2652: How Undereating is Making You Fat & Unhealthy

Summary

Episode Summary: How Undereating is Making You Fat & Unhealthy (Episode 2652)

Podcast: Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth
Hosts: Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews
Release Date: July 31, 2025
Produced by: Doug Egge

---

Introduction to Undereating and Its Hidden Consequences

In Episode 2652 of Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth, hosts Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, and Justin Andrews delve deep into a counterintuitive topic: how undereating can sabotage your fitness goals, lead to fat gain, and negatively impact overall health. While the common understanding is that overeating impairs progress, the hosts reveal how consuming too few calories can be equally, if not more, detrimental.

---

Metabolic Adaptation and Weight Loss Plateaus

Sal DeStefano begins by discussing the phenomenon of metabolic adaptation, where the body adjusts its energy expenditure in response to prolonged calorie restriction. This adaptation often results in weight loss plateaus, frustrating many individuals striving to shed pounds.

Sal DeStefano (04:30): "Your metabolism adapts. It does adapt. And undereating or eating too little for too long causes your metabolism to adapt in a way that makes it so that you plateau."

The hosts emphasize that simply cutting calories isn't a sustainable strategy. As metabolism slows, continuing to reduce calorie intake only exacerbates the issue, leading to diminished returns and increased difficulty in further weight loss.

---

Muscle Loss vs. Fat Loss: Misleading Scale Numbers

Justin Andrews highlights the crucial difference between losing muscle mass and shedding fat, stressing that the scale can be deceptive.

Justin Andrews (03:06): "There's also a massive difference metabolically to the client who lost 20 pounds on the scale and 10 of it was muscle, 10 of it was fat."

He explains that losing muscle decreases metabolic rate and maintaining a higher body fat percentage despite weight loss can make individuals appear less toned and weaker, undermining health and aesthetic goals.

Sal DeStefano adds that body fat takes up more space than muscle, so two individuals with the same weight but different body compositions will look vastly different.

Sal DeStefano (07:10): "A 6 foot, 200 pound man at 10% body fat looks and feels way different than a 200 pound man who's 6 foot at 20% body fat."

---

Psychological Impacts: Depression, Low Energy, and Motivation Loss

The conversation shifts to the psychological toll of undereating. Sal DeStefano and Justin Andrews discuss how insufficient calorie intake can lead to depression, anxiety, and a significant drop in energy levels.

Sal DeStefano (15:21): "Depression can be... often comes from... or sometimes it's from... I'm just not eating enough and I'm working too hard."

Justin Andrews likens the experience to building a house without the necessary tools or materials—no matter how hard one tries, progress is hindered without proper nutrition.

Justin Andrews (11:10): "When you go to the gym, you lift weights... if you don't give the body the proper nutrients... you're wasting your time."

These mental and emotional struggles often lead individuals to abandon their fitness routines, perpetuating a cycle of frustration and disappointment.

---

Nutrient Deficiencies and Hormonal Imbalances

Sal DeStefano underscores the importance of adequate nutrient intake, noting that undereating often leads to deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals.

Sal DeStefano (17:26): "When your calories are low... nutrient deficiencies can just feel terrible. You could feel anxiety, depression, you could feel low energy."

These deficiencies affect various bodily functions, including hormonal balance. For instance, men may experience reduced testosterone levels, while women may encounter imbalanced estrogen and progesterone levels.

Sal DeStefano (19:00): "For women... you see an imbalance in estrogen progesterone... men... your testosterone is low."

Such hormonal disruptions not only hinder fat loss and muscle gain but also promote fat storage, making it even harder to achieve desired physique and health outcomes.

---

The Binge-Restrict Cycle: A Vicious Loop

The hosts address the binge-restrict cycle, a pattern where individuals restrict calories to the point of deprivation, leading to binge eating episodes, and then resuming restrictive behaviors once guilt and frustration set in.

Sal DeStefano (22:10): "It's a dysfunctional relationship that looks like restrict, binge, restrict, binge."

Justin Andrews explains how each binge increases fat cell count, making subsequent weight loss attempts increasingly challenging.

Justin Andrews (23:46): "You're adding fat cells to the body... making it exponentially more difficult to lose the weight."

This cycle not only complicates weight management but also damages one's relationship with food and body image, creating long-term psychological and physiological barriers.

---

Recommendations: Fueling for Success

To counteract the pitfalls of undereating, the hosts advocate for a balanced approach focused on adequate nutrition and strength training.

Sal DeStefano emphasizes the importance of eating enough to support workout recovery and muscle maintenance.

Sal DeStefano (24:23): "A better strategy is to strength train and eat to fuel your workouts and your performance and then the fat loss will follow."

Justin Andrews reinforces this by likening proper nutrition to providing the necessary tools for building a strong, healthy body.

Justin Andrews (11:10): "If you don't give the body the proper nutrients in order to do that, then you're wasting your time."

By prioritizing nutrient-dense foods and ensuring sufficient calorie intake, individuals can enhance metabolic rate, preserve muscle mass, and improve overall health, leading to more sustainable and effective fat loss.

---

Conclusion: Working with Your Body, Not Against It

The episode wraps up with a call to shift focus from extreme calorie restriction to a more balanced, nutrient-focused approach. By strength training, eating adequately, and prioritizing overall health, individuals can achieve their fitness goals without the negative side effects of undereating.

Sal DeStefano (24:39): "If you like Mind Pump, come find us on Instagram. We'll see you there."

The hosts encourage listeners to re-evaluate their dietary strategies and adopt sustainable practices that support both physical performance and mental well-being.

---

Key Takeaways:

• Undereating can cause metabolic slowing, muscle loss, and fat retention, making weight loss more challenging.
• Psychological effects such as depression and low energy are common consequences of chronic calorie restriction.
• Nutrient deficiencies and hormonal imbalances further hinder fitness progress and overall health.
• The binge-restrict cycle exacerbates weight management issues and damages one's relationship with food.
• Prioritizing adequate nutrition and strength training is essential for sustainable fat loss and improved health.

---

Stay informed and transform your fitness journey by prioritizing balanced nutrition and effective training strategies. For more insights and personalized training programs, visit mindpumppodcast.com and follow the hosts on Instagram @mindpumpmedia.

Transcript

[Sal DeStefano]

Everyone's loving family Freedom from T Mobile. We'll pay off four phones up to $3200 and give you four free phones all on America's largest 5G network. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com FamilyFreedom up to $800 per line via virtual prepaid card typically takes 15 days. Free phones via 24 monthly bill credits with finance agreement eg Apple iPhone16128GB8999 Eligible trade in eg iPhone11 Pro for well qualified credits. End and balance due if you pay off early or cancel contact T Mobile.

[Adam Schaefer]

If you want to pump your body and expand, there's only one place to go.

[Sal DeStefano]

Mind Pump Mind Pump with your hosts.

[Adam Schaefer]

Sal DeStefano, Adam Schaefer and Justin Andrews.

[Sal DeStefano]

You just found the most downloaded fitness, health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. Today we're talking about undereating and how it's completely destroying your progress. You won't want to miss this episode now. This episode is brought to you by Manukora. This is Manuka Honey. This is. This is the definition of a superfood antimicrobial. Good for gut health, anti inflammatory. It tastes great. This is the ultimate post workout carbohydrate. It is a superfood. Look it up yourself. Manukura is the best source of Manuka Honey you'll find anywhere in the world. I take one or two packets post workout and I get better results. Check them out. Go to manukora.com that's M-A-N-U K O R-A.com use the code MINDPUMP. Save up to 31% plus $25 worth of free gifts with the starter kit. Also one day left for the July special Maps split and the Anabolic Metabolism bundle of workout programs. All of that is 50% off. Head over to mapsfitnessproducts.com, use the code july50 for that discount. Back to the show. Look, we all know that overeating causes problems. Duh. Everybody knows this. But a lot of people don't know that undereating causes a lot of problems, as in fact undereating may be the reason why you're struggling. Today we're going to talk about how undereating can make you fat and unhealthy and unfit. Again, this is backed by data and experience. We're going to get into it.

[Justin Andrews]

I like this topic. I think Skinny Fat. Anytime we talk about this or anything related to this, it reminds me and I want to Say it's probably year two or three in my training career. And at this time, I am almost certain a large percentage of my clients lie to me because I have them tracking food and same experience. I'm the one who's training them. So I know how hard we're working when they. And back then was when I used to like, crush my clients. So I know we're sweating, we're burning calories, you know, and it's just. It's not mathing. It's just there's no. They have to be lying. And we see all the. The. The research. By the way, this research has been around for a long time that the average client under reports by X amount. So this is, this is the data I'm pulling from that there's no other option. They have to be lying to me or just grossly.

[Unknown]

Candy bars.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, grossly underreporting. And they have no idea, because this can't be possible, that they're. They're. They're eating what they're telling me they're eating. And yet we're not losing any weight. It wasn't until much later did I realize or learn what is happening to them metabolically and hormonally that was impacting them. And then like this huge light bulb and awareness.

[Sal DeStefano]

Same. What this looked like for me is I would early trainer. Right. So I know you need to eat less calories in your burn to lose weight. That's a fact. Right. Still a fact. And so I'd get a client, I'd put them on a calorie cut, and we would see some initial weight loss, and then we'd plateau real hard. But. But their calories would be low, you know, 1500 calories, 1800 calories. And I thought the same thing, Adam. They must not be telling me the truth. How could we have plateaued? We have £40 to lose. We lost £10. We're working out. They never worked out before. They're doing cardio. What is happening here? Now, one thing you need to understand is that your metabolism adapts. It does adapt. And under eating or eating too little for too long causes your metabolism to adapt in a way that makes it so that you plateau. Because your body's goal is to meet your energy intake. Your energy demands will start to meet the intake, and it can slow its metabolism down pretty remarkably. Now, one of the hallmarks of this is, well, you do lose weight, but the data will show this. By the way, lots of studies show this. Half the weight you lose is muscle. So what ends up happening is you're smaller but you're weaker and you're just as high a body fat percentage. Body fat percentage is what matters, everybody. It's not necessarily your weight, but rather the percentage of body fat you have on your body. A 6 foot, 200 pound man at 10% body fat looks and feels way different than a 200 pound man who's 6 foot at 20% body fat. They look radically different. One guy looks chiseled, the other guy looks squishy. So this is what happens when you eat too little, you lose muscle and you end up getting smaller and weaker. And although the scale reflects a lighter body weight, you're actually the same body fat percentage and you're actually not as healthy potentially as you were before.

[Justin Andrews]

There's also a massive difference metabolically to the client who lost 20 pounds on the scale and 10 of it was muscle, 10 of it was fat. Where their metabolism is compared to the client that didn't move on the scale because they lost five pounds of fat and gained five pounds of muscle. But they're discouraged because their scale. But metabolically, that person is in such a better place than the person. So wrap your brain around that. For a client, you're trying, you're hiring a trainer. Your goal, your original goal is because you don't know or understand this thoroughly, you just want the scale to go down. I want £20 off. Everybody tends to just ask something like that, I want 20 pounds off. And so you have client A who just cuts calories, does cardio like crazy and drops the 20 pounds in 30 days. And we come back, we do the body fat test and their body fat percentage went up because half of that weight was actually muscle, half of it was fat. And that. And metabolically where they're at eating calories wise, I bet is significantly lower than where it was when they started. Client B gets on the scale and the scale didn't move and it was because they lost 5 pounds of fat and gained 5 pounds of muscle. So it was a net zero loss on the scale, but they're eating probably 500 more calories than when they first started that journey 30 days before. But that client who is feel different. Whoa, huge. They look different, they feel different, they're eating more. But the psychological part is interesting because many times client B who's actually in an incredible place is still discouraged.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right.

[Justin Andrews]

Because they think they didn't move any closer to that, that arbitrary number on the scale that doesn't matter. And they aren't in a better position, they're actually in a much better position than client A. Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Because if you keep this going, what ends up happening is you plateau. And in order to lose more weight on the scale, you have to keep dropping your calories. And this keeps going until it gets to an unrealistic, unsustainable place. Suddenly I'm eating very little. I still have some weight to lose and if I eat anything over what I'm eating, I gain the weight back immediately. That's right. Also, you got to, you know, one thing people need to understand is that muscle looks very different on the body and it takes up less space.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

If somebody lost 20 pounds of pure body fat versus someone who lost 10 pounds of muscle, 10 pounds of body fat, they might lose the same amount in the scale, but they look radically different. Body fat takes up more space. Muscle takes up a little over maybe, maybe three quarters of the space of body fat. So 10 pounds of body fat versus 10 pounds of muscle, you look much smaller. Plus muscle is sculpted and shapely. Your butt looks different, your arms look different, your shoulders look different, your core looks different. And then the functionality that comes from muscle, I mean if you don't have.

[Unknown]

Strength, it, it's not even comparable like the energy difference with that, like and what you're motivated to do, like you're just, your activity levels are going to drop, your, your overall drive is going to drop, your overall happiness is going to diminish on some degree because you know to be able to have that kind of strength ability provides you with so many more options.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. Muscle is a, an organ of health. So muscle improves insulin sensitivity. It does produce, every time you move or flex a muscle, it does produce chemicals that do things like improve your mood and make you feel better. You don't want to lose muscle. In fact, if you look at the data, which is very, this is very fascinating data, A college aged male today has the grip strength of a 60 year old in 1980. So we talk about the obesity epidemic being this epidemic, but where nobody's talking about is a silent epidemic that's just as bad, which is the under muscled epidemic. So under eating can make your health get worse. Even though you've lost weight on the scale because you've lost this healthy tissue. The next point is that you just don't recover from your workouts. You don't have enough nutrients, so you're working out in the gym. Now why is this important? Well, what you want from the workout isn't the workout. What you want from the workout are the adaptations that the workout induces. Right. Working out is a stress on the body.

[Unknown]

It's a stimulus.

[Sal DeStefano]

The results that you get from the workout are the adaptations. What are those adaptations look like? More strength, more endurance, more muscle, better function. None of those things can happen if you're not taking in adequate nutrients and calories. You take any athlete. I can. I don't care who the athlete is. Keep their workouts the same, keep their training the same. You. You let me give them as little food as I want and I'll crush their performance, Kill their performance because they're not eating enough calories to recover and adapt from the workouts and what this feels like for somebody. And oftentimes we lie to ourselves because we see the scale moving down. We're losing muscle, but we don't even know that. We just see the scale moving down is. Our workouts feel worse. I'm going to the gym and I got less energy. I'm more tired, I'm more sore. Not only am I not getting stronger, I actually feel like I'm getting weaker. But I'm lying to myself because of scale is going down. You need to fuel the recovery and adaptations from your workouts to benefit from the workouts. In other words, if you're not feeding yourself, the workouts are not just a waste of time. They're just. They become dredgery. Excessive stress on the body. Yeah.

[Unknown]

And it's a lot of times this is what demotivates people to continue.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right.

[Unknown]

It's like it. If you're not having fun in getting energized from your workouts and seeing the progression of your work that you're. You're putting forth, that's super demotivating.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, it's. You're trying to build a house without the tools and the lumber. I don't care how talented of a carpenter you are, if you don't have the tools, you don't have the lumber, you're not going to do that. When you go to the gym, you lift weights. You're trying to build your metabolism, sculpt and build your body. And if you don't give the body the proper nutrients in order to do that, then you're wasting your time.

[Sal DeStefano]

You're just.

[Justin Andrews]

Then literally the movements become really irrelevant because you could have just done anything. You could have just moved and swung your arms around for an hour to burn calories, because that's all you really did. You didn't do anything that built good lean tissue.

[Sal DeStefano]

In fact, if I were to. If I were given two magic wands with two options. Option one, I wave it and everybody in America loses 30 pounds on the scale. Option two, everybody dramatically improves their fitness, strength and endurance. I would choose that one because that one would have four far better results in terms of their health. Way more benefits, by the way. It would also result in the fat loss that we're looking for. Which brings us to the third point. Your performance sucks when your calories and your nutrient level is too low. And I don't just mean exercise performance, I mean work performance, I mean performance at home. Your cognitive performance declines. Things like anxiety and depression start to go up. You just don't feel great. And you see people struggling with this. More common than not, these are women who will stick in this low calorie space for so long and they just can't figure out why they, their libido's low, their energy's low. I just don't have, I just don't feel the motivation. It's like, well, your body is figuring out how to run on 1200 calories a day, which you've done for a super long period of time. And so your quality of life dramatically goes down from a performance down.

[Justin Andrews]

This is one of the reasons why I think a lot of people end up throwing their hands up is because one, they're eating so low, they're, their metabolism has slowed down, they're working so hard, they're starving their self nutrition, their, their performance, their energy levels are so low. And then. And you're not seeing the results. I mean, I wouldn't either.

[Sal DeStefano]

You, you just disappointed that.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, at that point. And I've literally heard so many clients say this, like, why, why should I come to this gym five days a week and sacrifice all this food? When going back to where I was is the difference of £5 on the scale or whatever, like I'd rather have £5 back on the scale. But the life that I had before where I didn't have to do all and I didn't have to starve my body and that's where a lot of people give up. I think that's what happens is you get, you, you do too much too fast, you don't feed the body properly and it doesn't respond the way I used to explain to my clients. Like, our goal is to work with your body, not against your body. And when you are cutting really hard on calories and eating so little and not feeding your body properly, you are absolutely working against your body. You're not working with it. It doesn't Want to perform the way you think it wants to perform when you're starving it of nutrients.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right. Which brings us to the next point. Your sleep is affected negatively. What this typically looks like is tiredness. Tired and wired tiredness. Yes. Tired and wired. You're tired throughout the day. You're dragging. Maybe you want to take naps. You're like, oh, man, I need to take a nap. Or what you probably do is you overstimulate with things like caffeine. Then it comes to bedtime and you've got this weird restless sleep. And then when you try to get up in the morning, it's like you're a zombie. I took a nap yesterday. I went to bed. I woke up four times in the middle of the night, tossing and turning, kind of. But I'm so tired. Then when I try to get up for work, I feel terrible. One of the hallmarks of taking in too little nutrients is that kind of low energy and terrible sleep patterns. Sleep during the day, can't sleep at night. What's going on here, by the way? As your sleep starts to get affected negatively, everything else starts to get.

[Justin Andrews]

It just makes all the other things we're talking about exacerbates it.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right.

[Justin Andrews]

It's like this vicious cycle. And this is why it gets so difficult, is you have this. It starts with just not eating enough and having a few of these bad days, and then they just start to compound and it just gets worse and worse and worse into where it's just like, this is awful.

[Sal DeStefano]

This is.

[Justin Andrews]

I feel terrible all day long. I'm not seeing the results. I am. I'm pushing my buddy so hard. No wonder they give up.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right. And you're also more likely to be depressed than anxious. This is an interesting one. A lot of people don't realize this, but if your calories have been really low for a long time, too low, simply increasing your nutrient intake oftentimes reduces your depressive symptoms. You start to feel better, more awake, more alive. Anxiety starts to feel a little less. Now. Why are you depressed? Well, your body is trying to keep you from moving.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's trying to keep you from doing anything because you're running on stuff, stop.

[Unknown]

You from using your energy.

[Sal DeStefano]

You're running so low on calories and in nutrients, and so your mental state starts to suffer as a result. Like, literally, if you're watching this and you're this person who's. Throughout your. Most of your life, you struggled with weight and what you've done now is you've gotten yourself conditioned to the point where you eat very little and you're still kind of overweight and you try to work out and you just don't feel good. The remedy may be, besides changing your workout, focusing more on strength training is just to eat a little bit more. In fact, when we talk to people on the podcast who call in and ask us questions around this, I'd say a good 30 to 40% of the time, that's our advice, is to, like, you got to eat more, you got to feed yourself a little more to make this work. And then when they come back on in two or three months, they all say the same thing. I didn't think it would work. And I can't believe I feel as good as I do. I feel so much better. My energy is so much better. I don't feel as low. Like, this is absolutely incredible.

[Unknown]

I mean, you're under eating, you're frail, you're. You're not quite as muscled as you'd like to be. Like, all these things, you're not getting enough sleep. Like, all that is a big recipe for injury. Like, and that's just something that you got to consider. You're susceptible, a lot more vulnerable towards if you're going to do a regular workout. Even then now I'm going to have to deal with the potential. I could injure myself and now have to recover from the pain.

[Justin Andrews]

Do you think that's depression and anxiety that they're feeling, or do you think that's this, this loud signal from their body of just like, we're not supposed to be here.

[Sal DeStefano]

They're one and the same. Yeah. Yeah, they're one of the same. Depression can be. Can come from a lot of different things, inflammation, but oftentimes it comes from. Or sometimes it comes from I'm just not eating enough and I'm working too hard.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

And that's what you end up feeling like.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Because it's definitely. I mean, how you, how you label it, I'm not sure, but your body will definitely try and tell you.

[Sal DeStefano]

Well, we've all had those female clients. I mean, how many times have you had this female client where you have them eat more, more and they're just happier, different person. They're just a different person because they've got the energy that comes from the food. Next up, nutrient deficiencies. Way, way more common.

[Justin Andrews]

Super common.

[Sal DeStefano]

When your calories are low. Remember you're.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, it's. This is common, Sal, Even when a client comes to you before the Cut.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. A lot of people, which people might be thinking, well how's that possible when we have a problem with overeating? Well, we overeat foods that are like overeat saturated fats, carbohydrates, sugars, but then we under eat nutrient dense foods. So a lot of people come to you even in a calorie surplus of, of eating, eating quote, unquote, too much. But they're eating too much of the wrong things and not enough of the right things. And many times I get a client who's already lacking in nutrients and then they go to a cut on top of that and they just exacerbate that. It's like they were already lacking nutrients and then you now reduce the calories even more. They just eat less of what they were eating before thinking that's going to solve the problem.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, yeah. No, you, you not. You don't just get proteins, fats, carbohydrates and calories from food. You also get nutrients from food. And in fact, I remember years ago they took a large group of registered dietitians and told them to create a 2,000 calorie diet that satisfied all of the RDA's requirements. And it was hard for them. In fact, I remember, I remember you.

[Justin Andrews]

Had to have like a serving of liver every other, like you had to.

[Sal DeStefano]

Do some weird, like that's 2,000 calories.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you had to do some weird food choices just to hit the nutrients.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right.

[Justin Andrews]

Basically what they were highlighting was it's impossible.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right. That's right. And so I remember that now. What does this look like? Well, nutrient deficiencies can just feel terrible. You could feel anxiety, depression, you could feel low energy. You also start to get symptoms like my nails are weak, my skin doesn't look right, my hair starts to fall. That's a common one. That was a common one I would get with clients, with female clients is, is while, you know, as we're doing our intake and I'm starting to get the idea that, oh, this person under eats. I'll ask them like, do you ever. Does your hair fall out? Yeah, it does. Why are you asking me that? You probably nutrient deficiency and we would have them eat more and lo and behold it would fix that issue right out the gates. It also leads to hormone imbalances. Look, if you're a, a man or a woman, if you're, let's start with a man. If you're a man and you're eating too little for too long, your Testosterone will go on the floor. Yeah, it just does. It just hammers your testosterone down on the floor. For women, you will see an imbalance in estrogen progesterone and both men and women will see an inverted cortisol throughout the, throughout the day. So rather than having cortisol high at night, sorry, high in the day and come down at night, it's low in the day and then up in the evening when they're trying to go to sleep and they just feel like garbage. In fact, I can, I mean, I remember specific clients who would come to me would also work with a functional medicine practitioner. So it was like 15, 16 years ago and the functional medicine practitioner would look at the hormones and some of the advice was we're going to have you eat more. And they would eat more, they would strength train. And then over the course of six months, we start to see their hormones become far more balanced. So yeah, if you want to destroy your libido and your energy and your hormones. And by the way, you see this sometimes in 20 year olds, you know, you know people in their mid-20s who undereat, who have these hormone issues, which you should definitely not have in your mid-20s. And oftentimes it's like you just need to eat more, you need to feed your body.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. I would say of all the things we've talked about so far, this is one of the hardest to overcome. You have a client with, you know, high levels of estrogen, low levels of testosterone, and that is just a recipe for fat storage and hard to hold or build muscle.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

And if and, and when we are trying to sculpt, build the body, lose body fat, build muscle, not having the key hormone that helps us build muscle, testosterone at optimal levels is already putting us miles behind. And then having things like estrogen at really high is ready for our body, to store body fat. It's just, that's the worst place to be with trying to help somebody. I don't know how many clients of mine that we were operating initially from this place and trying to help them. This was one of the more challenging things. And this was before things like hormone replacement therapy and stuff like that. And the things that we're communicating today, this wasn't popular. So as a trainer, a lot of times you were scratching your head like, what is going on? They're eating clean, they're doing this, we're doing all these things. But if their hormones are out of whack, oh, good luck seeing the results that you want to see from diet and exercise and by the way, for.

[Sal DeStefano]

Men, this doesn't necessarily mean you have high estrogen. It just means you have a high estrogen to testosterone ratio. So your testosterone is low. Estrogen doesn't really drop that much. Now your estrogen to testosterone ratio is thrown off and you have symptoms of high estrogen. It looks like body fat storage in areas you normally wouldn't, like in the upper body, in the chest area, the thighs, in the arms. And it's like, what's going on with my body? Well, we got to feed you a little bit more. And lastly, here's the tendency you see with people who tend to restrict and keep low calories for too long. They have binge sessions, they tend to.

[Justin Andrews]

Go low, low, low, low, low.

[Sal DeStefano]

And then the, you know, the dam breaks and they go out or whatever and they eat a ton of food. Now their metabolism, of course, is adapted to low calories. They gain body fat from a weekend, you know, going out or whatever. And it really does contribute to this unhealthy relationship with food or this dysfunctional relationship that looks like restrict, binge, restrict, binge. It's never, I'm eating and I'm satisfied. It's always like I'm restricting and I'm restricting and I'm restricting until I finally can't handle it anymore and I'm going out and then the floodgates open and I end up binging and eating. You know, I'm not eating one cookie to box of cookies. I'm not eating one slice of pizza. I'm eating six slices of pizza. And this is a very difficult cycle to break because once you do the binge, of course you have the motivation now to go back to your low calorie lifestyle and then the cycle continues.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I think this is the perfect point to end this episode on it because this is almost the exact kind of cycle that people go on. I mean, I don't remember what the percentage or stats are on the what percentage of people. Yo, yo, diet. Yeah, but this is the definition of that. This is what this, this is lagging off the wagon. This is what lose weight, gain weight, lose weight. This is what the seven to eight steps look like is you, you cut all the calories, you do all the cardio and an endurance and strength, you do all the stuff and then you go through all these feelings of, oh, I lost muscle, oh, I'm not recovering, oh, my performance kind of sucks. Oh, my sleep isn't very good. Oh, now I feel kind of depressed. Oh, my body doesn't feel right. Because I'm not getting enough nutrients. Oh, my hormones must be off. And like, oh my God, F this eat. And then, and that initial binge feels so good because the body was starving all the nutrients. So not only guilt kicks in.

[Unknown]

Deprived.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes. And then you're like, oh my God, I overate. And then you gotta go, I gotta go back. And each time you do that, by the way, when you binge like that, you add fat cells to the body. So you make it, you make it exponentially more difficult to lose the weight the second time and the third time and the fourth time, which is why you hear things like people saying things. Man, when I used to be able to, I used to just look at the treadmill and I'd lose, lose fat in my 20s. And then it just got harder and harder. Yeah. Now, well, what it is, is you've added fat cells from all those years of this cycle of yo yo dieting and binging at the end, then restricting again. And every time you do that, you make it more difficult to do it.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right. Now a better strategy is to strength train and eat to fuel your workouts and your performance and then the fat loss will follow. That's the best strategy right there. Look, if you like Mind Pump, come find us on Instagram. You can find us mindpump Media. We'll see you there.

[Adam Schaefer]

Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB super [e-mail] the RGB Super Bundle includes Maps, Anabolic Maps, Performance and Maps, aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos, the RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal, Adam and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30 day money back guarantee and you can get it now. Plus other valuable free [e-mail] if you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five star rating and review on itunes and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support and until next time, this is Mind Pump.