Lift Free And Diet Hard with Andrew Coates

Elizabeth Ward and Hillary Wright are registered dietitians, authors of *The Menopause Diet Plan*, and together are known as The Menopause Dietitians.

They join me to cut through the noise around menopause nutrition and explain what actually changes, what gets exaggerated online, and which habits matter most.

We discuss:

• Whether metabolism actually slows during menopause
• Age, hormones, activity, and energy expenditure
• Why women may have less margin for gradual fat gain
• Hormones, appetite, sleep, and behaviour
• Estrogen and abdominal fat storage
• Stress, cortisol, and exercise
• Why alcohol can become more significant during menopause
• Fibre and practical ways to eat more of it
• Fibre fearmongering and “fibre maxing”
• Ultra-processed foods and nutrition nuance
• Menopause influencers and supplement misinformation
• How to judge credentials and health claims
• Practical nutrition strategies for menopause
• Why adding nutritious foods can work better than constant restriction
• Personalized fat-loss planning
• Easy nutrition wins like frozen vegetables
• And much more

Follow The Menopause Dietitians:

@menopausedietplan

CHAPTERS

00:54 Menopause and the Metabolism Myth
02:45 The Reality of Declining Activity
05:29 Aging, Pressure, and Grace
07:32 Health and Beauty From the Inside Out
11:51 What Hormones Actually Change
13:37 Estrogen and Abdominal Fat Storage
15:20 Alcohol and Smaller Calorie Margins
19:43 Stress, Cortisol, and Exercise
22:02 Menopause Influencers and Misinformation
24:43 Fibre Fearmongering
26:27 The “Fibre Maxing” Myth
27:13 Alcohol and Trigger Foods
27:38 Ultra-Processed Food Needs Nuance
29:09 Fast Food and the Speed Trap
30:57 The Menopause Supplement Grift
35:00 Credentials, Trust, and Health Information
40:52 Finding the Middle Ground
44:25 Practical Nutrition and Coaching Tips
50:33 Personalized Fat-Loss Planning
51:28 The Frozen-Vegetable Cheat Code
52:28 Final Thoughts and Resources

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What happens when evidence-based nutrition collides with celebrity culture, fad diets, GLP-1 medications, and increasingly extreme body-image trends?

Harley Pasternak is an internationally renowned trainer, author, educator, and professor who has coached some of the most famous people in the world.

He joins me to discuss what fitness and nutrition actually look like behind the scenes—and how very different that can be from the stories presented online.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Harley navigates popular fad diets while staying evidence based
• Why extreme diets can become normalized through social media
• “A lot of today’s most popular diets look suspiciously like disordered eating”
• Harley’s experience coaching high-profile celebrities
• What celebrity fitness actually looks like behind the scenes
• Whether GLP-1 medications are as common in Hollywood as people think
• GLP-1s, weight loss, and changing body-image expectations
• Why cherry-picked photos of extremely thin celebrities can distort reality
• Media narratives around celebrity weight loss
• Harley’s thoughts on the 10,000-steps guideline
• Why daily walking and movement still matter
• What makes a great home gym
• What makes a great hotel gym
• Gym layout, equipment selection, and user experience
• Coaching people with extremely busy schedules
• Why sustainable habits still beat most fitness trends
• And much more

Follow Harley Pasternak on Instagram:

@harleypasternak

SUPPORT THE SHOW

If this episode helped you think differently about celebrity fitness, fad diets, GLP-1s, or daily movement:

• Subscribe and check out more episodes
• Share the episode on social media and tag @andrewcoatesfitness
• Send it to someone trying to make sense of the latest diet or weight-loss trend

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https://www.andrewcoatesfitness.com

PARTNERS AND RESOURCES

ANDREW COATES’ 13-WEEK ONLINE GROUP STRENGTH PROGRAMS

Join my Men’s or Women’s 13-Week Online Group Strength Programs today.

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• A Full-Body Program

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Have questions?

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Kevin Carr is co-owner of several businesses and brands, including Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning and Certified Functional Strength Coach, and author of the new book Prescribing Movement as Medicine.
Kevin returns to share lessons from years of coaching athletes and everyday people, including how to train for performance today while preserving strength, capability, and independence for decades to come.
We discuss:
• How Kevin programs for elite athletes and general-population clients
• Why those programs may look more similar than expected
• Training for strength, muscle, stamina, bone health, power, and explosiveness
• Why older adults still benefit from speed and power training
• Modifying programs around available space and equipment
• Active warm-ups and pain-free training
• Why women are often stronger and more capable than they realize
• Kevin’s growing focus on longevity and healthy aging
• The “threshold of independence” and why staying above it matters
• How strength, power, and capacity decline when we stop training them
• Delaying the point where everyday tasks become physically demanding
• The gap between social-media fitness advice and what real people need
• Why the first 30 days of someone’s fitness experience matter
• Information overload, community, and simply getting people into the gym
• The gym as a “third space” outside work and home
• Managing parents and expectations in youth sports
• Strength and conditioning for keeping athletes healthy and “unbroken”
• Practical principles for reducing injury risk
• Parenthood and thinking differently about long-term health
• Why in-person coaching still matters
• The limitations of online coaching
• Semi-private and small-group training
• Real-world injury case studies
• Reverse-aging milestones and physical progress later in life
• And much more
Follow Kevin:
@coachkevincarr
CHAPTERS
01:16 Why Fitness Fails People
02:59 Information Overload
05:05 Just Get Them in the Door
08:00 Fitness Messaging for Everyone
10:38 Why the First 30 Days Matter
12:54 Teaching Clients Self-Advocacy
16:06 Community as a Feature
18:22 Post-COVID Gym Trends
21:03 The Gym as a Third Space
25:02 Managing Parents in Youth Sports
30:28 Strength and Conditioning for Athletes
31:55 Longevity and Long-Term Coaching
37:18 Recovery Plans for Professional Athletes
38:22 Does Exercise Form Really Matter?
40:07 Keeping Athletes Unbroken
41:06 Pain-Free Training Basics
42:05 Reducing Injury Risk
43:27 Fighting the Aging Slide
45:14 Independence and Disability Threshold
49:46 Parenthood and Long-Term Health
51:47 Why In-Person Coaching Still Matters
52:37 The Reality of Online Coaching
56:20 Real-World Injury Case Study
58:30 Reverse-Aging Milestones
01:01:10 Dunking, Risk, and Reward
01:04:07 Final Thoughts, Books, and Seminar
SUPPORT THE SHOW
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Luke Tulloch is one of my favourite communicators of evidence-based hypertrophy training.
Luke returns to talk about how becoming a parent forced him to rethink his training, remove low-value habits, and focus on what actually produces results.
We discuss:
• How parenthood changed Luke’s training for the better
• Why constraints can improve your program
• Cutting non-essential training and tracking
• How many sets it really takes to build muscle
• Low-volume training myths
• Diminishing returns from adding more volume
• Condensing workouts without sacrificing results
• Specialization phases and supersets
• Training effectively with a strict time limit
• Practical exercise selection
• Why machines can be ideal when setup time matters
• Reducing the mental load of training
• Whether there is actually a “best” training split
• What should determine your training split
• Flexible programming around real life
• How beliefs about genetic potential may influence outcomes
• Fearmongering around fatigue
• How to minimize the negative effects of alcohol
• Zero-percent beer and preserving the social ritual
• And much more
Follow Luke on Instagram:
@_luketulloch
CHAPTERS
00:54 Parenthood and Training Constraints
03:50 Luke’s Early Training Lessons
06:11 Low-Volume Training Myths
09:54 Cutting Low-ROI Tracking and Habits
14:26 How Many Sets Build Muscle?
17:13 Diminishing Returns Explained
20:34 How to Condense Your Workouts
22:55 Specialization Phases and Supersets
30:03 Training With a Hard Time Limit
30:59 Practical Exercise Selection
31:15 Why Machines Save Time
31:59 Treating the Gym Like an Equipment Playground
33:24 Reducing the Mental Load of Training
34:03 Why Training Splits Don’t Matter That Much
37:45 Practical Rules for Choosing a Split
39:01 Drag-and-Drop Programming
40:02 How Expectations Shape Performance
43:13 Fearmongering Around Fatigue
47:19 Alcohol Without Derailing Your Gains
51:50 Zero-Percent Beer and Keeping the Ritual
55:26 Fantasy Books and Luke’s Favourites
58:48 Where to Find Luke
SUPPORT THE SHOW
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Stan Efferding is an icon of bodybuilding, powerlifting, and elite evidence-based coaching.

Stan returns with his unique ability to interpret cutting-edge research and combine it with decades of real-world experience coaching athletes at every level.

We discuss:

• Whether you actually need to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle
• How large a calorie surplus should be if the goal is maximizing muscle while minimizing fat gain
• Whether the traditional “dirty bulk” is finally dead
• Why gaining weight faster does not necessarily mean gaining muscle faster
• Which populations may still benefit from more traditional bulk-and-cut cycles
• How bodybuilding and fitness influencers have distorted expectations around realistic rates of muscle growth
• The impact of performance-enhancing drugs on what people believe is naturally achievable
• What is really happening with so-called “hardgainers”
• Why increases in NEAT can make gaining weight surprisingly difficult for some people
• Practical strategies for eating more when gaining weight is the goal
• Whether people starting at a higher body-fat percentage should get leaner before focusing on maximizing muscle growth
• Insulin resistance, body composition, and recomposition
• What matters more for muscle growth: nutrition or mechanical tension?
• Why training provides the signal and nutrition supports the adaptation
• Why simply consuming more protein cannot compensate for inadequate training
• Mechanical tension and what actually drives hypertrophy
• Effort and effective rep ranges
• Training volume and time efficiency
• Where diminishing returns begin with additional training volume
• Minimum effective volume versus maximizing muscle growth
• Why more exercise does not automatically produce more weight loss
• Common mistakes people make when using exercise for fat loss
• The role of cardio in weight management
• Why cardio calories are more complicated than simply reading the number on a machine
• How to reconcile step counts, structured cardio, and energy expenditure
• Why exercise needs to be enjoyable enough to sustain
• And much more

Follow Stan on Instagram:

@stanefferding

CHAPTERS

01:47 Do You Need a Calorie Surplus to Build Muscle?
05:41 Training Matters More Than the Surplus
09:24 PEDs and Unrealistic Muscle-Growth Expectations
14:36 Hardgainers, Appetite, and NEAT
18:02 Practical Strategies to Eat More
29:55 Training Beats Simply Eating More Protein
31:18 Mechanical Tension Explained
32:48 Effort and Effective Rep Ranges
33:22 Training Volume and Time Efficiency
36:35 Diminishing Returns From More Training
39:21 High-Volume Training Anecdotes
42:20 Minimum Effective Training Volume
44:34 Exercise and Weight-Loss Mistakes
52:43 Make Exercise Enjoyable
53:48 Reconciling Steps and Structured Cardio
55:57 Final Thoughts and Where to Find Stan

SUPPORT THE SHOW

If this episode helped you better understand nutrition, muscle growth, training volume, or fat loss:

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