I’ve been listening to Rhonda Patrick’s podcast lately, along with a number of others focused on health, neutrino and fitness backed by scientific research. One core principle that runs across all of the discussions around nutrition is energy balance. It seems every scientist who studies nutrition, regardless of their specialty or dietary recommendations, say something like this:
Consuming an excess of calories above your energy requirements will usually lead to poor health outcomes rating from obesity, to heart issues, to diabetes, to premature aging, inflammation, disease and earlier death.*
These PHDs, MDs and Trainers study and/or recommend a wide range of diets to optimize for longevity, health and performance:
- High protein
- High Fat
- High Carb
- Low Carb
- Keto
- Mediterranean
- Whole Food Based
- Plant Based
- Supplement Enhanced
- Minor Modifications of the US SAAD Diet
- No highly-processed foods
- No sugar
- Grain Free/Minimal Starchy Foods
Regardless of their preferences or field of study, it always comes back to: But don’t eat an excess of calories above your energy requirements – even if those excess calories are “good calories” according to ay particular diet.
So in the end, it still comes down to calories in/ calories out.
What a bitch.
I came to the same conclusion myself when I decided I wanted to lose the extra weight I had gained last year.
I had to reduce the amount of food I ate. No matter how hard I tried to exercise more, I couldn’t exercise enough to drop that extra fat.
Calories in, calories out.
I hate to count calories so what I did instead instead was focus on volume – as in how many lbs of meat did I eat each day. Over a period of time, I reduced the volume by 25-50%.
And the weight came off. Just like that.
These recent podcasts have been a good reinforcement for me since I dropped an hour of swimming from my daily routine and I cut my walks down from 4 miles a day to about 3 due mostly to awful weather.
I’m not burning as much energy, which means, unfortunately, I have to eat less or else get fat. I don’t seem to gain muscle when I put on weight. If I’m being realistic, when I build muscle I tend to get smaller and leaner as I lose fat.
I’ve been much heavier. I’ve been a bit stronger – especially when I was younger. But the most muscular I’ve looked is probably when I was a lifeguard in college and over the past few years, when I was 10-20 lbs lighter but much leaner.
Energy balance to me is like money. I couldn’t get control of my finical life until I stopped spending beyond my means.
I can’t get control of my diet, until I stop eating more than I need.
Like I said, what a bitch.
But it’s a bitch I know how to handle. Finally.
*They note exceptions: Active athletes gaining weight on purpose for strength and sport, non-athletes recovering from illness or injury, victims of disasters, poverty, famine, etc. These exceptions, while valid, aren’t particularly relevant to the fitness optimization discussions.