The OFM Story Of Innovation
“You guys are leading the science.” -Jeff Volek RD/PhD
It’s important to realize most innovators were considered “crazy,” “wrong” and “heretical” long before their innovations were viewed as "innovative." Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, Walt Disney, Steven Jobs, Hewlett & Packard and others faced this ridicule yet worked tirelessly ahead of their innovations becoming adopted as the new norm.
My name is Peter Defty, the General Manager of Vespa Power Products and lead developer of the OFM program. I say this because OFM is a collaborative effort. This all began, first on myself in 2000, and, subsequently, in 2008 as an outgrowth of my work to support Vespa athletes to achieve consistent success. Since 2008 I've worked with hundreds of athletes all of whom have contributed to the development and continual evolution of the program.
OFM is based upon a simply evolutionary biology principle: Humans are meant to metabolize fat as their principal aerobic energy source while glucose (glycogen) is our "Fight or Flight" and "Bridge" energy source. We have robust stores of both when our metabolism is functioning the way nature intended with body fat fulfilling the 'base' or 'foundational' energy needs for most activities.
Our story has and continues to be one of innovative disruption and challenging the status quo. Because of the modern science there is an overwhelming bias toward external carbohydrates as the necessary energy source for athletes & athletic performance. Early on in 2008 & 2009 the ground breaking success of our athletes like Jon Olsen were dismissed as 'anecdotal' and ridiculed by the mainstream sports experts.
“However, those at the coal-face of sports nutrition can delete fat loading and high-fat diets from their list of genuine ergogenic aids for conventional endurance and ultra-endurance sports.”
- Louise Burke, PhD
"To think carbs make you fat is wrong. You're fat because you're not exercising... Low-carb diets are exactly what you should not do if you're active...Carbs are the fuel that drives your life; suddenly everyone's forgotten this. If you're working out five days a week, you need a minimum 60 percent [daily caloric intake] of carbs a day.” -Chris Carmichael
Like other innovators, I was working outside the confines of conventional sports nutrition and performance. For years the results we were achieving were real and consistent yet ridiculed by the “experts.”
The Long Road...
Like other innovators, I was working outside the confines of convention. For years the results we were achieving were real and consistent yet ridiculed by the “experts.” Their dismissal did not deter me nor did it deter the athletes who had adopted OFM. Not only was OFM yielding huge and consistent gains in performance the approach eliminated challenges with energy ups & downs (bonking, hitting the wall) and GI issues during training and competitions. Added to this was the lightning fast recovery without the typical levels of muscle soreness (DOMS), swelling and inflammation these athletes had previous to OFM.
What's more is the science of evolutionary biology supported our experience. Humans, are capable of oxidizing a lot more fat than the modern science suggested. The gap between what is old (evolutionary biology) and new (the business & institution of science) has been filled with:
- A lot of highly profitable processed foods which fund 'science'
- Constant intake of concentrated carbohydrate rich foods through meals, snacking and fueling instead of periodized 'feasting & fasting'
- Vast reduction in eating the 'Whole Animal' which clearly occurred in the archeological record and is still practiced in traditional cultures
- Too much comfort & convenience which has caused:
- Too little physical activity
- Too little curiosity and openness to new ideas
- Too little individual problem-solving
- Too little full body exposure to natural light in appropriate doses
- Too little exposure to our natural environment
- Too much exposure to non-natural light at the wrong times
- Too much exposure to non-native EMF/Radiation
- Too much exposure to xenoestrogens, molds and other toxins
- An institutional hierarchy which discourages new ideas, objective critical analysis. This hierarchy has been corrupted by its own hubris and the need to maintain its institutional power through the ever growing cycle of funding which leaves the institutions vulnerable to the overt and covert influence of their funding sources.
In 2010 a friend suggested I contact Dr. Stephen Phinney after reading an article on him. This led to a meeting where I shared these results with Dr. Phinney who immediately stated not only were these results real but he was genuinely interested in learning more. It turned out Dr. Phinney had a keen interest in fat adapted performance and, like me, knew it offered much more than the dismissive attitude it was given.
Our meeting gave him a cohort of subjects to study who were not only fat adapted but winning competitions and setting records, something considered impossible. This led to the 2012 "Western States 100 Study" (Volek et. al.) in which the winner that year (was a fat adapted athlete I coached) also set a Course Record (CR) . OFM and Vespa were also profiled by Drs. Phinney & Volek in their 2012 book, “The Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance.”
Though "The Western States 100 Study" never made it to publication the data was so compelling Drs. Phinney & Volek recognized the need for a more controlled study which led to the ground breaking FASTER Study (Volek et.al.). Publication of "Metabolic characteristics of keto-adapted ultra-endurance runners" (Volek & Phinney et. al.) in 2016 finally validates what we were achieving in the real world of competition for the previous ten years.
But we knew there was more, a LOT more . . .
Ten of the twelve Low Carbohydrate Cohort (LCD) were athletes I personally coached to their fat adaptation which was not keto but OFM, including the use of VESPA. Many of these had become close friends and collaborators along with other new athletes I was working with. We knew the limitations of straight keto and we knew there was a LOT of performance left on the table.
This led us to conduct our own metabolic testing. First randomly then in 2022 we organized a group of athletes and got the data we knew was out there. Data which corroborated the experience our athletes were seeing in their training and competitions. Our data confirms the fundamental premise of OFM; our bodies are meant to use fat as fuel for aerobic metabolism while reserving glucose for acute high level work instead of burning through it.
A New Paradigm of Performance...
Two of our athletes were able to not only break but sustain over 2 grams per minute of fat oxidation. OFM fundamentally changes the fueling paradigm to avoid bonking and GI issues so you can perform at your best sustainably. This paradigm-shifting approach has been codified by my team and I and amassed on this site for you to achieve "Higher Health & Peak Performance"
If you would like expert advice on how Fat Adaptation could work for your health and your performance check out our coaching options here
"All truth passes through three stages . . .
First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
- Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher
Get Your Metabolic Health Back To It's Natural State
