Calories Are Good Or Bad


I read a Nerd Fitness article and there is good stuff.

In the world of nutrition, we can find contradictory things. It depends of the point of view of people about food :

  • I’m Paleo and I eat only meat, vegetables, fruits and nuts.

  • My diet is based on my macros (protein, carbs, fats). Paleo is ridiculous.

  • Fool, a calorie is a calorie. You can lose weight by eating less.

  • I have a good physique and I eat pizza. I’m weird

Each person has his/her vision about « eat healthy ». It for this reason that this theme is confused with a lot of contradictory scientific studies.

What’s this

what's this

A calorie is a unit of energy

This is the equalent of 4.184 absolute joules (that is different of 1.21 gigawatts.

Here what is means : 1 calorie of food is equivalent to 1 kilocalorie that is the amount of energy required to increase the temperature of 1gr of water from 15C° to 16C°.

In a certain way we can say that a calorie is a calorie but what is interrests us is « does different kind of calorie affect our body differently ? »

  • Is what 1000 calories of cookies is the same as 1000 calories of grass-fed steak and vegetable ?

  • Does our body treat these foods differently or it’s only energy in and energy out ?

  • Does the type of food affect our body other than just to lose weight and gain muscle ?

These questions create a lot of debates and on internet everything is amplified with people who show scientific studies. Internet is good to debate but we’ll go deeper.

First step

first step

It doesn’t matter the « nutritional philosophy » you have, but something is obvious. How you eat is responsible of 80-90 % of your success ou your failure.

You can improve you cardiovascular heath by running a lot but if your goal is to transform your body, how you feed your body will play an important rôle.

Training (exercices) have a role of support of maintenance of the body.

When we talk about pure weight loss, eat less calories that you burn each day is the key of the equation.

But we want do everything to avoid to have heart disease and diabetes. It for this reason we need to focus on the food’s type that we eat and the amount of food that we eat.

Calories are equal to loss weight


A person eat around between 3000 and 3500 calories per day of everything he/she wants. And now, he/she wants to lose weight.

This person decides to eat 2200 calories per day by eating less. This person doesn’t change what he/she eat but change proportions.

This person see that he/she loses weight, it’s good and it’s possible that he/she feels unhappy because he/she decreased drastically his/her normal amount of calories. Yet, it’s a good step in the right direction.

When we consume on average less than 500 calories per day, we burn 500 calories that we have in excess in our body. We can combine this with exercice and we can lose aound 0.45kg (1lb) of body mass per week.

As quoted on , « a net negative energy balance…is responsible for weight loss ».

You noticed, it says « lose weight » and not « lose fat ».

It’s at this point that the big problems begin. People eat less and it’s enough for them.

We know our body react differently to certain types of food like sugar. Certain food fill the stomach more than other without have a lot of calories (vegetable). And others fill us less the stomach with a lot of calories (soda, cookies and candy).

Remember that all processed foods are scientifically created so that you are always lacking this type of food as a drug addict.

Use small plates is very effective to help to eat less. A study from Cornell University  found that if they gave people a large tub or a medium tub of popcorn, and then gave them stale popcorn, the size of the tub mattered far more than the staleness of the popcorn in determining how much people ate !

We’re not rational creatures. Some food are dense in calories and low in nutrients and make us hungry all day.

Compared to a diet of vegetables and meat, it’s the opposite. It’s food low in calories and dense in nutrients and we have a sensation of satiety. Which make it easier the reduction of calories to lose weight.

If you have a lot of weight to lose, eat less to start to be in the good direction.

Now if you want an athletic body, it’s a little bit different. There is 2 type of food that affect the composition of our body and our athletic performances.

Eating for health and success

health success

To have an athletic body, you must take care about your macros (a certain amount of fats, carbs and protein).

It’s clear that 100 grams of vegetables carbohydrates is not equal to 100 grams of candy :

  • Consideres that sweets and processed food are created for you to eat and buy more like a drug addict.

  • Look the difference of micronutrients between vegetables and candy

  • Pay attention of your energy after eating vegetables and sweets/candy. With which you have the most energy ?

We searching a way to eat that allow us to have a good look/appearence and to feel good. A diet that takes us away from the hospital and allows us to enjoy life.

Look, if you like the idea to eat less but you don’t like the idea to count calories and macros each day, you can hack something. Stay focus on a type of food : Real food !

Instead to count calories

At each meal, have 1-2 vegetables in your plate (or the half of the plate) and have a great source of protein.

Not aim to lose weight for a few weeks

Track your calories and macros for few days or 1 week to analyze what you eat. Take note, note the size of portions and do the total of the quantity of the day. This allows you to plan your meals during the day and during all the year.

We know that eat less and to more physical activity, help us to lose weight and we are still overweight. Eat less isn’t a permanent solution because there is also the element of behavioral psychology.

Real food

It’s simple, our body is a complex machine. And even if a calorie is a calorie is a simple equation to lose weight, each « health » factor can be affected by the quality and nutrients of this calorie.

For this reason, I want you eat real foods, decrease sugar and think long term (new habits) rather than the 12-weeks formulas.

What methods you used and that didn’t work ?

What are your goals ?


P.S. Do you want a free training program ? Click here 

Teenager’s training (Part 1)

jamcore dz teenager training program





eat healthy





The Plan




  • Whole wheat bread. Stop white bread because of sugar.

  • Homade peanut butter ( peanut + blender)

  • Natural homemade jam (fruit in a saucepan)

  • Muesli without sugar


  • Eggs

  • Fruits

  • Oatmeal

Snack for recreation

  • An natural organic yoghurt without sugar and fruit


  • Brown pasta or rice

  • White meat

  • Fruits

  • Salad with olive oil

Snack for 16h (4pm)

  • An natural organic yoghurt without sugar and fruit


  • White meat or fish

  • Vegetables

  • Baked potato

  • Brown pasta or rice





In Part 2, I will talk about training.

What was your breakfast ?


Entraînement Pour Adolescent (partie 1)

jamcore dz teenager training program

Il y a une vidéo en 3 parties de JamCore DZ  concernant l’entraînement pour les adolescents que j’aurais aimé avoir vu quand j’avais 14-15 ans. J’ai envie de partager ça avec toi.

Comment les adolescents peuvent faire évoluer leurs muscles ? La première chose est qu’ils doivent être bien dans leurs têtes. S’ils sont bien dans leurs tête cela va influencer leurs corps et si le corps va bien cela va influencer le moral.

Je connais un jeune du quartier qui a envie de soulever des haltères mais ses parents s’inquiètent parce que son corps n’a pas encore fini de se développer. JamCore DZ a entraîné un adolescent de 11 ans pendant 1 an et demi. Les résultats étaient excellents et depuis il propose un entraînement spécial pour les adolescents.


eat healthy

Avant d’expliquer les exercices, il faut apprendre à bien manger. Sans une bonne alimentation, il n’y a pas de résultats. Les parents peuvent aussi lire cette articles parce qu’ils sont l’exemple pour leurs enfants.

Tout commence dans la nourriture, sans énergie nous ne pouvons pas fonctionner. Chaque nourriture nous affecte d’une façon différente, c’est pour cela que c’est très important de nettoyer notre environnement. Il nécessaire de manger de la nourriture saine car l’industrie alimentaire nous détruit avec le sucre. Le sucre est l’ennemi n°1

Evitons de manger tout ce qui contient du sucre comme les soda, céréales, fast-food, pain blanc, chocolat et les sauces. Même les céréales « Fitness » sont rempli de sucre, c’est une arnaque. La première chose à enlever de ton alimentation est le sucre.

Les dernières études aux Etats-unis ont montré que le taux d’obésité et de diabète dans les pays du Moyen-Orient vont dépasser celui des Etats-unis dans 5-6 ans.

Le Plan


Le plan c’est d’avoir de la bonne nourriture pour avoir de la bonne énergie pour l’école et etc. Quand tu te sens bien, tu te comporte bien. Quand tu ne te sens pas bien, tu déprimes et tu ne peux pas t’exprimer et quand tu ne peux pas t’exprimer, tu te fais frapper par les autres élèves. Bonne nourriture = bonne énergie !

Petit déjeuner

  • Pain complet. Arrêt le pain blanc à cause du sucre.

  • Beurre de cacahuète fait à la maison (cacahuète + blender {mixeur})

  • Confiture naturel fait maison (les fruits dans une casserole)

  • Muesli sans sucre

  • Lait naturel bio (il faut chercher un peu pour éviter le lait avec les hormones. Le lait industriel créer l’intolérance au lactose)

  • Oeufs

  • Fruits

  • Flocons d’avoine

Collation pour la récréation

  • Un yogourt naturel bio sans sucre et un fruit

Lunch (repas de midi)

  • Pâtes ou riz complets

  • Viandes blanches

  • Fruits

  • Salade avec du l’huile d’olive

Collation pour 16h

  • Un yogourt naturel bio sans sucre et un fruit


  • Viandes blanches ou Poisson

  • Légumes

  • Pomme de terre au four

  • Pâtes ou riz complet

Dans ces repas tu peux ajouter de la bonne graisse comme de l’huile d’olive, huile de noix de coco ou avocats

Pour un petit budget, il faut rester concentrer sur pâtes/riz, légumes, viande blanches, œufs, poisson (thon), fruits, pain complet, flocons d’avoine, huile d’olive, yogourt.

Pour les parents en surpoids, pas de riz/pâte le soir. Uniquement de la viande blanche et des légumes le soir.

L’unique chose à boire : L’EAU ! Parce que 75 % du corps est de l’eau ! Ce n’est pas du soda rempli de sucre.

Dans la partie 2, je parlerai de l’entraînement.

C’était quoi ton petit-déjeuner ?


Girls Myths (Part 2)

girls myths gym

Cardio for weight loss

cardio to lose weight

Everybody advise everyone to do cardio to lose weight. But this isn’t necessary unless you want to. I like doing cardio but if you don’t like it, don’t do it. Doing an exercise you like to do, zumba, aerobics or jazzercise. However, if you do these exercises only to lose weight and you don’t see any results, stops. There is another way.

Strength training can produce more effective in weight loss than the equivalent in cardio.

When you do strength training, your muscle fibers are broken and are repaired in 24-48 hours. Your body uses more calories and use more energy during the process of repairing your muscles. This means that your metabolism work at a higher level even when you’re sitting on a couch after your workout.

There is also something else. If your goal is ONLY lose weight, strength training isn’t necessary (I hate to say it, but it’s true). Change your diet if you don’t want to do exercises.

« Strength training helps correct problems related to cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and inactivity – all heart disease factors. Cardiologists starts recommend strength training for people who have had a heart attack around 3 weeks after the attack ».

The main one is that you find exercises you like, if you don’t like go to the gym, you can :

  • Using kettlebells

  • Doing yoga

  • Doing bodyweight exercises

  • Go hiking

  • Any activity that uses your muscles intensively

A program works for all women

women workout program

This is the type of thing that the Matrix wants you to believe. You read 10 different workout programs that promise you incredible results. You read 10 different books on nutrition that promise you incredible results. But why there are many different styles, different techniques ?

Just because every human being reacts differently to food, training and different stimuli. We’re genetically different, we have unique characteristics, different lives, different preferences and different struggles.

The only way to know what works for you is to try all and track your results.

I hope that this second part helped you. In the next section I will discuss myths : « Boys and girls should train differently » and « Eat less to lose weight ».

And you ? What are your myths fitness / bodybuilding ?


Fitness History – United States (1865 – 1900) Part 9

united states post civil war

United States – Post Civil War

united states post civil war

One of the most important events regarding the modern fitness in the United States was the industrial revolution that led to cultural changes in the country. The advances in industrial and mechanical technologies have replaced labor-intensive jobs. Rural life changed to an urban life. The life of the new city generally required less movement and work than rural life, which has led to reduced levels of physical activity.

At the turn of the century, the most common causes of death were influenza, polio, rubella and other infectious diseases. The risk of illness and death from infectious diseases were relieved by the discovery of Penicillin. The cost of industrialization and urbanization has become obvious in the 1950s and 1960s. An epidemic of hypokinetic diseases including cardiovascular disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes, never before prevalent, began to be recognized as the main causes of illness and death. The improved lifestyle brought in part by the industrial revolution also brought with it an unwanted and alarming cost to health.

Physical education

united states post civil war

After the end of the civil war in 1865, Swedish and German gymnastics experienced an average growth in popularity. However, the most popular form of gymnastics during this period was « The New Gymnastics » introduced by Dioclesian Lewis. Individuals who played an important role in the development of fitness during this period were Edward Hitchcock, William Anderson and Dudley Sargent.

Hitchcock knew the results of its fitness programs (combination of differents gymnastics) to improve health. He also introduced the concept of using anthropometric measures to assess progress in fitness. Sargent added scientific research to teaching fitness and developed organized teaching methods for instructors. Anderson’s work focused on physical education instruction was the development of fitness in a professional organization.

An interesting argument developed during the post Civil War period, still exists today. Several physical education instructors believed strongly in the value of incorporating exercise programs that would improve health-related fitness. However, sports were also gaining popularity in the United States during this era. Therefore, the majority of physical education programs were focused on sports and games. The debate between health-related fitness and skill-related fitness physical education programs continues to exist.

That’s all for today. Soon the rest of the fitness history


Fitness History- China and India (2 500-250 BC.) (Part 2)

ancient civilisation


ancient civilisation china

In China, the philosophy taught by Confucius encouraging regular physical activity. It was recognized that physical inactivity was associated with certain diseases (organ dysfunction such as heart disease and diabetes) that were preventable with regular exercise. Consequently, gymnastics Cong Fu was developed to keep the body in good conditions. Cong Fu exercise program consisted of different poses and movements characterized by foot positions and imitating different animals fighting style. In addition to gymnastics Cong Fu, there were other forms of physical activities through ancient China such as archery, badminton, dancing, fencing and wrestling.


ancient civilisation india

In India, physical activity was discouraged because of religious beliefs of Buddhism and Hinduism who insisted on spirituality and neglect development of the body. Consequently, the importance of physical activity in society was really low. However, a similar exercise program to Chinese Cong Fu was developed and still comply with religious beliefs, it’s Yoga. The exact origins of Yoga have not yet been found. Yoga has exist for around at least 5000 years. Yoga word translation means union and refers to one of the classic systems of Hindu philosophy of bringing together all personal development of the body, mind and spirituality. Originally Yoga was developed by Hindu priests who had a lifestyle characterized by discipline and meditation. With the observation and imitation of animal movements, priests hoped to achieve the same balance with nature that animals seemed to possess. This aspect of Yoga, known as Hatha Yoga is the form with which Westerners are most familiar and is defined by a series of exercises with physical postures and breath control. Apart balance with nature, the ancient Indian philosophies recognize the beneficial health effects with a good organ function and well-being. These health benefits have also been known today to the United States with an estimated 12 million people regularly practicing yoga.

That’s all for today. Soon the rest of fitness history.


Cardio Or Training

cardio weight

I usually do 45 minutes of cardio every Sunday, it’s just 4 times a week. It’s true that in March, I made 1 time of cardio, that’s why I went back to serious cardio. I think it’s important to do the combination training and cardio to have an athletic physique and improve it.

In the gym, it’s funny, there are those who do only cardio and those who do only training. If they do this for years, it’s easy to recognize. There are those who have volume, biceps fill T-shirt’s sleeves and skinny people with a physical of marathon athlete.

When I ask people who have volume if they do cardio, they tell me « no » because they don’t want to lose their muscles. When I ask marathon athletes if they train with weights, they tell me « no » because they didn’t want to be bodybuilders.

marathon athletic

I think there is a bad interpretation of the info. A person who has volume will not lose all his muscles but it will make them more visible, it just need a good fit with time and intensity. Cardio will also help to improve heart health, increase metabolism (improving the various processes in the human body), increase the type of hormone « I feel good », improves recovery and for diabetics that helps manage diabetes.

A person who makes marathon will not become a bodybuilder but it will avoid to have injuries, it just need a good fit with time and intensity. Weight training strengthens hips and glutes to protect knees, have good abs and a good back to have a better posture while running and to impart more force into the ground to run faster.

You see the combination cardio and training works for all types of athletes, you just need to adjust to achieve your goals. I find it unfortunate that people with potential stagnated because of myths or stupid lies. It’s too stupid !

Do you want have an athletic body ? Free fitness program (selecting a program and click on « Log in as Guest ») or on my eBook.