:08:39] Speaker A: It was funny because I was not a sports and like I was not really watching sports now I do a.
[00:08:44] Speaker C: Little bit all the time.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: I, I just, I didn't want to watch, I just wanted to be in it. And I was one of those like athletes that, you know, I, I was really good at every sport but, but I was, you know, not great at any sport either. So you know, the great, the great ones that specific sports are the ones that play competitively and they get scholarships and stuff like that, I was just really good.
So because my, my goal eventually was to like, my main sports were tennis and soccer and I played tennis competitively for, for quite some time, but again, like didn't really do all that it required for me to be to the next level. So, so, but I still wanted to be involved in sports. When I wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to be a, a sports physician or a sports medicine practitioner. And. But one thing that really made a difference for me was I remember it was my cousin that told me something that really me, which was, well that's cool cuz, because like you will not be able to help people prevent disease rather than treat it.
That kind of hit me and I was like, that's interesting. And I think I never really kind of saw it from that perspective because ultimately most doctors are more driven or not driven, but just their whole entire process is just to cure ailments and diseases, not always prevent them. And even though they may have the right, you know, intentions around prevention, ultimately they're treating disease.
So I thought, well, if I can prevent people to go in there in the first place, like that's probably a pretty good gig. And that's why also I, I enjoy that and I feel like my impact around this and the education and the things that I teach and how I coach are helping people get to that place.
[00:10:31] Speaker C: You know, I think a lot of guys, a lot of guys can relate to that idea that they want to be out there on the field, they want to be playing, they want to be in the middle of it.
You know, we, we go after certain things and you know, to some extent we specialize and to some extent we still stayed, you know, generalists and doing a bunch of stuff.
And then I think, you know, a lot of us guys at a certain age, we have gotten to a certain point, but then we start to slow down and we start to sort of lose some steps and we start to get a little bit of a spare tire around the middle.
And I wonder, the guys that you sort of talk to and who you start to work with, what's their starting point? A lot of times why and how is it that they connect with you and sort of what kind of shape are they in?
Kind of to start with, what's our starting point? A lot of times think there's a.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: Couple of different starting points. For the people I have worked with, particularly men.
One, one group are those who are sick and tired, trying a lot of different things and failing at it miserably.
These are the former athletes. The, the, the people that were in really good shape.
They had great physiques, great health, and then life happened. They had kids, got married, like that kind of went on the wayside, focused on career. And this is a group where they have struck. They have started and spend a good amount of time trying to fix the problems, but they have been unsuccessful. Usually they are in their 40s and sometimes getting to 50s. And this is a group that they have tried stuff. They're not new to this. They have attempted diets and things and stuff like that. And I think they're coming to me all burned out with so much stuff that they tried, but they never actually done what was most needed, which is like just focusing on just one thing and being accountable to it. That's one group of people. The second group of men are the ones who are just who woke up one day and. Or simply saw a picture from the weekend that they took with the family reunion or somewhere in there. And they look at that picture and they like. I mean, they couldn't believe what they saw. Right? It's like. And they see themselves every day, but it's just one of those moments when you're looking at your picture, you know that like, you know what that sometimes feels like. It's like, what in the hell? What happened? Right. Yeah. So they have like this big wake up moment or this like, aha. Moment to realize like, I got to do something about this and they haven't. And usually those are the easier ones to work with because of the fact that they're just no, nothing. Right. They're just starting from zero. The other group, we had to work a lot on, like, letting go a lot of the things that they learned that they thought they needed to do, but they, whether they didn't do it correctly or they just didn't really follow the right strategies or the right frameworks for what they wanted to accomplish. So usually they fall within those two categories.
[00:13:55] Speaker C: Well, so with the guys who had been trying a bunch of stuff and getting really frustrated, are there patterns around, you know, why, what kinds of things are they trying and why doesn't it work?
[00:14:11] Speaker A: Yeah, it all revolves to one simple thing, which I call it lack of awareness or lack of self awareness.
It's, I call them also blind spots. It's the kind of things that you feel like you're doing all the right things and you're checking all the right boxes, but you truly aren't, but you just don't know. And it's, it's interesting because I have been in that place and I have hired my own coaches so that they can see, help me see the blind spot. So lack of awareness is one, and the lack of follow through, which is usually related to lack of accountability.
They are potentially doing the right things, but something happens and like, and I, I call this the consistency thread. And I explain it like evo is like a rope or like an actual thread. Every time you break it, you have to start building it again.
Right. So the goal is just to try to maintain that threat because the better that you do that, the more consistent you can become and the likelihood of you achieving your goals is going to be just more realized.
So some of the things that they struggle with is, you know, they go really great on the weekdays and then the weekends are just a complete disaster.
Whether it's because they have families, kids, you know, kids, sports, or very social, active lifestyles where like they hang out with a bunch of friends and stuff. And then one thing about people over 30, 30 and 40 is that compared to when they were 20 and in the best shape of their lives, a lot of times they're blaming a lot of factors that they shouldn't really be blaming for. Number one is my metabolism is not the same or it slowed down. And that is a ton of bull. It's not actually your metabolism. That's been shown in research.
They have looked at the data of, you know, somebody as young as like two months up until like 90 something years old. And they have looked at their metabolic rates across their lifespan and what they found is that usually between ages of 20 and 65, your metabolism doesn't really change much. And when it does at 65 basically ramps up very rapidly up until you are 20 or so and then, yes, it slows down at 65 by like 5 to 10% a year or something crazy like that. Don't quote me on that. But the reality, and this is for men and women, by the way, men and women, women who are also going through menopause and men who are. It doesn't matter what they're going through in their lives.
So it's not their metabolism, their lifestyle just changed. And think about it. When you were 20, we. Most of us were broke, right? We couldn't really afford eating in fancy restaurants or drink like, you know, good alcohol or. Or go play golf or do all kinds and things like that, which, you know, present opportunities for indulgences, food, alcohol and different things like that. When you're 30, you're 40, like, you have access to those things, right? You have more opportunity to be able to do that. Whether you have more, like, economical, you know, better economic stance to be able to afford those things or just life is just different. You have, like, different focus areas. You now have responsibilities to a wife or, or women, to a husband and kids and stuff like that. So your energy is more dispersed and distributed to many different things in your life. And that's the problem. And then with that, what ends up happening? Well, you ended up eating a lot more food than what you should, and you end up moving a lot less because you're working out a cubicle or you're working at an office or working at home, sitting on a chair, like you and I are doing right now. And you're just simply creating the perfect condition for your body to say, well, like, we got plenty of energy now laying around. Let's store it for a rainy day.
That's. That's where the problem lies.
[00:18:01] Speaker C: So it's like in terms of priorities or competing sort of interests, and, you know, you've got other things that you need to do and you've got opportunities to sort of do more of the things that you want. You can eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want, that sort of thing.
And then that kind of catches up with us.
But also, you know, in terms of metabolism. Yeah, no, I think you're right. Like that whole notion that, oh, metabolism slowing down is sort of a inevitable thing.
Isn't it more true that, you know, metabolism kind of responds to what our, you know, body is doing, what we're eating, the kind of exercise, that getting like that is much more significant. It's much more dynamic than just it being a foregone conclusion that it's going to slow down, right?
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Yes. And to make up an important distinction, when I talk about metabolism, I'm talking of what I like to call like your basal metabolic rate, which means like you know, the amount of calories your body requires at rest.
That number doesn't change much.
It is influenced by certain things. For example, what you eat. Yes. The way you train and exercise. Yes. The way your body composition is, is also very important.
Which actually leads to what I think are the most important things that men over 30 and 40 should and 50 should be focusing on right now. Which if I'm thinking about from the exercise standpoint, every dude out there needs to be lifting weights. Like it's not, it's both applies to both men and women. Like, but there's no, it shouldn't be a distinction between them because it's equally important for both. For various reasons. It's not just for the aesthetics purposes. It's mostly because of longevity and overall health. But it's a nice thing when you are 50 and you can have a visible abdominal region.
Right. But that's a, that's a nice side effect. But ultimately it's in the way I train and what I do. Resistance training was so important to me is because I understand that building quality muscle over the years, one, doesn't get any easier and two, I know if I did it, I'm going to live longer because it's shown in studies. And when they looking and analyzing the muscle composition of a 70 year old that is a triathlete versus someone who is not, you can see major differences. And you can start to question or you can start to ask yourself like, who do you think is more mobile? Who do you think actually gets out of the bed in the morning without any type of pain?
And you're always going to say the guy with more muscle integrity. So muscle actually directly impacts your metabolism. Why? Because it's a tissue that is like heavily taxing on energy which means you need a ton of calories to thrive.
Fat isn't. Fat is a, it's, it's a tissue that just sits there.
So more fat in the body doesn't equal more calories burned. Yes, you are living in a larger body, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're burning more calories because, well, fat is just calories at store or calories in storage.
So that's why I say it's important to improve the composition your body by increasing muscle mass and decreasing body fat percentage in all fronts, which I think it's one of the most important ways to accomplish that. It is through weight training and resistance training.
[00:21:34] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I completely agree. I think that is really important, like, just keeping maintaining that basic body strength so that you're capable, you know, as the. As the years and the decades go by.
Definitely having that, you know, physical strength and ability for whatever it is that you need to do.
[00:21:58] Speaker B: Do you feel exhausted before your day even starts? Or do you struggle to balance demanding work and family with everything else? Do you wonder how to say no without guilt or set boundaries when everyone needs things from you? Does burnout feel inevitable no matter how hard you try to push through? Then check out my new book on Amazon, Stress Response. Manage your response to stress in order to reduce anxiety, avoid burnout, and find calm and steady focus. Now available on Amazon.com and you make.
[00:22:26] Speaker C: A really interesting point. I hadn't really thought about it that way, but when you walk around in a higher composition of your body, as muscle versus a higher composition is fat, then you know, muscle is more expensive. Like, muscle takes more, Requires more energy to maintain, more to operate. And, yeah, it makes sense to me that you would just use kind of more energy as you're going along with the muscle.
That makes a lot of sense, you know, so we talked about kind of that first group you described, but that second group who sort of have this moment of clarity, you know, and maybe it's looking at a picture like you said, or maybe it's going back to a reunion and seeing that lots of the people there, you know, look the same that they did 20 years ago when you graduated.
Or maybe sometimes that comes from a conversation with a doctor who's like, man, you gotta. You gotta turn this thing around.
That can be really overwhelming.
[00:23:28] Speaker B: Right?
[00:23:29] Speaker C: That moment of clarity.
How do you sort of talk to and work with and help folks who sort of come to you and they're like, man, I gotta do something. I don't even know what I. I gotta do something.
You know, what should I do?
[00:23:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
So.
And. And yes to the doctor piece, because that's something I'm missing. Yeah, that's usually. That's the other reason why people will come to me to, like, when they have this, like, scare from their doctor, which is when they say, like, you gotta do something about this. Because you look like, you know, you're held. You may be 40, but you look 60 in this paper. So that gets them scared.
So the first things that we do is we audit everything. And I think everybody listening to this is like, you have to take a hard look at your life in terms of what you're currently doing right now. And I audit things from the perspective of, yes, nutrition, because I'm ultimately, I am a registered dietitian, after all. But I also ask people to audit everything else. Their habits, their lifestyle, their stress, their sleep, and all the things in between. So I tell people, like, one way to start to do that is like to build awareness around what you're consuming on a daily basis. And the best way to do that is by, like keeping a food log, for example. It could be tracking your food or your calories. It's so powerful to really understand what is it that you're consuming that allows you to really build awareness around it. I always explain this in the analogy of, like, finances, like, or a budget or a bank account. If you don't ever look at your bank account and you're really trying to budget for something and you don't really build awareness around, like, well, how much you're spending, how much money is coming in, you'll never going to be able to figure it out, the budget that you need to really stick to. So with that in mind, well, you have to look at your bank account. So the same way I explain it. And you have to track your expenses and your income. Same thing applies to nutrition. Because ultimately it's, it's an, it's, it's a. It's a. The law of thermodynamics, right? It's like, you know, there's energy coming in and there's energy going out. So you have to really understand what's happening there.
And once you understand what's happening there, then at least you start to build awareness around. It's like, oh, wow, I am consuming a lot of fat. I'm consuming a lot of calories. Okay, then what can we do? Because the biggest mistake that many of these guys make is they immediately jump into something crazy, something aggressive, like a intermittent fasting program, or I'm gonna do Carnivore. I'm gonna do whatever those things. And don't get me wrong, all those things will work for them. They will work for them because they're following the package instructions of the diet they're swallowing to the T. Because typically men are going to be a lot more like, well, not a lot more than women, but in general, they. They tend to be like, I need to get this, this under control.
So what ends up happening is like, they get to a goal, but then they become that. That first guy that I told you, right? The one that did something, lost 20 pounds and they gained the 20 pounds up and then they're. And then it becomes harder and harder because they're trying harder and harder. And then five years later, there they are with 50 pounds heavier than even when they begin the process.
So for me is awareness first and start from where you're at, not anything crazy or aggressive.
Then we'd like to focus on what I like to call the core 5 of health, which I think is everything where people need to be like building their entire foundation on health. And when you ask me how do I get rid of the spare tire? Well, at the very fundamental level of how to start to do that and reduce body fat and lose weight is by focusing on these five things I'm about to share.
The number one is, I call it my favorite macronutrient is prioritizing protein. And most men think that they're getting enough. They may be getting enough, but then may not. Consistent across the board. And every single time one of the guys I started working with start to improve their body composition, not even losing weight weight. It's usually attributed to the one thing I asked him to do at the beginning, which is let's really get your protein under control. Let's track it, let's make sure you're getting at least 0.82 gram of protein per pound of body weight for most people that are normal in weight. So if you don't have more than 20 pounds to lose, I would say probably use your current body weight. So if you're £200 58 and you want to drop about £20 because you want to be at 180, you probably need to be consuming, consuming anywhere between 180 to 200 grams of protein on a daily basis. So you start to build your diet around that.
That's number one. The second thing I always tell people to focus on is their fiber intake. And the reason for it is because it's what's going to help them control their hunger and their satiety.
Why do you think you're familiar with the GLP1 medications and drugs, right? Ozempic, set bound, all those different things that are just super mainstream right now.
These drugs are so effective because of the fact that they're really like touching on brain circuits or like certain circuits at the brain level that control reward and satiety.
So when you're able to control your urges, your hunger, your like cravings, you're able to just simply not desire those things and you eat less.
Now the natural way to do that is by getting enough fiber because it keeps your body fuller. It Digests food slower. And the same thing with protein. So that's another way that you're able to control and manage your hunger levels. And at the same time, when you're getting a lot more fiber, that means you're probably consuming a lot less processed foods and more wholesome options. So that's number two.
[00:29:11] Speaker C: So the first one was protein.
And that seems like, you know, that it seemed like a lot of protein that you were saying. So, you know, and then I think too, maybe some people think that they're getting enough protein, but oftentimes they're not. And, but then on the other hand, there's some folks, there's guys especially who eat just like a ton of protein, you know, and maybe they're even going full carnivore for.
But then the, the second thing that you said was to get enough fiber.
And I think that's often overlooked.
Especially with guys getting enough fiber. It's like, you know, we're, you know, it's like listening to this is like first. Okay, protein. We definitely got enough protein. We're doing, we're doing good on protein. But fiber. Oh, fiber.
So what are some really great sort of sources of fiber that, that, you know, people could sort of integrate into their diet?
[00:30:16] Speaker A: I think if I build that as a simple day of eating and with the focus on fiber intake, to get about 30 to 35 grams a day, which is what average men should be consuming, it should be about 15 grams of fiber for every thousand calories you consume.
So if you calculate that anywhere between 2,000 to 21, 500 calories, which I was just considering the average amount of calories most men should be consuming based on where they're at, that should be probably around that.
And so it should be about 30 to 35 grams. So if I was just building the perfect day, I would have a breakfast that is composed of either some form, form of whole grain, like oatmeal or whole rolled oats or something like that that you have probably like at least like 3 to 4 grams of fiber in there, maybe some blueberries.
Or you can also do more, something more savory like making some saute vegetables with eg.
So you're throwing in some spinach, some tomatoes, some, maybe some bell peppers. You kind of saute them all together. So that's a good way to do that. You can also add maybe some chia seeds into a smoothie. That actually adds a little bit of fiber that is in there too.
Maybe for lunch you're having a nice little salad bowl with like, you know, at least two to three different vegetables. This afternoon, for example, I had tamahi tuna with some rice. And then I had. It was a combination of romaine lettuce with spinach, tomatoes, radishes. I had some avocado, which is a great source of fiber, too. And then I think I also added some carrots in there too. So it's a combination of colors. And that will probably land you a. Probably at least 10 grams of fiber that you added in there with a combination of those things. And then for night time, you're doing something similar, maybe more of a cruciferous type of vegetable. So you can vary things a little bit. Maybe some cauliflower, some. Maybe some greenery, maybe some asparagus, some green beans, options like that. And if you're still kind of falling a little short, this is where you can add maybe like a. It could be like a snack where like you're having some fruit or some, again, some berries of an apple or different things like that that can add a little bit of extra fiber boost in terms of that. And one thing about fiber is like, you never heard me talk about like, like kind of fiber supplements or foods that have fiber in it, because the reality is there's a lot of. There's a lot of foods that you find supermarkets that now are.
They're boosting them with fiber. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that because you can still use that as a bit of a supplement to your overall fiber intake. But I tell people, do not just rely on those. Like, you'll see like this little. No carb wraps that have like 20 grams of fiber, and then that sometimes it's a little overkill.
And in fiber, we don't want to have too much of and we don't want to have too little of. It's. It's just like anything.
So some of these people that are relying on a lot of these, like, fiber products are getting way too much fiber. And that's not ideal from the health perspective, particularly from the gut health perspective.
[00:33:27] Speaker C: Right on. All right, so that was two. What's number three?
[00:33:31] Speaker A: Number three is water. It's hydration. I think. Think it's one of the areas that it's so easy to fix yet is the one that people struggle the most because it needs to be an ongoing, constant thing. I don't think most guys are drinking enough water.
I think in. In general, I need to remind them constantly. And I even say that about myself.
And it's, it's so important I tell people like you know, if you don't have enough water in the system, it's like, you know, you don't have enough oil in your car, like your engine is not going to run, burn adequately.
So I tell people, let's, let's try to get at least, you know, at least 2 to 3 liters of water on a daily basis. I tell, it's usually the recommendation is half of your body weight in ounces of water. So If I weigh 200 pounds, ideally 100 ounces of water on a daily basis is a simple math that you can do for yourself.
So then you can really start to ask yourself whether you're getting enough water or not. Not. And that's a simple change and solution that a lot of times can help a lot with satiety, can help with energy, can help with like focus and, and, and, and cognitive improvements. Because again like 60 plus percent of your body's water and reductions of its status will definitely affect how your body functions. That's number three.
[00:34:52] Speaker C: We're talking water. Water as in like actual water, not like the water content of your Mountain Dew.
[00:34:58] Speaker A: Yeah, and there are certain things. Yeah, true. Because like, well, what are some of those things are going to be like? Ultimately any type of fluid your body will consider it, like will just extract the water out of it. So you eat like a watermelon. There's like plenty of water in there. Does that mean that you're consuming a glass of water? No, but it counts towards it. Even of a Mountain Dew. But then at the end of the day too, it's like you got to understand the context by which that's placed upon Mountain Dew. A regular kind like, you know, you're having like 30 grams of sugar along with that. Is that the best way to consume water? Obviously not. The same thing with vitamin water, for example, which is a great marketing product which, you know, makes you think that you're getting a tons of vitamins and you are. But at the same time the fully loaded ones contain 30 to 40 grams of sugar.
So, so that's where I always start to with people to say just plain water.
What about like hydrogen water? What about like, you know, alkaline water water like just water. Just like it doesn't matter like whether you want to like, you know, spend eight crane on like a khan water. Whatever you want to put on your, on your kitchen, I respect that. Whatever you prefer to do if you have the money for it. But water is just water. You don't have to kind of hype it up with anything Else.
So that's number three. And that I think it's. It's very important. Number four, I tell people when it comes down to nutrition is no skipping meals.
And I have that rule with every single one of my clients because I tend to notice that people that skip meals, Meals, they're not doing it on purpose.
They're usually doing it because life gets in the way, things get busy. And the moment you skip a meal is the moment that you're going to open yourself up for.
For failure later in the day. Why?
Because most people that are skipping meals, they're not skipping dinner. They're usually skipping breakfast. They're skipping lunch because, like, well, they have a meeting or whatnot. And when do they start to eat again? Is usually at night when they're tired, that they have to deal with kids or, like, with other stuff outside of work. Like, they're just constantly stressed out from.
[00:37:03] Speaker C: That meeting that didn't allow them to eat lunch.
[00:37:05] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. And then at nighttime, it's a time where people are just simply, you know, like, they're raiding their pantries, right? Like, they're starving. And that reason. And there's a reason for it.
I tell people, your body's designed mind perfect for a reason. Your body knows what it needs. It knows what, like, amount of energy you need to provide it. Now, your brain, particularly your emotional brain, is not as smart as your body. And let me put it this way, your body knows it needs something, but your emotional brain is like, okay, well, how about chocolate? Chocolate sounds like a great idea. And your body goes, well, sure, but that's not the healthiest option, or that's not maybe the most smartest things to kind of give to me. So I always tell people, whenever you're skipping meals, nighttime comes and rolls around, and your body has a physiological need, but is always met with an emotional response or trigger or routine.
So if you're sitting in front of the pantry or in front of the fridge and you see a nice little bowl of, like, you know, like the lunch that I described, you have enough to make that type of lunch. And you see this little frozen pizza. Pizza. You're like, man, that pizza sounds good. Because you're gonna go for one, something convenient and two, something that probably makes you feel good.
And between the two, if you have not really built good habits, you're always gonna find, you know, you're always gonna go for something like that. And this is even shown in research, like, if. Even if you're, like, hungry, like, really starving, and you're presented with an apple and you're presented with candy. The likelihood of you choosing an apple in that moment, it's going to be most likely lower than you ch the KitKat, for example. @ least that would be my case, right? Versus when you're full, you're thinking a little bit more clearly. One, you don't have the exaggerates like or like that, that really exaggerated need for, for something desperately. And then you make decisions a little bit better.
I was on a call with a client, he's a one of my very few celebrity clients who is a lead singer for a big band.
And he told me the first day we had a conversation with, about this is like, dude, I have a problem with candy. Like, it's, it's insane. It's like if you see me, it's like I can go to the gas station and like. And sometimes I'm like ashamed of how much stuff I have and eat and all at one point. And we started working on some of these things, right? Like, let's focus on the core five. Let's do this. Like. And he just told me, dude, I haven't really had candy the way I used to in like 53 days. He said, because he counted it and, and he was super proud of himself for it. And I realized, see, you don't really need the candy. You're just more inclined to do it because, well, you haven't eaten an actual proper meal until 4 o' clock in the afternoon.
So yeah, that started to change. So fix those things and you'll notice that your inclination to have a lot of these other foods will most likely subside.
So where we at? That's four, right? Right.
[00:40:07] Speaker C: That was four. That was. Don't skip meals. It sounds like there's one left.
[00:40:11] Speaker A: There's one left. And I think it. I. I kind of like have a bit of a, you know, it's either or when I, when if I just stick to nutrition only the, the fifth one, I call it just reflection, which is, you know, every single week I ask myself, like, how do I rate my nutrition this week or how do I r. My rate my health this week? I think many guys struggle with the problem that they're not necessarily addressing or becoming aware of what's actually happening inside of their bodies or with what they're doing, whether they're not stepping on the scale to figure out what's happening because of fear or whether they're not simply taking a moment to realize like, man, like, I did pretty good. This is a good example also with this client who sometimes I need to explain to him what's happening so he can understand the changes that he's making because sometimes he doesn't feel like there's anything that would change per se.
So reflection is the ability that you have to be able to look back at your actions and the habits and decisions you made throughout the week around your health and to critically evaluate them from the positive and negative standpoint or from the positive or constructive standpoint, let's just put it that way. What went well this week? Well, I had breakfast every morning. Morning. Great.
Well, I had, you know, I had less candy or I was a little bit more consistent with my diet. Great. What didn't go as well? I, I indulged a little bit too much in this night with too much alcohol. Okay. What could I do differently in the future?
Right. Because this is the kind of stuff that stays with you. I tell people that nutrition and like getting rid of the extra fat and losing the weight is very mental. Mental.
And if it wasn't mental people there were, there wouldn't be a multi billion dollar industry in place right now because people would just do the one diet and then they're done.
Right. But why do people continue to fail around it? Because they're focusing on the wrong damn thing.
Right. Like they're not necessarily addressing the mindset of it all. And everybody has a diet story. Everybody has. I call it the diet story, which is what's, what's food like for you been since you were a kid and for everyone is different. You know, I was part of the clean plate club, for example. You know what that is?
[00:42:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:35] Speaker C: You got to clean your plate before you're done with dinner.
[00:42:38] Speaker A: Huh? Right. Or every time you could not get out of the table until you finish your plate.
Right. And, and that we think our parents are doing the, the right thing. And, and they're well intentioned because we're trying to fuel our, our kids so they can grow and be healthy. But ultimately what they're creating is this, this sense of, of you know, you there's going to. Because sometimes depends on parents the way they do it. Because sometimes it's like we don't want to waste food. So it's like food is scars and I need to eat it as much as I can and as fast as I can to make sure that I'm, I'm good. So I have the approval of my parents. But then the problem is like when you're an adult, you don't need the approval of your parents, but subconsciously you think you do.
So my problem was, and I didn't realize this until I was in the United states in my 20s, is like, you know, why do I sometimes go to the restaurants and not eat, eat so much food like this, like, humongous plates? Because I wasn't used to that. Portions are much different where I'm from.
And these massive plates, and I have to finish it, even though I'm, I'm. I. I was walking out of restaurants like that. I couldn't even move. Like it was like Thanksgiving every time I went to a place.
So I realized it was this, right? I realized it was hard for me to leave food on the plate, even though when I was, I was like, uncontrollably full.
So I call that the clean play club. And there's a lot of people that struggle with that.
There's, there's people that grow up in environments where, you know, I just had a call with the client the other day where, you know, they have a weight issue since they were younger and their, their parents always brought it up, and because they were concerned, they limit stuff on them. Like, you can have sugar, you can have sweets, you can have this. Let's put you on a diet. Imagine you're 12 years old old, and you're put on a restriction while your other friends are eating all this stuff. Not only that, but you're now being made fun of because of the fact that you have extra weight on you.
That stuff really kind of weighs heavily on people and it really transforms the way. And this is the kind of stuff that happened when you're a kid, but then that manifests, like the, the really big traumas manifest when you're 30 and 40.
So, so that's, that's a problem. Like, everybody has a different diet story and, and what is key. And I guess, like, the long tangent about this conversation that I'm really trying to get to is reflecting is important.
If you're not really understanding this of yourself, you're never going to be able to get to the root cause of the problems that drives you to gain the 20 pounds every time.
So once you do, then you start to make decisions a little bit differently. So that's what we'll call, like, number five, if I'm just sticking to nutrition. Yeah. So.
[00:45:17] Speaker B: Well.
[00:45:21] Speaker C: I can't help but wonder, like, why is it so hard to finally ever get rid of that last spare tire? It seems like, you know, like, that's the, the bit that just hangs on, like the, the one great consistency is our love Handles.
[00:45:37] Speaker A: Yeah, it is why they're mine because that's, that's the kind of thing in my, my, my body that I'm sub. A lot of subconscious have very subconscious about it.
Here's why. It's. It's not impossible, it's just, it's just harder.
Precision Nutrition is a great company that teaches a lot about the concept of behavior change and different things like that. And they publish ones an article called the cost of getting lean and honestly change everything for me when it comes on to coaching clients around this and what they explained what was that the cost of going from very heavy or, or having a large like large amount of fat to lower the, the I guess like the, the trade offs or the sacrifices you have to be making at each level vary and from like being heavier to being very lean. Right. Things are a little bit easier at the time top than they are at the bottom, particularly for the things that are required for you to do. And they made the example like when you're really trying to get to like a single digit body fat percentage in men, like bodybuilder type of, you know, digits, you got to understand that the sacrifices and the trade offs are much larger and the amount of things that you're supposed to do, you're not doing.
Now what is the most, I think frustrating things for men is thinking that you are actually doing all that you're supposed to, but people are not. And again goes back to the lack of self awareness. So why is it hard to get rid of the fat tire?
Because you're not really doing all the things that you're supposed to do. And I tell people, okay, like you really want to get, you really want to get rid of this stuff? Well, let's, let's spend 30 days doing everything all the sacrifices required to be able to do, do it. And I promise you, like if you for example, you right now, you tell me Andres, like I want you, I want to hire you for like 30 days and I want you to get me shredded. And I'm willing to do everything that I need to do to be able to help make that happen. So I'm going to tell you exactly what it would take and let's just pretending that you're a person that you, you're, you know, you seem to have like you know, body fat percentage that is adequate. You're not a bodybuilder like single digit body fat percentage, but you have maybe like you know, around 20 or a little bit around that time, like around that, that body fat percentage. So you're trying to get down like, you know, like the 12% body fat.
Can you do that in 30 days? Maybe not in 30 days, but you can get pretty close. And I'll tell you the following. So, okay, first of all, we need to put you at a calorie deficit. And we have to really track everything very, very, very detail.
So we're going to have to track every ounce of food that you consume to make sure that you're staying within the specific calorie budget that I'm going to put you on. We need to make sure that we're creating an adequate deficit by making sure that your exercise actually matches that. So we're going to be doing, whether it's cardio or movement for 20 to 40 minutes, like, you know, like most of every day of the week or some form of movement to make sure the gap is there. We're going to get eight hours of sleep. We're going to make sure your stress is under management. So you're not necessarily racking up your cortisol and like, or jacking it up. And that's sort of affecting the way that your body's mobilizing fuels and all.
You're going to make sure you're getting all your supplements and you are not eating out because the likelihood of, you know, being able to control every ounce of calories when you're out, it's going to be very difficult. So if you have, want to have full control of what your experience and your results, you're going to have to have do those things added into that. You're going to be drinking a gallon of water every single day and you're not going to be consuming any alcohol.
If I have you do that for 30 days, you're going to get rid of your spare tire. You will like, that's, that's a given now sustaining that, that's a little bit tougher. And most people can not to that level because I couldn't. I got down to that. And this, what I just told you is exactly what I did for 60 days. And I was shredded. I was so lean and I felt so good. But then I couldn't sustain that. Like, I couldn't.
So I think the, the answer to your question is, you know, why is it so hard? Because people are not willing to do what it takes to get to that place ways.
And, and, and let me get me wrong, there's people that are genetically gifted where you'll see them and they're eating like an.
And they're like whatever, like they're doing, but then you're, they're just more genetically predisposed to having a body composition that it favors muscle maintenance and lower body fat percentage. And that's just something that you can blame your parents for because they create you. So that's something I, A lot of people that, you know, we, we're, we're just out different cards and there's a genetic component to it that is really difficult. There's people that have a harder time doing this and there's people that's going to be super easy. Now if you're one of those that you're like, okay, this is not as easy for me, you really need to understand that the effort required for you specifically is going to be much higher. Which is why I hate comparing myself or, or getting my clients to compare themselves with other people, which is never a helpful thing to do.
[00:50:56] Speaker C: Well, I have to say that I found this to be a very encouraging conversation, even though you didn't tell me that I could just do 50 sit ups three times a day and I could get rid of my spare tire, which is what I was secretly hoping you'd tell me, But clearly that's not the answer. But some of the things I did take away from this is that if you're in either one of those two positions that we talked about, you know, where you either are realizing that, you know, you have slipped and that all those crazy things you've been trying to do, none of them really stuck, you know, or if you're in that position where you got that, that scare from your doctor or from just realizing, you know, all of a sudden that you're not where you need to be in either one of those cases. There's really some, you know, basic fundamentals, you know, foundational things that you can do, and they're just really not, you know, super difficult. It's a matter of. What I'm hearing you say is it's a matter of consistency and it's a matter of taking them on and doing the right things for an extended period of time. And I hear also, I'm also getting from you that if you are serious and motivated and you, you, I want to get down and, and lose that spare tire once and for all. Like it is possible, but it's going to require a pretty big commitment to do all those things and, and get there. And maybe I just need to learn to love my love handles.
[00:52:30] Speaker A: Yeah. And, and again, sometimes. And, and when, when I talk about the 30 day thing, I don't, I didn't really necessarily meant it as a way to say like, this is what's required.
Because if you can extend that process and say like, okay, like if I don't really do all those things, but I kind of give myself a bit more freedom, can I still accomplish that goal? You can, but just understand that it'll take longer, but then it takes like applied pressure consistently. Right. So it's not just a good month and then like kind of like falling off. So it's like, how can you maintain some level of discipline, like for six months, months doing these things while maybe still living your life? And this is the clients that I talk to that are just, you know, they're taking longer in the process. But what I tell them is like, well, you gotta understand if it's longer, but then you still have to have an applied pressure like day in, day out to be able to get to that place. Maybe you're not tracking everything like to the T, but maybe you are consistent with your exercise routines and stuff like that. You're not letting yourself slip heavily, like two days in a row, that kind of thing. So I think that consistency, what you mentioned, it's so important.
And if you're able to be consistent, that one thing for a period of time, you're most likely going to be able to get there.
But that's probably what I would say because I don't want people to kind of walk away thinking, okay, I guess I gotta do this like 30 days super restrictive thing.
[00:53:56] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I, I don't think that, I don't think that's the message that you have to do that. 30 days super restrictive. I think the message is that don't have like a crazy unrealistic expectation that you can get to perfection ever. And that, you know, perfection is maybe not even really the goal. The, the goal is consistent health over the rest of your life.
So yeah, no, this was great. I really appreciate you coming in and talking and I got out, I got a lot out of this and I hope lots of people do too. So, so tell me where, if people want to learn more to get a hold of you, talk to you, where can they find you online?
[00:54:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So there's three ways, either through social media, through our soon to launch community, or through my website. So those are three places to go. Our website is plannersnutrition.com It's a little outdated, but it's essentially where it has everything that you need to know about, like how to work with us. If you wanted to get help or support on a One on one basis.
We have our social media channels which are very active in YouTube and Instagram and also on Tik Tok. So those are our main channels and we're posting content, free content all the time. And I think it's a great way to get educated in a lot of the things that I teach. And then we are soon launching a community called Wellness Plus. It's a community for people over 30 who are really trying to be accountable in the process and to kind of that we're trying to get rid of the spare tire and things like that, but they just need to be connected with somebody that can support them. And we have a it's free or you have some paid tiers that you can access to with some more access to me.
So those are all things that you can check out and you can connect with us through to be able to support you in your health journey.
[00:55:52] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:55:53] Speaker C: Thanks so much, Andreas. Talk to you soon.
[00:55:55] Speaker A: Thank you, Ramsey.
[00:55:57] Speaker B: Looking for more?
Visit whatsworthwhile.net to listen to podcast episodes, learn from books and articles, and live better by choosing healthy products and practices. I'm now offering services through worthwhile advisors for personal coaching, professional advising, speaking and group facilitation. If you or your team are ready to reduce stress and anxiety, build vitality and momentum, and accomplish your goals without burning out, then please, please contact me, Ramsey Zimmerman, through the website or on social media like Instagram X or LinkedIn. Thanks.
