Personal anecdotal evidence: I disagree. It's simple.
I met a former USMC drill instructor who at 45 was 4% bf and could bench several times his weight. He told me he exercised 5 minutes a week (one for another discussion) and ate at McDonald's every day.
I grew up in France eating "organic" and plenty of veggies and so on and I was intrigued by the idea that "what" didn't matter, only "how much". I thought I'd give it a shot, and ate McDonald's for one or more meals a day, keeping the total around 1300 kcal/day, and each meal below 400 kcal. I still remember the look a friend gave me as I ate 1/3 of an avocado bacon thickburger from CJ and chucked the other 2/3 into the bin.
I lost 7kg in 8 weeks starting at 35% bf. I also increased the weights on big machines (leg press, bench, weighted pull up) by around 20% during that time. Felt perfectly healthy throughout, and mostly not hungry. I also exercised around 10 minutes once a week, walked around 100m a day to and from work and otherwise spent the time sitting. I might do it again this time with a health checkup before and after to get some hard data.
Looking back at the papers, books and other "evidence" I read, I found it very hard to find any that controlled for calorific consumption. I want to see a study that goes, for example, paleo vs McDonald's, at equal kcal/day, hydration and meal timing. I want to see the variance not explained away by simple calories in/out.
I met a former USMC drill instructor who at 45 was 4% bf and could bench several times his weight. He told me he exercised 5 minutes a week (one for another discussion) and ate at McDonald's every day.
I grew up in France eating "organic" and plenty of veggies and so on and I was intrigued by the idea that "what" didn't matter, only "how much". I thought I'd give it a shot, and ate McDonald's for one or more meals a day, keeping the total around 1300 kcal/day, and each meal below 400 kcal. I still remember the look a friend gave me as I ate 1/3 of an avocado bacon thickburger from CJ and chucked the other 2/3 into the bin.
I lost 7kg in 8 weeks starting at 35% bf. I also increased the weights on big machines (leg press, bench, weighted pull up) by around 20% during that time. Felt perfectly healthy throughout, and mostly not hungry. I also exercised around 10 minutes once a week, walked around 100m a day to and from work and otherwise spent the time sitting. I might do it again this time with a health checkup before and after to get some hard data.
Looking back at the papers, books and other "evidence" I read, I found it very hard to find any that controlled for calorific consumption. I want to see a study that goes, for example, paleo vs McDonald's, at equal kcal/day, hydration and meal timing. I want to see the variance not explained away by simple calories in/out.