How Suppressed is Your Favorite Influencer's Metabolism?

And how suppressed is yours?

In this week's post, I want to look at something fun, which is your metabolism and how it stacks up against the leading loudest health influencers online.

We look at Abbey Sharp, Andrew Huberman, Becca Bristow, Brian Johnson, Cole Robinson, Durian Rider, Gabrielle Lyon, Jay Feldman, Kate Deering, Marc Lobliner, Mark Hyman, Mark Sisson, Meghan Livingstone, Mike Israetel, Mike Matthews, Mindy Pelz, Nick Bare, Paul Saladino, Robb Wolf and Shawn Baker.

In a perfect world, the idea that you can exercise more and eat more and it will raise your metabolism is a reasonable one if you have perfect metabolic flexibility and no history of thyroid or metabolic suppression.

On the flip side, the idea that you can eat less and move more and that will lead to weight loss makes sense if you have good metabolic flexibility and no history of suppression either.

I think understanding that, explains why when you are extremely young and you haven't done too much damage to your body/ you haven't accumulated too much PUFA in your tissues you can simply crash diet lose the weight real quick.

But most of the people that I deal with and talk to are at a place where everything they tried in the past doesn't work, and now they're completely stuck.

This post explores two things:

1. The incredible work done in mapping people's metabolisms to their lean body mass using doubly labeled water which allows you to see where you line up on how suppressed your metabolism might be

2. Looking at the publicly available body stats and diets of loud online health influencers and mapping back what their energy availability and metabolism looks like

Where does your metabolism sit?

In the paper "Daily energy expenditure through the human life course" published in Science 13 Aug 2021, Vol 373, Issue 6556, pp. 808-812 DOI: 10.1126/science.abe5017

Researchers investigated the effects of age, body composition, and sex on total expenditure using 6500 people across 29 countries who were 64% female using doubly labelled water (gold standard metabolism measurement).

They found that "both total and basal expenditure increased with fat-free mass in a power-law manner" which is on the whole unsurprising. However, this power-law was incredibly tight and as such can be used to reasonably expect with a high degree of confidence where you metabolism both should be and could be.

The results and power-law trend line are seen below

Run your numbers

To put yourself on this graph you need a few things. Experimental Fat Loss has done great work in making the chart interactive here, where you can plug in your numbers when you have them.

Numbers needed:

• Total Weight

• BF% estimate

• Your weight stable total calorie intake (how much you can regularly eat and not gain weight)

• Work out your Fat Free Mass = Total Weight * (1 - bf%)

So for me - I’m now 165lbs, and can regularly eat 2500kcal and remain 18% bf

So my FFM = 165 * (1-0.17) = 135

Which puts me here on the charts with about a 15-20% suppressed metabolism.

My TDEE was just shy of 2000kcal in September so… progress!

So what about your favorite influencer?

One of the reasons why this is important is, we follow these people. We mimic them. We think if they can do it, we can too. But in doing so miss pretty key context… are our metabolisms the same?

Before we dive in - have you done the poll in the first section of this post where I asked for a favor? It would mean a WHOLE LOT to me if you could help out - it’s a simple poll.

Based on publicly available “What I eat in a day” videos, and claims about body stats I have been able to reverse engineer what the energy intake, weight, BF%, Lean body mass or Fat Free Mass and Calorie per lb of LBM is for:

(Women in bold)

• Abbey Sharp

  • Daily Diet: Yogurt (200 g), granola (50 g), berries (100-150 g), eggs (2-3 occasionally), chicken/salmon (12-16 oz), carbs (300-400 g quinoa, rice, pasta, sweet potato), fats (90-110 g olive oil, PB, avocado), veggies (450-600 g), snacks (apple, hummus, crackers, cheese), occasional chocolate.

  • Macronutrients: ~100-120 g protein (17-20%), ~90-110 g fat (34-41%), ~310-370 g carbs (52-62%)

• Andrew Huberman

  • Daily Diet: Steak or beef (~500 g), whey protein (40 g), Brazil nuts (30 g), olive oil (30 g), vegetables (300 g), oatmeal (75 g), sweet potato (150 g), adjusted for training.

  • Macronutrients: ~170 g protein (29%), ~147 g fat (55%), ~106 g carbs (18%) on training days.

• Becca Bristow

  • Daily Diet: Oats (75-100 g), yogurt (100-150 g), chicken/salmon (12-16 oz), carbs (300-400 g rice, quinoa, sweet potato), fats (90-110 g PB, AB, olive oil, butter, cream), veggies (400-600 g), berries (~100-150 g), snacks (banana, cottage cheese, crackers), occasional chocolate/wine.

  • Macronutrients: ~100-120 g protein (17-20%), ~90-110 g fat (34-41%), ~310-370 g carbs (52-62%)

• Brian Johnson

  • Daily Diet: Matcha smoothie, nutty pudding, variable main (e.g., chickpea curry), Blueprint stack, all by 11:30 AM.

  • Macronutrients: ~50-60 g protein (19%), ~120 g fat (48%), ~155 g carbs (33%).

• Cole Robinson

  • Daily Diet: Fasts 16-48+ hours with Snake Juice, refeeds with ~3-4 kg fruit (watermelon, bananas), 2-3 L juice, ~150 g sugar, ~250 g lean meat every 3-5 days.

  • Macronutrients: ~47 g protein (5%), ~15 g fat (4%), ~915 g carbs (91%)

• Durian Rider

  • Daily Diet: 40 bananas (4 kg), rice (700 g cooked), dates (300 g), watermelon (1 kg), greens (200 g).

  • Macronutrients: ~76 g protein (5%), ~18 g fat (3%), ~1,373 g carbs (92%)

• Gabrielle Lyon

  • Daily Diet: Eggs (5), beef/chicken/steak (20-26 oz), whey (30-40 g), carbs (150-200 g sweet potato, rice, berries), fats (90-110 g avocado, oil, ghee), veggies (300-500 g), broth (~250 mL).

  • Macronutrients: ~150-170 g protein (21-24%), ~90-110 g fat (29-35%), ~150-200 g carbs (38-43%)

• Jay Feldman

  • Daily Diet: OJ (500 mL), coffee with cream/honey, eggs (2-3), gelatin (10 g), beef/lamb (12-16 oz), rice/sweet potato (400-550 g), fruit (700-900 g), milk (500 mL), cheese (50-100 g), dates/honey (150-200 g), coconut oil (14 g), ice cream (~200 g).

  • Macronutrients: ~100-120 g protein (13-15%), ~100-120 g fat (28-34%), ~400-450 g carbs (50-56%)

• Kate Deering

  • Daily Diet: OJ (500 mL), coffee with cream/sugar, eggs (2-3), gelatin (10 g), beef/shellfish (12-16 oz), rice/sweet potato (350-400 g), fruit (700-900 g), cheese (50-100 g), milk (500 mL), dates/honey (150-200 g), coconut oil (15 g), ice cream (~200 g).

  • Macronutrients: ~90-110 g protein (15-18%), ~90-110 g fat (25-30%), ~350-400 g carbs (52-57%)

• Marc Lobliner

  • Daily Diet: 2-2.5 lbs meat (steak, beef, chicken, bison), whey (30-40 g), carbs (300-400g rice, sweet potato, buns), fats (100-120 g olive oil, PB, eggs), veggies (~400-600 g).

  • Macronutrients: ~250-275 g protein (31-34%), ~100-120 g fat (28-34%), ~310-370 g carbs (34-39%)

• Mark Hyman

  • Daily Diet: Coffee with MCT, eggs (2-3), salmon/lamb/chicken/bison (12-16 oz), veggies (500-600 g), fats (120-140 g from ghee, oil, avocado, nuts), berries (~100-150 g), occasional chocolate.

  • Macronutrients: ~100-120 g protein (20-24%), ~120-140 g fat (54-63%), ~50-70 g carbs (10-14%)

• Mark Sisson

  • Daily Diet: Coffee with cream/sugar, eggs (2-4), fruit (100-200 g), salad with chicken/fish (6-8 oz), steak (10-12 oz), veggies (400-500 g), fats (130-150 g from avocado, nuts, dressing), occasional wine/chocolate.

  • Macronutrients: ~120-140 g protein (21-24%), ~130-150 g fat (56-59%), ~90-110 g carbs (16-19%)

• Meghan Livingstone

  • Daily Diet: Oats (75-100 g), lentils/chickpeas/salmon (4-8 oz), carbs (300-400 g quinoa, rice, sweet potato), fats (80-100 g almond butter, tahini, olive oil, avocado, walnuts), veggies (400-600 g), berries (100-150 g), snacks (banana, muffin).

  • Macronutrients: ~70-90 g protein (13-16%), ~80-100 g fat (33-41%), ~310-370 g carbs (56-67%)

• Mike Israetel

  • Daily Diet: 2-2.5 lbs meat (chicken, turkey, steak, salmon), whey (80 g), carbs (400-500 g oats, rice, sweet potato, quinoa), fats (90-110 g olive oil, avocado), veggies (~500-800 g).

  • Macronutrients: ~250-275 g protein (26-29%), ~90-110 g fat (21-26%), ~410-470 g carbs (43-49%)

• Mike Matthews

  • Daily Diet: Whey (70-80 g), chicken/beef/steak (24-30 oz), carbs (300-400 g oats, rice, sweet potato), fats (80-100 g olive oil, PB), veggies (300-600 g), yogurt (200 g), occasional chocolate.

  • Macronutrients: ~200-220 g protein (27-29%), ~80-100 g fat (24-30%), ~310-370 g carbs (41-50%)

• Mindy Pelz

  • Daily Diet: Fasts 12-17 hours, then ~12-16 oz meat (beef, salmon, chicken), eggs (2-3), fats (130-150 g avocado, olive oil, ghee, cheese), low-carb veggies (400-600 g), berries (100 g), broth (250 mL).

  • Macronutrients: ~90-110 g protein (20-22%), ~130-150 g fat (65-70%), ~20-30 g carbs (5-6%)

• Nick Bare

  • Daily Diet: ~2 lbs meat (beef, chicken, steak, bison), whey protein (60 g), oats (100 g), rice/pasta (350 g), sweet potato (200 g), fats (peanut butter, avocado, olive oil), veggies (300 g).

  • Macronutrients: ~260 g protein (33%), ~120 g fat (27%), ~375 g carbs (40%)

• Paul Saladino

  • Daily Diet: ~1.5 lbs grass-fed red meat, 0.5 oz liver, 1 L raw milk, 700 g fruit, 100 g honey, small amounts of raw sour cream and butter.

  • Macronutrients: ~192 g protein (23%), ~183 g fat (50%), ~222 g carbs (27%).

• Robb Wolf Daily

  • Diet: Eggs (3-4), bacon (60-120 g), beef/pork/salmon/chicken (16-20 oz), rice/sweet potato (350-500 g), veggies (400-500 g), fats (100-120 g from MCT, ghee, oil, nuts), berries (~100 g), occasional chocolate.

  • Macronutrients: ~180-200 g protein (24-27%), ~100-120 g fat (30-36%), ~210-270 g carbs (28-36%)

• Shawn Baker

  • Daily Diet: 3-4 lbs ribeye steak (1.36-1.81 kg), occasional eggs or bacon, water only.

  • Macronutrients: ~350 g protein (35%), ~300 g fat (65%), 0 g carbs (0%).

So let’s see how they stack up

When ranked by Calorie per lb of Lean Body Mass I was shocked to see the likes of Mark Hyman, Mark Sisson and Andrew Huberman at the bottom of the list.

Mindy Pelz’s entire case is for aggressive and repeated fasting so a suppressed metabolism didn’t surprise me at all.

Brian Johnson also actively tries to lower his body temperature (a great marker of metabolism) whilst still taking thyroid medication to artificially manage it so no surprise there either.

Durian rider eats mostly sugar and rides a bike all day - no surprise there.

I will say Nick Bare surprised me. Body builder types who have a history of dieting down to get lean typically present with a suppressed metabolism.

Kate Deering being in the top five made me feel warm inside given her history of aggressive dieting and the way it destroyed her body as detailed in her book How to Heal Your Metabolism.

So where do they sit on the chart?

In the interest of simplicity I labelled the chart with numbers rather than their names.

Once on the graph I’m actually concerned how many people try to mimic the lives of some of these people. So yeah, choose your favorite health influencer wisely.

Hey could you do me a favor and make sure you answer the poll near the top of this article.