Martyn1980
New member
Hey all!
Just wanted to share my journey with your guys. Enjoy the read!
Let me introduce myself: my name is Martijn and I have always been into sports. I've never had any issues with being overweight and figured that I could eat whatever I want, whenever I want, because my body was just wired to not gain any weight...but ever since I hit my 30s something weird happened…
I have always been in pretty good shape, but all of a sudden I started to put on weight. One day I looked in the mirror and HATED what I saw. Gone were the days where you could see my abs. Instead all I saw was an ugly belly and that round “soft” pudgy look. Far from manly and really unattractive. I felt like someone had just punched me in the gut and I felt terrible about myself.
So I decided to dramatically change my life. Time to turn things around! I wanted to get back into shape, feeling and looking fit and athletic! Being a consultant and analytical in nature, I spent night after night, even weekends, reading up on everything related to training and nutrition. I became a member of different bodybuild forums. I bought magazines and books just to learn as much as I could on training and nutrition.
Then, I started working out and dieting…hard! I worked out 5-6 times a week doing both weightlifting and hours of cardio. I combined this with a very strict dietary regime, eating 6 times a days. All clean & healthy food while making sure I was hitting my macros.
After 12 months, I did notice some changes but I was far from where I wanted to be. Instead of feeling and looking fit & athletic, I was sore all the time from working out. Instead of feeling energetic, I felt exhausted. I had zero energy. I was grumpy most of the time because of my eating regime, which did not allow for any comfort food. Moreover, I was feeling more and more like a social pariah. I was declining any social event and felt guilty about it. But I was afraid I would not be able to resist temptation and would end up binge eating and drinking. And by doing so screwing up that very little result I had worked so hard for.
I felt like a joke and failure, not only to myself, but also to the people around me. I put in so much time and effort but had zero results to show for it. It was gut-wrenching to admit to myself that I was not feeling fit, energetic and looking great. Instead I was still fat, despite my strict and boring diet. I was sore all the time from my grueling, 6 days a week, workouts. Despite all my efforts, I was spinning my wheels. It was just so frustrating and infuriating!
I guess that it was not just about trying to get into shape and looking good. It was about making the people around me proud of me. My parents, wife and sisters. It was about my friends and colleagues looking up to me. Instead, even my doctor told me that I was slightly overweight! I visited him because I felt exhausted and thought something might be wrong with my hormones. But the tests told him that everything was fine. I was just fat. Talking about a slap in the face! I felt like a failure and that feeling was like someone stuck a knife in my stomach and twisted it around.
It was then that I knew something had to change. So I decided to go back to the drawing board. I started questioning everything I was doing at that point. I started researching again, looking for new sources of information. Then I came across some incredible articles which talked about things like metabolic flexibility and caloric cycling. Metabolic flexibility is kind of like this switch for your body with 2 settings: “fat-burning” mode and “carb-burning” mode. And mastering this switch allows you to eat “bad” foods from time to time without any of the negative effects, such as getting fat. And moving into the fat-burning mode would mean that you’ll be burning bodyfat, even when your just sitting down in front of the TV!
Now caloric cycling is kinda like a new sound in your environment. A new sound, maybe a new ringtone, will initially draw your attention. But over time, you become accustomed to the sound and your response to the sound will diminish. That is exactly what happens when we go on diet. This “new thing” (lower calories) will initially trigger weight loss. But over time your body becomes accustomed to it and you slowly stop losing weight. At one point weightloss just completely stalls!
With this new knowledge I made some massive changes to my diet! I started cycling my calories and used metabolic flexibility to even have a weekly “off day”. On these days I would relax my diet and also enjoy guilty foods. Pizza, burgers, icecream and even alcohol. So I could even go to social events again.
And things improved dramatically! I was actually leaning out, while enjoying life a lot more! I felt I had more energy, I had no more mood swings and I could have comfort foods from time to time without stressing out or feeling guilty!
But then, disaster struck. I injured my back while working out. I felt this shooting pain going through my spine like a thunderbolt. It was so painful, I actually just froze in place. I couldn’t move! My heart started racing and my palms started sweating. Luckily, the initial pain slowly subsided. I figured I should just go home and take hot bath. But getting back into the car was an absolute nightmare. I couldn’t bend my back without feeling this excruciating pain! I somehow managed to drive back home and get myself in the bathtub.
But it just made things worse! I was in constant pain. It didn’t matter if I was standing, sitting, or lying down. Every bodyposition was just incredibly painful. After a horrible night in which I could not sleep, I got some heavy painkillers from the doctor. He told me that I should wait and see I could recover by myself. Luckily I did, but it took 3 whole weeks before I could actually move around without too much pain. In total it took about 6 weeks before I fully recovered.
So needless to say I put back on a lot of weight during those 6 weeks! I couldn’t train and I didn’t pay attention to what I ate at all. I felt like I had to start all over again. But I was not willing to give up just yet. Again, I knew that something had to change, because I vowed to never injure my back (or any other bodypart) ever again through training! I knew my way of eating was on point. It was now time to seriously re-evaluate the way I trained. I figured this would be my ultimate attempt to nail this whole “fitness lifestyle” and failure was not an option!
Then I had this lightbulb moment! A sudden realization that changed my whole view on training. All this time I was copying the training of professional bodybuilders and Instagram fitnessmodels. But these people are all, to some extent, “enhanced” by illegal substances if you know what I mean. So basically I was putting my body through the exact grueling trainingprograms as these professionals. But I am not on any performance enhancing substances!
That’s kinda like trying to compete in a Formula 1 race with your familycar. And you’re trying to go through the first corner with the same speed like a Formula 1 racecar. But you’ll end up spinning out and crashing your car. That’s exactly what I have been doing with my body, trying to “race” against these professionals (with their enhanced bodies), but I ended up spinning out of the first corner, crashing…and seriously injuring my back!
So I figured I would do the exact OPPOSITE of what all these professionals were doing! Instead of working out 5-6 times a week, I scaled back to 3 times a week. Instead of all these complicated exercises, sets and reps, I would just focus on some very basic movements. Instead of hours of soulcrushing and boring cardio, I would just go for a walk outside once or twice a week. Basically, I just felt like bringing everything back to the bare minimum. All with the idea of stimulating my body instead of completely annihilating it with a tsunami of exercises and cardio.
And here I am now, turning 38 in a couple of weeks and in the best shape of my life! Visible abs, looking athletic, lots of energy, no more soreness. But, maybe even more important, I found balance between living healthy and enjoying life at the same time. Fitness and nutrition are now an enrichment to my life and not dominating every aspect of it! And by becoming a more balanced person myself, I have found that this influences other areas of my life as well. It has enabled me to be a better husband, brother, son and friend!
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Just wanted to share my journey with your guys. Enjoy the read!
Let me introduce myself: my name is Martijn and I have always been into sports. I've never had any issues with being overweight and figured that I could eat whatever I want, whenever I want, because my body was just wired to not gain any weight...but ever since I hit my 30s something weird happened…
I have always been in pretty good shape, but all of a sudden I started to put on weight. One day I looked in the mirror and HATED what I saw. Gone were the days where you could see my abs. Instead all I saw was an ugly belly and that round “soft” pudgy look. Far from manly and really unattractive. I felt like someone had just punched me in the gut and I felt terrible about myself.
So I decided to dramatically change my life. Time to turn things around! I wanted to get back into shape, feeling and looking fit and athletic! Being a consultant and analytical in nature, I spent night after night, even weekends, reading up on everything related to training and nutrition. I became a member of different bodybuild forums. I bought magazines and books just to learn as much as I could on training and nutrition.
Then, I started working out and dieting…hard! I worked out 5-6 times a week doing both weightlifting and hours of cardio. I combined this with a very strict dietary regime, eating 6 times a days. All clean & healthy food while making sure I was hitting my macros.
After 12 months, I did notice some changes but I was far from where I wanted to be. Instead of feeling and looking fit & athletic, I was sore all the time from working out. Instead of feeling energetic, I felt exhausted. I had zero energy. I was grumpy most of the time because of my eating regime, which did not allow for any comfort food. Moreover, I was feeling more and more like a social pariah. I was declining any social event and felt guilty about it. But I was afraid I would not be able to resist temptation and would end up binge eating and drinking. And by doing so screwing up that very little result I had worked so hard for.
I felt like a joke and failure, not only to myself, but also to the people around me. I put in so much time and effort but had zero results to show for it. It was gut-wrenching to admit to myself that I was not feeling fit, energetic and looking great. Instead I was still fat, despite my strict and boring diet. I was sore all the time from my grueling, 6 days a week, workouts. Despite all my efforts, I was spinning my wheels. It was just so frustrating and infuriating!
I guess that it was not just about trying to get into shape and looking good. It was about making the people around me proud of me. My parents, wife and sisters. It was about my friends and colleagues looking up to me. Instead, even my doctor told me that I was slightly overweight! I visited him because I felt exhausted and thought something might be wrong with my hormones. But the tests told him that everything was fine. I was just fat. Talking about a slap in the face! I felt like a failure and that feeling was like someone stuck a knife in my stomach and twisted it around.
It was then that I knew something had to change. So I decided to go back to the drawing board. I started questioning everything I was doing at that point. I started researching again, looking for new sources of information. Then I came across some incredible articles which talked about things like metabolic flexibility and caloric cycling. Metabolic flexibility is kind of like this switch for your body with 2 settings: “fat-burning” mode and “carb-burning” mode. And mastering this switch allows you to eat “bad” foods from time to time without any of the negative effects, such as getting fat. And moving into the fat-burning mode would mean that you’ll be burning bodyfat, even when your just sitting down in front of the TV!
Now caloric cycling is kinda like a new sound in your environment. A new sound, maybe a new ringtone, will initially draw your attention. But over time, you become accustomed to the sound and your response to the sound will diminish. That is exactly what happens when we go on diet. This “new thing” (lower calories) will initially trigger weight loss. But over time your body becomes accustomed to it and you slowly stop losing weight. At one point weightloss just completely stalls!
With this new knowledge I made some massive changes to my diet! I started cycling my calories and used metabolic flexibility to even have a weekly “off day”. On these days I would relax my diet and also enjoy guilty foods. Pizza, burgers, icecream and even alcohol. So I could even go to social events again.
And things improved dramatically! I was actually leaning out, while enjoying life a lot more! I felt I had more energy, I had no more mood swings and I could have comfort foods from time to time without stressing out or feeling guilty!
But then, disaster struck. I injured my back while working out. I felt this shooting pain going through my spine like a thunderbolt. It was so painful, I actually just froze in place. I couldn’t move! My heart started racing and my palms started sweating. Luckily, the initial pain slowly subsided. I figured I should just go home and take hot bath. But getting back into the car was an absolute nightmare. I couldn’t bend my back without feeling this excruciating pain! I somehow managed to drive back home and get myself in the bathtub.
But it just made things worse! I was in constant pain. It didn’t matter if I was standing, sitting, or lying down. Every bodyposition was just incredibly painful. After a horrible night in which I could not sleep, I got some heavy painkillers from the doctor. He told me that I should wait and see I could recover by myself. Luckily I did, but it took 3 whole weeks before I could actually move around without too much pain. In total it took about 6 weeks before I fully recovered.
So needless to say I put back on a lot of weight during those 6 weeks! I couldn’t train and I didn’t pay attention to what I ate at all. I felt like I had to start all over again. But I was not willing to give up just yet. Again, I knew that something had to change, because I vowed to never injure my back (or any other bodypart) ever again through training! I knew my way of eating was on point. It was now time to seriously re-evaluate the way I trained. I figured this would be my ultimate attempt to nail this whole “fitness lifestyle” and failure was not an option!
Then I had this lightbulb moment! A sudden realization that changed my whole view on training. All this time I was copying the training of professional bodybuilders and Instagram fitnessmodels. But these people are all, to some extent, “enhanced” by illegal substances if you know what I mean. So basically I was putting my body through the exact grueling trainingprograms as these professionals. But I am not on any performance enhancing substances!
That’s kinda like trying to compete in a Formula 1 race with your familycar. And you’re trying to go through the first corner with the same speed like a Formula 1 racecar. But you’ll end up spinning out and crashing your car. That’s exactly what I have been doing with my body, trying to “race” against these professionals (with their enhanced bodies), but I ended up spinning out of the first corner, crashing…and seriously injuring my back!
So I figured I would do the exact OPPOSITE of what all these professionals were doing! Instead of working out 5-6 times a week, I scaled back to 3 times a week. Instead of all these complicated exercises, sets and reps, I would just focus on some very basic movements. Instead of hours of soulcrushing and boring cardio, I would just go for a walk outside once or twice a week. Basically, I just felt like bringing everything back to the bare minimum. All with the idea of stimulating my body instead of completely annihilating it with a tsunami of exercises and cardio.
And here I am now, turning 38 in a couple of weeks and in the best shape of my life! Visible abs, looking athletic, lots of energy, no more soreness. But, maybe even more important, I found balance between living healthy and enjoying life at the same time. Fitness and nutrition are now an enrichment to my life and not dominating every aspect of it! And by becoming a more balanced person myself, I have found that this influences other areas of my life as well. It has enabled me to be a better husband, brother, son and friend!
View attachment 25627 View attachment 25629
