Welcome to Fuller Expectations, the podcast where we dive into topics like aging with confidence, navigating identity shifts, building new healthy habits, rediscovering purpose, health and wellness routines in midlife, and yes, maybe even money, retirement, relationships, and letting go of things that no longer serve you. I'm your host, Carrie Fuller, and I am so excited that you're here with me today. My hope is that our episodes feel like a blend of personal growth, real conversation, and gentle encouragement. We'll keep things honest, thoughtful and practical. If you have not already, please hit follow so that our podcast can appear in your podcast library. We drop episodes every week and we don't want you to miss it. And if you thought of somebody who might benefit by what you've heard today, please share this episode with them. And now let's get into today's episode. Hello Fuller Expectations podcast family. Thanks so much for spending some time with us today. We have an exciting topic today. I feel like it's one that so many people can relate to, especially in midlife. And we're going to talk about the difference between total calories versus active calories. Why muscle mass is your metabolic advantage? How to realistically burn 350 to 500 active calories a day and what it really takes to lose that last 10 pounds. This conversation is sort of prompted by a health coaching call that I had this morning actually. I have a health coach now. I have been taking a natural GLP product, but I really also understand the importance of overall health, building muscle mass and achieving certain goals and objectives that I have specifically for my health. What prompted me to really dive into this and investigate it and even to the point where I scheduled time with a health coach is because I felt like I was doing everything right. I am a very clean eater. I prioritize my protein. I watch my portions, but the scale really wasn't budging. So if you are like that too, this conversation is for you. So today I am going to break down a powerful realization from this recent wellness coaching call all about why your nutrition, when it's already dialed in, fat loss really comes down to energy output. We're going to talk about what energy output means. And this is specifically the total active calories burned through intentional movement. This is so important. We're going to talk a little bit more about this today. So I think I always kind of knew this, but it hit a little differently today because the fact that my nutrition is already really strong, fat loss, I know comes from output. It's all about how many calories I'm burning. But like me, I track my food in my fitness pal app and I know that in order to burn fat and lose weight, you have to burn more than you're consuming. But there's a little bit to learn about that. And this is what my coaching call was about today. And I'm going to share this with you. I wear an aura ring and I wear an Apple watch and I pay a lot of attention to the information that this tells me. And one of the things that I feel like is really interesting is that there is an active calorie burn number and then there's a total calorie burn number. So I think today it finally sunk in with my coach when we were talking about this. And I said, you know, isn't it all about your total calories burned? And he said, you know, you really have to focus on your active calories burned. So for me, if I want to lose that last 10 pounds and it's so hard to do it, there's a differentiator that is going to be factored in. And I'm going to share that with you today. Okay. So basically I'm in a state where my body is efficient right now. It's efficient because I'm eating clean. I really watch what I eat. I eat a lot of protein. I eat a lot of fiber. I'm eating things that are really good for my body. So my body is really efficient right now. I also, it's midlife. There's hormonal shifts going on, right? My lower resting metabolic rate is just, it is what it is. Hey, I'm, you know, 56. And in the winter months coming off of winter, there's less incidental movement in my life. You know, it's, it's cold outside. I'm not going for walks as much. If I really look at the number of steps I'm getting, unless I jump on the treadmill and get some active steps in there, my average steps in a day are between like three and 4,000. That is not going to do anything for me. So the key here is the leaner that you get, the harder your body fights to stay where it is. And so if you are kind of like me and you feel like this, like you're already eating really healthy, you're just kind of at this like standstill and you don't understand why you're not able to lose those last 10 pounds. I'm going to talk about this today. So let's get into first the thought behind active calories versus total calories because this is really the differentiator. So the total calories is everything that your body burns in a day. And this includes like your resting metabolism. So it's like just breathing and having your organs function and your brain activity and all that stuff. It's digestion and it's movement that you do in a day. I'm talking about movement, including exercise, but also just your body functioning in a day. How many calories do you burn just by existing, right? But then active calories are the calories that you burn through intentional movement. So it's going for a walk, strength training, cardio, how many daily steps do you get, anything that you're doing to intentionally burn calories are considered active calories. So let's talk about why food alone won't get you there. It's not going to get you to lose those last 10 pounds. So you're already eating clean and you have diminishing returns. Cutting calories, if you continue to cut calories to a point where you know, you're below 1600, what you're doing is you're showing, you're slowing down your metabolism, you're reducing your lean muscle mass and the lower your muscle mass, the less calories you automatically burn. So you're kind of like defeating the purpose. And then you're also increasing fatigue. So at some point, eating less stops being the answer and moving more is what becomes the solution. Like me, I want to lose 10 pounds, right? So my goal is to burn between 350 and 500 active calories per day. So how I can do this is basically 45 to 60 minutes of brisk walking. Like I did my three mile walk this morning, I burned 248 calories, right? So if I add to that strength training, say a half an hour to 45 minutes of strength training, I'll burn a minimum of 100 calories and up to 200 depending on how much the intensity is for that. And then if I add daily movement, like going up and downstairs, parking further away when I go to the grocery store, doing chores around the house like vacuuming, things like that. So this is cumulative. It's not all at once. So you don't need to crush yourself. You just need to be consistent. And I think there's something in my head that's finally clicking about this. And really what it comes down to, I can't change my diet anymore. I'm doing my best there and I'm doing really, really well. I need to move more. I need to burn active calories in order to drop that last 10 pounds. So let's talk about the role of muscle mass. This is so important. And if you know, and you've seen a lot about the GLP ones, the injectables and how that one of the side effects is that they really do reduce your muscle mass. This is so important. So muscle changes everything. So muscle is metabolically active. When you increase your muscle mass, your body will naturally burn more calories. Like when I talked before about the difference between active calories and total calories. Active calories are what you earn through movement. Total calories are what your body burns just to exist. Well, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body will burn just by existing. So you're basically increasing your body's calorie burn by building your muscle. I love that. Like I totally understand that. And that's what's going to incentivize me to incorporate strength training into my routine. Even if it's just hand weights, I recently bought a new Pilates Reformer machine. So I have that resistance training that I really love doing. So muscle again is more metabolically active and it allows you to burn more calories when your body is at rest. It also improves your insulin sensitivity and it helps prevent fat regain. Fat loss isn't just about losing weight. It's about changing what your body is made of. It's all about your body composition. So this is like ding, ding, ding, light bulb moment for me. I hope that you also feel that light bulb moment. Couple takeaways here. More muscle is higher resting calorie burn. Even when you're sitting, even when you're sleeping in your at work, whatever, your body is just going to burn more calories. So this is the long-term advantage of building your muscles. When we look up the GLP-1 and the injectables that people are doing and they're losing weight, yes, but they're also losing lean muscle mass, which is probably one of the reasons why if you're doing a GLP-1 injectable, you're going to have to stay on some form of that for the rest of your life because you're really hurting your body in a way because your muscle mass is taking a hit. But I'm not a doctor. I'm just sharing my opinion and what I've learned from my health coach and what I've learned from doing research that will help me achieve my goals. The best strategy to lose that last 10 pounds is by burning active calories. I'm going to incorporate strength training into my week three to four times. You could do the same thing. So this is going to build your muscle. It's going to raise your metabolism. It's going to help you burn more calories while your body is at rest. Also increasing daily movement. So walking is underrated, you guys. If you get between 8,000 and 12,000 steps a day, this is where most fat loss actually happens. This is proven. This is not just my opinion. If you're stagnant and you cannot lose the last 10 pounds, how many steps are you getting in a day? That's like the first thing you should look at. You have to get between 8,000 and 12,000 steps a day and you will watch your waistline go down. If you layer in a cardio strategy, so if you are walking and you do really intense walking and then you stop and then you do intense walking and then you stop and then you do intense walking, like just keep doing that where you're walking faster and faster or even running and it gets you into that zone too, which is the fat burning zone. You want to do that interval option because that actually is where your body really moves into the fat burning zone. Also I'm going to keep saying protein focus. So protein protects muscle while you're losing fat. I am aiming to eat 120 grams of protein a day. I don't have a problem doing this. You guys, I have a protein shake that I do in the morning. It gives me 30 grams of protein in my shake. I love cottage cheese. I love egg salad, hard boiled eggs, tuna, stuff like that. For lunch, I add in healthy fats. When I make my egg salad, I don't make it with mayonnaise. I make it with auto and it's so good. I chop up pickles and I put pickles in it. You guys, that might sound gross, but it's actually, you should try it. It's amazing. It's so good. That's how I make my egg salad. Also I think it's really important to have some kind of a tracking mechanism, either a wearable device or something like an Apple watch, a Fibbit, an Aura ring, something like that that shows you what your active calorie burn is and it keeps track of things on a weekly basis for you so that you don't have to try to figure that out on your own. You definitely want to track your output. So that's super important. Then also it's a mindset shift. This is not about punishment. It's about participation in life. So if you're feeling stuck, you can make yourself feel unstuck, right? You can graduate to the next level and achieve the goals that you want to achieve. It just requires intention. It does not require restriction. I'm going to say that again because I think that's a big one. You're not stuck. You're graduating to the next level and you're doing it with intention, not restriction. Over the next 10 to 12 weeks, if I consistently burn 350 to 500 active calories every day, then I will achieve my 10 pound weight loss. So 12 weeks might seem like a long time, but this is the way that you do it where it actually sticks because slow is sustainable and fastest temporary, right? Slow is sustainable, fastest temporary. If you are like me and your food is dialed in, your results will come from what you do, not from what you cut. Do not need to cut anything else. So the luck, my friends, if this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who feels the same way. Like they're doing everything right. They're not seeing the results that they want because sometimes the answer, it's about doing the right things consistently. And if you're in the second half of life like I am, just know that it's not about shrinking yourself. It's about strengthening yourself. Thanks so much for joining us today. Have a wonderful day. Thanks for listening today. If this episode sparked something in you, please share it with a friend, leave a comment or review and reach out and let me know what resonated. Remember, no matter what age or stage of life you're in, you can pivot and always remember the second half of life is not a winding down. It's a waking up. Please follow or subscribe. We'd love to have you as part of our podcast family. Let's keep showing up and being the best version of ourselves. Until next time, take care.
