👋 Hey. Welcome to issue #85 of The Everyday Athlete Newsletter.
Here are my 3 favourite ideas, learns and resources to help you improve your performance this week (4 min read):
🤦 Fat loss claims
You see all these wild fat loss claims…
“Lose 10kg in 10 days!”
And while they may be true—some people may very well lose that weight—there’s two problems with it...
💧 Number #1: Is that they’re losing water weight not fat
Many fad diets (particularly low-carb and keto) reduce or eliminate carb intake.
Each gram of carbohydrates comes with 3 grams of water attached. So when we cut out carbs, we lose this water weight.
It’s how fighters cut weight before weigh-in and then are 10kg heavier when they step into the ring 48 hours later.
It's water not fat.
⏱️ Number #2: Is that these claims don’t mention whether they kept it off
We lose weight quickly with these diets.
But... our bodies don't know we wanna lose weight. Our bodies are just trynna keep us alive.
So it will (subconsciously to us) conserve energy to bring us back to the weight it’s used to being. We will literally tap our feet less, not fidget as much, be a little lazy.
I.e. we will burn less energy.
This makes it hard to keep the weight off.
Add in the fact that these diets are hard, boring, frustrating... they become unsustainable.
So we soon go back to how we were normally eating. But now with a slower metabolism.
And we put more weight back on than we started with.
The solution?
Instead of trying to lose weight over a month, try lose it over a year.
How long did it take you to put on the weight? Does it sound reasonable you could lose all that weight in 10% of the time it took to put on? Probably not.
This way, we’ll find a diet we can do for a year = sustainable ✅
And we’ll make the metabolism jump slower = more chance of keeping it off ✅
And don’t forget the tactical parts of the fat loss equation:
- 😴 Sleep at least 7 hours (this is the master switch that makes everything else easier)
- 🚶 10k steps per day (keep your energy burn up)
- 🥑 80% whole foods (you tend to eat whole foods slower so you will eat less overall)
- 🥩 Eat more protein (makes you feel full so you will eat less other foods + will help you build muscle)
- 💪 Build muscle (muscle burns more energy than fat)
But make it a marathon, not a sprint.
Because the research is clear, maintaining a healthy weight is key to living better, longer.
🏋️ At-home gym kit
The Hexa Life fitness studio is gonna be 28sqm.
So I'm looking for multi-purpose equipment with a tiny footprint.
Which is what you'd want in a home gym.
So here's two cool bits of kit I'm considering that you might like:
- BaseBench for the lower body: nordic curls, hip thrusts, split squats, step-ups, pistol squats.
- Big Bar Pro for the upper body: pulls ups, chin ups, dips, rows
Add some bands in the mixer and you've got regressions and progressions.
(not an ad, just cool stuff)
🥛 Fermented foods
After spending most of last year dealing with Mexican parasites, I’m now way more tuned into how my gut is affecting me.
Brain fog… Forgetfulness… Difficulty finding words… I can usually tie it back to something from my diet over the last 24 hours.
And while the supplement industry thrives on questionable products, research on fermented foods offers a more promising path to gut health.
Research shows that eating fermented foods can increase gut bacteria diversity and decrease inflammatory markers.
And that's from only eating one serving daily for 10 weeks of foods like:
- 🥛 Yoghurt/kefir
- 🧅 Kimchi
- 🥕 Fermented vegetables
- 🧃 Kombucha
Food for thought.
👋 Wanna solve your biggest health/performance struggle in 20 mins? Get your very own health and performance game plan (it's free and there's no strings attached). 5-star feedback so far. Learn more here.
That's it!
Have a great weekend 🤙
Matt
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The Everyday Athlete Newsletter is not a licensed health service and is not a substitute for professional health advice, treatment or assessment. The information given in this email is general in nature, written for a specific audience. If you’re struggling, please see a healthcare professional.
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