March 31, 2025 • 36 mins
Join Wits & Weights Physique University with 2 weeks FREE + your first challenge free
--
Discover whether your metabolism actually slows down with age and what's really causing those body composition changes you're experiencing.
Learn 8 evidence-based strategies to maintain or even boost your metabolism regardless of age.
Main Takeaways:
- The surprising truth about metabolism and aging that contradicts what most fitness "experts" have been telling you
- The hidden factors that make it seem like your metabolism is slowing down (when something else entirely might be happening)
- Why strength training might be the single most powerful tool for maintaining metabolic health as you age
- The two foundational nutrition and movement strategies that can dramatically impact your metabolic rate with minimal effort
Episode Resources:
- Try MacroFactor for free with code WITSANDWEIGHTS
- 10 Reasons Muscle Burns Even More Calories Than You Think
Timestamps:
0:01 - The myth of metabolism and age
6:30 - What research reveals about metabolic rate
7:33 - The true culprits behind what feels like metabolic decline
11:41 - Strategy #1: Strength Training
14:35 - Strategy #2: Protein
15:57 - Strategy #3: NEAT
17:51 - Strategy #4: Sleep
20:05 - Strategy #5: Stress Management
22:31 - Strategy #6: "Cardio"
23:44 - Strategy #7: Nutrition Periodization
27:12 - Strategy #8: Meal Timing & Frequency
30:53 - The fascinating "secret function" of muscle tissue few people know about
👩💻 Book a FREE 15-Minute Rapid Nutrition Assessment:
https://witsandweights.com/free-call
🎓 Get your first challenge + 2 weeks FREE in Wits & Weights Physique University (WWPU)
👥 Join our Facebook community for live Q&As & support
👋 Let's connect! Ask a question, get my FREE newsletter, or find me on Instagram
📱 Try MacroFactor for free with code WITSANDWEIGHTS
🏋️♀️ Download Boostcamp for free for evidence-based workout programs
🫙 Get 20% off Legion supplements with code WITSpod
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Philip Pape (00:01):
Your metabolism is slowing down.
They say you can't eat like youdid in your 20s.
It's all downhill after 30.
But what if I told you thatmost of what you heard about
aging and metabolism iscompletely wrong.
Aging does not inevitably doomyou to weight gain and energy
loss.
The latest research shows thatyour basal metabolic rate stays
(00:21):
remarkably stable from your 20suntil your 60s.
So why are so many peoplestruggling with weight gain and
energy loss as they age?
Today, we are uncovering thereal culprits behind what feels
like a slowing metabolism, andthey're not what you think.
You'll discover the shockingtruth about what's actually
happening to your body as youage and the eight evidence-based
strategies that can not onlyprevent metabolic decline but
(00:44):
potentially reverse it.
Welcome to Wits and Weights, theshow that helps you build a
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday we're tackling one of the
(01:06):
most persistent myths in thefitness world the idea that your
metabolism inevitably slowsdown as you age.
We've all heard it or saidthese things ourselves Just wait
until you hit 30, 40, 50.
Your metabolism just isn't whatit used to be, and these are
the kind of statements that seemto make intuitive sense when
you notice changes in your bodycomposition and your energy
(01:30):
levels as you get older.
But the thing is that researchtells us a different set of
facts and both are not mutuallyexclusive.
In other words, you're bothright, and when we look at the
data, we discover that therelationship between aging and
metabolism is more complex andit's more within our control
than conventional wisdom or theindustry might suggest.
(01:50):
And today I want to break downwhat is happening.
What is happening with yourmetabolism as you age, why you
might be experiencing changes inyour body composition getting
fluffier, getting more belly fat, things like that and, most
importantly, strategies, ofcourse, strategies that you can
implement, starting today, tomaintain or even boost your
metabolic rate, regardless ofyour age.
(02:11):
And it is never too late,before we get into it, if you
are right now feeling likeyou're struggling with your
metabolism or your bodycomposition or your energy, I've
created something that can helpWits and Weights.
Physique University is mycoaching community.
It's where I've taken the bestfrom my private clients, my
one-on-one process, and put itinto a group program that's more
(02:33):
, let's say, affordable andaccessible to a lot more folks.
And we tackle these kinds ofissues by giving you a roadmap,
an onboarding plan to follow.
It personalizes the nutritionand training based on the
evidence.
And right now I'm offering twoweeks free so you can kick the
tires.
You get access to your firstchallenge free when you join and
within those two weeks youcould take full advantage of the
(02:54):
program.
No strings attached, nothingblocked off, including the
customized nutrition plan,training programs designed for
your goals, direct access to me,our community for support, for
accountability.
So much more.
Just go to whitsonwastecom,slash physique, or click the
link in the show notes to getstarted.
And I just want to get back intothe topic now and let's talk
about what's happening withmetabolism as you age.
(03:17):
First, we have to understandwhat we mean by metabolism.
Your total daily energyexpenditure, tdee, which we also
call our metabolism, is theamount of calories you burn
every day.
It consists of severalcomponents and if you have to
break it down, we typically usefour components so you can
understand what happens as weage.
(03:37):
So the first component is yourBMR, your basal metabolic rate.
This is the energy your bodyneeds just to maintain your
basic physiological functionswhile you're just going about
your business your heartbeat,your breathing, your cell
turnover, your brain function,your organs and so on.
For most people, thisrepresents about two-thirds of
(03:57):
your total daily calorie burn,so that's very important to
understand.
Next is the thermic effect offood, or TEF.
That's the energy your bodyexpends to digest, absorb and
process the nutrients youconsume.
Tef typically accounts forabout 10% of your total calorie
burn.
And then, finally, we have twopieces that are often lumped
together but they're quitedistinct that are related to
(04:20):
your physical activity.
One is eat and the other isneat.
Eat is exercise activitythermogenesis that is, the
calories you burn during plannedexercise, which represents just
5% of your daily burn, andnon-exercise activity
thermogenesis, or neat, and thatis all the spontaneous
movements you make throughoutthe day fidgeting, doing chores,
(04:41):
standing instead of sitting,and including walking in there,
which, yes, can be deliberate,but it's distinct from eat.
So if you combine those, yougot the other rest chunk of your
metabolism.
Like I said, 5% for neat, maybeas much as 15 to 30, 40, 50%
for neat, depending on howactive you are.
The surprising thing that floorsa lot of people and it
(05:03):
surprised me when I learned thisa few years ago is the research
published by Herman Ponser.
Now, his initial research wasin 2021 in the journal Science,
very well-respected journal.
He later wrote a book calledBurn and he showed based on
doubly-labeled water, which is avery accurate way to determine
someone's metabolism that whenadjusted for fat-free mass put a
(05:26):
pin in that because we're gonnacome back to it it's actually a
really important caveat.
When adjusted for fat-free massTDEE, your expenditure, your
metabolism remains relativelystable from age 20 to age 60.
It's only after age 60 that westart to see a noticeable
decline in the metabolic rate,and this is important.
I want to repeat that becauseit's so contrary to popular
(05:48):
belief and you might not evenbelieve it based on how your own
body has responded with age.
Your metabolism doesn'tautomatically slow down just
because you're getting older, atleast not until you're well
into your 60s.
But if that's true, why do somany people experience weight
gain and difficulty losing fatas they get older, even though
(06:08):
they're eating the same amount?
And so the answer really liesin the physiological and
lifestyle changes that oftenaccompany aging.
And remember what we saidadjusted for fat-free mass, so
this is going to be relevanthere Fat-free mass includes
muscle tissue, okay, so it isnot simply aging that is causing
(06:28):
your metabolism to slow.
Let's look at the actualmechanisms that lead to, I'll
say, what feels like metabolicdecline and in actuality, does
reduce your metabolism, and it'stied to fat-free mass.
The first and perhaps mostsignificant factor is just that
it is muscle loss.
You are losing your fat-freemass.
That is known as sarcopeniawhen you lose muscle.
(06:51):
With age, this is a naturalprocess.
With aging Starting in your 30s, we begin to lose our muscle
mass gradually, and then itaccelerates after 50.
And since muscle tissue burns alot more calories, not only at
rest versus fast tissue, but formany other reasons that having
more muscle burns calories,which I discussed in a past
episode, episode 291, 10 reasonsmuscle burns even more calories
(07:15):
than you think.
Losing muscle directly thenimpacts your BMR, your basal
metabolic rate, and researchshows the average person loses
three to 8% of their muscle massper decade after age 30.
And then this rate acceleratesafter age 60.
And what's causing the muscleloss?
A big part of it is hormonalchanges.
(07:35):
Right as we age, we havedecreases in our anabolic
hormones like testosterone,growth hormone, igf-1, which is
insulin-like growth factor one,and these are all critical in
building and maintaining muscle.
So you don't have the samehormonal milieu, as they call it
, as when you were in your 20swhen you're just raging with
hormones.
Also, changes in thyroidhormone activity can reduce your
(07:58):
metabolic rate, and decliningsex hormones affect fat
distribution and our body'sability to preserve muscle.
Another reason is mitochondrialdysfunction.
Mitochondria, as you might haveheard, are the powerhouses of
your cells.
They produce energy, and as weage they become less efficient.
That results in a reducedcellular metabolic rate, and
(08:20):
then that is compounded byincreased oxidative stress,
increased inflammation, and thenthat further impairs
mitochondrial function.
Then there's the increase infat mass.
So, unlike muscle, fat tissueis far less metabolically active
, which means it contributesminimally to calorie burning.
And then, as you age, there'susually a shift toward visceral
(08:44):
fat accumulation.
That's the dangerous fat thataccumulates around your organs,
and this type of fat releasesinflammatory cytokines that can
negatively impact metabolismthroughout your body.
But perhaps the most significantfactor that most people don't
consider outside of muscle massis the reduction in physical
activity and neat, as we age weoften become more sedentary, we
(09:08):
sit more, we move less.
Spontaneous activities liketaking the stairs, walking to
the store, fidgeting, tend todecrease, sometimes dramatically
, and this reduction in dailymovement can account for
hundreds of fewer caloriesburned each day.
And then there's sleep quality.
Sleep quality declines with age.
Many older adults havedisrupted sleep patterns shorter
(09:30):
sleep duration, poorer sleepquality.
You know, life just gets in theway, right?
We get busy, we have kids, wehave family.
Work gets more stressful.
Poor sleep is not great.
It impairs your glucosemetabolism and elevates your
stress hormones.
It increases your cravings,increases belly fat storage.
It reduces fat oxidation andall of those things functionally
(09:52):
slow your metabolism.
And then finally, kind ofrelated to this, but separate is
chronic stress.
Right, I could put this at thetop of the list for some of you.
Yes, it becomes more commonbecause we have complexities as
we get older.
I sometimes daydream aboutthose times when I was a child
and I could just frolic outsidein the summer in the grass on my
(10:12):
bare feet without a care in theworld.
I look at my pets and I thinkthe same thing.
I'm like if only I could be adog for a day.
Now, in my 40s, I know whatstress is like.
We have elevated cortisol fromthis chronic stress.
That encourages fat storageagain, especially in the
abdominal region.
It also promotes muscle loss,insulin resistance.
So it's a laundry list ofthings and it's not that your
(10:33):
metabolism is just slowing downmysteriously.
It's that all of these factors,many of which are
lifestyle-related, are creatingthe conditions for metabolic
decline, driven largely by thereduction of fat-free mass, the
reduction in muscle, combinedwith all the stressors that I
just talked about.
The good news is that, sincemany of these are within our
(10:53):
control, we can take action toprevent or reverse this decline
right now.
No matter what age you areObviously the younger the better
, but you are where you are, sodon't make any excuses.
As you're listening to thisshow.
If you are not active, if youare not strengthening, if you
are not doing the things we'regoing to talk about in the next
section, this is your wake-upcall.
This is your clarion call.
(11:14):
This is the moment where youcross the Rubicon and you say I
am finally going to prioritizemyself so that I can live a long
, healthy life.
I have not just a lifespan, buta health span.
I can fulfill.
What?
The deeper why is my purpose inlife when it comes to my
physical and mental being onthis planet?
(11:34):
What is that for you?
And so I want to get to thepart you've been waiting for
here.
What can you do about this?
And I've identified, for thisepisode, eight evidence-based
strategies that can maintain orincrease your metabolic rate,
and you're going to have heardthis many times on the podcast
in one stage or one form oranother.
And these are principles.
(11:55):
These are foundational, but Iwant to break them down for you.
Strategy number one can youguess it?
I'm going to give you a pause.
Of course, strength training.
Without strength training,almost all of this goes out the
window and you join the mass ofthe population who ends up in
metabolic decline, frailty anddiseases of aging.
Inevitably it will happen.
(12:15):
It will happen if you are notstrength training.
Sorry to say it, but I'm notsorry, because strength training
is amazing.
It can be fulfilling, enjoyableand you're gonna feel like a
badass if you do it.
Okay, resistance training willcombat sarcopenia, because why
You're building and you'represerving muscle mass I mean,
it's as simple as that.
(12:35):
You're doing what the human bodywas evolved I don't want to say
designed, evolved to do is pushagainst loads in the real world
, and this has so many benefits.
It enhances the mitochondrialdensity and function we talked
about in the real world, andthis has so many benefits.
It enhances the mitochondrialdensity and function we talked
about at the cellular level.
It boosts your metabolicefficiency.
It increases your anabolichormones, all the things right,
(12:57):
not to mention making youfunctional and strong and
capable and building muscle mass, just in general.
And of course, side effect isyou have a more athletic, lean
physique.
So it mitigates the age-relatedhormone declines like nothing
else.
I mean, it is incredible howmany people I've worked with and
I will put myself in thatcategory who are in their 40s or
(13:18):
50s or 60s have had mostly asedentary lifestyle, start
strength training and it is likethey are a completely new,
young, fit person.
It is incredible, and theresearch is clear on this.
Strength training isnon-negotiable if you want to
maintain your metabolism as youage.
So how do you do this?
(13:40):
Well, I would start whereyou're at, if you're not
training at all.
Two to three strength trainingsessions per week.
Focus on compound movements likethe squat, the deadlift, the
bench press, the overhead press.
Eventually you've got pull-upsor chin-ups in there, maybe you
have some rows in there and theneventually you can branch out
into machines or bodybuildingwork or whatever.
But you're going to startsimple with basic compound
(14:01):
movements that engage multiplemuscle groups for the most
muscle mass efficiently.
Full range of motion that getsyou stronger.
Don't be afraid to lift heavy.
Progressive overload is key tostimulating growth and
maintenance.
Okay, I've talked about this onother episodes, I'm going to
leave it at that.
It is so important that you getinto this.
You start training, you learnhow to do it properly.
(14:22):
I mentioned earlier we havesomething called Physique
University.
We will teach you how to dothat.
We not only teach you how to doit and give you programs, we're
gonna show you how to programfor yourself so you have the
skill to do it for the rest ofyour life.
That's number one.
Strategy number two is toprioritize high-protein
nutrition.
Protein-rich diets support themuscle synthesis and they
(14:43):
prevent what's called catabolism, which is the breakdown of
muscle tissue.
They prevent this.
You don't need a massive amountof protein, but you probably
need a lot more than you havetoday.
Protein also has the highestthermic effect of food among the
macros protein, fats, carbs.
Protein will burn more caloriesbeing digested than carbs or
fats, and so you get a lot ofbenefits with protein for muscle
(15:06):
, for maintaining your diet, forfeeling full, for being
satisfied, for having deliciousfood and for adults over 40,
research suggests you need evenmore protein, and we're talking
again, not a massive amount.
I would start at 0.7 grams perpound and work your way up to as
much as one gram per pound andyou're fine.
You'll never really have to gobeyond that, except for special
(15:28):
cases or advanced strategies.
All right, spread it acrossyour meals and you're golden.
Of course, you should betracking your food so you know
how much protein you're getting.
That's, that's a, that's a sidemethod that supports getting
enough protein.
Um, if you want to do thataccurately, precisely and easily
, I would use macro factor.
Link is always in my show notesat the bottom.
Use my code witsandweights allone word to get two weeks free.
(15:55):
But that will be a game changerfor you.
All right.
Strategy number three is toboost your NEAT, your
non-exercise activitythermogenesis.
This is also a game changer forpeople.
I've had clients who are deskjockeys, lawyers, accountants,
engineers.
They might get 3,000 steps in aday because they're not
thinking about it and they'vegotten in a rut of just working
all day.
Going from three to even six orseven massively improves your
(16:17):
health, your calorie burn, yourlongevity and lots of other
things like blood sugar control,hormones, et cetera, insulin
resistance the list goes on andagain.
Start where you're at Small,frequent movements throughout
the day can, by themselves,significantly increase your
calorie burn right.
Using a standing desk, takingshort walks, pacing between
meetings or during all meetings,if you can doing your chores,
(16:39):
gardening right, not, you knowdoing things with your hands
outside instead of hiringeverybody to do stuff.
Going up the stairs, parkingfarther from the store and
that's just not even going fordeliberate walks, which are the
next level to this All thesecontribute meaningfully to your
calorie expenditure.
So what does that sound like?
It sounds like not sitting onyour butt all day.
Sitting itself is its ownmortality risk.
(17:03):
So not sitting combined withregular movement throughout the
day is going to mortality risk.
So not sitting combined withregular movement throughout the
day is gonna be huge.
And we know that NEAT can varyby up to 2,000 calories per day
between individuals of the samesize based on their lifestyle
right.
And we're not talking 30,000steps a day, we're talking about
being fairly sedentary to beingsomewhat active.
So this could potentially bethe most impactful factor in the
(17:25):
short term, especially for yourdaily energy expenditure, which
will make then eating easier,getting more calories easier or
being in a deficit easier whenyou're going for fat loss.
In fact, we just did a minichallenge in the Physique
University to help everybodyincrease their set count.
So if you join, you can go grabthat.
We're done with the challenge.
But the challenge document andguidance is there.
(17:45):
It's a lot of fun, we gamify itand we do challenges every
month.
So another reason to join, allright.
Strategy number four is toimprove your sleep hygiene.
Hygiene just a nice fancy wordfor all the aspects of your
sleep ritual, your routine.
To improve the quality of thesleep, yes, we want to have
sufficient duration, sufficienthours of sleep.
Like you don't want to be sodeprived that you're just
(18:07):
exhausted and, whatever you do,it's not going to matter.
We're talking five to six hoursof sleep is really that
threshold where you start to getdeprived.
But if you, if you're over, say, six and a half, and you're
aiming for that, seven to ninehours, you know nine, nine is
almost nobody I've worked with,other than retired people, are
going to get nine hours of sleep.
Let's just admit it.
Okay, that's fine.
(18:28):
Raise your hand, you know whoyou are.
Um, the vast majority of us aregoing to get maybe seven or
eight, and that's fine, as longas you focus on quality, because
the quality is what reallyimpacts the hormonal function
and your thyroid, your metabolichealth, your cravings, your,
your belly fat.
And along with that comesconsistency.
If you, the number one hack Ihave for you, if you want to
call it that, is going to sleepand waking up at the same time.
(18:51):
Even if you only get six hoursof sleep, I would rather you
first get a consistent six hoursof sleep, at the same sleep and
wake times, even on the weekend, than try to get an extra hours
of sleep if that's not, let'ssay, accessible or sustainable
for you.
So consistency is actually thebiggest game changer for people.
Then there's the environment.
You know the dark, quiet, coolenvironment.
(19:16):
Sleep mask I'm a big fan of asleep mask.
I like the pressure that itputs on your eyes.
It creates a sense of safety toyour body, especially if you're
a side sleeper and you'retrying to sleep on your back.
It's yet another way to createthat pressure on top of you to
keep you on your back.
And we know that just poorsleep is a game changer in the
negative sense, like it's a linkto reduced insulin sensitivity,
increased hunger hormones,decreased satiety hormones.
(19:36):
I mean, you get, you could.
You're starving and cravinghigh sugar, high fat foods, when
you don't get enough sleep.
You know this, like if you'relistening to this, you know this
, and even if you're trackingyour food, you're going to be
hungry, hungrier, a lot hungrier.
Even if you have the so-calleddiscipline or willpower not to
eat the extra calories, you'redoing yourself a disservice by
(19:59):
not getting enough sleep.
So if you're gaining a bunch ofweight, if you have metabolic
dysfunction, if your metabolismis declining, sleep is a big
part of that.
Strategy number five is managingchronic stress.
Now, this one is a tough onefor a lot of folks.
Yet it could be the mostimportant aspect, because a lot
of us can't change the job wehave or the family we have, and
(20:20):
those things cause stress for us.
And you've heard all the tricksyou know mindfulness,
meditation, deep breathing, yoga, doing things you enjoy, play,
doing a hobby right, you've gotto find what that thing is for
you.
For some people, it's justadding in some time for short
breaks throughout the day andjust not go, go, going forever
throughout the day.
(20:41):
It's finding time for yourself.
Just like I encourage you tocarve out time for training, I
encourage you to carve out timefor nothing, and by nothing I
mean you've got no obligationsor priorities in that time
you've scheduled with yourself.
It could be 15 minutes andyou're just going to do
something for yourself to loweryour cortisol or make it more
(21:02):
consistent, to improve yourmental health, and this could be
going for a walk, which killstwo birds with one stone and
increases your NEAT.
It could be simply sitting downand enjoying a nice book,
having a coffee, whatever that'sfor you to decide, but this is
going to be massive when itcomes to your metabolism.
And if you've done all theother things, later this week
(21:22):
I'm doing an episode with AdamBadger Shout out to him Great
guy, fellow coach, and he'sreally an expert in chronic
stress.
And what I like about him is hedoesn't approach it from
reducing your stress or copingwith your stress, but rather how
do you change your perceptionof stress?
Ah, so I want you to listen tothat episode on friday or, if
(21:45):
you're listening to this later.
It's two episodes after thisone Because we all face the same
kinds of stressors, but wedon't all react to them the same
way.
Right?
We don't all react with roadrage when someone cuts us off in
traffic.
Some of us are able to just letit slide, understand that maybe
that person's having a bad dayand, honestly, do we care and
(22:07):
just move on, and your reactionto that causes a physiological
stress reaction or not?
And there's a long list ofthings like that.
So understanding how yourespond to the stressors can be
a game changer, even if youdon't eliminate the stress or do
a stress coping hack.
All right, stress coping hackAll right.
(22:31):
Strategy number six is, I'll say, cardiovascular exercise or
training or activity.
Now, I got to be careful herebecause many of you are doing
too much cardio, but I thinkthere's a place for activities
like play sports, sprinting,that, especially when they're
anaerobic, like sprinting thatcan enhance insulin sensitivity.
They actually can contribute toyour metabolism, your energy
(22:52):
flux and your training andrecovery.
I know that most healthorganizations recommend 150
minutes of moderate intensityactivity per week.
That's what, two and a halfhours but a lot of people
misconstrue that to be likerunning.
I do not subscribe to that.
I think your strength trainingprovides a lot of the purpose of
that in terms of cardiovascularhealth and even conditioning.
(23:15):
Yes, I think walking is thenext thing that gets you to
let's say, 90, 95% in this, inthis uh bucket, and then the
other five 10% could be the play, the sports, the sprinting.
I would avoid medium to highintensity chronic type exercise
like running, unless it'ssomething you really enjoy.
But that's a whole separatetopic, because some people think
(23:36):
they have to do it, some peopleare addicted to it.
That's all a separate topic,but I would prioritize lifting,
then walking and then a littlebit of player sprinting.
All right.
Strategy number seven is toactually spend time with your
diet not in a deficit andpotentially a lot of time in a
slight surplus, to support thefirst thing we talked about,
(23:56):
which is strength training.
I really should have coupledthem together, but I don't wanna
do that because they'reseparate skills that have to be
developed.
One skill is strength training,which you could do regardless
of your diet, and then the otheris your diet itself, which will
support your strength trainingand the building of the muscles.
So I wanted to include this inhere because, yes, in the short
(24:17):
term, eating more food willincrease your metabolism.
That's not what I'm talkingabout.
I'm talking about fuelingyourself and giving yourself the
energy to support your hormones, to support your muscle
building, to an extent where youdevelop metabolic health over
the years and you're able tosupport muscle building much
more efficiently.
What do I mean?
I mean not dieting all the time, or even that frequently.
So when I work with clients,what we do is we learn how to
(24:40):
control our physique developmentand control our diet in a
structured way where we don'tfeel it's restrictive, but
instead it's fuel, it's energyand we spend.
Most people end up, afterthey've gone through the first
year or two of this fat losswith understanding how to build
muscle as well will startgetting into yearly cycles where
(25:00):
they might be dieting as littleas, say, six, six weeks and, as
the most, the maximum you wouldbe dieting on a regular basis
is maybe three months at themost.
Okay, in a 12-month period.
So what does that leave you?
Well, that leaves you with atleast nine months of not dieting
.
Now, that doesn't mean you haveto be in a calorie surplus in
those nine months buildingmuscle, but it does mean you're
(25:22):
not dieting.
I, however, would encouragepeople to spend a decent amount
of time in a calorie surplusearly on, as they're doing this
for the first time.
As a noob, you know, a novice,late novice, intermediate for
the first couple of years, maybeeven three years, have two or
three muscle building phases inthere.
Doing that will give your bodythe best chance to pack on all
that lean tissue and setyourself up for the rest of your
(25:44):
life.
To just maintain that muscleright, you've got to go through
the building process once atleast once or twice, I should
say.
You could do it a few moretimes if you're really into this
.
You really want to add evenmore muscle.
But even just doing it once ortwice is going to be a game
changer for you, because nowyou'll have that extra lean mass
, you'll have a highermetabolism just walking around,
(26:09):
you'll be able to carry a littlemore body weight, eat a little
bit more food and again, that isa game changer.
That is how you increase yourmetabolism, especially for women
in peripost-menopause and menwho have a decline in
testosterone.
It is going to counteract allthe things you are concerned
about that cause issues Because,for example, the drop in
estrogen causes extra belly fatstorage and a drop in muscle
mass and an increase in body fat.
Well, if you're strengthtraining and you're eating,
(26:29):
you're going to counteract that.
You're going to build muscle,you're going to lose body fat
and therefore you are going tothrive in peri and postmenopause
, where everyone else isstruggling and that's what you
want, all right.
The last strategy, number eight,is also nutrition related.
It's really your timing andyour meal frequency.
So the way I like to think ofthis is meal timing and
frequency is more aboutconsistency for your current
(26:54):
phase.
So what do I mean by that?
You're going to be in a phasewhen do you have a goal?
Your goal might be fat loss, itmight be to maintain, it might
be to build muscle, maybe youhave an athletic pursuit, it
doesn't matter.
You're in a phase, right, andwithin that phase, you're going
to have a certain amount ofcalories and macros and you'll
come up with a decent mealstructure for that, right.
I want to eat four times a day,mostly protein, and here are my
(27:16):
feeding windows, or my feedingtimes the.
The goal, then, is to beconsistent with that.
Consistent not just withquantity, but also with timing,
right, we're not talking aboutfasting here.
I'm not talking about anythingfancy.
Just like the sleep wake times,and sleep times should be
consistent.
Your eating should be asconsistent as possible.
Now, calories can fluctuate.
They can fluctuate naturallyand they can fluctuate
(27:37):
intentionally, and I think thebody is okay with that, as long
as you do that consistently aswell, like if you have three
high days and four low daysevery week.
If you just keep doing thatlike clockwork, your body will
get used to it and we've seenthat that can improve your
body's I'll say safety that itfeels and it will jack up your
metabolism.
In many cases it probably hasto do with insulin sensitivity
(28:00):
Again, mitochondrial functionyour cells.
It probably has to do withinsulin sensitivity Again,
mitochondrial function yourcells, guys, your cells.
You want to baby them and treatthem like pets that you're
trying to take care of, and bycell I mean just everything in
your body.
This includes your gut health,everything else, yes, and I
don't want you to think that youhave a lot of control directly
over the cell, but the thingsyou do, your cells are watching
(28:21):
and listening and learning.
They're reacting to it.
Your whole metabolism isderived from how they function,
and how they function is derivedfrom what you're putting in
your body, how much energyyou're giving it and what you're
doing.
It's lifestyle.
All the diseases we'reconcerned about that are the
biggest killers cardiovasculardisease, diabetes, et cetera.
All all you know all come fromobesity and that all comes from
(28:44):
lifestyle.
Right, we have control overthis.
We may need help.
Sometimes we need pharmacologytotally understandable, that's
fine, but it's in our control.
That's the point at some level.
So when you've got this I'llcall it metabolic flexibility
and improved efficiency andinsulin sensitivity you're going
to burn more fat, you're goingto have better fat oxidation,
(29:05):
you're going to have more easilypreserved lean tissue and avoid
catabolism.
Right, I hope I'm not throwingaround too many technical terms
here, but really this is what itcomes down to.
If you understand physiology,biology, anatomy, you understand
that you are almost in totalcontrol of this, even though to
get that level of control mayrequire guardrails, structure
learning and yes, for somepeople, pharmacology.
(29:26):
It depends.
I'm not ruling out lots oftools for the job.
We just got to get the job doneright.
The effectiveness is going tovary from person to person
because of genetics, but it'slargely within your control.
You just have to find out whatworks for your body and works
for your lifestyle, and youdon't have to implement all
these eight strategies at once.
Please don't do that.
Start with the foundational ones, the first three I talked about
(29:48):
Strength training, proteinintake, moving more.
Just start there, and eventhere you could just do one at a
time if you'd like, pick theone that's most accessible to
you.
Start doing it.
If you want to increase yourprotein, what do you do first?
Well, you got to track how muchyou eat and how much protein
you eat.
So you go, use macro factor todo that and log it, and then
you'll know within a few weekshow much protein you actually
(30:09):
have and how much you need.
Boom, you have the gap.
You work up to the gap, you getthere.
New habit Strength training.
Well, you need to know how manydays a week you're going to do
it, what equipment you haveaccess to, and then what program
are you going to follow?
Again, in Physique University,we make that super easy for you.
Come join us, try it out for acouple weeks.
Steal all my stuff in thatfirst two weeks.
Get your custom nutrition plan,cut and run.
(30:29):
You could do that if you want.
I hope you don't.
I hope you stick around and seethe value of it and want to
actually learn and grow anddevelop your system.
It's kind of like going tocollege that's why we call it
university, but in a good way.
Well, not good.
I liked college.
Some people, you know, find itdifficult.
Um, I found it difficult and Ienjoy it, but anyway.
Uh, it's like going tonutrition and training school,
um physique university.
(30:50):
What's in weightscom slashphysique.
All right, the cool thing.
I wanted to give you one morefascinating little fact here.
Okay, about metabolism andaging related to muscle, because
we think of muscle as forstrength and aesthetics, but
your muscle is an endocrineorgan.
When you contract it duringexercise, your muscle releases
compounds called myokines thatregulate your metabolism and
(31:11):
your inflammation.
And the myokines communicatewith your fat tissue, with your
liver, your brain, all yourorgans, and create a cascade of
positive metabolic effects.
And that is why training itselfnot just building muscle, but
the training itself improvesinsulin sensitivity, your
hormones, your fat oxidation,reduces inflammation, supports
(31:33):
brain health.
There is a still understood,like less understood, aspect of
building muscle that seems toburn more fat than not building
muscle, independent of all theseother factors that we think we
know about already.
And it's incredible.
And this means when you engagein strength training, you're not
just building muscle to bestrong, to look better, you're
(31:55):
activating a signaling systemthat's just sitting there ready
to be used.
That's going to improve yourhealth at the cellular level.
See, we're back to themitochond improve your health at
the cellular level.
See, we're back to themitochondria again, at the
cellular level, and that's why Ioften tell my clients muscle is
your metabolic currency, right,the more you have, the richer
your metabolic health will be.
And, unlike the inevitabledecline in certain hormones with
(32:17):
age that you would have if youdidn't train, you're going to
increase this signaling throughstrength training well into your
80s and 90s.
Isn't that amazing?
So when you pick up thoseweights, you're not just
fighting against age-relatedmuscle loss, you are
reprogramming your metabolism atthe molecular level period.
That is the power that you haveover your aging process,
(32:39):
regardless of what conventionalwisdom might suggest.
All right, so as we wrap up,remember aging does bring
certain changes, right, that isbiology.
We can't avoid it.
You're eventually going to die.
We have to reconcile with that.
But this narrative that yourmetabolism is doomed to slow
down dramatically, it's just notsupported by the science.
I actually get a little bitannoyed and irked when I see
(32:59):
memes about this stuff, justlike I do when people make fun
of how much they love cookies.
You know, like it's thisinevitable thing.
I actually get annoyed by that.
Now, I probably shouldn't, butit's kind of a defense mechanism
people have because they're notdoing the work, they're not
focusing on their nutrition andthey're not training.
Maybe they don't know what todo.
If so, if you know someone likethat, give them a link to the
(33:20):
podcast.
But what the research shows isthat many of the metabolic
changes we associate with agingare heavily influenced by the
lifestyle factors within ourcontrol.
So if you implement thestrategies we discussed today,
especially strain training,protein intake and increased
movement, you can maintain orimprove your metabolic health
regardless of your age.
Your age no longer becomes afactor.
(33:41):
You're going to get younger asyou get older.
That's my philosophy.
Right now, I'm 44 and I'm wayyounger physically than I was at
25.
And you could be that too.
I don't care what age you areright now.
Your metabolism does not have todecline just because you're
getting older.
Remember that small, consistentactions are going to compound
over time.
This is really about habits.
This is a process that's goingto take time.
(34:01):
You're not going to overhaulyour entire lifestyle overnight.
So start by focusing on justone strategy today that seems
most accessible to you and buildfrom there.
If you rush the process, ifyou're impatient, you're not
going to make it and you'regoing to be relegated to the
vast majority of people who dosee the decline in their
metabolism.
But if you do these things,your metabolism will thank you.
(34:24):
Your cells will thank you fordecades.
Right and again, maybe the mostimportant takeaway is you have
far more control over yourmetabolic not only your rate,
but your fate than you may havebelieved, because your
metabolism is not at the mercyof when you were born.
It is responding to the signalsyou give it through your daily
choices and habits.
All right, if you found value intoday's episode, if you want
(34:46):
personalized guidance onoptimizing your metabolism, your
training, your nutrition, yourbody composition, your health,
just join us already.
What are you waiting for?
You're gonna regret not joiningus at Wits and Weights Physique
University I have a link in theshow notes.
Or go to winstonwatescom slashphysique.
You're going to get two weeksfree to just try it out.
Open kimono.
I will even give you a demo ifyou'd like.
(35:07):
I want you to know what it's allabout and what you're going to
get, because I'm kind of sadwhen people come in and they are
there for maybe a week and theydon't really do anything and
then they leave.
I'm like, oh, you just missedout on something that is going
to change your life.
Yeah, there's a lot of bellsand whistles in there, right?
(35:28):
You get a customized nutritionplan from me based on your
specific goals.
You get workout programs.
You get workout philosophy.
There are courses on physiquedevelopment.
There's the community, there'sthe coaching calls.
We're going to have some liveworkshops.
We're also going to have someguests on our lives and, of
course, a supportive community.
Just go to witsandweightscom,slash physique or click the link
(35:48):
in the show notes.
What are you waiting for?
Let's create that sustainableapproach that works with your
physiology, so that you cancombat metabolism with age.
All right, until next time,keep using your wits lifting
those weights and remember, whenit comes to your metabolism,
age is just a number, but whatyou do with your body every day
is what truly counts.
I'll talk to you next time hereon the Wits and Weights Podcast
(36:10):
.
Your metabolism is slowing down.
They say you can't eat like youdid in your 20s.
It's all downhill after 30.
But what if I told you thatmost of what you heard about
aging and metabolism iscompletely wrong.
Aging does not inevitably doomyou to weight gain and energy
loss.
The latest research shows thatyour basal metabolic rate stays
(00:21):
remarkably stable from your 20suntil your 60s.
So why are so many peoplestruggling with weight gain and
energy loss as they age?
Today, we are uncovering thereal culprits behind what feels
like a slowing metabolism, andthey're not what you think.
You'll discover the shockingtruth about what's actually
happening to your body as youage and the eight evidence-based
strategies that can not onlyprevent metabolic decline but
(00:44):
potentially reverse it.
Welcome to Wits and Weights, theshow that helps you build a
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday we're tackling one of the
(01:06):
most persistent myths in thefitness world the idea that your
metabolism inevitably slowsdown as you age.
We've all heard it or saidthese things ourselves Just wait
until you hit 30, 40, 50.
Your metabolism just isn't whatit used to be, and these are
the kind of statements that seemto make intuitive sense when
you notice changes in your bodycomposition and your energy
(01:30):
levels as you get older.
But the thing is that researchtells us a different set of
facts and both are not mutuallyexclusive.
In other words, you're bothright, and when we look at the
data, we discover that therelationship between aging and
metabolism is more complex andit's more within our control
than conventional wisdom or theindustry might suggest.
(01:50):
And today I want to break downwhat is happening.
What is happening with yourmetabolism as you age, why you
might be experiencing changes inyour body composition getting
fluffier, getting more belly fat, things like that and, most
importantly, strategies, ofcourse, strategies that you can
implement, starting today, tomaintain or even boost your
metabolic rate, regardless ofyour age.
(02:11):
And it is never too late,before we get into it, if you
are right now feeling likeyou're struggling with your
metabolism or your bodycomposition or your energy, I've
created something that can helpWits and Weights.
Physique University is mycoaching community.
It's where I've taken the bestfrom my private clients, my
one-on-one process, and put itinto a group program that's more
(02:33):
, let's say, affordable andaccessible to a lot more folks.
And we tackle these kinds ofissues by giving you a roadmap,
an onboarding plan to follow.
It personalizes the nutritionand training based on the
evidence.
And right now I'm offering twoweeks free so you can kick the
tires.
You get access to your firstchallenge free when you join and
within those two weeks youcould take full advantage of the
(02:54):
program.
No strings attached, nothingblocked off, including the
customized nutrition plan,training programs designed for
your goals, direct access to me,our community for support, for
accountability.
So much more.
Just go to whitsonwastecom,slash physique, or click the
link in the show notes to getstarted.
And I just want to get back intothe topic now and let's talk
about what's happening withmetabolism as you age.
(03:17):
First, we have to understandwhat we mean by metabolism.
Your total daily energyexpenditure, tdee, which we also
call our metabolism, is theamount of calories you burn
every day.
It consists of severalcomponents and if you have to
break it down, we typically usefour components so you can
understand what happens as weage.
(03:37):
So the first component is yourBMR, your basal metabolic rate.
This is the energy your bodyneeds just to maintain your
basic physiological functionswhile you're just going about
your business your heartbeat,your breathing, your cell
turnover, your brain function,your organs and so on.
For most people, thisrepresents about two-thirds of
(03:57):
your total daily calorie burn,so that's very important to
understand.
Next is the thermic effect offood, or TEF.
That's the energy your bodyexpends to digest, absorb and
process the nutrients youconsume.
Tef typically accounts forabout 10% of your total calorie
burn.
And then, finally, we have twopieces that are often lumped
together but they're quitedistinct that are related to
(04:20):
your physical activity.
One is eat and the other isneat.
Eat is exercise activitythermogenesis that is, the
calories you burn during plannedexercise, which represents just
5% of your daily burn, andnon-exercise activity
thermogenesis, or neat, and thatis all the spontaneous
movements you make throughoutthe day fidgeting, doing chores,
(04:41):
standing instead of sitting,and including walking in there,
which, yes, can be deliberate,but it's distinct from eat.
So if you combine those, yougot the other rest chunk of your
metabolism.
Like I said, 5% for neat, maybeas much as 15 to 30, 40, 50%
for neat, depending on howactive you are.
The surprising thing that floorsa lot of people and it
(05:03):
surprised me when I learned thisa few years ago is the research
published by Herman Ponser.
Now, his initial research wasin 2021 in the journal Science,
very well-respected journal.
He later wrote a book calledBurn and he showed based on
doubly-labeled water, which is avery accurate way to determine
someone's metabolism that whenadjusted for fat-free mass put a
(05:26):
pin in that because we're gonnacome back to it it's actually a
really important caveat.
When adjusted for fat-free massTDEE, your expenditure, your
metabolism remains relativelystable from age 20 to age 60.
It's only after age 60 that westart to see a noticeable
decline in the metabolic rate,and this is important.
I want to repeat that becauseit's so contrary to popular
(05:48):
belief and you might not evenbelieve it based on how your own
body has responded with age.
Your metabolism doesn'tautomatically slow down just
because you're getting older, atleast not until you're well
into your 60s.
But if that's true, why do somany people experience weight
gain and difficulty losing fatas they get older, even though
(06:08):
they're eating the same amount?
And so the answer really liesin the physiological and
lifestyle changes that oftenaccompany aging.
And remember what we saidadjusted for fat-free mass, so
this is going to be relevanthere Fat-free mass includes
muscle tissue, okay, so it isnot simply aging that is causing
(06:28):
your metabolism to slow.
Let's look at the actualmechanisms that lead to, I'll
say, what feels like metabolicdecline and in actuality, does
reduce your metabolism, and it'stied to fat-free mass.
The first and perhaps mostsignificant factor is just that
it is muscle loss.
You are losing your fat-freemass.
That is known as sarcopeniawhen you lose muscle.
(06:51):
With age, this is a naturalprocess.
With aging Starting in your 30s, we begin to lose our muscle
mass gradually, and then itaccelerates after 50.
And since muscle tissue burns alot more calories, not only at
rest versus fast tissue, but formany other reasons that having
more muscle burns calories,which I discussed in a past
episode, episode 291, 10 reasonsmuscle burns even more calories
(07:15):
than you think.
Losing muscle directly thenimpacts your BMR, your basal
metabolic rate, and researchshows the average person loses
three to 8% of their muscle massper decade after age 30.
And then this rate acceleratesafter age 60.
And what's causing the muscleloss?
A big part of it is hormonalchanges.
(07:35):
Right as we age, we havedecreases in our anabolic
hormones like testosterone,growth hormone, igf-1, which is
insulin-like growth factor one,and these are all critical in
building and maintaining muscle.
So you don't have the samehormonal milieu, as they call it
, as when you were in your 20swhen you're just raging with
hormones.
Also, changes in thyroidhormone activity can reduce your
(07:58):
metabolic rate, and decliningsex hormones affect fat
distribution and our body'sability to preserve muscle.
Another reason is mitochondrialdysfunction.
Mitochondria, as you might haveheard, are the powerhouses of
your cells.
They produce energy, and as weage they become less efficient.
That results in a reducedcellular metabolic rate, and
(08:20):
then that is compounded byincreased oxidative stress,
increased inflammation, and thenthat further impairs
mitochondrial function.
Then there's the increase infat mass.
So, unlike muscle, fat tissueis far less metabolically active
, which means it contributesminimally to calorie burning.
And then, as you age, there'susually a shift toward visceral
(08:44):
fat accumulation.
That's the dangerous fat thataccumulates around your organs,
and this type of fat releasesinflammatory cytokines that can
negatively impact metabolismthroughout your body.
But perhaps the most significantfactor that most people don't
consider outside of muscle massis the reduction in physical
activity and neat, as we age weoften become more sedentary, we
(09:08):
sit more, we move less.
Spontaneous activities liketaking the stairs, walking to
the store, fidgeting, tend todecrease, sometimes dramatically
, and this reduction in dailymovement can account for
hundreds of fewer caloriesburned each day.
And then there's sleep quality.
Sleep quality declines with age.
Many older adults havedisrupted sleep patterns shorter
(09:30):
sleep duration, poorer sleepquality.
You know, life just gets in theway, right?
We get busy, we have kids, wehave family.
Work gets more stressful.
Poor sleep is not great.
It impairs your glucosemetabolism and elevates your
stress hormones.
It increases your cravings,increases belly fat storage.
It reduces fat oxidation andall of those things functionally
(09:52):
slow your metabolism.
And then finally, kind ofrelated to this, but separate is
chronic stress.
Right, I could put this at thetop of the list for some of you.
Yes, it becomes more commonbecause we have complexities as
we get older.
I sometimes daydream aboutthose times when I was a child
and I could just frolic outsidein the summer in the grass on my
(10:12):
bare feet without a care in theworld.
I look at my pets and I thinkthe same thing.
I'm like if only I could be adog for a day.
Now, in my 40s, I know whatstress is like.
We have elevated cortisol fromthis chronic stress.
That encourages fat storageagain, especially in the
abdominal region.
It also promotes muscle loss,insulin resistance.
So it's a laundry list ofthings and it's not that your
(10:33):
metabolism is just slowing downmysteriously.
It's that all of these factors,many of which are
lifestyle-related, are creatingthe conditions for metabolic
decline, driven largely by thereduction of fat-free mass, the
reduction in muscle, combinedwith all the stressors that I
just talked about.
The good news is that, sincemany of these are within our
(10:53):
control, we can take action toprevent or reverse this decline
right now.
No matter what age you areObviously the younger the better
, but you are where you are, sodon't make any excuses.
As you're listening to thisshow.
If you are not active, if youare not strengthening, if you
are not doing the things we'regoing to talk about in the next
section, this is your wake-upcall.
This is your clarion call.
(11:14):
This is the moment where youcross the Rubicon and you say I
am finally going to prioritizemyself so that I can live a long
, healthy life.
I have not just a lifespan, buta health span.
I can fulfill.
What?
The deeper why is my purpose inlife when it comes to my
physical and mental being onthis planet?
(11:34):
What is that for you?
And so I want to get to thepart you've been waiting for
here.
What can you do about this?
And I've identified, for thisepisode, eight evidence-based
strategies that can maintain orincrease your metabolic rate,
and you're going to have heardthis many times on the podcast
in one stage or one form oranother.
And these are principles.
(11:55):
These are foundational, but Iwant to break them down for you.
Strategy number one can youguess it?
I'm going to give you a pause.
Of course, strength training.
Without strength training,almost all of this goes out the
window and you join the mass ofthe population who ends up in
metabolic decline, frailty anddiseases of aging.
Inevitably it will happen.
(12:15):
It will happen if you are notstrength training.
Sorry to say it, but I'm notsorry, because strength training
is amazing.
It can be fulfilling, enjoyableand you're gonna feel like a
badass if you do it.
Okay, resistance training willcombat sarcopenia, because why
You're building and you'represerving muscle mass I mean,
it's as simple as that.
(12:35):
You're doing what the human bodywas evolved I don't want to say
designed, evolved to do is pushagainst loads in the real world
, and this has so many benefits.
It enhances the mitochondrialdensity and function we talked
about in the real world, andthis has so many benefits.
It enhances the mitochondrialdensity and function we talked
about at the cellular level.
It boosts your metabolicefficiency.
It increases your anabolichormones, all the things right,
(12:57):
not to mention making youfunctional and strong and
capable and building muscle mass, just in general.
And of course, side effect isyou have a more athletic, lean
physique.
So it mitigates the age-relatedhormone declines like nothing
else.
I mean, it is incredible howmany people I've worked with and
I will put myself in thatcategory who are in their 40s or
(13:18):
50s or 60s have had mostly asedentary lifestyle, start
strength training and it is likethey are a completely new,
young, fit person.
It is incredible, and theresearch is clear on this.
Strength training isnon-negotiable if you want to
maintain your metabolism as youage.
So how do you do this?
(13:40):
Well, I would start whereyou're at, if you're not
training at all.
Two to three strength trainingsessions per week.
Focus on compound movements likethe squat, the deadlift, the
bench press, the overhead press.
Eventually you've got pull-upsor chin-ups in there, maybe you
have some rows in there and theneventually you can branch out
into machines or bodybuildingwork or whatever.
But you're going to startsimple with basic compound
(14:01):
movements that engage multiplemuscle groups for the most
muscle mass efficiently.
Full range of motion that getsyou stronger.
Don't be afraid to lift heavy.
Progressive overload is key tostimulating growth and
maintenance.
Okay, I've talked about this onother episodes, I'm going to
leave it at that.
It is so important that you getinto this.
You start training, you learnhow to do it properly.
(14:22):
I mentioned earlier we havesomething called Physique
University.
We will teach you how to dothat.
We not only teach you how to doit and give you programs, we're
gonna show you how to programfor yourself so you have the
skill to do it for the rest ofyour life.
That's number one.
Strategy number two is toprioritize high-protein
nutrition.
Protein-rich diets support themuscle synthesis and they
(14:43):
prevent what's called catabolism, which is the breakdown of
muscle tissue.
They prevent this.
You don't need a massive amountof protein, but you probably
need a lot more than you havetoday.
Protein also has the highestthermic effect of food among the
macros protein, fats, carbs.
Protein will burn more caloriesbeing digested than carbs or
fats, and so you get a lot ofbenefits with protein for muscle
(15:06):
, for maintaining your diet, forfeeling full, for being
satisfied, for having deliciousfood and for adults over 40,
research suggests you need evenmore protein, and we're talking
again, not a massive amount.
I would start at 0.7 grams perpound and work your way up to as
much as one gram per pound andyou're fine.
You'll never really have to gobeyond that, except for special
(15:28):
cases or advanced strategies.
All right, spread it acrossyour meals and you're golden.
Of course, you should betracking your food so you know
how much protein you're getting.
That's, that's a, that's a sidemethod that supports getting
enough protein.
Um, if you want to do thataccurately, precisely and easily
, I would use macro factor.
Link is always in my show notesat the bottom.
Use my code witsandweights allone word to get two weeks free.
(15:55):
But that will be a game changerfor you.
All right.
Strategy number three is toboost your NEAT, your
non-exercise activitythermogenesis.
This is also a game changer forpeople.
I've had clients who are deskjockeys, lawyers, accountants,
engineers.
They might get 3,000 steps in aday because they're not
thinking about it and they'vegotten in a rut of just working
all day.
Going from three to even six orseven massively improves your
(16:17):
health, your calorie burn, yourlongevity and lots of other
things like blood sugar control,hormones, et cetera, insulin
resistance the list goes on andagain.
Start where you're at Small,frequent movements throughout
the day can, by themselves,significantly increase your
calorie burn right.
Using a standing desk, takingshort walks, pacing between
meetings or during all meetings,if you can doing your chores,
(16:39):
gardening right, not, you knowdoing things with your hands
outside instead of hiringeverybody to do stuff.
Going up the stairs, parkingfarther from the store and
that's just not even going fordeliberate walks, which are the
next level to this All thesecontribute meaningfully to your
calorie expenditure.
So what does that sound like?
It sounds like not sitting onyour butt all day.
Sitting itself is its ownmortality risk.
(17:03):
So not sitting combined withregular movement throughout the
day is going to mortality risk.
So not sitting combined withregular movement throughout the
day is gonna be huge.
And we know that NEAT can varyby up to 2,000 calories per day
between individuals of the samesize based on their lifestyle
right.
And we're not talking 30,000steps a day, we're talking about
being fairly sedentary to beingsomewhat active.
So this could potentially bethe most impactful factor in the
(17:25):
short term, especially for yourdaily energy expenditure, which
will make then eating easier,getting more calories easier or
being in a deficit easier whenyou're going for fat loss.
In fact, we just did a minichallenge in the Physique
University to help everybodyincrease their set count.
So if you join, you can go grabthat.
We're done with the challenge.
But the challenge document andguidance is there.
(17:45):
It's a lot of fun, we gamify itand we do challenges every
month.
So another reason to join, allright.
Strategy number four is toimprove your sleep hygiene.
Hygiene just a nice fancy wordfor all the aspects of your
sleep ritual, your routine.
To improve the quality of thesleep, yes, we want to have
sufficient duration, sufficienthours of sleep.
Like you don't want to be sodeprived that you're just
(18:07):
exhausted and, whatever you do,it's not going to matter.
We're talking five to six hoursof sleep is really that
threshold where you start to getdeprived.
But if you, if you're over, say, six and a half, and you're
aiming for that, seven to ninehours, you know nine, nine is
almost nobody I've worked with,other than retired people, are
going to get nine hours of sleep.
Let's just admit it.
Okay, that's fine.
(18:28):
Raise your hand, you know whoyou are.
Um, the vast majority of us aregoing to get maybe seven or
eight, and that's fine, as longas you focus on quality, because
the quality is what reallyimpacts the hormonal function
and your thyroid, your metabolichealth, your cravings, your,
your belly fat.
And along with that comesconsistency.
If you, the number one hack Ihave for you, if you want to
call it that, is going to sleepand waking up at the same time.
(18:51):
Even if you only get six hoursof sleep, I would rather you
first get a consistent six hoursof sleep, at the same sleep and
wake times, even on the weekend, than try to get an extra hours
of sleep if that's not, let'ssay, accessible or sustainable
for you.
So consistency is actually thebiggest game changer for people.
Then there's the environment.
You know the dark, quiet, coolenvironment.
(19:16):
Sleep mask I'm a big fan of asleep mask.
I like the pressure that itputs on your eyes.
It creates a sense of safety toyour body, especially if you're
a side sleeper and you'retrying to sleep on your back.
It's yet another way to createthat pressure on top of you to
keep you on your back.
And we know that just poorsleep is a game changer in the
negative sense, like it's a linkto reduced insulin sensitivity,
increased hunger hormones,decreased satiety hormones.
(19:36):
I mean, you get, you could.
You're starving and cravinghigh sugar, high fat foods, when
you don't get enough sleep.
You know this, like if you'relistening to this, you know this
, and even if you're trackingyour food, you're going to be
hungry, hungrier, a lot hungrier.
Even if you have the so-calleddiscipline or willpower not to
eat the extra calories, you'redoing yourself a disservice by
(19:59):
not getting enough sleep.
So if you're gaining a bunch ofweight, if you have metabolic
dysfunction, if your metabolismis declining, sleep is a big
part of that.
Strategy number five is managingchronic stress.
Now, this one is a tough onefor a lot of folks.
Yet it could be the mostimportant aspect, because a lot
of us can't change the job wehave or the family we have, and
(20:20):
those things cause stress for us.
And you've heard all the tricksyou know mindfulness,
meditation, deep breathing, yoga, doing things you enjoy, play,
doing a hobby right, you've gotto find what that thing is for
you.
For some people, it's justadding in some time for short
breaks throughout the day andjust not go, go, going forever
throughout the day.
(20:41):
It's finding time for yourself.
Just like I encourage you tocarve out time for training, I
encourage you to carve out timefor nothing, and by nothing I
mean you've got no obligationsor priorities in that time
you've scheduled with yourself.
It could be 15 minutes andyou're just going to do
something for yourself to loweryour cortisol or make it more
(21:02):
consistent, to improve yourmental health, and this could be
going for a walk, which killstwo birds with one stone and
increases your NEAT.
It could be simply sitting downand enjoying a nice book,
having a coffee, whatever that'sfor you to decide, but this is
going to be massive when itcomes to your metabolism.
And if you've done all theother things, later this week
(21:22):
I'm doing an episode with AdamBadger Shout out to him Great
guy, fellow coach, and he'sreally an expert in chronic
stress.
And what I like about him is hedoesn't approach it from
reducing your stress or copingwith your stress, but rather how
do you change your perceptionof stress?
Ah, so I want you to listen tothat episode on friday or, if
(21:45):
you're listening to this later.
It's two episodes after thisone Because we all face the same
kinds of stressors, but wedon't all react to them the same
way.
Right?
We don't all react with roadrage when someone cuts us off in
traffic.
Some of us are able to just letit slide, understand that maybe
that person's having a bad dayand, honestly, do we care and
(22:07):
just move on, and your reactionto that causes a physiological
stress reaction or not?
And there's a long list ofthings like that.
So understanding how yourespond to the stressors can be
a game changer, even if youdon't eliminate the stress or do
a stress coping hack.
All right, stress coping hackAll right.
(22:31):
Strategy number six is, I'll say, cardiovascular exercise or
training or activity.
Now, I got to be careful herebecause many of you are doing
too much cardio, but I thinkthere's a place for activities
like play sports, sprinting,that, especially when they're
anaerobic, like sprinting thatcan enhance insulin sensitivity.
They actually can contribute toyour metabolism, your energy
(22:52):
flux and your training andrecovery.
I know that most healthorganizations recommend 150
minutes of moderate intensityactivity per week.
That's what, two and a halfhours but a lot of people
misconstrue that to be likerunning.
I do not subscribe to that.
I think your strength trainingprovides a lot of the purpose of
that in terms of cardiovascularhealth and even conditioning.
(23:15):
Yes, I think walking is thenext thing that gets you to
let's say, 90, 95% in this, inthis uh bucket, and then the
other five 10% could be the play, the sports, the sprinting.
I would avoid medium to highintensity chronic type exercise
like running, unless it'ssomething you really enjoy.
But that's a whole separatetopic, because some people think
(23:36):
they have to do it, some peopleare addicted to it.
That's all a separate topic,but I would prioritize lifting,
then walking and then a littlebit of player sprinting.
All right.
Strategy number seven is toactually spend time with your
diet not in a deficit andpotentially a lot of time in a
slight surplus, to support thefirst thing we talked about,
(23:56):
which is strength training.
I really should have coupledthem together, but I don't wanna
do that because they'reseparate skills that have to be
developed.
One skill is strength training,which you could do regardless
of your diet, and then the otheris your diet itself, which will
support your strength trainingand the building of the muscles.
So I wanted to include this inhere because, yes, in the short
(24:17):
term, eating more food willincrease your metabolism.
That's not what I'm talkingabout.
I'm talking about fuelingyourself and giving yourself the
energy to support your hormones, to support your muscle
building, to an extent where youdevelop metabolic health over
the years and you're able tosupport muscle building much
more efficiently.
What do I mean?
I mean not dieting all the time, or even that frequently.
So when I work with clients,what we do is we learn how to
(24:40):
control our physique developmentand control our diet in a
structured way where we don'tfeel it's restrictive, but
instead it's fuel, it's energyand we spend.
Most people end up, afterthey've gone through the first
year or two of this fat losswith understanding how to build
muscle as well will startgetting into yearly cycles where
(25:00):
they might be dieting as littleas, say, six, six weeks and, as
the most, the maximum you wouldbe dieting on a regular basis
is maybe three months at themost.
Okay, in a 12-month period.
So what does that leave you?
Well, that leaves you with atleast nine months of not dieting
.
Now, that doesn't mean you haveto be in a calorie surplus in
those nine months buildingmuscle, but it does mean you're
(25:22):
not dieting.
I, however, would encouragepeople to spend a decent amount
of time in a calorie surplusearly on, as they're doing this
for the first time.
As a noob, you know, a novice,late novice, intermediate for
the first couple of years, maybeeven three years, have two or
three muscle building phases inthere.
Doing that will give your bodythe best chance to pack on all
that lean tissue and setyourself up for the rest of your
(25:44):
life.
To just maintain that muscleright, you've got to go through
the building process once atleast once or twice, I should
say.
You could do it a few moretimes if you're really into this
.
You really want to add evenmore muscle.
But even just doing it once ortwice is going to be a game
changer for you, because nowyou'll have that extra lean mass
, you'll have a highermetabolism just walking around,
(26:09):
you'll be able to carry a littlemore body weight, eat a little
bit more food and again, that isa game changer.
That is how you increase yourmetabolism, especially for women
in peripost-menopause and menwho have a decline in
testosterone.
It is going to counteract allthe things you are concerned
about that cause issues Because,for example, the drop in
estrogen causes extra belly fatstorage and a drop in muscle
mass and an increase in body fat.
Well, if you're strengthtraining and you're eating,
(26:29):
you're going to counteract that.
You're going to build muscle,you're going to lose body fat
and therefore you are going tothrive in peri and postmenopause
, where everyone else isstruggling and that's what you
want, all right.
The last strategy, number eight,is also nutrition related.
It's really your timing andyour meal frequency.
So the way I like to think ofthis is meal timing and
frequency is more aboutconsistency for your current
(26:54):
phase.
So what do I mean by that?
You're going to be in a phasewhen do you have a goal?
Your goal might be fat loss, itmight be to maintain, it might
be to build muscle, maybe youhave an athletic pursuit, it
doesn't matter.
You're in a phase, right, andwithin that phase, you're going
to have a certain amount ofcalories and macros and you'll
come up with a decent mealstructure for that, right.
I want to eat four times a day,mostly protein, and here are my
(27:16):
feeding windows, or my feedingtimes the.
The goal, then, is to beconsistent with that.
Consistent not just withquantity, but also with timing,
right, we're not talking aboutfasting here.
I'm not talking about anythingfancy.
Just like the sleep wake times,and sleep times should be
consistent.
Your eating should be asconsistent as possible.
Now, calories can fluctuate.
They can fluctuate naturallyand they can fluctuate
(27:37):
intentionally, and I think thebody is okay with that, as long
as you do that consistently aswell, like if you have three
high days and four low daysevery week.
If you just keep doing thatlike clockwork, your body will
get used to it and we've seenthat that can improve your
body's I'll say safety that itfeels and it will jack up your
metabolism.
In many cases it probably hasto do with insulin sensitivity
(28:00):
Again, mitochondrial functionyour cells.
It probably has to do withinsulin sensitivity Again,
mitochondrial function yourcells, guys, your cells.
You want to baby them and treatthem like pets that you're
trying to take care of, and bycell I mean just everything in
your body.
This includes your gut health,everything else, yes, and I
don't want you to think that youhave a lot of control directly
over the cell, but the thingsyou do, your cells are watching
(28:21):
and listening and learning.
They're reacting to it.
Your whole metabolism isderived from how they function,
and how they function is derivedfrom what you're putting in
your body, how much energyyou're giving it and what you're
doing.
It's lifestyle.
All the diseases we'reconcerned about that are the
biggest killers cardiovasculardisease, diabetes, et cetera.
All all you know all come fromobesity and that all comes from
(28:44):
lifestyle.
Right, we have control overthis.
We may need help.
Sometimes we need pharmacologytotally understandable, that's
fine, but it's in our control.
That's the point at some level.
So when you've got this I'llcall it metabolic flexibility
and improved efficiency andinsulin sensitivity you're going
to burn more fat, you're goingto have better fat oxidation,
(29:05):
you're going to have more easilypreserved lean tissue and avoid
catabolism.
Right, I hope I'm not throwingaround too many technical terms
here, but really this is what itcomes down to.
If you understand physiology,biology, anatomy, you understand
that you are almost in totalcontrol of this, even though to
get that level of control mayrequire guardrails, structure
learning and yes, for somepeople, pharmacology.
(29:26):
It depends.
I'm not ruling out lots oftools for the job.
We just got to get the job doneright.
The effectiveness is going tovary from person to person
because of genetics, but it'slargely within your control.
You just have to find out whatworks for your body and works
for your lifestyle, and youdon't have to implement all
these eight strategies at once.
Please don't do that.
Start with the foundational ones, the first three I talked about
(29:48):
Strength training, proteinintake, moving more.
Just start there, and eventhere you could just do one at a
time if you'd like, pick theone that's most accessible to
you.
Start doing it.
If you want to increase yourprotein, what do you do first?
Well, you got to track how muchyou eat and how much protein
you eat.
So you go, use macro factor todo that and log it, and then
you'll know within a few weekshow much protein you actually
(30:09):
have and how much you need.
Boom, you have the gap.
You work up to the gap, you getthere.
New habit Strength training.
Well, you need to know how manydays a week you're going to do
it, what equipment you haveaccess to, and then what program
are you going to follow?
Again, in Physique University,we make that super easy for you.
Come join us, try it out for acouple weeks.
Steal all my stuff in thatfirst two weeks.
Get your custom nutrition plan,cut and run.
(30:29):
You could do that if you want.
I hope you don't.
I hope you stick around and seethe value of it and want to
actually learn and grow anddevelop your system.
It's kind of like going tocollege that's why we call it
university, but in a good way.
Well, not good.
I liked college.
Some people, you know, find itdifficult.
Um, I found it difficult and Ienjoy it, but anyway.
Uh, it's like going tonutrition and training school,
um physique university.
(30:50):
What's in weightscom slashphysique.
All right, the cool thing.
I wanted to give you one morefascinating little fact here.
Okay, about metabolism andaging related to muscle, because
we think of muscle as forstrength and aesthetics, but
your muscle is an endocrineorgan.
When you contract it duringexercise, your muscle releases
compounds called myokines thatregulate your metabolism and
(31:11):
your inflammation.
And the myokines communicatewith your fat tissue, with your
liver, your brain, all yourorgans, and create a cascade of
positive metabolic effects.
And that is why training itselfnot just building muscle, but
the training itself improvesinsulin sensitivity, your
hormones, your fat oxidation,reduces inflammation, supports
(31:33):
brain health.
There is a still understood,like less understood, aspect of
building muscle that seems toburn more fat than not building
muscle, independent of all theseother factors that we think we
know about already.
And it's incredible.
And this means when you engagein strength training, you're not
just building muscle to bestrong, to look better, you're
(31:55):
activating a signaling systemthat's just sitting there ready
to be used.
That's going to improve yourhealth at the cellular level.
See, we're back to themitochond improve your health at
the cellular level.
See, we're back to themitochondria again, at the
cellular level, and that's why Ioften tell my clients muscle is
your metabolic currency, right,the more you have, the richer
your metabolic health will be.
And, unlike the inevitabledecline in certain hormones with
(32:17):
age that you would have if youdidn't train, you're going to
increase this signaling throughstrength training well into your
80s and 90s.
Isn't that amazing?
So when you pick up thoseweights, you're not just
fighting against age-relatedmuscle loss, you are
reprogramming your metabolism atthe molecular level period.
That is the power that you haveover your aging process,
(32:39):
regardless of what conventionalwisdom might suggest.
All right, so as we wrap up,remember aging does bring
certain changes, right, that isbiology.
We can't avoid it.
You're eventually going to die.
We have to reconcile with that.
But this narrative that yourmetabolism is doomed to slow
down dramatically, it's just notsupported by the science.
I actually get a little bitannoyed and irked when I see
(32:59):
memes about this stuff, justlike I do when people make fun
of how much they love cookies.
You know, like it's thisinevitable thing.
I actually get annoyed by that.
Now, I probably shouldn't, butit's kind of a defense mechanism
people have because they're notdoing the work, they're not
focusing on their nutrition andthey're not training.
Maybe they don't know what todo.
If so, if you know someone likethat, give them a link to the
(33:20):
podcast.
But what the research shows isthat many of the metabolic
changes we associate with agingare heavily influenced by the
lifestyle factors within ourcontrol.
So if you implement thestrategies we discussed today,
especially strain training,protein intake and increased
movement, you can maintain orimprove your metabolic health
regardless of your age.
Your age no longer becomes afactor.
(33:41):
You're going to get younger asyou get older.
That's my philosophy.
Right now, I'm 44 and I'm wayyounger physically than I was at
25.
And you could be that too.
I don't care what age you areright now.
Your metabolism does not have todecline just because you're
getting older.
Remember that small, consistentactions are going to compound
over time.
This is really about habits.
This is a process that's goingto take time.
(34:01):
You're not going to overhaulyour entire lifestyle overnight.
So start by focusing on justone strategy today that seems
most accessible to you and buildfrom there.
If you rush the process, ifyou're impatient, you're not
going to make it and you'regoing to be relegated to the
vast majority of people who dosee the decline in their
metabolism.
But if you do these things,your metabolism will thank you.
(34:24):
Your cells will thank you fordecades.
Right and again, maybe the mostimportant takeaway is you have
far more control over yourmetabolic not only your rate,
but your fate than you may havebelieved, because your
metabolism is not at the mercyof when you were born.
It is responding to the signalsyou give it through your daily
choices and habits.
All right, if you found value intoday's episode, if you want
(34:46):
personalized guidance onoptimizing your metabolism, your
training, your nutrition, yourbody composition, your health,
just join us already.
What are you waiting for?
You're gonna regret not joiningus at Wits and Weights Physique
University I have a link in theshow notes.
Or go to winstonwatescom slashphysique.
You're going to get two weeksfree to just try it out.
Open kimono.
I will even give you a demo ifyou'd like.
(35:07):
I want you to know what it's allabout and what you're going to
get, because I'm kind of sadwhen people come in and they are
there for maybe a week and theydon't really do anything and
then they leave.
I'm like, oh, you just missedout on something that is going
to change your life.
Yeah, there's a lot of bellsand whistles in there, right?
(35:28):
You get a customized nutritionplan from me based on your
specific goals.
You get workout programs.
You get workout philosophy.
There are courses on physiquedevelopment.
There's the community, there'sthe coaching calls.
We're going to have some liveworkshops.
We're also going to have someguests on our lives and, of
course, a supportive community.
Just go to witsandweightscom,slash physique or click the link
(35:48):
in the show notes.
What are you waiting for?
Let's create that sustainableapproach that works with your
physiology, so that you cancombat metabolism with age.
All right, until next time,keep using your wits lifting
those weights and remember, whenit comes to your metabolism,
age is just a number, but whatyou do with your body every day
is what truly counts.
I'll talk to you next time hereon the Wits and Weights Podcast
(36:10):
.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.