HOW TO GET LEAN N’ MEAN, PART I – Understanding Metabolism and Why Being Lean is Important

Introduction

Welcome back, esteemed Partisans! I hope all the Partisan Operators out there have been making good use of the American Partisan Workout Fundamentals series! I still intend to write more posts for that series to detail more good workout options, exercises, and other related elements. Good stuff coming soon!

For now, though, I’d like to take a bit of a detour away from the physical part of fitness, and get into the other side of the fitness “coin”, which is eating and nutrition. Even this is simplistic, since “fitness” can even cover mental, spiritual, and emotional considerations if one is considering all-around health. But for the sake of keeping things simple and not getting too abstract, I tend to stick with the fitness topics of exercise and eating/nutrition, because these are the elements of fitness that are under our direct control, and that we can modify at will. On the other hand, mental, spiritual, and emotional health are (in my opinion) much harder to control, and I’m no expert at that stuff; so, I’ll just keep my coverage of fitness to exercise and eating/nutrition.

But, let’s think about that for a second: when it comes to fitness and, by extension, general health, we DO have options and positive control. It’s vital for the American Partisan to realize this, because there are just countless things in life over which we have NO control, but that still affect our lives and our health nonetheless. Therefore, it is an American Partisan’s solemn obligation to maximize his health by attending to those areas of health over which he does, indeed, have positive control, since there are just SO many uncontrollable factors negatively influencing health that are a basic condition of modern living! Everyone’s stressed out; people suck; everything causes cancer; the air quality is poor; how could I forget COVID??? And the list goes on and on. Nothing we can do about those things. But we can and must focus on those areas of health that are within our control: exercise and eating/nutrition. By attending to these areas of health and fitness, we can make the best of our lives and actually live quite healthy and well, despite the many negative health factors all around us. This is the spirit of my writings here – to empower Partisans with knowledge and options intended to make the most of their health and fitness.

That all being said, today’s post is the first in a new series that will cover first the theory, and then, some specific methods of getting and staying lean for life. Today’s post will focus on getting into the right frame of mind on the importance of getting and staying lean, which is about much more than just vanity. Just like the critical need for discipline to actually commit one’s self to a tough and productive exercise program, the American Partisan Operator needs to get into a particular disciplined mindset of self-control and good decision-making in order to get and stay lean. The first several posts in this How to Get Lean n’ Mean series will pave the way for follow-up posts that will present actual details on methods and practices for leaning out. But, as always, the Partisan reader should find all the ideas and practical tips I present to be simple, to make sense at the gut level, and to be immediately useful/useable. Of course, here comes my usual disclaimer: the ideas presented are my own, and are the product of my 26 years of fitness experience, both living the life, and training people in fitness; my goal is to help Partisans achieve fitness independence! I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I am confident that many Partisans will find this information new, interesting, and useful. So first, we’ll get into theory – let’s get started!

**

Why Being Lean is Important, Part I – Metabolic and Bodily Health

Where to begin? Being lean at all is a condition that seems to be quite uncommon in America and in pretty much any Western society these days. Everyone loves to consume, and one look around shows it very readily; not many people out there sporting the ol’ ripped six-pack abdominals. But a big old gut and excessive body fat are more than just unattractive; excess body fat and the negative physical effects that accompany it are just not healthy, especially in the long term. In fact, whenever you see a person carrying a lot of body fat, it isn’t just a sign of overconsumption; it’s also a visible sign of a dysfunctional metabolism. 

First and foremost, let’s provide a definition of metabolism, which is certainly an important concept to understand for the American Partisan interested in improving his overall fitness and health; I’m not just trying to use big-sounding words here. According to Webster’s Dictionary Online, “metabolism” is “the chemical changes in living cells by which energy is provided for vital processes and activities and new material is assimilated”. My more straightforward and functional way to define “metabolism” that is relevant to this post is: the way your body deals with food. Period. Food contains energy (measured in units called “calories”) and chemical elements (like vitamins, minerals, and other chemical substances – either natural and/or artificial) that are consumed orally to fuel the body’s diverse processes and physical movement; the general categories of foods (called “macronutrients”) are: fats; carbohydrates (also known as “sugars”); and protein. Then, “metabolism” can be narrowed down to different sub-types, according to what type of macronutrient the body is trying to absorb, so: fat metabolism, sugar metabolism, and protein metabolism (we’ll get into a more involved and detailed discussion of these various types of macronutrients and their metabolisms in later posts, as relevant). Granted, this is a very simplified and functional explanation of metabolism, but again, I like fitness to be explained in a simple way, and without all the big, scientific words. And clearly, understanding the way the body deals with food is important to the American Partisan so that he can make better health and eating decisions, both for himself and for his family (why not??).

So, back to excess body fat being a visible sign of dysfunctional metabolism. Now that we know what food is and have a functional definition of “metabolism”, then when we add the word “dysfunctional” (which is just another way of saying, “messed up”) into that mix, we get “messed up way the body is dealing with energy and nutrients”. Over time (after all, excess body fat levels don’t occur overnight!), the body of the person with excess body fat is continuously forced to deal with all of the ongoing consumption, such that the body is getting overwhelmed with calories (energy) and chemical elements that it doesn’t naturally know what to do with; the human body was simply not designed to constantly overconsume or deal with foreign food chemicals. The excess of calories is then visibly stored as body fat, which is essentially a locally-stored form of energy, designed by nature in case of a famine… that never occurs. And yet, there is more going on than meets the eye! Just think for a second about just w