How to achieve a healthy bodyweight

All right, today we're going to talk about how to maintain a healthy body weight, or indeed if you want to gain or lose weight, how to do that. And I'm going to give you a really simple and effective strategy for how to do it. I've used this strategy myself in the past to lose weight, and I use it today to keep my own body weight at a healthy level and to stay relatively lean. And I also want to assure you that it's not complicated, In fact, once you get your head around it, it's really quite straightforward. So before we jump into the detail, I want to give you 3 reasons why it's really important to maintain a healthy body weight. Now, the first one is longevity. So it's well established beyond any doubt that being at a healthy body weight helps to lower the risk of chronic diseases. So that includes things like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and hypertension. And you don't need to take my word for it. I'm going to point you towards a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And the study found a strong association, strong association, between higher BMI, body mass index, and increased mortality. In the most extreme case, being very obese can cost you up to 13.5 years of your life. And even being just somewhat overweight, you can expect to lose 2 to 4 years of your life. So in short, you will live longer and have less disease if you keep a healthy body weight. Reason number 2: Quality of life. So it's not just about living longer, it's also about having a good life. And this is what someone like health expert Peter Attia would call healthspan. When you maintain a healthy body weight, you have less inflammation, better mobility, and general physical function. And this just means that it's easier to do day-to-day things. So things like just moving around, playing with your kids, picking heavy things up, putting heavy things above your head, etc. And at a healthy body weight, life just feels easier, better, and is more enjoyable. The third reason, and arguably this might be one of the most important, certainly I felt it in the last few years, is, and I'll use myself as an example, is mental health. Now, I used to weigh 220 pounds, and whilst I wasn't obese, I was kind of just overweight. And at that time of my life, my energy used to be all over the place, and I was regularly tired. I also struggled with a lot of self-esteem issues and anxiety. Today I'm 175 pounds and fairly lean with it, so about 45 pounds lighter. And one of the biggest surprises to me has been how much better I feel in myself. I have more energy, I'm more confident, I have more optimism, and I rarely have any anxiety anymore. And for me, this was actually probably the biggest and most obvious impact of being at a healthy body weight. I just feel a lot better mentally, and I'm more comfortable in my own skin. So I hope that makes it nice and clear why being at a healthy body weight is just so important. And before I jump into the how, I just want to quickly cover one more thing. I suspect some people might be listening to this and thinking that this doesn't really apply to me. I don't feel obese and I'm not obviously overweight. And I want to give you 2 statistics that I think will blow your mind. And they might even give you something to think about for your own situation. So the first statistic is that 2/3 of the adult population in the United States and at least half of the populations of many other developed countries are currently overweight or obese. Two-thirds. And the second statistic is that a 2018 study found that only 12% of American adults fully met the criteria for being in optimal metabolic health. And metabolic health was measured as having the 5 things at an optimal range. That was blood glucose levels, triglycerides, cholesterol, blood pressure, and weight circumference. So what that means is that nearly a whopping 88% of people are metabolically unhealthy, and they fail to be in the optimal range for at least one of those metrics. And I'll put the links to both of those studies in the show notes so that you can read further if you like. The reason I refer to these stats is to highlight just how the majority of people are indeed not at a healthy body weight, and they are likely— more likely to be metabolically unhealthy. Now, you don't have to be obviously very overweight or obese to find yourself at an unhealthy body weight. Like me when I was 220 pounds, you may just be carrying that extra bit of weight that you assume naturally happens as you get older. And if that is the case with you, the good news is that you can absolutely make a change that will give you some really big health, longevity, and mental health benefits from making that change. And in some cases, there may well be many years of extra life to be gained. So now that we understand why maintaining a healthy body weight is so important, let's talk about exactly how to do it. Now, the first thing you need to know is that you have to understand the principles of energy balance if you want to manipulate your body weight. And energy balance is essentially calories in versus calories out. Now, this is what determines whether we gain weight, maintain our weight, or if we lose weight. And I want to explain that just a little bit further. Calories in, i.e., energy intake, is essentially the calories that we take in every single day by eating foods and drinking liquids. Calories out, i.e., energy expenditure, is a number of calories that you might burn as a result of just being alive, moving around your day-to-day business, and any type of physical activity you do. And this is how simple it is. If your calories in and out are the same, you will maintain your body weight. So let's say, for example, you took 2,000 calories in via food and drink and you burned 2,000 calories by moving around day to day. You would maintain your body weight because 2,000 in, 2,000 out. Now, if your calories in are greater than your calories out, you are going to gain weight. So, for example, maybe you consume 2,500 calories via food and drink. But you only expend 2,000 via activity. Now, this is called being in a calorie surplus. And in this case, for example, it's a 500-calorie surplus. And this is going to cause you to gain weight. And lastly, if your calories in are less than your calories out, you will lose weight. So let's say you took 2,000 calories in via food and drink, but you happen to burn 2,500. That is what's being called— that is what is called a calorie deficit. And in this case, it would be a 500-calorie deficit. And in this example, you would lose weight. And it really is as simple as that. Now, I want to quickly address an argument that you might have heard before. Not all calories are equal. Now, whilst what I said about calories in and out and how that affects your weight is absolutely true, there is something important to understand about the argument that not all calories are equal. You can't just ignore the types of calories you consume. For example, if you consume all of your calories through processed foods and junk foods, you are going to struggle to achieve whatever goal you have for your weight. And that's what the people who are using this "not all calories are equal" argument are kind of getting at. Now, the problem is, is it's not because the calorie in versus out model is broken. That is absolutely still the most important thing. But of the calories you consume, there needs to be a reasonable amount of protein, and there needs to be a reasonable amount of whole foods in them. Now, why is this? Well, firstly, when you're trying to gain, maintain, or lose weight, protein is utterly necessary to help you either preserve, maintain, or gain muscle for those goals. And just to kind of give you a sense, for the most part, probably a gram per pound of body weight is what would be considered optimal amount of protein. Secondly, the body just operates way more efficiently on whole foods. So your overall health and metabolism is just going to be in a much better place, and that's going to help you achieve your body weight goal far more easily. And lastly, protein and the fiber that comes from whole foods is satiating. So you're going to find it a hell of a lot easier to regulate your appetite and to actually consistently hit your target calories in if you're prioritizing protein and you're eating whole foods. And look, here's a really clear example. Try and eat a big 4-egg whole food omelette. I can guarantee it's going to leave you feeling full for many hours. Now compare that to eating some biscuits and some chocolate of the same amount of calories. You're going to feel full at first, but soon after you're going to be ransacking the pantry for more of those types of foods and your calorie intake is going to be out of control. So whilst calories in versus out is the most important thing, you do need to pay attention to the quality of those calories. If you don't, not only will you fail to be consistent with eating your target calories, but you're just not giving your body the best chance to achieve whatever your bodyweight goal is. So in a way, both are actually true. Calories in versus calories out is absolutely the most important thing that you need to consider if you want to control your bodyweight. But you will fail if you don't keep an eye on the quality of those calories. You want to be eating a reasonable amount of protein and you want to be sticking to as many whole foods as you can. So I know that has been quite a lot and I want to give a bit of a recap and then I'll give a real-life example, which I think will make things even clearer. So the recap is this: you should want to achieve a healthy body weight because it will help you live a better and longer life. And the harsh reality is that more people are either overweight or obese than actually at a healthy body weight. And to achieve a healthy body weight, you need to get your calories in and out in a place where it supports your goal. So you need to be in a calorie surplus if you want to gain weight. You need to be in a calorie deficit if you want to lose weight, or you want to be eating the same amount of calories as you burn if you want to maintain your weight. And yes, you should be trying to keep protein high and you want to be eating mostly whole foods. So really the only left— the only thing left is to explain exactly how you put all of this into practice and to give a bit of a real-life example so it could sink in even more. So into practice. The first thing you need to do is you need to get to the point where you know what your maintenance rate is. Once you know your maintenance rate— well, sorry, once you know your maintenance rate, which is essentially how many calories you need to take in to maintain your body weight, well, that's going to put you in a position to then adjust things to support your body weight goal thereafter. Now, when I first started thinking about this episode, I had this kind of grand plan to explain in great detail how you could find your maintenance rate exactly. Now, the problem with this is that it requires you to track your— requires you to track your foods and activity in a very consistent and detailed way. And as I thought about this more, I realized that if you have not done this before, it's going to be very overwhelming. And actually, most people will either just not do it or they're going to find it really hard to do. So instead of that, I'm going to give you a more high-level, rough way of going about it, which will absolutely work. And then once you're into it, you can decide if you want to take things to the next level and get way more specific about it. So here's what you want to do. You're going to need to run a test for about 4 to 6 weeks. And to start with, don't change anything about what you eat or drink, i.e., the amount of calories that you're taking in. And also don't change anything about the way that you're being active, i.e., the amount of calories out. And here's what I want you to do. Once per week, weigh yourself and then record the number. And there's just one thing to remember. When you do weigh yourself, try and do it about the same time per week so that the number you can get would be a good comparison. For example, I always weigh myself first thing on a Monday morning before breakfast. Now you want to do that for about 4 to 6 weeks, as I said, and then look at those numbers. Now, if your weight hasn't changed much at all, then you're pretty nicely maintaining your weight at the moment. And you're maintaining your weight through how much you're eating and drinking, i.e., calories in, and how much activity you're doing, calories out. Regardless of what the specific number of calories in versus out is, you know that if you keep things roughly the same on both sides of the equation, you're going to stay at the weight that you're at. If then you want to lose weight, as an example, you're going to need to make a small adjustment to either reduce the amount of calories in, i.e., how much you're eating and drinking. So less of that. Or you're going to need to increase the calories out, i.e., activity. So you're going to want to do more activity. And actually you could do a bit of both if you wanted to as well. What this does is it puts you in a calorie deficit. And if you do that and continue to monitor your weight once per week, you should start to see your weight decrease. And if you keep doing that until it's— well, basically you keep doing that until it stops working. And when it does stop working, you just have to do the same again until you reach your target body weight. Likewise, let's say you want to gain weight. You just do the opposite. You have to either increase the amount of calories in, i.e., more eating and drinking, or you decrease the amount of calories out, why you need to reduce the amount of activity that you're doing. And again, if you do that and continue to monitor your weight once per week, you should start to see your weight slowly and consistently increase. And you keep doing that until it stops working. And when it stops working, you just adjust it again. Now, there's one last thing that I'll say about this. When you are running your maintenance test, or indeed maybe you're trying to maintain, lose, or gain weight, you want to try and keep your calories in and out around the same, not around the same exact number, but just sort of consistent. So if you're trying to take 2,500 in, let's say you're trying to burn 2,000 because you're trying to gain weight, you do kind of need to keep the level of activity and the food around the same so that you consistently stay in that surplus. And the reason— well, basically also remember that we're not meticulously tracking the exact number of calories in and out, right? Which was the overwhelming bit. So the hard bit about it is you kind of need to try and just do this by feel. And my best advice for this is to try and stick to the same type of eating and drinking patterns. So calories in and try and stick to the same level of physical activity, i.e., how much you're walking or how many times you're going to the gym. And if you can keep those two things consistent, then your energy balance will be fairly consistent and you achieve your goal. For example, let's say everything was really erratic and you're running a marathon one week and then you're mostly being sedentary the next week, or one week you're just wildly binge eating and the next week you're hardly trying to eat anything and you're fasting really aggressively. It's not just going to work because there's way too much change going on on either side of the equation. So whatever you decide to do, whether it be gain weight or lose weight or maintain your weight, and again, without knowing the number of calories exactly, Pick what you're going to do on both sides of those equations and try and keep it consistent over the course of the weeks because you will need to do that if you're going to achieve your goal. And then obviously, if you're not achieving your goal and you need to adjust, then you know you can either just add or minus something to either side of the equation. But again, if it's not consistent or it's always changing wildly, it's really hard to do. I want to wrap with an example of my own maintenance rate because I think that that will really help things sink in and make things a little bit clearer. And I'll use an example of my own maintenance rate and also how I use this to either gain or lose weight. So I know my maintenance rate based on how much, how physically active I am is 2,300 calories. Now I know my exact number, i.e., the sort of more complicated, overwhelming bit, because I went through a more detailed process of tracking my food intake, which— so I used an app to track my calories. And then also whilst at the same time I kept my levels of physio— physical activity extremely consistent. Um, it's basically the same type of test that we just talked about, but I was using real numbers for the calories in and I was being extremely meticulous on the amount of physical activity I was doing because I stick to a training program week in and week out and it's usually the same. And I'll describe that in a bit more detail. So my training program is I weight train 3 times a week, I do 2 hours of cardio and I walk 10K steps a day. Now, I know that when I did that and when I ate 2,300 calories, my weight stayed the same. And the reason I knew this is I literally did it for about 6 weeks. And during that time, my weight stayed very much the same. Again, I was eating 2,300 calories, which I knew exactly via tracking it via an app, and I was sticking to that exact same kind of exercise regime. And I guess I was kind of lucky that it stayed the same because it meant I didn't need to do any adjustment up or down to zone in and then do like trial and error stuff to find my maintenance rate. I kind of knew it fairly quickly. And then by knowing this, this is how I manipulate my body weight. So early in the year, I wanted to lose some weight for my summer holiday to Tenerife. And here's what I did. I simply ate 2,100 calories. So that's 200 less calories in. And then the other thing I did is I swapped out one of my 3 weight training sessions for a conditioning workout, which burned roughly 200 calories more in that workout. And 200 calories less in and 200 more calories out put me on a calorie— it didn't necessarily put me on a calorie deficit of 400 calories because that 200 calories extra that I burned was just 1 workout in a week. But it certainly put me on at least a 200 calorie deficit. And maybe a little bit more because I swapped that conditioning workout out. 200 divided by 7, I don't know, it's 20 or 30. So it might have been like a 230 or 240 calorie deficit. And look, what do you know? I consistently dropped my weight over an 8-week period and I lost about 10 pounds. So that's just over a pound per week. It dropped off quicker at the beginning, probably because I got close to my maintenance rate towards the end of the process. But overall, the result was exactly what I'd hoped for. Now that I'm back, I'm trying to slowly gain weight. So again, sticking to my normal activity, I got rid of the conditioning workout and I was back to 3 weight sessions, which meant I know that that was pretty much 2300 as a maintenance rate. I've now increased my calories to 2500, and what that should put me in is roughly a 200 calorie surplus based on my 2300 maintenance rate. And as a result, I am slowly putting on about a pound per week. Like I said, I'm tracking these things a much more precise way than the beginner way I described earlier. But the concept is exactly the same. You have to be able to know what it takes to maintain your weight when it comes to how many calories you're taking in, i.e., food and drink, and also how many you're expending, i.e., how physically active you are. And when you know that, you can simply adjust either of those to achieve any type of body weight goal. It's that straightforward. Now, I hope all of that is useful, and I hope that it puts you in a position to more easily reach and maintain a healthy body weight. And I also hope you know how important it is to do exactly that, because it will give you a longer and better quality life. So I think it's worth reflecting on where you are on a spectrum of needing to lose or gain weight. And from there, consider running a maintenance rate test to figure out how you can maintain your body weight. And then from there, regardless of whatever your goal is, you can then adjust it accordingly and you can either gain weight or lose weight depending on whatever your goal is. Look, I hope that has, has been useful for you and enjoy the process.