Meal Plans
What if we told you that you could lose up to 20 pounds in 30 days by focusing more on eating and less on exercise.
If you think that that exercise is the key to a flat belly and a lean, toned physique, think again.
The transformation above had a minimal amount to do with exercise and everything to do with eating.
In fact, you might think that your last diet failed despite all that time on the treadmill of the elliptical. In reality, it probably failed because you spent so much time exercising...
In 2011, Researchers Made a Surprising Discovery
A group of scientists at McGill University tried to answer the question “How much IMPACT does exercise have on weight loss?”
Rather than start a new study, they decided to use as many existing studies as they could find where people were asked to do cardio.
They used the data from those studies to create one MASSIVE study–the first of its kind looking at decades of data on exercise.
Their findings were astonishing…cardio had ZERO impact on weight loss.
Nil. Zip. Nada.
In fact, in some of these studies, some people actually GAINED weight as a result of cardio. What?
Well...you've probably heard of the saying "work up an appetite." For many, that's what exercise does, and it's a large reason why so many diets fail. As we've said on our Instagram, it takes more than two hours of exercise just to work off one Big Mac.
But it isn't your fault. The notion that you get in shape by exercising is so universally accepted that it's never questioned. How can this be?
Well, here are two large reasons:
1. Hollywood and the mediaWhen it comes to talking about fitness in movies and pop culture, exercise makes for a much better narrative.
When Rocky Balboa was preparing for the fight of his life, you saw him running up the steps of Philadelphia, not shopping for chicken breasts and measuring cups of brown rice.
2. People who are already fitTake a look at physical specimens like running back Adrian Peterson, a running back who at his prime maintained 6% bodyfat at all times.
Those blessed with the upper echelon of physical genetics love working out. I mean for them, real life is like playing a video game on cheat mode.
So when people want to get in shape, they naturally look to mimic the routines of athletes they admire.
Seems logical, right?
Except for one problem...think back to 8th grade science class when your teacher kept repeating "correlation is not causation." Physical specimens like Adrian Peterson love to exercise, but exercise isn't why they are physical specimens.
Transformations like the one below require something else.
That "something else" is what we do at Calories Club.
Enter Calories Club
The key to getting the body that you want lies in 4 magic variables.
- Calories
- Protein
- Carbohydrates
- Fat
In fact, every person has a magical combination of carbohydrates, fat, and protein that will get them to their goal body if they eat those amounts every day.
Unfortunately those numbers are different for everyone...they depend on multiple factors such as genetics, age, muscle mass, gender, and more.
That's why we created Calories Club--to give you the exact targets that will lead you to your goals.
"But I've heard you can just count carbs..."
WRONG. Errr...sorry...too harsh. What we mean is: if only it were that simple.
You may have heard of some diets that focus solely on counting carbohydrates.
You might've heard of the Paleo diet. Or the ketogenic diet, which is the latest craze. Before the ketogenic diet, it was known as the South Beach diet and the Atkins diet.
Low carb diets tend to gain hype, disappear, then resurface later with a different name.
Now, don't get us wrong. Lower carbohydrate diets help some people. But amazing transformations, like the ones below, come from focusing on calories--or eventually--something known as macronutrients (aka "macros").
If you look at before and after pictures of people who followed the ketogenic diet, then tend to look more like "shrunken" versions of themselves.
That's not to take anything away from their success! People lose weight for different reasons...if you only care about seeing the number on the scale go down, then more power to you.
On the other hand, if you care about losing fat and making a transformation like the ones above, Calories Club is for you.
What is Calories Club?
Calories Club is a program that tells you exactly how many calories (and/or macronutrients) you need to eat to get to your goals as FAST as humanly possible.
As a member, you get:
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A Personalized Diet Program: First, we ask you questions about your dieting history, food restrictions, and anything else that's relevant to making your diet. We then craft a diet program that's individualized for your goals, your metabolism, and your life style.
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Weekly Check-Ins and Adjustments: Every diet will stall out at some point. When this happens, most people try to exercise a lot more or eat a lot less, which always backfires. We'll look at your progress every week and adjust your plan so that your program continues to work.
The first month consists of the "blast" phase, in which you will aggressively lose as much weight as possible while still being safe.
Note: As tempting as it may be, do NOT maintain the blast period for more than one month, no matter how rapid the results. If anything, we often end up slowing down the intensity during the blast phase.
Afterwards, you'll then go into the "coast" phase, where you will continue to lose weight consistently.
To find out how much weight you can lose in the first 30 days, take our quiz below!
The Method Behind Calories Club
In order to bring Calories Club to large numbers of people, we partnered with Dick Talens, a prolific nutritional coach who has helped thousands of people make their very own fitness transformations.
He's coached people all the way from normal people (like the one shown below) with busy lives (like the person below) to Miss America.
Dick himself is the product of his own transformation, going from obese adolescent to amateur competitive bodybuilder. Since then, Dick has both coached and written for outlets like Lifehacker and Thrillist about the methodologies that are incorporated into Calories Club (e.g. this article on why diet is more important than exercise).
Dick designed our methodology to replicate the results his clients get over a short period of time and personally approves every program going out.
Ready to see how much you can lose in the first 30 days?