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Comment by gadders | Hacker News Reader

Like the saying goes, you can't out-train a bad diet (unless you're a complete outlier like Eddie Hall or Micheal Phelps or DK Metcalf).

This is a good podcast on the topic as well: https://www.artofmanliness.com/health-fitness/health/new-sci...

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Reading about the diet of DK Metcalf that is Low carb, Intermittent fasting, with plenty of vegetables is according to the latest science. Eddie Hall has goal based diets, Normal people wouldn't be able to process the amount of food he eats, can't be healthy to eat that much. But at the same time it's clearly working for him. Just saying genetics does a disservice to them.

Intermittent fasting contributes nothing to weight loss beyond the psychological effect, which may result in calorie restriction. This is the latest science.

Calories concept is from 1819.[0]

Are you aware how calories are measured?

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie

I think they are genetic outliers, but they are also outliers in the stresses they are putting on their body. They genuinely need ~12k calories per day (Hall and Phelps).

They are genetic outliers because are able to operate at a elite level, but if you would learn more about sport and nutrition then those diets wouldn't look so extreme. They are eating goal based diets, that's different diet then normal person could or should consume. Hall and Phelps diet is not one that very sustainable but Metcalf one is actually the quite similiar to longevity diets. As such statements about that they are just genetic freaks this a disservice to diets they are eating and what we can learn from that.

If they would 4k their bodies will start to adjust to those levels, would that be their top performance probably not. The human body is very adaptable to any kind of circumstance.

How can a diet both be plenty of vegetables but also low carb? As far as I know basically all vegetables are 50~70% carbs.

Low carb diet is about lowering the amount of carbs someone consumes, only some vegetables that have many carbs or starches are best to avoided, because they have more then 60% of their content in the form of carbs vs less then 10% for other vegetables. on the list to avoid, or eat limited amounts are Potatoes, rice, grains.

For example: Broccoli has 6 gram of carbs per 100 gram vs rice that has 80 grams of carbs per 100 gram.

I don't think Eddie Hall is a good example of being able to "out-train a bad diet". He eats and trains for one very specific purpose - to get stronger. His physique reflects that. He's pretty fat, don't let his visible abs fool you.

I've met him, when he was 3 times UK strongest man before winning WSM. He most definitely was not fit for daily life but was in good shape for strongman.

By saying "out-train a bad diet" I mean he needs his reputed 12k calories to build and repair his muscle mass (obviously some went to fat as well). The people on "America's Fattest People" (or whatever) don't need 12k calories a day and get (the bad kind of) huge as a result.

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