Struggling to Lose weight? or gain weight?

If I didn’t know better I’d bet you 50 gallions and a knut this teeny tiny picture would end up with half of Azkaban’s dementors kicking and screaming and shouting and yowling how awful and dangerous it is.

☕️Some dementors would be upset I put carbs on the fat loss side. “Carbohydrates!? Are you deranged!?” they’d shriek from underneath their cloaks. “Only a muggle would say you can eat carbs & lose fat!”

Other dementors would bemoan the fish (and all animal products, for that matter). I could have included chicken, turkey, beef, eggs yogurt & cottage cheese (all of which fit on both sides). “We’re not meant to eat animal products,” they’d hiss. “We saw a documentary called What the Health that said anyone who eats animals will live but a half life. A cursed life.”

☕️And still other dementors would decry the sugar in fruit. Others would castrate the notion of eating “unclean” foods like PB&J. And others would find something else to demonize.

Because that’s how the fitness industry thrives. Rather than understand everything works and whatever is “best” depends on the individual, fitness marketers say there’s one “right” way and everything else is not only wrong but actually terrible and dangerous and causes cancer.

☕️And this is why we have so many relentlessly dogmatic fitness cults.

Regardless, what I really hope you take from this post is this:

To lose fat you need to be in a consistent calorie deficit. Which means you will get hungry and that’s ok. Eating low-cal, nutrient dense foods (strawberries, watermelon, miso, fish, etc) is the best way to blunt hunger while maintaining your deficit.

To gain weight you need to be in a consistent calorie surplus. Which means sometimes you’re probably going to be full and still need to eat even if you aren’t hungry. Which is totally fine. Just make sure to focus on high-cal, nutrient dense foods (granola, rice, avocado, PB&J, etc) so you can get all your calories in without feeling like you’re going to essplode.

• I know it’s not fancy. But it’s realistic. Sustainable. And it works.