Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40

I am joined by a member of our Wits & Weights Facebook community, Matthew Spiewak, to chat about training and nutrition, including flexible dieting, compound lifts, pain and injury, and programming.

Matthew is an ACSM-certified Personal Trainer in the Chicagoland area with a degree in Kinesiology.

He loves helping people feel and look better and transform their health through his hands-on work in the gym as a trainer, so Matthew has both the educational and practical experience to help you succeed.

Matthew also hosts a 30-minute Instagram live every Tuesday at 5pm Central time in the U.S. and brings on new guests every week.
 
Topics discussed in this episode:

• How and why Matthew got into fitness
• Flexible dieting and who benefits from it
• Whether anyone should NOT use flexible dieting
• Whether people should squat and deadlift, benefits, how to incorporate in training
• The best rep ranges for strength, hypertrophy, and physique
• Bench press form (and getting the entire body involved)
• How to avoid low back pain
• How to deal with an injury
• Why programming is so important to get better results
• How to start and stick with a training routine
• and lots more

RELATED LINKS

• Find Matthew on Instagram
• Matthew's website
• Watch the episode on video here
• Join the Wits & Weights Facebook community

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

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

This episode from my appearance on Paul Hanton’s podcast, The Healthy Fit Life, for the episode “Avoiding Common Issues with Sustainable Fat Loss.”
 
Paul interviewed me about body composition, body fat overshooting, the difference between weight loss and fat loss, what happens when we lose weight, mistakes people make during weight loss, and what we can do instead for a more sustainable approach while still getting results.
 
If you feel like you’ve put in effort to improve your health and fitness but aren’t getting results, I’d like to invite you to apply for my one-on-one coaching program to get the body you desire, lose fat, build muscle, and make real progress.

We’ll work together to examine everything you’re doing and NOT doing to figure out what’s missing so you can look better, perform better, and feel better. Just go to witsandweights.com/coaching to learn about my program and apply today or click the link in the show notes.

Thanks for listening and enjoy our conversation about body composition!    

Topics discussed in this episode:

• What is body composition?
• What is body fat overshooting?
• The difference between weight loss and fat loss
• What happens to your body when losing weight
• Mistakes people make when trying to lose weight
• Strategies for a more sustainable approach to weight loss

RELATED LINKS

• Subscribe to The Healthy Fit Life podcast
• Find Paul on Instagram
• Find Paul on TikTok

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

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Today is a special one because it’s our first episode featuring a member of our Wits & Weights Facebook community, Josh Isley.

We discuss strength, lifelong health, training for events, avoiding overtraining, and lots more. 

Josh Isely is a 42-year-old mechanical engineer who loves hunting the backcountry and mountains but who also rides a desk every day. 

He was an athlete in high school and as happens to many people, relied on his natural abilities for too long and, in his own words, “let himself go a bit.” Josh was inconsistent with training and developed a bad relationship with food. 

He spent the last several years training on and off for hunts and finally got it dialed in this year in preparation for a mountain goat hunt! 

Josh still struggles with food and binging but is getting better all the time; his program worked well as he was able to climb much better than he could last year. He is now moving into recovery mode and beginning to prepare for New Zealand in the spring. 

Topics discussed in this episode: 

• Josh’s background and how he finds time to go hunting 
• Why motivation is not enough (and what we should do instead) 
• How we avoid overtraining (especially as we age) 
• How to minimize the impact on aging/ailing joints 
• Dealing with setbacks (injuries/anxiety/depression) and how to overcome those 
• Managing the dichotomy of strength vs. endurance 
• Balancing training for longevity with specific events 
• What recovery looks like (and training periodization) in preparation for his event in New Zealand 
• Strategies to overcome the urge to binge on processed food 
• Dealing with the influences of your support structure when they don't “get” your nutrition/training 

RELATED LINKS

• Talk to Josh in the Wits & Weights Facebook community 
• Watch the episode on video here

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

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

This episode is from my appearance on Karen Martel's podcast, The Other Side of Weight Loss, where we demystified as much as we could about lifting, cardio, nutrition, fat loss, and more.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• What is the best way to train?
• What is the best cardio for weight loss? 
• How long should our workouts ideally be? 
• What does the science tell us about step counting when it comes to weight loss? 
• What cardio is most stressful? 
• How many times a week should we be lifting? 
• How can we take it to the next level and should we? 
• What is the ideal timing of days off and on from workouts? 
• What are compounded movements and why do we want to do them? 
• How often should we be adding more weight to our barbells and dumbbells? 
• How often should we wait between sets? 
• How many carbs, calories and protein should we be eating to build muscle yet lose weight? 
• How to calculate your protein needs.
• What is the anchor macronutrient? 
• What are the ideal set and reps? 
• What are the signs that you are not lifting heavy enough?
• How long does it take to see results?
• Can we lose weight without calorie restricting and just lifting? 
• and more! 

RELATED LINKS

• Subscribe to The Other Side of Weight Loss podcast
• Visit Karen's website at karenmartel.com
• Find Karen on Instagram
• Watch the episode on video here

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

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Paul Hanton joined me to talk about different types of training and how to be consistent and get the most enjoyment from your workouts so you can reach your fitness goals.

Paul is the owner of Hydra Fitness, a personal training company that helps career-driven men lose weight without giving up spending time with family or friends. 

He is also the podcast host of the Healthy Fit Life podcast, which is focused on educating listeners on how they can improve their health through quick and easy tips to implement in their life.

As a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach, Paul has helped numerous busy men lose weight and improve their health. Paul was also diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2014 but has not let that stop him from his fitness goals or enjoying life.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Paul’s background as a coach/trainer and what inspired him to get into fitness
• Why people might not enjoy their training
• Why people slog through workouts if they don’t enjoy them
• The importance of doing some sort of activity for optimal health
• What people can do if they don’t enjoy their current training
• Alternatives to strength training and ranking those activities
• Whether training is required for a specific goal (even if you don’t like it)

RELATED LINKS

• Find Paul on Instagram
• Find Paul on TikTok
• Watch the episode on video here

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

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

What if there was an easy way to speed up fat loss, burn 500 more calories a day (which is 1 extra pound a week), increase your potential lifespan, reduce your chance of disease, all without excessive cardio or dieting?

This is not the next big fitness industry secret but instead one of the easiest, natural, and most effective forms of movement for humans . . . and that is WALKING!

Whether you already “get your steps” or you sit around most of the day behind a desk, we are going to dissect the many benefits of walking, from its ability to burn way more calories than you think, increase your metabolism, improve your overall function in life, preferentially burn fat to improve body composition, reduce mortality, and improve associated markers like blood pressure, resting heart rate, cholesterol, depression, and VO2 max.

Walking is perhaps the most underrated but effective forms of exercise we can incorporate.

Finally, as always on this show, we will discuss easy, actionable strategies for walking effectively that you can start using right away!

RELATED LINKS

• Join our Facebook community if you'd rather watch the video and to access the nutrition blueprint PDF for this episode

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

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Joining me on the show today is Paul Salter, a Registered Dietitian (RD) and Sustainable Weight Loss Expert. Since 2013, he’s personally coached over 1,500 women to lose 20 pounds or more and KEEP IT OFF (without feeling like they're dieting). 

He’s done so by taking an inside-out approach that focuses on cultivating feelings of self-love and self-worth from day one—not after weight is lost—and by paying much more attention to one’s mindset and emotional intelligence, in addition to the nutritional Xs and Os. 

He’s a twice published Author, host of The 5% Way Podcast (make sure to subscribe), and Founder and Head Coach of The 5% Community.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Sustainable weight loss and why it's difficult for most people
• The role of self-talk in achieving sustainable weight loss
• The role of emotional intelligence in sustainable weight loss
• Self-talk / identity / transformational model of change
• Prioritizing self-love
• Where to begin with "deep work"
• An example of a "destructive and self-sabotaging pattern"
• Cultivating more intentionality to transform your relationship with food
• Your thoughts on willpower and discipline
• Your thoughts on "good vs. bad" foods
• The value of the pre-diet maintenance phase
• Weight loss as a goal vs. body composition (adding muscle)
• Going on your own vs. hiring a coach

RELATED LINKS

• Subscribe to The 5% Way  podcast
• Visit Paul's website at thefivepercentway.com
• Join The 5% Community
• Find Paul on Instagram
• Watch the episode on video here

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

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Tyla Serro joined us live in the Wits & Weights Facebook Group to share her journey. She was my first interview guest (back in Episode 17), before we started working together on her nutrition plan, and she even planted the idea of me becoming a nutrition coach.

Tyla Serro is a powerlifter, mom of a toddler, military spouse, and working professional. She keeps herself busy lifting heavy weights, volunteering with Protectors of Animals, all this while working full time as a Configuration Manager in the Aerospace Industry.

Tyla recently acquired the title of Connecticut State Referee for the United States Powerlifting Association and will be judging an upcoming powerlifting meet in November. She’s passionate about raising awareness of Primary Lymphedema, a rare disease that her son was born with.

When she's not doing all of these things, she enjoys the outdoors with her family and truly believes that an active lifestyle is one of the many hacks to living your best life.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Tyla's background with lifting and nutrition
• Her fitness and nutrition goals over the last year
• Experience with dieting
• The process we went through for her fat loss phase
• Who and why someone should track macros
• Tyla's proudest moment on this journey
• Education and awareness that comes from working with a coach
• Planning ahead and enjoying social events and dining out
• Tyla's increased confidence in her ability to sustain results
• The importance of strength training
• Her thoughts about the upcoming muscle-building phase
• Where someone should start when it comes to health and fitness

RELATED LINKS

• Find Tyla on Instagram
• Protectors of Animals, a non-profit, primarily volunteer, no-kill organization whose mission is to increase the quality of life of all dogs and cats in the communities they serve.
• Watch the episode on video here

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

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

I am extremely excited for today’s guest, Karen Martel, not only because of her work in women’s fat loss and hormones but her genuine passion for helping others, which comes through on her podcast and in my personal interactions with her. 

Karen Martel is a Certified Hormone Specialist & Transformational Nutrition Coach and women’s weight loss expert. 

She is the host of the top-rated women’s health podcast The Other Side of Weight Loss where she helps women to unlock the mysteries of female fat loss and hormone imbalance. 

After struggling with her own health issues, Karen was determined to bring her knowledge to others with a bold new approach to women’s hormone health and weight management. Karen’s passion lies in helping women balance and optimize their hormones in peri- and post-menopause and breakthrough weight loss resistance. 

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Hormonal weight loss resistance
• Hormone imbalances that cause weight gain
• Sugar cravings from hormone imbalances
• What happens to hormones during perimenopause
• Gaining weight during peri or post-menopause
• Foods or nutritional strategy to consider before therapy/supplements/medical advice
• How perimenopause affects muscle growth
• Safety of bioidentical hormones
• When to start using bioidentical hormones
• Effect of estrogen on weight gain
• Seed cycling (viable strategy for estrogen dominance?)
• Determine whether we are processing hormones properly

RELATED LINKS

• Take the Hormone Quiz and find out which hormones could be stopping you from losing weight at this link
• Subscribe to The Other Side of Weight Loss podcast
• Visit Karen's website at karenmartel.com
• Find Karen on Instagram
• Watch the episode on video here

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

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Dr. Glenn Livingston is a veteran psychologist and was the long time CEO of a multi-million-dollar consulting firm for Fortune 500 clients in the food industry. You may have seen his (or his company’s) previous work, theories, and research in major media outlets like The New York Times, ABC, or CBS radio, among many others.

Disillusioned by what traditional psychology had to offer overweight and food obsessed individuals, Dr. Livingston spent several decades researching the nature of bingeing and overeating in working with his own patients AND a self-funded research program with more than 40,000 participants. Most importantly was his own personal journey out of obesity and food prison to a normal, healthy weight and a much more lighthearted relationship with food.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Glenn's personal story with overeating and binge eating
• Why the modern world is a perfect storm for overeating and binge eating
• Practical strategies people can use to stop overeating
• Starting with just ONE rule for the most troublesome trigger food or behavior
• Why rules and a personal food plan are liberating, not restrictive
• Why generalizations like "just eat everything in moderation" are not helpful
• Why we should strive for perfectionism (with a caveat)
• How someone trying to GAIN weight would use this approach
• The difference between HUNGER and CRAVINGS
• Challenging clients and situations that required a more intense approach
• Dealing with overeating on the weekends!
• The one thing Dr. Livingston wished he learned earlier in life
• The one question Glenn wished I'd asked...and his answer
• Where to get a copy of his free book, "Never Binge Again"

RELATED LINKS

• Binge Eating Recovery Coaching, Books, Tutorials and More at NeverBingAgain.com
• Dr. Glenn Livingston on Instagram
• Watch the episode on video here

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

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏