Father Time is undefeated, so the saying goes. While true, it doesn’t mean we can’t put up one hell of a fight before we go down. The problem is, many lose the fight prematurely, based on their own perceived limitations of what getting older entails. Now sure, human potential gets worse as we age. You will not play in the NFL or NBA at fifty-plus years old, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be damn impressive for a fifty-year-old, or that you should throw in the towel. The idea for this article began to gestate when I saw someone on Twitter who I won’t name here saying the following (paraphrased):

“At 48 years old I won’t ever look like Captain America, and I’ve stopped giving a fuck what people think about my dad bod.”

Now look, if someone is truly fine with the way they look and have no desire to change, I will not shame or make fun of them. It’s their life. However, I will attack the premise here, and that is that there’s some reason you can’t be in awesome shape at over 40 years old. As a matter of fact, Captain America himself, Chris Evans, is 38, not exactly a spring chicken. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, arguably the best physique in movies of the past 10+ years, is now 50.

If you take nothing else away from this article, understand this:

There is no physiological reason you can’t be in exceptional shape at 40, 50, 60, or even 70 plus years old. For years, we were all told that you will lose tons of muscle mass past 40, and that fat burning processes grind to a halt, thus giving people the excuse they needed to slack off. Turns out, new studies have shown that’s a crock. Even without the studies, if you’ve been bodybuilding for any length of time then you know every gym has multiple people, both men and women, that are over 50 and jacked. Case in point:

My gym has multiple people in their 50s and higher who are in better shape than I am. Let’s focus on one guy, who I’ll call Jim. Jim is over 50 and squats 475 lbs, and dead lifts near 600. Every day, I walk by, and someone is telling Jim he shouldn’t be lifting that kind of weight, and each day Jim is setting PRs. What’s happening here is that others are imposing their own mental constructs and limitations onto Jim. They believe he should be weaker at his age and watching him squat 450 for 15 reps is inducing cognitive dissonance and reflecting their own mental prison they’ve imposed on themselves. Yet, Jim doesn’t care, he just grinds forward and crushes these lifts. George Hood, a retired marine who is over 60 years old, once broke the world record for the plank exercise, holding it for an astonishing 10 hours. 

These mental limitations we impose on ourselves don’t just relate to age, but also injury. This is one I can relate to, because I’ve had both of my elbows reattached. For many years, I told myself, “well, no more lifting for you.” Now here I sit at age 42 with two repaired elbows, in better shape than I was at 25, lifting multiple times a week, because I got past my own mental limitations. Yesterday, I watched wrestler Eric Bugenhagen dead lift 760 lbs on a surgically repaired knee, a feat not only superhuman physically, but mentally as well to even believe such a thing is possible after devastating injury. My own journey through breaking mental prisons was a large reason why I wrote my book, Forging the Iron Mind. I used getting older as an excuse for even the slightest of physical ailments. Whenever my back or neck issues started, I told myself that I was just getting old, and that I had to accept these things. Turns out, my back and neck problems were alleviated almost instantly by better stretching and flexibility, and had nothing at all to do with age. 

The point of this article is to help people understand that your limitations to a large extent are what you believe they are. If you believe a goal to be unattainable, you will find ways to make it true. Sure, Father Time will beat you at some point, but don’t just lay down for him, make him go the full 12 rounds. This applies to not only aging, but all of life. Self-fulfilling prophecy can either be your greatest enemy or your best friend, as you manifest into reality what you believe to be true. Recalibrate your mind by seeking inspiration from others, such as 82 year old Ernestine Shepherd, one of the oldest bodybuilders in the world. She isn't superhuman or magical, she just believes in herself to such a degree that it literally makes what was once thought to be impossible, possible. 

If she can do it, why not you?

Steve Mager

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There is no such thing as a required exercise. 

Repeat it so you will process it.

There is no such thing as a required exercise. 

Many people spent a lot of years suffering through pain and injury, all because they do not understand that one small sentence. When I started lifting back in the late ’90s, it was basically Biblical law that to build muscle; one had to do the big three exercises: Squats, Deadlifts, and Bench Presses. Not only were these compound movements basically a requirement, but then on top of that, you were supposed to lift them with extremely heavy weight to induce muscle growth. For the better part of twenty years, I beat my body to death on those three exercises, sustaining constantly torn and strained muscles and joints. Everything related to lifting became an ego game for me, it was all about how much weight I could lift, and how big I could get. If only I had known then what I know now. 

The first thing you have to understand is that having the right genetics is paramount to being able to move heavy weights consistently. There is a guy in my local gym who is over 50 years old that can still deadlift 600 lbs. Understand that is an extreme outlier. Everyone has different joint and bone structure, which creates a dominant advantage for certain body types, which is why it is far easier for a person who is 5’4” to do deep squats as opposed to someone 6’4” with long limbs. Before you do anything, you need to assess your genetic capability. For a great many years, I completely ignored this principle, and just plowed through regardless. I actually took pride in the fact that I knew I didn’t have the best genetics for lifting, but that I did it anyway. It became a point of pride that I was 280 pounds and had over 1300 pounds in combined lifts. I was build like a juggernaut, bigger and stronger than a lot of NFL linebackers, but the entire time, my body was paying the price. 

First, my body structurally wasn’t supposed to be carrying 280 pounds, as I was not a natural mesomorph body type. As a result, my feet and knees were always in pain carting around that much weight. I was never comfortable during any of the “big three” exercises, as the barbell continually forced my joints into uncomfortable positions, which meant that I was constantly bearing shoulder and back pain as well. For year after year I put my body through the meat grinder, not understanding one simple truth:

There is no such thing as a required exercise. 

Understand this; there are two types of muscle fibers:

Fast Twitch 
Slow Twitch

And they don’t give two shits what exercises you do to stimulate them.

They don’t give a damn if you use a straight barbell, or two dumbbells to work chest, they only care about one thing: 

PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD.

Progressive overload means that to induce muscle growth, you have to challenge those fibers with weight and movements of which they aren't accustomed. And the fact of the matter is that you can achieve progressive overload on the muscle fibers without doing joint-busting exercises. You can stress those fibers and induce growth without ever touching a traditional barbell deadlift, squat, or bench press. Now let me preface this by saying, if you are genetically capable, and can do these exercises safely, then I do recommend them, especially the deadlift. There is a very fine line between not being genetically built for them in reality, and convincing yourself you aren’t to absolve yourself of hard work. Be honest with yourself: if your shoulders are developing pain from barbell bench presses, then go use dumbbells instead. Take a look at two of the greatest bodybuilders of all time:

Ronnie Coleman and Arnold Schwartzenegger.

These two men arguably possess the greatest chest development of all time. Both did bench presses with a barbell once in a while, but neither did powerlifter level weight on those exercises, instead relying mostly on dumbbells for the superior range of motion. I can attest to this myself, once I ditched the barbell and started on exclusively dumbbells for chest work, my shoulder issues reduced dramatically, yet I still had a massive chest. Twenty years later, I’m a whole lot older, and a whole lot smarter. If one exercise irritates you, do a different one. There are a thousand variants of every exercise.

Do barbell back squats bother your joints? Then try Front, Pistol, Goblet, Sumo, or any of the hundred other squat variants. For me, regular squats and deadlifts felt fine the majority of the time; the real problem came with the flat bench press, so that was the exercise I needed to replace. 

Here is the only thing that matters to muscle growth:

Overloading the muscle fibers to stimulate growth, and then eating enough calories with sufficient recovery. It is not rocket science, do not allow yourself to fall into rigid doctrine as it relates to fitness. If you overload and stimulate the fibers, and you eat enough calories, you will gain muscle. Some try to over complicate these basic principles, but at the end of the day, this is the principle that matters, and you can do it without doing exercises that break you. 

That being said, it sure was awesome deadlifting over 500 pounds. 
10/10 - would recommend that feeling. 

Now go crush it, just not yourself in the process. I would be interested to know if any of you had an exercise you needed to replace, and what you did about it. Let me know!

Steve Mager

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If you trained hard in the late ’90s then you know one supplement came as close as we’ve ever gotten to a magic bullet for weight loss and energy:

Ephedrine. 

This supplement, found in iconic products such as Ripped Fuel and Stacker 2, along with the venerable ECA stack (Ephedrine, Caffeine, Aspirin) fueled innumerable workouts of myself and my friends. These products were capable of elevating a lousy workout to good, and good to exceptional, based on the seemingly never-ending font of energy they produced. For years, I took these products in frankly unsafe levels, getting to the point where I was overdosing nearly every day, just to get that jacked, machine-like rampage going in the gym. I remember nights of partying and drinking, then waking up on 4 hours of sleep, popping a few Stacker 2s, then going berserk in the gym. Even if I was utterly wiped out, this pill could bring me back from the brink, and power up a great workout. 

Such was the power of Ephedrine. 

No supplement, before or since (save steroids and prohormones) has produced such a noticeable effect on energy levels and weight loss. As a matter of fact, no one even tried to argue it wasn’t effective. So how did a supplement, the core of which had been used in Chinese medicine since the Han dynasty with over 2000 years of history, get banned? The same way a lot of the first wave of Prohormones (over the counter steroids for all intents and purposes) did:

Baseball, coupled with pharmaceutical and insurance companies. 

The FDA had been looking into Ephedrine since the early ’90s, but nothing serious ever came of it, given the long history it has had globally. They would issue a report or white paper, call it a day and move onto the next thing. Then, on February 16th, Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler died after a workout, and subsequent toxicology showed that he had Ephedrine in his system. This was all the impetus needed to move on Ephedrine, even though he had multiple other health issues, and had overdosed Xenadrine on a hot day without hydration. Even the doctors stated that they could not conclusively prove ephedrine was the cause of death, and many others have died of heat and exercise problems without Ephedrine. In the wake of this death, paper after paper was released detailing the potentially harmful effects of Ephedrine. 

Immediately, within one month, the FDA issued proposed rules to regulate the supplements, and in less than a year, a blanket ban on Ephedrine had been issued. Frankly, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the government resolve anything this quickly, but here we were, watching a supplement used for thousands of years get banned despite a complete lack of factual basis. The key to this whole thing is understanding that the FDA bows to pressure from outside groups and utilizes tainted scientific data. In my book, I showed how Coke paid scientists in the ’60s to shift the blame from sugar to fat for obesity and heart disease, to keep people slugging down sugary sodas. The FDA is the organization that spent decades recommending an aspirin a day, only to retract the recommendation many years later. People would even have side effects from an overdose of ASPIRIN, showing that any drug can be potentially harmful. Banning cocaine, or heroin, or steroids were one thing, but the Ephedrine ban was the first moment I can remember where the government banned something that was only theoretically dangerous. In the wake of the Ephedrine ban, many more effective supplements got the ax as well. 

So, how did this all happen? 

Take a look at all of the most effective supplements that have been banned, or are in the process of being prohibited or restricted. Ephedrine, Glutamine, CBD Oil, and even Prohormones are all highly effective, and also dirt-cheap. These have either been banned already or are on the chopping block. In addition, they all have prescription alternatives that are insanely expensive. Adderall, Testosterone Replacement and the like are prescribed like candy and are not only more expensive but highly addictive. Take a look at TRT (testosterone replacement therapy). In the old days, if you wanted to get jacked, you just ran a cycle of over the counter Androstenedione, the supplement that Mark McGwire took when he was blasting baseballs into the stratosphere. It would amp your Testosterone levels, you’d get jacked, then come off of it for a while and everything was great. Sure enough, Andro and its variants were too effective and too cheap. Andro gets banned and placed in the same category with actual steroids; meanwhile, Big Pharma comes up with a way to keep you jacked 24/7/365 by completely replacing your natural testosterone production, and calling it TRT. So now, instead of popping some cheap Andro for a few months, then taking some time off, you now get to completely replace your natural testosterone production, for a nice tidy monthly payment, since coincidentally, no other method is legal. All you have to do is never come off of it, since it completely stops your testosterone production, permanently. Better hope you never lose your health insurance package on that one. 

I used to think the banning of supplements was just a sort of nanny state overreach by the government. It is, but keep in mind, these FDA and government officials have been shown information that they believe to be correct. Not all of them are corrupt bureaucrats, rubbing their hands together like super-villains, most are probably actually being deceived. The real question is who commissioned the studies that showed Ephedrine to be dangerous and presented them to the FDA? Which group got paid for the studies? What about Andro? Who stands to gain by a particular supplement being banned, when there is a permanent pharmaceutical replacement available at a much higher cost? Remember, the next time you take some absurdly expensive prescription and pay a ludicrous amount each month for insurance, that at some point there was likely a dirt cheap version that got shoved off the life raft in favor of prescription medication. 

Steve Mager

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I bet that title got your attention. People love the idea of some magic bullet diet that allows them to eat dessert or chocolate or ice cream while getting shredded at the same time. We fool ourselves into thinking all sorts of ridiculous things and justifying cheating on diets, such as having a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit because we did 10 minutes of light walking on the treadmill. Most of the time, this is wishful thinking; however, today I’m going to explain how it is entirely possible to have foods you like, and still get into shape. 

First, let me establish just how much I love Pop-Tarts. Since I was a teenager, I have eaten them nearly every day as part of a meal or just a snack. Despite small breaks while testing new diets, I would estimate that throughout the last 25 years, that I have eaten a pack of Pop-Tarts 4 days week on average. Many years went by where that number was 7, but I’ll just use four as the average. That means that I have consumed over 10,000 Pop-Tarts in my life, and I’d wager the number is higher. So when I say that I love them and have worked them into nearly every diet, I’m not even slightly joking. The other food I love is pizza, notably Domino’s Pan Pizza. On average I have eaten one Domino’s Pizza a week for at least 20 years. Sometimes more, sometimes, less, but I’d put the average around one. In other words, these are two foods that I find a way to work in, no matter what. 

So how is this possible? How have I managed to get lean and cut eating crap like this? I wrote in my book that these are terrible for you, yet I manage to work in cheat meals all the time. First, I’ve expressed my belief that cheat meals work. One, they allow for a potent reward system. Two, they keep your body from adapting, which it does. Three, for me at least, they keep me sane. Understand this: losing fat is purely a game of calories in-calories out. We all have a baseline amount of calories we need to maintain our current weight. Above that number, we gain, and below we lose. That’s an incredible oversimplification but still retains its inherent truth. Thus, if I need 2500 calories to maintain my weight, and I eat 2000 + a Pop-Tart, I’m still in an energy deficit, so I will still lose weight. One of the reasons exercise works is that it burns calories, putting us below the threshold we need to lose fat. 

The other way I get away with this is by being very active. I walk the dog every single day, hike a fair amount, lift weights, and do cardio. I mentioned earlier that I change whether or not I eat Pop-Tarts based on the diet, which is true. In any low carb or Keto diet, they are a total non-starter. I am not a fan of those diets, and prefer an intermittent fasting diet with carb cycling, as I detailed in my previous article. I recently cut twenty pounds, and I did it eating one Pop-Tart a day instead of my usual two, and reducing my pizza from one a week to once every two weeks. In addition, I also ate bacon every single day of my diet. So yes, I ate bacon, Pop-Tarts, and pizza while dieting and lost twenty pounds. Let that sink in. 

Here’s what I ate while doing an 18-20 hour intermittent fast with two meals (easily adjusted for 16hr / 3 meals):

Breakfast: 6 eggs / 3 Strips of Bacon / Oatmeal (different daily due to carb cycling) / half-tbsp of natural peanut butter.

Dinner: Chicken or Steak / Rice (amount varies due to carb cycling) / Handful of mixed nuts / Broccoli and Carrots / One Pop-Tart

Mostly, the meal stayed the same every day except for the carb sources. On low days, I kept the carbs at less than 50 (I weigh 215 so adjust accordingly) on median days about 120, then on high days about 200. Once in a while, I would go down to zero for a day, and then on some days be well over 200. The theory is that carb cycling in this manner while keeping protein high keeps the body from adapting, and keeps it in a constant state of fat loss. I also used high days as replenishment for big workouts, so if I worked legs or back, for example, I’d have higher carbs that day, then fewer on off days. Look, the reality is, of course it would be better not to eat anything processed or junky and be completely hardcore 24/7. I’ve done that. Make no mistake; I’ve done diets that made me want to kill myself. The reality is though, I love certain foods, and if I can lose weight and get into shape while still eating a damn Pop-Tart, I’m going to do it. The way I view it is that if I can stay clean 90+ percent of the time, that one Pop-Tart isn’t going to make or break me. 

Remember that at the end of the day, none of this works without your dedication. I establish machine-like rituals for these meals and workouts and do not deviate, setting myself up for success. For the techniques I use to achieve this, check out my book, Forging the Iron Mind. Do you have a crazy food or method that allows you to cheat drastically? Let me know!

Steve Mager

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First, let me start by saying that I had rotator cuff impingement in both shoulders diagnosed by a doctor, and I suggest you do the same, to ensure it isn’t a tear or something else before you try anything in this article. 

Setting that aside, I spent decades feuding with the muscles and tendons in my body. I never had great genetics, but I plowed through regardless, beating my body to a pulp in the pursuit of being bigger and stronger. My shoulders, in particular, bore a tremendous burden. For years I was pressing 125lb dumbbells, squatting over 400 pounds, deadlifting and shrugging over 500. In other words, my shoulders took a pretty routine thrashing, so when I started to have shoulder problems in my late 30’s, I just chalked it up to paying the price for beating my body to death. I figured I’d have issues in my 50s and maybe 60s, but I didn’t anticipate them coming on so soon before I even hit 40. It got to the point where I could barely lift my arms, and could no longer do any shoulder pressing motion, or even bench pressing movements without extreme discomfort. Anything that elevated my arms parallel to my shoulder was basically out of the question. For a while, I just assumed I was done, and readers of my book know how I struggled with depression as a result. Here I was, 41 years old, and a body beat to death from decades of heavy lifting, so I just assumed my lifting days were over. I tried a lot of things, cortisone shots, stretching, light weight rehab, and I was just about resigned to having surgery. 

Basically, impingement happens when the tendon doesn’t have enough room between the shoulder and arm, and gets pinched, causing inflammation and pain. I was just about to have an MRI on both shoulders, but due to an insurance snafu, I had to put it off, and I’m glad I did. One more round of research on the internet and I came across an obscure video with not a lot of views, which I can’t even find now (here’s a substitute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i\_osoNJK1HQ) that said to free hang from a bar to fix shoulder impingement. Now, this sounded counterproductive since I had such pain in that position, but the video made a pretty convincing argument based around anatomical similarities to monkeys and how they swing around so effortlessly. So I decided what the heck, I’ve tried everything else, let’s do it. 

Boy, was I in for some pain. When I started doing these, it hurt so badly that I thought I was going to tear my rotator cuffs out and shred my shoulders, but as usual, I just plowed through regardless. The idea of the therapy is that the free hang would create some distance between the arm and shoulder, removing the impingement of the tendon. Week after week went by, and I started to notice it didn’t hurt much any longer, and I was able to hang in different positions and for longer durations. Around the same time, I learned a technique I wrote about in my book, Forging the Iron Mind, called trigger point massage. So, in addition to doing these hangs, I was using a ball between my back and the wall to roll out knots and massage out my back and shoulder muscles. As time went on, I started to notice my range of motion was getting quite good on my shoulders, so I added another highly recommended movement: dislocators. I started doing them with a band, and as time went on eventually progressed to a stick, like a broom handle for a more fixed position. This was yet another movement that hurt like hell and took weeks to be able to do effectively. 

After several weeks of all of this, I decided to try a pressing motion in the gym using 20 lb weights, a far cry from the ginormous weights of my youth, but this illustrates how bad my shoulders had gotten: I could not even press small weights. The 20’s went up pretty effortlessly, and I kind of went, “huh, interesting.” No pain, none. So I grabbed 30’s, again, not a lot, but I pressed them easily. I will tell you; I hadn’t been this excited in the gym in YEARS. Seriously, I almost cried. Just the other day, I pressed 55lb dumbbells, and frankly probably could have done more. I can now bench with dumbbells once again, and although my shoulders aren’t perfect as they were in my prime, they are orders of magnitude better than they were even six months ago. I also got the point where I could do pull-ups and dips, which I was sure were never going to happen again. 

In closing, I hope this helps someone because I was confident I was done lifting and had resigned myself to never being able to lift again, which would be easy for some people, but not me because I love to do it. I might not be able to power lift like I used to, but damn does it feel good to have some mobility back and be able to exercise like I want to again. Remember, always consult with a doctor, but do your homework, they aren’t infallible, and they don’t know it all, so be sure to look around and listen to more experts before giving up. Have you had issues like these before that you fixed with some unconventional means? Let me know!

Good luck!

Steve Mager

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Welcome to my first blog on my author site. I figured I’d come right out of the gate with an article about one of the more difficult things we all have attempted and likely failed at before: our diet. I wrote about this extensively in Forging the Iron Mind concerning what foods to eat and what exercises to do, and most importantly, the mind frame to set to make it all successful. Today, I am going to talk about what is easily my favorite diet I’ve ever run: Intermittent Fasting. Keep in mind that the “best” is relative. Make no mistake, every diet works, it’s only a matter of which is going to be the easiest for you to stick to for long periods. For a bit of background, I have been dieting and lifting weights and even powerlifting for over two decades. I have tried every diet in existence, from low carb to carb cycling, to 40-40-20, and more. The only thing I’ve never tried, and never will, is either vegetarian or vegan, which I will likely write about at some point. For now, though, let’s talk intermittent fasting. 

Intermittent fasting is the idea that you have a “feeding period” ranging anywhere from 4-8 hours, and fast the rest of the time, consuming a net zero calories. You can consume coffee, tea, diet soda, whatever, as long as there are no calories for your body to process. Why even do this diet? What does it bring to the table that no other diet does? I’ve had success with other diets, so why even try this? First, there is a significant amount of science that once you pass the 16-hour mark, your body kicks into a sort of advanced fat burning state. Inflammation is supposed to be reduced, nutrients absorbed better, and fat burned more efficiently. This was all difficult for me to swallow, because I come from a traditional bodybuilding standpoint of eating every two or three hours, and I’ve had success using multiple other diets, so why even do this? It’s certainly the latest “fad,” and many people I respect are into it, so I figured hey, why not give it a try? 

For me, the most significant barrier was psychological, as I found the idea of not eating for 18-20 hours insane. However, I set my mind to do it, and after the first day, it became much easier because I passed the barrier of doing it once, and after that, it became orders of magnitude easier. Once I’d established in my mind that I could do it, and a lot of the hunger pangs were psychological, it became incredibly easy. After the first two weeks, I had my answer as to why this was the easiest diet I’d ever run, and it wasn’t because it was doing anything magic in regards to fat loss. I’ve gotten in great shape on other diets, so I knew I could lose fat without fasting. Intermittent Fasting was the best I’ve tried because it was insanely easy to stick to and not cheat. 

One concept I wrote about in Forging was the idea of establishing absolutes as it relates to the habits in your life, and how effective this tactic is. Intermittent Fasting falls right into this incredibly easy. With other diets, you are kind of free to eat *whenever* you want. The only regulation you are really doing is *what* you are eating. Thus, psychologically, it is easier to justify some cheat food in your mind with the justification that you can make it up later or to get some craving fulfilled. On intermittent fasting, the *timing* is what matters. Once you commit to IF, the rules are set in stone regarding when you can eat; thus it makes incredibly easy not to cheat. The other element is that the shorter the feeding window, it actually gets easier, not harder to not cheat. At one point I moved the fasting window to 20 hours, leaving myself a 4-hour window to eat. With a 4 hour window, I was packing two gigantic meals, and it barely even occurred to me to cheat because I was so packed with food during my window. To put it another way: Intermittent Fasting is by far the LEAST MISERABLE diet I’ve ever run, and make no mistake, I’ve tried some that made me want to die. 

The only challenging spot is that last hour before feeding, which is still far easier than other diets where I dealt with cravings all day. Other than that, I was shocked at how absurdly easy it made the dieting process. I dropped 20 pounds with as little effort and annoyance as I’ve ever had, and what’s more, I allowed myself a big cheat day once every two weeks, so I was still wrecking pizzas and bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits once in a while. During this entire process, I was also lifting every other day, and doing only the most basic cardio, such as walking the dog and going to the park on hiking paths, so I wasn’t even remotely killing myself concerning cardio. I don’t run due to foot problems, and I only do low impact cardio on the bike at the gym. Don’t get me wrong, I was lifting at a pretty intense rate, but my cardio was extremely minimal, so any fat loss was undoubtedly the result of diet, not crazy cardio. 

At the end of the day, results are what matter. Understand that “losing weight” is purely a calorie in - calorie out equation. If you burn more calories than you take in, you lose weight. In addition to the above reasons I stated for liking IF, it also makes it much easier to stay in a calorie deficit, and not feel as though you are. Since you are eating maybe twice, it is far easier to manage your calorie intake, since you don’t have to worry about eating all day long. Here’s what I ate:

Breakfast: 4 whole, 2 white eggs, 2-3 bacon strips, half oatmeal serving, half tbs of natural peanut butter.

Dinner: Chicken or Steak, Scoop of rice, a handful of nuts, one pop tart. 

Yes, you read that right, I dropped 20 pounds eating bacon and pop tarts. I also cycled carbs depending on whether I lifted weights that day. So if it was a lifting day, instead of a half serving of oatmeal, I did a full serving, and instead of one scoop of rice, I did two. Incredibly easy to manage. Remember that as long as you are in a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. After the past several months, I’m pretty sold on Intermittent Fasting as the “best” diet. What about you all, what has worked for you? Comment or hit me on social media and thanks for reading!

Steven Mager

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