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Why does “just eat in moderation” fail so often? Why do binge eating and emotional eating feel stronger than your willpower?

I’m joined by psychologist and former food industry insider Dr. Glenn Livingston to break down what’s actually happening in your brain.

We unpack the neuroscience of cravings and why a healthy brain can struggle in a hyperpalatable food environment. You’ll learn how food cues override hunger signals and quietly sabotage your nutrition and fitness goals.

If you want to build muscle, lose fat, or improve body recomp, you need to understand why rigid calorie cutting and relying on willpower almost always backfire. That’s why we talk about engineering your environment instead of fighting yourself.

We focus on structure, clear food rules, and reducing decision fatigue so you’re not negotiating with cravings all day. You’ll walk away with evidence-based strategies that make sustainable weight loss possible without constant mental friction.

Today, you’ll learn all about:

0:00 – What cravings really are
6:25 – What causes cravings
13:25 – Managing triggers and food cues
21:29 – Extinction bursts explained
30:45 – Rules vs willpower
39:48 – Identity and habit engineering
51:50 – Free resources to defeat cravings

Episode resources:

• Free Book (and bonuses): Defeat Your Cravings - The Back Door to Weight Loss
• Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550719047966
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drglennlivingston
• YouTube: @DefeatYourCravings

📱 Get Fitness Lab (now 20% off) - Science-based coaching app for fat loss, muscle building, and strength training over 40. It adapts to your nutrition, recovery, and training to improve body composition without the stress.

🎓 Join Physique University - Evidence-based nutrition coaching and strength training to help you lose fat, build muscle, and master your metabolism with support + accountability (FREE custom nutrition plan with code FREEPLAN).

👥 Join our Facebook community - Free fat loss, muscle building, and body recomposition strategies for adults over 40 who want practical, science-backed fitness guidance.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

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Are you strength training, watching your nutrition, doing cardio, and still not seeing the fat loss or muscle gains you expected?

The problem isn't effort. It's that your fitness goals are in conflict, physiologically fighting each other, and every week you train this way, you're getting further from all of them.

Philip breaks down exactly why fat loss and muscle building require opposite nutritional environments, whether the interference effect from concurrent training can reduce your strength gains or hypertrophy, and why chasing peak performance can actually work against longevity.

You'll learn the specific conditions where body recomp can work and the evidence-based approach that gets you to every goal faster.

Whether your priority is to build muscle, lose fat, improve your endurance, or increase your longevity over 40, this episode gives you the framework to stop stacking goals and start making real progress.

Philip also walks you through a 2-minute "Goal Audit" exercise you can do tonight to identify your primary focus for the next 12 weeks and put everything else on maintenance mode.

Episode Resources

• Take the free Fitness Lab quiz for a custom plan built around your primary goal (20% off with the link in the show notes:
  https://bit.ly/fitness-lab-pod20

Timestamps

0:00 - Stop chasing every fitness goal simultaneously
1:02 - The SAID principle
5:13 - Why you can't lose fat and build muscle at the same time (and when you can)
9:04 - How real is the interference effect (does endurance training blunt strength gains)?
12:03 - When strength training and longevity goals conflict
17:41 - A 12-month plan for faster results
19:58 - How little training do you need to maintain your gains?
23:59 - The compounding effect of using nutrition phases and training blocks
28:40 - How to include cardio and other goals without hurting your primary focus
32:19 - Why recovery and sustainability are "meta" goals
38:10 - When body recomp and concurrent training actually work

📱 Get Fitness Lab (now 20% off) - Science-based coaching app for fat loss, muscle building, and strength training over 40. It adapts to your nutrition, recovery, and training to improve body composition without the stress.

🎓 Join Physique University - Evidence-based nutrition coaching and strength training to help you lose fat, build muscle, and master your metabolism with support + accountability (FREE custom nutrition plan with code FREEPLAN).

👥 Join our Facebook community - Free fat loss, muscle building, and body recomposition strategies for adults over 40 who want practical, science-backed fitness guidance.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Try Fitness Lab to get personalized daily coaching on nutrition, training, and biofeedback that adapts to how you want to train, whether you're focused on lifting, endurance, or both. Get 20% off through February 17:
http://bit.ly/fitness-lab-pod20

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You've been told cardio is for a healthy heart and lifting weights is for building muscle. But what if strength training is itself a form of cardio?

What if you're ignoring one of the most effective tools for lowering blood pressure, improving cholesterol, and reducing your risk of heart disease?

Philip breaks down the evidence showing that strength training lowers blood pressure on par with first-line medication, improves HDL and LDL cholesterol, enhances insulin sensitivity, and reduces visceral fat, all independent of cardio.

You'll learn why your muscle tissue functions as a metabolic organ that regulates blood sugar, why adults who lift have up to 17% lower cardiovascular disease risk, and how to program your lifting sessions to get a real cardiovascular training effect without adding time on the treadmill.

Philip also answers listener Jack R.'s question comparing cardio and lifting head-to-head for fat loss, muscle building, and long-term sustainability after 40. Whether you're already strength training over 40 or still treating the weight room as optional for heart health and longevity, this episode gives you the evidence-based case for making lifting your foundation.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Why "cardio for your heart" is incomplete
1:43 - The 2023 AHA statement about lifting weights and heart health
5:28 - How strength training lowers blood pressure as much as medication
7:11 - Nitric oxide, arterial stiffness, and improved blood vessels
9:27 - Cholesterol, triglycerides, and ApoB improvements
13:17 - Why muscle is your most powerful metabolic organ for insulin and blood sugar
15:20 - Cardio vs. lifting for fat loss and building muscle after 40
18:01 - Visceral fat, inflammation, and menopause
19:47 - Can lifting weights improve VO2max?
22:01 - Longevity data and the minimum dose of strength training for heart health
23:57 - How to get cardiovascular benefits WITHOUT extra cardio
26:04 - Rest periods, compound movements, and rep ranges for heart-healthy lifting
28:59 - Weekly template combining strength training and walking
30:59 - Physical reserve and why strength protects your heart all day
33:04 - Bonus: 10-second heart rate recovery test you can do between sets

📱 Get Fitness Lab (now 20% off) - Science-based coaching app for fat loss, muscle building, and strength training over 40. It adapts to your nutrition, recovery, and training to improve body composition without the stress.

🎓 Join Physique University - Evidence-based nutrition coaching and strength training to help you lose fat, build muscle, and master your metabolism with support + accountability (FREE custom nutrition plan with code FREEPLAN).

👥 Join our Facebook community - Free fat loss, muscle building, and body recomposition strategies for adults over 40 who want practical, science-backed fitness guidance.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram