Ditch The Diet And Eat Like An Athlete

ALRIGHT SERIOUS TALK.

If you TRAIN in pursuit of any specific or not-so-specific performance or condition result, start thinking of yourself more like an athlete.
More like an athlete, less like “someone on a diet”.

Women in their late teens or early – mid twenties who are hardworking badasses in the gym, also training for and competing in sport on the weekend, otherwise busy and industrious throughout the day as well… the amount who fit this profile who have come to me over the years, unsatisfied with their condition and how their body is responding to training, and thinking they need to cut carbs, cut total cals, go keto… or any other variation of “going on a diet” in the conventional sense to FORCE the body to tap into those fat stores.

NO. NO. NO. NO!

This goes for anyone at any age, for that matter. If you’re doing all that hard work YOU ARE NOT SOMEONE WHO NEEDS TO GO ON A DIET. You are someone who needs to fuel for performance, recovery, and the creation of a stronger, lean body as an adaptation to training.

Trying to “force” the body to burn fat through massive calorie deficit through restriction and expenditure has the opposite effect. Your body will only prioritise the support of lean mass when conditions are most favourable, AKA you are (at least) adequately fueled. The closer you push to a more maximal, optimal energy provision the higher a percentage of that total will be put into the muscles while the body draws more from fat stores to fuel low intensity / non exercise activity.

The further into deficit you go, the lower that percentage being made available to support lean mass becomes and the body will conserve a higher percentage in fat stores because it thinks it is trying to survive a famine or an ice age or something terrible like that.

You are built for survival and adaptation. Put yourself into arduous circumstances with minimal food & energy intake plus maximum work load and your body will try to find a way to survive BUT IN NO WAY does this equate to “the creation of your goal body condition”.

Not in a million years could it mean that. You are built for survival and adaptation though, so provide as much fuel as you can put to use and then train strategically to do just that. Not to “burn calories” but to utilise energy and resources in creating a strong, lean, healthy and functional body condition just like you want.

Now… even if you’re thinking “ok but that’s for people who are already lean, I have all this weight to lose first so I need to be in deficit and burn more calories”, no. Pay attention.

Even if you are actually overweight. Participating in that amount, that type, and that level of performance in training and sports… whatever amount and level that is, we can run the maths and accurately determine a calorific intake that would fail to see a reduction in body fat due to being in excess of requirements.

It would actually be a massive amount.

We can also run the maths and determine what is an adequate, and what is an optimal amount that could be taken up and put to use for the very best performance and condition, and it will still be quite a massive amount, but significantly below that “too much” amount described above.

Best results… no… ANY lasting result can only occur when you are in the habit of consuming somewhere within that “adequate to optimal” range of total energy intake. The more consistently you are within that range and preferably closer to the higher, optimal end, the more consistent and the more dramatic the improvements in both performance and condition will be.

Now… you could achieve that optimal intake via intuition, but most people are so used to the “eat less” message that they’ll fall short of an adequate amount without first having a period where they identify and practice planning to meet those targets. Some people might manage to fluke it via sheer dumb luck and conclude that it has more to do with a certain selection of foods than with energy and macronutrient provision, but they’d be wrong and their advice will be detrimental to most anyone else.

You need to establish the habit of meeting at least an adequate total energy and macronutrient provision, via whatever selection of foods makes this the easiest and most enjoyable for you. Preferably, at least periodically you need to push closer to the maximum, optimal end of that usable energy range.

Also you need to train, productively and strategically for a strong, healthy body.

I happen to have a very good system for determining these requirements, and a protocol for hitting first adequate and then optimal targets for best results ever and no restrictions on food choices. Also right now I have a brand new strength training program for athletes and sports people looking to complement their sports training.

It is all available online.

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The foods you love or the body you want?

Limit fruit? NEVER.

What do just about all diets have in common?

Almost every variation on "dieting" comes down to giving things up, as if it is a trade off or something. You need to give up certain things that you enjoy, in order to get something else that you want.

In this case you give up foods you enjoy in order to get to the body weight &/or condition that you want.

WHY ON EARTH WOULD WE BELIEVE THAT IT WORKS THAT WAY?

OK. Giving up certain foods might mean you're less likely to go into excess total energy intake on a daily basis. Which is definitely something we want to avoid. However simply "not going into excess" does not necessarily infer that your energy & macronutrient intake is now appropriate and conducive to your goal condition.

My observation of most active people training seriously for great performance and condition is that GOING INTO EXCESS is THE LEAST OF YOUR CONCERNS. Obviously it's not what we want to do every day but it's not the most likely thing to happen anyway especially when you start banning enjoyable and convenient food choices.

Rather, again in my observation, active people are more likely to fall short of an appropriate amount of energy intake which allows their body to see a benefit and produce results from training.

The consequences here are varied. Maybe you simply don't see results due to being under fueled. Maybe you slash even further to try to force those results via greater calorie deficit (bad idea). Most likely at some point your body insists that you make up the difference and inevitably you end up over eating, and being back in excess. PARADOXICALLY by attempting to over restrict to an unsustainable level of calorie restriction you are far more likely to end up going into excess via over eating or binge eating.

So, what is the answer? We want to avoid being in excess, we want to avoid being too far into deficit.

THIS IS VERY SIMPLE.
Rather than leave it to chance, we determine and then plan to meet the appropriate, adequate or optimal level of fueling.

Not in excess, and not insufficient.

NOW. Is entirely ruling out everything or anything that you enjoy required, in order to meet this appropriate level of total intake? NOPE.

In actual fact if you want to nail an optimal level of fueling consistently for best results, how else are you likely to do it other than by including more of the things you enjoy? More healthy choices too, certainly. But ruling out things that are not inherently UNhealthy for no good reason is the opposite of helpful in consistently hitting appropriate or optimal targets.

I would go so far as to say that if you are highly active or training at beyond an beginner's level, rather than needing to abstain from pleasure inducing foods, including one or two of your favourite indulgent choices is probably going to be required.

IT IS ABOUT PROVIDING THE ENERGY AND OTHER RESOURCES THAT YOUR BODY REQUIRES. How does going without certain things ensure that you get everything you need?

IT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE. It makes the opposite of sense.

Now, some pushers of fad diets will claim that you need to quit certain ingredients, macronutrient sources or subsets (fructose, or gluten for example) because of a specific effect that they have on the human body that will prevent you from succeeding in your goals. Do not be sucked in by this. They are liars who do not understand, or who deliberately misinterpret and misrepresent the science of the matter.

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Everything The Opposite Of Everything Else.

Listen.

My tagline should probably be "everything the opposite of everyone else" but if I had to narrow it down to one main point of difference I would say this:

My strategy is based on putting in everything you need to perform and to produce your goal physical condition through training. In comparison, most everyone else is just recklessly slashing energy intake to the least you can expect to get by on.

Actually, scratch that. LESS than the least you could reasonably expect to get by on.

Now, your body is built for survival. So when people say "carbs aren't essential" for example they're technically correct that for example in a famine where there are no fruits or vegetable crops available if you can find some other form of sustenance your body will adapt and survive for example via ketosis if you can get enough fat into your diet via eating whales or something like that.

But here's the thing. We're talking about the ability to adapt to adverse conditions to avoid mass extinction. Why would we... but what possible fanciful stretch of the imagination would we assume that simulating those adverse conditions is the key to good health, performance at training and a leaner, more athletic physique?

Because it's hard and if you can subject yourself to it you'll have proved your worth and the universe will realign with you in goal shape because good people get what they deserve?

Come on.

You can survive on a low carb & low total energy intake. However there is absolutely no logic to the idea that depriving your body by giving it less than it requires is going to result in a healthy body in goal condition.

How could it?

If you want to perform and you want to build a more lean, more athletic body condition you need to provide as much of everything as your body can find a use for. No more, certainly, but as much as you can put to good use.

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How bad do you really want it?

Hear me out on this one.

You see, read and hear this a lot, right? "The problem is, you just don't want it bad enough".

For whatever it's worth, I don't deal with people who don't want it bad enough. You have to want it bad enough to do what it takes to get it. That's true for anything in life and training related goals are no exception.

People who don't want it bad enough, though? That's not the problem. The problem is that people who don't actually want it, for some reason feel like they're obliged to do it anyway. If you don't actually want it, focus on some stuff that you DO want and go about getting that, instead.

That's what I think.

Not wanting it bad enough isn't the problem.

The problem is when people do want it bad enough, and unfortunately we're lead to believe that the way to get it is through more and more extreme means. Not getting anywhere despite busting your arse and foregoing all other forms of pleasure in life, especially those that come from enjoying a nice meal on your own or with friends? You mustn't want it bad enough and you need to prove that you do, by going even further, sacrificing even more.

That's bullshit.

You need to want it bad enough to treat training like something that's important to you. To schedule it, show up, and give it your best doing something productive in the gym. Or... some other form of training if you prefer.

There's no two ways about this. If you want to achieve a change in your physical condition via training, you need to do it regularly and you need to do it properly. You also need to ensure you're  meeting your requirements for total energy and macronutrients, but not exceeding them.

The further you want to go, the more consistently you need to hit closer to an optimal energy and macronutrient intake. For most people it is sufficient to merely provide amounts that are "adequate", most of the time.

You need to want it badly enough to schedule training and have a plan to hit adequate to optimal nutritional intake, at least until you can get it close enough by intuition.

But here's the thing.

That's not what people are taught. It's not what people are constantly told.

Results from training can't occur via drastically restricting far below your energy requirements, the way we are constantly told we should do it via ultra lower than low calorie or lower than low carb diets.

The problem isn't that people don't want it bad enough. The problem is that people actually do want it so badly, that they will go so far beyond what is actually required, beyond what is in any way helpful or conducive to results, and all the way through to what is actually detrimental, destructive and disorder. And the real problem is, however far they go, they're just doing what they're constantly told they should be doing... and how ever much they suffer and sacrifice in the pursuit of results that just don't come, they're still told "you mustn't want it bad enough".

These are the sorts of things I hear from my clients, about their pre-Dave experiences.

This is the reality.

You do need to want it bad enough to do what it takes.
What it takes is having the intention to train regularly with a good program, and to make sure you're fueled appropriately to perform, recover, and adapt to training. This means being closer to the maximum amount of energy, protein and other resources that your body can put to good use... not further and further into deficit of what it requires. You don't want to be in excess of an amount you can put to use, obviously... but you absolutely do have a minimum adequate amount that you require if you expect to see any benefit from training.

Schedule it, and then do it.

Make training and appropriate fueling a part of your default daily habits. If you do have to miss a day due to unavoidable or unforeseen circumstances, consider it a rest day and be all the more enthusiastic to get straight back into it again the next day, or as soon as possible after that.

Success cannot happen via going further and further into destructive habits. However, success becomes inevitable when you establish constructive and sustainable habits that are conducive to that outcome.

Train to get strong, fit and functional.
Fuel to perform, to recover, and to adapt to training.

Success will be inevitable.

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Fastest Results In Body Transformations

You wanna talk about FAST RESULTS?

I will tell you something about what sort of fast results are possible.

I've produced some major results very fast in certain circumstances. For example a client comes to me already active, fit, actually training and participating in sport at an intermediate or higher level, but has been under fueled (or actively restricting intake) previously.

Getting up closer to an adequate level of fueling will often produce IMMEDIATE results as stress hormone levels reduce, the body has energy available to put into the muscles where we want it, and is able to release some of the energy it has felt the need to conserve in fat stores.

Really what we're talking about is catching up to the sort of condition you should already be in anyway based on level of fitness and athleticism. My all time favourite quote from a client in these circumstances was "what sorcery is this?!" Two days in, if I remember correctly.

FAST RESULTS can also happen for example with an obese person cutting to very low calories or very low carbs on conventional forms of diets and especially when the word "challenge" is involved in the marketing. In this circumstance however, what we're losing is fluid retention, not adipose tissue. Once the water weight has been lost, progress soon stalls. Also, what we're really training the body to do is slow down and conserve energy, so the end result is regaining whatever weight you do manage to starve of, and then some.

Now on a lot of these "starve and burn challenges" you're likely to be shown some seemingly successful transformations with people who do drop a significant amount of weight from a regular sort of "overweight" condition to a less, or not overweight condition. Again though... it's a temporary result brought about by unsustainable measures. And of course... you're only shown the (temporarily) successful people. Most people don't respond to calorie restriction other than with loss of water weight as previously explained.

Not to mention... a lot of the time on some of the particularly unscrupulous pages you're actually shown photos stolen from people's tumblr blogs or where ever else... people who've never used whatever program or product is being sold and who certainly didn't do it in 12 weeks. I've seen this with my own clients and a few other people I know, several times now.

SO... fast and GREAT results can happen IF they're long over due, as in you're already extra fit, extra active, but haven't been adequately fueled to really allow your body to create its best condition.

Or fast temporary results can happen by dropping a lot of water weight, with the ultimate result being weight regain.

So if you're in the first category I can help you out and you'll be amazed. Everyone else, I will tell you something... I get so much satisfaction when I have a client who has been a non responder on other, restrictive programs, who's gotten tired of these bullshit false promises about over night transformations and so on... who finally, for the first time ever starts to see progress towards where they want to be, by DITCHING those restrictive, low calorie approaches and training to add lean mass at the expense of adipose instead.

Slowly at first, then faster. Sometimes it takes me a little while to find the right total energy and macro targets. But we get there.

Any fkn imbecile can just instruct people to slash to 1200 calories or less and then tell them "you didn't want it bad enough" when it doesn't work. It doesn't take a competent or knowledgeable trainer or coach... in fact it takes the opposite. Unfortunately that's the majority of the industry and what most of these programs are about.

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