I wanna lift right now,

I’m Rob Base and I came to get down,

For my bench press, I’m not known,

But I’ve known to rock a microphone.

– Rob Base (probably)

If you wish, you can grab the N.W.A. Newsletter Playlist on Spotify here, all of the songs that have been featured in the newsletter are on the playlist.

Happy Friday, Coach J here from Anyman Fitness – and welcome to the latest edition of The N.W.A. Newsletter.

Each week with the N.W.A. Newsletter, I give you the best Nutrition, Weightlifting, and/or Attitude advice for you to start to use in your life today.

Tens of thousands of people have used this exact newsletter to gain muscle, lose fat, and become a better version of themselves…

Without any further ado, let’s get started..

N.W.A. Tip Of The Week

It took about 5 years, but the wheels are falling off the Carnivore bandwagon for social media influencers.

Many of the usual suspects who have made crazy claims about eating only meat have recently gone onto podcasts and admitted they started eating carbohydrates again.

Immediately, their blood lipids improved, their energy increased, their digestion got better, and their hormones got into the proper range.

Go figure.

Whenever I make a negative comment online about the gimmicky elimination diets like Carnivore, I get hate in my replies.

I want to let you know, the reason I tell you over and over… and OVER again to ignore these diets isn’t just because I’ve read the research on it (I have, though).

It’s because I’ve made these mistakes in the past and realized how silly I was being.

Before Carnivore, it was Keto.

And before “true Keto” it was just “eat no carbs”.

Sort of a bastardized Keto approach.

(Keto is technically a diet with 70% of your calories from dietary fat, simply eating no carbs is not true “Keto”).

It was 2011.

3 years before I started Anyman Fitness.

My first daughter was 1 year old.

And I was a big, fat whale clocking in at nearly 300 pounds.

I came across a Facebook post from a friend of mine and it was about a documentary he had watched – Fat Head.

The doc talked about how carbs are bad, and when you eat them, your insulin rises, and when insulin rises, it’s a storage hormone and you can’t lose body fat, and the secret to staying lean is to eat less (or no) carbs.

Sound familiar?

This was the first time I came across “The Insulin Hypothesis”.

(Let the record show, the Insulin Hypothesis has been bunked a million times. It does seem plausible, though…)

Maaaaaaan, I bought that shit hook, line and sinker!

After I dropped all carbs I lost 8 pounds in a week.

I immediately thought holy shit, the doc was right, this is the magic bullet, this is what all the other sheep don’t know about, I’m going to be so healthy YAAAAAASSSSSSSS!

Looking back at it, nothing magical was happening.

I had shed a ton of water weight.

I had also reduced my calories.

And I had a big, old woosh.

I also went from eating like garbage to making better choices.

It’s not exactly a big secret…

But it felt like it was.

When you’ve been struggling to lose 1-2 pounds per week and all of a sudden you lose 8 pounds practically overnight, you really do start to believe in the “magic powers” of low carb dieting.

So, I went all in.

And I lost a ton of weight.

I went from 300 to about 250 in the course of 6 months.

But at that point, the weight loss stopped.

I plateaued.

Confused, I decided to start skipping meals.

Of course, I called it “intermittent fasting” but let’s be real, it was just skipping meals, nothing more.

And the weight loss resumed.

By this point, many days I was eating one, single meal of less than 1,000 calories.

Keep in mind I was lifting weights regularly, on my feet teaching most of the day, and I’m 6’8″.

I was drastically undereating.

The weight kept coming off of me.

After a few more months, I was at 220 or so.

But I started to notice some awful side effects of being so low carb and malnourished for so long.

I had zero libido.

I was losing strength in the gym quickly.

My immune system was shot (I would get colds that lasted over a month.)

I was weak, lethargic, and low energy.

Eventually, I felt so shitty that I started eating more carbs.

I remember the first carb I ate after all of that was a baked potato.

I literally had anxiety as I ate it.

I kept wondering if I would get fat overnight.

That is disordered eating behavior… it’s embarrassing I ever thought that way.

I didn’t get fat from the potato, of course.

But after a few days, my energy levels started returning.

My immune system returned.

My libido shot back up.

My strength came back to me.

Go figure.

I did regain some weight, though.

Mostly water.

I went from 220 back up to about 230 in a month or so.

And I went back to the drawing board, trying to figure out a different way to keep losing body fat.

A way that was more sustainable.

A way that was more reasonable.

A way that was more enjoyable.

A way that was more…. SANE!

Shortly thereafter, I started tracking all of my macros for the first time.

And the rest is history.

Fast forward 14 years and here I am, telling you this cautionary tale, and urging you not to do anything silly with your diet.

So, you see, I speak from experience here.

Yes, gimmicky diets like Carnivore are alluring.

They’re an easy, quick-fix… “just eat meat!”

The marketing is on point, too… “cavemen thrived on just eating meat, Big Food wants to kill you, take back your health… blah, blah, blah…”

And when you DO give an elimination diet like Carnivore, yes, at first you will experience positive benefits.

After all, you’re eating less calories overall, you’re eating more protein, you’re eliminating all processed foods, etc.

Give it 6 months, though…

I’d be shocked if you could hack a diet like that long term.

Most people can’t.

Odds are good you’d be just like those silly influencers who sold you a bill of goods about Carnivore, and have now done a full 180 after realizing those diets aren’t the greatest thing ever.

Hate to say I told you so.

But I told you so.

I’ve been coaching men and women in 1:1, personalized protocols since 2013.

Here’s an example from Tres – he lost 30 pounds in my program and now has a 6 pack at the age of 49:

To learn more about this unique, “All In” experience, tap here and fill out this quick form – it will go directly to my email inbox.

Looking forward to speaking with you.

July-17-2026

N.W.A. Tip Of The Week

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