Episode Introduction

Speaker 0 0:01

Hey Wits and Weights family , welcome to a quick bonus episode of the podcast . Today I've got a special Q&A dropped from our Facebook group , where we have a monthly Ask Philip Q&A . This is actually from yesterday's live in the Facebook group , which you can join for free using the link in the show notes or look it up on Facebook . One question is about walking for fat loss and the other is whether you should tweak your macros on heavy lifting days . And if you're not already in the group , again , go to the link in the show notes and you can ask me questions and get a very specific , contextual answer for your situation . It's free , lots of support . You can get direct answers from me and the community and maybe even get featured on a future episode like this one . All right , let's get into it . So we've got two questions today , the first from Jasmine and the second is from John , and if you want to see all the details behind this and my recommendations , jump into the Facebook group . If you're watching this video outside the group or I share this elsewhere , come into the Facebook group . For those of you that are here already , just go check out the Ask Philip thread to see some

Walking for Fat Loss Question

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of the details .

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So we're actually going to start with Jasmine's question here . And Jasmine asks Hi , philip , I've been on a fat loss roll since February , without formal training , just walking daily and following a hormone-aligned nutrition approach . That's working really well for me . I've read that walking helps keep stress low and supports fat loss , especially for women . My question is how long can I realistically continue seeing fat loss results with walking alone and when do I decide to start strength training ? How would you recommend easing into it in a way that supports my cycle energy and doesn't backfire on my progress ? And I just realized nowhere here and nowhere in my notes did I address the question of training for your cycle . But I'll say you guys should follow Lauren Colenso Semple of Mass because she's constantly posting about the misinformation in the industry about training for your cycle , where most women don't have to do anything differently and it's very individualized to your specific energy response and your needs both for food and for training . So that's all I'm going to say about that is , I generally don't have to recommend anything specific because women are going to respond individually , just like men respond individually , and that's what the science supports .

Speaker 0 2:17

But let's talk about the conversation that we had and what I recommend and you would share that . You're a working mom , you're juggling toddler life , you walk daily , you know all this stuff is down here . I'm not going to go into the details . You've seen progress . You bought some resistance bands , you're thinking about adding strength training into the mix and then we mapped out a realistic plan to get started one gym session on the weekend , one to two short workouts at home after your toddler goes to bed .

Speaker 0 2:46

And the first thing I want to say is I just love the way you're approaching this . I feel the intention , I also feel the flexibility and you're giving me context as to what your current limitations are . And that's the mindset that leads to results is making the attempt , finding a way . Sometimes it's making the time . And I want to take a quick tangent on the making the attempt , finding a way . Sometimes it's making the time . And I want to take a quick tangent on the making the time thing , because we'll often get I'll often get comments on some videos where

Strength Training Importance

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people and it's excuses , let's just admit it , excuses People say I just don't have the time .

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Or , in response to the recommendation to make the time , they'll say well , that's , that's , that comes from an area of privilege . You know it's . It doesn't work for people who have two jobs or single moms or whatever and I'm gonna argue against that because I've helped a lot of people exactly in those situations and oftentimes it's not a zero sum game . It is not trading one thing for another . It's not saying well , I have to work out three hours in the gym every week , so three hours of something else has to go away . It's not always that , because there's elements of efficiency and there's trade-offs and there's um . You know you can exchange a half hour and get an hour elsewhere .

Speaker 0 3:51

A good example of that is training in the morning . It tends to help people be more consistent , come up with a consistent sleep schedule Sometimes you end up going to bed a little bit earlier , if you can and then , more importantly , the productivity you get from it and the consistency actually gives you more energy and capability and confidence for the rest of the week . Also , it leads to things like more opportunities in your career and job . So maybe you do get more income as a result , which gives you more time and or money , right ? So I never want to think of it as a zero sum game and , jasmine , you have the right mindset to this . But I wanted to mention that because sometimes people make excuses when I say , look , ideally you've got to be training probably three days a week with access to some decent equipment . You know whether that's barbell , dumbbells , machines um , often it's not body weight and bands beyond a certain point , because you're just too strong for those to really challenge you sufficiently .

Speaker 0 4:40

So in that context , I want to answer your original question for everyone watching this live , for you as well , of course , and that is that , first of all , walking is fantastic . I love walking , not just myself , but the idea of it . It helps manage stress , it supports your recovery . It even increases your calorie burn in a very sustainable way . Right , I had someone reach out . Actually , it was the man from the Philippines whose questions I had , whose question I answered on the podcast about spot reduction . He actually just got back to me and said you know what ? All I did was I added some more steps . He was getting like 5,000 steps . Now he's getting 10 , which takes intentionality for sure . And he said , all of a sudden , this fat stop started flying off , right , because for him he was just kind of at that threshold where he wasn't moving enough . And it's often a gateway habit , right . Sometimes we think of that as a bad thing , but this is a good thing , a gateway habit to get yourself moving and being active and thinking of your life as you know , a functional , active human .

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When it comes to body composition , however , and fat loss , walking alone has a ceiling for sure , and that is because walking is not going to do anything to stimulate or preserve muscle mass . You know , beyond going from sedentary to walking , it's not going to do anything . When you're in a weight loss phase or a calorie deficit and you're not resistance training , you're going to lose fat and muscle . So it's not even a fat loss phase , and that could be some of what you're experiencing , in that you've lost some of the fat , but you probably also lost some of the muscle . In somebody who's excessively overweight , who just starts getting moving and walking , it actually could still be net beneficial , right , you could still net benefit , have an improvement , and , and , and , and , and , and , and , and , and , and , and , and , and , and , and , and , and . You'll have a lower number on the scale . But the problem is very quickly you're going to start losing muscle and you're going to have a higher body fat percentage .

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You know , like skinny fat is one of the terms we use , and that's not the goal , right ? The truth , the truth is here that strength training is non-negotiable and I think you understand that , jasmine . But just to answer the question in general , if you want to lose fat , if you want to keep a strong , healthy physique , if you want to keep a strong , healthy physique , if you want to improve your insulin sensitivity , your metabolic rate , your bone density , your hormonal health the list goes on and on your inflammation , especially the older we get , after 30 , after 40 , 50 , especially for women

Macro Adjustments for Heavy Lifting

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, in many cases during the menopause transition , et cetera all of these things mean strength training is non-negotiable and the question is how do you ease into it without draining your energy ? And so , consistent with kind of the recommendation that I gave you , um down in the comment , and we can see it here together . I'm not going to go into the details , um , but at a high level .

Speaker 0 7:15

Start simple , start where you're at start , with what you can do . One full body session per week is fantastic when you were doing zero , and that one full body session has to be very efficient and powerful . So I recommend , in compound movements , squats , presses , deadlifts , rows , pull downs , things like that , prioritizing good form , you know , low to moderate reps , progressive overload , gradually increasing weight . The challenge you're going to run into is you may not be able to increase weight at a certain point because of the lack of frequency , because of the lack of frequency . And so then I said , well , use your resistance bands or , if you can get heavier dumbbells midweek for the other two sessions , the shorter sessions . They can reinforce the movement patterns , right , the squatting , the hinging , the pushing , the pulling , and at least try to maintain your muscle and strength until the next session where you can potentially push for new maximums , right , and continue to push it , um , and . And initially that might work just fine . And there are arguments for , you know , single training session a week , uh , approaches , there really are . So if it works for you , awesome .

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I would say that that's a starting point . Starting small , working with your schedule , being realistic about your bandwidth , absolutely is going to build consistency , and then , once you start doing that , your results are going to accelerate , your body's going to start changing and you're probably going to find yourself wanting to lift more and find a way to do it , not just like fitting it in . And so I get this mindset shift a lot where people are like , well , I have to work out or I need to work out . I heard Philip say it was so great , so I'm going to do it . He's a decent guy that I think I trust . I don't know , I'm still figuring that out and usually you get the bug when you see the results , when you're doing it the right way .

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And actually Nick Delgadillo on my podcast just talked about the fact that that initial phase is usually very motivating , but there will come a time where a lot of people don't just want to lift for its own sake , and so then they're going to use their newfound strength in other things that are fun outside the gym , whether that's a sport or other activity like hiking or biking or something Right . So think about all of that , jasmine , and anyone watching or listening about eventually getting to a consistent gym schedule , ideally three days a week . For many of you with you know really solid goals for body composition , it might be four days a week . For many of you with you know really solid goals for body composition , it might be four days a week once you get to the intermediate phase . Uh , and then you're going to do great . But you know , don't beat yourself up for starting small , because it's a far , uh large . It's a large improvement from where you were . So I hope that answers the question , jasmine , and we're going to go to the next question by John , and John is a consistent poster in the group .

Speaker 0 9:48

I really appreciate all of his questions and I love this one . I love this one . It's a nuanced macro , split , slash training , slash energy question . His question are there days when you would increase fat or protein over carbs for lifting , performance and recovery ? And I know why you're asking this question because you know how much I love carbs .

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The scenario I'm thinking of is a more nervous system , taxing day , such as deadlifts for six sets

Recovery and Carb Benefits

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of low reps , two to three reps the main portion of that day's lifting isn't going to need a ton of carbs to help performance , I think from experience . Hold that thought , john , because there's some truth in what you say , but it's not the whole story . Continuing , however , after I'm much more beat up than a day where the main focus is on squat oh , after that sorry , go after that deadlift session I'm more beat up than a day where the main focus is squat , with similar or more reps and sets . I'm sure there's a person by person difference here , of course , along with if someone's in a deficit maintenance , surplus of calories . I'm curious if you've seen cases like stated or others , where you might have someone eat more fats or protein to recover or perform better , while lowering their carbs to keep calories the same and I had a very short reply where I'm like carbs are almost always more helpful . But I want to get into some of the details behind this and the science . So let's tackle it all right .

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Your deadlift day low reps , high load , very fatiguing on the central nervous system , systemically taxing we'd like to say when you might feel like you don't need carbs during the session because the reps are low , and that's your experience . Right , you might feel that way while you're lifting and you might even I mean , I know people that train fasted , right , I don't recommend it for almost anybody , but some people are like , yeah , I do , fine , and it's tempting to think then what if I shift some of those carbs to fats or proteins instead ? And we look at the evidence . Here's what we see . Okay , this is the starting point and then we need to use your personal biofeedback to experiment and deviate from that .

Speaker 0 11:52

Even though low rep strength work doesn't burn through glycogen . Glycogen is what's stored in our muscles from carbohydrate consumption before the workout . Even though it doesn't burn through as much the way like a high volume hypertrophy session or cardio or endurance would , carbs are still very , very important for the recovery . So you're thinking in terms of performance , which is a great start , but then think about , after you work out , replenishing your liver glycogen supporting the recovery of your central nervous system , even blunting cortisol after a hard training session , even serotonin production , which helps with your sleep , which helps with your mood . So there's a lot of subtleties where carbs come into play .

Speaker 0 12:31

I still haven't addressed all of these on my podcast because I keep uncovering a longer and longer list of how carbohydrates are beneficial for human beings , whereas if you had a high fat meal after your lifting session , it's not going to give you the same benefits . It might even delay recovery because it slows down the glycogen resynthesis . We know that fats , for example , slow down digestion and that's what they end up doing . It's why I don't like having too much fat or fiber before your workout either . I want the glycogen to get in your system from . The should always be anchored at a pretty high level anyway , and we definitely know that there aren't really benefits to going beyond , like the one or maybe 1.2 grams per pound of body weight .

Speaker 0 13:12

Now , some people do use carb cycling , right ? You kind of are implying something like that where they have more carbs on the training days and fewer on the rest days . But I've looked into the research , I've listened to a lot of shows on this and the experts and really have come to the conclusion , working with clients , that this is not superior to consistent calories , like evenly distributed calories , when the calories and protein are not changing right Like so calories and protein are matched . Should you go up and down with your carbs ? It's , I would say , more of a behavioral tool if you need it , right , always comes down to lifestyle more of a behavioral tool and it's not a physiological tool , right ? So I like carbs .

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Think about this , okay , everything I just mentioned about recovery from carbs . Well , when does that happen ? Well , it happens after you work out . It also even bleeds into the next day when you don't have a training session , your recovery day , which is one of the reasons I don't like necessarily robbing Peter to pay Paul when it comes to carbs . So I would keep the carbs in right , regardless of your training session .

Speaker 0 14:13

Don't overthink it If you're trying to manage calories , you can shift carbs a little bit down on your rest days and leave them on all your lifting days Heavy light , it doesn't , I don't care . Leave them in on your lifting days around your workout , no matter what . But you can definitely up them a little bit and reduce them on on non uh lifting days . But don't do the extreme like glycogen you know , protein only and then glycogen , super composition and all this crazy stuff you hear about Um , and then , yeah , if you could always bump up protein a little bit . If you are um , if you want it , need it , like it , but don't sacrifice carbs to do it . Is my opinion .

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Um , now , your observation about deadlift days , beating you up more than squat days , is useful as a , as an individual

Closing and Facebook Group Invitation

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, because it tells you that your recovery demand is higher . And guess what ? Carbs are one of the best tools to meet that demand and you're going to fuel your lifting . You're going to fuel the recovery , both sides of the equation , all right . So I hope that answers the the the question .

Speaker 0 15:11

Um , oh , I guess one more aspect of this is experiment , right , you tell me ? I mean , that could have been my first question . If you were my client , I would actually have said hey , let's try it and let's see how you feel and how the recovery is . And you're going to be the proof , and you'll . And if you tell me , if you tell me , that making this big shift away from carbs on these at these times is actually more beneficial in some way , then everything I just said doesn't matter .

Speaker 0 15:38

Does it Right ? Like the science is just a starting point . It's just a population average , that's all . It is All right . And those are the questions for today . Big thanks to Jasmine and John for asking smart , nuanced questions and sticking with the follow-ups inside the Facebook group , which is the kind of back and forth that makes our community really so powerful . So if you want to ask your own question , if you want to share your progress or just learn from others on the same path as you , join our free Wits and Weights Facebook group , use the link in the show notes or just search for Wits and Weights on Facebook . Until next time , keep eating smart , training hard , living strong . We'll see you in the next regular episode .