Breaking Free From the Numbers Game

Philip Pape 0:01

If you've ever followed Weight Watchers , counted points , used prepackaged meal programs like Optivia , or obsessed over hitting exact calorie targets in MyFitnessPal , yet you're still not happy with how your body looks and feels . This episode is going to change everything . The problem isn't your dedication to tracking . It's that you're tracking the wrong things . Today , we're exposing why fixating on precise numbers whether they're calories points or macros is actually holding you back from the lean , strong physique you want . You'll discover why all these programs miss the bigger picture of true fat loss and learn exactly what to measure instead for lasting results . So , whether you're currently counting every calorie or just tired of jumping from one tracking system to another , get ready to break free from the numbers game and finally start seeing real changes in your body . Welcome to Wits and Weights , the podcast 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 we are tackling a fundamental problem that affects nearly everyone trying to improve their body composition the difference between weight loss and actual fat loss , and why most tracking methods completely miss the mark and I see this all the time . People who've spent months or years religiously following different programs , tracking everything , weighing portions to the gram , celebrating when they hit their targets , and I think they're losing the bigger picture . They're losing weight , yes , according to the scale , but they're not getting lean , they're not getting the defined physique that they're after , and instead they're ending up with what we often call skinny fat right , smaller on the scale , but still unhappy with how they look and feel . And today we're going to break down exactly why this happens and what to do instead . And you know I am a numbers guy . So , even though I am sounding like I'm saying not to be precise and not to track , you're going to understand the subtle differences that I'm getting into today and why this tool can be helpful . Before we dive into that , I do want to tell you about something that could transform your approach to fat loss and give you some support , because I'm going to be talking about some of the cookie cutter programs today that focus on hitting arbitrary numbers but ignore what actually matters , and it is rife in the fitness industry , in the weight loss industry , and that's why I'm so strongly opinionated about it . But I do have something that can work for you , and it's called Wits and Weights Physique University . It's my semi-private group coaching program where we cut through all of that . We do use tracking , but we focus on tracking what truly drives fat loss results , and it's just a tiny piece of it . More importantly is the proven methodology , the expert guidance and support through a community and also from me as a coach , to help you achieve the physique you want the leanness , the look , the feel , the energy , all of those things , and not just pursuing a weight on the scale . So if you want to learn about joining us , just go to witsandweightscom , slash physique , and you can see all the details there .

Philip Pape 2:57

But with that I just want to get back to today's episode and talk about the numbers game , the weight loss versus fat loss , all of it , and I want to understand why focusing purely on numbers okay , it could be calories , it could be points like Weight Watchers , it could be pre-portioned meals , it could be anything often leads to frustration , because sometimes people come to me and they haven't tracked anything . That's a different situation . I'm talking about the situation where you have tracked lots of things . Maybe you're very data-driven , maybe you're very numbers-driven , maybe you've been through different programs and somehow it's still not working , or you feel like it doesn't work for you and you feel like , huh , I must be broken or something's wrong with me .

Lean Body Through Strength Training

Philip Pape 3:37

And the common theme throughout these programs is that they promise simplicity . Right , hit these targets and you'll lose weight . That's the premise of most of them . Let's be honest , and technically they're not wrong . If you eat fewer calories than you burn , you will lose weight . But what they don't tell you is that not all weight loss is fat loss . Now , I've talked about this several times on the show . If you're new to the show , definitely listen up , because this could be the thing that changes your perspective on all of this and unlocks a new phase of growth for you . If you had heard it before , I'm going to give you a different perspective today . Now think about it .

Philip Pape 4:11

When you lose weight , right , your body can pull from multiple sources . It can pull from fat that's an energy storage source , but it can also pull from muscle tissue , water , bone density in some cases , and if you're only focused on seeing the number on the scale go down while you are doing the program , eating prepackaged meals , hitting arbitrary points , even just counting calories you have no control over where that weight comes from . And this is why so many people end up successfully losing weight according to their program or tracking app . But then they feel disappointed when they look in the mirror and we know that 95% of those people are going to regain the weight anyway . And so maybe it's not about the weight , because a lot of coaches try to sell you on sustaining the weight loss .

Philip Pape 4:54

But I don't think it's about the weight at all , because most of these people and you've probably been there , I have as well , through all the diets I tried in the past have lost muscle along with fat , leaving you with what seems like the same shape , just smaller . An extreme of this is if you look at somebody who's in their 70s or 80s , who's been fairly sedentary their whole life , and they might have carried the same scale weight for the last 40 years , but they just seem tremendously weaker . It's because , despite being the same weight , most of their body composition has become fat rather than muscle , and it doesn't seem possible when you see how frail and thin they look . But that's how bad it is , in that most of that mass that they do carry is fat . Even though they're thin , that means they have zero muscle . You know , very little muscle .

Philip Pape 5:37

So it's very important from a longevity and from a health perspective that we care about this stuff not just about our physique , and so people who've lost muscle along with fat because they're dieting , they're not strength training , they're not doing the things , their metabolism has also slowed down because they've lost that metabolically active tissue . They're probably often in a state of underfeeding and dieting and , worst of all , they're usually mentally exhausted from the constant pressure of doing this program , whatever it is , hitting the targets relentlessly , going after whatever it is and yet still not getting the result . You know how frustrating that is . You know how it makes you feel insane . It makes you feel like you're going insane , like this just doesn't work for me , when in reality it's . The thing you're trying to do is just the wrong thing for you . That's the empowering piece that I want to bring with you today .

Philip Pape 6:24

All right , so that's what happens , but now let's talk about what actually does change your body , because we want to flip it , to be positive . What do we do about this ? So where most tracking programs , most diet and weight loss programs get it wrong is they treat your body like a simple math equation calories in , calories out , and , while I am 100% on board with physics and energy balance , that is the tiniest piece of the equation . Yeah , it's part of it , but it's the tiniest piece . And we're not even talking about obesity or appetite or willpower , any of that stuff . We're literally just talking about the fact that , yes , your body will release some form of energy from somewhere if it doesn't have as many calories coming in as going out has . Has nothing to do with carbs , it has nothing to do with anything else . Points earned , points spent . Same thing like the Weight Watchers paradigm .

Philip Pape 7:11

But your body is far more sophisticated than that . We know that it is constantly adapting . It responds to everything you do . It responds not just to what you eat , but how you train , how you sleep , how you manage stress dozens of other factors . So let's talk about what really drives changes in your physique when you're trying to get leaner and stronger . That's the look we're going for , and not only the look , but the performance we're going for . We're not just trying to make the scale go down . You're trying to preserve or build metabolically active muscle tissue while reducing body fat . It sounds simple , but I realize it's not as simple as it sounds . This is why two people can weigh exactly the same but look completely different . It's not about the number on the scale , it's about body composition . And if you don't believe me , look at any very fit athlete and find out their body weight and you will see that it is surprisingly higher than you thought because they're carrying all this extra lean tissue .

Philip Pape 8:03

I'm often going through the mental exercise with potential clients or clients and it's very confusing when I say look , you can gain weight to build muscle . So let's say you gain 10 pounds and six of that is muscle , and then you can lose four pounds of fat . Well , guess what ? The four pounds of fat you gained among those 10 , you've now lost it . You're now six pounds heavier , but all six pounds of that is muscle . Do the math your body fat percentage just went down and you got leaner at a heavier scale . Weight Mind blown right . It's really hard for people to grasp that . It's also why I often encourage a lot of people to gain weight rather than try to lose weight , but do it in a structured program to build muscle .

Philip Pape 8:45

Anyway , this is where the traditional programs and tracking and all that fall way short , because they are very one-dimensional . They don't account for macros , sometimes protein intake , which is crucial for maintaining muscle . They don't consider at all the quality of your training , and I am a strength training . First type of nutrition coach . If you're gonna work with me , you are absolutely gonna be training . I'm gonna help you figure out what works for you , make adjustments to your program heck , even write you a program , if I have to , okay , and give you feedback on that , because that , to me , is the foundation of then the right nutrition to support it . And when you're doing that , it signals your body to preserve muscle tissue even in a calorie deficit and potentially build new muscle tissue even in a calorie deficit , depending on how new you are to the training , and definitely build muscle in a calorie surplus or at maintenance . These programs the typical tracking do not . They certainly do not account for how your body adapts over time , where you have metabolic adaptation if you're overly aggressive with your restrictions .

Philip Pape 9:45

So now think of the GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic , manjaro and all those which sometimes cause a rapid rate loss or going on keto and all of a sudden you lose 40 pounds in a month . That itself can be highly detrimental and people aren't thinking of that . They're like , okay , great , I lost a bunch of weight . Well , you just lost a bunch of muscle too , and I'm sure it doesn't feel too great either . Optivea , all these programs do that . That's how your body changes and why these subtle differences matter .

Philip Pape 10:15

Now I want to talk about a better way to track . So if we're not obsessing over just hitting calories or just counting points or just eating these prepackaged foods or just doing this , you know the GLP-1 , or whatever just eating these prepackaged foods or just doing this , you know the GLP-1 , or whatever what should we care about ? What should we track ? What do we care about ? What do we not care about ? And so I want to think of this as like a hierarchy of meaningful progress indicators . Okay , like a hierarchy .

Philip Pape 10:44

So first , first and foremost , in my opinion , is tracking our performance in the gym , and the reason I went through my notes and I'm like should I put that first ? Should I put tracking food first ? No , it's definitely our performance in the gym . This is the foundation of everything . I've had calls . I do these rapid nutrition assessments . They're free , 15 minutes . You can sign up for one in the show notes and we'll just have a chat about hey , what should you be doing going forward ? It's not a sales pitch at all . I do these calls all the time and every now and then someone comes on and says well , I want to fix my nutrition . I don't care about training right now and I would encourage them to flip that around and say why don't we care about training and not nutrition ? Because the nutrition is going to follow the training Meaning . Once you're training like an athlete , once you're building muscle and strength , you're going to want to eat better to support that period . It makes it so much easier . It makes fat loss easier . But if you only focus on nutrition and don't do training , you're not holding on or building muscle and you're missing the biggest piece of the equation for body composition .

Philip Pape 11:37

So , number one , track your performance in the gym . Are you maintaining or increasing your strength right ? Can you complete your movements with good form ? Do you have the energy to support your training , both before and after your workouts , and all the biofeedback that comes with that , the soreness , the recovery and so on , the sleep , the food it all follows that . So first we need to understand are we performing well ? Are we going to the gym consistently , three , four , five days a week , whatever program you're on ? Are you progressing in intensity , load weight on the bar . Are you progressing in volume ? Your overall volume has to be going up . Your work , I should say , has to be going up to show express that you are gaining strength and performance . Improving performance is one of the best indicators that you're preserving muscle mass while losing fat as well . Second , so number one performance in the gym .

Philip Pape 12:26

Number two we want to look at physical changes beyond the scale . Now , I do want to include the scale in there , but if you only think of the scale and here's the ironic thing all my clients weigh themselves every day and all my clients at some point realize that the scale weight isn't that important . Yes , well , we need scale weight to get trend weight . We need trend weight to understand are we gaining or losing fat and or muscle ? But beyond that , what we really care about is the end result to our body from doing that . We care about how our clothes are fitting , how our measurements are changing , and are they changing in the right places for what we want , right , our waist , our hips , our glutes , our chest , our arms , wherever it makes sense , up and down .

Philip Pape 13:05

What do your progress photos show ? If you're working with a coach like me , I will help objectively observe these . No judgment , right Just to see ? Oh , okay , you have some loose skin around your abdomen because you used to be heavier and I know that's a stubborn . You know your midsection is a stubborn part for you . How do we deal with that ? Is it training ? Is it the nutrition ? Is it more fat loss ? What is it right ? And so all of these things , these aspects of your physical changes beyond the scale visual and tangible indicators tell a much more accurate story than the scale , and sometimes you get to a point where you're like I don't really care about what the scale says . I will look at it from a perspective of adjusting my calories , but beyond that I don't really care .

Philip Pape 13:46

Third , we want to pay attention to how you feel , and I don't mean necessarily subjectively , although it starts with you assessing it for yourself . It's an objective measure of your biofeedback how is your energy throughout the day ? And you're comparing it over time . So , even though it's subjective in the moment , your subjective assessment over time creates a trend how is your hunger and appetite ? Are you recovering well from workouts ? How is your digestion right ? That could be an indication of things like fiber . How is your sleep , and so on . Even , how is your libido ? These factors , they indicate whether your approach is sustainable and whether your body's in a good place to do what you're trying to do , and for many people that's going into a fat loss phase while maintaining muscle .

Philip Pape 14:31

I had a client call just yesterday , someone she is very good at following the plan . She's very consistent , and her question to me was is it okay if we potentially lower calories further ? Her calories are already what I would consider rather low , they're in the low thousands . But she's also petite , she's like around 110 , 120 pounds and her biofeedback looked fantastic , meaning she's getting plenty of sleep and recovery , her lifts are going up and she has little to no hunger . She's not on weight loss drugs or anything , she's just a smaller person with low metabolism who doesn't need to eat a lot and she feels that way , and so for her it actually might be sustainable to drop the calories by another , say , 100 calories per day for the week right . But for someone else who's ravenous , who's miserable , that biofeedback is telling me it's not sustainable . So I don't care if the deficit is what you quote unquote need to lose a certain rate of fat it's not sustainable . So let's face that reality together , using that data Super important for making it work long-term and actually being successful and actually sustaining it .

Shonetta 15:39

Hi , my name is Sharnetta and I want to give a big shout out to Philip of Wits and Weights . I discovered his podcast just a few short months ago , but I quickly realized how valuable his content is . With all the many fitness and nutrition influencers out in the world today , I often suffer from information overload , but Philip poses careful questions to his guests that get to the meat of the subject matter , while most everyone offers free guides to this , and that what I found most unique about Philip is his live training and weekly Q&A sessions . If I can't make it live , I can always catch the replay . I am very grateful to find someone I feel is so passionate and genuine to his purpose , while also being hands-on within the Wits and Weights online community . He is truly only a click away . Thanks , philip , for all you do .

Optimizing Physique Tracking & Progress

Philip Pape 16:24

All right . So we put all this together . Now we want to build your new tracking system . After all , this podcast is all about creating a system to develop your physique . So how do we get away from what I call rigid number tracking meaning you're trying to hit these arbitrary exact numbers because the program says so to something that's more effective , right ? Instead of hitting exact calorie targets which , in my early days as a coach and tracking macros , I was that rigid about it . And even tracking macros , even though we call it if it fits your macros or flexible dieting , can itself be inflexible if it's too rigid for you , and so we want to focus on ranges and minimums . I learned this both through experience and coaching , but also from guys like Dr Eric Helms , alan Aragon , dr Bill Campbell . All of these guys and they've been on the show had that common theme of let's make the tracking itself have a level of flexibility that's sustainable , and we think of it like guardrails , right ? Rather than a tightrope walk . It's like guardrails or bumpers on the bowling alley , right ? Those know those little bumpers for kids or even adults who maybe aren't that great at bowling , and so think of it as guardrails , and we want to anchor it from a food perspective , we're going to anchor it with protein . Right Hitting a minimum for protein is essential for preserving and building muscle .

Philip Pape 17:40

The range for protein is between 0.7 to one gram per pound of body weight , and that 0.7 is very important because , yes , it's a minimum , but it's also an achievable minimum . If the one gram sounds like too much , so I know you might have heard lots of podcasts and experts say one gram per pound , you actually do not need that . 0.7 is not only enough , but what the literature is showing us more than enough as a starting point or even long-term , other than some corner cases , some unique cases . So aim for a minimum target of that 0.7 . If you want to go above that , fine , right . That's what we're talking about with flexibility Beyond that .

Philip Pape 18:15

We then create flexible ranges for fats and carbs that support your training and your energy needs , right ? Neither fats nor carbs are good or bad . They provide different things . They provide things that help with hunger . They provide fiber . They provide energy for your hormones . Carbs , of course . I've gone on and on about how great carbs are for lifters in terms of recovery and performance , as well as protecting muscle tissue , and then having this flexibility gives you then plenty of room to adjust , based on hunger , based on social events , even how you're feeling on a given day . It can float up or down with lots of tolerance , and you can still make progress right .

Philip Pape 18:55

And what makes this approach powerful is we're not just tracking food right , we're not just tracking calories . We're creating a complete feedback loop . Every week we look at the totality of these things together and how they feed back into the behaviors and choices you're making . Your average trend weight , not the daily fluctuations , your gym performance over time . What is your log showing in totality , not just day to day , but even over the weeks and months , with your blocks , your mesocycles , whatever phrases you want to call them ? Are they all working together ? Your progress photos , your measurements , your energy levels , recovery , all your biofeedback and then , just generally , how sustainable does this whole approach feel right now ?

Philip Pape 19:36

It might have worked for you for the last two months and all of a sudden , something feels like a wall . It feels like you're sticking . Okay , it may be time to reevaluate the plan . It's okay to and so this is a comprehensive , nuanced , intelligent view that tells us what's working and what needs adjustment . No more guessing on whether you're making progress just because you hit an arbitrary target or the point of the guardrails , but it's not so precise that you obsess about it to the point where it's not only not necessary , it actually makes the process unsustainable , all right . The last thing I want to mention and this is what most people never realize about tracking progress is that it is not about restriction , like the whole point of tracking isn't to say here are all the things I can't do and here's all the exact things I have to hit , and therefore I'm saying no to lots of things . It's really freedom , it's empowerment , so that you can stop fixating on hitting some exact numbers and instead start paying attention within those guardrails , to what actually matters . How are you feeling ? Is this sustainable ?

Philip Pape 20:48

And when that happens , something remarkable happens . You develop an intuitive yes , intuitive understanding of how your body responds to different inputs , including food . And , yes , if you've heard the phrase intuitive eating , that's a I'll call it a legitimate use of that phrase in a way that will actually work for people , as opposed to hey , I'm going to eat intuitively , listen to my hunger signals , and yet you've never tracked and have no idea how you could trust your hunger . No , I have tracked , I've given myself guardrails . Now I understand how my body responds to these things . Now I can do it more intuitively , going forward . And then you learn to trust the process because you can see the real changes happening . It's actually producing the result .

Philip Pape 21:33

You know not just scale , weight , but your strength , your energy , how you look and feel , the things we actually care about . And then that knowledge , that education , stays with you long after you stop tracking . When I say I want people to fire me after they work with me as a coach , that is what I mean . I want them to have that knowledge , that intuition to go forward . That makes me so proud and so happy and even grateful that I'm able to spend time with somebody to get to that point right , because that is a life changed forever . And hopefully that person you know if you're listening , that's you . You spread that message to others . You know who are seeking it . It becomes part of who you are . You don't need to obsess over every calorie or macro anymore , because you understand the principles that drive real change , whether that's your physique or anything else , and that's true freedom , and that is available to anyone who is willing to make the shift . You are all able , you just have to be willing .

Philip Pape 22:23

So if what I've shared resonates with you , if you're ready to break free from rigid diets , rigid tracking systems and start focusing on what actually matters for changing your physique , I want to invite you to join us in Wits and Weights Physique University . This is exactly what we do inside the program . We help you build a sustainable system to tracking progress that delivers real results , without the mental burden of hitting exact numbers every day . And just to give you a little detail of what's included in there , you get , yes , the system , which includes an onboarding right from day one , all of the tools , exactly how to use them , there's videos , there's all this fun stuff to show you that you get expert guidance on adjusting your approach based on progress . And we do that through the community , through weekly live coaching calls and through tagging me and others in the community to get coaching as we go along . You get the community itself , which is a bunch of other folks trying to do the same thing , like-minded , that spur you on , that cheer you on .

Philip Pape 23:19

And then I mentioned the weekly live coaching calls . We actually alternate those . One week it's a non-recorded private coaching call where you can get into more sensitive topics and get some coaching , and then the other week is more educational , where we cover a training topic as well as have some coaching and those we record and include the replay . So visit witsandweightscom slash physique to learn more on how to join and to learn more about the program . Again , that's witsandweightscom slash physique . All right , until next time , keep using your wits lifting those weights and remember real progress isn't about perfect numbers , it's about consistent actions that actually change your body . I'll talk to you next time here on the Wits and Weights Podcast .