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Ayo,

Guess what I did this weekend? Don't worry, I'll tell you.

Potty training.

Yep. Amara started to show signs she was interested in the potty. Like, for example, taking off her nappy, standing next to the potty, and peeing herself while standing next to the potty. Not on it. Next to it.

For the uninitated, allow me to explain what potty training consists of.

We decided we didn't hate ourselves enough so we opted for the three-day intensive approach that claims your child will be potty trained by the end of 72-hours. The skeptic in me didn't buy it, but hey what do I know?

Here's the deal–

You lock yourself in the house for three days and the child doesn't wear a nappy (you can see where this is going). Then, you set a timer for every 10-15 mins, and fill the gap with "Hey, Amara, do you need to pee?" over and over again, to which Amara responded with a variety of expressions, none of which indicated a clear understanding of the concept.

Once that timer went off, we would ask Amara to sit on the potty. She was cool with it the first time, but by the second time––full blown meltdown. So our lives for 72 hours basically consisted of stalking her every single move, hearing the timer, grabbing her and putting her on the potty, experiencing a breakdown, taking her off the potty, and then watching her pee all over the floor while she gleefully shouted, "AMARA PEE PEE!"

10/10 would recommend.

There was a silver lining, though. She somehow learned how to say, "I don't like it" and became very proficient at saying "fuck" because that was pretty much the only thing coming out of my mouth the entire weekend.

Anyway, let's get to the email.

Q- You often hear of athletes, actors, and regular individuals who are lean/jacked/whatever talking about diet and eating 6000 calories a day. Obviously some require it for performance, but actors getting jacked for a role usually have high daily calories in common. I’m sure there are other PEDs involved but was just curious if it’s bullshit or not.

I don't think it's bullshit, but it's likely not true for every athlete or actor.

I've worked with clients who need to eat 4000-5000 kcals/day to gain weight during a muscle-building phase. And it's not uncommon for athletes to burn up to 6000 calories/day. [PMID: 37132213]

You might aruge that comparing athletes to actors isn't an apples to apple comparison, but if you consider that actors preparing for an action role are training multiple times per week (sometimes even twice per day) alongside all the prep they need to do for the movie, their energy expenditure can easily be quite high.

Futher, in most cases where an actor is bulking up for a role, they're likely training and eating properly with the goal of maximising muscle hypertrophy for the first time, and they're primed to benefit from 'newbie' gains. And newbie gains are pretty wild.

To illustrate: In a 2002 study, 73 men who hadn't lifted weights before supplemented with a high-calorie shake (~2000 kcals) alongside their regular intake combined with 8-weeks of resistance training. The caloric intake in the two experimental groups ranged between ~3,000-5,000 kcals/day. By the end of the study, they'd gained about ~3 kg of muscle. Here's the wild part: They even lost a little bit of body fat. [PMID: 12094125]

And when you throw drugs into the mix, the calorie intake and muscle growth numbers can get even higher. But I'm not going to dwell on this too much because I really don't care what actors do or take to get in shape for a role.

Also, let's not forget that overfeeding generally increases metabolic rate (mostly due to an increase in NEAT), so if someone has a particularly adaptive metabolism (i.e. they move significantly more when overeating), they'll need to account for this by eating more food.

When you factor in all of these things, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that some people would require an insane amount of food to gain muscle.

Want to ask me a question? That's what this button's for 👇

💡 Client spotlight

It's easy to see all of the client transformations I share each week and not realise all of the struggles and challenges the client is going through behind the scenes. You only see the before-and-after shots, but in between those two photos, there are weeks, months, and even years of effort, consistency, highs and lows.

My client Phoebe (pictured above) is a good example of this. She came to me because she wanted to lose body fat the right way. But when you're coming from a background of crash diets, you don't just suddenly stop believing those messages.

Here's something Phoebe said to me at one point:

You can see some of those previous diet messages coming through. The assumption is that fat loss should be "punishing," involving severe restriction, and be a wholly miserable experience.

In reality, it's the opposite––it should be sustainable with long-term progress in mind.

What I also forgot to mention was around the time Phoebe sent the above message, she was going through some personal challenges, which made things just a bit harder. But she stayed consistent and showed up each day.

Fast forward to a week ago, and here's what Phoebe said during our check-in.

Note a few key changes –

She went from "I don't see a huge transformation in myself" to "I really felt leaner and slimmer, my clothes are feeling much different. And I could see it in the photos too."

She was worried that she was "plateauing" and "not doing enough" to "the numbers [i.e. the scale] weren't showing much but..."

She went from feeling "small" to "feeling proud of myself for putting in the work."

Additionally, she's finally realising what I've been telling her all this time––the goal isn't to lose as much weight as possible, but to lose as much body fat as possible while maintaining muscle––since she's "never been more toned than this in her life."

^^ This mindset shift doesn't happen overnight. I've been working with Phoebe for just over a year, and it only clicked for her recently. Real, sustainable progress takes time. I always remind clients that I don't expect perfect, robot-like adherence, but I do expect them to be as consistent as possible, and Phoebe is a great example of what happens when you show up and do something every day.

FIT Bites​
​Protein is...good for your kidneys now?

One of the most pervasive nutrition myths is that high-protein diets increase the kidneys’ workload, which, over time, causes damage and eventually leads to kidney failure. But a recent study found higher protein intake might actually reduce the risk for kidney disease. Wait, what? Let's talk about it.

The what: This study was a systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between protein intake and risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Six prospective cohort studies were included in the final analysis, totalling 148,051 participants and 8,746 chronic kidney disease (CKD) cases. [PMID: 38946781]

What did they find? Higher protein intakes from total, plant, and animal protein were associated with less risk for CKD.

• Total protein intake was associated with an 18% lower risk
• Plant protein intake was associated with a 23% lower risk
• Animal protein intake was associated with a 14% lower risk

However. You'll note that plant protein was associated with the lowest risk. Interestingly, the lowest risk for animal protein was for fish and seafood (16% lower risk). So, is it protein itself that's protective, or is it the overall diet and lifestyle?

For example, someone who follows an exclusively plant-based diet will eat foods rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, etc., which will likely confer overall health benefits.

Moreover, two of the biggest causes of CKD are diabetes and high blood pressure, and being overweight/obese increases your risk for both of these. Someone who biases more of their diet to plants and seafood is likely a bit more health conscious, exercises regularly, and maintains a lower body weight and body fat levels, reducing their risk of CKD.

Yeah, but. This doesn't mean higher protein intake or non-seafood animal protein is bad for your kidneys or your health. A recent review for the German Nutrition Society concluded there was no convincing evidence that protein intakes above the RDA led to a decline in kidney health or kidney stone risk. Nor was there any evidence that high protein diets caused any detrimental effects on kidney function. [PMID: 37133532]

Bottom line: Higher protein diets aren't going to harm your kidneys if you're healthy. And according to this recent review, they might even be protective (tentative).

Related articles:

• ​What’s the Best Protein Intake to Build Muscle and Lose Fat?​
• ​Are high-protein diets bad for you?​

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–Aa

P.S. What did you think of this week's email?

​👍 Loved it | 👎 Hated it​