I would like to share with you something that I consider embarrassing. Back when I was in High School, specifically when I was about 15-16 years old, I used to believe that Pop-Tarts were a “good for you” breakfast. Today, 30 years later, I am just completely amazed that I could have held that belief in my head for even one second.  Unfortunately, like many teenagers, I seldom took advice from adults.  Even if I had had a coach telling me Pop-Tarts for breakfast were a mistake, I probably would not have listened.  Ironically, I find myself often giving eating (and exercise) advice to young athletes, 12-18 years old.  Acting as a coach for these young people, I realize that much of my advice may fall on deaf ears.  Still, I am hopeful I can help them not make the same mistakes I made.  That is the goal of this post.

Back in the 80’s, when I was a teenager, I was obsessed with lifting weights.

I also participated in Soccer and Wrestling. As if that was not enough, in our spare time, my friends and I would play a considerable amount of neighborhood Basketball. On top of all that, our 12-speed bicycles were our cars- we rode our bikes virtually anywhere we needed to get to. I guess I was hanging out with the “jocks”, right? Anyway, I would say I was pretty substantially “physically active” at that time in my life. Despite all this physical exertion, my “nutrition program” was pretty horrible, Pop-Tarts not only represented my typical breakfast, but also a frequent after school, or even late night, snack. Maybe I should have had t-shirts designed that read, “Body by Pop-Tart”.

My body reflected my not-so-intelligent food choices at that time.

I was, what we somewhat impolitely refer to now as, “skinny fat”. In case you have not heard of the term “skinny fat” before, let me tell you that essentially it means, “lack of muscle, kind of chubby”. Often, when you measure a “skinny fat” person’s body fat percentage, it is much higher than you expect. This was me at the time- I looked skinny in clothes, but I was chubby- my level of body fat was high.

But, man oh man… I LOVED Pop-Tarts. Secretly, I still do (well, I guess it’s not a secret anymore). I just refuse to eat them. I can remember many, many mornings waking up, grabbing a package of 2 Cookies & Creme Pop-Tarts, quickly ripping the package open and throwing the two “tarts” in the toaster oven. After they were perfectly warmed, I would carefully break off the chocolate cookie “crusts” of each of the two tarts, eat all the hot crusts first, and then slow it way down and thoroughly enjoy eating the warm, gooey, crème filled centers, breaking off and eating one small piece at a time. After letting the last bite melt in my mouth, I would wash it all down with half a quart of skim milk. At least it was SKIM milk, right?

The tragedy, or happy ending of this story, depending on how you look at it, is that I gave up Pop-Tarts.

Eventually, I discovered that my lack of proper eating was the glass ceiling on my physical development, physical performance, and general appearance.

When I finally constructed more proper eating habits about 1 year after I graduated High School, I promptly gained nearly 8 pounds of muscle and, simultaneously, lost approximately 26 pounds of body fat. All this happened in about 6 months.

I went from skinny fat to, “Holy crap… have you seen Paul Newt, he gained like 80 pounds of muscle!”, or so the rumors said.

Sadly, I had abandoned the Pop-Tarts once and forever. They were replaced with 6 egg whites, 1 yolk, and 1 medium-sized orange for breakfast (P: 21, C: 11, F:6).

I’ll be honest- this meal was NOT quite as enjoyable as the Pop-Tarts. But, it was this pivotal, dietary change that formed the foundation of my new perspective on food and altered the course of not only my physical development, but also every other aspect of my personal and professional life.

There are many more details to this diet (6 meals/day) and weight training system (2.5-3 hours, 6 days/week) that took me from the land of “skinny fat” to the domain of “hey, can I ask you a couple questions about how to eat right?”, but that’s a topic for another time!

Thank you for reading.