Want to build muscle, lose fat, and train smarter? ⁠⁠⁠Join the new Physique University for just $27/month⁠⁠⁠ and get your custom nutrition plan FREE (limited time).

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Can your smartphone really rival a $100,000 DEXA scan? What if the same device you use to scroll Instagram could also reveal your body fat percentage, fat distribution, and even your HRV?

I sit down with Jason Moore, founder and CEO of Spren, a company turning your phone into a precision biometric tool. We talk about how Spren compares to gold-standard lab equipment, why body composition tells you more than scale weight ever could, and why tracking trends is often more important than chasing perfect numbers. This conversation will show you how technology can bring lab-grade insights straight to your pocket.

Today, you’ll learn all about:

0:00 – Intro
2:36 – Why body composition matters
6:56 – How a phone measures fat
10:55 – Accuracy versus precision explained
14:38 – Lean mass and muscle changes
20:15 – Why fat distribution is key
29:56 – Apple versus pear body shapes
33:20 – How often should you measure
40:15 – Using your phone for HRV
45:34 – Predicting VO₂ max with data
48:32 – Turning numbers into outcomes

Episode resources:

• Website: spren.com 
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thehumanjason 
• Instagram: @thehumanjason 

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training and fat loss program for lifters over 40 to build muscle, lose fat, and maintain your weight loss and physique (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for evidence-based fitness and nutrition over 40. Real-time, personalized guidance that evolves with your data and lifestyle to help you build muscle, lose fat, and body recomp

👥 Join our Facebook community -  For adults over 40 who want to build muscle with strength training and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (evidence-based nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss and nutrition podcasts for adults over 40! 🙏

Get your FFMI calculated automatically with the Physique & Biofeedback Tracker in Physique University to track your actual muscle development over time and understand exactly what phase of training you should focus on next. This special link also gets you a FREE custom nutrition plan:
bit.ly/wwpu-free-plan

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Is your strength training actually building muscle?

Scale weight fluctuates, body fat measurements are inconsistent, and progress photos depend on lighting and angles.

There's one metric that cuts through all this noise:

Fat-Free Mass Index (FFMI)

It shows your actual muscle development regardless of whether you're carrying extra fat or feeling bloated, and once you understand yours, it changes everything about setting goals and how to focus your training.

Most lifters have never heard of FFMI. Unlike body weight or even body fat percentage, FFMI isolates your actual muscular development from everything else, giving you clarity about your progress that no other measurement can.

Main Takeaways:

• FFMI measures your muscularity independent of body fat percentage
• Two people with the same training experience can have vastly different FFMI numbers, requiring completely different approaches
• Building muscle takes years, while losing fat takes months, so you need a more precise way to track this
• Your FFMI determines whether you should prioritize muscle building or fat loss (vs. your feelings or the mirror)

Episode Resources:

• Chef's Foundry non-toxic ceramic cookware (50% off): witsandweights.com/chefsfoundry
• Body Recomp Workshop replay and bonuses at live.witsandweights.com (includes free custom nutrition plan)

Timestamps:

0:00 - What is FFMI and why it's a game changer
5:06 - 2 scenarios that reveal everything about your training focus
8:16 - FFMI values explained (what your number actually means)
11:15 - How FFMI determines whether you should cut vs. bulk
17:12 - Natural vs. enhanced FFMI limit
19:45 - Why low FFMI means muscle building is your priority
22:14 - How the fitness industry gets muscle vs. fat loss backward
25:29 - Tracking FFMI over time to validate objective progress
27:03 - Muscle development vs. body composition

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training and fat loss program for lifters over 40 to build muscle, lose fat, and maintain your weight loss and physique (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for evidence-based fitness and nutrition over 40. Real-time, personalized guidance that evolves with your data and lifestyle to help you build muscle, lose fat, and body recomp

👥 Join our Facebook community -  For adults over 40 who want to build muscle with strength training and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (evidence-based nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss and nutrition podcasts for adults over 40! 🙏

Build muscle and lose fat (no dieting or bulking) with the 90-Day Body Recomp Workshop replay + bonuses (90-day week-by-week plan, custom nutrition plan, and training programs for 3, 4, and 5 days per week):
live.witsandweights.com

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You've been told that belly fat gain during midlife is inevitable... just part of aging and declining hormones that you have to accept.

Recent research from the landmark SWAN study that followed 308 women for 12 years reveals the truth: "menopause belly" isn't random aging.

It's a specific, predictable hormonal reshaping of where your body stores fat that begins 3 years before menopause and can be prevented and reversed.

Discover the exact timing windows when intervention works best, why some women don't experience this shift at all, and the nutrition and strength training over 40 strategies that actually help you lose fat and take control of your body composition during this transition.

Main Takeaways:

• Menopause belly is a measurable shift from protective fat storage (hips/thighs) to dangerous visceral fat around organs (not just general weight gain)
• Fat redistribution accelerates dramatically during the menopause transition but begins up to 3 years earlier
• You can prevent and reverse this fat redistribution

Episode Resources:

• 90-Day Body Recomp Workshop with replay and bonuses: live.witsandweights.com
• Chef's Foundry non-toxic ceramic cookware (50% off): witsandweights.com/chefsfoundry

Timestamps:

0:00 - The research on menopause belly fat
5:41 - Visceral vs. android vs. gynoid fat patterns
7:50 - When fat redistribution actually begins
9:33 - Biological mechanisms
12:59 - Individual differences
14:40 - 5 ways to reverse menopause belly fat
24:23 - Why this research is empowering for all women

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training and fat loss program for lifters over 40 to build muscle, lose fat, and maintain your weight loss and physique (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for evidence-based fitness and nutrition over 40. Real-time, personalized guidance that evolves with your data and lifestyle to help you build muscle, lose fat, and body recomp

👥 Join our Facebook community -  For adults over 40 who want to build muscle with strength training and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (evidence-based nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss and nutrition podcasts for adults over 40! 🙏

This week in my Instagram feed, I shared 2 critical principles that determine if your nutrition plan will actually work for fat loss and muscle building in real life, such as:

• When life is at its messiest, not just when everything is perfect
• Dealing with social events, travel, and celebrations (birthday cake!)
• Eating more but not eating more calories
• Making fat loss easier and more sustainable

Follow me on Instagram @witsandweights to read more pithy, nerdy, out-of-the-blue, but ultimately helpful (i.e., practical!) thoughts on fat loss, nutrition, training, diets, behavior, psychology, and more.

Send me a DM letting me know which principles resonate with you and how you plan to implement them!

Just go to instagram.com/witsandweights

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training and fat loss program for lifters over 40 to build muscle, lose fat, and maintain your weight loss and physique (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for evidence-based fitness and nutrition over 40. Real-time, personalized guidance that evolves with your data and lifestyle to help you build muscle, lose fat, and body recomp

👥 Join our Facebook community -  For adults over 40 who want to build muscle with strength training and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (evidence-based nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss and nutrition podcasts for adults over 40! 🙏

Join Physique University (free for 2 weeks) to engineer your best physique using our science-based fat loss and muscle-building blueprint

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Why can two people follow the same diet and training plan but get completely different results? Could your DNA explain why fat loss feels harder, or why recovery takes longer? And is genetic testing the breakthrough it claims to be or just another fitness gimmick?

With me is Joe Cohen, founder and CEO of SelfDecode, to separate the science from the scams. Joe shares what your genes can actually tell you about building muscle, losing fat, and preventing disease, and where the industry is misleading you. We also dig into how combining genetic data with lab work creates actionable steps you can measure and adjust over time.

Tune in to discover whether your DNA could be the missing piece in your fitness journey.

Today, you’ll learn all about:

0:00 – Intro
2:17 – Why most DNA health tests fail
6:44 – Marketing hype vs real science
9:59 – Moving beyond the fitness basics
12:01 – Diseases genetics can predict well
16:38 – Universal habits vs targeted actions
18:15 – How SelfDecode prioritizes recommendations
22:43 – Genes and training insights
27:22 – Pathways and functional genetics
31:17 – Combining genetics with lab work
38:07 – Joe’s story of food intolerance
45:45 – Where to learn more about SelfDecode

Episode resources:

• Website: SelfDecode.com
• Instagram: @mrbiohacker 
• Facebook: @selfdecode 
• X: @SelfDecode 

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training and fat loss program for lifters over 40 to build muscle, lose fat, and maintain your weight loss and physique (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for evidence-based fitness and nutrition over 40. Real-time, personalized guidance that evolves with your data and lifestyle to help you build muscle, lose fat, and body recomp

👥 Join our Facebook community -  For adults over 40 who want to build muscle with strength training and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (evidence-based nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss and nutrition podcasts for adults over 40! 🙏

Get your free Nutrition 101 for Body Composition Guide to learn the fundamentals of energy balance, macros, and meal timing for building muscle and losing fat: witsandweights.com/free

Get Chef's Foundry P600 Ceramic Cookware - 50% off at witsandweights.com/chefsfoundry

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Stop letting inaccurate metabolism estimates sabotage your nutrition goals. 

The fitness industry has convinced us that estimating metabolism requires expensive tests, fancy gadgets, or complex formulas, but there's one method that cuts through the noise using evidence, engineering, and efficiency.

Your fitness tracker says you burned 3,200 calories, online calculators recommend 2,400 for maintenance, and your metabolic test shows 1,850 RMR. They're all probably wrong.

Discover the one method gives you your actual daily calorie burn with scientific precision so you can run your next fat loss or muscle building phase confidently and with success.

Main Takeaways:

• Your metabolism has 4 components that fluctuate constantly
• Online calculators can be off by 300-600 calories per person
• Fitness trackers have 27-93% error rates for energy expenditure
• The only accurate method is to track calorie intake + trend weight over 3-4 weeks to reverse-engineer your actual TDEE
• This approach is self-correcting, personalized, adaptive, and works even with imperfect food logging

Episode Resources:

• Try MacroFactor for free with code WITSANDWEIGHTS - the app that automates metabolism tracking using the method discussed
• Get Chef's Foundry P600 Ceramic Cookware - 50% off at witsandweights.com/chefsfoundry

Related Episode:

• 4 Ways to Increase Your Metabolism by 500 to 1000 Calories per Day

Timestamps:

0:01 - Why most metabolism estimates are completely wrong
6:30 - Online calculators
9:10 - Fitness trackers and wearables
10:43 - RMR testing
12:29 - Measuring inputs/outputs vs. mechanisms/effects
15:10 - How to calculate your real TDEE
23:38 - My favorite app that does this for you
26:08 - Imperfect food logging, water weight, and metabolic issues
30:40 - Why you should start tracking TODAY
31:48 - Becoming the scientist of your own physiology

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training and fat loss program for lifters over 40 to build muscle, lose fat, and maintain your weight loss and physique (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for evidence-based fitness and nutrition over 40. Real-time, personalized guidance that evolves with your data and lifestyle to help you build muscle, lose fat, and body recomp

👥 Join our Facebook community -  For adults over 40 who want to build muscle with strength training and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (evidence-based nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss and nutrition podcasts for adults over 40! 🙏

Join the 90-Day Body Recomp Workshop tomorrow (Tuesday, August 19) at 12 PM Eastern for only $27 (replay included). Get Philip's complete system for simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain, plus a custom nutrition plan. Register at live.witsandweights.com

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Think you need a calorie deficit to lose fat? Or months of bulking followed by months of cutting to reshape your physique?

Think again.

Body recomp (the simultaneous loss of fat and gain of muscle) isn't just possible... it's achievable for most people under the right conditions. 

With the right nutrition and lifting weights stimulus, your body can become remarkably efficient at energy partitioning, directing nutrients toward muscle growth while mobilizing stored fat for fuel. This is especially relevant for anyone focused on strength training over 40.

This episode breaks down exactly how this works: how your body can simultaneously burn fat and build muscle, often without scale changes.

Learn who can achieve this "impossible" feat and how to do it.

Main Takeaways:

• Body recomp is simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain, possible even at maintenance calories
• Your body actively partitions energy based on training stimulus and protein intake
• Beginners, detrained individuals, and overweight people have the highest recomp potential
• Scale weight becomes virtually useless - track strength, measurements, and photos too

Episode Resources:

• 90-Day Body Recomp Workshop - Tuesday, August 19, 12 PM Eastern ($27)
• Chef's Foundry P600 Non-Toxic Ceramic Cookware - 50% off at witsandweights.com/chefsfoundry

Timestamps:

0:01 - The scale weight paradox
3:45 - Body recomposition
5:06 - Why THIS is non-negotiable for recomp
6:48 - Energy partitioning and insulin sensitivity
9:30 - Who can achieve body recomp (spoiler: more people than you think)
12:27 - Detrained individuals
13:45 - Overweight or obese
15:09 - Older adults and advanced lifters
18:34 - What is required for body recomp & how to track
22:37 - Patience + realistic expectations
26:02 - Metabolic health improvements
28:39 - Sustainable physique development

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training and fat loss program for lifters over 40 to build muscle, lose fat, and maintain your weight loss and physique (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for evidence-based fitness and nutrition over 40. Real-time, personalized guidance that evolves with your data and lifestyle to help you build muscle, lose fat, and body recomp

👥 Join our Facebook community -  For adults over 40 who want to build muscle with strength training and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (evidence-based nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss and nutrition podcasts for adults over 40! 🙏

Register for the 90-Day Body Recomp Workshop this Tuesday, August 19th at 12pm Eastern (replay included) at live.witsandweights.com

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Tired of cutting and bulking (or just don't want to)? Frustrated with approaches that leave you either feeling too fluffy or too depleted?

Is there a middle ground that works instead?

Yes, it's called body recomposition or "body recomp" where you build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

Most people get stuck in the cut-bulk cycle, never feeling satisfied with where they land.

But body recomposition offers a smarter approach: a method that fuels muscle growth while still allowing for fat loss.

What You'll Learn:

• Why the scale lies during body recomp
• The 3 biggest myths keeping you stuck
• How "aggressive maintenance" works
• What metrics actually matter for tracking progress

Ready to dive deeper?

Join the 90-Day Body Recomp Workshop this Tuesday, August 19th at 12pm Eastern (replay + bonuses included).

Get the complete 3-phase plan, Physique & Biofeedback Tracker, training template, and a full month in Wits & Weights Physique University.

Register: live.witsandweights.com

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training and fat loss program for lifters over 40 to build muscle, lose fat, and maintain your weight loss and physique (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for evidence-based fitness and nutrition over 40. Real-time, personalized guidance that evolves with your data and lifestyle to help you build muscle, lose fat, and body recomp

👥 Join our Facebook community -  For adults over 40 who want to build muscle with strength training and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (evidence-based nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss and nutrition podcasts for adults over 40! 🙏

Want to build muscle, lose fat, and train smarter? ⁠⁠⁠Join the new Physique University for just $27/month⁠⁠⁠ and get your custom nutrition plan FREE (limited time): bit.ly/wwpu-free-plan

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Were women in the past weaker than men, or have we been sold a lie? What if prehistoric women could outlift most modern athletes? And how does understanding this history change the way you train today?

I’m joined by Anne Marie Chaker, author of Lift: How Women Can Reclaim Their Physical Power and Transform Their Lives. We break down archaeological evidence that shows ancient women had elite-level strength, explore how cultural narratives have stripped women of their physical identity, and reveal why midlife can be a prime time for building muscle. You’ll learn simple, sustainable ways to start lifting, structure your workouts, and rethink food as fuel, not the enemy.

Today, you’ll learn all about:

0:00 – Intro
2:24 – From journalist to competitive bodybuilder
4:30 – Archaeological proof of elite ancient women
7:07 – The Viking warrior who wasn’t a man
11:10 – The mixed messages of modern fitness culture
17:37 – How to fuel like an athlete
26:10 – Navigating perimenopause and training
30:05 – First steps for women new to lifting
36:10 – A brief history of strong women in sport
40:09 – How lifting shapes identity and mindset

Episode resources:

• Website: annemariechaker.com
• Book: Lift: How Women Can Reclaim Their Physical Power and Transform Their Lives
• Lift Substack
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anne-marie-chaker-62119317 
• Instagram: @annemariechaker 

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training and fat loss program for lifters over 40 to build muscle, lose fat, and maintain your weight loss and physique (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for evidence-based fitness and nutrition over 40. Real-time, personalized guidance that evolves with your data and lifestyle to help you build muscle, lose fat, and body recomp

👥 Join our Facebook community -  For adults over 40 who want to build muscle with strength training and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (evidence-based nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss and nutrition podcasts for adults over 40! 🙏

Get your free Nutrition 101 for Body Composition guide to understand the fundamentals of nutrition and personalize your calories/macros:
witsandweights.com/free

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Diet culture emerged in the 1920s, when calorie counting was invented, cigarettes were marketed as weight loss aids, and thinness became associated with moral virtue for the first time in American history.

Discover how the birth of modern diet culture 100 years ago created patterns we're still repeating today.

Main Takeaways:

• Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters invented calorie counting in 1918, selling 2+ million copies of the first diet bestseller
• Lucky Strike's "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet" campaign increased cigarette sales 300% by targeting weight-conscious women
• The moral dimension of dieting (connecting food choices to character and virtue) started in the 1920s and persists today
• Bizarre 1920s fads (grapefruit diets, tapeworm pills, vibrating belts) reveal humanity's eternal search for effortless weight loss shortcuts
• Energy balance remains the core principle, but now we understand the many other nutrition and lifestyle components that matter
• The desire for quick fixes is deeply human but misleading... sustainable success comes from embracing fundamentals

Episode Resources:

• Join Wits & Weights Physique University for $27/month - get your custom nutrition plan built for free when you use this exclusive podcast listener link: bit.ly/wwpu-free-plan
• Get Chef's Foundry P600 Ceramic Cookware - 50% off at witsandweights.com/chefsfoundry

Timestamps:

2:37 - Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters, calorie counting pioneer
6:42 - Cigarettes vs. sweets campaign
9:30 - Bizarre 1920s fads (grapefruit diet, tapeworms, and vibrating belts)
12:44 - What the 1920s got right about weight loss
15:18 - 3 major mistakes that persist today
19:17 - Why we still seek the same quick fixes 100 years later
22:21 - Sustainable fundamentals vs. magic solutions

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training and fat loss program for lifters over 40 to build muscle, lose fat, and maintain your weight loss and physique (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for evidence-based fitness and nutrition over 40. Real-time, personalized guidance that evolves with your data and lifestyle to help you build muscle, lose fat, and body recomp

👥 Join our Facebook community -  For adults over 40 who want to build muscle with strength training and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (evidence-based nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss and nutrition podcasts for adults over 40! 🙏