I think I figured it out.
In hindsight, it seems obvious.
Why is it so damn hard to get in shape?
The mechanics of it are fairly simple after all.
Eat better.
Exercise more.
Maybe cut down on alcohol a bit.
Sleep is critical but you know that too.
The success rate, however, is abysmal.
You’re more likely to fail than succeed.
Why?
Basically you just improve a few habits, stick to it for a while and things will get better. It’s guaranteed.
But you don’t stick to it. And we conclude that lack of consistent effort is your problem right?
Consistent effort is required to make permanent change happen, no question about it. But why do you fall off the wagon? What’s the core problem?
It’s not your lack of motivation that you often fault.
Or your genetics
or that your workout is missing some magic ingredient.
Your cortisol is too high.
Way too high and it’s chronically high too (which is the bigger problem).
That one thing starts a cascade of bad things that are near impossible to overcome.
Chronically high cortisol equals chronically depressed testosterone. You’re gonna have real trouble building muscle AND/OR losing fat.
Either one is damn near impossible with that stress hormone coursing through your veins.
Cortisol is a complicated guy.
You need it sometimes but other times it’s a problem child, wreaking havoc on your system.
The Bottom Line
Chronic stress drives chronic cortisol.
Modern life is inherently stressful.
So just living your life, the way you’ve been living it, is your problem.
The Antidote?
I read this story a few years ago and it got me thinking.
The first thing I pondered was the remarkable positive affect on many health markers achieved from long distance hiking.
This guy did almost 500 miles in a month (averaged 18 miles a day for 27 hiking days). He was a fit guy to start with and got even fitter. Look at these numbers:
Resting heart rate from 48 bpm to 40 bpm
Body weight from 150 to 140 lbs with corresponding body fat reduction from ~13% to ~5%. Now these are impedance measured body fat numbers so they’re prone to error but it’s fair to say he lost 10 to 12 lbs of pure fat and put on a pound or two of muscle. That’s impressive when you start out with relatively low body fat.
His A1C went from 5.9 (which is borderline high) to 5.6. This is interesting since it shows even fit people can have blood sugar issues if they’re eating crappy food.
Cortisol was reduced by about 40% and testosterone doubled! As you may know, these two hormones are counter-regulatory. Cortisol must go down for testosterone to increase. So this long distance hike was a super stress buster and alpha male friendly.
Here’s his chart for metabolic efficiency and cross-over point. It’s a more complicated topic so it helps to see the numbers in front of you. The second chart shows what a typical cross over graph looks like.
Cross Over
Your cross over point is where your fuel source (for any activity) is evenly split (50/50) between fat and carbohydrates.
At a low level intensity (like slow walking), you’ll fuel your activity with 100% fat. As intensity increases (and correspondingly your heart rate goes up), more and more glucose is used (and less and less fat) until you reach the 50/50 crossover.
The metabolic efficiency data shows fuel partitioning at two different heart rates (110 bpm and 145 bpm) and also the crossover point for his fitness level at that time (before and after the hike)
He was a good fat burner to begin with. He ended up an awesome fat burning machine.
Post hike, he is fueling an 110 bpm intensity level with 91% fat. This means he can essentially carry on this activity for hours on end (maybe days) using just his stored body fat as fuel.
The remarkable thing to consider is that his high intensity fitness level improved significantly by just walking day after day with a pack on his back.
It’s like becoming a fast 800 meter sprinter by just walking.
So What?
I wonder, how many miles for how many days do you have to go to start getting the benefit?
What if you go 100 miles? What happens? How much will you improve?
I don’t know.
Is it a linear thing where you just start getting a little better right from the beginning?
Or do you have to get over a threshold before making gains?
Like the first 50 miles have to get banked before anything at all happens. Not sure.
I am sure there’s a lot more going on than just the physical exercise obtained from walking day after day.
What do you do for stress mitigation?
You workout (and the harder the better right?). I don’t know. Read here.
You drink alcohol. This clearly doesn’t help.
You do nothing (modern life prevails). Stress on top of stress isn’t good.
All stress is cumulative.
That’s a key point to understand. It all adds up.
You’re stressed from work, financial issues, your mom is failing, the toilet just backed up so you run to the gym and pound some iron. The physical stress of your workout does not mitigate the other stressors. It adds to it!
Your total stress has skyrocketed which means your testosterone has plummeted. Bad things happen in this state. Like it’s impossible to lose body fat and/or build muscle mass.
What’s your plan?
I am not advocating not working out. I do something everyday. Just keep in mind that recovery is very important to ensure you’re not driving excess cortisol beyond the immediate effects of the workout.
From Phil Maffetone:
Want Strength? Lay down!
This reality is worth repeating: Rest makes us stronger, physically and mentally. That’s because recovery from a workout allows the body to build itself up more than before. The longer or harder the workout, the more recovery is needed to accomplish this task. For example, recovery from a 45-minute easy walk is almost immediate, just a few minutes for a healthy, fit person. The same amount of time running could take up to 24 hours, with a longer or more intense run up to 48 hours. A hard weight-lifting workout could take 72 hours. (read the whole article).
Your health and fitness plan needs three steps:
The nutrition plan (this is the primary driver for your fat loss efforts)
The training plan including an emphasis on effective recovery (this is your primary muscle building and aerobic fitness efforts)
The nature plan. You need sunshine, fresh air and the natural healing benefits of nature immersion daily. You’re likely missing this key element.
This is how this dude cut his cortisol in half even while walking 18 miles a day with a pack on his back.
Nature Immersion is essential to surviving in the modern world.
Get some.