Aging or inflammation?
I still remember attending an outdoor backyard party when a 60-ish-year-old man was telling me he now had tinnitus. He was describing what it was (a ringing in the ears) and how awful it was. He was very upset about it.
I replied with, "Ah, I'm sorry to hear that. It is awful. Tinnitus would always make me dread laying down for sleep as the ringing would always become more intense."
I remember the expression on his face starting with excitement from being understood and then drifting into confusion, "Yeah?! You have... tinnitus too? But you're so young?"
I've had experiences with many of the symptoms of "old age" at a young age.
In fact, some of them, like acid reflux or a varicocele, I was suffering from as early as I can remember as a child. I just didn't know these were "problems." I thought it was normal life and didn't know that most adults, let alone other kids, didn't have these issues.
As a kid, I grew up wearing hearing aids and eyeglasses, and as a teenager, I was put on prescription painkillers to manage my tendonitis. My nickname in school was "sick boy" for missing class often due to getting recurring bronchitis.
I share my story not for pity but for the context of how I ended up becoming a writer and health coach, what symptoms I'm familiar with, and to give hope to others that there could be relief out there.
My Story (this is long for context)
I graduated from York University in Toronto, Canada, with an Honours Bachelors degree in Visual Design. After having spent some time working in the industry, my roommate and I decided to start our own graphic design studio.
In 2010, as an experiment, my business partner and I decided to try eating a bulking diet while lifting weights after work. I rapidly gained over 32 pounds of mass over three months. I then dieted down 5 pounds, with a total of 27 pounds of lean mass in four months.
Learning about the fundamentals of nutrition, training, sports supplementation, and recovery allowed me to feel somewhat normal for the first time in my life. In 2011, my business partners and I launched Bony To Beastly, and a few years later, we launched a female edition we named Bony To Bombshell.
This worked well for over a decade. But as I entered my 30s, my ongoing health issues from the years prior were brought to the forefront and could no longer be ignored.
After nearly 10 years of lifting weights, doing cardio, taking sports performance supplements like creatine and whey isolate, and eating home-cooked meals, I was slowly gaining a belly.
I don't have many photos of this period of time. It seems that you find a way to not be in too many pictures, let alone shirtless when you aren't happy with how things are going. Not only did I not look like I lifted weights, exercised, and ate well—but I also didn't feel great either.
I noticed the traditional advice around calories and protein wasn't working well for me anymore.
After becoming a dad, I hit my thirties, and despite doing everything "right," I was slowly gaining a layer of fat on my belly.
My strength in the gym plateaued. It was getting harder and harder to gain muscle.
Every time I tried to burn off fat with a calorie deficit, I got weaker and smaller. And every time I tried to gain muscle, I got fatter—particularly around the belly.
I felt frustrated for years.
Counting calories, if-it-fits-your-macros (IIFYM), 16/8 fasting, different diets like eating "clean," and many different styles of cardio. I tried 10k steps, HIIT, daily ab-burner circuits, and out of desperation, I even tried sweat belts.
I tried over a hundred different supplements, including EGCG, magnesium (oxide, glycinate, chloride, etc.), beta-alanine, nattokinase, collagen peptides, gelatin, glycine, hyaluronic acid, chlorophyll, zinc, copper, iodine, taurine, creatine, glutamine, carnatine, coenzyme Q10, fish oil, cod liver oil (including raw), krill oil, pine pollen, propolis extract, shilajit, spirulina, various vitamins and forms (thiamine, niacin, B12, etc.)
I've tried it all. (I now take zero pharmaceutical supplements.)
I was constantly getting sick and still suffering from various health issues like acne, acid reflux, tendonitis, alopecia, and dandruff. The dandruff was worsening, leading to hair loss and balding.