T Nation

Old School Dad Needs to Cut

Supplements and Nutrition
#1

I’m trying to help my dad diet down some and want to have some good ideas to throw at him. Basically his problem is that he is a sap. My little sister basically gets whatever food she wants. Long story short, he has no self control unless he’s on a diet and will not make my sister eat his diet food so a mix of good and bad food will be in the house.

As long as shit food is out of the house, he will follow the rules. Therein lies the problem. I’m trying to find something that may make it easier to follow the rules when bad food is around.

As a note: He owns a small landscape bus. and works about 70hrs each week doing the real work.
In the past he had great success with atkins for a few years, but wont follow that w easier* food in the house (bread, pasta, etc)
He won’t get rid of the food since he has joint custody of my sis w a crazy baby mamma and doesn’t want to deal bs w that, and wants her to be “normal”.

I’ve gave him actual diets or slightly less strict atkins diets.
I’ve got 2 ideas so far. Since he’s a snacker and a 1-meal eater (no apatite when working) I was thinking to try some IF protocol without him eating the normal meal, make it lower carbs
or
See how the Anabolic diet works

Yes, I know he needs a reality check/self-control but he’s not focused on this too much, he has a business to run. He needs something easy, and he’s not obese or anything.

Any comments are appreciates. Thanks in advance!

#2

My father is a similar situation, long days, maybe one meal (and it’s always a bad one)… a while back, I did get him to lose a bit of weight, and as he was pretty damn heavy, it didn’t take much change to actually get things going.

1-As his metabolism was pretty tanked from such infrequent eating, I kept him stocked with as many decent tasting protein bars as I could. Since so many of 'em taste like candy bars, but with some protein injected into 'em (and pretty low sugar amounts), he was pretty content snacking on 'em throughout his work day.

2-Made him eat breakfast. it wasn’t always a big deal, but a shake and a banana can be a hell of a step up from nothing.

3-dinner was always ‘healthy’. Usually a lean protein source and veggies. If he wanted a snack, it’d be nuts or peanut butter.

4-A very sendentary indivual, my Dad was actually able to make noticeable progress from a simple 45 mins ‘workout’ (basic weight work, and 20 mins walking on a treadmill) done 3-4x/week.

A lot of the ‘sports supplement’ market is geared towards the average joe these days, and as such, he can enjoy what seems like candy bars, tasty shakes, even protein peanut butter and protein pudding. Basically, I’m thinking that the biggest area to focus on might be simply establishing a better eating cadence, and let his better adapt to using the incoming nutrients more.

Good Luck, I’ve been there (and still get frustrated as hell with my ol’ man).

S

#3

I’ll see if I can get him to find some good quality protein bars that won’t tear him up. He dropped me a line the other day that his doc mentioned potential digestive issue (maybe IBS, but nothing too severe, just an old man that constantly farts down the hall I guess haha).

So far he’s been eating eggs like a champ lately, as meal 1 and a snack, so thats a nice development.

His problem is that his “GPP” is really good from landscaping 24/7/365, but he’s got bad joints and sciatica if he does some things. He can’t do barbell rows, damn sure can’t deadlift unless I’m around, and only squats on occasion because of his knees (he can half squat sumo stance without pain, better that than nothing).

I’m off for college again soon, but back for winter break in about 3 weeks. I’ll figure something out, wait, and see if it works and go from there I guess

Thanks Stu!

#4

But…according to IFers, he should be getting ripped on that 1 meal a day. Imagine that, a 20-hour fasting window? :wink:

#5

Haha, right? I’m going to just stop eating for 20hrs in a day and get lean(gains) amazingly…