Fueling Your 2024 Ambitions: Mastering Nutrition, Lifestyle Hacks, and Long-Term Discipline with Angelo Poli

Guest [00:00:05]: My name is Angelo Polley, and you're listening to the Run to the

Finn Melanson [00:00:14]: run top Finn Melanson, and this is the run to the top podcast. A podcast dedicated to making you a better runner with each and every episode. We are created and produced by the expert top. Team of coaches at runnersconnect.net where you can find the best running information on the Internet as well as training plans to fit every runner and every budget. It's the new year, top. And that means aspirational thinking is in the air. Many of you might be wondering, how do you harness that mindset not just in the 1st days weeks of the year, but throughout 2020 Talk. Well, metabolism expert and transformation specialist, Angelo Poli, returns to the show to address just that.

Finn Melanson [00:01:00]: We talk about top. Goal setting around sports nutrition and everyday dieting, understanding the levers for change in your diet and overall lifestyle to follow through on your ambitions, top. New research in these areas that back up the latest protocols Angelo and his team use with their clients for nutritional breakthroughs, top. The role of identity creation in hitting your nutritional targets and a list of the disruptive behaviors and lifestyle hacks that top coaches use with their clients Top. To additionally help with follow through. If you've made big goals for 2024, whether it's nutritionally related or in some other context, top. And you're looking for best practices on how to stay excited and disciplined for the long term, you will wanna tune in to this conversation. Top.

Finn Melanson [00:01:48]: Lagoon specializes in making pillows designed Top for runners and athletes to help you optimize your sleep and recovery. Learn more at lagoon sleep.com Forward slash TOP and get a 15% discount. If you're looking for the most effectively dosed electrolyte drink for runners, check out LMNT, top. Spelled LMNT. It's loaded with everything you need to replenish your electrolyte balance, and you can get a free sample pack by going to drink LMNT.comforward/ Runners Connect. Angelo, it is great to have you back on the show. How are you doing today?

Guest [00:02:26]: Top. I am doing great. Thanks for having me, Finn. Always a pleasure. It's a

Finn Melanson [00:02:30]: pleasure to have you here. And I know in the last 2 episodes back in 2023, Tom. We focused a lot on metabolism, and I'm sure we'll still have a lot more to discuss there. But, it's a new year. It's 2024. There's always there's always new ideas. And I think, you know, one of the things that's that's top of mind for me is this idea of goal setting. There's always a ton of optimism in the first 2 weeks, maybe even the 1st month of a new year.

Finn Melanson [00:02:56]: And Yeah. When you think about goal setting, specifically around, you know, sports nutrition, What what is your framework for for how to set the right goals, and then on top of that, perhaps most importantly, to follow through on those goals?

Guest [00:03:11]: Great question, Fin. And and the really pertinent good time of year to talk about this, our framework top for goal setting at MetPro and how our coaches work with our clients, whether they're professionals or whether they're just people wanting to top. Set modest goals for their health and wellness for the year, has really evolved because what we have found very distinct things that set our clients up for success. And we've seen a lot of stuff that spells doom. Time. So let let me give you just kind of a short list. Sure. So one of the first things that we like to do at Net tro is we always pair a health or aesthetic goal.

Finn Melanson [00:04:01]: Yeah.

Guest [00:04:01]: And either is good. Both is fine. There's nothing wrong with both with a performance goal. And at least that that seems a little obvious. Test. Right? Well yeah. I mean, this is a running podcast. Like, well, of course, we wanna talk performance, but, you know, a lot of people will reach out to us even though we're sports nutritionist.

Guest [00:04:19]: We're known for our work with very high level athletes, etcetera. The the stats don't lie. Even though we are top sports nutritionist. 83% of people that reach out to us are reaching out to us to help them bust through a weight loss plateau. Top. And one of the first things that we do is we discuss their goals. We make sure we have a strong priority hierarchy. But even if they're not coming to us saying, hey.

Guest [00:04:45]: I wanna get stronger. I wanna run a marathon or I wanna be able to do this, that, or the other thing. Our coaches are always gonna layer in a paired athletic goal with whatever the health goal or aesthetic goal or weight loss goal or whatever the case may be, and always have both at the same time. Top. And the reason that works so well is because with a athletic goal, it doesn't need to be complicated. It doesn't even need to be overly ambitious. Top. What it needs to be is clear and something you can track because it's so rewarding and motivating to see yourself Get Better.

Guest [00:05:25]: Yeah. You know, whatever you pick, if you're just starting off couch, you know, couch to 5 k, You know, I've got some clients that look. They just wanna be able to do a few body weight squats and push ups, but you know what? You should be able to see this Progress, and that kinda dovetails into our number 2 strategy.

Finn Melanson [00:05:44]: Okay.

Guest [00:05:46]: I never have problems with clients picking the big picture goals. Right? Your dash is, you know, the the the the big, you know, I I need to lose £50. I need to top, be in good shape for my granddaughter's wedding or whatever the case may be. But what I wanna know is, okay, what are we gonna accomplish in the next two top to 3 weeks. Now you want that big goal also. That's the driving. That's the pie in the sky that we're moving towards, top, but I wanna have something that we can work towards and that we're gonna, you know, we're gonna get a report card. We're gonna get a grade.

Guest [00:06:24]: Tide. We're gonna either pass or fail, and we're gonna be able to reevaluate and adjust strategically that we can achieve in just 2 to 3 weeks. And that can be a combination of things, but I like it to be both, you know, on the scale and performance realm. And, top. Also, it's reassuring for my clients to know, hey. My coach is expecting me to be down, you know, 2 and a half pounds by next Tuesday, top, and he's expecting me to be able to do this many miles, whatever the case may be, you know, for running or for for someone else a different goal. Top. Having those measurable goals that are broken up, huge.

Guest [00:07:03]: I can't tell you how many clients get hung up on the big picture goal. And it's like when you're a teenager and mom says you gotta clean your room and you don't even know where to begin. You throwed everything in the closet, and the doors are about to bust open, and you're like, I can't clean my room. It's too messy. I don't know where to begin. That's how we feel when it's like, how do I do this? I need to wake up tomorrow. I need to get in shape. I need to improve my blood pressure.

Guest [00:07:27]: I need to eat better. I need to lose 50 pounds. Top. That feels overwhelming. But if you know, here's what I need to do this week, that enables us to break it down even further into what do I need to do today. And then that leads to the number one aspect of setting a goal that's gonna help you reach, Top, see success. It's gonna help you with priorities. And so and people will laugh when I do seminars, and they'll ask me about goal setting.

Guest [00:07:59]: And I explained to them a successful goal setting session top. It's all about what you're not going to spend your time doing. Top. The reason, Finn, is because there's a finite resource we all have, time. And even if you have a lot of free time on your hands, which, by the way, I've never heard anyone say that to me. Top. Even if you have a good amount of free time, you only have so much mental bandwidth and the ability to recover from just so much physical activity. So we really have to have a strong priority hierarchy, top, and so it's about focus.

Guest [00:08:45]: I'll get calls sometimes from the executives, the type a personalities. You you probably know some. You probably work with some in your line of work. Then, you know, they they'll reach out to them and say, you know, top. Angelo, I know who you are. I know what you do. Or or I've heard some of the athletes you've worked with. Here's what I wanna accomplish.

Guest [00:09:05]: I wanna, you top. I I wanna I wanna run a sub 6 minute mile. I wanna bench 300 pounds. I wanna squat my body weight, oh, and I need to lose 25 pounds. Tongue can you help me do that? Are you the guy that can get me there? And my answer is, yeah. Top. I can, but now here's the catch. You have to decide which one you wanna do first because if you try to accomplish Top, all of those things at once.

Guest [00:09:34]: Your attention, your time, your resources are gonna be too divided. Tongue. You're not gonna really move the dial forward on any one thing. So the next question is, does that mean I can't top achieve all of these goals? Yeah. You can, but we have to check one off and then move down the list. Top. Check the next one off, move down the list, and that's how we we get where we're going. Top, and then a few other a few other kind of nuances.

Guest [00:10:06]: So if you were to be a a fly on the wall during one of our coaches' sessions, listening to them talk to the coach talk to the client. What you're gonna hear during a Top Strategy Session is gonna be all about the word you actually used, framework. I love that word, or template or foundation. And so, what happens is Tongue. I got 2 clients. Alright? I don't like Eddie and and Julie. Yeah. K? So Eddie top.

Guest [00:10:42]: Eddie calls me up. We've been working together for for a few days, and and he says, Angelo, I I, I I top. Did really good. I I managed to lose, you know, £5 in just the 1st few days. Okay, Eddie. Well, what did you do? He goes, did you prepare your meals? Did you have your snacks with you? Did you have your routine in place? He goes, well, Time. I got a little busy, but I didn't I didn't eat a single thing off, off menu. I didn't have any sugar.

Guest [00:11:12]: I didn't eat anything bad. I ate really good. I managed to get 1 workout in, and I lost 5 pounds. K. So that's Eddie. We're gonna put him on the shelf for a second. Tongue now, Julie. Julie says, well, Angelo, I I prepared my my breakfast.

Guest [00:11:28]: I had my snacks, and I even had a little go bag with me. I I didn't get to work out long, but I did work out when I committed to you the times that I would, Tom, and I got that done. But here's the thing. On the way home from work, stopped by grandma's house, and she had peach cobbler. And top. I ate it, and I didn't lose any weight this week. I tell all my clients this illustration. I need you to be Julie, not Eddie.

Guest [00:11:58]: Because it sounds like Eddie's ahead of the game, but he's not. Julie has all the things in place that I, as a coach, I've done this for 20 years. I've dieted 20,000 people. She has all the things in place that is gonna enable me to get her from starting point to the next goal to the next goal, ongoing, Top Sustainable. What Eddie did was just circumstantial. Nothing fundamentally has changed. Top. Yeah.

Guest [00:12:29]: You don't eat sugar. You eat clean for a day or 2. That's not sustainable if there's no framework in place. Top. So if you wanna set a goal, pair it with a basic framework, and you'll take into consideration lifestyle. Top. Now these are a little bit more advanced techniques. These are these are the type of techniques, of course, the coach helps with, you know, but, consider your lifestyle.

Guest [00:12:56]: A lot of people make the mistake of thinking because I am motivated and I am going to follow through with my Top fitness goals. We tend to think that our lifestyle will also change, top, and it will not. Your lifestyle's not gonna change. What you need is to set a goal top that you can achieve within the framework of your lifestyle. And what what am I talking about here? It's if you travel for work, top. That's not gonna change because you've decided to eat better or start running. You're still gonna travel for work. Right.

Guest [00:13:33]: Do you have a house full of kids at dinner time? That's not gonna change. And, you know, all the people at the dinner table with different preferences and food, food likes and dislikes, that's not Touch. So you wanna take all of that into account. You know, and that and that's, of course, what what a a coach will help you with if you're goal setting with them. And then the the last one, because I could I could keep going on for hours on this topic, but top. The last one is you have to have a baseline to start from, Top, and I've been I've been preaching this from the rooftop shouting it from the rooftops for almost 2 decades now. If I had to, feet to the fire. I had to pick 1 mistake that I see more often than anything else.

Guest [00:14:28]: It's Top. People focus on what they think they should do to I use weight loss a lot because it's so common Sure. At least in in our world. But it it's the same application for athletic performance, for PR in your run, for muscle development, for Proved Energy. Whatever your goals are, same principle applies. You have to know where you are starting from. I'm I'm not talking about your head space. I'm not talking about your decisions and your motivation.

Guest [00:15:00]: That's just as important. What I'm talking about is top, the mathematics of what maintains homeostasis for your body today because weight loss or weight gain or performance improvements or let's put this whole, you know, topic, and we'll wrap it up in a bow and call it improvement is not triggered by any magic food. It's not triggered by any special caloric intake. It's not triggered by any macronutrient ratio or any special exercise. Top. It's triggered when there is enough of a change, a delta, a contrast between what you're currently used to and what is maintaining homeostasis today versus what you change that to. And top. That's why for so many people, the formula for weight loss and plateaus is so elusive because they're reading all this information, and they're like, well, 1 person says I eat 2,000 calories a day, and I should be losing weight.

Guest [00:16:09]: The next person says something completely different. Who's Right? It's all about where your body is starting from and using mathematically that starting point to calculate how much of a change needs to be made to trigger that adaptive Top spots, and that's how you transform your your physique, your body, your health, your performance, the whole 9 yards.

Finn Melanson [00:16:37]: This is awesome. And so for my for for myself and for the audience, just to to summarize some of the points you made, when you're thinking about transformations, Tying it to a performance goal Yeah. Including these micro shorter term goals, having sort of like a to don't list when you're thinking about priorities, pairing it with that basic framework and then really establishing that baseline. So this is awesome. I think this is a great this is an awesome framework. One thing you mentioned earlier was that There was a previous system for you and your team at one point. I'm curious. I'm I'm sure you learned a ton.

Finn Melanson [00:17:11]: What were what were some of the parts that you changed out?

Guest [00:17:14]: Oh, great question. So baseline testing to establish that baseline where everyone's at. 7 days. Then I would say, okay. I know how many calories you're eating, what the glycemic load of each meal, the macronutrient breakdown. I know how much your energy expenditure is based on your exercise for the week, and here is the output. We have the input. Here's the mathematical output.

Guest [00:17:49]: This is exactly caloric intake ratios that is sustaining your weight, and I would learn that within 7 days, and then we would make adjustments from there. That's a lot of effort for some people. So over time, we did the math, and we go, okay. Top. How much do we lose in accuracy with a 5 day baseline test? And it turns out Top. That 5 days was producing essentially the same level of accuracy as 7 days. In other words, if I eliminated the last top 48 hours and just use the data I got from 5 days, how often was it wrong? And virtually never, top, which shocked me because that was not what I was expecting. It it's in a testament to why data driven, strategies really are the way to go because I've been I'm not a rookie.

Guest [00:18:45]: You know? My gut told me, no. You have to have 7 days. I was old school nutritionist back in the food logging. You have to have a minimal 2 weeks if possible, but 1 week is a rush. But it turned out 5 days was sufficient. Now we tried, okay. How about if we give people options Top where it doesn't have to just be oatmeal and brown rice and boiled chicken. But each meal top.

Guest [00:19:12]: It's still gonna add up to be a very structured framework for how many grams of protein, carbs, fats, but let the person select. We were building out technology at this point because, it was laborious for people top. You know, you gotta sit down with a pencil and paper and write out, well, how many grams somebody are inputted into an app. Now what we had was the ability to say, okay. Top. Here's 20 different sources of protein you could choose from. Pick the one you want. We have the technology to do the math for you.

Guest [00:19:45]: Top. Here's 20 different carbohydrates. Now you're not gonna find junk carbohydrates on this list, but pick the one you want. The the algorithm and the and the computer can do the math. And so now people just say, you know, I I'd like to have a chicken breast at lunch, and, you know, today, I'd like to have a whole wheat tortilla. Or, no, I I wanna have sweet potato. Or, no, I wanna have this carb or that carb. And then the computer will spit out, okay.

Guest [00:20:12]: Top. You know, MetPro has assigned you exactly this many grams, so here's how much you need to eat. And now it comes back really simple. Oh, easy lunch. I have, you know, 5 and a half ounces of chicken breast. I have, 3 quarters a cup of brown rice. I have you know, I picked the vegetables I want, spits out exactly how much, and so on and so forth. Did that negatively impact the results? No.

Guest [00:20:33]: It didn't. We're able to still get results. So then I got really cocky. Top. Okay. We're gonna do it with 72 hours, and it decreased the accuracy by 15%. Top. And to this day, we still use a 72 hour model.

Guest [00:20:51]: We accept that 15% decrease in accuracy. Team. Why do we accept that? Because we're gonna get that next 15% in the next 2 days anyway, and so 15% of the time, we'll redirect the clients. Top. 85% of the time, we're able to, at 72 hours, establish what is homeostasis and what your body will need to trigger weight Toss or weight gain, depending on what your goal is. Then I said, wait a second. Let's try a 48 hour, top, and it was a complete disaster. Virtually no no level of accuracy.

Guest [00:21:26]: Accuracy top dropped almost to a coin toss. 5050. So we threw that out, and so that is why today, if you onboard at Netpro, Some people are probably listening, and they've used MetPro in years past and remember some of the different today, if you onboard at MetPro, we will take you through a baseline testing process that will be exactly 72 hours where we will ask you to be a little stricter. Anyone can do 3 days. You can be strict for 3 days while we establish your baseline because then we don't have to guess. There's so many opinions out there. There's so many gurus out there that, you know, just Really believe you gotta eat this. You gotta do that.

Guest [00:22:04]: But at the end of the day, we don't diet people theoretically. Tongue Diet people with actual results. I don't diet you based on what I think will work. I look at what's actual on how your body is responding to what we just did. And that way, that data, I'm not guessing with. Top. I know what will trigger weight gain, weight loss, etcetera. And so those are some of the things that have evolved over time.

Finn Melanson [00:22:39]: Changing your pillow to something customized to your sleep position, firmness, top. And one that can keep you cool can have a dramatic impact on your sleep quality. Here's some real world data. Using my old pillow, top. My Apple Watch data showed that I woke up an average of 6 times each night and spent 2 hours in deep sleep. When I switched to the Lagoon pillow, top. My average number of times waking dropped to 2 per night, and my deep sleep increased by 45 minutes. I've noticed a huge difference in how I feel in the morning, top Often waking up 30 to 45 minutes before my alarm and not feeling tired.

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Finn Melanson [00:23:50]: That's because we often wear such warm clothes to start our runs, which leads to more sweating towards the end. Top. Plus, the sweat gets absorbed by our clothes, so it's harder to notice. But taking in fluids during or after runs in the winter isn't as easy as it is in the summer. Tom. That's why I love Chocolate Medley Element. Their chocolate, caramel, and mint flavors are designed to be enjoyed hot, and I love adding them to my morning coffee or sipping on a nice hot cup top Instead of hot chocolate in the evenings. Less sugar, more flavor, and I'm getting in my electrolytes.

Finn Melanson [00:24:21]: I highly encourage you to check them out before they sell out. Plus, You'll get a free sample pack and an awesome recipe book with any order. Just head to drinklmnt.comforward/ Runners connect to get yours today. One other Question I wanted to ask you about with sort of, like, the prototypical goal setting session. It revolves around this idea of, like, identity. So I know that when I'm trying to start something new, Top. One of the things that I've been told in the past is to sort of, like, immediately assume that that idealized identity. Like, I am now if I wasn't an athlete, Top.

Finn Melanson [00:24:58]: I am now an athlete or I am now a guitar player. Is is that something that's also prioritized in these sessions where it's like there is some sort of, like, declaration that happens where top. Overnight, you're doing this identity shift, or

Guest [00:25:10]: because does the research show that

Finn Melanson [00:25:11]: that's not that important?

Guest [00:25:13]: Well, I I mean, I top. I I don't know if I can point to any specific research. I I'm I'm I'm a research guru. I love the research, but this is gonna be more of, transformations. You You know, what keeps me in it is it's it's science, but it's also an art. Okay? Because human motivation is inextricable from this whole process. And so, we used to actually write it on the board back in the day when when I was coaching people out of our brick and mortar facilities. Back a little ways now.

Guest [00:25:44]: We would line, at the roof line inside the building, at the ceiling line, we would put before and afters top all of our transformations until until the entire facility was filled. And, invariably, a new person would come in. Top. I'm gonna get healthy. I'm gonna do this. And I would ask them, do you see any body types, any transformations that look like top. You could relate to that. You could identify with that.

Guest [00:26:12]: And and they usually pick out 1 or 2. I would say, you wanna know the secret top to looking like that athlete. Like, what? What's the secret to looking like an athlete? Being an athlete. So absolutely. And I'm telling this to, you know, 72 year old ladies. You know? Now what being an athlete for is gonna be obviously deep being an athlete. This is a little different from you, Finn. But but you know what? I want her to think of herself Top.

Guest [00:26:43]: In those terms, you are now an athlete in training. Now, of course, safety first. We need to in inject at a level introduce at a level that is top appropriate to your body, your needs. But assuming that mentality, Huge. And we start with that stuff day 1 because it absolutely makes a difference.

Finn Melanson [00:27:06]: Switching gears a little bit, once, you know, that Top. Sort of coach client relationship has been established and you're you're past sort of that baseline testing phase. I'd love for you to talk about, some of the levers for change that your team uses with clients, and maybe any new research you can share in that area as well.

Guest [00:27:25]: Absolutely. So this is something I'm really hot on right now. Just we came off of writing, basically, a white paper, Top where we evaluated over 45 different, clinical studies to compare it against our outcomes, to enhance our protocols, to improve. Tom. And so it it's just it's really great stuff and some really great learnings, and so I'll I'll give you kind of some key findings. Top. So first of all, just throw out the window that the idea that there's some gimmick out there. You you know, the the the marketing companies, you know, they they gotta do their job.

Guest [00:28:12]: You know, but you always you're gonna hear these, top. You know, these advertisements that are, you know, we've found the one secret that only celebrities and Top. Pro coaches know that no one else has figured out, and that's what allows this person to eat donuts and have a 6 pack abs. The coaches aren't writing that material. The marketing department is. K? So here is the truth. Top. The truth is nutrition and sports nutrition, weight loss, weight gain is one of the most thoroughly for decades researched topics out there.

Guest [00:28:53]: You there are so many studies to go through, and here's what the bulk of them indicate. If you are losing weight, top. It is because you are in a calorie deficit or you are manipulating your macronutrients, specifically carbohydrates. Top. It indicates that exercise is absolutely essential to the maintenance of weight change, Tongue, but it doesn't impact weight loss the way most people think, and it also all points to a missing link, and I'll explain what that is. A missing link, and that is this vile thing that takes place in our bodies that is the source of all frustration to a dieter, and that is called metabolic adaption or adaptive thermogenesis or metabolic drift. And those are all top fancy words for saying your body gets used to what you change it to, and it's absolute. Top Inertia.

Guest [00:30:04]: Why it's inert well, it's more than inertia. It's it's simply this. If you diet, k. You reduce your intake through any means, any of other major means. You are going to Again, I apologize. I'm using weight loss just because it's such an easy vehicle to explain. But, of of course, a lot of our listeners top they reach out to us not for weight loss, but for performance or or muscle development. Whatever your goal is, the same principles apply.

Guest [00:30:36]: But let's say somebody trying to lose weight. If you decrease your intake, you will start losing weight. There are 2 different paths top. You can go. Either you will adapt to that lower intake, or you would literally waste away and die. Now I haven't heard of too many diet plans resulting in mortality recently. So guess what that means? Top. It means your body acclimated to it.

Guest [00:31:07]: You don't just keep losing and losing and losing. A 500 calorie deficit, top. What does that mean? Well, okay. Here's how I lose so many pounds the 1st week, the 2nd week. But what marketing doesn't tell us. We watch the shows on TV and we read the books like, oh, well, so easy. Good. If I decrease 500 cal I was eating 25 100 calories a day.

Guest [00:31:28]: Now I'm eating 2,000 calories a day. I should lose, you know, x amount of pounds every week, 10 days, until I reach my goal weight. Top. That doesn't happen. What happens is you lose x amount of pounds for a few weeks depending on how big the delta is, maybe even a couple months. But, eventually, even with that deficit, you stop losing weight. That's your body keeping you alive. Now here's what the research indicates.

Guest [00:31:55]: This is new relatively new research. Yeah. The relatively new research indicates they don't have the answer, but what it is exposed top. Is the old way of thinking about metabolism and weight loss is flawed? Here's what it's exposed. We used to think top. The reason your metabolism slows when you diet is because smaller people burn less calories. Top. That has been completely disproven as the principal reason we top start.

Guest [00:32:27]: Their metabolism starts slowing. Instead, what we are actually learning is it is triggered. That is true also. Smaller people, you will need need less calories, Top, but not anywhere near the adaptation that takes place. You know, somebody loses, you know, 15, 20 pounds, top. You know, you would think, okay. They they burn a a 100, 150 calories less a day, but the reality and everybody just knows this intuitively. Top.

Guest [00:32:54]: Have you if you've ever dieted before, you chop off a 1,000 calories, and you'll still hit a plateau. You didn't lose that much size. Yeah. That's metabolic drift. That's that adaptive thermogenesis. And now the research is indicating they followed, the one research that I paper that I really loved, top. It followed, a few college kids guys, athletic. They actually put them in an oxygen chamber.

Guest [00:33:20]: You have to read. The research papers, you have to really dive into how the these tests and these studies are set up and formulated because top. Contrary to popular belief, not all studies agree. It's not like they they're all saying the same thing. You you have to really read between the lines with some of them, but this was a great study. Took a couple college age kid, early twenties, and it put them in actual the oxygen chambers, and they measured their resting metabolic rate. Then they put them in extreme calorie deficit, top. And everybody knew that their metabolic rate would decline with an extreme calorie deficit, but they were completely caught off guard by how quick and how severe.

Guest [00:34:10]: And the study actually concluded that if you restrict intake, top. You're gonna experience a decline in your RMR resting metabolic rate in as little as 72 hours. Tops. Now how much weight have you lost in 3 days? You didn't you didn't shift enough body mass to impact top. How much you you know, any marginal amount, how much your body is gonna burn. No. It's your body responding to that deficit. Here's the cool part, though.

Guest [00:34:46]: After they did that test, they took the same group of guys, and they overfed them. Sometimes we call this in the industry refeeding or at MetPro, we call it metabolic up adjust, over fueling them. Top, and the response was almost as quick. So they were able to see their metabolic RMR top. Our BMR, base metabolic rate, actually increase in response to the increased fueling. So what does this teach us? Yeah. How are you teaching

Finn Melanson [00:35:22]: it at met at Metpro? Tongue.

Guest [00:35:25]: It teaches us your metabolism can be controlled. It can absolutely be controlled. We are not just stuck Top Where We're At. So I'll I'll I can prove that to you, and it's it's possible in a previous podcast. I've given this illustration before. We've done this Experiment, but I'll I'll repeat it in brief. If you take a 100 people and you put them on rations, you drop them off on a deserted island somewhere, put them on rations. Okay? Now now in this group of a 100 people, you have men, women, big people, little people, young people, old people.

Guest [00:36:03]: Okay? You put them on almost starvation rash. What's a really low caloric intake, Finn?

Finn Melanson [00:36:09]: Under a 1000 calories a day.

Guest [00:36:11]: Top. Okay. You put them on 900 calories a day, really restrictive. You pick them up a year later. Here's the reality. Every single person regardless of their gender, their age, and their starting size has conditioned their metabolism to burn exactly 900 calories a day? And if not, top. They don't come off that island because they're dead. You see how that works? Yep.

Guest [00:36:42]: So regardless of your genetic disposition, top. Your gender or age, you can force your metabolism to burn a certain amount by conditioning to it because of the survival mechanic. K. People acknowledge that. I I give this illustration. We run through this experiment. I've done this in a room of doctors and neurosurgeons, and they all agreed, yes. We adapt.

Guest [00:37:07]: Why doesn't anyone think about the opposite direction? At least the opposite direction doesn't irritate us. It happens without even noticing, but the reality is now the the the the ice cream experiment. K. So, you you ballpark, Finn, what what are you weighing these days?

Finn Melanson [00:37:29]: I weigh about a 170 pounds.

Guest [00:37:32]: Top. You and I weigh almost the exact same weight. Okay. So you're a 170 pounds. Let's say we change nothing about your exercise routine. Top. We change nothing about your diet, except we add a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream every night. That's a 1000 calories.

Guest [00:37:50]: Top. Now forget any math. Forget any statistics. Just in intuitively fit. How much weight are you gonna gain in a month?

Finn Melanson [00:38:02]: Intuitively, I feel like I'm gonna gain about top. £5, and then after that, I'm gonna baseline.

Guest [00:38:10]: Yep. I would say and you're an ectomorphic body type, so I would say that's about accurate. I I've asked hundreds of people this question, and and they always say I would gain between 5 £15. And they say, okay. How much would you gain in a year? And then they'll usually give me an answer that ranges from what you said on the low end to something like even 25, £30, and then they would baseline. Top. The reason we all know that intuitively is because there's been a point in our life where we've experienced it. Okay? We've done that.

Guest [00:38:41]: Maybe not ice cream, but something. Right? Top. We weren't happy about the weight we gained, but here's the reality. We have a math problem now. Something's wrong with the science because here's what the science says and the math says. A 1000 calories a night at 7,000 calories a week. Top. Now the science says there's 35 100 calories and 1 pound of body fat.

Guest [00:39:05]: So that's 2 pounds a week we should gain top by the numbers. 52 weeks in a year 104 pounds. £2 a week. Yeah. Top. Any chance you think we might be wrong and you'd actually gain a 104 pounds, Finn?

Finn Melanson [00:39:22]: I hope not.

Guest [00:39:24]: Not a chance. Not you could eat anything you want. You could you wouldn't gain a 104 pounds in a year. No way. Top. You might gain some weight, but nowhere even close to by the numbers. But we don't think about that because it happens. The these these survival mechanics take place biologically in the background.

Guest [00:39:46]: Crown. They run without us even thinking about it.

Finn Melanson [00:39:48]: I can I can see why those survival mechanics will kick in on the on the decreasing side, but on the increasing side, I feel like top? Because they're interpreting it as this, you know, storage maybe mechanism for the body, it would just kinda run wild.

Guest [00:40:02]: Well, it it can't though because top. Your body is always seeking homeostasis. Your body recognizes that you cannot survive in a perpetual state of either weight loss or weight gain. Because if you keep gaining weight, top. That's an assault on your health as well. So your body likes to fight for homeostasis. Top. Your metabolism doesn't seem to just have a preference for, oh, no.

Guest [00:40:33]: We don't wanna let you lose too much weight. What it really is trying to do top is to keep you in range without gaining or losing too rapidly or too extreme, top. And so it adjusts. Otherwise, you would gain a 104 pounds adding top pint of Haagen Dazs every night. But in reality, you'd gain some weight, 10 pounds, 15 pounds. And then for your body, you're an ectomorph. Someone else might gain a little more, but you just level off. You're not gonna be happy about what you gain, but your metabolism will ties to the occasion, and this isn't new.

Guest [00:41:13]: So in the bodybuilding industry, top. This is this is what we do during bulking cycles. So people would approach me when I used to, you know, a lifetime ago, when I would train, physiques, athletes, bodybuilders, etcetera. My athletes would be on stage, and, you know, they're 4% body fat and, you know, the shredded 6 pack and the whole 9 yards. And someone will come up to me at these shows and they'll say, mister Polley, you know, your athletes look great. Well, you know, what do you have a meeting? Tongue the tongue in cheek answer. You know, what? Boiled chicken and broccoli like every other bodybuilder on the planet. And then they ask the question, and will if I eat boiled chicken and broccoli, will I look like them? And then I have to explain, nope.

Guest [00:41:53]: No. You won't because it's not actually talk about the boiled chicken broccoli. It's about what they were doing for the last 6 months of their bulking cycle where they would go to the gym top and train intensely. And each week, we would systematically increase their carbs, proteins, and overall calories top systematically by x percent every week, and we have done that for about the last 18 weeks running until they were eating top. 4500, 5,550 calories a day while training like a madman, and, yes, they went up and wait a little bit. And then when we prepped for competition, I dropped them down to 21 100 calories of boiled chicken and broccoli. Top. And because they were used to such a high intake, the body fat literally incinerated off of them.

Guest [00:42:53]: That's why they look the way they look, not specifically just because of the ingredients that they're eating today. It's the framework where we condition their metabolism to one thing and then adjusted it to the other. And that top. That thin is the exact same science that I use with my grandparents at MetPro, top that I use with my weekend warriors at MetPro, and we use it with anyone who's just wanting to increase longevity, performance, improve health, top or lose a few pounds. We just make that science attainable. We make it within reach and relatable for people so Top. That way, they can implement that level of science, just not that level of extreme. And that, you know, that that's the magic.

Guest [00:43:40]: And we've learned how to do that by reviewing the research, and we find what the research says. It's in harmony with everything we are actually seeing day in and day out with our clients. And when you apply a little bit of the science, it's incredible what our clients are achieving. Wednesdays is is my favorite day of the week at MetPro because all the coaches, share their wins for the week. And we we, you know, we egg each other on, and we celebrate the wins. And it's just so awesome to see top that, you know, we're not stuck. If you if you think that, you know, this I'm I'm, you know, I'm 45. I'm I'm at the point where my metabolism isn't working as well as it used to, and I'm just it is what it is, and I just need to accept it.

Guest [00:44:29]: Let me tell you, top. You'd be surprised with just a few adjustments, a few of the right tweaks, data driven tweaks. You can you can accomplish amazing stuff if you put your mind to it. So

Finn Melanson [00:44:45]: Top. One last topic that I wanna make sure we cover. When when you think about, again, like, the athlete client relationship at MetPro And you hear the term, like, disruptive behavior or lifestyle hack. How are your coaches using those type of tactics on clients top to help them achieve goals and identity changes, stuff like that.

Guest [00:45:07]: The that I love that question. This is probably one of the most tangible evolutions over the years. So 20 year 21 years now I've been doing this. And these tactics, top. This kinda triage, we call it, you know, have really evolved based on what we have learned, Top, not just from a handful of clients, but hundreds and thousands of clients going through this transform transformation process. And so, top. I have a list here of 7 7 hacks, disruptive behaviors that, our top coaches use to great effect, so I'll I'll share them video. The first is every client on session 1 is instructed to build Go Bag.

Guest [00:45:59]: And it it's really it's it's one of the simplest things, but it's one of the most effective. Top. And so here's here's the Go Bag. A Go Bag is a packed, snack package top that has specific snacks that are selected for their properties of being low perishable, top. Not messy and quick to grab, but the key is they're already packed, ready to go. It's not for daily use. Tom. It's for those emergencies.

Guest [00:46:31]: Now remember I said data driven. Why did we do that? We've actually query this stuff when we look up you know, when we we top track of the communication with our clients day in and day out, and there's this big this no more. This is assumption that is not accurate. The people who fall off their meal plan k. So the our January goals here. People that fall off their meal plan is because of a lack of willpower or because there's chocolate in the house. And while both of those things absolutely exist, they are a real thing, that represents top, a minuscule fraction of the times that clients fall off the bandwagon. How do I know this? Top.

Guest [00:47:19]: We actually query the data. And you know what word always pops up when it's, oh, Angelo, or, oh, you know, coach Ryan, I I I'm so sorry. I I I did I I blew it last night. You know what word is always present?

Finn Melanson [00:47:36]: Time?

Guest [00:47:38]: Busy. Busy. You got it. Time. Yeah. I got busy, and top. I was just I was just looking at our CRM today, and a long time client was communicating with one of our coaches. And his top Coach, it was coach Amber.

Guest [00:47:53]: Oh, I I blew it today. I got busy and I'm gonna say 90 to 95% of the time we fall off our routine, it's because toss. Something came up. It's not because of poor decision making or lack of willpower. That exists also at different times, but it's not the deciding factor. It's preparation and time management. So if you have that go back, top. And life comes up.

Guest [00:48:21]: Okay. Your diet's not gonna be perfect today, but it's not gonna be a disaster either because our clients are gonna grab that Go Bag, which we've packed 3 weeks ago. But, you know, the snacks in there are still good, and it's gonna prevent it from being a catastrophe that day. So listeners at home, go build a go bag. It's that simple. Top. I love it. Okay.

Guest [00:48:46]: Hack number 2. And this is, you know, this is a little bit of motivation speed, but mindset. So clients will ask me because we don't just take anyone on. You know? And, I mean, we're not in the habit of turning people away, but tie. I explain, here's what the program is. So clients wanna know, okay. What what's the requirements to work with you? And I tell, me, personally. And it's it's really simple.

Guest [00:49:13]: Are you willing to let me control, not all, but on an average day, most of your meals between 11 and 3:30. That's it. If the answer to that question is yes, top. I will take you on because I am confident I can get you results. And when you think about it in those terms, that just that small window during the day, it's not intimidating. Is that intimidating? Like, hey. I'm gonna help you with food strategies, but we're just gonna worry about between 11 and 3:30 because the whole day, the tone for the whole day is set between those hours. You don't have a problem with breakfast.

Guest [00:49:59]: I know you don't, FanDuel, because none of my clients do. Breakfast is fine. I'm like, hey. What do you like for breakfast? Okay. Great. This is healthy. Let's do that. You like that? Perfect.

Guest [00:50:07]: There's our breakfast. And guess what? They do it. Top. It's never breakfast. Dinner's always a problem. I know it's a problem because we're busy. We're social creatures with family and friends and occasions. And because I know dinner is gonna be a problem, I need to make darn sure top that during the day, I have control of the macronutrients, the food things, the things that are going on.

Guest [00:50:31]: So even on the occasions when dinner isn't perfect, day isn't wadded up and thrown away, and, okay, we we blew it. No. You see? Control the things you can. Top. And so if you think in terms of preparing in advance just your lunches and snacks, top. You're going to solve 90% of the issues that you have with consistency, lunches and snacks. So that that's that's our number 2 hack that our coaches use. A number the number 3 thing is I'm gonna settle the debate.

Guest [00:51:04]: Should you snack or should you not snack? You've heard all the arguments.

Finn Melanson [00:51:08]: I think you should. Right?

Guest [00:51:10]: Good. I'm gonna tell you my I'm gonna tell you the answer. Tell you the answer. Top. So all the the science says, though, wait a second now. If you're not hungry, don't eat extra calories by snacking. Right? And then the other science research says no. You gotta eat every 2 and a half hours to keep your metabolism brain.

Guest [00:51:26]: What's right? What's wrong? Throw it all out. If you are my client, you will eat snacks, and it has nothing to do with any reason you've ever thought of before. You ready for this? After after dieting 20,000 people, I'll tell you why you're gonna eat snacks. Because we do not eat snacks socially. Therefore, I can control them. It's that simple. In the last 7 days, did you have dinner with friends at any point in the last 7 days?

Finn Melanson [00:51:59]: Yeah.

Guest [00:52:00]: Yeah. Absolutely. Everyone says, yeah. Of course, you did. When's the last time you called up your buddy from, you know, from from, you know, you went to school with years ago. Hey, Johnny. I got a rice cake and peanut butter here. Meet me at the water cooler.

Guest [00:52:16]: We're gonna have a snack top. Thirty. We don't do that. It's not our culture to take snacks socially. We take socially. I know where the battleground is. I figured that out after about my 1500th clients that top. I gotta worry about lunches and dinners.

Guest [00:52:36]: But if I say, hey, Johnny, can you eat, you know, half an apple and 12 almonds at 2:30? I don't get problems with that. You know what he does? He eats half an apple and 12 almonds at 2:30 because there's no social pressure. Top. There's no anticipation. There's no expectation. There's no worrying about someone else's food allergies. It's just you and your snack, and you can prepare it in advance. So I'm telling you, snacks are critical because my goal all the other science stuff is great too, but my goal is to create a reproducible framework.

Guest [00:53:09]: And the most controllable meals of the day are your snacks, so I'm gonna lean heavily into those. Top. Life hack number 3. Okay. I'll I'll rapid fire these last. I know we're we're kinda closing in on our time here. I already mentioned this one when we talked about goal setting. Be a specialist, not a generalist.

Guest [00:53:30]: Let me just qualify that. Anyone who's heard me talk before, heard any of my podcasts before know that I am really down on extreme Top protocols, extreme diets or extreme exercise. I I want balanced. I want sustainable. That's what I'm looking for. But why do I then say top. You can't be a generalist when it comes to strategy. That's because our bodies tend to be stubborn at homeostasis, that adaptive response.

Guest [00:54:01]: So there has to be enough intention with what we're doing with both our food and our our food and our exercise to actually move the dial. So I challenge my clients and anyone that I'm just trying to coach to to improve themselves to to if you were to look back at your last week, can you justify your strategy. Can you justify every hour you invested into whatever your wellness strategy is? Yeah. And you should be able to you should be able to take your routine that you do. Write it down on paper. Go to your neighbor and say, hey. Based on this, What do you think my goals are? If they have no idea, you your program probably has an identity crisis and probably not getting where you wanna be. Top.

Guest [00:54:52]: That you know, that these are the little nuances, you know, coaching for years. Our team is just we've had to become masters of top specificity. So evaluate your routine, see if there's any way that you can enhance the specificity, and if there is something that you're doing that is top. Not unhealthy, but it's not directly contributing to your current goals. Swap it out for something that's a more direct contributor, top. I'll tell you what the number one thing usually is. I tell my clients in week 1 to spend 1 less hour exercising a week time 1 more hour of meal prepping. That one change usually radically alters the entire playing field.

Guest [00:55:39]: K. Three more. We're almost done. Exercise early or anchor. So this is another research that I I forget the exact number on this, but there is a statistic out there that accurately dictates every hour past when you wake up, you are statistically per hour top x percent less likely to exercise. Yes. I'm fine now. It's obvious.

Guest [00:56:04]: It's just there's more opportunity for things to come up, unexpected circumstance, get busy, run out of energy. You know? Top. But the reality is not everyone can exercise first thing in the morning, and I have lots of clients that exercise later in the day successfully and regularly. Top. But if you're just starting to create habits, I recommend aiming for early in the day. And if you can't, top anchor your exercise to something that doesn't move in your schedule. In other words, if you say to me, I'm gonna exercise tomorrow sometime in the afternoon. I'm gonna say to you, you got about 30% odds of exercising tomorrow.

Guest [00:56:42]: If you say to me, I'm gonna exercise tomorrow on the way, to pick up Johnny from school at 2:30, now I believe you. Yeah. See. Now you have 90% odds of actually following through that, so anchor it to something that isn't gonna move. Second to last, eat first, eat twice. Common mistake. We see as coaches, we see this all the time. Coach, I I I have a pizza party with the kids tonight.

Guest [00:57:09]: I'm gonna cheat on my diet. You said I could for 1 night. I've been good, you know, all along. So but I just want you to know I skipped lunch and my snacks because I'm gonna have pizza tonight. Don't do that. Top. I know it seems like that's the right thing to do, but we have crunched the numbers. We have done the math.

Guest [00:57:29]: Don't do that. So the research is clear. Food substitutions impacts total caloric intake drastically more than portion control or attempts at portion control. Here's what that translates to. Top. If you go into your dinner hungry, even though you've eaten a little less portion of the healthy food earlier in the day, top. That appetite is going to cause you to eat enough more of the junk food when you arrive that it is going to be a net mathematical deficit. In fact, you are better off eating a healthy dinner light but healthy dinner of clean foods.

Guest [00:58:12]: Before you go out to your cheat meal and then still indulge your cheat meal, you will eat less. Top. You will have less excess calories. You will show up. You will still enjoy your meal, but you won't feel the need to eat an entire pizza on your own. Top. And last 1 last 1 is meal prep before working out. Any of my clients know this is a rule that I tab, and it is not because I don't want them to work out.

Guest [00:58:41]: Interestingly, here's what our data shows that this is our MetPro data. Statistically, top. People who are exercising regularly are about 30% more adherent to their meal plan. Top. So I know that when you're exercising, you're going to, but don't exercise until you've meal prepped because that's the one thing that falls off, top, and that is such a huge lever for progress. Whether your goal is to hit faster PRs, whether your goal is to put on muscle, whether your goal is to have better energy, or you need to lose 20 pounds. Meal prepping is top number 1. That's how you're gonna control and create that framework, those habits.

Guest [00:59:23]: So meal prep before you workout. And if you have to choose between the 2, spend it spend that hour won't even be an hour. Spend that 20 minutes

Finn Melanson [00:59:33]: Yeah.

Guest [00:59:33]: In the kitchen, and that's gonna free you up for more time to exercise and run all week.

Finn Melanson [00:59:40]: Angelo, this has been an awesome conversation. So many takeaways. We really appreciate your time. One thing I do wanna encourage listeners and viewers to do is if you've gained any value from this conversation, head over to metpro.coforward/rtt. I do wanna give you, Angelo, a quick chance to talk about MetPro itself before we go. We've mentioned it a fair bit in the conversation, but do you have any any calls action for listeners and viewers.

Guest [01:00:07]: Oh, that's so kind of you. Thanks, Finn. What I would tell people is that at at MetPro, we are passionate about what we do. If you go to metpro.co/rtt, you'll be invited to have a free consultation. Top. It's not gonna be a call center. You're gonna actually talk with an expert who's going to have questions for you. He's gonna ask you about your top diet history.

Guest [01:00:33]: It's gonna ask you if you've hit any plateaus, what your experience has been in the past, and what your goals are. And this is truly our passion, and I would invite you even if you just wanna have that conversation. Please make make the call, reach out, have that conversation. Even if you don't end up using us as a service right now, top. We believe that if we give you something of value, we can share with you what some of our other clients have done with good success. It'll pay forward. You'll tell someone else about us down the road. So Please take advantage of it.

Guest [01:01:07]: It's absolutely free. Netpro.co/rtt. We have quite a few fin from the Run to the Top community already using NetPro. They are great folks. We're having a blast with it, so I'm honored that you guys have invited me on today. Thank you so much.

Finn Melanson [01:01:39]: Thanks for listening to the run to the top podcast. Top. I'm your host, Finn Melanson. As always, our mission here is to help you become a better runner with every episode. Please Consider connecting with me on Instagram at Wasatch Finn and the rest of our team at runners connect. Also, consider supporting our show top for free with a rating on the Spotify and Apple Podcast players. And lastly, if you love the show and want bonus content, behind the scenes experiences with our top. And premier access to contests and giveaways, and subscribe to our newsletter by going to runnersconnect.net backslash podcast.

Finn Melanson [01:02:13]: Until next time. Happy trading.