Why Eating LESS is Making You Fatter

Today I want to talk about how eating too little can make you fatter. And yes, you did hear that right. We all want to lose weight, we all want to burn fat and be at our ideal weight, but there is a better way to do it than starving yourself. And actually, it will harm you if you continue to do that, and I'll explain why. But I do want to also share with you how to speed up your metabolism and allow your body to burn way more calories even with increasing the calories that you eat. And we're also going to talk a little bit about the best exercises to allow your body to burn the most calories, the most fat, and get you in a healthier place. And so it's going to be an interesting talk because it goes against what a lot of people feel, which is, you know, to cut calories and to restrict yourself of enough food in order to be able to lose weight. And that's usually the only solution that a lot of people have, but I'm going to explain how is dramatically affecting not only your health, but your entire metabolism. And yes, you can find yourself getting fatter whether you know it or not, even if the scale is going down. All right, before we get going, I want to make sure that you please take a moment to subscribe to this podcast because I will continue to educate you and inspire you and get the tools and resources out to you to make you live your healthiest life. I am committed to it. I enjoy it, and I want to do it together, uh, with you. And so make sure that you just take a moment and do me that favor, because a lot of people will listen and watch the show and they still will not subscribe to this podcast. So thank you so much for that. Now I want to talk about how many people are losing weight but getting fatter, and I know that sounds a bit strange but it's actually the truth, and a lot of people are dealing with this. I just want to take a moment just to say, you know, a lot of people are really caught up in losing weight and what's my healthy weight, you know. And I often try to express this, but there is not a such thing as a healthy weight, more so than it is a healthy person. And you should not be chasing behind just a healthy weight. Now, there is an optimal weight that can add to someone's healthiness and quality of life, but I don't want you to think that it's all about just the scale. It's about your physiological makeup. It's about what the weight consists of. And so a lot of people are just blindly, you know, thinking that if they get on a scale and they lose weight, then they're in a better predicament. And I just want you to know That is not true at all. Now, we do all have different goals, and so yes, some people in their, you know, early days, they may want to compete, or they do body sculpting, and, you know, or they're an athlete. And so it does require some restrictions, and it does require, you know, just a tedious process. You know, if you're training for the Olympics, that's a different story, but Most of the time, that type of training leads someone to have a very strong metabolism. Their metabolism is quite efficient, and many times their mitochondria is also very efficient because they're young and they're athletic and their makeup is just different. But I'm speaking to those who understand at this point that health is a priority. Longevity is a priority. I want to be around for my grandkids. I want to be able to have a great experience in the last 10 years of my life. I want to be able to walk up and down the stairs and run around and have fun and not be tired and not be glued to a bed and don't have tired knees and can't walk up the driveway without breathing hard and, you know, uh, carry my own groceries. I want to be independent. And most people, that's what they want now, like You know, as you get older, and especially when you get over 40 years old, you're looking for quality of life. And I'm telling you, if you're looking for quality of life, this is for you, because I'm going to make sure that you understand the trap that is out there. And I know sometimes it's hard because everybody's doing it, and you may feel like that's the only way, or you may feel like the only time I've ever lost weight is when I restricted my calories. But at what expense? And that's what I want to talk about today, because there is a lot of expenses when it comes to cutting calories, and you are investing in a future that will not be an asset to you. It's going to be a liability. And so, uh, even now, you know, we have this, this movement of, you know, people wanting to take shots for weight loss. And I get it, you know, some people are really struggling. They feel like they have no other choice. And so, uh, this has been ongoing, you know. A lot of people have taken pills and, you know, just gone to extremes to be able to lose weight, but that's because the priority is centered around there. And I want to help to open up your eyes a bit to understanding what's at cost, you know, with this, and, uh, and, and introduce something else, you know, so that you can understand your body because Trust me, the people who are selling those pills or giving shots, they're not educating you on your physiological makeup. They're not helping you to understand how you're bypassing processes that your body is naturally designed to undergo. And for example, you know, the Ozempic shot, which I talked about before, um, it has been known to do some damage to some people's bodies. But a lot of people, quite frankly, they're getting the results And actually what I notice is when I talk to a lot of people who have taken it or who know someone who's taken it, a lot of times it doesn't make them healthier. It doesn't make them have better lifestyle habits. It actually makes them not have as healthy lifestyle habits because they're bypassing having to do any work to get, you know, what they think is results. And I guess they are if that's what their expectations are, but at the end of the day, they don't know what's happening with their gut and their digestive system and their brain and, you know, their other organs and their muscle mass. And so there needs to be an opposing force to really be able to sound the alarm and say, listen, if you're after health, this is not the way to go. And I'm going to tell you, it's actually going to do quite the opposite in the days ahead. And you may be getting quick results now, you know, you might be able to look good in a bikini, or, you know, you might be able to you know, lose a few pounds for whatever agenda you have. And fine if that's the case and it's very short-term, but what I can tell you is a lot of people wind up going back and forth and back and forth with a lot of these diets that restrict their calories and cause them to put their body in a position that's just not going to serve them in the future. And so, like I said, even with the Ozempic shot what it does is it reroutes human physiology, and it does not fix the problem. It bypasses the problem, and it trains the body actually to do some things that are not natural for the body. It's just like, you know, when I talk about dopamine levels, when you learn how to get a quick fix or get a release of your dopamine very fast without much effort. Like, for example, if someone has an addiction to some type of, you know, drug, a substance abuse, they're addicted to the reality that they can get a dopamine release really fast without doing much work because this drug does it for them, right? But then their brain is taking a record, it's keeping a report of the fact that this person didn't have to take long to release these delightful feelings that they're having through dopamine, which are neurotransmitters. And the brain starts to design a pattern that does not enable a person to have healthy habits that can get them that delightfulness. But it starts to reprogram the brain and rewire the brain to say, hey, you don't have to do much to get this feeling, right? And so you notice that people who have substance abuse problems, they wind up having a brain that takes them back in cycles to that particular drug, and they start to diminish their ability to actually have habits that can get them healthy outcomes, okay? So you'll find that they don't want to, you know, read or learn or, or work out, you know, or follow a plan, a lifestyle plan that would get them healthier outcomes, or go to school, or, you know, those things that actually take work, because their brain is programmed to feel good when they don't have to do any work. And I'm telling you, the body and the brain, it keeps a record of these things. And so if you are losing weight because of a quick solution like that, your body is going to keep a record of it. And when you come off of it, or when you're not eating restrictive, then your body is not going to be prepared to burn calories or to get rid of fat because it's learned how to shortcut the process by going straight to this stimulus or to a pill or to a shot or whatever. And so the body's not going to be equipped enough to burn that fat or lose the weight on its own. And then you're going to be in trouble unless you're committed to taking medicine for the rest of your life, taking shots for the rest of your life, taking pills for the rest of your life, and continue to be more and more restrictive because it gets harder and harder. And you actually have to start doing more and more restrictions in order to keep up. And so, um, think about it when you are dealing with maybe someone who would rather take a shot, you know, than to do the work. And I'm not, I'm not saying this in a way where I am judging anybody for this. I'm just making a point, you know, because like I said, people need help. And there is so much marketing out there that markets for people to get thinner and lose weight quick. And, you know, you got pictures of people who are showing their results. So it's everywhere. It's, it's, you know, it's social proof, and it's very hard to go against that grain. But it's causing some patterns in people that I don't think they're gonna understand when the time comes how they got there. And so I just want to educate. I'm not here to judge. I just want to educate people on what the process is. And so Ozempic, for example, which is a synthetic form of glucagon-like peptide, GLP-1, it does a lot of things. It's used as a hormone and it's synthetic, and there's so much of it that goes into the body, and then it bypasses the brain-gut barrier, which is again a system that is naturally, uh, supposed to take place within our bodies. And then, but when you bypass that, it's like And just to help you understand what that means, it's like if you, you know, take a shot that doesn't get digested and it just goes straight to your head, it goes straight through your veins and the effects of it happen right away. And that's what's so dangerous about getting needles in your vein, you know, drugs in your vein. Because it bypasses your digestive system, and your digestive system is a buffer to be able to filter out toxins and, you know, get rid of things or whatever. And so when you don't have that buffer, when you don't have that natural process, then things can really go wrong because there's no protective mechanism to follow a system that's in your body to protect you. I'll never forget when I had Benadryl. I had a Benadryl shot through my veins. I didn't even know you could take Benadryl at the time through your veins. I was real sick. I was— this was with one of my children. I can't remember if it was my second pregnancy or my third, but I was really sick and they were giving me something to kind of make me drowsy and they gave me Benadryl. Now everybody knows if you take Benadryl through your mouth, you still get tired. But when I got it through my vein, I mean, that felt like a real drug. Like, it, it was a different feeling. I felt high. Like, it gave me a feeling of high, you know. So, and that's because it went straight into my bloodstream, you know. It didn't bypass any process or anything. So it's much more potent when that happens. And so, like I say, these shots, they bypass a process that's in place between the brain and the gut.. And when you do that, you train the body in a different way. And so, and it's used as a hormone. And you got to understand that GLP-1, they have receptors in the brain, the gut, the kidney, the heart. And so you don't know actually what's going to happen to those organs eventually if, if you keep taking it. Like, those organs may actually suffer at some point, but it's going to take some time for you to figure it out. We already know that it causes gut paralysis, so it affects the digestive system. And we also know that it lowers heart rate variability. So you have this particular shot that makes you lose weight, but it destroys the body in the process. Okay, it bypasses a human physiological structure in place. It could— it affects the gut and cause digestive problems. And then it also makes you lose muscle mass, and it takes the body through starvation. Because if you hear anybody who talk about it, they'll say that they're not hungry. So that means that the body is going through starvation. And if the body is going through starvation, then that means you're not eating as much. And if you're not eating as much, then that means that you're cutting calories, right? But let me go through 5 different problems that happen when you cut calories. And yes, a person may lose weight, but they're also finding that these people are not just losing fat, right? They're losing muscle. And I understand this because one time I, I would weigh myself often, and I remember taking my fat percentage. And I took my fat percentage, and let's just say it was like at 21%, right? And so I remember losing weight, and maybe about a week or two later, uh, maybe about 2 or 3 weeks actually, and then I weighed myself again and I had lost weight. And so I was like, oh, I wonder what my fat percentage is, did I lose fat? And I remember checking the machine, and let's say I was like 23.7, and I was like, huh? Like, how did I wind up with 23.7% fat when I just lost like 6 pounds or something? And before I had like 21%. I've seen this for myself. And what happened was I got fatter even though I lost 5 pounds. I was fatter because I had a higher fat percentage. You see, when you cut calories, if you lose muscle— which I'm going to explain that you do lose muscle when you cut calories— then if you're 200 pounds and you have, you know, so much of that weight going towards, you know, fat and, and some of it going towards muscle, and then you lose the muscle and you go down 10 pounds to 190, if you lost those pounds in muscle, then your fat percentage actually increases because now you have the same fat percentage of a smaller amount of 190 instead of 200 because you lost muscle. And so now the percentage actually goes up, not down, when you lose muscle. And sometimes the same is true when you lose a little bit of fat and muscle. If you're losing muscle in the process, you can wind up having actually a higher fat percentage because the weight weight went down, and now the fat percentage is going to go up because you have less muscle in your body now. And so the majority then of your weight is going to be towards the fat, and so that's going to increase the percentage. Okay, it's just that simple, right? Even if you do the math, you know, like when I lost the 5 pounds, my percentage went up. That's because I lost muscle. And so now I'm a smaller weight, and so the amount of fat that is in my body, whatever that weight is, the percentage has increased because my weight has decreased. If it has— if it stayed the same and I just lost muscle. And so that's obviously what happened when I saw the percentage go up. It's like I knew that I must have lost muscle because my fat percentage went up. And now, like, the percentage of my body is more fat because less muscle is there. And so when you cut calories, number one, you lose muscle, all right, because your body is adapting to the calories that you're putting in your body and it's becoming more efficient, which you don't want it to be. Because when it becomes more efficient, then the body turns into, we need to slow down the metabolism and we need to preserve the fuel that you're giving your body because you're not giving it much. And so it's a survival mechanism. When you starve yourself, your body is going to slow down your metabolism. Now, maybe that's okay for somebody who's not gonna eventually eat a little bit more But even with that, it's still going to cause some problems. It can cause a lot of other problems in addition to that. And so your body's going to adjust to that, and it's going to become more efficient, and it's going to say, okay, this body isn't getting enough calories, so let's make sure that we preserve what we have. And then your metabolism is going to slow down. Okay, so number one, you're going to lose muscle when you eat when you're not eating enough calories. And then number 2, your metabolism is going to slow down, okay? And yes, you may lose weight, but a lot of times that's muscle weight that's coming off of the body. And actually, even with the Ozempic shot, they tested people's bodies to see, and for sure it's muscle coming off. For those who tested, it's not just weight, you're losing muscle. This is not going to be good for the future, and that's what I want to explain why., and I want to help you to reboot your body back, right? And so when you slow down your metabolism, when you decide to start eating normal again, you done lost the weight, which is muscle. You done slowed your metabolism down, and now you might think, okay, let me go back to eating the same. Uh-uh, you can't do that because your metabolism has now adjusted to becoming slower. You, you made it efficient, more efficient, right? And you want to make it less efficient. Actually, you want your body to burn more calories, but you made it more efficient because you put your body in a situation where you're causing a bit of stress to the body, and the body will go into protection mode. And there's a whole system that, uh, is in play when your body is going into this particular design. And so when you do decide to eat again, or Worse, binge, like, oh, I'm gonna eat a lot now because I done lost this weight, I'm good to go. Or if you are losing the weight and you're restricting the calories but you go back and forth into restriction and binging, whatever that looks like, the third problem you're going to have is you're going to now increase your fat cells. The number of fat cells doesn't matter about your weight. We're not talking about weight here, we're talking about your body and your physiological design. So now, even if your weight went down because of muscle, you are now having to deal with a slow metabolism. And then when you eat more, or when you binge like a lot of people do when they yo-yo, you're now stretching out, you're now creating more, more— look at fat cells as bubbles, blowing more bubbles, more, more bubbles into your body, right? More fat cells that you're not going to be able to get rid of pretty much by the weight. So now when it's time to lose weight again, or when you get to that point where you want to start restricting again, it's harder. Why? Because you have more fat cells to deal with. You have a— now a bigger army, a bigger resistance to deal with. And so that becomes the problem. Now what we really want you to do, and I'm going to name a few more issues with that, and then I'm going to help you to know exactly how can I speed up my metabolism. I want to direct you in the right place. And I'm tell— telling you this works. And even the most professional people, whether they're coaches or whatever, have gone through this where they thought that this was the route to go, restrict calories, and found out that they gained more fat and that they lost muscle. You do not want to lose muscle. You can actually have two different people at the same exact weight. So you have two people at 180, you can cause there to be a metabolic adaptation that happens where one person who's 180 pounds can burn, you know, way more calories, let's say 1,000 more calories than the other person at the same weight. So what I want you to know is that at this weight, you can actually get your body to start burning more calories. That's what you want to do. Because when we talk about, okay, I don't want to eat too many calories, I don't want to eat, you know, more calories— more calories than what? Less calories than what? You know, you don't want to eat more calories than what? More calories than your body is burning. But what happens when your body can burn more calories? Then you can eat more and still burn the same amount, if not more. So you can have two people where one person has to eat a very restricted diet in order to maintain their weight, where the other person can eat a thousand more calories and not only maintain their weight, they can lose weight because they're setting things up very differently that I want to discuss. Not only that, you could have two people at the same weight, okay, two people at the same exact weight. One of them look different because if you have more muscle mass, then your body shape is going to be very differently. Because when we're saying like, okay, two people 170, when we're saying that 170, how much of that is fat, how much of that is muscle? Somebody who's 170 who's full of lean muscle is going to look very different from someone else who has 40% body fat. Total different look, total different metabolism engine, burning different amounts of calories, different amounts of energy levels, different amount of strength, different joints. If they got more muscle mass, probably a better immune system, a better buffer. Better metabolism. Okay, there's a thermogenic effect when you have more muscle mass. And if you are doing things to lose your muscle mass, you are losing weight, but you're becoming unhealthier. And that's what you need to know. You don't want to do that, and you don't have to do that. Now, I'm not saying that there aren't times where people do decide to restrict calories, but I really believe that that needs to be the aftermath of things. That needs to be after they have adjusted their metabolism and learned how to make their body become, um, less efficient on a metabolic level, in a sense of like their body is able to burn way more calories, like their metabolism isn't adjusting. That's an efficient running metabolism when it's adjusting. You don't want it to adjust. You want it to keep burning fat, keep the fuel going, keep the fire going, right? And by the way, I'm gonna hit on this: when you do cardio in addition to not eating as many calories, it makes it worse. It makes it worse. So if you eat less and then you do more cardio, you're gonna lose even more muscle mass. I got something real special for you because if you are a cardio person, I'm gonna tell you the truth about it, and I'm gonna tell you the best cardio that you should be doing that can assist with all of this and the type of exercises that will create the best situation for your health, your longevity, your metabolism, your energy, your hormones, your, you know, immune system, your joints, your inflammation. We're gonna deal with it because you need to understand your body is designed to do some amazing things, and you can just put your body in a position to do it. And you don't have to be restrictive because you're going to have a hard, hard time throughout life if you continue with these restrictive diets. You need to get your body to start to speed up your metabolism and start to burn fat. And you need to get your body to be in a predicament to build muscle. And so the fourth thing is, when you have a loss of muscle because of restriction of calories and you have more, uh, fat cells, and then you have a slower metabolism, what you're going to wind up having is less energy. And so you would think that when sometimes people lose weight that they have more energy. But a lot of times when people lose weight, when it's muscle that they've lost, even if they don't know it, they start to get tired. They don't have as much energy and they don't really understand why. There's still a lot of people who have some energy issues even though they're losing weight. And it's because you're going to lose energy because your hormones are going to be affected when you starve yourself basically, and you put your body into that position, your body's going to do some things again to protect itself because your body is very smart. And yes, if you were somewhere, you know, in the woods or somewhere stranded, you actually want your body to do that because you don't maybe know when the next time you're going to eat or something. And so it is good if you're in the right situation You know, that's why I love the, the topic of just bio-individuality, because everybody is in different situations. And the question is, what is your goal? Again, is your goal to just lose weight to get into an outfit? That's what you're prioritizing? Fine, then you're gonna get it. You'll be able to get into whatever it is that you want to get into it. Now, will you compromise your body and your health and your heart rate variability and your muscle mass and your energy and your hormones and, you know, uh, your future, your longevity, your ability to anti-age, you know, your growth hormone. Yes, you will. Your gut health, your digestive system. Yes, you will compromise that in the future because what you're doing is you're taking from your future to get what you need today. And that's really what a lot of people are doing, is that, you know, they are doing whatever can accommodate right now, and they're not thinking about the long game. So if someone's like, oh, I only get 3 hours of sleep because I got to get up and, you know, but I feel fine— you feel fine now because you're taking time from your future to bring it to today so that you can survive another day. But I guarantee you, you're going to break down. Your body's going to break down. It's only so much that your body can take. It's so— only so much you can keep overextending your foot on the engine and it not eventually break down. It might be okay today, one more day, fine, but you are taking away from your future in order to sustain and survive today. And I want to teach you how to extend your life and to anti-age, not to shorten your life. You're going to shorten your life if you take away your muscle mass. It's just that simple. The data is there, the statistics is there. Doctors know that muscle mass is important, but they're not going to explain to you all of this. And so I just want you to see it that way, that you can have your goal, and if that's your priority, fine. But if your priority is health, then I think you should maybe reroute the direction that you may be taking if you are one of those people who are like, I only want to do 1,200 calories, I want to, you know, cut calories. And remember when I said your brain pays attention and picks up on the information? And so there's a lot of people who restrict their calories and they don't learn how to eat. Why? Because all they're looking at is calories. They're not looking at the actual food that they put in their body and what kind of physiological changes and hormonal and biological changes are taking place in their brain and their body because they're worried about the calories and they're worried about the scale. And I'm not saying that, you know, you shouldn't worry about the scale, and I'm not saying that, you know, having a lot of fat on your body is, is good. But what I can say is what's worse than too much fat on your body is too little muscle on your body. So instead of worrying about losing you know, more fat, I think you should worry about gaining more muscle. Because guess what? When you gain more muscle, you will lose more fat. That's the priority, and that's the way you have to look at it. And a lot of people look at it as, if I lose weight, I'll be fine. If I lose weight, my health is going to be okay. And that's not true. If you gain muscle, you're going to be in a better predicament to do everything that you need to do. So you have to reprioritize if you're thinking about health and longevity. So there is a difference. It's all about the goals that you have. So if you are a bodybuilder and you're looking to get so many calories in a day because you got to compete or whatever, and it's part of your goal to get this many calories in, you should make sure that you stop eating, you know, 3 hours before bed, which is a great principle. And there's a lot of reasons why, because what happens with the rhythm of your body when you eat too late and then lay down and go scared, right? Just like somebody who has too much light in their eyes, you know, late at night or in the middle of the night, there's a rhythm that gets interrupted, right? And so that is true, but if this person's goal is, I need to get this many calories in a day, then they might decide to overlook that principle, which is cool for the moment because it's all about what your goals are. And so they might say, you know, like, no, I know that I'll be in bed in the next, you know, 2 hours, but I need to eat because I'm competing. So then they choose that route, okay? Where somebody else might say, you know what, no, I, um, I'm, I'm not going to eat right now because I don't want to mess with the flow of my blood sugar levels tomorrow, my ability to sleep and stay asleep. And, you know, because too much blood sugar can wake you up a little bit more, have you going to the bathroom and stuff like that. And so they may say, my priority is just, you know, getting a full night's rest, balancing my blood sugar levels, and being restored, you know, and allowing my parasympathetic system to help me recover better. So I'll make up the calories tomorrow. Okay, so it's always about what goals you have, and I'm giving you this paradigm for those who have the goals of which I mentioned, which is for longevity and for your health and the experience of life and anti-aging and reducing inflammation and stabilizing even blood sugar levels and being able to have a more efficient way for your body to utilize glucose and, you know, to get stronger and to, um, increase your metabolism to be able to burn more fat, you know, to live longer and to activate hormones that can help your body to burn fat and help you to have a better mood, help your brain capacity and your mental capacity, um, all of those great amazing things. And so yes, uh, this is, this is for those who have that agenda, which, you know, is a great agenda, you know, to make sure that your health is being prioritized, all right? Because you want to be a healthy person, not just have what you think is a healthy weight. Some people are underweight, some people are overweight, Weight is, you know, it's a complex thing, you know, because it's not just about the weight. It's about a lot of other pieces of information that needs to be explained that's in context to the weight. Okay, um, and then the fifth thing that goes wrong is you wind up— when you restrict calories, is you have nutritional deficiencies. There's no way for you to get a lot of the nutrients that you need. And what happens is you eat less of the, uh, essential foods that you need to eat in your diet. And especially when we're talking about protein and enough healthy fat. And a lot of times when you don't get these essential nutrients, you have other problems like your anxiety increases, your, um, risk for depression begins to increase, your mental illness can increase, and also you just not functioning, you know, optimally, and your hormones are not functioning optimally. And so when that happens, your, your body is in a bit of chaos. And yes, I did mention mental illness because mental illness is known to now be a metabolic problem. Um, and so a lot of people think it's genetic, but it's more about epigenetics which can be rerouted and changed. And so it's not something that is fixed, not something that's permanent, but you can change your gene expressions. And so, yes, when people have metabolic problems, like they're under eating, or they're going through, you know, starvation, or their body is, you know, processing like starvation, because that's how you actually lose the weight is that the body goes into that starvation um, period. And you do wind up losing the weight, but like I said, it's, it's a lot of muscle mass. And your body starts to release things and do things and have a chemical reaction that helps you to cope with this situation. And it's really looking at your body like, okay, this person is super stressed, they're not getting enough nutrients, they're not getting enough food, not getting enough protein and fat. Like, what can we do to save this person? So your body is trying to save you now, and in the process of trying to save you, it's doing some things that's not designed to really help your actual health. But it would be really good if, like I said, you needed this help. If you don't need this help because you're not really starving and you're not really somewhere stranded on an island where you can't get to food, then there's no reason to put your body in this predicament. I would want my body in the predicament if I was stranded. So if I'm stranded, there's a different goal. I need this food to be preserved so I don't, you know, die. But you're putting your body in a situation and you're not dying, you're not somewhere where you can't have access to food. And as a matter of fact, there's so much access to food and bad food that when you're— when you wind up coming off of this restriction, you're not setting yourself up for something good because your body now has slowed down and now you want food and your body's not doing the right thing with it. So we have to start prioritizing nutrition and a healthy life over just trying to lose weight, you know, like I know you want to look good, but I promise you, if you gain some muscle, even with the same weight, if you gained muscle mass, you would look better even at the same weight. And that's okay because you want to actually start there. You want to just start with building muscle because you, you're gonna tighten up. You're gonna tighten up. You look good in your clothes. You know, you may not lose weight right away but you're setting yourself up for a better future. And I know everybody wants something real quick, you know, they want to just lose weight real quick. The slower you lose it, the better. As a matter of fact, like, when you're losing 10 pounds in 2 weeks, that's not good. Your body's not adapting to a natural process, and you want your body to adapt to a natural process. And I know if you lose 10 pounds, you know, in a couple of weeks, you're doing something restrictive that's probably cutting calories and, you know, the 10 pounds will first, you know, you're going to probably lose some water weight a little bit. And then, you know, like I said, you're going to start burning into your muscle because that's what your body's going to do to survive. And so how can you speed up your metabolism? I want to talk about that and give you 4 strategies to increase your metabolism and give you the best exercises you can do and this is going to be so amazing for your life. Trust me, you are going to look good and feel good, and man, like, you can thank me later. Okay, let's, let's get into the first one, uh, when we talk about speeding up metabolism and, you know, becoming, I would say, less efficient with your metabolism, like making sure that it doesn't adjust and it doesn't slow down. All right, you can actually honestly speed your metabolism up at the same weight to burn— like, even if you were burning 150 extra calories a day, do you know, like, how that could equal eventually over time, like, 10, 20, 30 pounds? Like, it could be like your body is burning an extra so many calories, like almost walking 40 minutes a day. Like you, like you're doing nothing, but it's like you're walking an extra 40 to 50 minutes a day and you at the same weight and you can just speed your, your metabolism up. And number one, of course, the best way to do this is muscle building. Now, um, resistance training is an investment. Because everybody runs to the cardio because they see, oh, I can burn more calories right now. And I'll explain that in a moment. But if you can start to build muscle, and I'll tell you how to best do that and save you some time, um, you are, you are going to boost your metabolism and you're investing in the future. Like, like when people are trying to like do cardio right now and lose weight right now, that's for now, but muscle building is a future investment. It's getting your money to make more money. It's, it's, it's that investment there. And, and that's for those who are being intentional about longevity and just can be patient with the process, because you're changing chemicals and hormones and you're changing everything about you. But once you get there, oh man, trust me, you won't feel like, you know, every time I, you know, eat the wrong thing, I feel like I gained 5 pounds. That's, that's a That's a dysfunctional metabolism. You shouldn't feel like that. And I'm not encouraging you to eat bad processed food and things like that, but let's be real, people eat regular food, you know, they eat processed food, they eat pizza. And, and then some people like, oh, I, I went on a vacation and, you know, gained 7 pounds. How'd you gain 7 pounds from a vacation? That's a lot of pounds to gain from a vacation. You should not be gaining 7 pounds from a vacation unless you have a metabolism that is not well. If you had a good metabolism, you would be able to actually get away with some of that stuff a little bit more. And I'm not saying that you should do, you know, bad eating, or, you know, um, I guess what you call a cheat day or whatever. You know, I prefer that if you just have a lifestyle and principles and a framework that you go by, and, you know, if you just have an off day, then fine, that's part of life. You know, than actually planning for cheat days. But I'm not saying that if you do have your cheat days and you go on vacation, that's a bad thing. I'm just saying that you often know when someone has an off metabolism because they have a couple of days of bad eating and then it gets to them. You should have a metabolism that continues to burn a lot of calories even when you eat bad. And even on those days, you know, if you do want to, you know, walk a little bit more or whatever, or move a little bit more, that's fine too. But you want to get your body there because it's a buffer, okay? Having muscles is a buffer. And I always say this, even if you're sick, even if you have a bad habit, even if you, you know, you have— you're diabetic, or you smoke cigarettes, or, you know, you have some kind of health limitation, having more muscle mass will help you to get out of that situation better and protect you from that bad habit much better. So that becomes a thing, like, even if you want to burn fat, having more muscle will help you to burn more fat. So if I'm sitting down and somebody else is sitting down and don't have as much muscle mass as I do, even just sitting here doing nothing, I'll burn more calories than their body will. So having more muscles is a buffer to your life, even when you have bad habits and you have some things that you have to overcome. And that's why this is important, because it is an investment. Now, the best exercise— and I'll go into 3 more other strategies that can help to assist with this— but the best type of exercise you can do to build muscle and boost your metabolism is compound exercises. And what I mean by that is, I mean like a barbell bench press, a barbell squat, barbell row, a deadlift, a overhead press, which they call a military press. Those are compound movements and compound exercises. And those are exercises that doesn't just work one muscle, but it works several different muscles. Okay. So if you think about it like a squat, which I hope everyone does because it is such an amazing exercise, compound exercise to do is a barbell squat, or you can do them with dumbbells. But for example, you would have to do like 5 or 6 different exercises to get everything that a squat would give you. With a squat, you are, uh, you're, you're building muscles in your calf, you're building your hamstring, your quad, your upper back, your lower back, your core. And so you're building all these different muscles, you're utilizing all these different muscles at once. And so that's why it's really good to do exercises that are compound exercises, which help with making sure that other muscles are being utilized, right? And so that is always a preference. Um, and, and basically what happens when you do those type of exercises, you signal your body to start building muscle. So your body's not building muscle right then and there, your body is signaling that you're going to build muscle. And actually, your body starts to build muscle when you rest. But it's, it's a great signal when you're doing these compound exercises, and they demand more energy. So you're going to get more calories burned with compound exercises like this also. And so it helps you to, you know, also get strong. And really, that's what you want to do. You want to get strong and you want to get good at it. And I promise you that if you start to do some of these compound exercises, you're going to see a huge difference. Now, there's nothing wrong with other resistance trainings. Uh, there's nothing wrong with other types of muscles that you can target, you know, uh, but you really want to get these compound exercises established first, and then you can start isolating some of your muscles. You know, of course, yes, we need the rotations, uh, the rotational exercises and things like that, because honestly, you'll have a lot of bodybuilders and people who are really good at getting strong, and then they do something super simple, like they bend over and pick something up, and then they got a slipped disc, or they pull something, or, you know. And I've had that happen a lot, and that's just from not doing, honestly, enough exercises that create rotation and, uh, an elongation of the muscles. You know, you, you want to be able to stretch really good, you know. So there's some other things that can help you to, uh, fortify yourself and make sure that you're, you know, not having so many injuries and you're keeping a good balance and things like that. And so, uh, and, and you're, you're stabilized, you know. So, and that's an important factor. And so sometimes people will notice that they can lift really heavy weights, but then if you get them to do a Pilates move or you get them to do a yoga stretch their muscles are somehow weak and they can't even hold a pose even though they're lifting, you know, hundreds of pounds. And so you want to get into all of that stuff eventually, but it's just good to start there. This is just a great place to start with doing compound exercising. And if you can't do that, you know, start with some resistance bands, you know, um, anything is good, you know, when it comes to resistance training. So, uh, that That's something that you can do. And it also— let me just, let me share with you a few other compound exercises. Um, so like, for example, if you're going to the gym, you have the leg press. That's a compound exercise. You're gonna, uh, you're gonna work out your quads, you're going to work out your calves, your glutes, your hip flexors. And so, um, also things like pull-ups and dips, they're going to work, you know, different areas of your body. I'll never forget, you know, I had stomach surgery. And I didn't realize I used to always do pull-ups and I still do them now. I love pull-ups because think about it, like even bicep pull-ups, you know, I could take a dumbbell and I could start doing some curls. And yeah, you know, I work my bicep. But when you get on a— when you hang down and you're pulling up like that, you're not just working your biceps. I mean, you working, you know, your shoulders and your back and this and your core. And that's when I realized that you have to use your core for a pull-up. I didn't even realize that, you know, I was just thinking upper body. Body. I was younger. And, and I remember I was training after the surgery, but it was like some time had went past, you know, like, maybe about 3 months or so. And I was bench pressing, and I was bench pressing really, really good. But I remember, I went to go do a pull-up. And, you know, I'm thinking my arms are strong, I'm able to do bench pressing, you know. And I guess with bench pressing, you're not using as much your core, you know, you're using your your upper body, your pecs, you know, your triceps, you know, your back, your shoulders. But I went to do a pull-up and could not do it because my stomach muscles were not where they needed to be. They just weren't healed yet, and I just couldn't do it. So I needed some assistance. And you can get some assistance when you're doing pull-ups. It's a great exercise, but I tend to do that exercise for my biceps instead of bicep curls. I do do bicep curls, but You know, it's again, it's an isolated muscle. I would prefer to do pull-ups, and I would prefer to, you know, do things even with the pull-ups to make it a little harder, like leaning back just a little bit, you know, putting more pressure on my, uh, on my biceps. And I like to come all the way down and stretch, you know, come down slow, because when you're, when you're, when you're doing that movement where you're coming down from the barbell, from the, uh, if you're hanging, that movement right there is what really makes you strong. And so I come all the way and I stretch that muscle all the way, and then I pull back, I pull back up. And so if you are able to get to a gym where you can get some assistance with those type of exercises, uh, then make sure you do that. And make sure, like I said, when you're utilizing the muscle Uh, it's the eccentric mode and you're coming down, or you know, that, that you're— I'm trying to think of an exercise that would be good. Yeah, just a pull-up and you're coming down. That's the eccentric mode. When you're doing a bicep curl, just make sure that you're stretching that muscle all the way out. That is an eccentric mode and that helps to build muscle. All right, uh, so those are a few things, you know, just making sure you have that push-pull movement. And like I said, a lot of people need some assistance. That's totally fine. Uh, other bodyweight exercises like push-ups work really good because they work different parts of the muscle. So I love push-ups. I love, you know, those type of bodyweight exercises that, um, that are really, really good for different muscles in the body. But compound exercises. All right, at number 2, I want to say to make sure that you prioritize protein. Okay, so a lot of times when people are, you know, trying to eat or hit their calories or whatever that looks like, you know, if you, if, if you wind up snacking too much throughout the day, you know, once you hit your calorie take and you're like, well, I can't eat any more food, most of the time people don't have enough protein in their diet. Like, and it's really hard to get protein. Like, it's really hard to, to, to meet the requirements that your body needs for protein. Usually 0.6 to, uh, 1 gram per body weight, per pound. And, uh, more like 1 gram, that, that would be great to get on the upper of the upper number for that to make sure that you can build muscle. But most people don't get enough protein, and it's very, very hard. I mean, it's, it's difficult to get enough protein. In your diet. But you don't, you don't want to be, you know, snacking on a lot of stuff and you still haven't gotten your protein in, because you're not going to be able to build muscle without it if you don't have enough. Like, you can't build tissue if you don't have the essential nutrients that you need to build it, okay? So what I would say do is just eat protein first with every meal, prioritize it. And if you are going to snack on something, snack on protein. You know, maybe a protein shake. Use, you know, supplements or whatever. And when I say supplements, I mean like powdered supplements for protein. And, um, yeah, like, like shakes or something to help to get your protein in. You know, eat on beef jerky and things like that, grass-fed beef jerky. I, I find myself snacking on that all the time. I give it to my, my kids, they love it. But it's, it's much healthier to snack on protein, and, and protein will give you that satiation. It'll give you that feeling of, I feel satisfied. And so just make sure that you are prioritizing, because you don't want to go through all your calories and then you're like, oh, I can't eat anymore, you know, because I'm, I'm going way over the calories that I need. Prioritize protein and get enough protein in. And don't feel like you can overeat on protein, because there's a lot of people out there that'll discourage you from protein, and they'll say you're getting, you're getting too much protein, or stay away from you know, protein. It's, it's not the case. It's so hard to overdo it on protein. Most people are not getting enough protein. Even when you try everything that you can, you still fall short. I know I do. You know, it's a lot of days that I don't get enough protein and I need it. And so it's, it's really hard even when you are trying. So trust me, you're not going to overdo it. Prioritize it as much as you can. And then, uh, number 3 is use cardio for health and not for burning calories. Why do I say this? You know, a lot of people use cardio for burning calories, and I get it. You, you get on a, you know, on a treadmill or something, and you know, you go running or whatever, and you burn a lot of calories. Yeah, that's going to happen at first, and then your body's gonna signal— remember, your body takes a record of everything— your body's going to signal, okay, this person doesn't want to build muscle, this person wants endurance. We're going to slow down the metabolism because we're going to become efficient. We're not going to burn as many calories because this person is signaling that this is what they're after, which is the, uh, the endurance part. And so what happens with that is that now you'll find yourself having a slower metabolism because remember what I said is that even when you're restricting calories and then you do cardio, it makes it worse. You'll have a slower metabolism and then now you find yourself having to do more and more cardio to keep up. So you're having to work just as hard, if not harder, just to burn the same amount of calories, maybe less. You're going to keep working harder to burn the same amount, and when you can't keep up and work harder, you're going to start to, uh, cap off and you can't burn as many. And so it's, it's just, it's a trap, it's a cycle that a lot of people are in. And even look at like people who do like long-distance running and biking and things like that. You know, outside of really prioritizing and trying to load up on protein and weightlifting, you can find a lot of them, they're really, really thin, and, and you see their bodies are not making muscle. They're very, very thin. Um, some of them have lean mass, yes, but you can tell, like, you can tell that they're just really thin. And the only reason why they stay thin obviously is because they run those type of long distance, you know, races, and, and they do a lot of cardio. They have to keep doing that. But I don't know what would happen if they stopped like their metabolism is, um, it might be quite kind of interesting even to see, but a lot of them just have to keep doing it. They just do it as long as they can. Like, you'll find even, you know, at older ages, just running, running, running. But is that what you want to keep doing, you know? Because if, if that makes somebody's life happy, I want to say, by the way, and this is a side note, then do it. If this is a part of your experience and you love it, like no matter what weight you're at, this is what you're going to do because you find enjoyment in life by doing it, then don't stop just for this. Like, you want to enjoy life. Like, I love running, knees bad and all sometimes, you know, just from running a lot. And, you know, I find myself— it's hard. It's hard to stop even when I need to stop, you know. But I don't, I don't prioritize running. I just, I do it for enjoyment. It's just so refreshing to me. Especially if I get out in the sun, you know, I just, I absolutely just enjoy it. And I enjoy biking and, you know, in the sun and in the trails and nature and things like that. So I'm not going to stop it and say, you know, there's too much cardio. No, I enjoy it. So I'm not saying it from that perspective. I'm saying it from, I'm doing it for enjoyment and for health reasons, not because I'm trying to jump on a treadmill or a bike. And, you know, burn a lot of calories because I know I'm going to get caught in a rat race doing that. And I'm going to have to you know, run more and more and more, my body's going to signal, you know, to me that, you know, burning all these calories on cardio, and your body's going to get efficient in it, and it's going to start to pull back and adapt to what you're doing, and you're just going to have to do more and more of it. The opposite is true when you're lifting weights though. The good thing is that when you're lifting weights, you're training your body to build muscle. And so a lot of times, even when you're not building muscle, your body can still be signaled to do it. Or if you stop for a period of time and then you start back, your body has this muscle memory, like there's a, there's a memory there. And so it actually works quite the opposite when you're doing resistance training. All right, and so just be careful about the cardio because eventually it will slow down the metabolism if that's what you're prioritizing. Cardio is cool, you know, but you want to prioritize, uh, muscle building if you're trying to boost metabolism. Remember, you want to prioritize muscle building and then cardio is on the side. And to me, the best cardio that you can do to assist with this is walking. Walking is it. Walking is it because it is relaxing, it's recovery, it is not hard on the joints. It is a level of cardio, it's movement that you need to have throughout the day and throughout your life, and movement means everything. And your body will not stress out on all the hormones that gets released when you do too much cardio. Um, so walking is the exercise to capitalize on. And if you like other things and running and all of that, that's fine too. I love Zone 2 training. There's some research that shows how much of Zone 2 you should be getting a week, and so I love it, uh, 150 minutes a week is really good of zone 2. But zone 2 still is a quite relaxing zone. You know, you can still talk and, you know, still jog and, or whatever, or walk fast, a brisk walk or whatever that looks like. But just be careful on doing nothing but cardio and not weightlifting. I see a lot of people do that and it's just not going to be good for them, right? And then the last thing is just getting sleep. Let me tell you, Like, this is the thing that would destroy everything. You could do everything I said right, everything I said to a T, or you could just do everything right just in general, like, and you could still not get results. And a lot of times it's like, you know, I'll hear people say, I barely eat, I, you know, or I'm doing the right thing and I'm not, you know, losing any weight. Well, how much sleep are you getting? Oh, my sleep is bad. I wake up all throughout the night. I can't go back to sleep. I'm only getting a couple of hours here and there, and it's like, that's it. Because it's one thing to have acute stress, and that's like real-time stress that we have to deal with and we could get through that. But if you have sleep deprivation and you have sleep problems, you're going to wind up with chronic stress. And again, you're— with chronic stress, your body goes into survival mode. That's the whole point. You know what I mean? Usually, you know, back in the day, chronic stress was about people having to be in the woods somewhere or not being able to have access to food and stuff like that. And so the body, remember, goes into protective mode to keep it, you know, in survival. And so what happens is with chronic stress, the body gets like chaotic. You got hormones that get released that add fat to the body, like cortisol, to protect you, to give you that temporary energy. But then it stores fat. And then you have a decrease in other hormones like testosterone and the growth hormone. Those are hormones that help the body to burn fat, but you get a decrease of that. And so that winds up being a bad process. And so you want to make sure, like, that you slow down at times, that you recover, that you rest. Even with building muscle, like, it happens when you are resting. It happens when you are sleeping, you know. So you could, like I say, have all the pieces of this puzzle together and you mess your sleep up, you can mess a lot of stuff up. I tell even those who are dealing with diabetes, who, uh, you know, some of my clients who I'm helping to reverse diabetes naturally, that you have to get your sleep together, uh, because it is, it is activating the parasympathetic system, the you know, rest and digest, the recovery system. And most people who stay sick is because they're in sympathetic system way too long. And so, uh, they'll notice that their blood sugar levels are not well if they don't get enough sleep. As a matter of fact, if you don't get enough sleep, your body— even if you are, you know, up in, in good health, you know, and you are a fat burning machine, your body will still burn less fat, and— or your body will still burn less calories if you don't get enough sleep. And so even if you are like, you know, if you have, if you have the best of all the worlds, you'll still be affected by not having enough, enough sleep. And it's gonna, like I say, cause a lot of chronic stress. Now there's a lot of other things that play a role in healthy lifestyle that of course I didn't even get into contact with. I go over a lot of things in a lot of my other podcasts, and I'm still going to hit a lot of different topics about this. I know we went over a lot of stuff, but I wanted to give you the insight and the information to be able to understand how this idea of trying to lose weight quick and cutting your calories and, and, you know, doing a lot of cardio, exactly what it'll do to your body. If, if that's what you're trying to do and you're trying to lose weight, I just want you to at least know and have the knowledge what you're doing for your body and how you're setting yourself up for failure in the future. And I wanted you to make choices that's a good investment into your future, into your longevity. And, you know, give you the ways that you can boost your metabolism. Go, you know, go against the odds. I always say this, you know, if you are struggling and you're at a glass ceiling and you've tried everything else and you haven't tried this, try it, you know. And, you know, I want to say eat real food too. You can't eat a bunch of junk and think that this is just gonna work, okay? You have to eat a proper diet. Like I said, prioritizing protein, you know, minimize your processed sugar and your sugar in general, you know, and processed foods, you know, make sure, you know, you're getting good quality sleep, you're keeping your stress levels under control, you know. I didn't talk about all the other stuff that affects your stress levels, you know, toxic relationships, bad relationships, addictions like scrolling on social media all day, messing with your dopamine levels. And, um, you know, not getting enough sunlight, you know, drinking too much alcohol, not, you know, smoking too many cigarettes, you know, like there's, there's things that we know we need to do. But yeah, sunlight, and then not getting a lot of light in your eyes late at night or in the middle of the night, you know, don't turn on the light in the middle of the night, it's going to mess up your blood sugar levels and mess up things for several days. So there's a lot, you know, there's a lot that I could talk about. There's supplements out there that can help with, with assisting you, but Hopefully that this helped you to understand yourself, your body, and be able to make better and smarter choices. You know, it's all about you getting healthier, getting better, and just making sure, you know, that you're using these principles to, you know, as resources that you can pull on and be mindful of all of these different things. Now, like I said, there's so much to talk about, and I'm going to continue the conversation of how to increase longevity and to empower yourself to anti-age and to just live as healthy as you possibly can, giving you lifestyle tools that can really take you to the next level. Make sure that you leave comments and that you share this podcast. Ask questions. I will get your questions answered. I may do it in the form of a podcast. I want to hear what you have to say. I want to hear your thoughts about everything. Let me know, you know, have you cut calories before? And if so, What did you notice about yourself? Or even maybe you didn't notice then, but you notice now, and you put the pieces of the puzzle together, and there's something, uh, that you recognized, you know, and the light bulb went on as I was talking to you, and you got a chance to kind of understand your body and become more acquainted with your body. You know, let me know what your plans are for your health and your strategies. I want to get the message out. I want to hear from you. And like I said, I want to be able to even present information that you would love to understand more about. So please feel free and do not hesitate to leave me comments and give me your suggestions of content. And so I want to be able to serve you in that manner. So I always enjoy these conversations. This has been another episode of Health Goat. I'll see you next time.