Lindsay: Hey guys.
Welcome.
Welcome to today's episode of the Lifting Lindsay podcast.
Today's episode is going to be another fun fact Friday, and the whole point
of this was to share a fun fact that was like 10 or 15 minutes, and I think
so far I have never kept it to 10 to 15 minutes, so I'm doing something
that's kind of like mind blowing for me.
I'm actually writing podcast notes to follow.
Okay guys, do you know what's really funny?
I was talking to a friend, um, a few months ago who also has a podcast and
see, I'm already going off on a tangent.
I'm already going off.
Is this story on my notes to share with you?
No, but that's okay.
'cause this is, this is why we're here, right?
Are we here for the tangents?
Are we here for the information?
A little bit of both.
I don't know.
You'd be this judge, but I always go off on tangents anyway.
It's funny 'cause me and her were talking about our podcast and our
different podcasts and approaches and she was telling me, well, my
podcast notes and I'm like, your notes.
And she's like, well, yeah.
I write down like what I'm gonna talk about and what I'm gonna say
and the points I'm gonna make, and some like things I'm gonna share.
I'm like, oh, oh, okay.
That's probably a smart thing to do.
I usually start out with a question.
Somebody has a question about, fat loss, building muscle, and then I
honestly usually just share what I know off the top of my head.
Now, sometimes I will be like, oh, I'm talking about this study, so I should
have this study in front of me, and maybe I'll share like quotes there.
But it was just so funny as she's talking about, well, yeah, you, you write out
the flow of the show and you, you write out this and that, and the main points.
I'm like, oh, is that why your show is so much better than mine?
Mine?
It's just a compilation of Lindsay's tangents.
So, so I'm, I'm doing it guys.
I have it written down.
Is this, is this what it feels like to be like a grownup, an adult?
We do things like this.
We, we have like structure to our lives.
We plan things out.
This is just not the, the Lindsay Parker way.
I usually just fly by the seat of my pants, I'm not gonna lie.
Anyways.
It is really funny how we live our lives sometimes.
So here we go guys.
We are gonna be talking today about, I love how I'm like, I'm
gonna keep this under 10 minutes and I have already wasted two and a
half minutes on a tangent already.
This is gonna be fun.
This is, this is, but you're, you're here, you're in it.
I guess you, you could leave at any moment, but this is gonna be really cool.
You don't wanna leave because we are gonna be talking about the difference
between burning fat versus fat loss.
What?
Now?
I know some of you're sitting there thinking, wait, wait, wait.
It's, it's the same thing, Lindsay, are we just splitting hairs?
No.
No, we're not.
In fact, I actually think that this is an important topic.
I really do enjoy educating you guys.
I want you guys to go into social media world being so educated.
You can call BS as soon as you see it.
That is really, really important because you have to understand, um,
I'm very picky about who I follow.
I try not to spend a ton of time on social media, so to be honest, I don't,
I don't realize at times I can be naive to the amount of horrific, information
that's being pedaled by people who have literally millions of followers.
And I, I did kind of get lost in a rabbit hole the other day where I was shocked,
literally shocked by the horrific bad information that, and this person.
Their information got like 150,000 likes.
Like we are not educated enough in general on health and fitness to be
able to navigate the marketplace of ideas that is TikTok and Instagram
and all of that, meaning that anybody who has an idea has a voice.
We are just, general population, just not educated enough to spot poor
information from good information.
And I was even, uh, following a friend and she posted this podcast by
probably one of the worst health, um, I, I don't even know what to call him.
He, he pedals the worst health information.
I mean, it is horrific.
And she's like, this is the best podcast ever.
Everybody needs to listen to this.
And I'm like, no.
A piece of my soul is dying.
And I, I, I never know, like, should I reach out and be like, just so
you understand, he cherry picks information in studies, literally
quotes, parts of studies where the researchers are saying, this is
the bad information, this sentence.
And he goes, oh, see, this study says this.
Literally like, whew, piece of my soldier dies.
So I really want to help educate people so that they can, they can
filter through poor information.
Now, burning fat, like I said, is not the same as fat loss.
And why is this an important topic?
Well, because we are inundated with.
Uh, diet saying this diet will burn more fat.
That's, that may be true, but does that equal more fat loss?
No.
This exercise program will quote, unquote, burn more fat.
That may be true, but then why are these people coming to me saying,
I'm doing all the fat burning diets?
Exercise, why aren't I losing body fat?
Because they're actually different.
So let's really dive into this, break this down, find out why.
So let's, let's start by defining terms.
What does fat loss actually mean?
Fat loss is the reduction in body fat.
Fat burning is something else.
Fat burning.
Is that the process of dietary fat or stored body fat being used
as an energy source in the body?
And we're gonna break this down even further 'cause I wanna
make sure that you understand.
So let's talk about fat metabolism.
So fat stored in our bodies in fat cells in the form of triglycerides.
Triglycerides are a glycerol molecule and three fatty acid changed.
So they're kind of hooked.
They're hooked together.
You can think of the glycerol as the backbone and hooking these
fatty acid chains together.
Step one of the quote unquote fat burning process.
Step one is lipolysis.
It is the breakdown of the triglyceride, so it's splitting the glycerol
backbone from the fatty acid shades.
So there are now free fatty acids that are distributed into the bloodstream.
Step two is called beta oxidation.
This is in the mitochondria, the breakdown of fatty acids
to be used as a TP as energy.
This is when they are referring, referring to, um.
Burning fat.
This is the process.
Now, step three is just kind of an interesting one.
I just kinda wanna throw it out there.
There's, this is very, very basic.
There's a lot of steps going on in between all of this, but these
are, these are the basic ones that I feel like you need to understand.
Lipolysis is the breakdown of triglycerides that are
being stored in the fat cells.
Now it goes out to the bloodstream.
Then you have beta oxidation that's happening in the mitochondria.
It's breaking down the fatty acids to be used as energy.
Now I just kind of wanna throw this in there 'cause I think it's really fun.
The byproducts of fat metabolism.
How does it leave your body?
Have you ever wondered that?
How does, how does this actually, okay, so it's used as, as energy.
How does it leave the body?
Well, it, it leaves it in a few ways as water through your skin when you sweat.
Kidneys when you urinate.
Okay?
So it's actually leaving through sweat and, and peeing out in the morning.
When you go to the bathroom and you're peeing, you are releasing
the byproducts of fat metabolism.
Isn't that so funny?
This is how fat leaves the body.
It also leaves the body as carbon, uh, carbon dioxide, CO2, through
your lungs when you breathe.
So.
Those are ways that it, then the byproducts leave.
Right.
So now I've gone through burning fat, and you're like, okay, Lins.
Like I, I get that.
So we're burning body fat from the sa fat cells.
Well, that, that leads to fat loss.
It is a piece of the puzzle.
Yes.
Just because you burn fat does not mean your body will see a
reduction of overall body fat.
So it's super important to understand that fat storage and fat burning
are not static systems in the body.
We actually go back and forth between.
Burning fat, storing fat, burning fat, storing fat.
You are fluctuating back and forth between fat burning and fat storing all day.
Now, how much fat loss we see depends on who wins?
Do you get more fat storage or more fat oxidation?
Which do we get more of?
Think about it this way.
I'm a very visual person.
Think about it this way.
If you had a big bucket and it is full to the very, very top of water, think
about that as fat storage, and you're like, well, I wanna see this reduced.
I wanna see the reduction, so I'm gonna poke a hole in it in the bottom.
That is kind of, that, that fat metabolism, the, the, uh, burning fat and
it starts seeping out and you start seeing the reduction in these fat cells, right?
You start seeing the water come down.
But the, the problem with that is, like I said, it's not just the body's in a
state of constantly burning fat all day.
It goes back and forth between storing and using.
Storing using, it's the same exact thing as with with protein and
aminos and turnovers turnover, right?
So, and it's the same exact principle.
So as this water comes out, you also have water coming in, and if the rate is equal.
Then the, the water is gonna stay near the top.
Nothing will change.
If the rate of water coming in is equal to the rate of water going out,
then actually nothing will change.
So this is that whole energy out.
If it's equal to energy coming in, then you are going to maintain.
You're gonna maintain your weight, your body fat.
Now, if we slow down the rate of water coming in and the rate of water going
out is higher, then you are going to see the water come down, down, down, down.
You are going to see fat loss.
So at the end of the day, that illustration is showing.
It still comes down to energy out needs to exceed the amount of
energy coming in AKA food coming in.
So you can't just sign up for, oh, well this certain nutrition
plan says that all lose, I'll burn more fat by eating this way.
So I'm just gonna eat that way.
Well, you still have to be in a calorie deficit.
Body still has to, at the end of the day, the end of the week, the end of the
month, be in an overall energy deficit.
Well, I'm gonna sign up for this, this program, because it says
it's a fat loss program, or it says it's burning, burning fat.
It may, but at the end of the day, it may increase the hole so
that the rate of water coming out.
Faster.
But at the end of the day, if you turn the the sink up and are eating
just as much as it's going out, you're not gonna lose body fat.
So that's why I think that this topic is actually really important
because I really want to drill home this idea that just because a program
promises, um, you're gonna burn fat, doesn't mean you will lose.
Body fat just because a diet says, well, you'll burn more fat doing
keto because this is what your body is now becoming adapted to,
is utilizing and burning more fat.
Yes, that is 100% true, but at the end of the day, if you are not in
a calorie deficit in in this diet approach, then you will not see
the fat loss that you want to.
So just because you're fat adapted doesn't mean it's the same principle
as when people say, well, if you do fasted cardio during that time
period, you will burn more body fat.
True.
But at the end of the day, if the amount of nutrition coming in is matching the
amount of calories being burned, it doesn't matter when you do the cardio.
It doesn't matter that you are quote unquote burning
more body fat at that time.
At the end of the day, it is still about energy balance can, and that's
why it is so important to really focus on to controlling energy balance,
not by what more can I do in the gym?
How many hours can I add to.
Cardio this week to burn more.
Most of us don't have that time.
We just don't.
And to be honest, if I have extra time, I don't want to be
spending it doing those things.
Now, somebody else might, they might really enjoy it.
Me personally, if, if somebody said, Hey, Lindsay, here's an extra
hour, two hours a day, I would be like, I am going to, this is okay.
I wanna sleep.
I wanna spend time with my family.
Like honestly, that's where my mind goes.
I want more sleep and I want more time with my kids or my husband.
Like that's what I want to connections and sleep.
Those are my most important things in my life.
So I really hope that this has helped.
Open your eyes.
Next time you see somebody promise a fat burning diet, fat burning
training program, you now know.
That it doesn't matter how much fat burning you induce if,
because here's another thing too that we didn't even talk about.
Usually the more fat burning, the, the more calories you burn throughout the day
for the first few days, your, your body, uh, as far as hunger may remain the same,
but after a few days after a week, what happens is your body really does want
energy balance.
And so it's like, oh, I've noticed that your body doesn't care
that you want to lose body fat.
It just cares about survival and perpetuating our species, our species
that is literally all it cares about.
And so if, if it notices this dip in, in energy levels, this dip of you are
using a ton of quote unquote fat burning.
Gonna say, oh, okay, I need to send more hunger to this person.
Hunger signals so that we can eat more.
They, they need to eat more.
And so then all of a sudden you find that no matter how much you're burning,
well now you're just hungry for more.
You're just eating more.
So that's how the body kind of, no, we're gonna manage this.
We're gonna manage energy, and we are grateful for these systems, guys.
These are, these are blessings in our lives, actually.
The body knows what it's doing, so it really wants to keep energy balance.
This is why I say that the, the best way to actually manage and drop body fat,
lose fat is going to be by controlling and being more mindful of the energy
coming in, the calories coming in.
That's actually going to be a much better way because you can't control
the hormone shifts that are going to increase your hunger because it,
the body wants, uh, balance, right?
So anyways, hopefully this is giving you greater insight into,
oh, when I see these people saying, well, this will burn more fat.
It does.
It actually, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you
can't control the energy coming in.
It just doesn't.
So I hope when you see those things, you're like, oh,
that doesn't really matter.
Actually, at the end of the day, if these other things aren't on point.
So that doesn't really apply to me.
So this also can be a really good aha moment for you of, oh man, that's why
I'm not seeing changes in my body.
My, um, I had somebody close to me express that the other day.
She's like, I go to the gym and I literally, I.
Kill myself.
And I look around at these people.
They do one set and then they sit there for two minutes, but
they look way better than me.
And she's like, I'm, this is, and in her mind, she's like, I've tried everything.
Nothing works for me.
My body's broken.
No, it's not.
It's, it's that you have to learn how to control that energy coming in.
No matter how much energy you expend, no matter how, how much body or how
much fat you consume to become fat adapted, no matter how much fasted
cardio you do, at the end of the day, if you are not controlling energy
coming in, it doesn't mean much.
Now does it help you cardiovascularly?
Yeah.
Awesome.
You are going to be so like.
Aerobically fit.
And that is cool.
That is cool because that helps you be healthier.
But if this is about the way you look, well, then you have to control
that energy coming in better.
Okay, guys, you guys are awesome.
I really appreciate you.
Um, if you have made it into, you know, the 22 minutes.
Good for you.
You're awesome.
You're my people.
Thank you so much for joining me today on The Lifting Lindsay Podcast.
If you have found that this is useful information, please share
it with those that you feel like could really learn from this.
Also, if you have any questions, go ahead and shoot me a DM on Instagram.
You can follow me at lifting.
Lindsay, and if you would like to learn more about nutrition, have access to
my courses on fat loss, on maintenance.
I'm working, uh, on builds.
I am in middle of working on and halfway through a course that I, that I'm putting
up, um, on my Be Strong membership.
I would really encourage you to join that membership, join that community.
You can upload form videos.
You have access to me through lives, and you also get optimized training programs
that help with muscle and strength and help you age well and choose, uh, optimal
exercises to keep you healthy and strong.
I'd love to see you in that community.
You guys have a great week.