Browse the evidence

Ultra-marathon runners should consume 40-70 kcal/kg/day of energy and 5-8 g/kg/day of carbohydrates during training to maintain energy balance and support high-volume adaptation.

If you are training for an ultra-marathon, you need to eat significantly more than you think. Aim for 40-70 calories per kilogram of body weight every day, and ensure 5-8 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram. This is not optional; it is required to support your training volume and prevent injury or illness. Use liquid calories and energy-dense foods to manage the volume.

Measuring Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) and adjusting caloric goals based on weight loss-induced metabolic adaptations prevents weight loss plateaus and optimizes energy balance.

If you are not losing weight despite following a standard diet, your metabolism may have adapted. Get your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) tested using a portable device or metabolic cart. Use this number to calculate a personalized calorie goal that creates a deficit relative to YOUR specific energy needs, not a generic number. Re-test as you lose weight to adjust your plan.

85.6% of powerlifters reported paying specific attention to nutrition practices in the pre-exercise period by ingesting more carbohydrate rich foods.

Practitioners should emphasize carbohydrate intake before training for optimal performance.

80% of powerlifters reported paying attention to postexercise nutrition, primarily ingesting more protein rich foods.

Advise powerlifters to prioritize protein intake after training for optimal recovery.

Long-term low caloric deficit diets (20-28 weeks) with high protein and carbohydrate diets are main strategies in the precontest phase.

Bodybuilders should adopt a structured approach to dieting over several months leading up to competitions.

A high-carbohydrate diet (50-70% of energy) improves endurance performance, sprint speed, and recovery compared to low-carbohydrate diets by maximizing muscle glycogen stores.

If you are an endurance athlete (runner or cyclist), ensure 50-70% of your daily calories come from carbohydrates. This maximizes muscle glycogen, which is critical for maintaining intensity, delaying fatigue, and improving race times. Focus on foods with low to moderate glycemic indices.

Addressing overweight and obesity is a primary strategy for reducing the risk of CHD development and progression.

Maintain a healthy weight through a balanced diet and regular moderate exercise. In regions with specific dietary habits (like high carbohydrate intake), focusing on increasing vegetable and fruit consumption and reducing refined carbs is key to lowering heart disease risk.

Weight loss interventions, including lifestyle changes and bariatric surgery, reduce blood pressure, glomerular hyperfiltration, and proteinuria in obese patients with CKD.

If you are overweight and have diabetes, losing weight through diet and exercise can cut your risk of developing kidney disease by 30%. This benefit comes from lowering your blood pressure and reducing the strain on your kidneys. Talk to your doctor about a structured weight loss program.

Weight loss of 10-15% in patients with obesity and Type 2 Diabetes has disease-modifying effects, including improved glycaemic control, reduced need for medication, and potential disease remission.

For patients with obesity and Type 2 Diabetes, aim for a weight loss of 10-15% of body weight. This level of loss is not just for appearance but can modify the disease course, potentially leading to remission and reduced medication needs. This is particularly important for those with higher BMI.

Physical activity is a critical factor in successful long-term weight maintenance, likely by mitigating the increased appetite and decreased energy expenditure associated with the weight-reduced state.

Incorporate regular, moderately vigorous to vigorous physical activity into your routine. It helps counteract the biological drive to eat more and the slowdown in metabolism that occurs after weight loss. Focus on consistency rather than intensity.

Successful long-term weight loss maintainers achieve significantly higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) compared to individuals with overweight/obesity, suggesting that high MVPA is a critical behavioral marker for maintaining weight loss.

If you have lost weight, maintaining that loss likely requires a significant amount of moderate-to-vigorous exercise (like brisk walking, jogging, or cycling) accumulated over the week. While this is challenging, you can support your efforts by increasing light activity (like standing or slow walking) and breaking up long periods of sitting, as these are also associated with successful weight maintenance.

Low-fat diets that replace fat with refined carbohydrates contribute to the obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemics, while low-carbohydrate high-fat diets may offer metabolic benefits for weight loss.

If you are struggling with obesity, consider a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet. It may be more effective for weight loss than traditional low-fat diets, which often rely on refined carbohydrates.

Adding GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP1RAs) to metformin effectively improves anthropometric measures (weight, BMI, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio) in women with PCOS.

For PCOS patients struggling with weight, adding a GLP-1 receptor agonist (like semaglutide or liraglutide) to metformin is a highly effective strategy for reducing body weight and waist circumference, addressing the core metabolic driver of the syndrome.

Repeated intensive lifestyle interventions (ILIs) consisting of hypocaloric diet and daily physical activity lead to progressive, cumulative weight loss and maintenance, with only modest weight regain between interventions.

If you are severely obese, a single short-term diet and exercise program is unlikely to keep the weight off long-term. However, participating in repeated, structured residential programs (approx. 3 months each) with a moderate caloric deficit and daily exercise can lead to significant, cumulative weight loss over several years. The key is not expecting the first attempt to be permanent, but using repeated interventions to progressively lower your baseline weight.

A 9-month intensive lifestyle intervention (dietary modification and increased physical activity) produces significant short-term weight loss and improved glycemic control in young women with prior gestational diabetes and newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, with weight loss effects persisting for at least 6 years.

If you are a young woman with a history of gestational diabetes who has recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, committing to a structured 9-month lifestyle program can help you lose about 4% of your body weight and improve your blood sugar control. Key steps include reducing daily calorie intake by roughly 200-240 calories, limiting fat to less than 30% of your diet, eating 20-30g of fiber daily, and exercising moderately for 30 minutes every day. Even after the program ends, the weight loss benefit can last for at least 6 years, though blood sugar control may require ongoing attention.

Combining dietary caloric restriction with exercise yields greater fat loss and lean mass preservation than diet or exercise alone in PCOS.

To lose fat and keep muscle in PCOS, do not rely on exercise alone. Create a modest calorie deficit (500-750 kcal/day) and engage in 150-300 minutes of moderate exercise or 75-150 minutes of vigorous exercise weekly, plus two days of resistance training. This combination is superior to either method in isolation.

Time-restricted eating (TRE) is currently the most prevalent and hottest research topic for obesity intervention, showing equivalent weight loss to continuous energy restriction while offering better long-term adherence.

If you are struggling to stick to a diet, try Time-Restricted Eating (TRE). Instead of counting every calorie all day, restrict your eating to a specific window (e.g., 8 hours) and fast for the rest. Research suggests this is just as effective for weight loss as traditional dieting but easier to stick to long-term because it simplifies decision-making and may improve adherence.

Beta-alanine supplementation (3-6 g/day for 4-8 weeks) delays fatigue in weightlifting by increasing muscle carnosine levels and buffering acidosis.

Take 3-6 grams of beta-alanine daily for at least 4 weeks to build up muscle carnosine. Split the dose (e.g., 2 grams twice a day) to avoid the harmless tingling sensation.

A 3-month low energy diet (800-900 kcal/d) combined with professional dietitian support and subsequent exercise intervention produces significant, sustained weight loss and improves cardiometabolic markers in adults with obesity and chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages G1-G3b.

If you have obesity and early-stage kidney disease, a structured low-calorie diet (800-900 calories) using meal replacements, supported by a dietitian and exercise professional, is a safe and effective way to lose significant weight (approx. 9kg over 6 months) and improve blood pressure and waist size. It requires professional oversight to manage blood sugar and kidney markers, but it does not inherently harm kidney function or muscle strength when monitored.

A peer-supported, WhatsApp-assisted lifestyle modification intervention significantly reduces daily calorie intake and leads to modest weight loss in adults with overweight/obesity in low-resource urban settings.

To lose weight in a resource-limited setting, focus on reducing daily calorie intake by approximately 386 kcal through portion control and healthier food choices. Use a peer-support model where a family member helps you stay accountable via regular check-ins (e.g., WhatsApp). While physical activity is beneficial, this study suggests that dietary changes were the primary driver of the observed weight loss (2.2 kg over 1 year). Consistency through monthly reviews and peer encouragement is key to maintaining these habits.

Higher training volume (moderate to high) is associated with higher responder rates for muscle hypertrophy compared to low volume, although intensity can compensate for low volume.

If you have time to train, moderate to high volume (8-24 sets per muscle group per week) is likely to yield better hypertrophy results than very low volume. However, if you are time-crunched, high-intensity low-volume training can still be effective. Prioritize consistency and intensity over sheer volume if necessary.

Muscle strength responsiveness is influenced by training intensity and specificity of the test, with higher loads generally leading to greater strength gains, and test specificity affecting the observed response.

To maximize strength gains, prioritize higher loads (e.g., 70-90% 1RM) over very light weights. Ensure your training intensity matches the goal of strength. If you are new to training, start with moderate loads and progressively increase intensity.

Weight loss is significantly associated with greater HbA1c reduction in patients following a carbohydrate-reduced diet.

Losing weight will significantly improve your blood sugar levels. For every kilogram you lose, your HbA1c is expected to drop by approximately 0.56 mmol/mol. Focus on sustainable weight loss through the carbohydrate-reduced diet and health coaching.

Intermittent Energy Restriction combined with a Mediterranean diet (IER+MED) significantly reduces visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and total fat mass more effectively than a continuous euenergetic DASH diet over 12 weeks.

To reduce visceral fat, try restricting calories to 30% of your normal intake for two consecutive days each week, while eating a Mediterranean-style diet (rich in plants, olive oil, fish) on the other five days. This approach may reduce belly fat more effectively than just eating a healthy diet every day without restriction. Ensure you are physically active, aiming for an hour of moderate exercise most days.