In this episode of the Thermo Diet Podcast Jayton Miller sits down with Tyler Woodward, a biology student at the University of Maryland. They talk about a lot of the different myths that are floating around the fitness space, from how to lose weight to how to build muscle in the best way possible. Check it out and let us know what you think!
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Full Transcript:
Jayton Miller:
Welcome back to the Thermo Diet Podcast. I'm your host, Jayton Miller, and today I have on the podcast, Mr. Tyler Woodward. Tyler Woodward has been working for UMZU for over a year now. He is a biology student at the University of Maryland and he has absolutely been killing it for us whenever it comes to writing scientifically backed articles and talking about principle and logical based ways to obtain certain health goals. One of the things that he's written on recently is weight loss versus fat loss, fat loss myths, weight gain and muscle gain, optimal versus efficient muscle gain, weightlifting myths, nutrition myths. He's also written a bunch of different articles over blood flow, supplements for blood flow, foods for blood flow, things like that, so he is very knowledgeable and I am super excited for you all to listen to this one. So, without further ado, let's get into it.
Jayton Miller:
Welcome back to the Thermo Diet Podcast. I am your host, Jayton Miller, and today I have back on the podcast, Tyler Woodward. How are you doing today, Tyler?
Tyler Woodward:
I'm great, Jayton. How are you?
Jayton Miller:
I'm doing very well. For the people who might not know who Tyler Woodward is yet, do you mind kind of giving them a brief overview of who you are and what you do?
Tyler Woodward:
Yeah. I'm currently a student at the University of Maryland. I'm studying a degree in physiology and neurobiology. Basically, just a fancy word for a biology major. I've been working for UMZU the last year. Since it started last summer, really. I was working a little bit online before that. I just really started going down fitness journey, like with [Kinobody 00:01:33], when I was a sophomore in high school or freshman in high school, and just kind of dug deeper and deeper into it. Started getting more into supplements, nutrition, found UMZU, and eventually reached out to Christopher Walker. Like, yo, I love what you guys are doing. I really see... I really believe in this company and I see myself being a part of it. And, now, the rest of history.
Jayton Miller:
Heck yeah. It's almost mind boggling how close our stories are whenever it comes to how we got involved.
Tyler Woodward:
It is. I literally said... When I describe you to anyone, I'm like, dude, it's literally like if I had just not went to college and started working there, pretty much. Except you ski, which is... you know.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, I know. And I have a beard, so that helps, too.
Tyler Woodward:
Well, I shaved... You're supposed to shave after November. You obviously didn't follow the rules.
Jayton Miller:
I mean, I cleaned it up, for sure.
Tyler Woodward:
Mine wouldn't be looking so nice right now.
Jayton Miller:
Something that you've been looking into recently is going into the new year and trying to figure out different kinds of prioritization and body composition goals and stuff like that. Do you mind going into some of that stuff?
Tyler Woodward:
Yeah. So, I think New Year's resolutions at the end of the day are kind of like a marketing scheme, right? It's the gyms and everyone pushing all these sales and nutritional supplements so that you are this year... and it's a great time to start with a resolution or a goal in general. It's the start of a new year. May as well start new. But I think it's just as much of marketing scheme at this point to push people to join the gyms. Everyone knows a January gym surge where everyone's going to gym. And so my goal in writing this article was to simplify it down. To make it more principle and logical based and help you guys, and help anyone, weed through all the complications that we see in mainstream, how many myths there are, and just allow you... provide you guys with the education to make your own decisions. Whether or not you believe what I say, that's completely up to you. I would love for you to respectfully disagree with me. That's part of the scientific process, right? I hope my principles were logically based in that it's hard to disagree with. That was my goal, but if you don't trust what I'm telling you, that's perfectly fine. I have a degree in biology. I'm perfectly fine. That's about it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. Whenever it comes to goals around the new year, especially whenever it comes to physical goals, it's usually revolved around body composition of some sort. People usually want to lose weight or gain muscle. Can you kind of give us the differentiating factors of weight loss versus fat loss and maybe some of the myths that are around those things?
Tyler Woodward:
The first step in any body re-composition goal is, really, to decide whether or not you want to lose weight and fat or gain muscle and gain weight. The two are not synonymous and they're going to go together for the most part. A lot of times. Especially fat loss and weight loss. But the difference really is in terms of energy. It's being in a calorie deficit. Our metabolism is a sum of your chemical reaction at the end of the day. Let's say I burn about 2500 calories in the day. That is my maintenance calories. If I want to lose weight, I need to be consuming less calories than I'm burning on daily basis so that my body has less energy than it's using. So, we need to pull from... Typically, it's going to go into fat stores, fat cells. That's the body's perfect method to pull... to get energy from. Multi gains, a little bit different. Because if you eat in a calorie surplus... which is obviously more energy than your maintenance, so let's say 2,600 calories for me... you're not necessarily going to gain muscle unless you're producing some sort of stimulus in those muscles, which we get from some form of resistance training.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. Whenever it comes to the difference between weight loss and fat loss specifically, you want to make sure that you retain as much as possible as much muscle as possible, correct?
Tyler Woodward:
Correct. And that's really... The same principle is going to apply for both. The current research has shown about 0.82 grams per pound of body weight. Some say lean body weight, which is a little bit less, but I think 0.82 pounds per body weight. I'm 200 pounds. 0.82 is going to be about 165 grams of protein daily. That will ensure that I'm going to keep as much muscle as possible or most of my muscle when in deficit. And I think... With muscle loss, when you're in a calorie deficit, when you're trying to lose weight, it's probably over-hyped and people worry about a little too much. As long as you're getting adequate protein, your body does not want to take it from the muscle. It's typically going to come from fat or [inaudible 00:06:16]. Would you agree, Jayton?
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, I would agree. A long as the calorie deficit is not too big. Because if you're going extremely aggressive in that calorie deficit, then I do see that there is a high affinity for the protein... the amino acids within the muscles to go through... what is it... like gluconeogenesis.
Tyler Woodward:
Yeah. I believe so.
Jayton Miller:
So, I would just say... Just make sure it's not too aggressive. Take a moderate, balanced approach for sure.
Tyler Woodward:
And that's just going to help in general. I mean, just sticking to it long-term. Weight loss in general. And even weight gain. They're long-term things. It's not going to happen overnight. You can definitely take a more aggressive approach sometimes if you want to do it fast, but obviously it's going to have those consequences where you might lose muscle. You're probably not having any fun because you're only eating 1500 calories a day. If you want to do that, that's on you. It's all about balance, right? Between what you want to do in life and what you want to do with your physical goals.
Jayton Miller:
If somebody is in the position to here they could either go down the route of gaining muscle or go down the route of losing fat, which one do you typically steer towards most often?
Tyler Woodward:
I'm probably going to say gain muscle. If you're that skinny fat physique... and I've definitely been there. I 100% can tell you, I went for weight loss. I wanted to be ripped. When I get out there, no one cares when you're a hundred... I was probably what? 155, 165 pounds. Six foot tall. Yeah, I had a six pack. My arms are twigs. It doesn't really look good. It just looks like you're a skinny kid that has a six pack. So, I would always push towards gaining muscle. If you personally feel like you have a good amount of fat to lose and that's where you're more self-conscious, then definitely go for fat loss. When you're gaining muscle and you're in that caloric surplus, you're going to gain some fat. That's just a reality. You can't gain all muscle. It would great if you could. The smaller your surplus, the more muscle you gain relative to fat, how long you extenuate it, but if you're really insecure about the fat, then by all means, go ahead and lose the fat. You can always gain muscle later.
Tyler Woodward:
We can take the approach whether to go for fat loss or weight loss or go for muscle gain and weight gain. It doesn't mean that we can't gain muscle while losing fat, but it's not our target. We need to have one priority. Like what I said in the article. Maintenance is great and it's probably where we want to shoot for optimal health, being at your maintenance calories consistently and being pretty much in balance with your body, but it's the least efficient way to make long-term changes. You can gain muscle and you can lose fat while at maintenance, but it's going to be the slowest and least... Yeah, the slowest route way to do so. Least efficient.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, definitely. I completely agree. I would also say that if somebody is metabolically compromised... like if they have extremely low thyroid function or, in general, they're just relatively stressed out... try to go with a maintenance phase and just increase your activity on a daily basis a little bit. Specifically whenever it comes to walking because I think that allows for the least amount of stress to happen on the body while also allowing you to take steps towards your goal. So, if you're struggling with something like that, I would definitely recommend not dropping the calories too low, make sure that you're fueling your body properly, making sure that you're getting all the correct micronutrients in that you need, get a good balance of macronutrients in, and then just up that activity level on a daily basis with getting more steps and walking and good sunshine and all that good stuff.
Tyler Woodward:
Yeah, for sure. Now, I've actually heard coach [inaudible 00:09:54]. He's talked about this briefly. He talked about... One of the best things you can do before trying to lose weight is to make sure you're in that hormonal balance, but you don't have any micronutrient deficiencies. That's really the only way you can increase your metabolism without exercising more. Because that's [inaudible 00:10:09] more calories. So, if you have a micronutrient deficiency, your metabolism is lacking certain ingredients and therefore can't do those chemical reactions. So you're going to increase your metabolism, increase the number of calories you burn. That's just gonna make that loss easier. The maintenance phase can definitely be great, too. And, honestly, a maintenance phase just really comes down... Like I said, it comes down to the calories, right? Your caloric intake. Either getting more calories than you're eating, or burning, or less. A maintenance phase just to see where you're at. See how many calories you're at. A practice run where you're not emotionally attached to losing weight is probably a good thing for almost anyone. Where you don't really care what the scale is saying or what you look like in the mirror, but you're just learning about yourself a little bit.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, definitely. I would definitely say that the times that I've had the most success whenever it comes to nutrition and getting to know my body and running these different experiments was times where I didn't step on the scale for months at a time and I really didn't care what I looked like in the mirror. It wasn't a priority of mine. It wasn't something that really mattered to my day-to-day life, so I completely ignored it. Because of that, my health was able to basically keep up with where I was going, which was really nice. There was one point when I was eating anywhere from 3500 to 4000 calories a day and I didn't gain an ounce of weight. Not an ounce the entire time.
Tyler Woodward:
That's crazy.
Jayton Miller:
I wasn't even getting 10000 steps a day. I was getting maybe like 5000 steps a day and working out four times a week.
Tyler Woodward:
My story is kind of the opposite. I was always this really skinny kid and I wanted to be ripped and shredded. And then I started pledging. Basically, I started stress eating. The first week, I lost like 10 pounds. Didn't eat anything. I don't recommend this in any way, but it basically helped me to get over my mental body issues. Because I was afraid to gain weight. Because I loved having that six pack. Even though, like I said, it didn't really look it. Just because of this, I gained so much more muscle. Like I said, being in a caloric surplus is so pivotal to efficient muscle growth.
Tyler Woodward:
But back to the story. First week, probably lost like 10 pounds. Just didn't eat. Was so stressed out. Running all over the place on campus. Second week was like, all right, I need to start eating. I would just run to the dining hall every chance I could. Just stuffed in the most cookies I could in my face. Put a bunch of stuff in my face for the rest of the five weeks. Ended up 190. Obviously, I was an egotistical freshman. [inaudible 00:12:30] huge, but I was really just fat and hadn't really been lifting all semester because I was pledging. From that point on, though, I was like, all right. I do need to lose this weight. Obviously, I don't really look good. It especially goes to my face, which drives me absolutely nuts. But from that point on, I realized the value of a caloric surplus.
Tyler Woodward:
Like I said, you can gain muscle and lose fat and maintenance, but when you are supplying your body with that extra energy and then you're producing the stimulus in the gym, it has the extra energy to allocate towards muscle growth. That is so pivotal if you want to gain muscle efficiently. If you don't care, then by all means. There's no reason to rush it. There's no reason to be in a surplus, honestly. But if you want to gain muscle fast and efficiently, the way to do it is being in a surplus. Especially after you're a beginner. It's pretty much impossible to gain muscle.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, I completely agree. I also think that... In my opinion, if you're going for performance and you're looking for the best possible results whenever it comes to lifting weights and being to being able to adequately perform, get a lot of those extra calories from carbohydrates. It's going to make a huge difference. Carbohydrates are also protein sparing, so you can get away with a little less protein if you want to. Because it frees up those amino acids to get to the muscle.
Tyler Woodward:
Yeah, that's awesome. Also, when you think about... One of the main mechanisms for muscle growth is sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which is like cellular swelling, which is really just more glucose and then more water being [inaudible 00:13:57]. So, you're just directly... and glycogen as well. You're really just supplying your body with more fuel.
Jayton Miller:
Heck yeah. Definitely.
Tyler Woodward:
And carbs just make you feel great.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah. What are some of the myths that you've heard surrounding fat loss specifically? For me, it's always this supplement's gonna make you burn this many pounds of fat off of your body or you can just eat this one simple food and all the fat is just going to melt off your body. What are some of the things that you've heard?
Tyler Woodward:
Those are definitely all true. For sure. No. My favorite thing is... James Smith talks about this all the time. He doesn't say this specifically, but exercise... and I say this in the article. Exercise and weight loss are correlated, not causated. No matter how much you exercise, if you are not in a caloric deficit, you will not lose weight. There's no fat burning exercises. There's no ways to really... or get fat loss to a specific area of the body. Like I said, people that exercise are more likely to lose weight and are more likely to be healthier, but that's also... That's a mental thing too, right? They're more likely to make conscious decisions that are better for their health in general. But you do not need to exercise to lose weight. There's no fat burn exercises are special. The same thing with fat burning shakes, fat burning supplements, and even the keto diet.
Tyler Woodward:
We talk about this a lot in the thermo diet program. There's two main metabolisms. There's the glucose metabolism, which we say is our optimal or, I'd say, primary metabolism, and then the fatty acid metabolism, which is like the backup metabolism. So, these supplements, they can work in a sense... and let's say they do work... to burn more fat. They change your body to use more of the lipid metabolism. But the problem with this is that if you are not in a caloric deficit and then use all these fat burning supplements... or let's say the keto diet or whatever you want to say... and you are not a caloric deficit, you're just going to replace the fat that you just burned with the fat that you just ate. As we know, the lipid metabolism, the fatty acid metabolism, also has a number of, let's say, suboptimal side effects that... You're going to be [inaudible 00:16:04] more stress and all of that stuff. So, in general, I'm going to favor glucose metabolism just because it's more efficient. You get more energy from it. Less harmful to the body. I mean, we need the fatty acid metabolism as well at the end. When you're in that caloric deficit, if you didn't have that fatty acid metabolism, you would never [inaudible 00:16:20]
Jayton Miller:
Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. I completely agree. I would also say that if you are freeing up or mobilizing fatty acids in your body while you're also in a calorie surplus, that is one of the most... I would say it's one of the best ways to create insulin resistance if that's something that can happen via the Randle cycle because there's going to be more free fatty acids in the blood to compete with the glucose to get into the cell. So, that's something that... Just use glucose. I mean, that's all there is to it.
Tyler Woodward:
Yeah, that makes sense. That's really interesting to think about. I mean, I am not honestly... I need to do some more research on insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity, but a lot of it has to do with how your body processes carbs and sugars. And obviously fats. Like, the more fats that are in the bloodstream, it's going to be competing with the insulin and carbs [inaudible 00:17:14]
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, definitely. So, whenever it comes to gaining muscle specifically, what do you see that is optimal? And then what do you see as efficient?
Tyler Woodward:
Okay, so... and this comes to health in general, too. There are times that we're chasing optimal, right? We want something that's basically perfect. And efficient, in general, in muscle building is going to be more optimal in general. The way muscles work, how they contract, basically when... The bicep is a really good example. One joint is getting closer to the other. As the two joints get closer together, it becomes shorter, the muscle, and that is when your muscle is the weakest. In that fully shortened position. Whenever you flex a muscle, you're putting it in pretty much fully shortened position. And then, in the mid range, when your bicep is like 90 degrees, you're going to be strongest. You're going to be a little bit weaker in the length and range when you're stretching the arm, but not nearly as much as in the shortened range. The more we can align an exercise profile... so like where the exercise is difficult... with how our arm or how our muscle works, the better... the more efficient that exercise will be.
Tyler Woodward:
So, we can produce a lot more stimulus by forming exercises that align with that. One example I like to give is the dumbbell lateral raise. The dumbbell lateral raise is a very inefficient exercise for hypertrophy by itself. Because it taxes only the top portion of the movement. The shortened position, right? At the top of the movement of the dumbbell lateral raise, it is the hardest because your arms are now farthest apart from your body. So, you're now doubling down. You're taxing the weakest portion of the muscle and it's with the hardest portion of the exercise. But I like to bring out... [inaudible 00:19:06] very common question. Partial range of motion versus full range of motion.
Tyler Woodward:
So, this inefficient exercise, which I just took, the dumbbell lateral raise... Let's say I divide it into thirds. I have the top third, the middle third, and bottom third. If I take the lightest dumbbell I'm going to do... let's say the normal 10 pounds, 15 pounds, whatever you do for a lateral raise... and I stick to that top third. And then when I can't do any more reps, I grab the twenties and I go to the middle third, which is now... I'm going to be a little bit stronger and there's a little bit less torque because your arms a little bit closer. So, I'm able to do more reps. Then, I go to the bottom third, grab the 20 to the 30s. Even though I'm not moving... I only move my arm probably a couple of inches, I've now tripled the amount of stimulus that I placed in the muscle. I still don't think the dumbbell lateral raise, even if you do that, is the best option, but it's going to be way better than just doing the 15 pounds because you're not taxing half of the range of motion. If we want to grow muscle, you want to tax as much in the range of motion as possible.
Jayton Miller:
One of the things that I like to think about whenever it comes to that is the stimulus to fatigue ratio that Mike Isreatel talks about. What can you get the most stimulus out of with the least amount of fatigue so you can come back to the gym quicker and more often? So you can create that muscle protein synthesis... trigger that muscle protein synthesis as often as possible. Something like the deadlift is going to be very, very fatiguing, but it's not going to create much targeted stimulus to a certain muscle, whereas if you do a bicep curl or leg raises for the abs or something like that, it's not going to be that fatiguing, but it's going to be high in the stimulus that it creates for that muscle.
Tyler Woodward:
That's a very good point to answer... You've probably heard the saying. Muscles are slave to positions. That's true in an aspect, but I would really say muscles are slaves to biomechanics. The muscle that is most... in the best position to contract or to operate is going to. If I do a bicep curl all the way up top, in the short position, and I just hold it here... I can take a dumbbell, sure. If I [inaudible 00:21:09], that's great and it will work. But if I have a dumbbell right here, I'm really just doing a shoulder isometric. Even though my bicep is the one moving. So, that's an interesting point. And the same thing I talk about a little bit is the compound or isolation exercises or free weights [inaudible 00:21:26] or calisthenics. Like I said, it's really going to come down to your intent. None of them are inherently better than the other. A compound lift, as you said, is very fatiguing and... I think a lot of compound lifts are more fatiguing because the balance aspect. There's so much stabilization required. But if your limiting factor, let's say on the bench press, is your... I don't know... your triceps or your rear delts for some reason, your lats, which [inaudible 00:21:50] that's another point, then you're not going to be able to maximize the stimulus place on your chest. That's because it's not the one failing.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I would say that you should just... You just have to prioritize what your goal is. If your goal is strength, then these high stimulus exercises are going to be completely fine because that's what you need to train in order to get strong, but if you're looking for optimal for hypertrophy specifically, whenever you're looking to gain muscle, then I would definitely say that... Find the highest amount of stimulus for the least amount of fatigue that you can.
Tyler Woodward:
100%. That's also going to be thing... I would consider... Most strength trainers are strength athletes, right? Power lifters don't necessarily want to be strong. They want to be strong within squat, bench, and deadlift if that is their goal. They don't necessarily... It doesn't matter how much they can bicep curl or... I don't know... leg raise or calf raise. It doesn't really matter. And it's going to be very different is your goal is to chase a position. To be optimal in that position. I gave the example in the article. When have you ever seen an athlete do a quarter squat in a game? I mean, sorry. An ass to grass squat. No athlete is getting in the athletic position and going ass to grass. So, I don't think the quarter squat is a good move for muscle growth or, really, strength, but it might be a great move for becoming more efficient in that position. Just practicing that and getting that neurological response. Let's say you might be able to squat 315. He might be able to quarter squat 500 pounds. If he doesn't practice that, he might never realize his full capacity. It really comes down to intent. All the time. Like I said, it's really not black... It's hard. We like to paint it as black and white, but it's really... It's pretty complicated sometimes.
Jayton Miller:
It is. Definitely. So, what are some common nutrition myths that you usually see all over during the new year?
Tyler Woodward:
My favorite has got to be that all calories are not created equal. I saw this post... Someone posted on Instagram that said calories don't even enter cellular respiration, which is the process which glucose gets broken down, your glucose metabolism... which is true. They don't enter. But glucose has a certain number of calories. ATP, which is the end product, has a certain number of calories. Saying all calories are not created equal is like saying a mile... If you and I both run a mile, if yours is all uphill and mine is all downhill, we still ran a mile, correct? It's a unit of measurement. When you're talking about the composition of those calories, that's a very different story, but when I tell you that these cheeseburger has 1000 calories and this bag of kale has 1000 calories, the amount of energy... basically. I'm not going to get into the thermogenic effect of food. It's a little complicated. It basically is the exact same amount of energy used for your body.
Tyler Woodward:
Like I said, when it comes down to calorie deficit, if you want to sit on your couch and eat Cheetos all day, as long as you are burning more energy than you are consuming, you will lose weight. Will you feel good? Absolutely not. But it's a numbers game. That's a big one. And I think... The whole idea of... I was yelling at my mom last night for it. She was like, "Oh, well, those athletes, they're not drinking or eating fatty foods." I was like, "Mom, fat... It just has a number of calories. You need a portion of fat." Fats don't make you fat. Carbs don't make you fat. Protein doesn't make you fat. Alcohol doesn't make you fat. It's just any of those in excess will put you in a caloric surplus, which can lead to fat gain. Just the number game, I think people just don't emphasize enough.
Jayton Miller:
I also think that people just want to be told what to do. They don't want to have to keep up with something. So, whenever it comes down to putting in the work to track your calories, actually look at what you're eating and stuff like that, a lot of people are very hesitant about it because it requires effort and it requires work. That's really what all of this comes down to. There are no shortcuts. If there was one, we would have found it by now and we would be telling it to y'all right now. Because there's no reason to keep it to yourself, number one. And then, number two, it's like... I mean, it just doesn't exist. There's not any shortcuts. Work and effort are going to get you to where you want to go.
Tyler Woodward:
Yeah, and that's why I love writing these principle based articles. That allows you, the reader, to debate for themselves what they believe in. When they see a post, they can make those educated decisions thereafter. I mean, if those fat burner supplements worked, we would be selling a lot of them and everyone would be skinny and ripped. The same thing with those weight gainer protein shakes. You need to consume a certain amount of protein every day. If you get that from a protein shake or you get that from a steak, that's... It's all just a numbers game at the end of the day. The same thing goes for micronutrients, which we don't really talk about as much in the article, but it's so important. That's why the chicken and broccoli diet, although it might help you lose weight because it's really easy to lose weight when you're only eating chicken and broccoli, but you're not going to be getting a lot of micronutrients because you're not eating a very diverse array of food. And so that can eventually contribute to micronutrient deficiencies.
Jayton Miller:
Absolutely. Plus, all the fiber in the broccoli and the glycogenic properties. You'll just be walking around probably constipated, farting a lot, and you're not helping your thyroid out either with those glycogens.
Tyler Woodward:
I was thinking about this last night. It's kind of ridiculous that everyone says, oh, you have to eat some more fiber, which is really just... most of the time, it's just from plants and the cellulose that we can't break down. They say, "Oh, you have to eat some more fiber to poop," so you're just literally eating stuff that pretty much... I mean, cellulose can't get broken down. Correct me if I'm wrong. Because we don't have that enzyme, so it just goes in one end and literally comes out the other end. For the most part. It's just kind of ridiculous to think about. It's all about perspective.
Jayton Miller:
Plus, if you're constipated, adding fiber to your diet is going to add bulk to the stool. You're just bulking up the waste even more inside of your digestive tract, so you're just worsening the issue in most cases. So, that is not good. And then whenever you have too much fiber, things like SHBG and aromatase tend to go through the roof, which is going to be antagonistic to protective hormones in most cases.
Tyler Woodward:
That makes a lot of sense. Again, it really just comes down to being in balance. Having the... I always say the yin and yang of your body. The homeostasis. If you feed your body exactly what it wants at the right times, then it's going to operate as efficiently as possible. Really, [inaudible 00:28:53] any time, whether or not you're in balance, your body is going to try to operate as efficiently as possible. Sometimes you just don't supply the correct ingredients.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, exactly. I would say that would definitely be something to differentiate is what your body wants and what your mind is telling you that you want. That also requires a little bit of self-awareness to know the difference there, too.
Tyler Woodward:
Which brings us to a great point. Cheat meals and cheat days. These things kind of drive me absolutely nuts because the whole idea... the whole premise that you can basically delete a day, you can stuff whatever you want in your face and the calories don't matter, it's just not true. You can easily eat in a cheat day enough calories to completely pull you out of a calorie deficit for the week or for the month. That fully ruins the point. Why would you suffer through those calorie deficit? Because realistically, it's not fun. I mean, you can make it as easy as possible if you really plan it out, but food is awesome. I'd love to eat more. And weight loss stinks. If you just went and eat 3000 calories in that... or let's say 5000 calories in that one cheat day, you just ruined all that progress.
Tyler Woodward:
So, instead, do a plan refeed or a diet break. Put the things you want, the treats, the alcohol, whatever. Plan it into your diet and count for it in those calories. You can eat whatever you want when you're dieting. Obviously, you probably don't want to eat chocolate cake every day because it's going to be really hard to maintain a calorie deficit. But if you love chocolate cake more than anything and that mentally gives you that satisfaction, then by all means, program it in. Program in that ice cream. Whatever it be. Maybe you have a smaller portion. Maybe you don't. It's really up to you. Especially refeeds... and you were talking about that a little bit... can be great for your metabolism as well. Getting those nutrients back in the system.
Jayton Miller:
Absolutely. Yeah. I 100% believe that whenever you implement refeeds into your dieting that it is going to allow you to have more metabolic resiliency. You're not going to take as much as a toll on your metabolism during that time whenever you do incorporate those refeeds.
Tyler Woodward:
Yeah. Even if you want to have basically a cheat day, really just recognize the damage you're doing. It's not free. Or just say, you know what? I have been dieting for the last two months. I need to let loose a little bit and [inaudible 00:31:11] at the bar. That's perfectly fine. But just recognize that it has a cost. Like everything we do.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, absolutely. 100%. Losing weight freaking sucks. Being in a calorie deficit sucks so much. I don't care what anybody says. For me personally, in my subjective experience, losing weight absolutely is the worst thing on earth. But if it's something that you're doing and it's something that you need to do for your health or for your own perspective of yourself, or if it's just a challenge that you want to overcome, do it in a way that is going to be most friendly to you and avoid all of the BS that is out there. There's just so much bad information that's out there that you have to ignore.
Tyler Woodward:
It really becomes hard. Especially on a social thing. I make sure one of the big things I do when I'm trying to lose weight and a calorie deficit is I do not drink... what's the word... alcohol for pleasure. If I'm going out, we're all drinking, that's when I'll do it, but I won't just have a beer on a Tuesday, Monday night because, to me, that's a waste of calories. If I was in a surplus, I think alcohol can kind of be your best friend because it's free, cheap calories. I don't really do sodas or anything like that. I don't really drink a lot of high calorie drinks. But having a beer at night or... Well, not with thermo. But having a cider at night, it can be... No? Cider's thermo.
Jayton Miller:
Cider's thermo, but you have to watch out for that beer. None of that.
Tyler Woodward:
Watch out for the beer. That's not going to help a calorie deficit. But that's personally my rule. I personally love chocolate and ice cream, so I pretty much have a cookie almost every night, whether or not I'm in a calorie deficit or calorie surplus... or some kind of ice cream. I actually perfected a thermo Frappucino recipe last night. Keep an eye out for that in the Facebook group.
Jayton Miller:
Heck yeah. I'm actually looking forward to that. I have Haagen-Dazs pretty much every single day, though, at this point, but I'm also not trying to lose weight. So, if you're going for a calorie deficit, that's definitely not what you want to do. I would say... Some of the tips that I've used for fat loss in the past is utilize the food that has the highest amount of volume for the least amount of calories. For the amount of volume that you're going to get, try and get as little calories as you can. For instance, watermelon is a really good example. That is very volumous, but it's relatively low in calories.
Tyler Woodward:
I think that might be the only reason I've been able to lose weight. I just pound watermelon. I love a bowl of watermelon. You can get a huge bowl of watermelon. It's like 300 calories and just fills you right up.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, absolutely. Let's see. What's another one that I've done? Coffee helps a lot. Coffee actually really helps blunt hunger. Let's see. What are some... Berries are another good one. Shrimp is another good one. What are some of the things that you've utilized?
Tyler Woodward:
Definitely watermelon. I've been really getting into potatoes. Not that they're the least calorically dense, but I feel like they're very filling. Especially if you have a little bit on the side with your dinner. I find ice cream... Even though it's not filling probably, I find it very mentally satisfying. Honestly... and we talked about this a little bit in the article. Intermittent fasting, although you should be in a good health place metabolically to do it, I think proportioning your calories towards a later portion of the day, even if it's just four hours and then you break it with a coffee or a smoothie or whatever, has helped me a lot and just made weight loss easier. Because you have the option to eat a huge meal and eat some ice cream at night, which you might not otherwise.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, for sure. What about tips to gain weight? What are some of the most effective ways, from a nutritional standpoint that you've seen, to gain muscle specifically?
Tyler Woodward:
Probably the same thing. You obviously want to make sure you get enough protein. That's going to be 0.82. But if you want, you can go a little bit higher if you're trying to gain weight. Plus, you have the [inaudible 00:35:19] surplus. Alcohol can be friendly. It also might have some impact on muscle protein synthesis, so you have to be careful with that. If you're going to drink alcohol, try and lift as early as possible. In the morning. Again, it really comes down to just eating calories. I would definitely not fast and try to be in a surplus. I'd probably start my meal off with eggs and a calorie dense meal. Definitely have lunch. Maybe try to have a snack or two throughout the day. And a big dinner. And dessert, for sure. Definitely get your sweet tooth on. Ice cream. Cookies if you want. What else do you like?
Jayton Miller:
The ice cream is the biggest thing for me. Let's see. Yeah, I don't really have too much of a sweet tooth outside of ice cream. I do enjoy cookies, but I usually stay away from them because of the gluten and the polyunsaturated fatty acids. And they're usually not that good in general. So, yeah. I'm still on the lookout for easily accessible thermo cookies. So, if anyone's found those, please let me know.
Tyler Woodward:
Please let us know. That would be a game changer for the world. Hopefully, this Frappucino will be a slight game changer for some of us. But I think more thermo foods... I think we'll see that a lot in the next coming years. I mean, I don't see why... I keep joking about I'm going to make a thermo bagel and pizza place. It's just going to be healthy bagels and pizza and I'm going to be a billionaire. If I can figure it out.
Jayton Miller:
Sourdough. That's the way to go. Sourdough bagels.
Tyler Woodward:
Exactly. I mean, it's definitely possible. Right now, is it plausible? Maybe. We'll see. Hopefully, in the next coming years, as the thermo diet gets more and more popular, we'll see some chefs step up.
Jayton Miller:
Oh yeah. For sure. What are some tips that you have for people to actually set these goals? They have all this information that we just laid out for them. Do you have some examples of goals that they could be setting and ways to actually set those goals?
Tyler Woodward:
I talked a little bit about this in the article and I honestly kind of think numerical based goals are overrated. Especially for weight loss and fat loss. Let's say I want to lose 10 pounds. How do I know when I'm going to look like 10 pounds? Is that enough? Is that too much? Same thing with muscle gain. Those are perfectly fine goals to set. If you've never been goal setting, numerical based goals are by far the easiest to do. Because you can just look at your scale and check it off the list. That's great. But, instead, what I would really tell you to focus on is... I say this in the article. As cliché as it is, life is about the journey, not the destination. Maybe it's time to stop focusing on the endgame and instead focus on the steps that will bring us there. Maybe it's time to focus on the day to day actions.
Tyler Woodward:
Like I said, you're going to lose sometimes. Some days, you're going to eat in a caloric surplus no matter how much your day sucked. Those days that you're eating in a caloric surplus when you're trying to lose weight will probably be the worst days for you. It's mentally taxing. But it happens. It's a long journey. It's a war. As long as you're winning more days than you're not, you're going to lose weight over time. It's about chasing those little steps that add up to those big end results. I like to say this and I've really been focusing on this in the gym. It's not about the big picture. Yeah, it is, but it's the sum of those little movements that end up in the big picture. It's about focusing on that one rep within that set each single time that you're doing it. Those little accumulations of those small things are going to add up to those big pictures.
Tyler Woodward:
I read an awesome book. It was by Joshua Waitzkin. I forget what the book is called. Oh, The Art of Learning. He talks about the difference between me and you and LeBron James. Obviously, LeBron James is probably the best basketball player of all time. Or MJ. I'm not going to get into that right now. I can shoot a basketball. I can't dunk. One day, I'm going to be able to. [inaudible 00:39:21] I can dribble. I can do all this. The difference... I probably have close... Let's say I have 75% of the form that he does. Which is [inaudible 00:39:30] It's those little things that he doesn't have to think about because his form is perfect. Pretty much everything that he does. Because he has perfected those little things to a tee. Now, he doesn't have to think about those. He can look all around him and absorb so much more information at such a faster rate that he's seeing the game at a different level than we all are. It's like he's watching it in slow motion. It's the same thing. It's those little things that add up to big changes in the long run.
Jayton Miller:
Absolutely. For sure. I completely agree. I'd also say... I think one of the things that holds people back from getting to a lot of the goals that they set for themselves is worrying about external factors. Whether it is other people or the circumstances that you're in. You really only have control over yourself, how you react, and the things that you do. And so take ownership of those, take responsibility for those, and then move forward in a way that is productive to yourself. Don't worry about anybody else or what might happen tomorrow. Worry about right now and do the thing that is going to allow you to be most progressive and successful right now.
Tyler Woodward:
100%. Hypertrophy coach, Joe Bennett, talks about this a little bit. He says if you're a single father and you have two infants at home that aren't sleeping through the night, your priority probably should not be muscle growth realistically or fat loss. You have two kids and you need to take care of them. That doesn't mean you let your goals slip under the table or you push them away, but it means you do as much as you can right now to accomplish those. If that's only going to gym twice a week or once a week, at least you're doing that and you're putting in the effort. What you can allocate at this time. It's all going to be... Like I said, it's all about intent. It's about perspective. It's all about context. How we fare in a different situation is how we make life. And that is life, right? Just making the best of your situation.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. 100%. Well, Tyler, I'm going to go ahead and wrap it up here. Where can people find you? Connect with you? Talk to you?
Tyler Woodward:
You can find me on the Thermo Diet Facebook group or on Instagram @TylerWoodward__. Wood as a W-O-O-D-W-A-R-D. That's about it. Thanks for having me, Jayton.
Jayton Miller:
Heck yeah. For those of you listening, make sure to hit him up. He's in there all the time. Even if it's 1:00 in the morning, feel free to send him a message. I'm sure he'll message you back. But yeah. We touched on a lot of topics during this episode. I hope you find it helpful and we'll talk to y'all next time.
Jayton Miller:
Thanks for listening to the podcast. If you haven't already, make sure to hit the like button, subscribe, and leave a comment down below if you want us to cover a different topic.
