8/13/2019 John McCabe, Keeping Fit, Sun Media (Sept. 7, 2006)

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 John   McCabeadmits his

workouts usedto be an exercise inf utility.

Sure he  wouldpump iron with vig-our and  top it off with  a  sweaty ses-

sion on a cardio machine.And sure he was religious about it, rarely missing a

scheduled trip to the gym in the several years since hefirst began lif ting weights.

But McCabe didn’t have much f ruit to show for his la-bours.

In f act, at six-foot-one, he weighed a bulky 312 pounds.Not the typeof  streamlinedphysique you’d expect f romsomeone who worked out regularly.

That was a littlemorethan five years ago, justbefore he found out hewas missing a key ingre-dient in thefitness equa-tion – proper nutrition.

“About 95% of peoplewho go to the gym don’tmake progress,” he ex-plains. “Most of it has todo with nutrition. Nutri-tion is the building blockof  your body.”

In McCabe’s case, he says his portions were way toobig at the time andhe was eating too much of  the wrongtypes of foodlikehighly processed f are and sugar-ladenprotein bars.

“I was disgusted with the way I looked and the way Ifelt. I had to do something,” he recalls.

Af ter enlisting thehelpof a coupleofpersonal trainers,McCabe soon began seeing the error of his dietary ways.

And as he learned first-hand the importance of goodnutrition, a  f unny thing happened along the way – hispreviously stubborn physique finally began to changeforthe better.

That thick layer of f at coveringhis body started to meltaway and  McCabe drew f urther inspiration f rom hisprogress.

“The biggest motivating f actor was seeing that scaledrop every day or every two days,” he says, adding com-pliments f rom f riends and acquaintances also served tobuoy his spirits.

McCabe ended up  buying  a whole new wardrobe –twice – andgetting ridofhis “f at clothes” along the way.

Af ter six months, McCabe says he dropped 105 pounds,bringing him to a lean 207 with 7% bodyf at and the typeof chiselled abs he used to only dream about whileflip-

ping through the glossy pages of muscle magazines.These days,  the  38-year-old  E dmontonian’s weight

has levelled out to about 220 pounds.He works out at the south-side Club Fit four times a

week, lif ting weights for about 45 minutes and doing upto an hour of cardio – either the elliptical machine, thestationary bikeor walking on the treadmill at a steepin-cline.

Most importantly,  he still monitors every morsel of food that he puts in his mouth.

His six-meals-a-day diet includes lean  cuts of   redmeat, c hicken, tuna, egg whites, rice, pasta, baked po-tatoes,  low-f at dairy products, yogurt,  microwave pop-corn and veggies.

Since his metamorphosis, McCabe has become a cer-tified personal trainer and nutritional consultant.

He has also launched a web-based business –  body-shaping101.com – with the goal of helping others reachtheir fitness and weight-loss aspirations through weight

training and nutrition.McCabe,  who makes

house calls, points out thathe’s  just “the guy nextdoor.” And because he’s notperfect,  h e  subscribes tothe 80/20 rule, which meanshe eats what he’s supposedto 80% of  the time. The re-maining 20% of  the time, heallows himself  to splurge.

“It’s OK  to g o out andhave pizza on a Friday nightwith  your f riends, but youdon’t do that every day,” hesays. “It’s moderation.”

And the Nova Scotia na-tive, who as an overweightchild  was teased   by hispeers and was forced to en-dure the indignity of beingpicked last for sports teams,knows his battle o f   thebulge will likely last a life-time.

“It has to  be  a   lifestylechange if  you want to keepwhat you achieve,” he says.“It’s a never-ending battle.It’s something you have towork at every day. That sixmonths was easy.  I t’s therest of my life that’s hard.”

–  D o  y o u h a v e  a n in s pi r a t ion a l  st o ry 

fo r K eeping  F  i t ?  E -m a il  Ca ry Ca st a  gn a a t 

cca st a  gn a@ edm su n.c om 

E D I T O R :   S a l l y J o h n s t o n   P H O N E :   4 6 8 - 0 1 1 5   F A X :   4 6 8 -0 1 3 9   E -M A I L : s j o h n s t on @ e dm su n . c om

T H E E D M O N T O N S U N •  T hur sday , Sep tem be r 7 ,   2006   l i fes ty le   69

CAR Y CAST AG N A

–  Supplied photos

In six months, John McCabe transformed himself f rom

a bulky 312 pounds,  lef t, to  a  lean 207 pounds with7%  body f at, above.

Huge v alue ofnutr ition

‘I was disgustedwith the wa y I

looked and thewa y I felt.’

 –  J ohn McCabe

S hed 10 5 po u nd s b y e a t ing  r igh t