Comfort zones can be tricky… sometimes you think that being comfortable means taking the easy way, but in reality comfort can also be found in the complicated…
Take diet for example…
Comfort is both easy (eating the same foods you always eat) but comfort is also complicated… it’s more “comfortable” to explain away eating habits with insulin theory, macronutrient cycling, special food combinations etc, then it is to simply accept that it’s ALL JUST CARBON…
In this case, the absolute simplicity of it all is NOT comfortable. And oddly enough, there is comfort in the complexity.
I think in part (and please don’t get mad at me for saying this) we enjoy the complexity because it makes us feel like reading about weight loss and weight lifting is somehow accomplishing something… doing the work for us.
But I promise you it is not.
It’s comfortable yes, but it’s not right.
And trust me, I’m no stranger to this.
In fact, for the most part the rest of this post is a bit of a “note to self”… to remind myself that when I get off track, it’s because I’m following the complication.
But the uncomfortable truth is:
- It’s all carbon, that’s what matters
- Eventually all surplus carbon becomes body fat.
- Protein is still almost all carbon, however amino acids are carbon skeletons that have been ‘tagged’ by nitrogen and this make them special.
- Resistance training signals for more nitrogen tagged carbon to be used in muscle, thus not as a fuel.
- This means more of the other carbon sources will be used as fuel.
- Ultimately, if carbon intake is kept in check and resistance training is consistent, you will see a reduction in body fat mass while preserving muscle mass.
So that’s it.
[[ If I start to tweet or email out complicated nonsense, please send this back to me. ]]
Sometimes stepping out of your comfort zone means of all things, accepting that the simple answers are still the correct answers.
BP
PS – If you like these types of posts or are curious why I think we should be counting carbon and not calories, you may like the Advocate, my advertisement free premium email newsletter. You can sign up for a 15 day free trial here ==> Brad Pilon’s Advocate
