Quick Wits: Why Half-Tracking Your Diet is Keeping You Stuck Artwork

Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40

Strength training and fat loss for men and women over 40 is the foundation of this show. In every episode I put a popular piece of fitness advice under the microscope, find the hidden reason it doesn't work, and give you the deceptively simple fix that does. For skeptics of the fitness industry who are tired of following the rules and still not seeing results.

If you've been lifting weights, tracking macros, and doing "all the right things" but your body composition hasn't changed, you're probably overcomplicating it. Wits & Weights shows you how to build muscle, lose fat, and achieve real body recomposition by focusing only on what the evidence actually supports. The show centers on women over 40, but plenty of midlife men listen for the same approach.

Evidence-based coach Philip Pape brings an engineer's approach to strength training, nutrition, and metabolism. Instead of another generic program or meal plan, you get specific, science-based strategies for body recomposition, whether you're focused on building muscle, losing fat, or both. The focus is on strength training over 40, body recomposition for women over 40, perimenopause and menopause fitness, metabolism recovery, hormone health, and longevity.

You've seen the conflicting advice, even on other nutrition podcasts. One expert says cut carbs, the next says eat more. One says train six days a week, another says three is plenty. Building the body you want doesn't have to be this confusing or time-consuming.

By using your wits (systems plus identity-based behavior change) and lifting weights, you can build muscle, improve your physique, and maintain your results for life without rebound weight gain. You'll also learn about metabolism recovery, and why years of dieting can lead to metabolic adaptation that makes fat loss harder than it needs to be.

You'll learn smart, efficient strategies for movement, metabolism, muscle, and mindset: why fat loss matters more than weight loss, why all the macros (protein, fats, and yes even carbs) are critical to body composition, how just 3 hours a week of proper hypertrophy training can outperform twice that time, why building muscle is the single most powerful thing you can do for metabolic health and longevity, why perimenopause and menopause don't have to derail your progress, and how shifting the way you think about fitness drives more growth than any program alone.

Looking for fat loss podcasts, nutrition podcasts, or strength training podcasts for women and men over 40? Wits & Weights brings the science-based answers without the conflicting noise. If you're ready to learn what actually works, hit "follow."

Popular Guests: Greg Nuckols (Stronger by Science), Alan Aragon (nutrition researcher), Eric Helms (3D Muscle Journey), Dr. Spencer Nadolsky (Docs Who Lift), Bill Campbell (exercise science researcher), Jordan Feigenbaum (Barbell Medicine), Holly Baxter (evidence-based physique coach), Laurin Conlin (physique coach), Lauren Colenso-Semple (nutrition researcher), Karen Martel (hormone optimization expert), Steph Gaudreau (women's strength and nutrition), Bryan Boorstein (hypertrophy coach)

Popular Topics: strength training for women over 40, strength training over 40, women's strength training, body recomposition for women over 40, body recomposition after 40, body recomposition, muscle building after 40, muscle building, hypertrophy training, fat loss for women over 40, perimenopause fitness, menopause fitness, menopause metabolism, metabolism recovery, metabolic adaptation, protein for women over 40, nutrition for lifters over 40, hormone health, longevity and healthy aging, lifting weights for fat loss, macros and nutrition tracking

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Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40

Quick Wits: Why Half-Tracking Your Diet is Keeping You Stuck

January 29, 2024 • Philip Pape, Nutrition Coach & Physique Engineer

0:00 | 4:53

MacroFactor app – use code WITSANDWEIGHTS to extend your free trial to two weeks

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“Quick Wits” are short, 3-5 minute episodes between full episodes to give you an actionable strategy or hit of motivation.

These mini-episodes give you practical advice on fitness, training, and mindset based on my everyday experience with clients that you can implement right away.

If you enjoy these bonus episodes or have feedback on how to make them better, just send me a message on IG @witsandweights or hit me up in the free Wits & Weights Facebook community.

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy, the 26-week coached program to build muscle and lose fat after 40

📱 Get Fitness Lab, the AI coaching app for strength training and nutrition over 40

📊 Track your nutrition with MacroFactor and use code WITSANDWEIGHTS for a 2-week free trial

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❓ Ask a question for the show

Educational content only, not medical advice.

Philip Pape 0:00

Imagine if your bank statement only reported some transactions and not others . And then you get this huge shock at the end of the month when you see your actual balance . Well , you might be doing the exact same thing with your diet , and then the big shock is oh no , I gained 10 pounds . How did that happen ? We're going to talk about that on today's Quick Wits . Welcome to the Wits and Weights podcast . I'm your host , phillip Pape , and this twice a week podcast is dedicated to helping you achieve physical self-mastery by getting stronger , optimizing your nutrition and upgrading your body composition . We'll uncover science-backed strategies for movement , metabolism , muscle and mindset , with a skeptical eye on the fitness industry , so you can look and feel your absolute best . Let's dive right in . Welcome back to another Quick Wits , where we cut through the nutrition confusion .

Philip Pape 0:53

Today we are tackling a common but critical error in dieting , and that is you're tracking your food , but you don't track everything . You use partial food tracking . Picture this you diligently log your breakfast and lunch , but you forget to log your dinner because enter excuse here , you're too tired , it's too tedious , you forgot . Maybe you don't log some of your snacks and you're grazing . Maybe you go out on the weekends to a restaurant and you don't log that In . Some days you're really good about logging and some days you're not .

Philip Pape 1:25

All of these quote unquote transactions with your diet are now off the record . Imagine if your bank did the same thing to you . You see some deposits , you see some small expenditures in your online statement , but then a big transaction like grocery shopping or a trip you took on the weekend are just totally missing from your statement . Would you be surprised if your balance didn't match your expectations at the end of the month ? It's really the same thing If the bank said here's your balance at the end . You just dropped $2,000 this month and you had no clue . That's exactly like not logging your meals . They are the equivalent of financial splurges that you're not accounting for , because , when it comes to psychology of human beings , the things that we are most , let's say , guilty about or don't want to track because they're going to reveal some truths about ourselves , are often the ones that we leave off . If you're using an app like Macro Factor , there really is no incentive to cheat yourself like that and it makes sense to log everything . In fact , there's an article they wrote where , if you cannot log certain meals for the day , just leave the entire day blank . Otherwise , log everything within 30% and you're golden . This avoids any shocks that come down the road , because now you have data from which to identify your metabolism , your food habits , your food quality , whether you're getting the macros you're trying to get , and you have clarity and you have awareness , and that's what we're going after .

Philip Pape 2:56

Consistency with your tracking is going to be really crucial here , just like with your budgeting . The untracked dinners , the weekend treats , the little handful of nuts you nibbled on . They add up and when you're not logging them , you're only seeing half the story of your intake and then it's just completely useless . To be honest , it's not just about avoiding surprises , right Like the 10 pounds that I joked about in the teaser . You also get these valuable insights along the way very quickly .

Philip Pape 3:24

Within the first few days of tracking , you start to see your eating patterns , areas for improvement , you start to hold yourself accountable . I see this with clients all the time . We start together and they are amazed at how they are discovering about themselves things they never knew and are able to jump forward in the process , and then I , as their coach , can work with them to accelerate that even further . As we move forward . Remember the importance of tracking everything .

Philip Pape 3:49

If you're going to track just as you would track every expense in your bank statement , or would want the bank to report that to you , it's the complete picture , it's the full awareness of your nutritional intake , and then , with that full transparency comes real progress . Until next time , stay tuned and stay true to your tracking and to your goals . Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Wits and Weights . If you found value in today's episode and know someone else who's looking to level up their wits or weights , please take a moment to share this episode with them and make sure to hit the follow button in your podcast platform right now to catch the next episode . Until then , stay strong .