Crystal O’Keefe: Welcome to the MetPro Method podcast. I’m your host, Crystal O’Keefe. Today I am joined by MetPro Coach Ryan McMullen, and we are going to be discussing weight loss strategies.
Again, last time we covered strategies for when you have a lot of weight to lose, but this time, Ryan is joining us to cover strategies when you have, let’s say, the last 10 pounds or so. Ryan, thank you so much for being here today.
Ryan McMullen: Thank you. I’m happy to be here.
Crystal O’Keefe: So, I remember when you talked about this particular idea, you were really excited about covering it.
Can you tell me a little bit about your backstory and why this is so impactful for you?
Ryan McMullen: Yeah, so for those that maybe didn’t listen to the last podcast of the, I have 50 or more pounds to lose and this one interests you a little bit more. My journey getting into this is I was really heavy kid overweight, and I lost 90 pounds and that’s what started my fitness and nutrition and health journey.
So, I’ve been as heavy as 280 and as light as 190, and then everywhere in between, so, lots to talk about on this subject.
Crystal O’Keefe: Yeah. It’s nice because when you talk to people about going down this road, it’s nice to know you’ve lived it, so you’ve experienced what people are struggling with.
And having said that, if you’re a person who’s lost some weight and you’re down to, in your mind, you’re like, okay, 10 more pounds and I’m good, where do you start? How do you start with that?
Ryan McMullen: So, and I don’t want to scare people, but I will start by saying like, that last 10 pounds is going to be the hardest of your journey.
You know, for, for those that really did listen to the last podcast of, I Have a lot of weights loses when you were creeping closer and closer and closer to that goal weight or whatever you want to get down to. These last 10 pounds are kind of crunch time and they’re where it [00:02:00] takes a lot more. Being dialed in, being exact with your nutrition, being exact, with your training because everything you did to get to that, I have 10 more pounds to lose was, I don’t want to say relatively easy, but takes a lot.
Simpler adjustments to your, your habits, your lifestyle, your routine. These last 10 pounds take effort. They take really, really careful thought and a lot of work to put into it. So don’t get frustrated if it’s going really, really slow for these last 10 pounds because they are the hardest and, you know, simple slipups of, you know, going out on the weekend and having a couple drinks or, you know, going out to dinner and completely ruining your diet that night. Like they can have some consequences that you need to be ready for. So just be prepared. These last 10 pounds are tough.
Crystal O’Keefe: Okay. Okay. So as a person who struggles, uh, with a mind shift of these last 10 pounds, do you have any recommendations for how people can get ready, like what do we do to get our game face on?
Ryan McMullen: Yeah. Yeah. Um, so the first thing I would say is if you are a person that exercises regularly, and it doesn’t really matter what that is, like marathon running, strength training, um, you know, kayaking, like it, it really doesn’t matter what your sport is.
Go get an InBody or some sort of body composition analysis done because what I like to do when I hear I have 10 pounds to lose or I only have the last five to lose, is let’s get an idea of what your body composition is. Because if you’re truly dialing in your diet and dialing in your training, it’s far more likely that we’re going to see body composition changes and not scale changes.
So, this is when we’re kind of seeing the simultaneous effort of we’re losing body fat and we’re gaining muscle. So, although you may think. I have 10 pounds to lose. Really ask yourself, like, is it the scale or do I just wanna look different in the mirror? And the only reason I say that is because I have that experience of, you know, we, we talked about like, hey, I went from 280 to 190.
But what people do need to know is I also then went from 190 back up to 220 and 225, and then from 225 back down to 205 and from 205 up to 240. And like I could go on and on and on about the changes. But the reason I bring that up is because like 220, for instance, on the way down was very different, in terms of how I looked versus when I was 220, again building back up, right? There was a lot more muscle mass, there was less body fat.
So just in terms of body composition, it was totally different the way I looked, the way I felt, the way I was performing in the gym. So just be aware, like scale is not everything. Um, so to circle that back all the way to.
Go get a body composition analysis, whether that is an in body or a DEXA scan or a BOD pod or even the old school. You know, get, get someone to do the caliper test on you and figure out your body fat percentage. Figure out your lean body muscle mass. And then from that point, Dial in your diet and training.
I mean, really go strict with it and just be as diligent as humanly possible. And then every, like six, eight weeks or so, I. Get another composition test done. Make it the same. You know, if you get an InBody one time, don’t do a DEXA scan your second time, right? Make sure it’s the same machine, same location, same place.
And then see, are my efforts doing that Teeter totter, right? Is my body fat coming down and the, and the, um, Lean body mass coming up, that’s what we look for. So even if your weight doesn’t change over eight weeks and you are absolutely on top of things, it doesn’t mean that you’re not creating significant changes.
Crystal O’Keefe: Okay. And when you talk, first of all, excellent advice. Second of all, when you say dial in your nutrition, dial in your exercise. Give me some like verbs. How am I doing that? What’s, what is, what specific steps do I need to take? Besides, it depends.
Ryan McMullen: Well, no, I’m kidding. It just means everything weighed and everything measured for your food. I’ve seen so much with clients that have been doing this for a long time and even in myself, I’ve gone through years and years and years of weighing and measuring my food and I think I’m pretty good at visualizing in the eyeballing.
Yeah. That looks like about a half a cup of rice or, that looks like four ounces of chicken. Mm. Nope. Like I am so far off. It’s not even funny. I, you know, it, that looks like half a cup of rice. Turns out it’s a full cup. Um, you know, that looks like four ounces of chicken. No, it’s eight. Oh, right. And I know you can say you’re good and some people really are but weigh and measure.
Everything that you’re eating, get your meal timing spaced out, appropriately for whatever diet you’re following. And for our clients, they know like you’re eating every two and a half, three hours, but really get things weighed and measured that way. If you go that eight weeks and redo a body composition analysis and there is no change, then it’s one less variable that you need to worry about.
You don’t have to go back and ask yourself. Was I weighing and measuring my food correctly? Like maybe I was way over on my carbs or maybe I wasn’t eating enough protein for my training regimen. So, you can just eliminate that from being questionable. And then you go back to, okay, now is it my training?
Do I need to switch that up? So, it’s, it’s one less variable. Right. So that’s diet. And then in terms of training log. Everything, write it down, put it in a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet or in a note section in your phone, and maybe the diet is absolutely on point and you go back to your training log and it’s, it’s cool because when we look at it from a bird’s eye view and we look at a training log over a month or two months, we can look at it and go, Oh my gosh, I’m missing a bunch of cardio, or I’m missing a bunch of strength training, or this is what I’m not doing.
So, log your food, weigh and measure it, and then log your training and be as specific as humanly possible. Don’t put, I went for a run. Be specific. Right? How long was the run? How long were you out there? What was your average heart rate? What was your max heart rate? What was your pace? You know, be very specific to all of the numbers and all of the data as much as you can.
Crystal O’Keefe: Okay. So, like if you’re doing intervals list that not just you did three miles, like if you were doing three fast miles versus three nice, easy endurance miles, you wanna know the difference because you wanna be able to look back on that and see it.
Ryan McMullen: Right. And again, I just, I mean even doing this myself, I can’t title a workout, HIIT training and go back in a month from now and go. What did I do that day? Like that’s, that’s impossible. I can’t even remember what I did for a workout yesterday. So just log everything and be as strict as humanly possible.
Crystal O’Keefe: Okay, so we’re trying to work on these last 10 pounds. We know that we need to be really dialed in. We know we need to be, not just looking at the scale, but also just kind of considering everything. Get that in body, or the Dexa Scan. So, let’s say you’ve reached the number. On the scale that you thought you wanted to get to, and then you look in the mirror and you’re not happy with it.
Ryan McMullen: So then that brings me back because that is what happened. You know, I’m, I’m six foot three, I got down to 190 and that was almost a situation where people were asking me like, are you sick?
Crystal O’Keefe: Okay, so you looked too skinny. Like you looked, you looked really thin.
Ryan McMullen: Yeah. Too, too skinny for my stature.
Definitely. I’ve been to that place and what’s nice is if you get there, it’s really easy to, uh, I don’t want to say easy to build, but it is easier to put weight back on than it is to lose. Um, the first thing I would say is like, if you are truly looking in the mirror and saying, I’m too skinny.
Or I have this skinny fat look and I’m not liking it, or you know, whatever like you feel when you look at yourself is just start introducing strength training. Strength training need. I don’t care what body type you are. You can be an endomorph, mesomorph, ectomorph. It does not matter if you get to that point.
Start strength training regularly. It needs to be the primary part of your routine and you know, obviously keep your nutrition solid, right? Just because you lost weight and you don’t like how it looks, doesn’t mean you can go back to eating the McDonald’s or the In and Outs, right? But start strength training because that’s going to put good weight back on you and not the bad weight that you don’t want.
Crystal O’Keefe: Yeah, and just to be really specific, if you do start eating food that doesn’t have a lot of nutritional value and you’re doing that weight training, you might gain weight, but it might, it may not have the aesthetic that you’re looking for. That’s what you’re, that’s what you’re getting at, right?
Ryan McMullen: Yeah. Not the good weight.
Crystal O’Keefe: Okay. So, is there anything about like that last 10 pounds that you wanted to cover that we haven’t hit yet?
Ryan McMullen: I don’t think so. Other than just reiterating, don’t. Get so obsessive over the number. Be more obsessive about, you know, I don’t think we mentioned this, but take photos, right?
There’s a lot about visuals. You know, your weight doesn’t change for eight weeks, but take photos side by sides, put them together and say, I’m the same weight in both of these photos. And we see this as coaches from our clients all the time. I have a client I’ve been working with for three months. No change in weight and we put their photos side by side and they look like completely different people.
Yes. Right. So, take photos, take measurements, get in body scans, and have as much data as possible other than the scale. Yes. That’s the only thing I can tell you. Yes.
Crystal O’Keefe: And I just want to add, and when you’re looking at those photos, you use the word side by side. Do not do that thing on your phone where you look at one picture and then you flip to the other one and you flip back.
It’s not the same. Look at ’em side by side in the same frame. That’s the only way you’re going to see it.
I’ve been guilty of that. Can you tell Ryan, thank you so much for your time today. Of course, listeners, that’s all for this week. Be sure to listen to the other two parts of this series, strategies for Losing 50 plus Pounds, and we’re going to have another episode all about strategy for weight maintenance.
You can find all of the MetPro Method episodes anywhere you get podcasts, or you can go to MetPro.co/podcast. Please be sure to rate. And review the show that lets other people know what they can expect. You can learn more about MetPro, at metpro.co I’m your host, Crystal O’Keefe, and I’ll be back next week.
Until then, remember, consistency is key.
