#84 Luis Villaseñor – Chubby to Anorexia to Muscle Gains

Meet Luis:

I have always been passionate about fitness due to a personal interest in improving my own physique (I used to be the quintessential fat kid in school).I like to learn the “whys and the how’s” of things, and so one of the main reasons that got me into nutrition and fitness in the first place, and eventually led me to createKetogainswas to differentiate between sound, science based information, and “old wives’ tales” or what is usually referred as “bro’science”:

I started Ketogains “officially” in 2007, (despite having been practicing a ketogenic approach since 2001), after becoming dissatisfied with the overwhelming amount of misinformation shared amongfitness and low carbohydrate internet forums: sometimes inaccurate, sometimes contradictory, and most of the time, just plain wrong, based solely on anecdotes or misunderstood science taken out of context.

It was the usual “it works for me” answer that irked me the most: people that used the catchphrase as a response when I tried to explain why their current approach might not be the optimal for their goals.

Due to this, I started to write a comprehensive “Evidence Based” Wiki in Reddit (r/ketogains) which would serve as a guide to help people learn more about a Ketogenic Diet in general, as well as its fitness applications.

The site grew from a “FAQ” with a collection of studies and resources, to a full-fledged forum where I was helping people with training, macros and diet advice.

Over time, people started to see great results, and the word spread out.

Currently we have a super active Facebook group with over 113k members plus Reddit (at also +150k members) and our webpage Ketogains.com

I believe part of the success of Ketogains has been, first and foremost, that we are firmly grounded in science, that we are able to translate this science into easily understandable advice that will resonate with people, and that we use a “no BS” approach, where we “say it like it its”, objectively, without bias or emotions.

Show Notes:

ABOUT LUIS

• I was quite overweight when I was a kid
• The traditional approach did not work very well for me – the classic eat less, 5 meals a day, etc.
• I am the kind of person who wants to know the how’s and the why’s and understand how everything works so that I can implement it properly. I just don’t want to follow suggestions and orders without knowing the reasoning behind them
• After some failed attempts, I basically started things on my own, did some research, read books and magazines and studied the encyclopedia
• So, let’s say that I am a self-taught nutritionist that specializes in body fat loss and muscle building
• My journey eventually led me to the ketogenic diet
• People used a ketogenic diet for ages, and there is even some writing in ancient Greek, where they used a ketogenic diet as a therapeutic approach. and that is basically what people used it for
• And this forgotten approach was the side effect of the ketogenic diet where it allows people to lose body fat almost effortlessly, while maintaining their lean mass
• At the time that I was studying this subject, I also had started body building. So, I decided to experiment with the diet
• I have been on the diet for almost 20 years now
• At the time I actually started keto, I had already lost a lot of weight
• When I in college I was going through a mild depression
• I was at the moment not super lean, but lean
• And I just stopped eating. I had to cope with things I am trying to control and I ended up being anorexic
• I was eating between 200-400 calories a day
• Over time, it became very easy for me to stay like that, and I lost the little muscle that I had
• I ended up weighing 48 kilos and right now, I am 78 kilos
• It was not a fun phase and then that’s when I started researching more and I found keto
• Keto helped me a lot. And I gained all my muscle while doing the ketogenic diet. I also managed to stay at a low body fat percentage 
• If you do keto properly, it is a very nutrient dense diet
• I am giving my body exactly what it needs, without having carbs, because some carbs are very inflammatory
• I do not follow the classic body building of bulking and cutting, I preferred to do “gaintaining” where you are gaining mostly lean mass so you can stay at a low body fat percentage all day long and still gain
• One can get over weight by overeating. But to get to the levels of obesity, and even with the health issues that we are facing today, it has to do with unhealthy habits
• I see overeating as coping with stress in an unhealthy manner
• We tend to medicate ourselves with food and food has become entertainment
• People eat mostly without restraint and in most cases, to numb emotions or to just get through the day
• Food has always been a central part of humanity, but we lost this connection to it where we would just eat mindlessly all day long
• People think that being healthy requires an incredible amount of will power and strength, but they do not have the time, so they are content in being mediocre.
• Our approach to keto is a little different because we don’t follow the traditional ketogenic ratios
• What we mostly do is restrict carbohydrates and restrict processed foods
• Our diet is in between keto and paleo more so like a primal diet and we focus on nutrient dense food
• We really do not care much about calories because when your goal is to lose body fat and have a good health, we tend to focus too much on the classic one where it fits your macros as long as you are maintaining your adequate caloric balance
• Calories matter, but not all calories are the same
• Even if you have a higher or lower caloric diet, and you are eating foods that are nutrient dense, then you are likely not going to be hungry. And you are not going to be missing any nutrients so your body will respond very well.
• I can maintain between 10% to 12% body fat all year long by eating the same things everyday
• I eat eggs, beef burger patties, smoked salmon and some avocados here and there
• I also do intermittent fasting. You can see on our website or group there are some comments regarding that
• People think that in Ketogains, we are anti fasting, and that’s not the issue. We are against non-intelligent fasting
• People are always trying to get the higher numbers or high levels of ketones without understanding what it translates to and what it means
• A Ketogenic diet promotes autophagy and even eating whole foods or foods that have a lot of antioxidants or even strength training will promote autophagy
• Exercise is not to burn fat; we have to let go of that idea. I know that this has been pushed for ages, but we really cannot outrun our diet
• Fat loss comes from the diet
• The training we do is to build your lean mass, and even though you are not a body builder, having lean mass is highly correlated with having better health because your body stores amino acids which are not just for muscles
• Every single cell in your body is made out of protein
• Amino acids are needed for hormones, enzymes and many other functions
• I will always like to tell my clients that our muscles are our health pension when we age
• It is not just about looking good, but it is about building and saving. Because eventually, we will not have the energy or time to build muscles
• When you build muscles at a younger age, the better health you’ll have when you are old, and that’s a fact
• The thing about training fasted is that, your body will require energy
• So, if you are on a keto diet, your body will get the energy that it needs from fat and ketones, so there is no issue there
• But if you are building muscle weight, you can train fasted and you will just maintain what you have and will not build optimally
• You actually want your insulin raised while you are training because it protects your muscles
• Insulin is anti-catabolic so, you will build or create more muscles while having a little bit of your insulin raised while you are training
• They say that only food raises insulin, only breaks the fast, but actually anything that has calories breaks the fast, or a cellular response also breaks the fast
• People do fasting to optimize health and for fat loss, but the main benefit of fasting is very much like a ketogenic diet, it helps to control whatever you are eating, it puts things in boundaries and it restricts certain kinds of foods that you might overeat
• Because you are restricted to only eat at certain times then, you are not mindlessly eating or overeating
• Snacks are for babies, treats are for dogs and seeds are for birds
• We are using food as a coping mechanism or as entertainment
• I have been criticized for that saying, but it put things into perspective 

ADVICE

• Don’t fear eating protein especially that we have been told that meat is dangerous and can cause health issues, but that’s basically bullshit
• If you don’t feed your body with adequate protein, as we age, your body will try to get aminos form somewhere and it will get your aminos from your muscle
• The reason people get smaller as they age and become less muscular and weaker is not something natural, because it can be stopped
• Most of our clients are usually 45 years old to 55 years old, so it’s never too late
• There is always something that you can do and there is always room for improvement

HEALTH BENEFITS

• It is something that I do not perceive that much because it has become the normal for me, but I rarely get sick
• I am going to be 42 years old in a couple of months, but people do not believe that that’s my age because I don’t look 42 years old
• Not getting sick and having a very good deal of energy throughout the day is also one of the biggest benefits that I have
• I work normally 10-16 hours a day and I study, but I can really focus properly

WHERE CAN PEOPLE FIND YOU

• Anything on the internet that is ketogains is going to direct the people to us
• To learn more about our services: ketogains.com/services/
• Website: ketogains.com

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