The High Performance Journal - February 27th, 2024

2023 was a wild year.

It started with moving my family to the West Coast of Canada where we had our second child. We survived our first forest fire. I grew my business by over 100%.

I had let my body get out of shape and, with a little accountability from you, I got it back to a reasonably good shape.

Now, as I'm preparing for the next leg of my journey I'm planning on getting myself fat again.

While this may sound like clickbait I assure you it's not.

To understand where I'm coming from it may be best to provide some context:

My Journey To Getting In Shape

When I was growing up I was ashamed of my body.

I was fat, had manboobs, wasn't working out or eating well, and I gave up on the fact that I would never get myself in shape.

But after hitting rock bottom with my body I got sick of myself and my excuses. I decided to do whatever it took to get my body to a level where I'd be proud of it.

So I became obsessed with fat loss. I poured my soul into reading every book, article, and research paper to get myself as lean as possible.

And it worked.

I got myself into incredible shape and did a photo shoot to commemorate the event:

Yay, I made it. Or did I?

Stuck In A Perpetual Cycle Of Dieting To Lose Weight

I had reached my dream of getting into single-digit body fat but it came with a cost.

Along with hitting my goal, I had gotten attached to that version of myself (which was not sustainable) as the standard for how my body should look.

This was the start of my journey into body dysmorphia, which is a topic that I'll get more into more deeply in a future newsletter.

Any time I was not at that level of leanness (which was often) I'd diet myself down to look like it. This would create a vicious cycle of gaining a bit of weight, dieting down, gaining it, and on and on.

The Straw That Broke The Camel's Back

During that time I had been able to keep myself in good reasonably-looking shape but life happened.

2022 was a year of being technically homeless and moving from one Airbnb to another.

Once 2023 came we made the big move to the West Coast of Canada and my second daughter Kaia was born in April of 2023.

During that time of change (and a good deal of sleep deprivation) my weight had ballooned up to a number I hadn't seen since my younger fatter days.

So, in traditional Dan Go fashion, I set about losing the excess weight and I'm glad to say that I've gotten somewhat in the vicinity of where I feel comfortable:

The first photo was taken when I moved into our new home. 2nd pic was taken 2 days ago. It's not ripped but reasonably fit. I'm okay with that!

With that being said, I'm done with the cycle and I'm about to set on a new uncomfortable path that will challenge me on a mental level.

This Is Why I'm Intentionally Getting Fat

When you're in a perpetual weight loss cycle it's hard to put your body in a position to gain muscle.

You're not eating enough calories because you're always trying to "lean down" and this creates an environment where your body is starved of getting enough sustenance to make gains aka. build muscle.

Now, gaining muscle is not just for aesthetic purposes and I assure you that I don't care about looking like a bodybuilder or one of those 'roided up dudes on social media.

Muscle is an investment in better health. Let me explain...

Muscle Mass Is Like Compound Investing For Your Body

Think of muscle as putting money into a high yield investment.

While the one-year rate of return may not be as big as think it is in the future years when this investment starts compounding in your hormonal, metabolic, cardiovascular, functional, and mental gains.

Hormonal Gains

Gaining muscle through strength training boosts the production of hormones like testosterone, growth hormone, and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). These hormones play pivotal roles in muscle growth, repair, and overall metabolism.

Metabolic Gains

Gaining muscle accelerates your metabolism through your resting metabolic rate (RMR). Muscle tissue is metabolically active, requiring energy even at rest. As muscle mass increases, RMR rises, leading to more calories burned throughout the day.

Functional Gains

As we age, we tend to lose strength, power, and, yes, muscle. Gaining muscle helps increase bone mineral density, tendon and ligament thickness, balance, flexibility, and overall function in life. Gaining muscle leads to a better quality of life.

Cardiovascular Gains

Strength training has been shown to improve heart health and insulin sensitivity, regulate cholesterol levels, lowers heart rate and blood pressure, and all of these reduce the strain on your cardiovascular system.

Mental Gains

The things you do to gain muscle (strength training) have been shown to reduce anxiety, stress, and depression while helping your brain grow new neurons through neuroplasticity.

But the main mental gain that I'll get is stepping off the perpetual cycle of always trying to lose weight and shifting into trying to gain it.

Here's why:

There Are 2 Ways To Build Muscle

The first way is what we, in the fitness industry call, a Body Recomposition.

This is a fancy term for saying you will keep yourself roughly at the same weight while eating your maintenance calories to gain muscle.

The benefit of doing this is that you don't gain any fat. The drawback is that it is mind-numbingly slow and sometimes doesn't always yield the result you're looking for.

The second way is called a Lean Bulk.

This is where you eat more calories than your body can burn, which will create an environment where your body prioritizes the building of muscle.

Doing this is a "faster" path but will also cause someone to gain weight along with gaining muscle.

In the next phase of my journey, I plan to do both of these to add muscle to my body.

Here's My Plan To Build Muscle This Year

Phase 1: Get Lean For The Summer

I'm going to continue to drop my body fat down from here to May 2024. This means staying in my caloric deficit to drop a few more pounds to look lean for the summer.

Phase 2: Body Recomposition Until September

Afterward, I'm going to enter into a body recomposition phase where I eat at my maintenance calories and give my weight and hormones a chance to "settle" in at the new weight.

Phase 3: Lean Bulk For Fall & Winter

This is where the rubber meets the road. I'm going to increase my calories anywhere from 100 to 300 calories above my maintenance levels.

The aim is to intentionally gain 1-1.5% of body weight gain per month as that is the sweet spot in gaining muscle while limiting fat gain.

Some Things To Note

The process of gaining weight is going to be a mental hurdle for me. I've gained weight in the past but that has been unintentional.

This time around I'm seeing it as a necessary part of the process, which will be a challenge, especially in the beginning.

Another thing to note is that gaining muscle is a long-term process. While dropping body fat can range anywhere from 12-16 weeks, gaining muscle is a 6-16 month-long process.

To dip my toes into it I'm going to start with 6 months in a lean bulk.

Also, my workouts and nutrition will change but I'll leave those details for a future newsletter.

Big Things Ahead...Literally

This is a welcome change for me.

I've never given myself a real chance at building muscle and this seems like as good of a time to do it as ever.

I'm going to remind myself that in this process it's okay to gain weight, which is gonna be weird.

But through much exposure, I have a feeling this will help me get off the perpetual hamster wheel of always trying to lose weight and get lean.

I don't know where you are in your journey but I hope some of this has helped in whatever goals you set for yourself when it comes to your body.

Onwards and upwards 🚀

- Dan

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