Late-Night Lifts & Cottage Cheese: Summer Fitness Debunked

Summer is right around the corner, and everyone is trying to get fit for the things they love. To keep things hyper-focused, we are breaking down a specific summer archetype: a mom in her 30s trying to get shredded for a trip to Costa Rica.
In this "This or That" showdown, we tackle the biggest fitness and nutrition debates with zero filters. We dive straight into the midnight dilemma of 5 AM workouts versus late-night sessions and look at the real science behind sleep deprivation and muscle loss. From there, we debate the metabolic fire of Pilates and yoga versus heavy compound lifts for the ultimate summer tone, while weighing the strict discipline of Whole30 and Paleo against flexible social macro tracking. Finally, we break down the ultimate morning routine debate: intermittent fasting versus a high-protein, fat-burning breakfast.
Stick around for that actionable item that we always promise to deliver in these podcasts which are some really good meal prep / high protein hacks to fuel your day without the sugar crash, including a game-changing cottage cheese texture trick and a savory camping-inspired egg recipe. If you loved this episode, leave us a rating, review, and share it with a friend who is locking in for summertime!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome into the Oh Health Yeah podcast brought to you by Healthy is Wellness. As you all know, our mission is to empower you to take control of your health and elicit a little bit of curiosity in your life when it comes to the world of wellness. Thank you so much for tuning in today. And if you have loved ones or friends that you think would benefit from this, share it with them. Let's get this thing going. What is up, Healthiest Family? We are back with another edition of the Oh Health Yeah podcast. Today we're going to be doing a this or that episode. These ones we've done a few times where we talk about this or that comparison. Zach and I compare and contrast a little bit. And the theme of this one is getting shredded for summer. So we see a lot of clients on a monthly basis, and we have a lot of people right now that are trying to get ready for summer, trying to get as fit as possible to be able to do the things they love, whether that's golfing, fishing, rock climbing, or just wanting to look good going into summer. So what we're going to talk about today, this or that topics for somebody trying to get ready for summer.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

And I feel like you have a really hard time with broadness when we talk about stuff like this. So I have narrowed down our archetype. Haven't told you about it yet. I've built our archetype to be quite a bit more specific than just somebody trying to get shredded for summer. So to get a bit more specific, what we're going to have is a mom in their 30s that wants to get shredded because they're going to Costa Rica.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Oh my gosh, Zach. Jeez Louise, you're spinning it on me. Okay. That's funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Are you ready? I'm ready.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

So you can't hit me with the it depends because you know what the goals are, what the wants are, what the needs are. What's her name? Harper.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yay. Mom in her 30s wanting to get shredded for summertime to go to Costa Rica. Okay. Alright.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

All right. Number one. The 5 a.m. workout versus the late night sesh. The conflict. Do you sacrifice sleep to get it done before the kids wake up, or do you wait until the house is quiet at 9 p.m.? The controversy. Is the cortisol spike from the sleep deprivation worse for your midsection than the winding up energy of a late night workout?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Hmm. My mind, 30-year-old mom, I'm shooting for the late night sesh. Because if she has to get up early, she's going to play into her sleep. And sleep is one of the number one pillars when it comes to specifically body composition change. I don't know if I talked about this on the podcast or not, but there was a study done recently, and what they looked at is they were looking at caloric deficits and weight loss. And you'll find this interesting too, Zach. They had two groups that went into the same caloric deficit. So they ate the same amount of foods, they had the same caloric output. And what they did is they had them eat the same amount, so it was the same exact deficit. One group slept for six hours or less. One group slept for eight hours or more. The two groups ended up losing about the same amount of weights. The group that slept for six hours or less lost 55% of that weight from muscle.

unknown 3:16

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

The group that slept for eight hours or more lost almost none of that weight for muscle. That's crazy. So in my mind, in this situation, 30-year-old mom trying to get shredded for Costa Rica, I'm thinking late night workout due to the fact that I want her sleeping in in the morning. I want her getting as much rest as possible. And hopefully the late night workout, it could be around the kids, depending on how old our kids are. Maybe it'll have an impact in our kids' lives too. So I'm thinking late night workout. That's my take on that. What do you got? What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 3:48

God, I hate to do this, but I think it depends.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

No, you told me I couldn't do that.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

I think whatever fits your life. It's about getting it in more than more than timing.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

I completely agree. But you told me I had to answer.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Okay. So the next one's gonna be Pilates slash yoga versus heavy compound lifts. The conflict, the long and lean aesthetic of the reformer versus hitting squats and deadlifts for a metabolic fire. The controversy. Can you actually tone with low impact? Or do you need the heavy iron to see the real changes by July?

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Okay, first question I would ask her is what movement does she enjoy? And then we chase that. So that's my that's my how I would coach this person. I would ask them what they enjoy and we chase that movement. If we're talking scientific perspective and I have to give an answer, I would say the heavy compound side of things due to the fact that toning out, to me, there's two different ways that you can tone out. If she's trying to get shredded for summer, toning out means you can either gain muscle mass or you can decrease body fat mass. As you gain muscle mass, your muscle bellies look bigger. As you decrease body fat, your muscle bellies also look bigger. And strength training is one of the best ways to do that because that's sending your body a signal that you are trying to build muscle every single day. So if I had to pick for her and I knew nothing about her movement background, my generic answer would be the strength training side of things. But like I said, to preface this, I would ask the question of what kind of movement does she enjoy? What does she feel comfortable doing?

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Yeah. But I think I think with something like this, even though their goal is to get there by a certain date, it's about longevity. So fun. I'm such a a proponent for fun. And if you if compound heavy lifts are not fun for you, forcing yourself through it, I think is the wrong decision in the best interest of your health long term. But if you if Pilates and yoga is something that you enjoy, is there a way that we can add some compound movements to that? I think that's where I would go as a coach. Because like I know for a fact that there are hot yoga classes that do a thing called sculpt where they incorporate some external weight into it, not just body weight, and that's gonna help with toning as well quite a bit. So I'm with you. I agree. All right. Whole 30 slash strict paleo versus social macro tracking. The conflict cutting out all grains, dairy, and sugar for 30 days versus fitting a glass of wine and taco into your daily numbers. Is the cold turkey discipline easier to manage, or is flexible dieting the only way to survive a play date?

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Oh man, that's tough. It depends on her timeline in my mind, and how strict she is about this, how serious she is about this. Because if you're trying to get shredded for summer, and this is extremely important to you, then there might have to be some form of sacrifice that comes with it. Does that have to be a whole 30? Does it have to be paleo? No, it doesn't. But in my mind, with this question, we're talking about diet, and it's very dependent on like, okay, how fast are you trying to get somewhere and where are you trying to get to? Because if this is really important to you, that you get shredded for Costa Rica in July, July or whatever it was, there might have to be some form of sacrifice. Obviously, from a sustainability perspective, I would pick the eat social, kind of interact with your friends and family, that type of vibe. But if she's trying to reach a goal specifically, just trying to lock in. Yeah, I think that's where it comes in. Because with health and wellness, depending on your goal, there has to be some form of sacrifice. And we like to talk to our clients a lot about like, okay, how is this sustainable for you for the rest of your life? How do we incorporate habits in your habits in your life that are sustainable even on your worst day? But also if somebody came to me, like a firefighter came to me and they're like, hey Gus, I'm doing the stair climb in May, and it's February, I'm like, all right, let's get nitty and gritty. Like, let's talk about your breath. Let's talk about like the way you train. So if this 30-year-old was serious about getting Costa Rica fit in the next two months, I would probably go more of like the whole 30 vibe, like a stricter diet to get to there. But if it was like in two years, it would be more of the let's figure this out.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah, long haul, long game. I agree with you. That's my thoughts. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

That's a tough one though.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

All right, here's a here's a hot topic one for this. That's gonna be like athletic greens, like AG1. Ugh. Uh like green powders versus whole food.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Sustainability, convenience, man, that's what's tough. In a perfect world, we'd lean whole foods. But when it comes to behavior change, oftentimes habits are easier to build when they're more convenient. So if AG1 is the best way for her to get her greens and get the stuff that comes alongside that, the vitamins and minerals, the nutrients that come from that, go for it. In a perfect world, we would love for everybody to get everything from Whole Foods. But like I supplement with vitamin D every day, I supplement with creatine every day, I use a pre and probiotic. Like there's there's an avenue where you can utilize supplements to be able to fill gaps. But in a perfect world, if we're thinking this or that, whole food is the route that we want to go.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Man, we're agreeing on lots of stuff today. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

The first.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Intermittent fasting versus high protein breakfast. Skipping breakfast to stay in a fat burning window until lunch versus the pro-metabolic 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. Does fasting help with the mom pooch? That felt weird to say. I'm so sorry to our listeners. Or does it just lead to a caffeine-fueled crash by 2 p.m.?

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Oh, this is a tough one. So, fasting. We talk a lot about fasting. The way that we talk about it is a 12-hour break from food. A 16-hour fast can be a stressor on a person's life, whether they're male or female. So, in my mind, with this goal of getting shredded by Costa Rica in a couple months, 30-year-old woman, I'm thinking protein-rich breakfast. Do I think it needs to be 30 minutes after she wakes up? No, I do not. I think sometime in the morning trying to prioritize protein and fat. Reason that I like that, she gets the proteins to fill her muscle bellies. But also, if you go into a prolonged fast, oftentimes your body will actually start to pare down muscle and tear down muscle. If you can feed your body a little something, it's going to say, Okay, Harper, we're feeding you today. You can go ahead and continue to burn fat. Whereas if she just goes into a hyperdeficit, her body might hold on to body fat. So I'm thinking protein-rich breakfast, but it doesn't have to be within 30 minutes of waking up. It's whenever she can get it.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

We talk about actionable items all the time, and I think this might be what we end the podcast on. A little quick one today. Give us some ideas for protein breakfast that are convenient convenient for someone that's locked in.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

For Harper here?

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

For Harper here. First place my mind goes is eggs and convenient side of things, hard-boiled. If she needs to take them with her to work or she needs to just grab and go. I love hard-boiled eggs.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Oh my gosh, stop, pause for a second. Oh gosh. I think you'll have to try this. I saw it on social the other day, and it was a guy that was camping. He's like, you have to try this. And he took a couple of jalapenos and a little bit of like parmesan or cheddar and put that in the bottom of a pan. Just like a couple little globs of it. And then he took a hard-boiled egg and stuck it on top while the cheese melted. So it created like a parmesan crisp on the bottom with a little bit of jalapeno in it with an egg. Holy moly, did it look good. Doesn't that sound you don't like spice though, do you?

SPEAKER_01 11:51

I like that kind of spice. That's like that's not a too much spice type of thing.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Pickled jalapenos aren't that spicy, but you get that great jalapeno flavor. Damn it, so you mean that that's exactly what we're talking about. We're talking proteins and fats. Yes. A little bit of cheese, a little bit of egg.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yep. Eggs and cheese are good. Cheese sticks, an easy one that I'll use in my own life. Depending on how you do with dairy, like baby belt cheeses can be a good one. Today, my breakfast, what I'm breaking my fast with is yogurt with a scoop of protein on top of it. So I'll mix the protein powder into the yogurt. And you get protein and fat from the yogurt. You get a little bit of extra protein from the protein powder itself. Cottage cheese is another great one. Trying to think. Nuts and seeds aren't bad. Meats, if you're okay doing meats, that's one of the best ways to break fast.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Pro tip for the people that have a hard time with um, what's the word? Oh my gosh. Texture. You can blend your cottage cheese and it makes those curds really small and makes it more of a sour cream texture.

unknown 12:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Which is nicer for some people that really have a hard time with the cottage cheese texture.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Yeah, that sounds delicious. I think the biggest thing with breakfast and what you break your fast with is reframing that it has to be that it doesn't have to be something super sweet. It doesn't have to be 50, 50 gram full of sugar cereal or pancakes or pop-tarts or pastries. It can be savory, it can be satiety producing. Shoot for proteins and fats. It's the best way to break fast. Anything else on Harper's Journey? I think that's all I got. Sweet, it's cool. If you guys are trying to get shredded for summer, hopefully you can take some insights from this or trying to look a little bit better or feel a little bit better going into summer. Here's some things to think on. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We appreciate you all. Leave us ratings, reviews, likes, comments, and share that share this with somebody if you think they would benefit from it. Thank you all.