Topics discussed include food tracking, staying lean, hypertrophy training, metabolically healthy obesity, importance of macronutrients, estimating RPE, clean bulking controversy, and gratitude for Dr. Helms.
Individuals can manipulate their own food environment by making conscious choices, such as purchasing single ingredient, minimally processed foods and structuring their meals and eating habits.
The environment plays a significant role in influencing body weight, particularly in terms of energy-dense, palatable food availability and sedentary behavior, emphasizing the need for individuals to manipulate their own environment through behaviors like regular exercise and consumption of high-fiber, low-energy-density foods.
Sustainable weight loss maintenance involves a less restrictive approach to dieting, longer time spent in a weight loss phase, and changes in lifestyle and food environment, considering the processes of energy availability, hormonal effects, metabolic adaptation, and reaching extremely low body fat levels.
Deep dives
Managing the Food Environment for Weight Manipulation
The podcast episode discusses the influence of the food environment on weight manipulation strategies. It highlights the importance of understanding the term 'food environment' and how it relates to factors such as the availability of cheap, energy-dense, hyperpalatable foods and the decline in physical activity. The episode suggests that individuals can manipulate their own food environment by making conscious choices, such as purchasing single ingredient, minimally processed foods and structuring their meals and eating habits. It also mentions the potential efficacy of tracking food intake as a long-term solution, but acknowledges the individual preference and sustainability of such a practice.
The Dual Intervention Model and Body Weight Regulation
The podcast delves into the dual intervention model, which explains how humans regulate their body weight. It highlights the idea that there is a range, rather than a specific point, that the body seeks to defend in terms of body fat percentage. The model suggests that the environment plays a significant role in influencing body weight, particularly in terms of energy-dense, palatable food availability and sedentary behavior. The episode emphasizes the impact of environment on weight gain and weight loss, stressing the need for individuals to manipulate their own environment through various behaviors, such as regular exercise, consumption of high-fiber, low-energy-density foods, and creating structure in their daily routines.
The Sustainability of Low Body Fat Percentage
The podcast explores the challenges and factors influencing the sustainability of low body fat percentages. It recognizes that some individuals may naturally operate at lower body fat percentages, while others may find it more difficult to maintain. The episode highlights the various processes and considerations involved, including energy availability, hormonal effects, metabolic adaptation, and the duration of deficit periods. It suggests that a less restrictive approach to dieting, longer time spent in a weight loss phase, and changes in lifestyle and food environment can contribute to sustainable weight loss maintenance. However, it also acknowledges the potential difficulties and physiological adaptations that occur when individuals reach extremely low body fat levels.
Training with Compound Exercises and Submaximal Loads
When performing compound lower body exercises, it is not necessary to go close to failure according to a meta regression. It is more effective to do exercises like squats or leg press with a load that allows for around a two to three reps in reserve (RIR) or a seven rate of perceived exertion (RPE). This allows for a submaximal but effective stimulus without excessive discomfort or fatigue. For exercises like leg extensions or leg curls, higher rep ranges closer to failure can be used.
Can One Be Fit and Overweight?
The concept of being 'fat but fit' refers to individuals with an elevated BMI who exhibit metabolic health despite their weight. However, recent research suggests that metabolically healthy obesity is relatively rare among those with a BMI of 30 or above. Higher BMIs tend to correlate with poorer metabolic health indicators. Additionally, excess adiposity is known to contribute to metabolic health issues over time, suggesting that metabolically healthy obesity may be a transient state. Overall, while rare, being 'fat but fit' is possible, but sustained excess adiposity is still associated with negative health effects.
In this episode of MASS Office Hours, Dr. Eric Trexler and Dr. Eric Helms answer questions submitted by listeners and viewers in the live chat. Topics include food tracking, alternatives to food tracking, the ramifications of trying to stay very lean for extended periods of time, principles of hypertrophy training, metabolically healthy obesity, and much more.The MASS crew goes live for Office Hours every Wednesday night at 7pm eastern time. Be sure to join us for a future episode!
If you'd like to submit a question ahead of time, please use this link:
https://forms.gle/9Ah39mefs8cuVa9H7
Times stamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:22 Helms travel update
4:15 Is macro tracking the only route to sustainable weight loss?
20:40 Step count tracking accuracy
22:53 Can you maximize hypertrophy if you’re only doing group classes like bodypump?
30:06 What's the story behind the "fat but fit" paradox?
35:08 When bulking, which macro(s) should be used to create surplus?
41:07 Using velocity as a proxy for RPE/RIR
43:12 Issues with staying too lean for too long (or trying to)
57:24 Alternating unilateral reps to emphasize loaded stretching
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