Chasing Clarity: Health & Fitness Podcast

Most people argue about rapid fat loss like the only variable that matters is speed. It isn’t. The rate of loss is downstream of a decision that gets made long before anyone touches a calorie target: who this is being used with.

On this episode I’m joined by Dr. Mikki Williden to kick off a new collab series where we both answer the same questions independently and let you see the reasoning on both sides.

In this episode we cover:
WHAT A PROTEIN SPARING MODIFIED FAST ACTUALLY IS
THE BENEFITS OF RAPID FAT LOSS
THE POTENTIAL DRAWBACKS OF RAPID FAT LOSS
HOW WE USE THESE STRATEGIES IN PRACTICE WITH CLIENTS
RAPID FAT LOSS DAYS & UNDULATING CALORIE CYCLES
REFEEDS & DEFICIT DELOADS
THE POPULATIONS RAPID FAT LOSS IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR

If you’ve ever wondered whether you could get lean faster without losing  your muscle, this episode gives you the honest version: what the research actually supports, where it stops, and why I turn most people away from this approach entirely.

WHERE TO CONNECT WITH ME:

Follow Brandon on IG: https://www.instagram.com/brandondacruz_/

For Info on Brandon’s Coaching Services: https://form.jotform.com/bdacruzfitness/coachinginquiry

Email: Bdacruzfitness@gmail.com

My Reading Recommendations:

THE MUSCLE & STRENGTH PYRAMIDS
https://getdpd.com/cart/hoplink/25469?referrer=1l54og96lf1ccw

When an athlete earns a pro card, the industry looks at the last 16 weeks. The peak week photos. The stage shots. The condition. And immediately the conversation becomes about prep: how low were the calories, how much cardio and what did peak week look like.

Here's the reality. That's the wrong place to look.

The card my client Wes Patterson earned this July was won long before the prep that produced it ever started. It was won in the 12 weeks we spent in a Post-Show Metabolic Restoration Phase restoring his physiology after his last show. It was won in the Lean Building Phase that followed. It was won across 50 plus check-ins where I analyzed his data and made strategic adjustments to his programs. 

The prep didn't build his physique. It simply revealed it.

Wes came to me in June of 2025 roughly 9 weeks out from NPC North Americans, and we brought his best-ever look and finished one placing away from a pro card in two separate classes. 

Then we spent the next thirteen months making sure he would never have to run a prep like that again. This episode is the complete walkthrough of how an amateur who had placed 10th at a national show became an IFBB Professional, told from both sides of the coaching relationship.

IN THIS EPISODE WE COVER:
WHY THE PRO CARD WAS WON IN THE PHASES NOBODY POSTS ABOUT
WHAT A NINE-WEEK PREP CAN AND CANNOT ACCOMPLISH
THE METABOLIC RESTORATION PHASE AND WHY MOST COMPETITORS SKIP IT
THE LEAN BUILDING PHASE AND THE BACK SPECIALIZATION CYCLE THAT CHANGED HIS PACKAGE
THE DESCENDING AND DYNAMIC RATE OF FAT LOSS APPROACH
WHAT GETTING AHEAD OF PACE EARLY ACTUALLY BUYS YOU EXTRA RUNWAY
REHEARSING PEAK WEEK INSTEAD OF GUESSING DURING IT
WHAT SHOW DAY AT THE UNIVERSE FELT LIKE FROM THE ATHLETE'S SIDE

If you've ever dieted hard, gotten a result, rebounded, and then started over from a worse place than you began, this episode is going to reframe the entire way you think about fat loss. 

Because what turned Wes into a pro isn't a competitor problem. It's the same principle that governs every lifestyle client, every executive, and every person who has ever tried to change their body: fat loss is a phase, not a lifestyle, and a healthy body is a responsive body.

Wes spent the overwhelming majority of these thirteen months not dieting. That's precisely why the prep worked when we finally did it.

CONNECT WITH WES:

Instagram: @mr.wes_ifbb_pro

WHERE TO CONNECT WITH ME:

Follow Brandon on IG: https://www.instagram.com/brandondacruz_/

For Info on Brandon’s Coaching Services: https://form.jotform.com/bdacruzfitness/coachinginquiry

Email: Bdacruzfitness@gmail.com

My Reading Recommendations:

THE MUSCLE & STRENGTH PYRAMIDS
https://getdpd.com/cart/hoplink/25469?referrer=1l54og96lf1ccw

Your nutrition can be dialed in. Your training can be on point. Your tracking can be accurate. And you can still fail to lose fat if the lifestyle variables operating outside of your diet are working against you.

These lifestyle variables aren’t peripheral to fat loss. They’re foundational. Your sleep quality determines whether you can manage hunger and appetite during a deficit. Your stress management determines whether your thyroid function supports your metabolism or works against it. Your daily movement determines whether your deficit holds across the week or quietly disappears as your body adapts. And the way you think about progress determines whether you’re actually pursuing fat loss or just chasing a number on the scale that means nothing about your physique.

In this episode, we shift into the lifestyle factors and behavioral patterns that sabotage fat loss progress even when your nutrition and training are dialed in. We cover the five most consequential mistakes I see derailing dieters during a phase, plus three honorable mentions that compound the problem when left unaddressed.

Because once you understand how these variables affect your fat loss outcomes, you can finally address what’s actually been holding you back.

HERE’S WHAT WE COVER:
WHY YOU CAN BE DOING EVERYTHING RIGHT WITH NUTRITION AND TRAINING AND STILL NOT LOSE FAT
WHY CHASING THE SCALE INSTEAD OF FAT LOSS LEADS TO MUSCLE LOSS AND POST-DIET REBOUND
THE PROTEIN STAT AND WHY HYPERPHAGIA DRIVES POST-DIET FAT REGAIN
COLLATERAL FATTENING AND THE YO-YO CYCLE THAT TRAPS CHRONIC DIETERS
HOW WE OVERESTIMATE CALORIE BURN FROM EXERCISE BY 3-4X
WHY FITNESS TRACKERS LIKE APPLE WATCH AND FITBIT HAVE 27-93% CALORIE BURN ERRORS
THE BURN AND EARN TRAP AND WHY EATING BACK CALORIES SABOTAGES FAT LOSS
WHY YOU SHOULD TURN OFF AUTOMATIC CALORIE ADJUSTMENT IN YOUR TRACKING APP
WHY 85-90% OF METABOLIC ADAPTATION DURING A DIET COMES FROM REDUCTIONS IN NEAT
THE REGULATED AND NON-REGULATED ZONES OF APPETITE
WHY STEP TRACKING IS NON-NEGOTIABLE DURING A FAT LOSS PHASE
HOW 2 NIGHTS OF SLEEP LOSS CAN MIMIC AN AGGRESSIVE CALORIE DEFICIT
WHY SLEEP DEPRIVATION CAN INCREASE DAILY CALORIE INTAKE BY 300-560 CALORIES
THE CORTISOL AND THYROID CONNECTION THAT SUPPRESSES YOUR METABOLISM
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DIETING-INDUCED AND STRESS-INDUCED THYROID DYSFUNCTION
HOW EMOTIONAL EATING DURING HIGH-STRESS WEEKS COMPOUNDS THE CORTISOL EFFECT
WHY ALCOHOL, HYDRATION AND MICRONUTRIENT INTAKE MATTER MORE THAN MOST DIETERS REALIZE

If you’ve felt like your nutrition is on point but you’re still not progressing, if you’ve been frustrated by stalls that seem to come from nowhere, or if you’ve never really thought about how variables outside of your diet are influencing your fat loss outcomes, this episode is going to give you the diagnostic framework to figure out what’s actually going wrong and how to fix it.

WHERE TO CONNECT WITH ME:

Follow Brandon on IG: https://www.instagram.com/brandondacruz_/

For Info on Brandon’s Coaching Services: https://form.jotform.com/bdacruzfitness/coachinginquiry

Email: Bdacruzfitness@gmail.com

My Reading Recommendations:

THE MUSCLE & STRENGTH PYRAMIDS
https://getdpd.com/cart/hoplink/25469?referrer=1l54og96lf1ccw

Most women have been told that building muscle and losing fat at the same time is nearly impossible, and that the best they can do is pick one goal and grind toward it.

But here’s what the research and years of real-world coaching actually reveal: women may be some of the best-positioned people on the planet to recomp. In fact, under most real-world coaching conditions, women may have a genuine advantage over men when it comes to building muscle and losing fat simultaneously.

In this episode of the CHASING CLARITY HEALTH & FITNESS PODCAST, I’m joined again by Jeff Hoehn, host of the Mind Muscle Connection Podcast, for a deep dive into the physiology and the practical realities behind why women are so uniquely built to recompose their bodies. 

This is a conversation that reframes what most women have been taught about their own potential, and gives coaches a clearer lens for how to program for their female clients.

WE GET INTO: 
WHY WOMEN MAY ACTUALLY HAVE A RECOMP ADVANTAGE OVER MEN 
HOW HIGHER BODY FAT LEVELS BECOME A PHYSIOLOGICAL ASSET FOR BUILDING MUSCLE IN A DEFICIT THE GREATER LEAN MASS SPARING WOMEN EXPERIENCE WHILE DIETING (AND THE HEYMSFIELD DATA BEHIND IT) 
ESTROGEN’S PROTECTIVE EFFECTS ON RECOVERY, MUSCLE PRESERVATION & NUTRIENT PARTITIONING 
THE SUBSTRATE UTILIZATION DIFFERENCES THAT HELP WOMEN SPARE PROTEIN & PRESERVE MUSCLE 
WHY SO MANY WOMEN ARE PRIMED FOR DRAMATIC RECOMP THE MOMENT THEIR TRAINING & NUTRITION ARE FINALLY STRUCTURED CORRECTLY 
THE “PERFECT STORM” THAT HAPPENS WHEN YEARS OF UNDER-FUELING & CARDIO-FOCUSED TRAINING GET REPLACED WITH THE RIGHT INPUTS

If you’ve ever felt like your body wasn’t responding no matter how hard you dieted or how much cardio you did, this episode will help you understand why, and what actually needs to change for your body to start building muscle and shedding fat at the same time.

WHERE TO CONNECT WITH ME:

Follow Brandon on IG: https://www.instagram.com/brandondacruz_/

For Info on Brandon’s Coaching Services: https://form.jotform.com/bdacruzfitness/coachinginquiry

Email: Bdacruzfitness@gmail.com

My Reading Recommendations:
THE MUSCLE & STRENGTH PYRAMIDS https://getdpd.com/cart/hoplink/25469?referrer=1l54og96lf1ccw

Every once in a while you meet someone in this industry who’s building something for the same reasons you are. That’s what this episode is about. 

On this week’s episode of the CHASING CLARITY HEALTH & FITNESS PODCAST, I’m doing something a little different. This is a collab with Sarah Parker, host of the Beyond Condition Podcast, where we bring our two audiences together, introduce ourselves to each other’s worlds, and get into what years behind the mic have actually taught us.

We each walk through why and how we started our shows, the lessons podcasting has taught us about ourselves, and the biggest takeaways we’ve pulled from sitting across from some of the sharpest minds in the fitness space.

HERE’S WHAT WE COVER: 
WHY AND HOW WE EACH STARTED OUR PODCASTS 
HOW EMBRACING A FEAR BECAME A CATALYST FOR GROWTH 
THE COMPOUNDING EFFECT OF SHOWING UP CONSISTENTLY OVER YEARS 
WHAT DR. SCOTT STEVENSON TAUGHT ME ABOUT FAILURE, PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD & LIFE 
THE GUESTS & CONVERSATIONS THAT SHAPED HOW WE BOTH COACH

If you’ve ever wondered what really goes on behind the scenes of building a podcast, or you want to hear the lessons that don’t make it into the episodes themselves, this one’s for you.

WHERE TO CONNECT WITH ME: 

Follow Brandon on IG: https://www.instagram.com/brandondacruz_/ 

For Info on Brandon’s Coaching Services: https://form.jotform.com/bdacruzfitness/coachinginquiry 

Email: Bdacruzfitness@gmail.com 

My Reading Recommendations: THE MUSCLE & STRENGTH PYRAMIDS https://getdpd.com/cart/hoplink/25469?referrer=1l54og96lf1ccw