Tyler Budwey, CSCS

Calorie Constraint Hypothesis

The days of simply “exercise more” are gone thanks to the work of Herman Pontzer and colleagues, showing that “the human body adapts dynamically to maintain total energy expenditure (TEE) within a narrow physio-logical range.”

This means that if you are struggling to lose weight, exercising more won't necessarily move the needle for you. If you are not meeting the recommended physical activity guidelines (resistance train 2+ days/week and accumulate 150 mins + of aerobic activity/week) then I would start there, as that will likely help, but beyond that, more exercise won't be the driving factor of weight loss. We need to reduce caloric intake to a point that the individual is in a negative caloric balance. This may change over time as well, as the system adapts and adjusts BMR and NEAT to account for dietary changes.

If you think you are eating at a certain calorie point but still struggling, you are likely underestimating your food consumption. Using a good food tracker such as will help put you on the right track.

Additionally, ensuring you keep your NEAT as high as possible won't hurt. NEAT is non exercise activity thermogenesis and is things like getting up to go to the bathroom, standing and walking around, scratching an itch, etc. So set a timer every 30-60 minutes to get up and move around for a few minutes. Go for a walk each day (this technically changes it to EAT but don't worry about it). Just try to keep moving, and do your best to avoid the sluggish slow down that comes with dieting.

#542

Losing weight can be a daunting task. This is not made any easier by all the conflicting information out there online.

The good news is that it's all wrong, and it's all right. There is no magic, one size fits all diet. There is no one diet that reigns supreme over any of the others for weight loss. Low fat, low carb, intermittent fasting, vegan, vegetarian, etc etc. When it comes to weight loss, they all focus on creating a negative caloric balance (more calories out than in), and tend to push people to make healthier lifestyle choices overall. This lends itself to weight loss, and the other positive health changes that come along with it. All the magic that people taut surrounding their special diet is really due to the negative caloric balance itself. Not only is it responsible for the weight loss, but it's responsible for the other health benefits as well.

The tips listed above will keep you losing weight at a sustainable and reasonable rate, while also preserving muscle mass, which is something we want to pay attention to when dieting. By hitting the RDA for protein of 0.8-1.6g/kg bw (which is low by the way, you should probably hit 1.2g/kg or more per day - see Phillips et. al. 2016) and resistance training twice a week, you aim to keep your muscle around while you work on losing weight.

Additionally, by aiming to hit 7,000 or more steps a day, you work to combat the decreases in components of total daily energy expenditure we see when we add activity or decrease calories. I'll do a post soon detailing some of Herman Pontzers work and the calorie constraint hypothesis.

#542

Reliable nutrition habits don't have to be complicated. The biggest mistake people make when it comes to habit change is trying to do too many things at once, or trying to make too drastic of changes right away. If you follow these basic outlines, you can set yourself on the right trajectory while slowly modifying habits over time.

Eat a diet with a wide variety of whole foods - The important thing to note here is this doesn't mean every meal every day has to be drastically different. You can eat the same foods almost every day and be perfectly healthy. It will simply benefit you to have those 2-4 meals each day look different, and have a different balance of foods and nutrients. Example - don't just eat white rice and chicken for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Prioritize fruits, vegetables, and lean protein - This one's self explanatory. These foods are filling, satiating, and have great vitamin and mineral profiles.

Prioritize sustainable habits - This is a little ambiguous so let me explain. As I said above, most people try to do too much at once or make too drastic of habits. Try setting small actionable goals to start, and let the compounding effect of multiple small improvements over the long term drive change.

About Me.

My understanding of pain and performance, and how those two things interact and affect one's life is bolstered by my own experience with pain, surgery, and the long and confusing rehab process. From 2014 to 2018, I was struggling with worsening hip pain that I could not overcome. I was told different things by different therapists, and was running in circles. My hip pain was progressing to the point it was affecting my ability to do the things I love, my energy, my mood, and my life. I finally went to see a doctor about it and what was discovered led to me getting surgery in 2018. I have spent the last few years rebuilding after a long debilitating period. Over that time I have come to learn more about pain, psychology, and logic. I have developed a more in depth understanding of how all of those things relate, and how logic errors sent me down the spiral that ultimately led to my surgery. I hope to be able to share my own experience to help provide support, understanding, and direction to people experiencing similar issues.

With personal experience in most organized sports, martial arts, tactical job requirements, and pain, you can rest assured I have the experience necessary to see things from your point of view, and to help you create a plan that works best for you.

My name is Tyler Budwey. I have been working in rehab and fitness since 2011. I started my career as a physical therapy aide, and moved into personal training and then strength and conditioning work. I have worked alongside physical therapists, athletic trainers, and served as the strength and conditioning coach for multiple high schools. I have helped youth, high school, collegiate, and general population clients navigate musculoskeletal injury, and return to their beloved activities. With a deep understanding of strength and conditioning and how it relates to movement and performance, I am here to help you reach new heights in all aspects of your life. Whether it be returning from an injury or general performance, my background and experience will help get you to where you want to be.

In my free time I enjoy hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, snowboarding, and grappling. I wrestled in high school and college, and train jiu jitsu now. I am a big fan of music, and in particular live music. I am a dead head at heart, and truly enjoy the jam scene. If I'm not doing something physical, I am probably hanging out with friends, my beloved girlfriend Sabrina and our cat Tiny, or at a brewery or concert enjoying my time.

If you're looking for a coach, chances are I can help. Shoot me a message to get to know me a bit.

I give you.. the one ring to rule them all.

Outside of a small percentage of social media pages, most rehab advice is trash. Most fitness advice is trash. Most health advice is trash. You are not going to be able to ascertain the necessary information and context from a social media post or even a combination of posts to diagnose yourself, or to navigate that space productively. Can some people? Sure. Should you. Probably not. It's simply going to be more productive to actually find and work with a qualified professional who understands the human experience, your experience, and all the factors influencing your situation. Having someone to bounce ideas off of and to help steer the ship makes all the difference with navigating pain, rehab, performance, and general progress.

HIIT is cool and has lots of potential health benefits. It realistically should find its way into your exercise habits in some way, at least from time to time. You're just probably not doing it right.

Circuit training isn't HIIT. Super setting exercises isn't HIIT. There is a big difference between feeling like you are working hard and actually working hard. For it to be HIIT, you need to be working at or very near to maximum effort. Think at or near either max heart rate or VO2 max. If you are circuiting a bunch of exercises, you're likely confusing general fatigue for actual output.

I do what I want.

Happy 4th ya filthy animals

Longer rest times are more effective for strength, power, and speed development. Strength, power, and speed just so happen to be what most people need more of. Id argue most people could go the rest of their lives without short rest circuits and incomplete rest sprints and be just fine.

See Lesinski et al. (2016) and Ikutomo et al (2017)

#542

If you're conditioning, sure, go ahead and condition. But if you're doing sprints under the guise of speed development, let the kids rest.

#542