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Body Composition

Body Composition
April 16, 2018 Dan Raimondi

I don’t talk much about nutrition and weight loss because I think it’s an area where I’m less experienced. However, one resource that you may find useful is from the folks over at Renaissance Periodization. In this article, the authors include a graph of the “inputs for diet success.” Go through and you’ll notice a few important things:

  1. Consistency is the foundation. Sure, you’re all about the keto or paleo diet, but if it doesn’t fit your lifestyle it’ll be ineffective in the long run for weight loss (Side note: the same is true for strength training, exercise, etc…)
  2. Calories are important. Weight loss/gain revolves around the fundamental principle of energy balance, which is the calories you take in minus the calories you expend (or Calories In Calories Out-CICO). To lose weight you need to expend more calories than you consume. So, when someone tries to tell you that you can eat all the *insert food* you want on a certain diet and you won’t gain weight, it’s not true. You can gain, and conversely lose weight, on a broad spectrum of diets, which is great because we have plenty of options depending on your preference! Note: Macronutrients go sort of hand in hand with calorie balance, so for the purpose of this I’m going to skip ahead.
  3. Nutrient timing, supplements, and food composition (i.e. low glycemic carbs, the types of fat you eat, etc…) fall relatively low on the priority list as far as body composition is concerned. What does this mean? Putting an excessive focus on this part of the equation would be less efficient because it doesn’t contribute that much in the end.

So, what’s the point with all of this? First, whatever you’re going to do to try and lose weight, make sure it’s something you can stick with. Second, if whatever you’re doing doesn’t create a caloric deficit, it won’t work. Third, if you’re focusing most of your attention on supplements, perfect meal timing, etc.. without dialing in energy balance/macronutrient intake, you’ve got your priorities misaligned.

For more information, check out a few links below:

Physiqonomics

Precision Nutrition

Barbell Medicine