March 12, 2025 • 23 mins
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--
Can you actually "eat more to lose weight" (as the fitness influencers claim)?
Well...yes! But it has nothing to do with reverse dieting, ending "starvation mode," or fixing your metabolism.
The fundamental truth remains: you need a calorie deficit to lose weight (and thus fat). But there's a legitimate way to increase your food volume while maintaining that deficit.
Discover 5 science-based strategies to fill your plate and feel satisfied without sabotaging fat loss...because the best diet is the one that you can stick to!
Main Takeaways:
- We still live in our universe: a calorie deficit is required for fat loss
- There are legitimate, science-based strategies to eat more food volume while maintaining that deficit
- There are many ways to increase food volume, and some have bonus effects (like triggering your fullness signals)
- The most powerful results come from combining multiple volume-maximizing techniques
- Optimizing food choices is key to sustainability during a fat loss phase
Episode Resources:
- Try MacroFactor free with code WITSANDWEIGHTS
Timestamps:
0:01 - Misleading fitness influencer claims and why people might lose weight on some programs
2:57 - What "eating more" actually means for effective fat loss
4:17 - Approach #1: The macro that burns more calories
7:33 - Approach #2: A special (almost magical) type of carb
10:41 - Approach #3: Using food physics to your advantage
13:42 - Approach #4: Why physical structure matters for satiety
16:48 - Approach #5: Timing and frequency also matter
19:43 - How to create a system to "eat more" and lose fat more effortlessly
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Philip Pape (00:01):
Eat more to lose weight a common refrain by
fitness influencers who claimyour metabolism is damaged and
you're in starvation mode.
Sometimes people do lose weightwith this advice, but not for
the reasons claimed.
Today, I'm revealing whatscience actually says about
increasing your food intakeduring fat loss.
There's a legitimate way to eatmore while losing fat, but it's
(00:25):
not what you've been told.
This approach has helped myclients overcome plateaus and
actually enjoy their fat lossjourney instead of constantly
battling hunger.
If you're tired of all theconfusing advice, this episode
will give you the clarity you'vebeen looking for.
(00:52):
Welcome to Wits and Weights, theshow that helps you build a
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday we're addressing one of
the most persistent myths in thefitness industry this idea that
you need to eat more to loseweight.
You've probably heard fitnessinfluencers claim that your
metabolism is damaged, you're instarvation mode or you need to
(01:13):
eat more to rev up yourmetabolic rate.
When people do lose weightfollowing this advice, it's
usually because they've improvedtheir food quality.
They've started tracking moreaccurately.
They've gotten rid of thoseoops weekends.
They've improved their foodquality, they've started
tracking more accurately.
They've gotten rid of thoseoops weekends They've added in
training, not because they'vefixed their metabolism or
reverse dieted by increasingcalories.
(01:34):
The fundamental truth stillremains that you need a calorie
deficit to lose fat.
However, there is a legitimateway to increase your food volume
while maintaining that deficit.
It is not about magicallyincreasing calories, but it's
about strategically selectingand structuring your food
choices.
Those choices will help youmaximize volume and satiety
(01:58):
while supporting fat loss.
So today I want to share fiveevidence-based approaches that I
use with clients that willallow you to fill your plate and
(02:19):
to feel satisfied whilecontinuing to lose fat
effectively.
And still get alliqueUniversity, where we provide you
with lots of things, butbasically we give you a system
and support to reach whateveryour goal is for your body
composition, and that includes acustom nutrition plan tailored
by me to your unique needs andpreferences.
Targeted workout programs everymonth, monthly challenges, a
(02:40):
supportive community, lots ofcourses, trainings, workshops
you name it all to keep youaccountable and engaged.
Just go to witsandweightscom,slash physique, or click the
link in the show notes to learnmore.
You can have a two-week freetrial, so there's absolutely no
risk.
Go check it out.
All right, let's get intotoday's topic and I want to
clarify what I mean when I saythat you can eat more and lose
(03:04):
weight.
I am not suggesting that youcan magically consume more
calories and still lose fat.
That is where I think theinfluencers mislead people with
the marketing right Like youcould just eat more calories,
eat more food in general andyou're going to lose weight
somehow.
What I'm talking about isincreasing the physical volume
of food on your plate whilestill maintaining the calorie
(03:24):
deficit, the physical volume offood on your plate while still
maintaining the calorie deficit.
And this is an approach whereyou need some data-driven
information, nutrition science,a systems thinking mindset to
optimize your fat loss journey.
It's a very creative, almostengineering type approach to
structuring your meals andchoosing what foods to eat.
You don't just do it willynilly.
You don't just choose foodsbased on macros.
(03:46):
This is not if it fits yourmacros.
There is a little more nuanceand there are a few more
variables involved.
So when we apply this thinkingto nutrition, we are trying to
do what we're trying to maximizesatiety and satisfaction while
keeping calories in check.
So our constraint is thecalories, but then this other
lever is how full we feel.
(04:07):
So I've got five approachesthat I came up with for today's
episode to increase your foodvolume but still maintain the
calorie level that you need tosupport fat loss.
All right, so approach numberone is understanding the thermic
effect of food.
T-e-f.
This is the slice of yourmetabolism Like, if you ever
look at it on a pie chart, and Ishow you the four components of
(04:30):
metabolism.
This is the one that takesabout say, 10, 15% of calories a
day to burn, and what I mean byburn is this is the energy your
body uses to digest, absorb andprocess what you eat.
Different macronutrientsactually require different
amounts of energy to process,and protein has the highest TEF
(04:51):
or thermic effect of food, atapproximately 20 to 30% of its
calories being burned while youdigest it.
So you're really only quoteunquote absorbing 70 to 80% of
what's going in.
Carbs burn about 5 to 10% andfats burn only about 0 to 3%.
So what this means practicallyit's pretty cool.
(05:13):
If you throw this in aspreadsheet and you play around
with different compositions ofmacros, you'll see that the more
protein you consume, the fewercalories you're probably going
to actually take into your body,which will look like a higher
energy expenditure, if thatmakes sense.
So, because technically it is ahigher energy expenditure.
But what matters is that youcould either eat more and not
(05:35):
gain as much weight, or you caneat less and lose more weight.
That makes sense.
So if you consume 100 caloriesof protein, your body's going to
use 20 to 30 of those just inthe digestion process, leaving
70 to 80 net calories for yourbody to actually use.
Compare that to fat, where thesame 100 calories still means
(05:55):
almost 100 net calories.
So by increasing protein intake, by slightly reducing fat or
carb intake, while keeping totalcalories the same, you
effectively create a largercalorie deficit without changing
your food quantity becauseyou're bumping up your
expenditure just a bit.
So again, if I want to give youtwo examples so you can
visualize this as you'relistening, let's say we have two
(06:18):
meals that are 500 calories.
Meal one has 30 grams ofprotein, 30 fat and almost 30
grams of carbs.
Meal two has 60 grams ofprotein, 15 grams of fat, so
that's double the protein, halfthe fat and about the same
amount of carbs.
With meal one, after youaccount for this TEF, your body
(06:40):
will net about 445 calories outof the 500.
With meal two, you might netonly 415 calories out of the 500
, and that's a 30 caloriedifference.
And that's just from one meal.
It's just a 30 gram differencein protein.
Imagine if you go from a fairlylow amount of daily protein to a
much higher amount.
(07:00):
Many of you listening the firsttime you've done this, or if
you haven't done it yet, chancesare you're gonna double,
possibly triple, the amount ofprotein.
So it starts to add up.
This is also why sometimes Isuggest, during fat loss, to
jack the protein up even higherand take it predominantly from
fats and not as much from carbs.
Of course there's more to itthan calories, right?
Protein is also more satiating,above and beyond this effect,
(07:24):
and so it helps you feel fulllonger.
So by strategically increasingprotein intake, you're not just
reducing the effect of calories,you're also reducing hunger.
Two for one, one of my favorites, all right approach.
Number two fiber.
So fiber is the volumeoptimizer I'm gonna call it Okay
and it is unique among thecarbs, among the carbohydrates,
because, unlike other carbswhich provide four calories per
(07:48):
gram, fiber provides fewerusable calories, between usually
zero and two, maybe up to twoand a half calories per gram,
depending on the type of fiber.
And what makes this interestingis that most food tracking apps
, like if you're using macrofactor, like I recommend link in
the show notes try it for freewith my code Wits and Weights
(08:10):
you will and also nutritionlabels as well.
They actually count the fiberas grams of carbs, but then the
calories will usually be alteredto match the proper amount of
calories, and that is why whenyou try to add it all up,
sometimes it doesn't match.
Like if you just take yourcarbs carb grams times four, it
may be higher calories than whatis actually shown on the
(08:32):
nutrition label, because thenutrition label is based on the
true calories that are in there.
Same thing when you log thefood, and so this creates an
opportunity when you're trackingvia macros, in that when you
increase your fiber intake, youincrease your food volume and
you quote, unquote hit yourcarbs before you get to the same
(08:53):
calorie level than if you had alower amount of fiber.
Does that make sense?
So even if you have the same,like, let's say, 100 grams of
carbs a day, if more of thosegrams are fiber, you're actually
gonna consume fewer caloriesand so that gap between the gram
math and the calories willwiden and you can take advantage
of that.
Now the even bigger benefit isthat fiber adds bulk to food
(09:15):
without adding the proportionalcalories.
It absorbs water, it expands inyour stomach, it slows
digestion and all of thoseincrease satiety.
And so, again, I can give you aconcrete example here.
If we talk about white riceversus brown rice, right and
nothing's good or bad.
This is just a difference inchoices for what you're going
for here.
We take 100 calories of whiterice compared to 100 calories of
(09:36):
brown rice.
The brown rice contains morefiber, not a huge amount more,
but it contains a little bitmore, and that means it will
physically take up more space inyour stomach and digest more
slowly.
Then you'll likely feel fullerfrom the brown rice, even though
the calorie count is identical,which means you might actually
choose to eat less brown riceand have fewer calories and be
just as full, or eat the sameamount and be even fuller.
(09:58):
You get what I'm saying.
You have a lot of levers toplay with.
Now imagine applying this toyour entire diet.
If you're always selectinghigher fiber alternatives for
carb sources, you willdramatically increase the volume
of food while maintaining thesame calorie intake.
That is amazing.
And, by the way, the other, theother way to think about this
is even once you've hit yourcarbs and your protein in your
(10:20):
food logging app and you noticethe calories are short because
you eat a lot of fiber.
You now you have a choice.
Maybe you're getting fullenough where you don't need
those extra calories and you'llbe in an even bigger deficit, as
long as it's not too big, right.
Or you can now eat a little bitmore food in case you're having
a little bit of hunger, andthis can actually offset it
where you have less hunger.
You see how this all makessense, all right.
(10:41):
The third approach out of thefive I wanted to talk about
today of how to eat more andstill lose fat is related to
water content and food density.
And if you think about, say,spinach a pound of spinach
versus a pound of oil Justimagine a pound of spinach in a
giant bowl versus a pound of oilin a little tiny bowl they're
(11:03):
going to contain vastlydifferent amounts of calories.
Now, this is an extreme, I getit.
You might substitute the oilfor peanut butter.
Same concept the spinach haslike 100 calories in a pound.
The oil has about 4,000calories in a pound.
So that is a 40 fold differencein nutrient density or calorie
density.
Right, because foods withhigher water content will have
(11:25):
lower calorie density, becausethe water adds weight and volume
without adding calories.
Take an apple, go, put an applein macro factor or whatever
your food logging app is, andsee how many grams of that apple
is water.
It's a huge percent.
It's like 80 or 90% of it iswater.
It's surprising.
Almost You're like wow, that'sactually mostly water.
And we can use this principle toagain increase the volume of
(11:49):
food on our plate.
For example, adding vegetablesto a pasta dish might double the
volume, but only add caloriesby increased by like 10 to 15%.
And so I'm going to give youanother specific example.
You take a cup of cooked pastawith 200 calories.
You take a cup of zucchininoodles.
That's 20 calories.
So I'm not telling you toreplace one with the other,
(12:12):
although that's a great thingyou could try.
But you can do half and halfGet half the pasta, half the
noodles.
You'll have the same volumethat goes in your stomach, but
you're going to reduce thecalories by 40%.
That's a nice little hack whereyou still have the delicious
taste of the pasta and thenmaybe a little bit crunchiness
of the zucchini, and yet it'sall this giant bowl of noodles.
It's great.
(12:33):
Consider soups, right?
Studies have shown that havingsoup before a meal can reduce
total calorie intake by up to20% because the water content
increases your stomach volume.
It also triggers satietysignals.
There's something to be saidfor having actual calories in
the soup versus just, say,drinking water before the meal.
And I'm a big fan of vegetablesoups as well during fat loss,
(12:54):
largely for that reason and thisisn't just a theoretical
approach, right, this is like adata-driven thing that you can
easily measure and figure out asyou are planning, as you're
doing your meal plans, and youthink about okay, what does the
thing weigh versus how manycalories it has?
Simple math, right?
I'll give you another coolexample.
You look at popcorn in thestore, grocery store, and notice
(13:16):
the back.
You'll see 28 grams of popcornis a serving.
Well, 28 grams is the weight.
But now look how many cups arein that 28 grams.
A regular salted, simple airpop popcorn is going to have
like four cups for that 28 grams.
The dense sugary kettle cornmight only have like one and a
half.
And it's kind of tricky becauseyou're looking at it and saying
, well, they're both 28 grams,yeah, but the amount you get for
(13:39):
the 28 grams is vastlydifferent.
Okay, approach number four hereinvolves the food structure in
the physical form of food andmanipulating it.
Okay, so listen up here.
This is another hack for you.
All, right, air.
How many calories are in airZero?
Okay, air is calorie free.
(14:00):
So if you can incorporate airinto foods, it increases their
volume without adding calories.
In fact, this is how ice creammakers make cheap ice cream they
add air to it and it gets,takes up more space for fewer
calories.
They can then say it's this lowcalorie ice cream and it's just
not as good as the really richdense stuff, right, but it has
fewer calories because there'smore air.
This is also why a cup ofair-popped popcorn has fewer
(14:23):
calories than a cup of kettlecorn, because there's more air
and there's less dense material.
Segueing from the example I justgave you earlier.
Now it's more than just air.
The physical form of foodimpacts how A typical medium
apple has like 95 calories, 100calories.
(14:43):
If you juice the apple, you'regoing to consume way more than
one apple's worth of juice tofeel satisfied, right?
That's just intuitive.
And then you're going to double, triple your calorie intake.
Of course, it's all sugar.
You're not going to get fiber,yada, yada.
On the other hand, foods thatrequire more chewing, for
example, lead to greater satietywith fewer calories, and that's
(15:08):
partly due to the additionaltime that it takes to eat them.
There's also some, I believe,some hormonal triggers from your
saliva as well, but even theadditional time that allows your
body satiety signals to kick inin your stomach and your gut
and so on, and so we can usethis principle by choosing foods
that have more complexstructures, that take up more
space and require more chewing.
So we're thinking harder foodsthat have more complex
structures, that take up morespace and require more chewing.
So we're thinking harder foodsthat require more chewing.
(15:30):
I actually first heard thisfrom Dr Eric Trexler probably a
couple of years ago, and Icontinue to use this as a
phenomenal tool.
An example would be alwayschoosing whole fruits.
You know you're not gonna drink.
I hope you're not drinkingfruit juice during fat loss
anyway.
I mean, you can and you canplan for it and put it in your
macros and all that, but thewhole fruits are going to take
you much farther.
Or even fresh fruits versusdried fruits, of course.
(15:54):
Um, opting for popcorn insteadof chips.
I think popcorn is a great hackduring fat loss.
It really is, because it has alot of the characteristics of,
you know, salty, crunchy snackfoods, but it's significantly
less calorie impact.
And again, you could get lightkettle corn.
You don't have to go all outwith just plain popcorn.
If that's not your jam, youcould still have something
(16:15):
flavorful.
There's so many things.
You could put really niceseasoning on it, some spices and
so on, making it home, whatever.
And then also picking foods thatrequire chewing over those that
don't.
And one thing that comes tomind here is meat.
You know, when you think oflike chicken breast, it does
require a lot of chewing.
You know lean pork, and it hasa lot of other benefits too, not
least of which is all theprotein.
So if you can include morestructurally complex foods in
(16:39):
your diet, you can increase thevolume and the satisfaction of
your meals and reduce calorieintake.
All right, there's a patternhere.
That's why I'm doing thisepisode.
And then the last approach,number five is meal timing and
frequency.
So optimizing timing andfrequency, which, during fat
loss, can be really importantfor a number of reasons.
(16:59):
So let's talk about what theresearch says.
Eating the same amount ofcalories spread across.
More frequent, smaller mealscan increase satiety compared to
fewer, larger meals, and thatis simply related to blood sugar
.
That's because more frequentmeals are going to maintain more
stable blood sugar and again,I'm not, you know, blood sugar
is not a boogeyman.
Blood sugar spikes aren't theproblem.
(17:20):
None of that is what I'mtalking about.
I'm just talking about yourhunger signals, because you have
stable blood sugar and moreopportunities for the body to
signal fullness when you havefrequent meals.
Now, these aren't alwaysuniversal.
Some people do a little bitbetter with fewer meals, space
more tightly together where theyhave a fasting window.
Right, you could say you couldcall it intermittent fasting,
(17:42):
but it may not.
It may just be a you know, alittle bit later breakfast, a
little bit earlier dinner typeof deal, especially when there
are lower calories.
So it really depends, your bodywill adapt.
But in general, more frequentmeals that are like a modest
size and not too tiny are goingto give you stable blood sugar
if they're balanced, you knowprotein, carbs, fats, and then
they're going to signal fullness.
So if you have like a 2000calorie daily budget for fat
(18:05):
loss this is just an example, Iknow you might have less you
could eat 2000 calorie meals, oryou can eat four 500 calorie
meals, you know, and four or 500calories is around the point
where I would call it a meal.
Less than that could get alittle bit tricky here, because
it might not be enough to makeyou feel full.
Of course it depends on what.
It is right.
The total calories are going tobe the same, but the four-meal
(18:27):
approach keeps you in a fedstate longer and reduces the
extreme hunger between mealsagain, in general.
Also another trick front-loadingcalories earlier in the day.
Right, you've always heard likehaving breakfast is a good
thing to do.
It aligns better with yourcircadian rhythm and that tends
to result in better hormonalresponses.
You know we think of cortisol,for example, and less nighttime
(18:49):
hunger.
Believe it or not, eatingearlier in the day, even though
I've often recommended sometimesreserving some calories for
later in the day because of latenight hunger.
Sometimes it's because you'renot front-loading the protein
and the calories earlier in theday.
So it's worth trying thesethings out.
It's worth trying them out atthe very least and see what
works for you.
So, from a systems perspective,we are optimizing the
(19:12):
distribution of energy acrosstime to maximize satiety and
minimize hunger.
It's kind of like if you cantrack when you're having your
meals and then compare that toyour hunger, you can then
experiment and find the optimalpoint right.
It's this intelligent personalstructure for your meal timing
and frequency that works withhowever your body's natural
(19:32):
naturally works.
However your body naturallyworks, okay, so I want to tie
all of this together.
I just gave you five reallycool approaches.
I hope at least one of them isgoing to help, be helpful to you
and um the.
The real power here is is reallycombining them systematically.
So, again, you don't have to dothem all, but my most
successful clients are generallydoing all of these at some
(19:53):
point and you build it up as aset of skills.
So imagine combining higherprotein intake, which you should
be doing anyway before you evenhit fat loss.
Fat loss.
Increased fiber same thing.
Lower food density right, we'retalking about calorie density.
More complex foods that requirechewing, optimizing your meal
timing and frequency.
(20:13):
The compounding effect of allof these will create a calorie
deficit that does not feelanything like a typical diet
that you've experienced in thepast, where you were just
slashing and burning and cuttingand just feeling miserable.
So definitely give it a shot.
Start with one, proceed to thenext and the next and see how it
helps with your hunger signalsand your fullness, so that you
(20:34):
can eat more quote unquote morefood and in some cases,
literally it is more in terms ofvolume and still maintain the
calories or maintain the fatloss without as much hunger.
And again, this is being smartand efficient.
This is it.
It's not trying to be adisciplined, will-powered,
white-knuckling your way throughdieting.
(20:54):
No, it's understanding thephysical and the biochemical
properties of food and thenusing that knowledge to your
advantage.
And then, when you approach thediet from that perspective, you
realize that both eat less tolose weight and eat more to lose
weight are actuallyoversimplifications.
I think the more accuratestatement would be maintain a
calorie deficit to lose fat, butoptimize your food choices so
(21:15):
you can eat more volume whiledoing so.
I know it's not short, punchyand sexy, but it's the truth and
it's based on science andreality.
And this not only makes fatloss more effective, but also
the S word more sustainable.
And sustainability is the keyto long-term success.
Because, after all, the bestdiet I'll say it over and over
again to the cows come home thebest diet is the one you can
(21:38):
stick to.
By applying these evidence-basedprinciples to your nutrition,
you then transform what is awhite-knuckled crash diet weight
loss journey to a systematicapproach that aligns with their
body's natural process, andthat's super important.
That is an important shift.
We don't want to be battlinghunger.
(21:59):
You're going to have a littlebit of it, but you don't want to
feel like you're constantlyfighting it, especially if you
have a history of a higherappetite than someone else.
If you want to learn more abouthow to do all of this, how to
optimize your nutrition withoutthe struggle, check out Whitson
Weights Physique University.
In there, we provide youeverything you need the tools,
the methods, the onboarding, thesupport, custom nutrition plans
(22:19):
, workshops, courses all of that.
We don't make it overwhelming.
We guide you step by step fromthe beginning and have myself,
my team, supporting you.
We incorporate the principleswe discussed today, tailored to
your needs.
We tell you how to tailor themas well.
Personalized support.
You get access to workoutprograms, challenges, a
community check-ins, all of it.
(22:41):
Go to witsandweightscom slashphysique or click the link in
the show notes to learn more.
All right, until next time,keep using your wits lifting
those weights and remember smartnutrition is not about
restricting yourself.
It's about getting more fromless.
This is Philip Pape, and you'vebeen listening to the Wits and
Weights podcast.
Eat more to lose weight a common refrain by
fitness influencers who claimyour metabolism is damaged and
you're in starvation mode.
Sometimes people do lose weightwith this advice, but not for
the reasons claimed.
Today, I'm revealing whatscience actually says about
increasing your food intakeduring fat loss.
There's a legitimate way to eatmore while losing fat, but it's
(00:25):
not what you've been told.
This approach has helped myclients overcome plateaus and
actually enjoy their fat lossjourney instead of constantly
battling hunger.
If you're tired of all theconfusing advice, this episode
will give you the clarity you'vebeen looking for.
(00:52):
Welcome to Wits and Weights, theshow that helps you build a
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday we're addressing one of
the most persistent myths in thefitness industry this idea that
you need to eat more to loseweight.
You've probably heard fitnessinfluencers claim that your
metabolism is damaged, you're instarvation mode or you need to
(01:13):
eat more to rev up yourmetabolic rate.
When people do lose weightfollowing this advice, it's
usually because they've improvedtheir food quality.
They've started tracking moreaccurately.
They've gotten rid of thoseoops weekends.
They've improved their foodquality, they've started
tracking more accurately.
They've gotten rid of thoseoops weekends They've added in
training, not because they'vefixed their metabolism or
reverse dieted by increasingcalories.
(01:34):
The fundamental truth stillremains that you need a calorie
deficit to lose fat.
However, there is a legitimateway to increase your food volume
while maintaining that deficit.
It is not about magicallyincreasing calories, but it's
about strategically selectingand structuring your food
choices.
Those choices will help youmaximize volume and satiety
(01:58):
while supporting fat loss.
So today I want to share fiveevidence-based approaches that I
use with clients that willallow you to fill your plate and
(02:19):
to feel satisfied whilecontinuing to lose fat
effectively.
And still get alliqueUniversity, where we provide you
with lots of things, butbasically we give you a system
and support to reach whateveryour goal is for your body
composition, and that includes acustom nutrition plan tailored
by me to your unique needs andpreferences.
Targeted workout programs everymonth, monthly challenges, a
(02:40):
supportive community, lots ofcourses, trainings, workshops
you name it all to keep youaccountable and engaged.
Just go to witsandweightscom,slash physique, or click the
link in the show notes to learnmore.
You can have a two-week freetrial, so there's absolutely no
risk.
Go check it out.
All right, let's get intotoday's topic and I want to
clarify what I mean when I saythat you can eat more and lose
(03:04):
weight.
I am not suggesting that youcan magically consume more
calories and still lose fat.
That is where I think theinfluencers mislead people with
the marketing right Like youcould just eat more calories,
eat more food in general andyou're going to lose weight
somehow.
What I'm talking about isincreasing the physical volume
of food on your plate whilestill maintaining the calorie
(03:24):
deficit, the physical volume offood on your plate while still
maintaining the calorie deficit.
And this is an approach whereyou need some data-driven
information, nutrition science,a systems thinking mindset to
optimize your fat loss journey.
It's a very creative, almostengineering type approach to
structuring your meals andchoosing what foods to eat.
You don't just do it willynilly.
You don't just choose foodsbased on macros.
(03:46):
This is not if it fits yourmacros.
There is a little more nuanceand there are a few more
variables involved.
So when we apply this thinkingto nutrition, we are trying to
do what we're trying to maximizesatiety and satisfaction while
keeping calories in check.
So our constraint is thecalories, but then this other
lever is how full we feel.
(04:07):
So I've got five approachesthat I came up with for today's
episode to increase your foodvolume but still maintain the
calorie level that you need tosupport fat loss.
All right, so approach numberone is understanding the thermic
effect of food.
T-e-f.
This is the slice of yourmetabolism Like, if you ever
look at it on a pie chart, and Ishow you the four components of
(04:30):
metabolism.
This is the one that takesabout say, 10, 15% of calories a
day to burn, and what I mean byburn is this is the energy your
body uses to digest, absorb andprocess what you eat.
Different macronutrientsactually require different
amounts of energy to process,and protein has the highest TEF
(04:51):
or thermic effect of food, atapproximately 20 to 30% of its
calories being burned while youdigest it.
So you're really only quoteunquote absorbing 70 to 80% of
what's going in.
Carbs burn about 5 to 10% andfats burn only about 0 to 3%.
So what this means practicallyit's pretty cool.
(05:13):
If you throw this in aspreadsheet and you play around
with different compositions ofmacros, you'll see that the more
protein you consume, the fewercalories you're probably going
to actually take into your body,which will look like a higher
energy expenditure, if thatmakes sense.
So, because technically it is ahigher energy expenditure.
But what matters is that youcould either eat more and not
(05:35):
gain as much weight, or you caneat less and lose more weight.
That makes sense.
So if you consume 100 caloriesof protein, your body's going to
use 20 to 30 of those just inthe digestion process, leaving
70 to 80 net calories for yourbody to actually use.
Compare that to fat, where thesame 100 calories still means
(05:55):
almost 100 net calories.
So by increasing protein intake, by slightly reducing fat or
carb intake, while keeping totalcalories the same, you
effectively create a largercalorie deficit without changing
your food quantity becauseyou're bumping up your
expenditure just a bit.
So again, if I want to give youtwo examples so you can
visualize this as you'relistening, let's say we have two
(06:18):
meals that are 500 calories.
Meal one has 30 grams ofprotein, 30 fat and almost 30
grams of carbs.
Meal two has 60 grams ofprotein, 15 grams of fat, so
that's double the protein, halfthe fat and about the same
amount of carbs.
With meal one, after youaccount for this TEF, your body
(06:40):
will net about 445 calories outof the 500.
With meal two, you might netonly 415 calories out of the 500
, and that's a 30 caloriedifference.
And that's just from one meal.
It's just a 30 gram differencein protein.
Imagine if you go from a fairlylow amount of daily protein to a
much higher amount.
(07:00):
Many of you listening the firsttime you've done this, or if
you haven't done it yet, chancesare you're gonna double,
possibly triple, the amount ofprotein.
So it starts to add up.
This is also why sometimes Isuggest, during fat loss, to
jack the protein up even higherand take it predominantly from
fats and not as much from carbs.
Of course there's more to itthan calories, right?
Protein is also more satiating,above and beyond this effect,
(07:24):
and so it helps you feel fulllonger.
So by strategically increasingprotein intake, you're not just
reducing the effect of calories,you're also reducing hunger.
Two for one, one of my favorites, all right approach.
Number two fiber.
So fiber is the volumeoptimizer I'm gonna call it Okay
and it is unique among thecarbs, among the carbohydrates,
because, unlike other carbswhich provide four calories per
(07:48):
gram, fiber provides fewerusable calories, between usually
zero and two, maybe up to twoand a half calories per gram,
depending on the type of fiber.
And what makes this interestingis that most food tracking apps
, like if you're using macrofactor, like I recommend link in
the show notes try it for freewith my code Wits and Weights
(08:10):
you will and also nutritionlabels as well.
They actually count the fiberas grams of carbs, but then the
calories will usually be alteredto match the proper amount of
calories, and that is why whenyou try to add it all up,
sometimes it doesn't match.
Like if you just take yourcarbs carb grams times four, it
may be higher calories than whatis actually shown on the
(08:32):
nutrition label, because thenutrition label is based on the
true calories that are in there.
Same thing when you log thefood, and so this creates an
opportunity when you're trackingvia macros, in that when you
increase your fiber intake, youincrease your food volume and
you quote, unquote hit yourcarbs before you get to the same
(08:53):
calorie level than if you had alower amount of fiber.
Does that make sense?
So even if you have the same,like, let's say, 100 grams of
carbs a day, if more of thosegrams are fiber, you're actually
gonna consume fewer caloriesand so that gap between the gram
math and the calories willwiden and you can take advantage
of that.
Now the even bigger benefit isthat fiber adds bulk to food
(09:15):
without adding the proportionalcalories.
It absorbs water, it expands inyour stomach, it slows
digestion and all of thoseincrease satiety.
And so, again, I can give you aconcrete example here.
If we talk about white riceversus brown rice, right and
nothing's good or bad.
This is just a difference inchoices for what you're going
for here.
We take 100 calories of whiterice compared to 100 calories of
(09:36):
brown rice.
The brown rice contains morefiber, not a huge amount more,
but it contains a little bitmore, and that means it will
physically take up more space inyour stomach and digest more
slowly.
Then you'll likely feel fullerfrom the brown rice, even though
the calorie count is identical,which means you might actually
choose to eat less brown riceand have fewer calories and be
just as full, or eat the sameamount and be even fuller.
(09:58):
You get what I'm saying.
You have a lot of levers toplay with.
Now imagine applying this toyour entire diet.
If you're always selectinghigher fiber alternatives for
carb sources, you willdramatically increase the volume
of food while maintaining thesame calorie intake.
That is amazing.
And, by the way, the other, theother way to think about this
is even once you've hit yourcarbs and your protein in your
(10:20):
food logging app and you noticethe calories are short because
you eat a lot of fiber.
You now you have a choice.
Maybe you're getting fullenough where you don't need
those extra calories and you'llbe in an even bigger deficit, as
long as it's not too big, right.
Or you can now eat a little bitmore food in case you're having
a little bit of hunger, andthis can actually offset it
where you have less hunger.
You see how this all makessense, all right.
(10:41):
The third approach out of thefive I wanted to talk about
today of how to eat more andstill lose fat is related to
water content and food density.
And if you think about, say,spinach a pound of spinach
versus a pound of oil Justimagine a pound of spinach in a
giant bowl versus a pound of oilin a little tiny bowl they're
(11:03):
going to contain vastlydifferent amounts of calories.
Now, this is an extreme, I getit.
You might substitute the oilfor peanut butter.
Same concept the spinach haslike 100 calories in a pound.
The oil has about 4,000calories in a pound.
So that is a 40 fold differencein nutrient density or calorie
density.
Right, because foods withhigher water content will have
(11:25):
lower calorie density, becausethe water adds weight and volume
without adding calories.
Take an apple, go, put an applein macro factor or whatever
your food logging app is, andsee how many grams of that apple
is water.
It's a huge percent.
It's like 80 or 90% of it iswater.
It's surprising.
Almost You're like wow, that'sactually mostly water.
And we can use this principle toagain increase the volume of
(11:49):
food on our plate.
For example, adding vegetablesto a pasta dish might double the
volume, but only add caloriesby increased by like 10 to 15%.
And so I'm going to give youanother specific example.
You take a cup of cooked pastawith 200 calories.
You take a cup of zucchininoodles.
That's 20 calories.
So I'm not telling you toreplace one with the other,
(12:12):
although that's a great thingyou could try.
But you can do half and halfGet half the pasta, half the
noodles.
You'll have the same volumethat goes in your stomach, but
you're going to reduce thecalories by 40%.
That's a nice little hack whereyou still have the delicious
taste of the pasta and thenmaybe a little bit crunchiness
of the zucchini, and yet it'sall this giant bowl of noodles.
It's great.
(12:33):
Consider soups, right?
Studies have shown that havingsoup before a meal can reduce
total calorie intake by up to20% because the water content
increases your stomach volume.
It also triggers satietysignals.
There's something to be saidfor having actual calories in
the soup versus just, say,drinking water before the meal.
And I'm a big fan of vegetablesoups as well during fat loss,
(12:54):
largely for that reason and thisisn't just a theoretical
approach, right, this is like adata-driven thing that you can
easily measure and figure out asyou are planning, as you're
doing your meal plans, and youthink about okay, what does the
thing weigh versus how manycalories it has?
Simple math, right?
I'll give you another coolexample.
You look at popcorn in thestore, grocery store, and notice
(13:16):
the back.
You'll see 28 grams of popcornis a serving.
Well, 28 grams is the weight.
But now look how many cups arein that 28 grams.
A regular salted, simple airpop popcorn is going to have
like four cups for that 28 grams.
The dense sugary kettle cornmight only have like one and a
half.
And it's kind of tricky becauseyou're looking at it and saying
, well, they're both 28 grams,yeah, but the amount you get for
(13:39):
the 28 grams is vastlydifferent.
Okay, approach number four hereinvolves the food structure in
the physical form of food andmanipulating it.
Okay, so listen up here.
This is another hack for you.
All, right, air.
How many calories are in airZero?
Okay, air is calorie free.
(14:00):
So if you can incorporate airinto foods, it increases their
volume without adding calories.
In fact, this is how ice creammakers make cheap ice cream they
add air to it and it gets,takes up more space for fewer
calories.
They can then say it's this lowcalorie ice cream and it's just
not as good as the really richdense stuff, right, but it has
fewer calories because there'smore air.
This is also why a cup ofair-popped popcorn has fewer
(14:23):
calories than a cup of kettlecorn, because there's more air
and there's less dense material.
Segueing from the example I justgave you earlier.
Now it's more than just air.
The physical form of foodimpacts how A typical medium
apple has like 95 calories, 100calories.
(14:43):
If you juice the apple, you'regoing to consume way more than
one apple's worth of juice tofeel satisfied, right?
That's just intuitive.
And then you're going to double, triple your calorie intake.
Of course, it's all sugar.
You're not going to get fiber,yada, yada.
On the other hand, foods thatrequire more chewing, for
example, lead to greater satietywith fewer calories, and that's
(15:08):
partly due to the additionaltime that it takes to eat them.
There's also some, I believe,some hormonal triggers from your
saliva as well, but even theadditional time that allows your
body satiety signals to kick inin your stomach and your gut
and so on, and so we can usethis principle by choosing foods
that have more complexstructures, that take up more
space and require more chewing.
So we're thinking harder foodsthat have more complex
structures, that take up morespace and require more chewing.
So we're thinking harder foodsthat require more chewing.
(15:30):
I actually first heard thisfrom Dr Eric Trexler probably a
couple of years ago, and Icontinue to use this as a
phenomenal tool.
An example would be alwayschoosing whole fruits.
You know you're not gonna drink.
I hope you're not drinkingfruit juice during fat loss
anyway.
I mean, you can and you canplan for it and put it in your
macros and all that, but thewhole fruits are going to take
you much farther.
Or even fresh fruits versusdried fruits, of course.
(15:54):
Um, opting for popcorn insteadof chips.
I think popcorn is a great hackduring fat loss.
It really is, because it has alot of the characteristics of,
you know, salty, crunchy snackfoods, but it's significantly
less calorie impact.
And again, you could get lightkettle corn.
You don't have to go all outwith just plain popcorn.
If that's not your jam, youcould still have something
(16:15):
flavorful.
There's so many things.
You could put really niceseasoning on it, some spices and
so on, making it home, whatever.
And then also picking foods thatrequire chewing over those that
don't.
And one thing that comes tomind here is meat.
You know, when you think oflike chicken breast, it does
require a lot of chewing.
You know lean pork, and it hasa lot of other benefits too, not
least of which is all theprotein.
So if you can include morestructurally complex foods in
(16:39):
your diet, you can increase thevolume and the satisfaction of
your meals and reduce calorieintake.
All right, there's a patternhere.
That's why I'm doing thisepisode.
And then the last approach,number five is meal timing and
frequency.
So optimizing timing andfrequency, which, during fat
loss, can be really importantfor a number of reasons.
(16:59):
So let's talk about what theresearch says.
Eating the same amount ofcalories spread across.
More frequent, smaller mealscan increase satiety compared to
fewer, larger meals, and thatis simply related to blood sugar
.
That's because more frequentmeals are going to maintain more
stable blood sugar and again,I'm not, you know, blood sugar
is not a boogeyman.
Blood sugar spikes aren't theproblem.
(17:20):
None of that is what I'mtalking about.
I'm just talking about yourhunger signals, because you have
stable blood sugar and moreopportunities for the body to
signal fullness when you havefrequent meals.
Now, these aren't alwaysuniversal.
Some people do a little bitbetter with fewer meals, space
more tightly together where theyhave a fasting window.
Right, you could say you couldcall it intermittent fasting,
(17:42):
but it may not.
It may just be a you know, alittle bit later breakfast, a
little bit earlier dinner typeof deal, especially when there
are lower calories.
So it really depends, your bodywill adapt.
But in general, more frequentmeals that are like a modest
size and not too tiny are goingto give you stable blood sugar
if they're balanced, you knowprotein, carbs, fats, and then
they're going to signal fullness.
So if you have like a 2000calorie daily budget for fat
(18:05):
loss this is just an example, Iknow you might have less you
could eat 2000 calorie meals, oryou can eat four 500 calorie
meals, you know, and four or 500calories is around the point
where I would call it a meal.
Less than that could get alittle bit tricky here, because
it might not be enough to makeyou feel full.
Of course it depends on what.
It is right.
The total calories are going tobe the same, but the four-meal
(18:27):
approach keeps you in a fedstate longer and reduces the
extreme hunger between mealsagain, in general.
Also another trick front-loadingcalories earlier in the day.
Right, you've always heard likehaving breakfast is a good
thing to do.
It aligns better with yourcircadian rhythm and that tends
to result in better hormonalresponses.
You know we think of cortisol,for example, and less nighttime
(18:49):
hunger.
Believe it or not, eatingearlier in the day, even though
I've often recommended sometimesreserving some calories for
later in the day because of latenight hunger.
Sometimes it's because you'renot front-loading the protein
and the calories earlier in theday.
So it's worth trying thesethings out.
It's worth trying them out atthe very least and see what
works for you.
So, from a systems perspective,we are optimizing the
(19:12):
distribution of energy acrosstime to maximize satiety and
minimize hunger.
It's kind of like if you cantrack when you're having your
meals and then compare that toyour hunger, you can then
experiment and find the optimalpoint right.
It's this intelligent personalstructure for your meal timing
and frequency that works withhowever your body's natural
(19:32):
naturally works.
However your body naturallyworks, okay, so I want to tie
all of this together.
I just gave you five reallycool approaches.
I hope at least one of them isgoing to help, be helpful to you
and um the.
The real power here is is reallycombining them systematically.
So, again, you don't have to dothem all, but my most
successful clients are generallydoing all of these at some
(19:53):
point and you build it up as aset of skills.
So imagine combining higherprotein intake, which you should
be doing anyway before you evenhit fat loss.
Fat loss.
Increased fiber same thing.
Lower food density right, we'retalking about calorie density.
More complex foods that requirechewing, optimizing your meal
timing and frequency.
(20:13):
The compounding effect of allof these will create a calorie
deficit that does not feelanything like a typical diet
that you've experienced in thepast, where you were just
slashing and burning and cuttingand just feeling miserable.
So definitely give it a shot.
Start with one, proceed to thenext and the next and see how it
helps with your hunger signalsand your fullness, so that you
(20:34):
can eat more quote unquote morefood and in some cases,
literally it is more in terms ofvolume and still maintain the
calories or maintain the fatloss without as much hunger.
And again, this is being smartand efficient.
This is it.
It's not trying to be adisciplined, will-powered,
white-knuckling your way throughdieting.
(20:54):
No, it's understanding thephysical and the biochemical
properties of food and thenusing that knowledge to your
advantage.
And then, when you approach thediet from that perspective, you
realize that both eat less tolose weight and eat more to lose
weight are actuallyoversimplifications.
I think the more accuratestatement would be maintain a
calorie deficit to lose fat, butoptimize your food choices so
(21:15):
you can eat more volume whiledoing so.
I know it's not short, punchyand sexy, but it's the truth and
it's based on science andreality.
And this not only makes fatloss more effective, but also
the S word more sustainable.
And sustainability is the keyto long-term success.
Because, after all, the bestdiet I'll say it over and over
again to the cows come home thebest diet is the one you can
(21:38):
stick to.
By applying these evidence-basedprinciples to your nutrition,
you then transform what is awhite-knuckled crash diet weight
loss journey to a systematicapproach that aligns with their
body's natural process, andthat's super important.
That is an important shift.
We don't want to be battlinghunger.
(21:59):
You're going to have a littlebit of it, but you don't want to
feel like you're constantlyfighting it, especially if you
have a history of a higherappetite than someone else.
If you want to learn more abouthow to do all of this, how to
optimize your nutrition withoutthe struggle, check out Whitson
Weights Physique University.
In there, we provide youeverything you need the tools,
the methods, the onboarding, thesupport, custom nutrition plans
(22:19):
, workshops, courses all of that.
We don't make it overwhelming.
We guide you step by step fromthe beginning and have myself,
my team, supporting you.
We incorporate the principleswe discussed today, tailored to
your needs.
We tell you how to tailor themas well.
Personalized support.
You get access to workoutprograms, challenges, a
community check-ins, all of it.
(22:41):
Go to witsandweightscom slashphysique or click the link in
the show notes to learn more.
All right, until next time,keep using your wits lifting
those weights and remember smartnutrition is not about
restricting yourself.
It's about getting more fromless.
This is Philip Pape, and you'vebeen listening to the Wits and
Weights podcast.
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