Flexible Dieting Podcast Resources

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time stamps

In today’s episode, we’re talking about my nutritional journey. Miguel kicks things off by asking me what led me to start caring about food and nutrition (5:02). Although I was extremely active – surfing during the day and playing basketball all night, I didn’t know what a vegetable was. Instead of thinking about what I was eating, I ate whatever I wanted until 20 years old. That was until I suffered from a career ending injury and, after speaking with my mentor, realized things needed to be turned around (11:10).

So in late 2011, I searched “what is the best diet” in Google and came across the Paleo Diet. While this approach led to weight loss, it also led to me having an all out “cheat day” every 7 to 10 days (15:10).

After following the Paleo Diet for over a year, I decided to get my PN certifications and start learning from other, highly respected individuals within the industry (18:28). This was when I came across macros and started tracking my food. However, this approach didn’t better my relationship with food since I was solely trying to fit in all of those “junk” foods. Once I realized that I was overeating almost every single day, that’s when I decided to start remaking those foods to be more macro friendly. Now, years later, I’m at a point where I look at each day as a whole and how nutrition can help me live my best life (22:15). Continue listening to hear me talk about why I chose to continue learning more about nutrition after I recovered from my injury (25:27), as well as whether or not I was controlled by wanting to maximize food volume (30:30).

To wrap things up, I dive into my thoughts on body dysmorphia (35:17). When you get to a point where you’re seeing results, it’s so important to be careful to not become too obsessive. Remember this – when you look in the mirror, your natural inclination is going to be to point out what you don’t like about your body and what you want to improve.

• Links:

  @theflexibledietinglifestyle

  The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

  @mblacutt

  Time stamps

  In today’s episode, we’re talking about concrete ways to improve your relationship with food. Miguel starts things off by explaining where he came from and how he views food (2:45). After we hear from Miguel, we explain how coming from a place of restriction, whether that be from food choices and/or calories, gives your body a response of “I want more food/calories,” which then leads to a “let me get it out my system” mindset (6:15).

  Once you get to that point, it’s no longer about food (8:40). You’ve created this narrative that you’re a failure. For example, if you eat more Oreos than just the one or two you planned on having, you think that you might as well eat the entire package. Therefore, if you aren’t able to change your mindset that food X is a trigger food, you’re giving it all the more power to destroy you (9:31). This then leads into our conversation around what we call, confirmation bias (10:04).

  Confirmation bias happens when we not only tell ourselves a story, but want to make sure that we prove ourselves right. However, it’s important to remind yourself that you have the choice to fit in the foods that you want but you don’t have to (12:05). So if you’re dieting, as you get leaner, know that your body is going to give you the response that it wants more food but that food will also taste better (13:23).

  Moving on, we discuss your body fat set point, which is also known as your body’s fighting weight (15:23). This is where you feel your best and that isn’t where you’re extremely learn or huge. Then to wrap up this episode, we talk about cheat days (19:28). From Miguel’s perspective, he’d go out to eat a bigger meal but it’d never be out of his control. As soon as he finished his meal, that was it. Because you’re being restrictive when you’re dieting, you’re eating alone more often than not. Therefore, you aren’t partaking in a lot of the experiences people have when going out and sharing a meal. This leads us to the point that food provides us with an escape from reality, especially from the parts that we aren’t happy with (22:14). So what happens is that food, for example, is something that people can enjoy that takes away that feeling of deprivation.

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time stamps

In this episode, we pick back up where we left with improving your relationship with food. If you can get happier in other aspects of your life, you won’t feel like you have to try and find an escape (0:29). Also, if you can get out of a stressful situation, whatever it may be, the chances of you grabbing food X are less than if you were highly stressed. However, if you are going through stressful times, try not to have the foods in your house that you know you’ll automatically gravitate towards (1:15).

With all of this being said, keep the Law of Diminishing Returns (2:21) and behavioral economics in mind. While the first one or two oreos Oreos will taste pretty freaking good, as you continue eating more, they’ll start to taste just alright. It is important to note though that food will only get tastier (4:48). For example, the difference in taste between a side of broccoli and any kind of dessert will only get bigger. This is when you have to remember that not only do you have a choice, but that you are in control.

Moving on, Miguel asks what advice I’d give to someone who says, “I want to have Oreos in my house so I can eat them in moderation, but I can’t” (7:02). This is all about changing the narrative you tell yourself, being aware, and knowing that situations like this are case sensitive. Case sensitive meaning that the chances of you overeating on Oreos is dependent on whether or not you had a satiating meal prior to going for the Oreo. And for me personally, instead of eating an Oreo as it is and as the end-all-be-all, I like to use it as a topping. Now, let’s dive into the topic of conversation around my thoughts on cheat days (13:12).

First, when you label a meal as a “cheat meal,” you’re already telling yourself that you’ve failed. So instead, I prefer to use the word “untracked” or “free.” The biggest thing you can do when it comes to taking an untracked/free meal is to reframe the situation and shift your mindset. Understand that there are going to be times where you’ll eat more food than less food but to also look at your calories/macros on a weekly vs. daily basis. Most importantly, just be smart. And to wrap things up, we walk through a scenario with you. Say you’ve been eating normally throughout the day when one of your friends, who’s in town visiting, asks you to meet for dinner – what do you do (18:35)? You first want to ask yourself, how close of a friend is this person and are you being guilted into going out? If this friendship matters to you, then go and enjoy that meal. If not, then don’t.

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time stamps

In today’s episode, we discuss the debate between “macro friendly” foods and the “real thing.” Once you align yourself to one viewpoint, not only do you see every other perspective as wrong but you’re also not willing to listen to what the other side has to say. After being on and experiencing both sides (3:20) though, I’ve come to realize that the magic is in the middle (5:55). What it comes down to is you making a rational decision based on where you’re currently at. For example, are you going through a dieting phase and looking for more low calorie, macro friendly foods to help satisfy your cravings while hitting your macros? If you are, then it’s okay to go for those foods. However, if you can be a little more flexible and eat the “real thing” then do that – if you want to. At the end of the day, it’s about what’s going to help you reach your goals while living a sustainable lifestyle.

Now that we’ve heard my thoughts, Miguel talks about his (7:02) and what to take into consideration when making a decision. A lot of times, it comes down to taste vs. food volume, so ask yourself how much of a difference there is between the two sides and how important one factor is over the other. At the end of the day, remember that the decision is yours and is all about balance. Moving on, we touch on tracking your macros while eating out (11:55). When you’re out at a restaurant, you can’t focus on eating until you’re full like you would if you were eating the macro friendly version. Instead, you want to eat until you’re satisfied and your craving is crushed. And to wrap up this episode, we emphasize the point that you and your goals are more important than the opinions of others (14:02).

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time stamps

In today’s episode, we’re talking all about meal plans. To kick things off, Miguel explains the research behind meal plans (1:35). There are two main types of meal plans. On one hand, you have a rigid dietary restraint and that’s the idea that you have a meal plan where you’re either “on” or “off” with no in between. On the other, there’s a flexible dietary restraint. This is where you understand that certain foods and calories can be switched out. So what are the benefits to having a meal plan? Probably the most important being that it provides you with structure. With structure comes the ability to reverse engineer your day (5:37).

There are going to be moments throughout your day when you can’t or don’t have the time to think about food. For these times, you have two options. You can either eat a typical meal that you know you enjoy or you can plan out your food/macros the night before. While you’re creating structure, you know that nutrition can be thought of as a dimmer switch. The goal is to track now, so you don’t have to for the rest of your life (9:03).

Moving on, we discuss society’s weight gain problem. If you follow Layne Norton, you’ve heard him say, “we don’t have a weight loss problem, we have a weight gain problem” (13:57). People can diet and lose weight, we see that. The problem is when people stop dieting and go back to their old behaviors like not moving as much or not thinking about their cravings. Diets aren’t some sort of a reset button. Something has to change in order for you to maintain your weight, new shape, etc. With that being said, the people that find success with dieting are those that incorporate their new behaviors into their life, for the rest of their life.
And now, to wrap this episode up, we touch on why we promote Flexible Dieting (19:55).

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time stamps

In today’s episode, we dive into calorie cycling. To start things off, we explain that your diet is not ruined after indulging in one high calorie day (1:45). Our body notices trends, recognizes feedback, and is always working to get back to an equilibrium state. So if you’re in “flow” during the week doing what you love, it’s okay to eat lower calorie on those days and a little more on the weekends (7:47). It’s about figuring out what works best for you and your schedule, as well as finding overall consistency.

Moving on, we talk about why don’t you have to force feed yourself at the end of the night if haven’t hit your macros (9:27). There are going to be days where you’re either in constant flow or just get busy and before you know it, have barely eaten anything. If you’re hungry, eat but if you aren’t, it’s okay to just call it a night. By not forcing food, you’ll possibly lose just a little bit of weight and/or you’ll have more calories to play with that week. On the other hand, if you overeat by 100 calories, more times than not, you won’t have to eat 100 calories less the next day (12:49).

This is because when your body gets a small influx of extra food, especially in a dieting phase, there’s a good chance it’ll give you the physiological response to move a little more the next day. However, if you eat an extra thousand or so calories, your body will only burn a greater percentage of it off. Now to wrap things up, we harpe on the importance of listening to your body (15:38). Remember that your body isn’t happening to you but for you – it wants to survive and live a long life.

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time stamps

In today’s episode, we’re going to walk you through how to build your own calorie cycling plan. First and foremost, you’ll want to look at your week as a whole (0:39). Most people are typically busier during the week with more free time during the weekend. Once you know that, the next step is to figure out your weekly total. To do that, multiply each macro goal for the day by 7.

Now that you’ve done that, you have to decide whether you want to start with your weekday or weekend calories then reverse engineer from there. The biggest thing you want to remember is not to eat less during the week to only overeat over the weekend. You’ll also want to keep protein constant, so play with just your carbs and fats. Another option you have is to taper your calories (3:54) and slowly add in more calories throughout the week.

Now that I’ve talked through how I’d approach setting up my game plan, Miguel walks you through his (5:29). Start by taking the average amount of calories you want to eat for the week, then reduce that number by 10-15%. Once you’ve done that, add those calories to the day where you want to have more food to play with and will be eating a little more. It doesn’t matter which method you use, as long as you have those checks and balances. To wrap up this two part episode, we touch on the difference between calorie cycling and carb cycling (8:45) so be sure to continue listening if you want to learn more!

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time stamps

In today’s episode, we’re going to take you through our top macro friendly food options, tips, and tricks. Before we begin, we define the term “macro friendly” (0:30) as those foods that give you a lot of volume and doesn’t take up a lot of your macros. It’s important to keep in mind though that this word is relative to each individual. If you’re familiar with me, you know where I stand in this space. However, Miguel is the opposite of a foodie. He uses food volume in a dieting phase to fill him up by adding in and eating a lot of vegetables (3:00). Your stomach has these sensors that tell you when you’re full, but these sensors do come with diminishing returns (5:02). So, you want to be strategic and desensitize your stomach when you’re bulking and don’t need as much voluminous foods for when you do.

Now I’ll go through a list of various foods, with a few tips here and there, that are macro friendly (7:08). First on the list is rice cakes (7:28). You should think of rice cakes as a vessel that you can make sweet or savory. Second, we have canned pure pumpkin (8:42). You can mix this in with your protein powder, nonfat greek yogurt, and pudding mix and even spread it on top of a rice cake. Third, I like to add Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges (9:37) on top of my rice cakes with a little bit of seasoning and a whole egg. Before I go on, I want to mention that it isn’t a bad idea to pair your macro friendly foods, like a side of vegetables, with your not-so macro friendly foods (10:15). Also, when you’re dieting, it’s all about finding the minimum effective dosage (12:15) because you’re trying to solve a craving. When it comes to cooking vegetables (12:45), you want to cook them properly so be sure to listen for how I cook and flavor mine. And when it comes to cooking, in general, use cooking spray instead of oil to save yourself a lot of macros.

Miguel and I talked about this previously, and it’s something we wanted to bring up in this episode. When it comes to a product like Walden Farms (19:24), we both agreed that it’s okay to use but you don’t want it to become a crutch. The same thing goes for diet sodas (23:26). I drink two Zevias a day while I’m cooking to help me hold off on grazing until I’m finished cooking my meal entirely (23:57). With this being said, it’s important to not wait until you’re 100% hungry to eat. You want to be proactive, drink your water, and not put yourself in a position to overeat (25:23). Moving on, I explain how to build a salad (26:14) and my thoughts on fat free cheese slices (30:01). And to wrap things up, I provide a few tips on how to incorporate the following foods into your meals (31:20) – plain nonfat greek yogurt, puffed cereal and mini chocolate chips as toppings, coconut flour for baking, frozen berries, popcorn, unsweetened cashew/almond milk and Stevia drops, and protein powder.

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about “diet breaks.” Diet breaks are a short period away from your diet and usually lasts for about 1-2 weeks (1:43). The goal is to eat at maintenance for that duration of time to not only give your body permission to recover, but to also feel safe. While trying to understand what made a person quit their diet, researchers discovered that those going through a dieting phase were better at adhering to their diet when given a diet break (2:10). Per the time spent dieting, a diet break can make your diet more efficient, therefore you’ll be able to lose more fat (4:02). A few reasons as to why this is the case includes a decrease in your metabolic rate, a decrease in NEAT, and a decrease in your body’s leptin levels. So at the end of a diet break, taking all things into consideration, your body will be more effective at losing fat.

Moving forward, we’re going to discuss when to implement a diet break (8:24) by giving you three different scenarios. The first will be someone in a contest prep, the second will be an everyday individual, and the third will be someone who’s obese. For someone in a contest prep, meaning that this individual is going to extreme levels of dieting, Miguel recommends dieting for 4 weeks and taking a 1 week diet break. For an everyday individual, who’s aiming to lose somewhere between 10 and 20lbs, he’d suggest either a 4:1 or 5:1 ratio. And lastly, for someone who is obese, a 6:1 ratio. This is because if someone is obese, s/he has more energy available since fat is stored as energy, therefore, there’s not much risk of muscle loss. No matter what type of dieting phase you’re going through, whether it be extreme or not, a benefit to a diet break is to teach yourself how to have healthy eating habits for when you’re not dieting (20:46). To wrap this episode up, we take you through how to implement a diet break and how to find your new maintenance calories (23:33). If you’re unsure and need a little guidance, be sure to continue listening.

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we’re talking about reverse dieting. Reverse dieting is the process we go through to reverse the effects of our diet, which is going to look different for different people (3:01). One of the reasons we go through a reverse diet is because at the end of a dieting phase, our actual metabolic rate is lower than our predicted metabolic rate (3:20). Therefore, we want to slowly add calories back in so our body realizes that it doesn’t need to be as conservative as it was before. This isn’t something “magical,” which some people tend to believe. Like we previously said, this is just to get our bodies back to a level of intake that makes sense for our body weight and composition at the time.

Moving forward, let’s discuss the biggest thing to consider prior to entering a reverse dieting phase (9:05) and that is that you’re going to be expending less energy throughout the day. Since you’re moving a smaller body, you’re going to need less energy to maintain that weight and you most likely won’t be able to eat like you did before. Taking that into consideration, you’ll have to recalculate your maintenance calories. The first step to doing that is to get a conservative estimate of what you’ll need to eat and when you get there, know that it’s okay to put on a little bit of weight. The second step will be to wait until your weight stabilizes for a little while, then increase your calories some more. Let us preface this by saying that some people will have a higher response to more food, so you’ll want to check in with yourself constantly. Reverse dieting is a slow, planned out process.

Now to wrap this episode up, we take you through two different examples. The first being a male (18:33) and the second being a female (26:57). With each example, we take you through what it’ll look like, as well as how and when to increase calories. The process and numbers will be slightly different because females have smaller bodies than males do. One of the biggest things to remember is that you don’t need to increase your calories on a “schedule” because everyone’s going to go through a different process (38:05). Don’t think you need to match other people’s intakes because you don’t.

• Links:

  @theflexibledietinglifestyle

  The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

  @mblacutt

  Time Stamps:

  In today’s episode, we’re talking about placebo. The word originally comes from one that means “I shall please” (1:49). However, fast forward to today, it’s an intervention that has no true physiological effect but has such an effect on your psychology. Back in 2004, a study was done with two groups of people with advanced Parkinson’s disease, which Miguel makes sure to discuss in more depth (4:23). 

  Moving forward, let’s go into the topic of supplements and placebo (8:15). More than 95% of the supplements on the market are placebo benefited, which means that people taking a certain supplement thinks it is doing more than it’s actually doing. CBD being a prime example (9:00) because of the conditions you have to keep in mind that are susceptible to placebo. Those conditions include things that are chronic, highly subjective, lack physiological symptoms, and have fluctuations – anxiety, digestives, and headache to name a few (10:45). Going off of these conditions, Miguel explains that it is the expectation that an individual has from a certain treatment that induces the placebo effect (11:47), as well as having a diagnosis of the condition you have. For example, if you have gut problems or a sleep disorder, a strong diagnosis will significantly improve your symptoms, even if it’s the wrong diagnosis (12:40). If you’re in pain and you’re given a solution, you want it to work, even if it doesn’t.

  Previously, a study around chronic pain (17:09) was done where people were told they were getting a placebo effect, yet those people still felt reductions in their pain levels. This study just goes to show that a sense of hope and a vision of better times are so powerful. To wrap up this episode, Miguel dives into a final animals vs human study – taking placebo out of the equation (21:52), the effect on the outcome of the treatment based on the individual giving it to you (25:20), and the complexity of/your adherence to the treatment itself (30:39)

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we are continuing the discussion on Counter Diets. How in our nutritional world, counter diet’s are super popular because it makes an easy distinction between each diet. Makes the rules very simple and leave very little to now overlap. Creates a war between the two diets.

In today’s podcast we go deep into three very popular counter diets:

IIFYM vs Clean Eating (1:00)

No Carbs After 6 vs Carb Backloading (10:30)

Low Fat vs Low Carb (16:40)

Check out Part 1 for:

Vegan vs. Carnivore

Intermittent Fasting vs 6-8 Meals Per Day

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we’re talking about Counter Diets. How in our nutritional world, counter diet’s are super popular because it makes an easy distinction between each diet. Makes the rules very simple and leave very little to now overlap. Creates a war between the two diets.

In today’s podcast we go deep into two very popular counter diets:

Vegan vs. Carnivore (2:30)

Intermittent Fasting vs 6-8 Meals Per Day (13:33)

Check out Part 2 of this episode for:

IIFYM vs Clean Eating

No Carbs After 6 vs Carb Backloading

Low Fat vs Low Carb

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we’re talking all about dairy with a focus on cow milk (1:15). Cow’s milk is made up of two proteins – casein and whey. The biggest difference between the two is that casein, due to its chemical structure is slower digesting than whey. When it comes to dairy consumption, a lot of people think that it’s bad and is the cause of a variety of issues like inflammation (3:50). This may be the case for those people that are lactose intolerant but not for all. 

To dive a little deeper, Miguel explains the importance of dairy (4:17), as well as the benefits of consuming it (8:32) such as bone mineral density. For females, more so than males, it’s important to consume enough calcium and vitamin because it is not something you can “make up for” later on in life. Additionally, the enzymes needed to digest dairy are highest when we’re first born, since we rely on it to survive, but are lost as we age. Now that we’ve covered why you should consumer dairy, if you can, Miguel talks on a few of the different myths (14:17). If you’re curious to hear more, be sure to continue listening. What you want to remember is that dairy isn’t inherently bad for you and is actually a high quality protein source (22:19).

To wrap up this episode, Zach tells a little bit of his personal story about how he went from being lactose intolerant as a kid to not (26:07) and Miguel answers the question of whether consuming one or a few protein shakes a day is good or bad for you (31:47).

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we talk all about how to build your training program. It’s important to understand that while nutrition is the main driver for fat loss, your training is the main driver for muscle gain (2:01). The first step is to figure out the correct amount of volume (3:33). Traditionally, volume has been referred to as the total (reps x weights x sets) amount of kilos you lift during a training session. However, recent research shows that you can actually quantify the amount of volume just by looking at your sets. How much volume you perform is going to depend on your experience levels (5:15). For example, beginners will want to work towards 5-10 sets per muscle per week while a novice/intermediate athlete will be between 10 and 20 sets. More advanced athletes, though, will probably train with lower volume. At the end of the day, you want to ask yourself, “what’s the minimum amount of volume that’ll give me the changes I want in muscle growth?” The second step (10:19) is to figure out how much you’ll be lifting. Studies have shown that it doesn’t really matter, as long as you come close to failure. Be sure to continue listening if you want to learn more about this, as well as the concept of effect reps. Zach then brings up the idea that people have of generating a lot of total volume by sprinkling in various activity and movement throughout the day (11:51). 

Moving forward, Miguel gives a few recommendations on how to approach your training if you don’t like to lift heavy (14:50).  The third step is to figure out frequency (16:40), which is how often are you going to train each muscle group. The latest research shows that 2 times per week is better than 1 time per week, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a benefit going 2+ times per week. This will come with trial and error and figuring out what you like best. For example, one person might like a push/pull/legs split while another prefers an upper/lower body split. 

So, what causes muscle growth (23:00)? The answer here is mechanical tension, which ties into progressive overload. Progressive overload is a way to increase the tension placed on your muscle fibers in an appropriate way. Over time, you’ll want to slowly increase volume. With that being said, there’s this common misconception that this needs to happen from session to session. In reality, you just need to increase your training volume over time, which will depend on your training age. There are two ways to increase your training volume (26:27). The first is called a waveload progression – for those big, compound movements, and the second being a double progression. To wrap this episode up, Miguel dives into the rest-pause concept (36:57) and exercise selection (46:59). 

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, you’re going to be taken through the steps of building out your training program. To kick things off, we explain how to time your training in a way to make sure your body has enough time to recover (0:40). If you are a natural athlete, your body is inefficient at building muscle. Therefore, you have to be more calculated with your approach and realistic with how much muscle you’re going to gain. When you first start training, your body is going to have a “steroid” response (2:49) but once you get to a certain point, your body will say “we’re good.” The reason being that our bodies are always monitoring what will give us the most ROI to simply survive. 

Moving forward, we talk through a few different ways to structure your training and recovery time (3:52). The amount of time your body’s going to need to recover will depend on how much work you put into the previous session. Additionally, know that the more days you train per week, the more flexibility you’re going to have. However, at the end of the day, you have to make sure your training is personalized for what fits you best. 

We don’t dive into too much detail but touch a little bit on cardio (13:18). The biggest thing to remember is that you don’t want your cardio to take away from your training. So if you can, you want to train and do your cardio on completely separate days. However, since that isn’t ideal for most people, you’ll want to make sure you’re completing the two at different times (i.e. mornings and evenings) of the day. If that doesn’t work for you either, save your cardio for after your training. And to wrap up this two part episode, we answer the question of whether or not weight training is necessary for fat loss (15:09). 

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about an underrated topic – sleep. We start off by discussing the effects of sleep on both appetite and energy levels (2:00). Sleep is not only important for when you’re lowering food, during a dieting phase for example, but also for when you’re managing your calorie intake. Research has shown that a lack of sleep causes a decrease in leptin levels and an increase in ghrelin levels, which results in you being hungrier. Therefore, getting a solid night’s sleep each night will help reset those hormones and get them back in a normal range (4:43). Additionally, you want to take into consideration that a lack of sleep can reduce your ability to have inhibitions like saying “no” to a slice of cake (5:43). After realizing this, a lot of professional athletes have started to increase their hours of sleep per night to better their performance. 

Now that we’ve covered the basics, Miguel walks through a few different studies. He starts off with a 2018 study done around a commonly held belief that you can “catch up” on sleep and still get the benefits of a full night’s sleep (10:48). A lot of people think that because they feel fine, their body is performing in an optimal state but that isn’t the case. It’s almost impossible to erase a, for example, 15 hour sleep deficit that accumulated over the work week over the weekend. The result of this study showed that while both groups lost the same amount of weight, the people who got less sleep during the work week saw more than an 80% loss of lean muscle mass.

A second study (19:05) compared a group of people who slept 8.5 hours and another group who slept only 5.5 hours per night. Similar to the first study, this one proved that a lack of sleep will lead to a decrease in muscle mass. Miguel covers a third and final study in this episode and the results of this one shows that sleep restriction leads to a suffering of those bigger compound movements such as squats and deadlifts (26:10). To wrap things up, Zach reiterates how important getting enough sleep is, especially if you want to stay on track while eating intuitively. Additionally, Miguel drives home the idea that if you aren’t tracking your caloric intake, you’ll most likely be eating more than you should (32:01). Therefore, your weight loss will be a loss of lean mass and not fat loss. 

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Tips for Improving Sleep Blueprint

Personal Sleep Tracker

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In today’s episode, we take you through a 10-step process to build your perfect night’s sleep. 

1. Building your sleep sanctuary (1:50). 
2. Your morning sets the tone for a great night’s sleep (5:26). Miguel touches on your body’s melatonin and cortisol ratio and how you can keep these levels in balance with one another throughout the day. 
3. Caffeine intake and its half life (10:35). 
4. Working out and the timing of it (14:43). You want to ask yourself, “how can I build a training regimen so I can fall asleep as soon as I lay down at night?” 
5. Food intake (18:24). Some people can go to sleep with a full stomach and others cannot, so you’re going to have to figure out what’s best for you; this is relative. 
6. Water intake (22:55). 
7. Blue light glasses (25:52) to limit the amount of blue light we’re exposed to, especially closer to the time you’re going to sleep. 
8. Decreasing your overall technology usage prior to going to bed (26:12). 
9. A consistent pre-bedtime ritual (27:49). 
10. Supplementation (30:47). This is the last thing you should be worrying about. 

To wrap up this episode, I take you through my sleep schedule (35:37), then Miguel (40:38) walks through what his.

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

Today’s episode is a little different than what you’re used to hearing. I was asked to be a guest on Jean and John Glaude’s podcast, Work for Change, to help educate their audience on how they can eat the foods they love and enjoy it. I share my story, my opinion on diets and nutrition as a whole, explain how I built The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle, my passion and vision for the future, and so much more!

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Find Your Macros App

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In today’s episode, we take you through the process of how we created the FindYourMacros app and why we approached it the way we did. We start off by explaining the purpose of a macro calculator (2:45), then walk you through the equation we followed to calculate these numbers for you on the back end (6:30). It’s important to remember that these numbers are an estimate, as is the equation itself.

After you’ve tracked your macros for a little while, your goals may or may not shift. If they did, you’re going to want to adjust those initial numbers. Be sure to continue listening because Miguel goes explains, step-by-step, how you’d go about it (26:57). To wrap things up, we dive deeper into the alcohol tracking portion of the app, as well as touch on alcohol metabolism (30:41). Sine alcohol has calories, we want to make sure you understand how to correctly substitute your drink of choice for your carb and/or fat intake for the day.

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we’re talking about how to get the people around you to track macros. Miguel kicks things off with a study that was done a few years ago understanding how powerful your environment is to your success (3:00), specifically the relationship between an individual and weight gain. This study showed that someone with low self esteem and/or anxiety was more prone to weight gain and furthermore, that shame from other people was the mediating variable. It comes down to control (5:38) and the simple fact that people want to be able to make decisions for themselves. With that being said, for a lot of people, that control is food and eating. In other words, to cope with shame, most people eat and that’s what makes them feel better. However, that is what we want to get away from. 

Let’s set the stage (6:20) – you’re starting to track macros but your friends and family aren’t familiar with the idea of it. As you’re going through the process of learning it all, the last thing you want to do is talk about how hard it is because at the end of the day, they don’t want to see you doing something that isn’t making you happy. So instead, you want to only share the highlights and benefits. Once you’re 6 months down the road, have a better grip on tracking your macros, and flourishing, that’s when you can talk about the struggles. Because the idea of tracking macros is so unfamiliar, most people don’t understand or even know the rewards that come with it (9:13). 

So, how do you get other people to start tracking their macros (11:28)? In addition to most people not knowing the rewards that comes with tracking, a lot of people have a mental association with any diet being restrictive and scarce. Therefore, you need to lead by example and let them see your results. In a matter of time, they’ll come to you and start asking questions. They need it to be their choice, and not yours, which goes back to the idea of being in control. 

At the end of the day, you have to remember to be mindful of who you’re talking to and what that person is going through (13:22). If someone’s coming to you with questions and for advice, it’s because they’re struggling with something internally. Now to wrap things up, Miguel’s going to discuss one more study that tested binge impulses with emotional variables and how they have an impact on eating disorders. Be sure to continue listening if you want to hear more about this one.

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we’re talking about stress. To kick things off, Miguel takes us back in time and explains the evolution of stress so we can better understand it (3:27). This will be somewhat of a recap of what we discussed in a previous episode. Historically, stress was physical; however, as of recently, it’s become non-physical including things like work deadlines or an argument/fight you got into with a friend or family member. The problem with this is that it results in chronic stress when really, the stress response should be acute and last only a couple of minutes or hours.

We live in a world where we cultivate stress at any time of day (7:10) because of the many contributing factors that are more than just physical. Things such as your job, relationships, food choices, and recovery – just to name a few, leads to your cup overflowing. With this being said, you want to put yourself in the best position to succeed so the only thing causes you to stress are outside factors. 

As for cortisol, it will affect your training because when this hormone becomes elevated, it turns catabolic (12:15). As a result, instead of burning fat, your body will resort to burning protein. Our immune system, when training, is tied to have the same response as when you get a cold (17:20). Moving on, we touch on a few  stress management tactics (22:13) so be sure to continue listening if you want to hear more.

To wrap up this episode, Miguel goes into depth about two different studies. The first one (22:38) observed a group of people getting 7-8 hours of sleep per night and another group that got 5 hours per night but an addition hour each weekend night. The results here showed that the group who slept less during the week lost 80% muscle and the group who got 7-8 hours each night lost 85% fat. The second study (31:24), which took place in 2014, was around stress management. This study looked at people going through an exercise program, as well as life events (i.e. traumatic situations) and seeing what their overall health outcome was. Remember, each of us has our own ways we deal with stress (42:35). It’s important to remember that when it comes to stress, you want to be able to label what it is, figure out how to minimize it, and maximize your recovery modalities. 

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we’re talking about my life changing surplus where I was focused on putting on a significant amount of muscle mass and healthy body fat. To kick things off, Miguel asks me about my mindset and relationship with food prior to going into a surplus (4:05). My relationship with food was different than it’s ever been. I was looking at food as the opportunity to create something new and not as food itself. This comes from having a business around creating low calorie foods that people can enjoy without feeling deprived. With that being said, Miguel asks me whether my business has led me to having a bad relationship with food (6:45). I’d be lying if I said no because it is my sole purpose; however, over time, I’ve learned to check in with myself. For example, I’ll ask myself if I’m enjoying the food I’m eating or not. Along the lines of checking in with myself, I open up and talk about my biggest insecurity – the roundness of my face when I gain weight. Being immersed in the nutritional space, I too often let my leanness determine my self worth and validity. Now that I’ve gone through this process though, I’ve come to realize that I can make a much bigger impact and this investment will provide returns for the rest of my life. 

Moving on, we talk about the bulk itself (17:13). I went from 151lbs to 185lbs without really tracking macros because about a month into my reverse, started eating intuitively. I did this by building out a system where I’d eat similar meals around the same time on a daily basis. Even though I wasn’t tracking, I made sure to have some sort of structure. I also learned to trust myself more, because we are our own worst critic. To wrap things up, Miguel asks me about perspective (26:00) and how I knew I wanted to start a cut (34:20). 

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Find Your Macros App

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we’re talking about how to bulk. Miguel starts things off by explaining why you should bulk, as well as the advantages of doing so (2:09). Your total training volume is the most important factor that plays into your body’s recovery and your nutrition comes in at a close second. Being in a caloric surplus will allow you to train higher volumes and progress at a faster rate. As you gain muscle and a little bit of body fat, your range of motion is going to change, which will result in you being able to lift heavier. Moving on, we talk about going on a bulk from a psychological standpoint (5:21). It’s important to have a good relationship with food and be able to focus on what all your body can accomplish. As you gain body fat and weight, your clothes might not fit like they used to before, and that’s okay. This is where you’re going to have to focus on your gym performance and make sure to not self sabotage yourself.

When you’re deciding whether to start a bulk or not, there are a few things to consider (7:28). The first is that you’re going to want to be below 15% body fat because if you’re committing to a bulk, it should be a minimum of 3 months long. The second is looking at where you’re currently at in life, your stress levels, what your ability to recover looks like, your quality of sleep, and the frequency at which you can train. Once you’ve made a decision to bulk, your next step is going to be to figure out at what rate you want to bulk (15:42). Miguel recommends a quarter to a half percentage of your body weight per week. The second step is to decide on your caloric intake (19:27). Miguel dives into a little bit of detail here using a 150lb individual wanting to gain half a percentage of body weight per week as an example. Finally, you’ll want to figure out what your macronutrient breakdown will be (22:23). When you were in a calorie deficit, your protein was probably a little higher. This is because in a deficit, you want to consume enough protein to ensure you don’t lose muscle. However, in a surplus, you’re going to be able to consume less protein (0.82 grams of protein per pound) when in a bulk. And to wrap this episode up, we touch on how you know when to end your bulk (26:23).

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Find Your Macros App

Brett’s Instagram

Brett’s New Book 

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In today’s episode, we have world renowned glute expert, Brett Contreras, on with us. This interview is going to be split into two parts because of all the information and value Brett shared! Brett starts things off by explaining the importance of having strong glutes (3:56). Strong glutes can help prevent pain and strain, as well as injuries. Additionally, on the more functional side, they will help with compound bodybuilding movements. Our glutes are the  most versatile muscle for sports performance, including agility work.

Moving on, Brett dives into the first step to building up your glutes (7:35), which is to make sure you’re familiar with the movements and how they feel. Once you are, that’s when you can start adding weight and exploring a more variety of movements. On this note, we asked Brett to touch on the difference between a hip thrust and a glute bridge (9:06) because a lot of people interchange the two terms. To wrap part one of this two part series, we ask Brett what the most important muscle to train when developing your glutes is (11:44) and how someone can start programming glute training into their workouts (22:07).

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Find Your Macros App

Brett’s Instagram

Brett’s New Book 

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In today’s episode, we continue with part two of this two part interview series with Brett Contreras where he discusses his studies and research in the industry. He not only explains the process of putting together and publishing research, but the different ways his research has been and is viewed by others.

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Find Your Macros App

Brett’s Instagram

Brett’s New Book 

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we’re bringing you a full analysis of “The Game Changers” film. To start off, Miguel talks about how the documentary does not do a good job of presenting valid evidence (2:18). Instead of allowing the viewers to make their own choice, the argument was presented as you either go fully plant-based or fully carnivore. Taking a deeper dive into things, we explain all-cause mortality and case specific mortality, because some studies show that vegans have a lower risk of all-cause mortality (8:40). However, an individual who follows a vegan diet is someone who’s already taken a step towards restricting their diet and has to be aware of what all is going into their body. With that being said, a vegan’s overall lifestyle will lean towards being more conducive to overall health because of their behavior such as more movement throughout the day (17:01). Studies that simply compare vegans to the average North American individual prove that vegans have lower rates of mortality, but that isn’t a fair comparison. This is because to see accurate results, we need to compare a vegan to a lifestyle-controlled North American. And when we do that, the risk of both all-cause and case mortality is the same. 

Moving forward, we get into the topic of plant versus animal foods and protein sources (24:19). The documentary says that because cows get their energy from plants, we can get our energy from plants directly, which isn’t the case. Different sources of protein have different compositions, as well as different amounts of protein to maximize muscle protein synthesis. Be sure to continue listening if you’re interested in learning more about the various types of plant-based protein sources, how much is needed per meal to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, and the deficiencies that come from being on a vegan diet (40:20). 

To wrap up this episode, we talk about an experiment with three Miami Dolphins players (46:54) and a similar one done with another group of athletes (54:50). Both experiments lack validity in showing proof as to why a vegan diet is superior to a non-vegan diet. And lastly, Miguel touches on why highly processed, vegan foods don’t provide the same benefits as eating whole plants and foods (1:03:16). 

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Find Your Macros App

Brett’s Instagram

Brett’s New Book 

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we have Layne Norton on the podcast to talk about fat loss. Miguel starts things off by asking him to explain why we don’t have a weight loss problem, so be sure to continue listening if you want to hear more (6:00). If you were to look at things from an evolutionary perspective, our life goal is to pass on our genetics and that is why our body wants to regulate its fat reserves.

Moving on, Layne dives into the discussion of obesity, which started showing up in the 1960s, and whether it’s possible for someone to exercise their way out of being overweight (11:53). And to wrap up this episode, he takes us through the three prongs written out in his Fat Loss Forever book (15:21).

Links:

@theflexibledietinglifestyle

The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle

@mblacutt

Find Your Macros App

Brett’s Instagram

Brett’s New Book 

Time Stamps:

In today’s episode, we continue with part two of our interview with Layne Norton. We ask him how to read research and why there is no such thing as the perfect study. If you want to know his personal thoughts on various diets including intermittent fasting, intuitive eating, and flexible dieting, be sure to listen all the way through the end.