Why 95% of all Dieters Relapse in Less Than 3 Years

In this week’s episode of Your Best Life, Karl interviews Layne Norton, who is a self-confessed science geek that likes to lift heavy things. Layne has a PhD in Nutritional Science from the University of Illinois, along with a Bachelor of Sciences from Eckerd College. He is a professional natural bodybuilder and power lifter who has been winning competitions since 2001. Layne has multiple championships to his name and is the current USAPL 93kg national champion and the IPF 93kg world silver medalist with a world record 668lb squat. His company, BioLayne LLC, provides top-level nutrition and coaching to elite athletes around the world. During this episode, Layne and Karl discuss magic foods, flexible dieting, protein, the body composition hierarchy, why diets fail, willpower, and the true ketogenic diet.

Main Questions Asked:

• What surprised you the most in your pursuit of your PhD?
• How has bodybuilding changed over the years?
• How much protein is enough for someone who wants to add muscle but doesn’t want to compete?
• Does protein quality matter?
• Is soy protein something we should be concerned about?
• What plant-based protein do you recommend for vegans?
• What do you tell your clients to focus on?
• What keeps pulling people off the wagon?
• How do you feel about supplements?
• Where do people get the right guide on what is good nutrition?

Key Lessons Learned:

• Predisposed is not predetermined. Genetics loads the gun, but it’s behavior that pulls the trigger.
• When calories are controlled, high fructose corn syrup isn’t any worse for you than most other sources of carbohydrate. The problem is that people over consume high fructose corn syrup.
• There are no magic foods.

Studying The Studies

• There is a need to develop scientific consensus.
• There is a difference between correlation and causation, but most people don’t understand the distinction.
• A study that has an ‘association’ with something else means little without context.

Bodybuilding

• Natural bodybuilding associations drug test and don’t allow steroids or HDH.
• Bodybuilders try to raise testosterone to extreme levels of what is normally found in the body (3-4 times the norm).
• When it comes to testosterone, bodybuilders are very different to those who are deficient and want to restore that deficiency.

Protein

• Protein is the thermogenic macronutrient.
• 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day is a good starting point to build muscle.
• For example, If you are 200lbs, then 140g of protein would be a minimum per day.
• Literature suggests there are little issues with safety, even up to the point of 1.5g per pond of protein per day.
• The response is maximized around 1g per pound of body weight.
• The anabolic effects of protein are tied to one amino acid, which is leucine.
• If you choose high quality protein sources that are high in leucine such as a whey protein, eggs, and meat, then you won’t need as much protein as you would if you chose a wheat or soy.

Soy Portein

• Research regarding soy protein is inconclusive.
• Soy is okay to consume in moderation, but it is advised not to be consumed as your sole or major protein source.

Protein for Vegans

• Rice and pea proteins are best for vegans and have about 8% leucine.

Diets and Failure

• 6 out of 7 people who are overweight or obese will lose a significant amount of bodyweight during their lifetime.
• Within 1 year of weight loss, 70% of people will relapse to their previous weight or greater
• Within 2 years, 85% of people will relapse to their previous weight or greater.
• Within 3 years, 95% of people will relapse to their previous weight or greater.

Inconsistency & Compliance

• The number one reason people fail at their fitness goals is because they aren’t consistent.
• The focus needs to be on sustainability and compliance.
• You need to be able to see yourself doing the same eating and training plan in 5 years.
• As long as you control protein and total calories, you can pretty much pick want you want to do.

Willpower

• It's difficult to separate psychology from physiology.
• Don't choose a training or diet program that requires the maximum amount of willpower. Choose the one that requires minimal.
• You don’t get to choose where your willpower comes from so that when everything gets stressful we can still stick to it.
• Often simply identifying behavior will stop it, as it kicks up back into being mindful.

The True Ketogenic Diet

• A ketogenic diet has less than 20% of calories from protein and more than 65% of calories from fats.
• A true ketogenic diet is low in protein, as it can be converted to glucose.
• The first week, you’ll have low energy while you adapt.
• Even one high-carb meal can pull you out of ketosis, and you will have to start the cycle again.
• If you are keto-adapted, you will burn a high percentage of calories from fats.

Metabolism

• Metabolic processes are highly involved and regulated.
• You are always storing and burning body fat simultaneously. It’s the relative rates of each that determine whether the overall effect is storage or loss.
• Matabolism is not an on and off switch.
• Meal frequency doesn’t seem to make a difference in terms of fat loss.
• High insulin will impair fat burning. This has to be looked at in an overall 24-hour contest.

Thank you for listening!

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Links to Resources Mentioned

BioLayne.com

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