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- Common Questions About Weight Loss
In this episode of the podcast/newsletter, we thought it would be beneficial to recap frequent conversations we have with patients who feel they are doing everything right, but are struggling to loose weight. It seems that most of the time, it always revolves around the same issues. We hope this podcast will clarify some of our positions on various things, and revisit some topics we have covered in the past.
The first 2 issues we cover are in the realm of exercise. We begin with strength training and will ask patients when they are strength training, exactly how they are strength training. One of the most common issues we find is that the stimulus is not sufficient to stimulate the Type 2 muscle fibers in your muscles. In other words, when you are lifting weights, you want to take it to the point where you could only do another 1 to 2 reps before you hit absolute failure. This is known as “Reps in Reserve” in the strength literature. I will often see people lifting weights where they finish a set of whatever exercise they were doing, and they could have easily done 5, 8, 10 more reps. We’re not saying there is no benefit in doing this, but if you are struggling to see results, look to push to more like 1 to 2 reps in reserve. We discuss this topic more in depth in our Swole Patrol episode.
Next we discuss the cardio exercise they are doing. Once again, usually they will be doing some form of cardio, but then we ask exactly how are they doing their cardio. We recommend that the backbone of the cardio that people engage in is a Zone 2 type of training. This will get them burning the most of amount of fat in that moment before they start tipping in to burning sugar. However, similarly with lifting, we will find that people are often stuck in Zone 1. They are going for leisurely walks, bike rides, etc., but not getting their heart rate where we would like it and holding it there. Again, we are not saying there is anything wrong or bad with Zone 1, but if you are struggling to loose weight, get into Zone 2. We discuss this more in depth in our Help! I’m Fat episode.
We then turn our discussion to nutrition. Studies have shown that human beings are notoriously terrible at estimating how many calories they consume. This is to say we will often see people stray away from tracking how many calories they are eating, only to become frustrated when they stop loosing weight. After some reminding on our end, they double down on tracking again, and often times the weight will begin trending down again. There are obviously other tools to reduce caloric intake other than tracking, but one way or another we need a good accounting of caloric intake so we know when we need to adjust things.
The next issue when it comes to nutrition is the issue of clean eating. We get this question very frequently. When it comes to loosing weight, don’t I need to eat organic? Grass fed? Non-GMO? Our response to this is based on a study (linked below) where a more healthy diet was compared to a less healthy diet, but both diets had less calories overall. The results were that both diets lost weight and had improved health markers. The healthy diet had more weight lost, and in certain ways a greater degree of improvement in health markers, but the bottom line was both groups showed improvement. This is what we tell to our patients. Start with an eating plan that you can stick to where you are achieving the First Order goals: hitting your total calorie intake goal and hitting your protein goal. After this you can work toward 2nd, 3rd, and 4th order goals which may include organic, pasture raised, Non-GMO, grass fed food.
Finally we discuss the often poorly understood notion of reverse dieting. I often get the question of “I saw a trainer on Instagram telling me that I need to eat more and then I will loose weight”. While this idea does have some merit as well as a time and place, it is not something that should be applied to everyone trying to loose weight. We have seen these reverse dieting protocols go very poorly and people end up gaining significant weight. The thing to remember is if someone is loosing weight, they are burning more than they are taking in. So although the person on social media claims to be eating more and still loosing weight, there is likely more to the story. Perhaps they think they are eating more but really aren’t. They have changed their diet enough that the total calories are down. Perhaps they are exercising more. Perhaps both. There are many variables to the equation. What is doubtful is they just started eating way more and then the weight melted off.
Simplified Takeaways…
When strength training, take your sets to the point where you only have 1 to 2 more reps left before hitting failure.
When doing cardio, get your heart rate into the Zone 2 area and hold it there for 20, 30, 40 minutes several times a week. (180 minus your age is a good heart rate to shoot for).
Find a way to consistently know how many calories you are taking in each day. There are many tools to do this, but if you have no idea how much you are eating every day, things can be challenging.
Be sure and hit your total daily calorie goal and your total daily protein goal. This is more important for weight loss than how “healthy” your food may or may not be.
Reverse Dieting is a useful tool, but is often misunderstood. The simple notion of “eat more to loose weight” doesn’t represent the whole story and has gotten people to gain weight instead of losing weight.
Be sure your sleep is on point. If not, this can put the brakes on losing weight.
Further Reading…
Disclaimer: This newsletter is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical advise. No doctor/patient relationship is formed. The use of information on this newsletter or materials linked from this newsletter is at the user’s own risk. The content of this newsletter is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advise, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard, or delay in obtaining, medical advise for any medical condition they may have, and should seek the assistance of their health care professionals for any such conditions.