Metabolic Flexibility Bangkok: Why "Eat Less Move More" Fails

Understanding Metabolic Flexibility

The Real Foundation to Losing Fat, Getting Fit and Sustainable Body Composition for High Performing Adults

(Author: Jeff Andora)

If you have lived in Bangkok for any length of time, you have likely seen the cycle. You might be in it right now.

We work daily with what you would call “high-performing” adults—executives in Sathorn, diplomats, busy entrepreneurs. Many people who come to see us thought they were doing "everything right." They are eating "pretty good” or “clean," they used to count calories or their “macros,” and they are grinding away, running treadmills, doing “HIIT” classes, walking 10,000 steps a day.

But, they look exactly the same as they did last year. Or many times, they are gaining weight while “eating less and moving more.”

They are tired. They have big sugar crashes and want to nap an hour after lunchtime. They can’t skip a meal without becoming "hangry." And despite their effort, their body fat…especially around the midsection…doesn’t go away.

The fitness industry here will tell you that you just need to work harder and eat less. They will say “obviously, there is a calorie surplus.” But as someone who has spent 30 years in this industry studying physiology rather than following fitness trends, I am here to tell you: The problem isn’t always in the effort. The problem is more often than not, metabolic.

You are likely dealing from some amount of Metabolic Inflexibility.

If you want to fit better into your clothes, lose body fat, have more energy and feel YOUNGER, you have to stop trying to “eat less and move more” and start fixing HOW your body functions.

What is Metabolic Flexibility?

Simply put, Metabolic Flexibility is the ability to switch fuel oxidation to match fuel demand and availability.

When you are moving slowly, sitting at your desk…you know, just living life…you should be burning stored body fat. A lot of people are burning glucose. When you exercise or lift weights in a particular way (as we do at Flash Fitness in Sathorn), we should switch seamlessly to burning up glucose/glycogen. This will get our body to do what we call a metabolic shift after the workout to burn more fat for the rest of the day and tomorrow.

Metabolic Inflexibility is when that switching mechanism breaks.

In an inflexible state, your body loses the ability to access its fat stores. It becomes dependent on glucose for everything. Even when you are sitting still, your body is screaming for sugar because it has forgotten how to burn fat.

This is why "eat less, move more" fails. This is why so many runners cannot lose fat. Not burning glycogen. Yoga? Not burning glycogen. Pilates? Not burning glycogen. Walking? Not burning glycogen. I think you got the point.

Burning high amounts of glycogen and increasing lactate, growth hormone and catecholamines through exercising in a SPECIFIC way to do so (in exercise physiology this is called the S.A.I.D principle) we can get our body to start using more FAT for fuel 24 hours a day! That is where the real results lie.

If your body cannot access its own fat stores for energy, a calorie deficit just signals starvation. Your metabolic rate drops, your hunger hormones (like ghrelin) skyrocket, your most stubborn fat cells (alpha-2 dominant cells) learn to become more stubborn… and your body fights you every step of the way. You create a war with nature that most people will lose.

Your Skeletal Muscle and Mitochondria

Most people think of muscle as aesthetic. Thanks bodybuilders and influencers! But, it’s more than just something to look good at the pool. In reality, skeletal muscle is the primary site of substrate switching. It is your body’s largest glucose disposal organ.

Inside your muscle cells are mitochondria…yea, from high school biology class! The “power plant” of the cells as we learned to call them. They are responsible for converting fuel…ahem, your food…into energy.

As we age, or through chronic stress and poor training, mitochondrial function declines. We lose the efficiency to oxidize (burn) fat. When mitochondrial density drops, you literally lose the machinery required to burn body fat.

This is where most Bangkok gym routines fail.

❌ Jogging does very little to build the fast-twitch muscle fibers where more than 50 percent of your glycogen is stored.

❌ Yoga improves flexibility but does not create the demand needed to upgrade mitochondrial function. It doesn’t create a metabolic shift. It doesn’t elicit the hormones that get you to release fat. It doesn’t improve fast twitch fiber activation. It has benefits, sure! But, it leaves many boxes unchecked.

❌ Random “HIIT” classes often just create fatigue without the specific mechanical tension needed to signal the body to keep muscle tissue. HIIT can be great for sure. But, it has to be done right. Guess what? Most classes are not doing it right. Hint: if they are training abs, or it’s an hour-long class… it’s marketing a buzzword. Not what could accurately be called by any exercise scientist as HIIT.

If you are not training to preserve muscle, burn glycogen, elicit fat burning hormones, increase mitochondrial density, you are managing a declining system, not fixing it.

The Bangkok Stress Trap: Cortisol vs. Your Waistline

We live in a high-stress environment. The traffic, the heat, the pollution, and the high-pressure jobs common in Bangkok create a physiological load.

Guess what happens when you add chronic calorie restriction and excessive running or cardio to a high-stress life? You create a hormonal disaster.

Chronic stress elevates cortisol. High cortisol keeps blood sugar elevated (fight or flight response), which in turn keeps insulin elevated. When insulin is high, fat burning is biochemically impossible. Acute bouts of cortisol are fine. If insulin is low and other fat burning hormones are high. But, you need to be clued in on how to do that.

For 30 years, I’ve had clients come to me who are "undereating" but retaining belly fat. They have trained their bodies to be efficient at storing fat and sparing energy. They are fighting a war against their own biology, and biology always wins.

When they see how much I get them to eat, they are amazed and confused why they are losing fat so quickly and feeling so much better. We do this because we understand that you need the right stimulus—training that lowers baseline cortisol and improves insulin sensitivity. Man… if you only knew how powerful this is!!!

The Biomarkers: How Do We Measure Flexibility?

At Flash Fitness, we don’t guess. We don’t give you some random meal plan. We look at as much data as we can obtain from you. Yes, that means before working out with us, you will have some paperwork to fill out. If you have bloodwork to share, we use that, too. But some of the things we want to look at:

• Diet/Exercise history: Have you TRAINED your body to burn fat during exercise and glucose during the day? Eat low calorie, low fat diets and do lots of zone 2? We need to make that metabolic shift. Have you overfed on carbs every few hours for decades at a time? We are not saying you have to go full keto… but we do want to find a way for the body to say…”oh hey! Let me burn this excess fat on my tummy instead of always burning the rice I get every 3 hours.”

• Fasting Insulin & Triglycerides: High levels here indicate your body is struggling to process energy and is likely resistant to insulin.

• The "Hangry" Test: Can you go 4-5 hours without eating and maintain stable energy and mood? If not, you are likely glucose-dependent.

The Solution: Training for Physiology, Not Calorie Burn

So, how do Ritah and I go about fixing metabolic flexibility? We stop exercising for "calorie burn" and start training for adaptation.

• Glycogen Depletion: We must use resistance training circuits that force your muscles to use up their stored sugar (glycogen). Once the tank is empty, the body is forced to look for alternative fuel (fat).

• Lactate Production Workouts: We utilize specific protocols (like cluster sets and controlled tempos) to generate lactic acid. This isn't just "the burn”… lactate is a signaling molecule that triggers Growth Hormone release, which aids in fat mobilization.

• Hormonal Optimization: We train to improve insulin sensitivity. By creating a demand for glucose in the muscle, we "unlock" the doors to your cells (GLUT4 transporters), ensuring that the carbohydrates you eat replenish muscle rather than being stored as fat on your waist.

The Bottom Line

You cannot out-train a messed up metabolism, and you certainly cannot starve your way to long-term, sustainable health.

I emphasize sustainable because that is what matters to us. That is why we have so many clients who have been with us for 10+ years… and many, many more who have been with us for 5+.

We take pride in having people who started at 35, unfit and not feeling good about themselves… being fit by 36…. and then a machine by the time they are 45! That is what we care about! Making fitness fit your life.

If you are in Bangkok and you are tired of the "eat less, move more" garbage we’ve all been taught, it is time to look at the science. You don’t need to sign up for a “race” and go get a medal for participating. What you need is a metabolic operating system upgrade.

Fat loss, strength, and energy are not the result of following trends. They are the side effects of a healthy metabolism. A healthy metabolism is a side effect of smart training.

Ready to stop guessing and start training smarter under Jeff and Ritah’s guidance? At Flash Fitness Bangkok in Sathorn, we specialize in fixing metabolic health for busy professionals.

If you don’t see results in just 8 weeks, we give you all of your money back. That’s how we roll!

If you want to learn more or come by and talk to Ritah and I…you can check out our website:flashfitnessresults.com