Stop Making Fat Loss Harder Than It Needs to Be

Lindsay prepares for a 90-day challenge by reminding listeners of the “big rocks” that drive fat loss and warning against overcomplicating the process with hacks, supplements, perfect macro ratios, and excessive training. 

Topics discussed:

• (00:00) - Welcome and Purpose
• (00:34) - Stop Chasing Hacks
• (02:11) - Right Tool Wrong Job
• (05:48) - Big Rock Calories
• (09:09) - Protein Made Simple
• (10:54) - Lift to Keep Muscle
• (14:56) - Cardio in Its Place
• (16:23) - Plan Nutrition First
• (18:39) - Recovery Is Currency
• (21:57) - Tools Have Jobs
• (26:08) - Ignore Calorie Watches
• (27:46) - Boring Works Best
• (28:21) - Big Rock Checklist
• (28:56) - Final Reminder and Wrap

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Creators and Guests

Host

Lindsay

Wife and mother of three. I have a deep passion for learning and teaching. I also really love lifting weights and fitness.

What is LiftingLindsay's More Than Fitness?

Dive into the joy of fitness with Lindsay and other guests exploring how it goes well and beyond the gym floor, the number on the scale, the size of your waist or the calories you're counting.

Speaker: Hey guys, welcome, welcome
to the Lifting Lindsay Podcast.

Um, it's been really interesting
preparing, uh, for the 90-day

challenge and reading through a lot
of people's assessments, and it's

made me really think about, uh,
things that, like the big rocks, the

things that really, really matter.

And so that's kinda what I
wanted to talk about today.

This is just gonna be a quick reminder
of the things that really matter.

The-- and specifically about fat loss,
the big rocks of fat loss, and this idea

that I just really believe that we are
making this so much harder than it is.

But, but it is still
hard, don't get me wrong.

But are we making it harder
by just all of these…

Well, we need these hacks, we need these
supplements, we need another macro,

macro calculator or perfect ratio, and
the reason why, you know, the fat loss

phase I'm in right now isn't working is
'cause it gave me 1,500 calories, but

it was the wrong macro ratio, right?

We-- people come up with these ideas.

Uh, maybe it wasn't, I wasn't doing enough
cardio, or maybe it wasn't fasted cardio,

and they think that they have to hit these
certain things that, that kind of end

up wearing us out mentally, and they're
not big movers of success over time,

um, or even over a short period of time.

So let's talk about, about what the big
rocks are and be reminded by, of maybe

something that you already know, but I'm
just here to once again remind you I've

talked a lot about how I want to help
you be better consumers of social media.

social media is so packed with everybody
trying to push different ideas and

agendas and sell different things and,
and it becomes overwhelming, right?

So let's get back to the basics.

What are the big rocks?

What actually moves the needle?

And what job does each
of these tools have?

Because one of the biggest mistakes I
see women make during a fat loss phase

is they're using the right tool for
the wrong job, and this is something

that I've talked a lot about, but
I feel it's time to revisit this.

They try to use lifting weights to burn
as many calories as possible, right?

In fact, I just had a conversation this
weekend with, um, a, an adorable woman

in my neighborhood who really wants
to lose body fat, and she was telling

me, "I, I just need to get back to the
gym. That's what I need." And although

I am never going to say somebody
shouldn't be going to the gym, I'm never

gonna, you know, not encourage that.

But, um, but I was thinking, isn't it
interesting that she thinks that the

biggest driver of the fat loss that
she wants to see is going to the gym?

And what's gonna happen is she's gonna
get there and she's gonna do weights,

and maybe initially s- she'll see some
drop in, in body fat or in weight, or

maybe initially see, you know, a little
rise because sometimes that happens

as somebody, you know, stays eating
at maintenance and puts on muscle,

and muscle has weight to it, right?

So what happens to the, the scale?

It goes up.

Or even when you use muscles, uh, uh,
and it's been a while since you've

used them, uh, they are gonna pull in
more glycogen, more water, and so, and

carbs and, and all that good stuff.

So then that, that too
can increase the weight.

But anyways, so the point being, she
could enter, do all of the workouts,

and then be like, "Oh, it doesn't work
for me because I'm not losing weight."

And this is just something
that, that people do.

They use, like I said, the right
tools for the wrong reason.

and, and oftentimes another thing that
they do is they just pile on more and more

activity onto an already aggressive diet.

Uh, then they're completely exhausted,
hungry, frustrated, and, and adding

more and more and more and more
output, right, energy out, will

actually build up hunger more.

And so all of a sudden they're
feeling even more hungry, which makes

you hangry if you're, if you're me.

Um, and then training performance
begins to fall apart and they

think, "Why is this so hard?"

sometimes it's hard because we're making
it harder than it actually needs to be.

In fact, a lot of this, I, I
just barely sent out, uh, an

email to my 90-day, challengers.

I'm not sure what to call you
lovely ladies, but, but part of

it was you are going to be shocked
by how simple the training is.

Because why, if we're already
doing an aggressive cut, why would

then I hammer your body with so
much that it can't recover from?

No, that's part of the problem.

And especially with women in peri
and post-menopause who already

struggle with recovery, that's h-
just adding more and more and more.

Guys, you're making it harder for
yourselves by continuously adding

more and using, uh, the, the
right tools for the wrong reasons.

So, today I wanna bring us back to
the big rocks, what actually matters,

'cause I know some of you have been
hitting social media pretty hard, and

your mind's going down all of these
paths, so I'm bringing you back.

I'm bringing you back to what really
matters in regards to losing body fat.

And I think I wanna do the same
kind of thing for maintenance.

So big rock number one,
calories drive fat loss, okay?

Calories.

If your primary goal is losing body
fat, you need an energy deficit.

That's the big rock.

There are many different dietary
approaches that can create that deficit.

You can eat more carbs.

You can eat fewer carbs.

You can eat more fat.

You can eat less fat.

You can eat three meals a day.

You can eat five meals a day.

You can eat, eat eight meals a day.

I don't care.

You can eat breakfast or skip breakfast.

There are individual reasons we
may prefer one approach over the

other, but there isn't one magic
macro ratio required for fat loss.

So the International Society of Sports
Nutrition's position and stand on diet

and body composition concluded that a
wide range of dietary approaches from

low fat to low carb to high carb All
of these approaches can improve body

composition with fat loss fundamentally
driven by maintaining a calorie deficit.

You know, sometimes when I talk about
this, I get people kind of mad because

they're like, "No, no, no, no. There
was, there, there was one ratio that

wasn't working for me, and then I got
another one from a coach that was the same

calories, but then it worked for me." Do
you know why it probably worked for you?

Because they gave you a different
ratio that naturally aligned with

what you tend to enjoy eating
more of That's probably why.

I, I, I don't think that we
should be threatened by this.

I think honestly, I mean, I understand
why macro coaches are threatened by this.

Their entire business hinges on
the fact that this one magic macro

ratio that they're offering you
will unleash and unlock all of the,

you know, the fat deposits that
are being held by other ratios.

I don't know.

So I can understand why them
being so frustrated by it.

But for the rest of us, it, it
actually should be incredibly freeing.

Awesome.

I don't have to obsess about these
numbers that I don't have to obsess about.

I don't have to play macro Tetris anymore.

At the end of the night, it's like, oh
crap, I've got seven grams of fat left and

13 grams of carbs and 24 grams of protein.

How am I gonna hit that?

And then we're just trying
to play some game where we're

hitting these random numbers.

So now you're standing in your kitchen
at 8:37 at night trying to construct some

bizarre snack, and it is so weird to fit
this weird, m- like, ratio, and then you

don't even enjoy it and you're left there
like, "Ugh, that wasn't even enjoyable."

So then you end up half an hour later
in the pantry eating something that

you actually enjoyed, when really,
from the beginning, we could have

said, "Okay, well, how many calories
left and how much protein left?" And

find a much better way, much enjoyable
way of hitting that, and that's it.

Calories and protein, guys.

We don't need to be doing
these weird macro Tetris.

For most of my general population
clients, I want you to understand

two numbers really, really well,
and that is calories and protein.

And guess what?

I don't live above this.

I'm not telling you, you guys
need this, but I-- like, you guys

just need calories and protein,
but I need a special macro ratio.

No.

This is what I do, too.

When you guys watched me at the
beginning of the year drop body

fat, guess what I was tracking?

Calories and protein, and I let
carbs and fats fall where they may.

And it was way more enjoyable
because I could then find enjoyable

ways that I could sustain the
fat loss phase and maintenance.

So I really do want you to
focus on calories and protein.

Calories determine the energy
environment that we're creating.

Protein, on the other hand, is
gonna help support muscle retention

and recovery and fullness, and
really our body composition goals.

I always say this, just getting
into, like, a calorie deficit,

you're going to drop body fat.

But prioritizing protein and lifting
during it, you're gonna look real good

when you drop that body fat, right?

It's not just about being, like,
the skinniest skeleton self.

No.

We still wanna look good
when we drop that body fat.

So those are our big rocks, okay?

Now big rock number two, I pretty much
already talked about this, protein.

Protein protects what
we're trying to keep.

What are we trying to keep?

Muscle.

Which leads us to number three, okay?

I pretty much said what I needed to with
the number, with number two already, okay?

You know that protein is going
to help you to preserve muscle.

So, this is, th- but this is something
that I really, really wish women

understood Lifting weights, th- we
are not doing that as some primary

driver of burning calories and getting
into a, a, you know, fat loss phase.

That's not the job of lifting, that
is really important to understand.

We lift to build and preserve muscle.

Muscle is our greatest, like our
largest metabolic tissue in our

body, meaning that if we want to
keep a healthy metabolism during and

after our dieting phase, we want to
preserve muscle as much as possible.

That is what lifting weights does.

Like I said earlier about my adorable
friend who's like, "Yeah, I need to

go to the gym. I just need to go to
the gym. Yeah, I need to start lifting

weights." But in her mind, it equated
with fat loss, and that is where I'm

saying you're gonna go in and you're
gonna be frustrated because that's

not the role of lifting weights.

It is to preserve muscle tissue so that we
can preserve as much hormonal health and

our metabolism as possible when we are in
this calorie restriction, and then when we

come out of it, we can actually eat more.

Eat more because we preserved muscle and
we put a little bit on in the process too.

That's the point of it.

That's why we lift weights.

So this is why I really wanted to
explain this to my 90-day challenge,

because most challenges, what they do
with their training is they write some

insane, absolutely insane, I'm going
to destroy this person so they can,

you know, they're sweating profusely,
they're crawling out of the gym, and

I'm like, "Why would you do that?

Why would you do that
to them?" That's awful.

Because the, they're already going
to be feeling, as the fat loss phase

gets further and further, they're
already gonna be feeling crappy.

Why it's hard, Yeah, why would we do that?

Why would we do that?

Lift-- getting into a calorie
deficit is already hard enough.

Why are we going to make compliance
that much harder by just driving

your body into the floor with tons
and tons of, um, either cardio

or excessive amounts of volume?

So when you go into the, into lifting
weights, what happens is you're

actually causing some damage, so
your body has to recover from that.

When we have lower amounts of food coming
in, that means we have a little lower

recoverability, and so we want to make
sure that training isn't too excessive.

It, it-- we can't, we don't wanna cause
massive amounts of mechanical den- damage.

We don't wanna do excessive
amounts of like, um, negatives or

eccentric work or massive amounts
of, you know, volume because all

of that requires more recovery.

And, and the longer the fat loss phase
goes with lower recovery availability,

but yet you're adding massive amounts
of volume and intensity in this

training because you feel like you
need to destroy yourself in the gym

to see the results, actually, you
will end up feeling so much crappier.

And what that does is it ruins people's
compliance because they feel so crappy.

And like I said, with women in peri
and post-menopause already having a

little bit lower recoverability Due
to hormonal shifts, lack of sleep, you

name it, why would we make it worse?

So we have to be so careful.

Train, train smart.

Okay?

Cardio.

Do cardio.

Cardio is wonderful.

I'm not anti-cardio.

Your cardiovascular system matters.

Your heart matters, right?

D- in fact, I'm a big fan of cardio in the
regard of that your body becomes really

efficient at then driving nutrients and
oxygen to your muscles, so therefore we

can make them possibly bigger through
a better aerobic capacity, right?

So th- that's important.

That matters.

Cardio can improve
health and work capacity.

So yes, it, it can, to a small
degree, increase energy expenditure.

So I absolutely believe it can assist
with creating a calorie deficit.

But here's where we get
ourselves into trouble.

We start treating cardio like it's
the primary driver of fat loss.

It isn't.

Nutrition gives us much more
direct control over energy intake.

Exercise can contribute to, to the energy
deficit, don't get me wrong, a little bit,

but I don't want somebody thinking, "I
ate 600 extra calories, so now I need to

go burn 600 calories." That's a miserable
relationship with both food and exercise.

And when we're already in an aggressive
deficit, piling excessive cardio on

top of resistance training can increase
the total, once again, recovery burden.

More activity isn't automatically better,
and in fact, what's funny is oftentimes

I'll tell my clients, "Look, you're
struggling with nutrition compliance,

and you're struggling with the day before
or even sitting down for an hour and

meal planning for your entire week."
Just planning out what you're gonna

eat for the entire week and plugging it
in your tracker so you actually enter

the week with a plan and not a guess
So what I'm gonna do is, guess what?

You can't do that cardio on Saturday.

I'm gonna take that hour, and you're
going to go home and you're gonna

sit your butt down and you're gonna
figure out your nutrition for the week.

That right there will be far more
beneficial to your fat loss goals

than, "Oh, I better get in and do
this, do this cardio for an hour."

So that's the thing.

If you are thinking, entertaining the
idea, or if you are already doing this,

"Well, I've gotta get cardio, gotta
get cardio, but how come I'm not losing

body fat?" S- take an hour, take an
hour of what you would've done in cardio

and put it towards your nutrition.

And it's kind of funny 'cause sometimes
with clients, they're real cardio bunnies,

and when I tell them like, "No, you can't,
you can't," it's like this punishment.

And it's like, "Oh, okay," and you know,
you will earn that back when you can

show me that you can take an hour and
get your nutrition on point for the week.

'Cause that's what it takes.

You need to plan to succeed.

If you think you can enter the day
tomorrow and just guess and plug whatever

along the way, I s- I can't believe
how many times I, I talk about this,

and yet when I'm in front of somebody
talking to them and they're telling me

the struggles of following their plan
and then I say, "Pull out your tracker,"

like on a live, I'll say this to people,
"Pull out your tracker right now.

Tell me, is all of your
food in there for tomorrow?

Or even for today?

We're halfw- we're not even
halfway through the day.

It may be noon when we do these lives."
And they're like, "Well, no." "Oh, so

you're, you're just hoping and praying
that you're gonna hit these numbers today.

That's what you're telling me, right?"

So we need to prepare to succeed.

Now, another big rock that I hammer a
lot on is recovery is part of the plan.

This is especially important when
calorie deficits become more aggressive.

The more aggressively we're dieting, the
less recovery currency we have available.

You could look at it that, as that.

I was in banking for a really long
time, and I kind of like looking at

budgets and, and, and money as…

And, and we've got a
budget for these things.

We've gotta think about
these things, right?

Otherwise, we're guessing.

Otherwise, all of a sudden we
have no money, and we have no idea

where it went, but it's not there.

Recovery is not there.

It's not available.

So this idea that a, an aggressive
diet should automatically be

paired with aggressive cardio,
aggressive lifting, aggressive

everything, it doesn't make sense.

You will then have fewer resources coming
in, and also your body does increase in

cortisol, so it does go into alert mode
because it's like, "Hey, hey, we're not

getting as much food anymore." Right?

So this also really can impact
and impair muscle gains.

We have research showing this, that
too low of an energy deficit paired

with more and more and more cardio
and lifting and all of that, it can

actually, um, we can lose muscle tissue.

So we have to be careful about that, guys.

We have to be smarter, okay?

Nutrition needs to be smarter.

Training needs to become smarter.

Now, I'm not saying it's a breeze.

I still want you to go in and
work hard, but it's, it's gonna

look, my training is gonna look
something like three sets of squats.

It's not three sets of squats plus,
drop sets on every single one of

those sets when somebody is in a
moderate or aggressive cut, okay?

Training could look really simple, and you
will feel so much better doing that, okay?

We don't-- This is the worst
time to be including junk volume

just to include more volume.

You don't need endless finishers.

Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna
include some fun finishers,

but you don't need excessive.

You don't need to be doing
HIIT seven days a week.

You won't be able to
recover from that anyways.

And, and workouts don't need to
feel like some insane punishment.

Like I said, sometimes the smartest
fat loss training programs look boring.

But man, you're gonna
feel good during them.

You're gonna feel strong, right?

Sometimes people ask me, like the
last fat loss phase that I went

through, people are like, "How is
your strength still increasing?"

Because my, because I wasn't
hammering myself with mad amounts

of volume, it was still efficient.

Okay?

But I do wanna go back to this.

We need to stop asking every tool we
have at our disposal to do every job.

I really do think that people
think cardio is, the main thing

for cardio is, um, fat loss.

The main reason why we lift
weights is to get fat loss.

The, you know… No.

The main reason why we eat protein is
fat loss, so now we need to eat more

and more and more and more protein.

Oh, nope, nope.

There can even be too much protein, y'all.

If you're doing excessive amounts
of protein to the point that it's

lowering carbs and fats too much,
well, guess what carbs and fats are?

They help you, they, those
are the energy calories.

They're gonna help you feel better,
have more energy throughout the day.

So too high of protein, if you're
like 1.4567 grams or two point, you

know, 02 grams of protein per, uh,
pound of body weight, that's actually

really high, and in a more aggressive
cut, you will feel a lot, like you

will feel without energy with that.

So it's better to, you know,
cap it at one or one gram per

pound during a fat loss phase.

I mean, you don't have to.

You can go to 1.2, that's fine.

But, but beyond that, it,
it is kind of excessive.

You don't have to be doing that, and
the further your calorie deficit goes

down, then the m- the more that that
high, high, high protein will take

from true energy macros that can help
you feel better throughout the day.

So I would be even cautious of that.

So keep in mind, every tool has a job.

Nutrition controls the energy deficit.

If something else, if you
are lifting five days a week

And yet you don't have time to
get your nutrition on point.

Lower it to three times a week.

Use the two, two hours you would've used
those other days for lifting and focus

on getting your nutrition on point.

I'm serious.

It will make a huge difference, okay?

Protein helps preserve lean tissue
and s- supports recovery, but too high

can actually take away from important,
uh, macro calories, um, energy macros.

Um, resistance training gives your
body a reason to maintain muscle, okay?

Cardio supports cardiovascular health.

Fitness contributes to some additional
energy expenditure, but keep in

mind, your body will even adapt
to the amount of cardio, right?

So cycling it through
may be a better approach.

Uh, in fact, for my 90-day challenge,
the first four weeks we're kind of going

all out with cardio, and then we're gonna
pull back on it a little bit, and then the

last month we'll push it forward again.

So we're kind of gonna be
cycling through with it.

You can't always be hammering
your body with cardio.

Cycle it in and out, guys.

Um, it also helps save time too.

I, I don't know if you're like
me, I don't have all the time

in the world to be at the gym.

So, and also sleep and
recovery, that is so key.

It helps you continue doing all
of these things well, right?

Helps us with our mental health.

And that's it.

Those right there, bam.

Those are the big rocks.

When somebody doesn't have these
on board, these big rocks in place,

and they come to me and they're
like, " How much creatine should I

be taking?" I actually think a better
question would be, how can I be more

adherent to my current nutrition plan?

And as soon as we figure that
one out, then we can start

worrying about creatine, okay?

I really do.

If you can't do the big rocks,
why are we wasting t- mental

energy and money on anything else?

Focus on the big rocks, okay?

When you understand those jobs,
the jobs of each one of these

two, you stop expecting your
workout to create the deficit.

You stop panicking because you
didn't sweat enough or burn enough.

You stop thinking your cardio session
was worthless because your watch

said you only burned 180 calories.

Don't even get me started on watches.

Please ignore them.

I think it's great that we can see how
much we're sleeping and, and it kind

of gives us a gauge whether maybe I
should focus on sleep more or less.

But the rest of it, stop it.

Stop worrying about it.

And, and stop taking pictures of
what your watch says you burned and

then say, "Oh, this is so great."
I mean, I, I-- you don't have to.

You can, if you really want to be like,
"Cool, my watch said I burned whatever

amount." But just know that that watch is
inaccurate, and that that number that it

says you burned actually means nothing.

Because if you, if you go home
and then eat all that back,

then you didn't lose body fat.

Burning fat and losing body fat are
actually two totally different things.

You can burn fat all day.

In fact, we do We do.

Our body actually goes back
and forth between storing and

burning body fat all day long.

And the only way to actually lose
body fat, not burn it, but lose it,

is if you spend more time burning
than storing, meaning if you have

less energy coming in than going out.

Okay?

That is really important.

Guys, stop trying to optimize things
that don't need optimizing right now.

When you do that, it really will
suddenly make the entire process

become so simple, and it's almost
so simple and boring that it's like,

"Oh, this couldn't be it," but it is.

You gotta give it time.

You gotta actually
follow the plan, though.

Boring is best.

Is that a new phrase we need to,
like, write and put on our fridge?

I don't know.

But it is.

These things u- sh- these things
are what will get you where

you re- really want to be.

So if you're currently trying
to lose fat, I want you to ask

yourself, "Am I consistently creating
an appropriate calorie deficit?

Am I eating enough protein?

Am I resistance training consistently
and with sufficient effort?

Am I staying reasonably active?

Am I using cardio appropriately
instead of trying to have it be

the main driver of my fat loss?

Am I sleeping and recovering
enough to support what I'm

asking my body to do?" Okay?

That is really important.

That is really important.

So Final reminder.

Fitness doesn't have to be
complicated to be effective.

When you look at the people who maybe
you look up to on social media or around

you that are really good at hitting and
maintaining their goals, you will be

surprised at how simple everything is.

For me, I loved it when I finally
dropped the idea that I had to

track every carb and every fat gram.

I-- It was so freeing, and all of
the sudden, my lifestyle of health

just clicked mentally and physically.

It was beautiful for me, and it
is so beautiful for so many of

my clients, this, this idea that
they have t- that they can give up

tracking carbs and, and fats, right?

Like, and yes, we shouldn't get under .4
grams of, uh, of fat per lean body mass,

but most people don't do that, right?

And yes, if we find that, you know,
if we tend to lean more towards low

carb and we're not sleeping well and
we're not training well, we might

wanna increase our carbs a little bit.

But most people don't do that.

Most people are just hitting protein,
and when they allow the carbs and

fats to fall wherever it may, they
actually find a freedom to be more

consistent and enjoy the process more.

That's powerful.

That's really powerful.

So this week, I want you to pause,
ask yourself, "Am I truly, truly being

honest with myself about the big rocks?

And if I keep moving these big
rocks…" Keep-- Remind yourself, if

you keep moving these big rocks, these
big rocks are what gets you the end

result, not spending all of your life
rearranging the pebbles around it and

then wondering why nothing's changing.

No.

Focus on the big rocks, okay?

More isn't better.

Better is better.

Focus on the big rocks.

Love and appreciate you all.

You guys have a wonderful week.