I think caloric deficits are overhyped.
No, this is not clickbait, and I'm prepared to explain why through a series of observations.
Why Caloric Deficits Are Overhyped
Observation 1: We All Want to Look Better Naked.
Most people in the fitness industry share a very similar goal in that they want to look better naked and feel more confident in their own skin.
Usually this means building muscle in certain areas and losing fat in other areas.
Most women want strong legs, plump glutes, and a flat tummy while most guys want broad shoulders, big arms, and six-pack abs.
I say this because these are by far the most commonly referenced physical attributes when I ask people about their goals.
Simply put, people want to look “hot.”
So we could summarize this point by saying that most people, by their own admission, believe that their bodies would appear the most attractive with the following characteristics:
An appreciable amount of muscle mass
Relatively low body fat
Observation 2: We All Want to Eat Plenty of Food.
My second observation is that most people also want to eat a good amount of food and enjoy life abundantly.
Consider how often we find ourselves in social situations centered on food and drink.
Fellas, have you ever had a jacked friend who seemed to be able to show up to a night out, crush a pizza, down a few beers, and stay as lean and muscular as ever?
Ladies, have you ever been jealous of “that one girl” whose body always seems to be perfect even though she can eat seemingly whatever she wants?
Most of us have, and I would argue that it’s a wildly enticing state of being.
It’s the desire to be able to eat without restriction while looking as amazing as possible, and it’s essentially the crux of my second point.
So, combined with that first observation, you're left with someone who wants to build muscle, lose fat, and eat in abundance.
I actually refer to this as the “golden zone” with my clients.
The “golden zone” is when you’ve trained and eaten strategically for long enough to be confidently lean while eating plenty of food on a day to day basis.
It’s the combination of being lean and have a high maintenance-calorie intake.
Now let’s move onto my third observation.
Observation 3: We’re All Being Told to Eat Less.
Most people in the fitness industry are obsessed with getting shredded or unsustainably lean, which has lead to a disproportionate level of attention given to caloric deficits.
Maybe you see where I'm going with this.
The problem here is that building muscle optimally actually requires most people to be eating in a slight surplus - not a deficit.
But the confusion comes from a very understandable place.
Most people are overweight or even obese when they begin, which means a caloric deficit is absolutely an appropriate first step (usually) in terms of burning some fat.
Let me make that very clear. I’m not saying that caloric deficits are overhyped because they don’t work. They definitely work when understood and applied properly and consistently.
The problem is that too many people never properly transition out of a caloric deficit into other phases of dieting (like maintenance periods and strategic weight gain periods).
In fact, I would argue that most of your body recomposition journey should be spent eating slightly above maintenance if you want to get increasingly muscular over time.
Why?
Because aside from very early beginnings in fitness, you don't really build a meaningful amount of muscle while eating beneath your body's needs.
Plus, it’s well known that the quality of your training dictates the quality of your fitness and physique outcomes.
Low quality training? Less exciting physical adaptations.
Extremely high quality training? Maximally exciting physical adaptations.
You can only grow your chest so much as a man who eats 1,500 calories per day just like you can only grow your glutes so much as a woman who eats 1,000 calories per day.
Long-term, the fuel simply will not be there to support the quality of training required to produce the quality of outcomes you desire.
This leads me to my next thought.
The “Chasing Two Rabbits” Analogy
It's much like the analogy of chasing two rabbits and catching none.
Let’s say you have two adorable rabbits in an open meadow. You set them both down to run freely and enjoy themselves, but then you realize you miss cuddling them and want to pick them up again.
In the beginning, you can actually clone yourself and chase both rabbits and catch both of them. It's super cool!
But after a while, you lose your superpower to clone yourself and you have to pick one or the other.
You can chase the fat loss and muscle retention rabbit or you can chase the fat gain and muscle gain rabbit.
To be fair, you can still choose to chase the recomposition bunny once you’ve lost your cloning superpowers, but it’s a far slower pursuit that many find discouraging.
The idea here is that you can’t eat in a caloric deficit indefinitely and while continuing to build more and more muscle mass.
At some point, you will probably have to choose between eating more and gaining more muscle or eating less and severely limiting your muscle gain.
What’s the Takeaway Here?
Here's the point.
Caloric deficits are overhyped in the sense that the fitness industry spends too much time talking about how to get into them and not enough time talking about how to get out of them and onto more glorious and healthful muscle-building endeavors.
If you're overweight right now but someday you want to be jacked and lean, think of your initial fat loss phase as a bank robbery. Get in and get out.
Once you've lost an appropriate amount of initial body fat, start eating more food, training harder, chasing performance improvements and strength gains, and improving your metabolism.
I fear that too many people are under the impression that eating in a caloric deficit is a permanent endeavor rather than a means to an end.
Let me say that again. Eating in a caloric deficit should always be a means to an end.
In other words, get into your caloric deficit, lose the fat, and then move on to strategic phases of maintenance eating and even eating in a modest surplus.
In time, you'll be eating way more, sporting a thriving metabolism, flourishing in the gym, and looking leaner and more built than you ever have before.
And that's a really good feeling.
Fortunately, I know this is possible because I've done it myself.
In 2019 I was a very unflattering 200 pounds and eating 2,300 calories per day.
Now, I can maintain a much leaner and muscle-bound 190-pound physique while consuming upwards of 3,000 calories per day.
Which would you prefer?
It's safe to say I prefer the latter, but the choice is yours.
As always I hope you found this article helpful!
If you feel like this brought you any value at all, consider sending it to a friend or family member - especially someone who might be struggling with the despair of living life in a perma-deficit.
Later, guys.
-Andrew
