Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast, everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. I had some fat loss questions pop up recently and I wanted to cover the if, ands or buts about them and really discuss what you need to see the best results as fast as possible because I know there can be a lot of different shiny objects to chase a lot of different opinions out there. And ultimately there is a right and wrong, but a lot of it is based on what we need. And so I wanted to discuss the nuance behind certain things and then some of the general principles and rules that can really help. So fat loss q and A, your questions answered. And note, when I’m giving these answers to these questions, they are directly in response to fat loss as a goal.

(00:47):
There might be a different reply if you were asking about gaining muscle or fueling performance. So also be aware of that as you’re listening to how you’re implementing potentially the macro advice or the workout advice that I’m giving. So first question I’ve gotten a lot is cardio strength. First, when you’re doing your workouts and as much as possible I like to put them in supper days, but I will always tell you that strength comes first when it comes to fat loss and especially if it also comes to building muscles. So if you want that recomp to happen, you put strength first in your day because what gets put first gets prioritized and your freshest force, you’re pushing at a true a hundred percent intensity. Now note, as I mentioned, this is about fat loss. So if you are training for a race, you might prioritize your cardio because that is the most important thing to you.

(01:30):
But if you are doing this to lose fat, to see that recomp happen, you want to put your strength workouts first and even put the cardio after on a separate day. The next question I get a lot is too fast or not too fast. So intermittent fasting is a super popular meal timing, and I call it a meal timing, not a diet because you can use it as a meal timing with macros and a variety of macro ratios. While some people do use it to lose fat just because it’s restricting the eating window, I also think that can really backfire. So in terms of to fast or not to fast, the answer is really it depends. You want to use this meal timing based on your schedule, based on how you like to meal prep based on what works for you. Because if you force fasting, when you train early in the morning and you’re waiting until the afternoon to eat, that is going to backfire massively and you’re going to end up overeating in that window and it’s going to be harder to hit your macro ratios.

(02:17):
However, if you’re training at night, if you like to skip breakfast, it can really work for you. So fasting is definitely one of those things that it depends and it depends on your schedule, how you like to design things, but play around with your meal timing, realize that one size doesn’t fit all and what even works for you with fat loss if you really like intermittent fasting may not work for another goal. And as we get older, we also want to be aware of the ramifications and how sometimes having that smaller eating window can make us undereat. And if we’re trying to see that fat loss happen and gain lean muscle, sometimes we need to expand that eating window. Even in the past that has worked. So in terms of that, there’s not one definitive answer. It’s about testing what works for us in terms of that meal timing.

(02:54):
And as long as we hit our macros overall for the day, we’re going to see the best results. Next question I get asked is high reps or low reps, and the answer is both. When you are trying to lose fat and gain muscle, you want to use a diversity of rep ranges because they all have different benefit. We don’t want to fear lower reps and heavier loads to build that maximal strength because that will pay off in terms of hypertrophy and gaining lean muscle. But we also want to be conscious that we’re using those higher rep ranges to improve our strength endurance because too often when we demonize that we’re not taking a muscle fully to failure, we’re not fatiguing as many muscle fibers as we can. We’re also not improving our recovery to be able to lift heavier. And I love those combinations whether it’s 6, 12, 25 or compound burners where you’re using some of those heavy lifts, but also with more isolated movements and the higher rep range.

(03:41):
I think that’s also where we have to understand the nuance to how we use things is that it’s not just higher low reps, it’s also what moves are you doing for those higher or low reps. Now off of that, I often get asked heavier lightweights and the simple answer is always heavy weights. What I mean by that is what you use for higher reps may be lighter than what you use for lower reps. However, too often we just go through the motions and turn those higher reps into cardio and just really go fast instead of thinking, no, it needs to challenge me. One of my favorite training techniques to do this is rust pause training technique, especially in those high rep ranges where if you have 15 to 20 reps, you are shooting for 10 to 15 having to pause and then eke out those last few because you are using a weight that really challenges you instead of thinking of it as even heavy or lightweights.

(04:29):
Think of it as challenging weight for the rep range you’re doing because the weight should always feel heavy. And if you’ve been fearing heavy loads, know that as you work down in reps, maybe right now for you a low rep range is six reps or eight reps and you’re not going down to one to five, you still want to challenge yourself for those reps. And if you’re lifting heavy for those reps, you are going to see great muscle gains. Next question I often get asked is, what macro ratio should I use for fat loss? And this one, there are endless opportunities to how you can adjust your macros and there is not one macro ratio that fits everybody. I’ve seen it happen where people will be like, macros don’t work for me. And I’m like, well, what ratios did you use? And they’re like, well, I try this one and one ratio may not be right for you.

(05:10):
And also part of how macro ratios work is the cycling that you do with them. Maybe you do one lower carb to deplete those glycogen stores, tap into those fat stores, but then you go higher carb after to get that whoosh effect and release the water rate being stored in your fat cells. So you actually look leaner. There’s nuance to how you implement those macros and there’s a benefit to each macro ratio and each macronutrient even. So protein, carbs, and fat all have different purposes in the body and we need them for different reasons. And if you’re more active at one time and less active at another, the ratios will really vary. So instead of seeing this as trying to find a perfect macro ratio or even perfect macros to cycle, think about how can I match what I need right now and even experiment.

(05:50):
And as you do that experimental in my programs when I do the beginner ratios, I usually have what I call more experimental cycles where it’s higher protein with more even carbs and fat and then higher fat and then higher carb. Just so that you can see how you respond to each and what fits your activity level and what your body is fueled best by because there’s the nuance to that. And then even as we get older, our needs might change. But off of that and learning how you respond to those things, what feels even good in terms of the foods you get to eat because part of it is our consistency with things. And as long as we focus on protein, which I’m going to get to in a little bit, we’re going to see fabulous fat loss results whether carbs or fat are really higher.

(06:25):
So there’s a lot of room for playing right there with what fits our lifestyle. But I will tell you if you’re asking the question, what macro ratio should I use? What’s best for me? You need to start experimenting and even start by tracking what you’re doing currently because the best changes are made from where we’re starting from and that helps us take that first turn out of the driveway on our road trip instead of looking at the end of our road trip and what’s the last term we have to make that has no relevance to where we are right now. So if you’re asking the question, just track what you’re currently doing and then I’ll tell you focus on protein first. And off of that I often get asked, well, how much protein do I need? I’ve heard about one gram per pound of body weight or goal body weight.

(06:59):
Is that correct? And so while that can be a starting point, that might be really far off of what you’re doing. Not to mention our protein needs really vary based on our goals. So talking about fat loss when you are in that calorie deficit and the more extreme the deficit you’re in, the more important it’s going to be to get more protein to protect that lean muscle because our amino acid stores are our muscle tissue. So if your body needs amino acids and protein to repair because it uses it for so much other than just building muscle, you are literally made up of proteins. It’s used in all your tissues, so you need it for so many purposes and it can even be used for energy if really push comes to shove. But because it has so many functions within the body and it’s so important, if we don’t have enough, we are going to end up going to our muscle mass.

(07:44):
And so all that hard work and training in the gym where you’re trying to repair and rebuild, you’re not going to be having enough to repair and rebuild and you’re actually going to be canalizing that muscle mass to then have the energy and other things you need because you’re in a deficit, especially the more extreme of one you create. So you want to be conscious that you’re getting enough protein, and especially as we get older, we can see a reduction in protein efficiency and usage by up to 40%. So we want to be conscious that while that one gram per pound of body weight might be a great goal to shoot for, it may be too low for you, especially based on the calories you’re consuming based on your activity level and your age. It may be too much right now because it’s really high above what you’re shooting for.

(08:19):
So I want you to really start by focusing on where you’re at and we really do see a great improvement in terms of the benefits you’re seeing from higher protein at about 30% of your calories coming from protein. So that can also be a great way to really break things down. And then even as you’re potentially eating at maintenance or if you’re maintaining your weight right now with the calories you’re consuming, just shooting ’em for that 30% might be a great starting goal. But if you’re really low on protein and you’re hitting maybe 5%, think about just that small increase of even five to 10 grams at one meal. Then off of this, going back to working out, a question I get asked is, what about cardio for fat loss? I need to do more cardio for fat loss is even a statement I’ve heard a lot.

(08:57):
And while there are types of cardio that can be very beneficial for fat loss, too often we turn to cardio instead of strength training and we even turn our strength workouts into cardio sessions. And if we’re not building that lean muscle, we’re not going to fuel our metabolic health. We’re not going to see the recomp we deserve. So I will tell you, prioritize strength work over everything else if you want to really get lean and strong and be functionally fit to your final day on this planet and see fabulous fat loss. But we often turn to cardio because we see that higher calorie burn on our different trackers and too often we really depend on this to create that deficit instead of adjusting your diet. We cannot exercise your diet ultimately, and the more we try to, the more we end up sabotaging our metabolic health.

(09:34):
It’s why we lose weight to regain it. It’s why we lose weight, but don’t feel like we look any more toned or leaner defined. So we want to make sure that we’re focusing on strength. Now, in terms of the cardio that is most beneficial, I will tell you it is generally not the steady state cardio. We turn to the long runs, the rides. If you love those things, do them. But we’re talking about fat loss here. Alright, so don’t get mad or get mad, but we want to think about HIIT sessions and not just HIIT that goes on for an hour, but HIIT that is maybe 10 to 15 minutes of that intense cardio session. And that brings our heart rate up and down because there’s a little variation to it. And with talking about HIIT versus sit, HIIT is generally longer intervals than we are doing now.

(10:12):
That’s sort of where the terminology has changed a little bit and sit is more of that sprint interval of work. So where we’re doing very short intervals of work with potentially very long rest to recover or because they’re very, very short bursts of even five to 10 minutes of work at most, it might be a little bit shorter rest where you do see the point of diminishing returns, but you are sprinting all out because those intervals work are so short. So there’s some nuance to how you use hit intervals versus sit intervals. And you can even use sit intervals in different ways. Whether you’re doing a little bit more power work or you’re trying to actually hit that point of fatigue where you’re seeing a little, you’re a hundred percent intensity. Your true a hundred percent intensity goes down because if you might notice over the rounds, you still feel like you’re working at a hundred percent, but you’re not actually able to go at the same speed.

(10:55):
But we want those sprints to truly be fast versus the hit work, we will see more of a decline and there is a little bit more of just pushing hard. But again, neither one of these are really long sessions, which I see people too often trying to extend these out to the hour long sessions and they shouldn’t be that 20, 25 minutes at longest. And a lot of that has to do with the rest, not just the intervals of work. You do not want to cut out rest and then walking. Walking is one of the most underutilized forms of cardio for fat loss. The last thing I wanted to cover was age. Does my age impact things or am I too old to see results? You’re never too old to see recomp happen. You can gain muscle at any and every age. And yes, the longer we’ve been training, the more training stimuluses we have adapted to.

(11:38):
So the more that we will have to push progression in new ways. Yes, as we get older, there are changes with our body we have to own. Our hormonal environment is not as optimal. We aren’t as efficient at using protein. We will see more muscle mass being lost if we are not conscious of it, but it is a case of use it or lose it. So we need to constantly be pushing ourself, challenging ourself, learning to fuel to meet our bodies where they’re at right now, if we want to make progress. But you are not doomed because of your age. You do not have to just accept metabolic decline, middle age spread, all the different things we blame on age, more aches and pains even. I know that’s a little off of fat loss, but we can see amazing body recomp at any and every age. We just have to own the reality of our lifestyle and the different changes that we’ve seen with getting older. So hopefully that answers some of your fat loss questions. If you do have more, don’t hesitate to comment them. I’d love to cover some more in a future episode.

*Note: This transcript is autogenerated there may be some unintended errors.