Speaker 1: Guess what, Mango, what's that? Will do? You remember back
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight when Michael Phelps had that
Speaker 1: daily diet that got so much attention because he was
Speaker 1: eating these insane amounts of food. Yeah, he was eating
Speaker 1: something like eight thousand calories a day. You try twelve
Speaker 1: thousand cowers a day during his peak training, he need
Speaker 1: a whole pizza, pound of pasta, three fried eggs, French toast,
Speaker 1: multiple burgers, and it seemed like anything else he could
Speaker 1: get his hands on, which seems so gross but also
Speaker 1: kind of the best thing ever. And during those same Olympics,
Speaker 1: Hussein Bolt reportedly ate forty seven thousand calories worth of
Speaker 1: chicken McNuggets. Yeah, he was eating them with fries for breakfast, lunch,
Speaker 1: and dinner. That seems at less great. Yeah, but wouldn't
Speaker 1: sixteen year old Mango think of it's pretty incredible. So
Speaker 1: I started thinking about this, and I know you've been
Speaker 1: getting back into the tennis, and I've been running a
Speaker 1: good bet these past few years. But I thought, if
Speaker 1: I could just take this to the extreme, I may
Speaker 1: be able to follow a similar diet. Like let's say
Speaker 1: I'm running twenty miles a week, right, now, and I
Speaker 1: just keep doubling that for the next five weeks, I'd
Speaker 1: be running six hundred and forty miles a week by
Speaker 1: the end of this. I'm so excited about this. Then
Speaker 1: I could eat like twelve Chipotle burritos every day and
Speaker 1: still have room for a half dozen Wendy Spicy Chicken
Speaker 1: sandwiches and maybe even a couple of those naked chicken
Speaker 1: choloopas after I run for the border. It's gonna be great.
Speaker 1: But after our research for today's episodes, Science may have
Speaker 1: crushed my dreams again. It turns out there's not quite
Speaker 1: as strong of a connection between exercise and weight loss
Speaker 1: as we once thought. So that's what we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about today, Stupid Science Day their podcast listeners, Welcome to
Speaker 1: Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm
Speaker 1: joined by my good friend Manes Ticketer, and today we're
Speaker 1: diving into the topic of exercise, its benefits, it's limitations,
Speaker 1: whether it can actually help us shed some unwanted pounds,
Speaker 1: and if it really makes us healthier people. And fear not,
Speaker 1: we also have a couple of our patented, ridiculous quizzes
Speaker 1: along the way. Who've we got on the line today, Mango.
Speaker 1: So we'll be talking to Herman Pontzer, and anthropology professor
Speaker 1: at Hunter College in New York City. He's responsible for
Speaker 1: some truly incredible research on exercise, and he's gonna help
Speaker 1: us get to the bottom of just how useful physical
Speaker 1: activity really is for burning calories. We're also going to
Speaker 1: talk to a couple of personal trainers and see if
Speaker 1: we can whip them into shape through the power of
Speaker 1: our trivia. Right, So, before today's episode, I would have
Speaker 1: told you that exercising is probably the best way to
Speaker 1: lose weight simply based on the conventional wisdom of calories in,
Speaker 1: calories out. I mean that sounds sensible, right, Sure, We're
Speaker 1: taken calories through what we eat and drink and then
Speaker 1: burn them up through exercise. The more you exercise, the
Speaker 1: more calories you burn, and the more weight you lose.
Speaker 1: It just makes sense, it does. But there are actually
Speaker 1: all these studies conducted over the last few years that
Speaker 1: suggests exercise really isn't an effective way to lose excess weight.
Speaker 1: For example, Dr Timothy Church at the Pennington Biomedical Research
Speaker 1: Center at l s U. He held an experiment where
Speaker 1: hundreds of overweight women were given strict workout regiments for
Speaker 1: six months. The one group of them exercised a little
Speaker 1: over an hour each week, another one for a little
Speaker 1: over two hours, and another for over three hours. There
Speaker 1: was also a fourth group that stuck to their typical
Speaker 1: routine and didn't exercise at all. And against all logic
Speaker 1: and fairness, there was no major difference in the weight
Speaker 1: loss between the women who had exercised and the ones
Speaker 1: who had And how pissed would you be if you
Speaker 1: were that three hour group. In fact, some of the
Speaker 1: women in the exercise groups actually gained weight, which doesn't
Speaker 1: seem fair at all. I mean, they put into work,
Speaker 1: they deserve a reward. Well, it's funny you should say that,
Speaker 1: because Church actually concluded that the rewards were the problem.
Speaker 1: You know, exercise stimulates appetite, and many of the women
Speaker 1: counteracted their work by over eating afterward. Church suggested that
Speaker 1: it was justified in their minds. Is kind of a
Speaker 1: self reward for all the energy that exerted through exercise. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we hear that sort of thinking all the time, like
Speaker 1: cheat days and junk food rewards for going to the gym.
Speaker 1: But if we're canceling out the calories we burn, then
Speaker 1: we're probably imagining our workouts to be much more effective
Speaker 1: than they really are. I mean, the Department of Health
Speaker 1: and Human Services recommends people aim for at least thirty
Speaker 1: minutes of physical activity every day, but at thirty minute
Speaker 1: workout that only burns about two hundred calories, and the
Speaker 1: average slice of pizza contains close to like three hundred calories.
Speaker 1: So you can see how the map doesn't quite work.
Speaker 1: It's really just not fair at all. But it isn't
Speaker 1: just those powerful post workout indulgences that counteract calories burned
Speaker 1: through exercise. You know, the things we consume in preparation
Speaker 1: for even during a workout can also take a toll,
Speaker 1: which is a good point. I mean, those two hundred
Speaker 1: calories you burned during your thirty minutes on the treadmill,
Speaker 1: every single one goes right back into your body thanks
Speaker 1: to that bottle of gatorade or that energy bar you
Speaker 1: might have scarfed down while running right right, And the
Speaker 1: same goes for the bagel or the oatmeal used to
Speaker 1: carbo load before your workout, And we think the energy
Speaker 1: from these meals is going to help us power through
Speaker 1: and burn more calories at the gym, But it's actually
Speaker 1: the calories from those pregame foods that are going to
Speaker 1: get burned off first. And why is that Well, because
Speaker 1: sugar from what you've just consumed will still be floating
Speaker 1: freely in your bloodstream, and it takes muscle tissue much
Speaker 1: less energy to take that sugar than it does to
Speaker 1: burn off the existing fat stores. So your most recent
Speaker 1: meal will always be the first to go during a workout.
Speaker 1: But we can always just exercise a little longer, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, once those preliminary calories are gone, our muscle
Speaker 1: cells will start chipping away at storage fat for fuel. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean yes and no. According to some breakthrough research
Speaker 1: from Herman Ponzer, there are a lot of assumptions we've
Speaker 1: been making about human metabolism that they're not quite right.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's true that a longer workout would
Speaker 1: result in more calories burned and even some from storage fat.
Speaker 1: But we know there's a limit to how many calories
Speaker 1: your body will metabolize in any gift and day, So
Speaker 1: I'm definitely intrigued. But before we get too far into this,
Speaker 1: we should probably clarify the basics of metabolism, all right, well,
Speaker 1: I'll let you do that. Go for it, okay. So
Speaker 1: metabolism is basically the sum of all the processes that
Speaker 1: takes place in our bodies. We're talking digestion, respiration, the
Speaker 1: production of cells, the movement of substances between cells, you
Speaker 1: name it, and all these processes require energy, which our
Speaker 1: bodies released from the calories we consume. So even without
Speaker 1: exercise and other forms of physical activity, we still burned
Speaker 1: through or metabolize a huge number of calories simply by
Speaker 1: being alive. Yeah, exactly. So back to Herman Ponsers World
Speaker 1: Shattering Research and February's issue of Scientific American, Herman shared
Speaker 1: findings from his study of the Hadza tribe and rule Tanzania.
Speaker 1: He and other researchers spent a whole month living with
Speaker 1: the Hatsa, who were one of the last traditional hunter
Speaker 1: gatherer cultures left on earth. That was during this time
Speaker 1: that Herman and his partners recorded measurements of the daily
Speaker 1: energy expenditures of a couple dozen tribesmen and women. So
Speaker 1: this allowed them to compare the daily calorie burn of
Speaker 1: a society in which every member is highly active to
Speaker 1: a Western society like our own, and which members are
Speaker 1: more you know, sedentary. Well, back up a second. You
Speaker 1: said the researchers measured the hadzas daily energy expenditure, But
Speaker 1: I'm wondering how they pull that off. Are you really
Speaker 1: wondering that mango or are you just sensing there's an
Speaker 1: opportunity here to talk about doubly labeled water? Of course
Speaker 1: it is, you know, I love the d l W.
Speaker 1: Doubly Labeled water is the special water in which the
Speaker 1: hydrogen and oxygen molecules have been either partly or entirely
Speaker 1: replaced with heavy isotopes that aren't usually found in the
Speaker 1: human body. And it's safe to drink this stuff completely.
Speaker 1: They're stable isotopes, so they're non radioactive. But here's what's
Speaker 1: great about them. After somebody drinks d l W that's
Speaker 1: been enriched, researchers suddenly have this tracking mechanism. Basically, by
Speaker 1: measuring the concentration found in urine samples, researchers can determine
Speaker 1: a person's daily rate of carbon dioxide production. And since
Speaker 1: carbon dioxide is a waste product of our bodies energy
Speaker 1: making processes, calculating how much C O two someone produces
Speaker 1: in a day is the best way to measure their
Speaker 1: energy expenditure. That is pretty neat. Yeah, Doubly labeled water
Speaker 1: has become the gold standard for measuring how much energy
Speaker 1: a person consumes. Like, the margin of error is pretty small,
Speaker 1: and in fact, the only downside is the cost. D
Speaker 1: LW is expensive, Like are we talking smart water expensive
Speaker 1: or like Fiji water expensive? No, it's so much more
Speaker 1: than that. Dl W runs researchers about dollars per test subjects. Actually,
Speaker 1: you know what this really expensive water reminds me of?
Speaker 1: And I know that this is totally off topic, but
Speaker 1: did you know that the federal government actually sells a
Speaker 1: two jar of peanut butter and there's just six ounces
Speaker 1: of peanut butter in there. It's like a tiny jar.
Speaker 1: And it also goes by this incredibly catchy name. Are
Speaker 1: you ready for it? Standard Reference Material number two three
Speaker 1: eight of it? Oh? That sounds delicious, But why is
Speaker 1: it actually so expensive? Is it more delicious? No, it's
Speaker 1: the wonkiest reason ever. It's the super precise like peanut butter,
Speaker 1: with specific levels of amino acids and fats and carcinogens.
Speaker 1: And it's mostly used for quality controls so companies can
Speaker 1: test their standards against the governments and make sure it
Speaker 1: measures up. But as a result, no one actually eats
Speaker 1: the peanut butter. It's just for lad purposes, which only
Speaker 1: makes me want to try it more like with a
Speaker 1: really cheap jelly. All right, well, let's get back to D. L. W.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you what herman and his partners were
Speaker 1: actually able to learn from having the Hods of tribe
Speaker 1: drink it. Lay it on me. Well, first, let me
Speaker 1: preface this by saying that the Hods are the kings
Speaker 1: and queens of exercise. Every single day, the men trek
Speaker 1: miles and miles to hunt for game with homemade bows
Speaker 1: and arrows. They scale forty foot trees to hack tree
Speaker 1: limbs with hatchets and gather wild honey. Now, the women
Speaker 1: forage all day for wild berries and other edible plants
Speaker 1: like tubers that they dig out of the ground with sticks.
Speaker 1: Even the kids of the tribe are put to work
Speaker 1: by hauling pails of water from a mile or more away. Okay,
Speaker 1: so they're seriously active and no one sitting at their desks, right,
Speaker 1: definitely not. But what the researchers found was that even
Speaker 1: though the Hadzas lives are far more physically demanding. The
Speaker 1: amount of calories day ate and burned through in the
Speaker 1: day was the same as in Europe and the US. Now,
Speaker 1: the men went through about twenty six hundred calories a
Speaker 1: day and the women burned through about nineteen hundred. According
Speaker 1: to Herman, we looked at the data every way imaginable,
Speaker 1: accounting for the effects of body size, fat percentage, age,
Speaker 1: and sex. No difference at all, which is insane, isn't it.
Speaker 1: I mean that you naturally assume that physically active people
Speaker 1: would burn more calories, of course, but the research really
Speaker 1: doesn't bear that out. In fact, they did a follow
Speaker 1: up study with about three hundred participants and it showed
Speaker 1: the exact same thing. The people who were the most
Speaker 1: active burned the same daily amount of calories as those
Speaker 1: who were only moderately active, and the participants who barely
Speaker 1: left the couch at all burned about two fewer calories
Speaker 1: than them, the same amount they would have burned from
Speaker 1: a mere thirty minutes of exercise. Doesn't seem to suggest
Speaker 1: that our metabolisms are like fixed like. It almost seems
Speaker 1: like there's a preset amount of calories that your body
Speaker 1: is willing to burn in any given day. And no
Speaker 1: matter how far you run or how many push ups
Speaker 1: you do, you won't be able to top that max limit.
Speaker 1: But my bigger question is this, why doesn't the Hadza
Speaker 1: hunter burn more in a day than the average office worker. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure we really have the answer to that yet,
Speaker 1: but one thing I've seen researches suggest is that our
Speaker 1: bodies account for the calories burned through physical activity by
Speaker 1: dialing back on the number of calories we devote to
Speaker 1: the background functions that keep us alive. About six of
Speaker 1: the calories we burn each day go to these unseen
Speaker 1: or unconscious processes, so it's possible that when our physical
Speaker 1: activity pushes us beyond that other of daily cloric expenditure,
Speaker 1: our body is just cut back on the calorie spin
Speaker 1: on tobolic processes. This would help even the scales and
Speaker 1: keep us from exceeding our preset energy budget for the day,
Speaker 1: which is really cool but also disheartening. Right, no wonder,
Speaker 1: I've got this paunch. I feel so betrayed. Don't take
Speaker 1: it too hard. So a fixed daily energy expenditure limit
Speaker 1: is likely, and evolved trade meant to help conserve our
Speaker 1: fat stores for when we really need them. I mean,
Speaker 1: imagine if the Hotsa hunters were free to burn through
Speaker 1: ten thousand calories during a hunt instead of the typical
Speaker 1: two thousand or so, if they were to come up
Speaker 1: empty handed, they would have lost five days worth of
Speaker 1: calories in one with no prospects for replacing them. And
Speaker 1: at that rate they're already limited. Fat stores will be
Speaker 1: depleted in no time, and they'd find themselves on the
Speaker 1: brink of starvation. Which is a great point, but still
Speaker 1: doesn't make you feel like maybe all that time spent
Speaker 1: exercising was I don't know, kind of a waste. Want
Speaker 1: no hold on a second, So don't forget that exercise
Speaker 1: has all kinds of great benefits beyond weight loss. For starters,
Speaker 1: exercises fantastic for your heart and blood vessels. It makes
Speaker 1: your heart contract with greater force and frequency, which increases
Speaker 1: blood flow leads to less artery clogging. There's also plenty
Speaker 1: of evidence that exercise helps reduce the risk of some cancers,
Speaker 1: as well as type two diabetes and cardiovascular disease. But
Speaker 1: one of my favorite benefits of exercise that often goes overlooked.
Speaker 1: Not only does it help strengthen your muscles, it helps
Speaker 1: strengthen your bones too. Just like muscles, bones grow stronger
Speaker 1: when they've been made to carry more weight than normal.
Speaker 1: So your muscles contract during exercise, they apply force to
Speaker 1: the bones that support those parts of the body. The
Speaker 1: added force stimulates the bones and causes them to reinforce
Speaker 1: themselves by building new tissue, which is really cool. But
Speaker 1: you know, Will, I'm pretty sure we'd have to forfeit
Speaker 1: our part time Genius membership cards if we miss the
Speaker 1: chance to talk about some of the more amazing mental
Speaker 1: benefits of exercise, like thanks to Fernando Gomez Pinia, a
Speaker 1: neuro surgery professor at U c l A, we now
Speaker 1: have some firm evidence of that connection. Namely, we know
Speaker 1: that exercise increases the number of certain molecules in the
Speaker 1: brain that are crucial for cognition. Because apple, there's one
Speaker 1: molecule called brain derived neurotrophic factor, or b d NF,
Speaker 1: and that stimulates the growth and survival of brain cells
Speaker 1: and even helps facilitate communication between them. And there have
Speaker 1: been some studies on rats that have shown that physical
Speaker 1: activity boost b d n F levels in the hippocampus,
Speaker 1: which is a part of the brain that's super important
Speaker 1: for learning and even memory function, all right, but how
Speaker 1: exactly does that help the rats? Well, that higher level
Speaker 1: of b d NF actually allowed them to better remember
Speaker 1: how they find their way through underwater mazes, and there
Speaker 1: are tons of studies that suggest that same kind of
Speaker 1: mental improvement from fitness happens in humans as well well.
Speaker 1: A better brain is definitely a nice perk. But there's
Speaker 1: another mental benefit to exercise that I like even more,
Speaker 1: and that's mood enhancement. You probably heard of runners high
Speaker 1: or exercise high, sure, and I've heard of both of those.
Speaker 1: That's the euphoric feeling you get when you're need even
Speaker 1: a strenuous workout, right. And while most people think it's
Speaker 1: caused by endorphins, you know, those dandy neurochemicals that minimize
Speaker 1: pain and stir up feelings of well being, exercise eyes
Speaker 1: are actually do more to neurotransmitters like sarah tonin and
Speaker 1: neuro epinephrin. So our bodies pump more of these throughout
Speaker 1: our nervous systems during workouts, which elevates our mood and
Speaker 1: helps fight back feelings of stress and depression. Okay, so
Speaker 1: maybe our bodies aren't quite the turn coats. That made
Speaker 1: them out to be. But we've definitely been misinformed about
Speaker 1: the role of exercise and weight loss. How do you
Speaker 1: think this misunderstanding got started? And uh, is there really
Speaker 1: no basis for thinking exercises an effective way to lose weight? Well,
Speaker 1: there's are great questions, but before we exhaust ourselves, but
Speaker 1: we check in with our guests for a little quiz.
Speaker 1: Sound so our guest today is partially responsible for our
Speaker 1: interest in today's topic. His research has contributed to a
Speaker 1: much better understanding of the relationship between our daily activity,
Speaker 1: our daily calorie consumption and energy use and calorie burning
Speaker 1: and all of that. And his name just kind of
Speaker 1: sounds like he should have a theory named for him.
Speaker 1: Herman Ponzer welcomed his part time genius. Hi, how you
Speaker 1: doing doing well? Thank you? See what I mean, Manga,
Speaker 1: I mean, can't you just imagine something called the Herman
Speaker 1: Ponser theory of why we're still so freaking fat? Sounds right? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll see if we can make that happen. So all right, Herman, Well,
Speaker 1: let's just start with your research. And Tanzania, I mean,
Speaker 1: which got a lot of attention a few years ago,
Speaker 1: and people are still talking about it. Can you tell
Speaker 1: us why you were studying there and and and just
Speaker 1: let our listeners know about your findings from that research. Sure. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm an evolutionary biologist who's interested in how humans got
Speaker 1: to be the way they are and how the human
Speaker 1: body works from a kind of an evolutionary perspective. Um.
Speaker 1: And of course humans we've all spent the most most
Speaker 1: of our history as hunter gathers. If you go back,
Speaker 1: you know, a couple of thousand years, all of us
Speaker 1: are hunting and gathering, and you know, back two million
Speaker 1: years ago and didnting gathering kind of starts. So we
Speaker 1: have a long evolutionary history of hunting the gathering. Uh.
Speaker 1: Not many populations hunt and gather anymore, um, but that
Speaker 1: makes sort of understanding how their lifestyles and their you know,
Speaker 1: their physiology works all the more important because we think
Speaker 1: it's a really important sort of uh touchstone for understanding
Speaker 1: how our bodies work, even in our weird environments today.
Speaker 1: So in northern Tanzania, there's a population called the Hadza,
Speaker 1: who are one of the last UH populations on Earth
Speaker 1: that are still hunt and gather regularly, so they don't
Speaker 1: have any crops or domesticated animals or vehicles or guns
Speaker 1: or machines or anything like that. They wake up every
Speaker 1: morning and go off and hunt wild game and gather
Speaker 1: wild plant foods, just like you know all of us,
Speaker 1: did you know, just a few generations ago. Uh. And
Speaker 1: so there's this really amazing and cool and generous and
Speaker 1: wonderful population to work with to try to understand how
Speaker 1: that lifestyle affects the way our bodies work. And one
Speaker 1: of the fundamental things we wanted to understand was how
Speaker 1: many calories they burn every day, because we thought, well,
Speaker 1: they're so active. We know they're extremely active, but they've
Speaker 1: burned tons more calories every day than we do here
Speaker 1: in you know, in the US, US and Europe another
Speaker 1: kind of westernized societies. And what we found instead, to
Speaker 1: our huge surprise, was they burned the same number of
Speaker 1: calories every day as you and I do. Wow. So
Speaker 1: if they were wearing a fitbit or something like that,
Speaker 1: would it, I mean, it would tell them that they
Speaker 1: had burned probably thousands more calories than they actually had.
Speaker 1: Is that true? Or you're right, yeah, the fit that
Speaker 1: would tell them the same lies that it tells you,
Speaker 1: which you know, however, active you are, determines how many
Speaker 1: calories you burned. So we know from other studies that
Speaker 1: we've done since that they just to confirm our intuitions there. Uh,
Speaker 1: and this is obvious to anybody who's works with these
Speaker 1: With these folks, Uh, they are incredibly physically active, sort
Speaker 1: of like three to five times more physically active every
Speaker 1: day than the average westerner. Um. And yet despite that,
Speaker 1: they're still burning the same number of calories as we do.
Speaker 1: So you know, they're also really healthy. They have really
Speaker 1: healthy hearts and immune systems. They don't have diabetes or
Speaker 1: anything like that. We think the physical activity is a
Speaker 1: big part of that. So it's important for health, but
Speaker 1: it's not what keeping them, you know, sort of protected
Speaker 1: from obesity. Yeah, and that's a big part of what
Speaker 1: we're trying to remind our listeners of today is just
Speaker 1: because there's not this as strong of a connection as
Speaker 1: we might have thought between exercise and weight loss, they're
Speaker 1: obviously very real benefits to doing the exercise that we do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a really important point because you know, when we
Speaker 1: came out with this study and said, hey, look, these
Speaker 1: hunter gather folks who are important to understand our history
Speaker 1: and and how our bodies work. Um, and we thought
Speaker 1: that they would burn so many work colgies and and
Speaker 1: the rest of us do. Turns out that that's not true. Um.
Speaker 1: The response that we got was, you know, emails from
Speaker 1: out of the blue saying, you know, you're destroying the
Speaker 1: world because you're telling people not to exercise, right, And
Speaker 1: of course that's not what we were saying at all.
Speaker 1: You still to exercise is still important for your health.
Speaker 1: It's just that it doesn't work the way that we
Speaker 1: thought it work, which was the exciting and fun part
Speaker 1: of the science. You know, something that's been puzzling to us.
Speaker 1: And this really isn't related exactly to the HODSA, but
Speaker 1: you know, you remember during previous summer Olympics when you'd
Speaker 1: see all these stories on Michael Phelps and his daily
Speaker 1: diet and Michaels questions. I knew it was exactly So yeah,
Speaker 1: you had to know it was coming. So so just
Speaker 1: I mean, and again of that's that this is called
Speaker 1: the Ponser effect. So, um, so the the insane amount
Speaker 1: of food that he would eat in order to keep
Speaker 1: up with his fitness regiment. I mean, how was he
Speaker 1: not super fat during this process? Yeah? Well, so there's
Speaker 1: two cans. There's at least two pieces of this. One
Speaker 1: is that, um, Michael Phelps is not a normal human
Speaker 1: and uh that's obvious if you watch him swim and
Speaker 1: how fast he is an amazing as he is an athlete. UM.
Speaker 1: And so you know what he's doing during those those
Speaker 1: workout you know cycles where he's burning ten talent colories.
Speaker 1: By the way, actually measured how many calories he's bringing
Speaker 1: during these cycles, So we don't really know. You see
Speaker 1: number thrown around like eight thousand calories a day, um,
Speaker 1: which maybe is to um. We know that if you
Speaker 1: look at like a Tour de France cyclist like is
Speaker 1: happening right now um, or where you look at Michael
Speaker 1: Phelps during or another Olympic athlete during these really intense
Speaker 1: training and competition times that for a few weeks or
Speaker 1: even you know a couple of months, your body can
Speaker 1: burn tons more calories than that would be normal. UM.
Speaker 1: What we don't know is what are the limits to that.
Speaker 1: I don't think Michael Phelps can burn itsels and colors
Speaker 1: to day forever. I think that you know, his body
Speaker 1: would break down. UM. And I think that you know,
Speaker 1: we can do that during certain periods. And the other
Speaker 1: piece of this is that you know, there's a reason
Speaker 1: that not everybody's Michael Phelps, and it might well be
Speaker 1: that people who are flexible enough in their metabolic rate
Speaker 1: to to sort of be able to handle that huge
Speaker 1: influx are the people who end up being Olympic athletes,
Speaker 1: you know. Um. And I think the third thing I'd
Speaker 1: say is it just goes to show you, um, you know,
Speaker 1: we we think of I think sometimes the paleo diet,
Speaker 1: imagine these elite athletes as being kind of indicative of
Speaker 1: what our path was like, right Like if we were
Speaker 1: only if we only exercise like Michael Phelps, we'd all
Speaker 1: be back in this sort of state of nature. Um.
Speaker 1: And in fact, people like Michael Felts are way on
Speaker 1: the extreme of of beyond what's what's normal for any
Speaker 1: human society anywhere. The cycial activity levels extremely too, extremely high. Well,
Speaker 1: I feel like we've been ponsored. So it's time to
Speaker 1: turn the tables here and put into the test. We're
Speaker 1: gonna play a little quiz with herman here. What's our
Speaker 1: quiz called today, Mango, It's called real vintage diet or
Speaker 1: something we just made up all right, So this is
Speaker 1: a pretty simple game. We're going to read you a
Speaker 1: list of diets and you're going to tell us if
Speaker 1: they're real or whether we just made them up. Does
Speaker 1: that sound sound good to you? Herman? All right, Here
Speaker 1: we go five questions. The first one the seven day
Speaker 1: milk diet, real or made up? Um, I'll tell you this.
Speaker 1: A guy ran across the US in two other fift
Speaker 1: drinking almost drinking milk and almost nothing else. So I
Speaker 1: want to say. I want to say true, because full
Speaker 1: a lot of good stuff. Worth that sounds terrible, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's true. In seventies, pamphlet put off by the California
Speaker 1: Milk Advisory Board advised eating less and drinking milk with
Speaker 1: every meal. Wow, that sounds horrible, and then running it
Speaker 1: just sounds then run across the country. Alright. Number two
Speaker 1: the sexy pineapple diet, which happens to come from Denmark. Um,
Speaker 1: the sexy pineapple diet. I'm gonna say there's no. But
Speaker 1: there's no way. I studied people, and I can tell
Speaker 1: you about people. Is no human culture fined pineapple sexy.
Speaker 1: I'm going to say no to the sex. This is
Speaker 1: actually true? And where did this come from. Yeah, Buzzby
Speaker 1: had found this diet book from nineteen seventy and the
Speaker 1: Chicago Tribune it actually reviewed it and they panned it, saying,
Speaker 1: if you're ready to be miserable about something, this diet
Speaker 1: guarantees twenty four hour dismay. Yeah. That so there we go. Alright,
Speaker 1: one out of two. Number three, Chowder through the thirty
Speaker 1: day Chowder, Power diet. Chowder through the thirty day Chowder
Speaker 1: Power Diet. I just I don't want that to be true.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna say no, I'm you know, man, go,
Speaker 1: I don't know how many skills you have, but this
Speaker 1: is one of your skills to make up things like
Speaker 1: this that just sounds so real. So yes, this is
Speaker 1: this is in fact fault. Right, Yeah, it's false. There
Speaker 1: was a tune around the clock diet for a while.
Speaker 1: Tune around the clock. Alright, So he's two for three.
Speaker 1: Let's see the next one. Skinny like Lincoln the Gettysburg
Speaker 1: ration diet um fault because Lincoln was skinny because he
Speaker 1: was he had a condition. I think I don't think
Speaker 1: he was skinny because I would ate. Yeah, right, So
Speaker 1: the last one here, he's three out of four. The
Speaker 1: drinking Man's diet. Do you have any details on this?
Speaker 1: I mean, what man side? And I got to you
Speaker 1: give me details. It kind of gives it away, doesn't it. Um,
Speaker 1: So so tell me nothing, tell me nothing. True, Absolutely true,
Speaker 1: it's true. I like that. You didn't need any more detail,
Speaker 1: but we'll give you a little. It was subtitled how
Speaker 1: to Lose Weight with Minimum Willpower and it was basically
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixties Atkins Diet. It was based on eating
Speaker 1: steak and drinking nothing but whiskey. All right, well that's
Speaker 1: pretty impressive. So so how's herman done today? Herman did
Speaker 1: an incredible four for five, and in addition to our
Speaker 1: harder than admiration, we're actually gonna send him a copy
Speaker 1: of a book we found called Help Lord the Devil
Speaker 1: Wants Me Fat, a scriptural approach to trim and attractive bodies.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be a great prize. Well, Herman, thanks so
Speaker 1: much for joining us today. Thank you. It was a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. You're listening to part time genius and
Speaker 1: we're talking about the surprising truth behind exercise. So mego.
Speaker 1: Before the break, I was wondering who to blame for
Speaker 1: the fact that exercise has sort of become synonymous with
Speaker 1: weight loss in our minds. Any ideas on that. You're
Speaker 1: asking me to name names, I actually am. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I did some digging, and while it might be a
Speaker 1: little unfair to lay the entire blame for a widespread
Speaker 1: cultural misunderstanding on one individual, there's no denying that John
Speaker 1: Mayor makes a pretty good scapegoat. I'll take it. So
Speaker 1: who is who is John? Mayer? Said? Well, John is
Speaker 1: this French American scientist and nutritionists who did some high
Speaker 1: profile research on the physiology of hunger and metabolism during
Speaker 1: the mid twentieth century. In fact, thanks to his breakthrough
Speaker 1: studies on rats, babies, and school girls in the nineteen fifties,
Speaker 1: Mayor became the first researcher to make a connection between
Speaker 1: exercise and weight loss. He showed that the less physically
Speaker 1: active a person was, the more likely they were to
Speaker 1: be overweight. All right, hold on, so you're saying that
Speaker 1: prior to Mayor, nobody thought that burning calories through exercise
Speaker 1: might result in weight loss. Yeah, it sounds so crazy,
Speaker 1: but that line of thinking was unpopular in the scientific
Speaker 1: community before Mayor came along. In fact, during the nineteen thirties,
Speaker 1: some scientists actually argued that bed rest was the most
Speaker 1: effective way to treat best patients, not exercise. Can you
Speaker 1: imagine this? Aw Are you guys going to hike without me?
Speaker 1: And my doctor says I need to shut a few pounds.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna lie right here right. It sounds like
Speaker 1: one of those crazy diets or miracle cures you sometimes
Speaker 1: hear about that you know, never actually works. But back
Speaker 1: to Mayor. He actually served as an advisor to both
Speaker 1: the White House and to the w h O, which
Speaker 1: made him a top name in nutrition and one of
Speaker 1: the most influential figures in the public health sphere thanks
Speaker 1: to the connections he made between exercise and weight loss.
Speaker 1: The idea of getting fit took off in the sixties
Speaker 1: and seventies, which led to this uh thriving gym industry
Speaker 1: in a cultural obsession with working out as a way
Speaker 1: to lose weight and to live healthier, and it clearly
Speaker 1: snowballed from their Obesity rates have risen dramatically over the
Speaker 1: last few decades as more and more of the population
Speaker 1: began trading jobs on farms and in factories for these
Speaker 1: desk jobs. It probably made sense to conclude that this
Speaker 1: more sedentary lifestyle was the cause of all that weight gain, right,
Speaker 1: But today's scientists, no, that's not the full story. It's
Speaker 1: actually a case of mixing up cause and effect. People
Speaker 1: aren't overweight because they're inactive. They're inactive because they're overweight.
Speaker 1: It's harder to stay active when you weigh more, so
Speaker 1: many people just don't. Well, it makes sense because it
Speaker 1: points back to the real culprit behind the obesity epidemic,
Speaker 1: and that's diet. We really have an obscene amount of
Speaker 1: food options today, and thanks to lifestyles that are more
Speaker 1: sedentary compared to previous generations, we have plenty of opportunities
Speaker 1: to over indulge on all of that variety, and we
Speaker 1: take full advantage of this. For instance, researchers at Harvard
Speaker 1: conducted to surveys on food consume. One was in the
Speaker 1: mid nineteen seventies and then a second in the mid
Speaker 1: nine nineties, and they found that although the number of
Speaker 1: calories expended didn't change significantly in that time period, the
Speaker 1: number of calories consumed in a day increased by two
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty eight calories for men and a hundred
Speaker 1: and forty three for women. Yeah, it really does sound
Speaker 1: like our unfettered access to affordable, no muss prepared foods
Speaker 1: has taken a toll on our waistlines. I mean, we're
Speaker 1: constantly surrounded by food, and according to Brian wantsonk uh Cornell,
Speaker 1: researcher who studies how we eat, we eat the amount
Speaker 1: of food we do mostly because of what's around us.
Speaker 1: In his book Mindless Eating, Brian writes, we overeat not
Speaker 1: because of hunger, but because of family and friends, packages
Speaker 1: and plates, names and numbers, labels and lights, colors and candles,
Speaker 1: shapes and smells, distractions and distances, cupboards and containers. This
Speaker 1: list is almost as endless as it's invisible. I think
Speaker 1: he was just showing off his illiterative ability. That was impressive.
Speaker 1: So it's not so much that are less active lifestyle
Speaker 1: have made us gain weight, but that we've developed a
Speaker 1: bad habit of filling that downtime with mindless eating brought
Speaker 1: on by food cues. Exactly. It's the reverse principle of
Speaker 1: out of sight, out of mind. Brian calls it insight
Speaker 1: in stomach creative. This guy is just full of them,
Speaker 1: and it's a serious problem. For example, if you have
Speaker 1: cookies or chips sitting out on your counter, there's a
Speaker 1: strong chance you'll weigh about eight pounds more than a
Speaker 1: person who doesn't. Oh wow, we really are that suggestible,
Speaker 1: aren't we. Yeah, and it gets much worse. Soda is
Speaker 1: one of the big examples that gets brought up as
Speaker 1: a contributor to rising ob CD rates, and it looks
Speaker 1: like that's for a good reason. Apparently, if you keep
Speaker 1: soda on hand in plain sight, like front and center
Speaker 1: in your fridge, you're gonna weigh on average twenty pounds
Speaker 1: more than a person who doesn't. Okay, you're just scaring
Speaker 1: me now, My god. So we've got to figure out
Speaker 1: a way to keep our weight in check. And it's
Speaker 1: clear now that exercise alone isn't going to cut it. Still,
Speaker 1: I don't want to write off weight loss through exercise
Speaker 1: completely like the nineteen thirties type. So let's try to
Speaker 1: make sense of how to really maximize its benefits. Great,
Speaker 1: but before we get into that, let's break for a quiz.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to part time Genius. So here we are mango,
Speaker 1: four chiseled bodies all in one room, or rather rather,
Speaker 1: two personal trainers and two podcasters. I think yeah, but
Speaker 1: there's a twelve tip between the fourmus I'm with you
Speaker 1: on that. So, so who do we have us with
Speaker 1: us in studio today? Mango, We've got Jenet words and
Speaker 1: Mario Jordan's from the form Athletic Club in Pont City
Speaker 1: Market right here in Atlanta. That is just right downstairs
Speaker 1: from us. So welcome guys, thanks for having us having us.
Speaker 1: All right, So we were just talking before before we
Speaker 1: started out that, Mario, you were telling us a little
Speaker 1: bit about your your breakfast regiment every single day. What
Speaker 1: is it that usually? Um, it's basically two cups of
Speaker 1: old meal and six hard boarding me. So say, okay,
Speaker 1: hard ball. You didn't say that before because I was
Speaker 1: gonna ask if we're doing this like Rocky? So no, no, yeah,
Speaker 1: have you have you ever done that? Can't do it? Okay,
Speaker 1: it's horrible. I don't do scrambled eggs or yeah, you're
Speaker 1: just always horrible. How about you, Janee? Do you how
Speaker 1: many do you have? Eight eggs? Oh? No, probably throughout
Speaker 1: the day I could, but um, generally I'll have about
Speaker 1: four egg whites, sometimes one whole egg and either protein
Speaker 1: pancake or ezekiel bread oatmeal. It just takes so long
Speaker 1: to eat for me, so I really don't know how
Speaker 1: Mario gets through. And actually, with the hard boiled eggs,
Speaker 1: I have this problem where I used to when I
Speaker 1: would travel a lot and I would stop in and
Speaker 1: grab a couple of hard boiled eggs real quick, and
Speaker 1: I would eat them too fast, and I just knew
Speaker 1: that I was dying because I couldn't breathe, like you're
Speaker 1: choking up because they're so dry. Does that ever happen
Speaker 1: to you? Sometimes? Most of them. I mean it depends
Speaker 1: on how long you cook it. Something just overcooked and
Speaker 1: it will it'll be dry. Ye. This actually speaks to
Speaker 1: what we've been talking about today. That is important as exercises. Clearly,
Speaker 1: diet is very important. That's why these two are in
Speaker 1: such great shape because they're not exactly slacky. Now do
Speaker 1: you guys have your cheat days or how does that
Speaker 1: work for you? Guys? Um? For me, I prep my
Speaker 1: food um pretty much weekly, whether it's for seven days
Speaker 1: or three days. And then yes, I do cheat. I'm human.
Speaker 1: I actually work out and eat right, so I can't
Speaker 1: eat it like that's one of the things I do.
Speaker 1: So yes, okay, how about you? I'm the same way. Um,
Speaker 1: I have cheap meals here and there that Doritos locos, Uh,
Speaker 1: milkshakes from Chick fil A good, Those are insane. That's
Speaker 1: my advice right now. Yeah, mine is case so Mexican
Speaker 1: food in case. All right. Well, I know you guys
Speaker 1: have put yourself through a lot as as as personal trainers,
Speaker 1: and you work really hard every day. I don't think
Speaker 1: you've ever seen anything like you're going to see with
Speaker 1: today's quiz, though, Mango, what are we putting them to
Speaker 1: the challenge with? Today? We're gonna play a game called
Speaker 1: real Exercise fat or nonsensical equipment we just made up?
Speaker 1: All right? So this game is super easy. We're gonna
Speaker 1: read you six questions and you just have to tell
Speaker 1: us if the gym equipment we're talking about is real
Speaker 1: or something we made up. You got it, got it,
Speaker 1: all right. So, because we know you like a challenge,
Speaker 1: we're gonna put you against one another, all right, So, Jenney,
Speaker 1: we're gonna let you go first. Now. The first one is,
Speaker 1: and I'll read you the tagline along with it. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's Hawaii chair. If you can sit, you can get fit.
Speaker 1: This is promising you can lose weight. The Hawaiian way.
Speaker 1: This electric seat keeps your hips and bottom moving and
Speaker 1: a constant hul emotion and you as you answer phones
Speaker 1: and file paperwork. Is this something we made up? Or
Speaker 1: was this a real exercise fad? Oh god, I really
Speaker 1: I'll watch a lot of infomercials. Yeah, um, I'm going
Speaker 1: to say that it's real. It is real, all right.
Speaker 1: One for one, so you really like move around, moves
Speaker 1: your it moves your bottom around like it's so crazy
Speaker 1: as you are. This is how Hawaiian all right, Mario, alright,
Speaker 1: she's one up on you. Here we go the human
Speaker 1: slink a sizer because you're slinky, shouldn't have all the fun.
Speaker 1: So this is building off the slinky craze of the
Speaker 1: nineteen fifties. This rubber suit and helmet with a spring
Speaker 1: on it was made to help obese obese kids somersault
Speaker 1: downstairs while shedding away the pounds. Is this a real
Speaker 1: exercise fad or equipment we made up? Uh, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say it's not. They're so good at this, all right,
Speaker 1: it is something we made up. Mangoes a threat on this.
Speaker 1: He's pretty good at making these things up, all right.
Speaker 1: Number three, this is back to you, Janet. The moleby
Speaker 1: revolving hammock guaranteed to make your spine young. This young
Speaker 1: hammock treated your body like the net and slowly spun
Speaker 1: you around for better back health and weight loss. Is
Speaker 1: this a real exercise fat or something we made up?
Speaker 1: I was trying to visualize it, and I couldn't even
Speaker 1: visualize that, So I'm gonna say it's made up. We
Speaker 1: finally have a wrong answer. They're not perfect. This is
Speaker 1: a real exercise fat and super bizarre to see a
Speaker 1: picture of this. Number four, Mario, this was back to
Speaker 1: you air shorts great for shedding body moisture. These versatile,
Speaker 1: inflatable shorts were supposed to bake your stomach, thighs, and bottom,
Speaker 1: causing you to sweat as you worked out or wandered
Speaker 1: about town. Is this a real exercise fad or something
Speaker 1: we made up? Uh? As ridiculous as it sounds, let's
Speaker 1: say it's real. Look ridiculous. The pressure is on. Okay,
Speaker 1: I think this is a two pointer, though if I'm mistaken,
Speaker 1: if I'm reading the rules correctly, the official rules of
Speaker 1: our game here, Okay, tag suit the it new way
Speaker 1: to weight loss, A weighted suit you can wear as
Speaker 1: you run around playing adult tag with your friends. Just
Speaker 1: don't stay on base. Is this a real fat or
Speaker 1: something we made up? A real thing? Oh no, it's
Speaker 1: equipment we made off. She didn't see as I was
Speaker 1: trying to make eye contact. All right, here we go.
Speaker 1: Now this one, actually, unfortunately Mario comes with a penalty
Speaker 1: if you miss it of negative one. So let's see.
Speaker 1: So the pressure is on the game. One last one.
Speaker 1: This one is called Twist in Tone, the exerciser that's fun,
Speaker 1: easy and works. Basically, it was a plastic lazy Susan
Speaker 1: that you could stand on while doing the twist. Totally
Speaker 1: worth the five dollars and cents. Real fat or something
Speaker 1: we made up? It's real? Oh I remember seeing something
Speaker 1: like that on TV. Oh wow. All right, we'll tell
Speaker 1: us how our can testants have done here today, Mango
Speaker 1: Well as always, first place wins a handwritten note from
Speaker 1: us to your mom or boss, singing your praises. So Mario,
Speaker 1: that's coming your way. And because we don't want anyone
Speaker 1: going home empty handed, Janet, you're getting a pair of
Speaker 1: hander pants, the number one underwear inspired gloves on the
Speaker 1: market today. Well, thank you guys, so much for joining
Speaker 1: us today on part time Genius. Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1: So we were talking before about how we've been conditioned
Speaker 1: over the last fifty years or so to associate exercise
Speaker 1: with weight loss and what has turned out to be
Speaker 1: a fairly unhealthy way. Yeah. I mean, a lot of
Speaker 1: people start workout routines because they expect the pounds to
Speaker 1: just melt off based on everything we've been told about
Speaker 1: how to stay fit. But when that doesn't happen as
Speaker 1: much as we expect, and the payoffs seems too slow
Speaker 1: or too little for the amount of effort, well, then
Speaker 1: it's good body or gym membership exactly. And that's the
Speaker 1: real shame. So many of us put unhealthy pressure on
Speaker 1: ourselves as a result of these unrealistic expectations that we
Speaker 1: put on an exercise, and the end result is often
Speaker 1: that we blame ourselves and just give up on losing
Speaker 1: weight altogether. And that also causes us to miss out
Speaker 1: on the very real mental and physical benefits of regular exercise.
Speaker 1: So let's try to help avoid that, Mango. Let's put
Speaker 1: the true effectiveness of exercise for weight loss into perspective. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: first off, I think we should say that the main
Speaker 1: reason why a lot of people's exercise routines go could
Speaker 1: put is the same reason why sixty of diet or
Speaker 1: is returned to their original weight within three years, As
Speaker 1: diet and behavior expert Charlotte Markey told Scientific American, people
Speaker 1: think too much about short term goals and don't think
Speaker 1: enough about sustainable changes. If you're going to lose weight,
Speaker 1: you have to change your behaviors for the rest of
Speaker 1: your life for otherwise you gain it back. And that's
Speaker 1: not a sexy message because it seems daunting. Yeah, it does.
Speaker 1: And does she have any suggestions on what kind of
Speaker 1: lifelong behavioral changes people might actually be able to stomach. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all about sustainability. So for example, people don't have
Speaker 1: to completely cut out entire food groups or ice cream
Speaker 1: or anything like that. But we should strive for small
Speaker 1: scale changes that we stick to, like dropping a soda
Speaker 1: or two from our daily diet so we can cut
Speaker 1: a few hundred calories from our intake, or staying on
Speaker 1: the lookout to avoid mindless eating. Well, I think that's
Speaker 1: the kind of sustainability is what we should aim for
Speaker 1: with exercise too. I mean, once you stop thinking about
Speaker 1: the physical activity primarily is a way to lose weight.
Speaker 1: It frees us up to add exercise into our routines
Speaker 1: and enjoyable ways that will be less likely to give
Speaker 1: up on totally. And despite all we've learned about the
Speaker 1: limitations of calorie burning through workouts, there actually are some
Speaker 1: ways to use exercise to help us with our weight
Speaker 1: loss efforts like what. Well, for one thing, exercise helps
Speaker 1: distract us from our food cravings. It gives people something
Speaker 1: else to concentrate on, and there are some forms of
Speaker 1: exercise that can help maximize the amount of weight you
Speaker 1: lose from fat rather than must. Well that's a good point.
Speaker 1: So we've mostly been talking about exercise in broad terms,
Speaker 1: but it's worth mentioning that most forms of exercise fall
Speaker 1: into one of two broad groups. So we've got aerobic
Speaker 1: type exercise like running, biking, swimming, rowing, etcetera, which helps
Speaker 1: strengthen your heart and build stamina, and then anaerobic exercise
Speaker 1: such as weightlifting or sprinting, which helps increase lean muscle mass. Right,
Speaker 1: and both types of workout will burn fat and help
Speaker 1: you lose a little weight, but studies have found that
Speaker 1: aerobic training does provide the advantage in terms of most
Speaker 1: weight and fat burned. So if you're looking for the
Speaker 1: best way to burn the most fat and the least
Speaker 1: amount of time, aerobic exercises probably the way to go.
Speaker 1: That's true, but I wouldn't trade in your barbells for
Speaker 1: running shoes just yet. If sustainability really is the goal,
Speaker 1: it's not a bad idea to gain some extra lean muscle.
Speaker 1: The research shows that an increase in muscle can speed
Speaker 1: up your resting metabolic rate, plus booster strength, and even
Speaker 1: lead to a better night's sleep. So if you're really
Speaker 1: in it for the long haul, the best strategy is
Speaker 1: probably do a little bit of both, which sounds like
Speaker 1: a smart plan. Another thing I always wonder about is
Speaker 1: fitness trackers like garments and Tom Tom's and fit fits.
Speaker 1: Lots of people swear by them, and they're everywhere nowadays.
Speaker 1: Like I even saw that McDonald's was giving them away
Speaker 1: in happy Meals last year and what had to have have
Speaker 1: been one of the most ironic promotions. Articulous. So everybody
Speaker 1: has these things draped to their risk, But did they
Speaker 1: really help us lose weight or the com any healthier. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, we recently had a listener ask a similar question.
Speaker 1: So I did some digging and it turns out not really.
Speaker 1: I mean, there isn't a ton of long term research
Speaker 1: yet on the effects of wearable fitness technology. It hasn't
Speaker 1: yet been around long enough. But most of the short
Speaker 1: term studies have found that wearing fitness trackers only lead
Speaker 1: to a small boost and physical activity, not nearly enough
Speaker 1: to lead to any improvements in overall health. And what's worse,
Speaker 1: one study found that when people were given the option
Speaker 1: of wearing a fitness tracker or not, the people who
Speaker 1: chose to wear it actually lost less weight than those
Speaker 1: who didn't know. It was seven point seven pounds compared
Speaker 1: to the thirteen pounds of those who went techless, which
Speaker 1: isn't exactly a bringing endorsement, no, but it's not completely
Speaker 1: a lost cause. I mean, keeping track of steps and
Speaker 1: calories can be a useful motivator for some folks, provided
Speaker 1: they don't take that success as an excuse to reward
Speaker 1: themselves with their extra large pizza. Right, and uh, we've
Speaker 1: seen how that goes, right, So, fitness trackers can definitely
Speaker 1: be a helpful weapon in the never ending battle of
Speaker 1: the bulge. But just like exercise or dieting, there no
Speaker 1: guarantee of weight loss on their own. Well. I don't
Speaker 1: know about you will, but all this talk about exercise
Speaker 1: has me feeling a little competitive. Where do you say
Speaker 1: we go toe to toe in the part time genius?
Speaker 1: All right, I'm ready when you are a mango. M alright.
Speaker 1: So here's a tip that comes straight from one of
Speaker 1: America's favorite fitness gurus, Barbie. In slumber Party, Barbie came
Speaker 1: to your play with a diet book in hand, and
Speaker 1: the only tip in it don't eat terrible. Uh though,
Speaker 1: here's one that's even worse, the tapeworm diet. Back in
Speaker 1: the early twentieth century, diet pills filled with tapeworms were
Speaker 1: sold over the counter with the promise that you could
Speaker 1: eat more and still lose weight. And of course, when
Speaker 1: the baby tapeworms grew up to be like these twenty
Speaker 1: five foot monstrosities and started causing things like meningitis and
Speaker 1: dimension in their hosts, the government decided that the weight
Speaker 1: loss through worms was overrated and the band the pills.
Speaker 1: Diet coke might not be that much better for you
Speaker 1: than regular coke, but it certainly is lighter. While I
Speaker 1: can of coke will sink in water, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of like a bulldog. Diet coke actually floats more like
Speaker 1: a hot dog. I'm glad you put the dog just
Speaker 1: really helps you understand what floating is. My favorite exercise
Speaker 1: item from the seventies is the Sauna exercise suit, which
Speaker 1: looks nothing like a suit. It's more like a tinfoil
Speaker 1: and marshmallow man contraption that promised to help you shed
Speaker 1: pounds as you us went about your daily business. Calvin
Speaker 1: Coolige's main exercise in the office was through an electric horse,
Speaker 1: kind of like a mechanical bull. He'd write it three
Speaker 1: times a day on various settings, from saunter to gallop,
Speaker 1: but the regiment sounded so silly he kept it a
Speaker 1: secret until it accidentally bucked him from the saddle and
Speaker 1: had to be put down by an electrician. So that's
Speaker 1: pretty good. But here's a great tip from the seventeen hundreds.
Speaker 1: If you want to lose weight, stay away from swamps.
Speaker 1: In seventeen seven, a so called scientist named Thomas Short
Speaker 1: observed that beast people seemed to live near swamps, so
Speaker 1: it was important work on the matter, titled The Causes
Speaker 1: and Effects of corpulents naturally suggested there was only one
Speaker 1: smart way to lose weight, move away from swamps. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that swamps. It makes a whole lot of sense. I
Speaker 1: think I gotta give you the title on this whe Congratulations, Mango.
Speaker 1: I think that's it for today's show. Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for listening, a Mango, This show got me inspired. Want
Speaker 1: to go for a run? Absolutely not, k Thanks again
Speaker 1: for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of how
Speaker 1: stuff works and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people
Speaker 1: who do the important things we couldn't even begin to understand.
Speaker 1: Kristin McNeil does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the
Speaker 1: theme song and does the mixy mixy sound thing. Gary
Speaker 1: Rowland does the exact producer thing. Gabeluesier is our lead researcher,
Speaker 1: with support from the Research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan
Speaker 1: Brown and Lucas Adams and Eves. Jeff Cook gets the
Speaker 1: show to your ears. Good job, Eves. If you like
Speaker 1: what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe. And if you
Speaker 1: really really like what you've heard, maybe you could leave
Speaker 1: a good review for us. Do we do? We forget
Speaker 1: Jason Jason who