Recovering From Overtraining and Nutrition

Philip Pape 0:01

If you're feeling stuck with your training , overwhelmed by conflicting data from your wearable , or worried about regaining weight after a big cut . Today's bonus Q&A I'm bringing you the answers you've been looking for , because we are diving into how to bounce back from overtraining , why your Apple Watch might be misleading you and the secret to avoiding those post-cut binges that derail your progress . Welcome to Wits and Weights , the show that blends evidence and engineering to help you build smart , efficient systems to achieve your dream physique . I'm your host , philip Pape , and today you're going to hear a live Q&A from our Facebook group , where I tackle your biggest questions on training , nutrition and staying on track with your goals . Maybe you're struggling with overtraining . Maybe you're wondering how accurate your wearable device is . Maybe you're trying to avoid gaining weight after you lose fat . I've got you covered today and , before we jump in , I want to invite you to join our Facebook group Totally Free , where these live sessions happen every other week . You get to post your question , give me some context and get an answer straight from me . It's an amazing free resource that you hardly see online , and all you've got to do is join our Wits and Weights Facebook group using the link in the show notes or just search for Wits and Weights on Facebook Again . Use the link in the show notes to join the Wits and Weights Facebook group . It's a great place to connect with other people who have similar goals and get some accountability and support to get your questions answered and to keep your motivation really high . It's just awesome for that . So I'll hope to see you there in the Facebook group .

Philip Pape 1:44

Now let's get into today's Q&A . We have three questions today . The first question , from John , says I've recently put myself in a position of overtraining from a combination of too much volume in lifting , stress , being sick , poor sleep over the last five to six weeks . When I use the term overtraining , I mean I'm always sore , lethargic , tired , no appetite , low motivation in anything , my legs hurt . Going upstairs Picking up my kids is a challenge In the gym . If my workout calls for four sets of four at a weight where this would be challenging but very doable , I would get three to four sets of two , with them all feeling like maxed out grinders . This week I would get three to four sets of two , with them all feeling like maxed out grinders . This week I lifted Monday and Tuesday for not even half the workout I had planned and I'm sitting out the rest of the week to rest .

Philip Pape 2:34

I know sleep is king . However , in my current life situation , the king is dead . I get five-ish hours of total sleep a night . I wake often and the quality is poor . Knowing this is not a realistic option to get myself back to where I need to be . I'm cutting volume on lifting way back after this week and the high stress moments I'd face should be behind me .

Philip Pape 2:54

My question is what , nutritionally , can I do to aid my recovery ? Specifically , where should calories be in relation to my TDEE , that's , his total daily energy expenditure , which he says is about 2,800 calories ? What should the macro breakdown look like in terms of percent of the calories recommended ? I know there's no substitute for sleep . However , I can't control the lack of sleep I get . I can control nutrition .

Philip Pape 3:19

Sorry , this was long . I wanted to make sure I got the details in there , okay . So there are a lot of pieces here that I would like to address , and I think I'm going to start with challenging the assumption that the king is dead with your sleep . I know you said you can't control it , but I'm going to start with the phrase find a way . Find a way If sleep is so important to recovery which it is potentially the most important thing other than nutrition , right , which you've alluded to both why can't you get more than that ?

Philip Pape 3:51

Now , I understand if sleep quality is poor , even if you're in bed for eight hours . That's a different situation . But there are a lot of simple things we can do for improving sleep quality , like consistent bedtimes , you know , having that pre-sleep routine , avoiding blue light , even fitting in naps , all that stuff . Now , I don't know the full context here . If your schedule is so jam-packed and that's the reason you can't get the sleep , I'm really going to challenge you to look at your life situation and figure out how to get more sleep . Because look at your life situation and figure out how to get more sleep , because that little sleep on a regular basis is highly correlated with not only all the problems you've just stated with recovery , but excess fat gain , visceral fat gain , which is the dangerous fat in your belly , higher cravings , worse mood and energy , worse mental health . The list goes on and on . So I'm really really going to challenge that piece of it , and if I were your coach , that is something we would absolutely be working on . Now , I'm just gonna stop there on that , because I know you said this is not realistic to get myself where I need to be , and for some people's lives that is the case , right , and we can't change everything right now , but we can always look ahead to how could I improve that .

Philip Pape 5:06

So , talking about nutrition , what can I do to aid my recovery ? Well , when I see you missing lifts , okay , I go to . I go to three things . Number one is sleep . Well , I'm going to say sleep and nutrition , I'm going to combine them together . We're going to address that in a second . Number two is are you simply resting long enough between sets ? And number three is are you progressing the right amount of weight from session to session ? I actually got this from the first three questions in starting strength , so you can look that up . But anyway , assuming you're getting enough rest period between your sets and you are increasing at the right level you're not overshooting then it really is sleep and nutrition which you've identified . So if you can't fix sleep , will nutrition be enough to help you up ? Well , what we can do is put you in the best position to rule it out .

Philip Pape 5:56

And you ask what would the macro breakdown look like ? And then I had some follow-up comments and we went back and forth . No-transcript breakdown . The exact thing you're asking me about worth it for 80 bucks a year , and I always think like physical health is the number one thing in my life that I want to invest in . There's almost not too much of a budget that I can devote to that , knowing that it pays off with a long , high quality , low stressful , enjoyable life , better health outcomes and lower health costs in the long run .

Philip Pape 6:53

But if you're not going to go with that argument , or you're not going to accept it or whatever , let me just explain quickly the difference between Macrofactor and other food logging apps . Most food logging apps , like MyFitnessPal , do a passable job at letting you track food , and that's all they do . They do not give you an accurate target . Well , how the heck are you going to lose fat , gain muscle you know control exactly what you need for you unless you have that data right ? So what Macrofactor does is , as you track your food and you track your weight , it looks at how your body changes relative to what you eat to determine your metabolism , and then it will know hey , yeah , your metabolism is actually , you know , let's say , 2,900 calories and you're currently under eating at , say , 2,600 calories . Ah , that's part of the reason . You're under recovered and you can say , hey , I want to maintain my weight or I want to go into a slight lean gain , and in my opinion I would push for the latter for you . I would actually go into the very slightest gain above maintenance to make sure you fully recover , and then it will give you the macro breakdown . Now , if you weren't using macro factor and you wanted to just do it on a napkin or do it in a spreadsheet , first you have to know what your true metabolism is . So that requires you to track your , your weight over , say , a three week period , see how it changes relative to your calories , and kind of figure it out that way . And then you can allocate protein , uh , fats , then carbs . Protein , I would go around 0.7 to one grams per pound of your body weight . Fats , I'd go around 30% of your calories , and then carbs the rest , and that would help you recover . So that's kind of where I'm going with that . If you use macro factor , it will give you the insight that the other tools don't give you with your metabolism , so you can get the right targets and the right macro breakdown , which is exactly what you asked about . All right , I hope that helps .

Philip Pape 8:48

I'm going to refresh this because I see a couple follow-on comments coming in to one of the other questions I'm going to get to in a bit , but we are going to go now to the second question from Kim . Kim asks love being coached by you and looking forward to more time together in the future . Thank you so much , kim . That makes my day still using macro factor and love how I can see trends and now I'm confident in my maintenance together in the future . Thank you so much , kim . That makes my day Still using Macrofactor and love how I can see trends and now I'm confident in my maintenance , calories and what I need to do to increase muscle . Oh , kim , thank you so much . John , I hope you're still listening , but Kim exactly said why I love Macrofactor so much . You could actually know and have confidence in what you need to eat .

Understanding Macrofactor and Wearable Device Accuracy

Philip Pape 9:27

Basically , I recently convinced my husband to start using Macrofactor . He's 246 pounds , 5'11" , and carries most of his excess in quotes weight in his belly , don't we all ? Most likely a result of enjoying more than a few beers in his life , lol . I'm doing a decent job getting him to understand how Macrofactor works . He's completing week three with a five pound weight loss on the scale so far . Okay . So five pounds over three weeks , although that's still a short time to really tell what's going on . There might be a little water weight in there , so I'd peg it at around a pound a week , which is about a 500 calorie deficit a day . So hold that thought .

Philip Pape 10:04

Here's where we're struggling . I know an Apple Watch is not 100% accurate , but he is having difficulty believing that it is that far off . For example , based on his Apple Watch , he burns on average 3,200 calories a day . Macrofactor says his expenditure is 2,477 , so about 2,500 , with his calorie set at 2,169 . All right , so that means Macrofactor is putting him into a roughly 300 calorie deficit Because his watch is telling him he's burning 3,200 and he's only eating the 2,169, . He believes he's at a thousand calorie deficit . He's not . He's not . We'll explain in a second .

Philip Pape 10:39

I know that's why you're asking . I hope you share this with him and I hope your husband doesn't mind me . You know calling him out a little bit here , but it's going to be very helpful . So is the simple answer that the Apple watch is that inaccurate quote ? I guess I shouldn't use my watch anymore . Uh , what emoji is this Like rolling eyes emoji ? Help a wife out . He only approached he's only approaching week three using macro factor , so I know it's still information gathering Very smart . You learned , you remembered what we went through together and I know his tracking is pretty good so far . Since I'm making most out , I'm making most of his meals . Okay , thanks , philip , you are the best . Well , I think you're the best . I think you're an awesome wife , very supportive . I love that you're doing this . So this is actually really simple and really clear .

Philip Pape 11:23

Number one wearable devices have been shown through studies that looked at all types of brands , everything from Apple Watch to Fitbit to Garmin and everything else . They can be off by anywhere from like 20 to 93% is , I believe , the upper range of the worst devices in terms of calories burned . Now you said I shouldn't use my watch anymore . I think they're great for step count and for heart rate and even some other fancy metrics related to those like VO2 max and stuff like that . I think they're great for step count and for heart rate and even some other fancy metrics related to those like VO2 max and stuff like that . I think they're great for that . So definitely wear it for those reasons and , like when you're working with me or you have a coach , it helps to be able to see that data .

Philip Pape 12:01

But for calories burned , here's what's happening . The watch is simply doing what an online calculator would do . It says here's your height , here's your gender , would do . It says here's your height , here's your gender , here's your weight . And then we're going to combine that with some accelerometer data and sort of guesstimate how many calories you're burning and we're going to extrapolate based on a formula .

Philip Pape 12:20

Well , that's where the inaccuracy comes in , because it really isn't that accurate for you . It's . It can be way off , like I said , 20 to 93% . I just peg it as hundreds of calories , enough to not mean anything . And so using macro factor , on the other hand , you are tracking your food , so the energy coming in . You're tracking your weight . That calculates the energy you're gaining or losing based on your body mass , and macro factor has exactly how many calories you're burning . So you can tell your husband that whatever macro factor says his expenditure is is about as accurate a number as you can get , especially after three or four weeks . So he is burning around 2,500 right now and he is in a three or 400 calorie deficit , which correlates with the amount of weight loss he's had . So it's great that we're able to feed that all back together . So I think that answers your question . Pass it along . Don't rely on wearables for calories burned . Use either your own manual tracking , like we talked about in the first question , or use Macrofactor , because there's , frankly , no other app in the world that does it that way .

Philip Pape 13:24

Okay , continuing to the last question , and there were some follow-ups on this that just came in hot off the press and yes , okay , so Josh is using macro factor as well . It sounds like a big macro factor ad , I know , but it's such an amazing tool . It's kind of like if we were talking about strength training and I kept bringing up a barbell . I kept bringing it up over and over . You're like , stop talking about barbells . I'm like , well , can't help it . Like that's the best tool for the job and it's the most effective time-saving tool and it's dirt cheap , right ? So Josh's question is Okay , I'm approaching the end of a big cut again in preparation for a hunt .

Philip Pape 14:02

Now this guy he was on the podcast a long time ago . He does mountain goat backcountry hunting . I mean hardcore stuff . I have probably three weeks to go if all goes well . The other several times I've ended up bringing in gaining oh sorry , binging and gaining a lot of body fat while trying to build muscle , leading to the need to cut a lot of weight again . Okay , so he's gaining a lot of fat . Every time he gets off of a cut .

Philip Pape 14:28

The engineer in me sees the pattern Shout out . Fellow engineers , this time I've tried hard to be more flexible in my diet and not so rigid . Okay , big check mark on that , that's gonna help . So I don't feel as deprived , hoping that will help me with a soft landing as I transition back to maintenance and then into a lean bulk as I prep for the event in october , november . Traditionally , when I try to come up to maintenance , I get mad cravings for garbage and end up eating upward of 10 000 calories Some days . That that is a lot , man , that's a lot . It's really incredible .

Philip Pape 14:59

What other strategies do you have to help avoid the binge and rapid fat gain ? After this nearly 40 pound loss , I've considered starting to increase calories early to slow the loss before going to maintenance , but not sure if that's a good strategy as it will likely prolong the cut as my fat loss slows . I really don't want to gain it all back again . Thanks so much . And creeping out , creeping out , thanks so much . You keep cranking out content . You're a gold mine and I listen to you every day . Man , that is really . You made my day . I really appreciate that when anybody says they follow the stuff and it's helping them in some way . That's what I'm trying to do and love that you said that . So first of all , congratulations on all the progress . I know you're on top of so many of these things .

Philip Pape 15:42

You've recognized your pattern of this post-cut binge and that's step one , right Awareness . And you are using macro factor . You just confirmed , so you know what your exact dynamic maintenance calories are at any one time . So when you are done with a cut , you know that , hey , when I started the cut , I was 3,000 calories . Now at the end of the cut , you know that , hey , when I started the cut I was 3,000 calories . Now at the end of the cut I'm say 2,500 calories . And actually , when we look at your data , your current expenditure has been rising . It is currently around 3,300 . And when we look at your scale weight , we see , or trend weight , we see a significant drop over time , very , very consistent with your cutting phase , all right , cool .

Transitioning to Maintenance Phase

Philip Pape 16:24

So where am I going to go with this ? I am not a fan of like slowly increasing calories in the old reverse diet approach , only because you don't need to and it slows down recovery . And you alluded to that right , since you know your expenditure for macro factor and again this is tying this whole theme together of do you know how many calories you're actually burning ? You're not going to know it from your wearable . You're not going to know it if you're using MyFitnessPal . You've got to know it somehow , and it only comes from tracking what you eat and what you weigh . So I'm still going to advocate , josh , that you hit your maintenance immediately after your cut , because even that maintenance level is probably suppressed from what it eventually would be .

Philip Pape 17:06

Now what's interesting is , in your case , I see you've been on a cut for a while and yet your expenditure has been rising for a while , which is highly , highly unusual , unless you've been getting a lot more activity from prepping for the mountain goat event , in which case I don't know . You kind of get the best of both worlds , but I could see how , when you get off of a cut because you're moving so much and you have so much activity , the hunger , ironically , could ramp up because now you're giving your body these signals that food , more food , is coming in . I see this all the time and people go into muscle building phase , they actually start getting more hungry . And it's just hormones right , it's brain and gut and stomach hormones all working together to say , okay , you've got food coming in . I want you to go now get all that food . And I wonder if it's like a hundred gatherer thing , right , like now that food is available , we're going to feast . We're going to feast on that . So the fact that you have a sense of flexibility now , I think you should lean into that and be proud that that is going to give you a lot of confidence and prevent some of this binging already , like I think you've already done some things that I would normally recommend early on for a client .

Philip Pape 18:19

As long as you're allowing for the treats , the indulgences as part of that flexibility , it's just now a matter of scaling it up , and so the scaling it up part of it is one aspect . In other words , when you go back to maintenance and you have 500 more calories to play with or whatever , don't just incorporate a bunch of different and new foods . All I want you to do is take your existing meal plan and scale it . In fact , maybe not even add , don't even add an extra meal or snack yet . Just scale what you have . So if you're having vegetables , fruits , whole grains right , high fiber foods , things like that , just scale it up . Now , obviously , the fats and carbs are going to scale up more than the protein , because you're already on the high protein , but it's okay to have more protein as well , it's fine . So I would just scale that up .

Philip Pape 19:08

And the second thing I would do is really focus on you know , not , it's not so much the targets that you're trying to hit , it's that you were trying to be satisfied have the nutrients , have the performance , um , support your training , support your hunting , and the nutrients and the gut health and all that are really important to all that besides the macros . And so the high satiety foods , the fiber rich veggies , the lean proteins , the really good fats , are going to help you feel fuller longer , and so even in a maintenance phase where you have more calories , you can still rely on that strategy . And then the last thing that comes to mind is mindful eating , and by specifically what I mean by that is are you aware of your hunger cues ? Are you aware of the trigger foods , the emotional triggers that have caused you to binge at that 10,000 calories ? Right , because that's where you pull out the strategies of okay , get them out of the house . If the environmental awareness is a concern , incorporating those things in the right amount and like planning them into your meal plan and so on . So I don't want to overwhelm you , like I think the flexibility you have already is going to pay off . I think focusing on satiety , even if you were in fat loss , or as if you're in fat loss but now you're not in fat loss , it's okay , still do that . And then the mindful eating , like being aware of your triggers , being aware of your psychological versus physical hunger . I have a bunch of guides and strategies to help with that stuff if you need it , but I'm going to leave it at that . I'm going to leave it at that and if you have more follow-up , comment on the video below or post in the group and that's it .

Philip Pape 20:36

I think we had a great three questions today . I think the overall theme was tracking and having awareness of how your body is responding whether it's food , biofeedback , calories , whatever is going to be massively helpful in knowing what to do , what targets to aim for and learning about how your body responds . So there you have it . Those were three questions answered in a live that we do every other week in the Wits and Weights Facebook group . All you've got to do is join to take advantage of this free service . The link is in the show notes . I'll see you next time here on Wits and Weights .