Yes! You Can Out-Train A Bad Diet!

[@Fitand50Formula]

You can’t out diet poor training either! Great line

[@Vasilia4]

Depends on your goal. If you just want to lose weight, you don't need to excercise

[@MrBeckenhimself]

Completely agree. You absolutely can outtrain a bad diet. I know. I need between 4500-5500 calories a day just to maintain my 75 kg bodyweight due to my very active lifestyle. I'm on the move most of the day. I walk between 20-40 km daily. I weight train 5 days a week and do sprint training twice. I also skateboard and snowboard a lot. So I burn so many calories a day a super healthy diet wouldn't cover my calorie needs. My diet is far from perfect but still my constant active lifestyle keeps me lean year round.

[@RedDeltaProject]

Damn man, you're a machine! Pure work ethic right there. 💪

[@omarbenyoussef185]

Just eat more healthy food for ex instead of having a cheese burger for lunch try having 3kg of rice and chicken breasts you’ll see the difference my friend.

[@MrBeckenhimself]

@@omarbenyoussef185 Chicken is notoriously unhealthy I stay away from that.

[@alexjulius69]

@@omarbenyoussef185 Holy shit if only I could eat 3kg of rice and not turn into a flab. I'd be bingeing that all day

[@omarbenyoussef185]

Aleksas Ivanauskas Lol you can but the problem is not getting fat, I suppose constipation would be a nightmare 😂

[@armandoguerra3460]

I’m soo glad I found this video. This is something I had been thinking about lately. I had always wondered why this myth existed since most people have bad diets (eat what they want) and only gain a relative small of weight a year….they don’t become fat over night. But if they just simply picked up running or some form of exercise they could easily lose weight without changing the diet…..hence you can outrun a bad diet 🤷🏻‍♂️ the problem is people want to see quick results and trying to lose weight this way will take longer than changing their diet and most give up. Some experts will say that increasing your exercise will make you eat more and this is true but not at a 1 to 1 ratio….you probably eat 40-50% back and the rest you burn ….to me that’s a great deal!

[@tdtellem]

You made a light bulb go off in my head. People don't gain all that weight overnight. It happens slowly over time. 😮😮😮😮

[@scottyg5403]

When I hear or read that intense physical activity doesn't help you lose weight I laugh. When I was much younger and I went into the military I lost over 50 pounds and I was running, boxing and doing calisthenics. The thing was I didn't really know much about diet at all and I was still eating all kinds of food. Now at this age yes my diet does make a huge difference but the fact that people say exercise doesn't influence weight loss is BS! Great video !

[@mhs21981]

A doctor once said to me 'sitting is the new smoking'. This made me realise how important physical activity is.

[@traceyseymone706]

This is so true. Lost 76 pounds eating bad diet but worked out two times a day( no cardio- just lifting) Doctor said I’m very healthy. He still doesn’t believe I had a bad diet. But I still eat veggies and crap lol

[@RedDeltaProject]

Wow! Congratulations again Tracey, most impressive indeed.

[@Anton_G_604]

That is fantastic. I love some of my bad diet choices but I don't eat bad all the time. As long as I maintain a good level of activity and training, I'm actually losing weight.

[@someone-oe1mo]

What was youre before body tho

[@traceyseymone706]

@@someone-oe1mo it was pretty bad. I had my son and gained a lot of weight. I was 245 pounds and I'm 5'3.

[@guillermosilva5905]

Fitness guru: You can’t outwork a bad diet. The US military: hold my beer.

[@salimr4718]

Thanks to you, I suddenly feel guilt-free. I can beat that gut any time I want.

[@Isaiiahii]

In 2010 I rode a bicycle 2500 miles (from Montana to Kentucky) in 43 days and lost 30lbs while eating nothing but pizza, burgers, and fries, and drank beer at night on occasion. Heck, I was even smoking cigarettes at the time, though only 2 or 3 a day. I averaged about 60 miles a day and was pulling a trailer that weighted 60lbs with my food and gear, which half the time also had my 60lb dog in it. I knew nothing about fitness and diet at the time, but after my trip was over I was in very good shape and definitely out-trained a horrible diet.

[@RedDeltaProject]

Holy Hell! That's insane! That's about 54 miles per day, which I know some folks may think that's not that much but to do that most every day take some real dedication. Much respect to you Isaiah!

[@Isaiiahii]

@@RedDeltaProject Thanks! I had to take days off. I pushed hard the first 2 weeks and then one day my body said enough and after about 12 miles I had to stop. I also took 3 days off once in the middle of the trip which really strengthened me greatly. It also helped that before the trip I had spent 6 weeks in the Montana wilderness alone, going on long hikes, and doing a lot of manual labor most days. I still wasn't in bike shape though. The first day of my trip I did 45 miles into a 20mph head wind which was tough. I took two days off after that first day. Of the 43 day trip I took 6 or 7 days off.

[@fitlawnguy]

Great video. I've been out training a bad diet for years but I'll buckle down every 6 months or so to speed up my metabolism and 'reset'. I know I won't be able to get away with this forever but I'm enjoying it now while I still can.

[@commanderpipi1youknowfromp730]

That's what I'm sayin since the dawn of time. Thank you you're awesome. Thumbs up keep going.

[@oldgeezerfitnessr.perales7344]

Been beating my less than perfect diet for. 30 plus yrs.....when I powerlifted I never let my weight go above 225 regardless of the junk I ate. And then when I reached 60 I knew I had to change my stroke.....changed my eating and training....lost 25 plus pounds. Down to 200........ Have cheat days but keep my weight at 205. Don't miss or even have a desire for junk food anymore at 68 yrs of age.....

[@markmacfarlane3169]

I have lost 14 pounds of body fat over 12 weeks solely by running without altering my diet. I simply adopted the Maffetone method and ran in a fasted state which maximised my body's ability to use fat for fuel. Once burnt it seems as simple as the fact that my body didn't put the fat back on as fast as I was using it for fuel. I simply ran 8 miles per day at 70% of max HR 5 days per week and pushed a tempo/intervals on a Saturday. I was averaging 6000 kcal per week in fuel useage and possibly ate around 2500kcal in extra food vs prior. This equated to 1 pound of fat loss per week and my Garmin scales show that exactly that happened. Bottom line, yes you can outrun a bad diet and running is the best exercise to lose weight, you just need to do a hell of a lot of it. So the question of whether you can outrun a bad diet comes down to how much time you have to dedicate to the running. I'd go further and say that walking can get even better results as you can cover even more miles day in day out walking without needing too much recovery. I know that I can certainly cover 50% more miles per week walking than I can running and walking is only 20% less calorie consuming per mile than running. It's all about time ultimately

[@damiancheckley5725]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You sir, are amazing! You have a way of explaining things that just makes sense, well done and keep up the good work!

[@akinwale8356]

This is good stuff. I have seen people employed in health food stores but are relatively inactive. Yet have seen well tuned athletes with limited knowlege of nutrition stay in top notch condition. Thanks as always for your insightful videos.

[@jurjenbavelaar1558]

I tend to agree with you, but I think the statement "you can't outtrain a bad diet" should be aimed at people who think along the lines of; "Aah, had a good 10 minute stationary bike-ride, let's have a Big Mac, I earned it!". Same thing (but different) I am a huge proponent of flexible diets and "living a little" as I think fitness & health should be done in a sustainable way. Only, for some people it's just way easier to restrict entire food groups/sources because of a lack of discipline. Not saying it's ideal & I don't support doing stuff like that "for life". But I believe that, the further you are into your fitness & the more you know about your body, rules as "you can't outtrain a bad diet" start to decline so to speak. It's about your baseline. Fix your baseline and you'll be fine without stressing.

[@RedDeltaProject]

I fully agree. I think this saying kind of started out as a word of caution and warning around the ideas you mentioned. I just feel it's gone a bit too far and has become a bit of an absolute that bends the true influences of diet and exercise.

[@jurjenbavelaar1558]

Agreed! I recently had a discussion with someone who wants to lose some bodyfat. He's now running 20 kilometers (sorry, Dutch) a day, while on an OMAD protocol with a 25-30% caloric deficit (not counting the running..). People really need to simplify their approach in both diet & training a lot, hence, think about the sustainability of their actions.

[@justinorosas9927]

Hannibal for King says he eats junk food. Dude is a beast and got me into calisthenics.

[@RedDeltaProject]

He was one of my early influences too, super impressive and an amazing physique.

[@danpenia219]

Yeah but he doesn't say the ammounts. You can eat junk food and stay in a caloric deficit and you will lose fat anyway. (but it isn't healthy)

[@SniperOwnageLol]

Hello! I'm eating a cupcake, and I approve of this message.

[@RedDeltaProject]

Just one?! :)

[@kunjananisad2937]

@@RedDeltaProject lmao

[@hristiannedkov1708]

Your confidence, ability to present and sience-based facts (instead of baseless claims) make the video great! Keep it up

[@iammysteria7141]

Very true...i train really hard and i usually eat till im not hungry, it can be anything from pizza to chicken to chocolate milk etc and i still can see my abs also im not a genetically gifited individual

[@maxwellschmidt235]

Fantastic take on the subject. One addition that may be worth considering is thermal effect of environment. Especially as winter comes, we may have some control over our environment, but we may opt to let some of that cold affect us. Challenging the body's ability to maintain thermal homeostasis is a very natural energy burner, and I think our overly controlled environments are impairing our use of this category of caloric expenditure. A bit of a digression, something that's been bouncing around my mind every time someone says that weight loss is just physics. There is a truth there, but isn't it also a chemical problem? If you don't put the right nutrients into your body to synthesize the right chemicals- or put in too many which promote the wrong chemicals- to mobilize and use stored energy, the physics problem of energy intake vs. expenditure doesn't work right. It's just a scientific question that I'm not quite educated on, but see as problematic when various fitness personalities reduce it entirely to laws of thermodynamics.

[@RedDeltaProject]

As you pointed out there's a lot of things to consider. The mistake about referring to calorie balance isn't in thinking it may be flawed it's in finding that it's vastly more complicated than we like to think. As you pointed out influences like weather, temperature and the chemical makeup of food are all important. They don't disprove the law of thermodynamics, just widen our perspective of what influences it.

[@maxwellschmidt235]

RedDeltaProject agreed- people who completely or mostly discount calories in/calories out, or pretend they're a special case do a big disservice. But I do think that there are things that work differently on chemical levels at extreme ends of weight- for example I've heard the bulletproof coffee may actually have positive weight management/energy effects due to the vaunted grehlin response for people in the 10-15% body fat range, while the rest of us are less than likely to get any benefit from the fad. This still categorizes into thermic effect of food, I just think that some of the most hard over who say that all you need to do is count calories miss out on the fact that there's also a chemical process going on to access energy for calories out.

[@griffinf5781]

Where did you gain all this knowledge? Just curious, like what did you study?

[@karsbakker3682]

Griffin F i gain my knowledge from him, this guy is simply amazing

[@RedDeltaProject]

Curiosity is the best teacher. I'm just blessed by the fact that I live in a time when what is supposed to work in fitness and what actually happens are still somewhat different. You can learn a lot of lessons by looking at the gap between the two.

[@romeoapl123]

I eat fast food like everyday and train super hard and everyone things my body is great

[@micahbinns2740]

Probably you are not eating enough fat calories to get fat....all you have to do is match and you will stay the same....Also genetics play a key role in being easier to keep fat off....A person with a average or below average workout routine and eat fast food wouldn't work.

[@Bodyknowledge77]

So well said! I endorse and live what you vocalized.

[@ForHonorUSMC]

Interesting video. I'm wondering however, do you take into consideration the effects of processed foods, additives, chemicals and other harmful components that simply can't be changed with exercise? Since not all calories are created equal, there are some things that no amount of exercise can change.

[@RedDeltaProject]

yes and no, all calories are created equal, but all foods are not. The quality and type of foods we eat do play an influential role in many things from our energy levels to digestive health. Some of these things can be improved with being more active, for example, our bodies ability to utilize refined carbohydrates improves by being more active, but other things are different, like the chemicals and such you mentioned.

[@cloudlink2542]

"You can't out train a bad diet" Me working for a junk removal company 8-14 hrs,, lifting weights and doing bjj, eatting everything in sight, drinking alchohal, having to add protein shakes just to keep my weight up. Every sat back and just feel your body actually using almost everything single thing you eat and drink? Weird feeling, but feels good. Perhaps office people can't out train a bad diet. I can't sit for hours a day.

[@Siarakram]

I can out train a bad diet because I’m 17 and I am very active all I eat is chips and chocolate and ice cream

[@DMANNstar]

Correction* YOU are 21 😅😢😂🎉 times running outtttt

[@waterwong12]

I wish you were right. I've been running around 80k per week for the last few months. However my BMI didn't even drop for a bit at around 24.5 and yes I still have a gut, no 6 packs whatsoever. (20-25% BF according to google pic)

[@RedDeltaProject]

While you can out-train a bad diet, there's also no guarantee whatsoever that exercise will cause weight loss or a loss in body fat. After all, there's no such thing as a weight loss exercise. That's a big of a different topic altogether.

[@blueresonantmonkey3188]

..A So-called diet itself would have to be defined. And that is impossible, being that it would be a case-by-case basis. There is no dodging the bullet of eating whenever you want and whatever you want and expecting "training" to make up for the lack of actual nutrition that the body is receiving and essentially being made-from energy wise. Live food vs dead food. As we know, raw health has more to it than what we can measure. There is an infinite spectrum that an individual can fall upon when we consider every calorie for their nutritional content or lack thereof. A valid additional idea to this video would be 2 get more from your training by coming to grips with the best diet humanly possible especially with all the circumstances we deal with in the world today. Thank you for everything this channel is monumental and it is a huge influence on my own endeavors thanks red Delta project

[@SiMon-cy8hb]

Great stuff Matt

[@darkengine5931]

I hate this saying so much that I used to have a channel called "outrun your fork" which might have leaned too far in the opposite direction. I deleted it when I started worrying that I might enable some people's worst eating habits instead of gradually improving them. But the reason I hate the notion is that I've known so many obese people struggling with weight loss. The stereotype is usually that these people got obese because they gorge themselves on junk food every single day without a care in the world. There are some like that but the vast majority I know want desperately to lose weight and can name endless diets they tried and failed. These people need a proper, sustainable path and some hope typically. And of course, most will fail if they try to cut out all their favorite foods in a single iteration. I would fail hard if I did that too. I knew a guy close to 300lbs and he was always on a diet. He always struggled to lose fat and of course he'd binge like a maniac frequently; he told me once that he ate an entire birthday cake designed for an entire party of people in one sitting and he felt so guilty about it and thought himself a complete and hopeless failure. And he probably wouldn't binge that hard if he just looked around and noticed, as you pointed out, that many people can be slim with something far short of perfect nutrition... a single glance around at a restaurant (including fast food like a pizza joint or a McD's) should reveal that there are plenty of people who can be at a healthy weight/body fat percentage without being perfect with their nutrition. I'm one of them; I can afford at least a large pizza to myself once a month with some beers and I have a six-pack in my 40s. So this is getting deep into the nuance of semantics and psychology -- but I often think these sayings like "weight loss is 80% nutrition" or "you can't outrun a bad diet" -- given how many laymen interpret it is counter-productive to their health and even their weight loss. It can give the false impression that people have to eat perfectly to slim down and that physical training isn't a vital component for health, or that health isn't a vital component for sustainable weight loss. I think we should be emphasizing the idea of "progress over perfection". While there's a certain logic to the notion that nutrition dominates our ability to lean down and stay lean as you beautifully pointed out, humans are complex and emotional beings that have a tendency to interpret things a certain way (sometimes an extreme way) and often different from intended. I don't hate any saying that suggests that reasonable nutrition is vital to getting or staying slim, but too many people in my experience interpret "perfect" here instead of "reasonable".

[@cleggydadon]

i eat 1500 cals a day 14 stone i usually go to 16 stone within 6 months doing no exercise and i can lose it in 3 months 4 days a week running only

[@jakecavendish3470]

There's an old saying: "Three be the things you can't outrun; a burger, a cat and an angry nun."

[@erickacooke3748]

Thank you, you’re totally ace !!

[@brianteskey2425]

Yup I’ve done it !

[@Fallibleandflawed]

Thanks for the info

[@ramoolesunmies4628]

I don’t understand why someone would eat 5k calorie a day. In army we eat 3k calories per day, even we lift and run 5km everyday 💯

[@RedDeltaProject]

A lot of it depends on how much time you're active each day too. When I was racing, I was doing a minimum of 2-3 hours of heavy cardio activity each day. Sometimes, 4-5 hours/day on the weekends. hell, I've burned well over 5K calories on just a single bike ride at times. Granted, that takes a lot fo your day, but it's certainly poassible

[@nikosc]

How about adding weight in muscle tissue

[@oldgeezerfitnessr.perales7344]

Kinda depends on what the goal is......at 58 yrs of age. My goal was to maintain strength and not allow my weight to go above 230 lbs while still being able to be in some kind of condition... I ate anything and everything I wanted , mixed in weight training with kettlebells stuff ,, sandbag carries...sled dragging...bodyweight and band circuits, my female training partner and I even did a 41 flight competitive stair climb!! After several yrs my knees, back hips, and every other joint I messed up in 50 plus yrs of training..judo highland games throwing etc. Forced me to cut my weight back and after a change in diet wound up a month later at 201 lbs...lost some strength but at 67 yrs old that's ok!!! If my goal was to be ripped or beautiful at the beach things would have been diferent..........i was able to do an 8 hour a day 40 HR work week and still. Get in good training despite the cherry cheese cakes etc. Mine is about performance thru out life....not once in any job was I asked to pose and be ripped in order to get and keep the job!!!

[@emilemil1]

Diet being 90% is a reasonable estimate if you consider how hard it is to affect calorie expenditure. Even if you exercise a few hours each week, that's still probably about a 10-20% increase compared to no exercise. On the other hand, dropping your calorie intake by 10-20% is rather trivial. 200kcal is like 20-25 minute jog, or one donut.

[@NathanPark3r]

Glad to hear this, Matt. I'm cutting on a 20k calories diet. Gym bros and dogmatic eliteists kept telling me that they wouldnt work or that is bs. Now after hearing your confirmation of my beliefs, i now have confidence to try idea since someone has confirmed it. Thanks for letting me know that i can out train this since i love eating my Sneakers -Braien

[@AnaHenrickson]

Very well said Matt.

[@crisch5670]

I am poor :'v, I am from Guatemala. I have a very poor diet, and when I train freccuenly a feel holy crap, I feel really tired :'( I can't train properly, sometimes I eat 1500 calories only.

[@RedDeltaProject]

In this case, keep your volume low so your'e not burning too many calories. I would say just one working set per muscle group 2x a week for now. See if that helps.

[@crisch5670]

@@RedDeltaProject thank you for your help Matthew

[@soldierside365]

Matt.... was that a Simpson’s reference I hear you make?

[@RedDeltaProject]

Bingo! Nice catch on the "easter egg" there. :)

[@soldierside365]

RedDeltaProject this is why I subscribe 👍🏼

[@TriniGirlNatural]

I get so annoyed when people say this. There was a flawed study saying diet was 70% that caused this myth.

[@RedDeltaProject]

A lot of myths in fitness can be traced back to a single study or event that was often taken out of context. It's one of the reasons I find the history of fitness practices so fascinating. So much of what we think is well-established is actually built on pretty shaky research.

[@n34z3r]

Thanks for the vid Matt. I was 1 of those that said you can't out train a bad diet and actually it was today talking to a former coworker.

[@RedDeltaProject]

It's not a bad idea and can be a good guideline in a general sense. It just become limiting when we take it as an absolute rather than recognizing the fact that diet is just a really big influence.

[@thomasharrison6367]

I can remember years ago reading about a German prisoner of war fashioning a log for lifting. Obviously the food was not great but he allegedly put on 30lbs during his stay!

[@Webstertheology]

Wow that's an amazing story bro any other war stories?

[@marlonfreiha458]

Hey matt i was wondering if u could offer me some advice. I stalled on step 3 handstand pushups and i cant hold the wall handstand for more than 90 seconds. I've stalled for months and im not progressing. Do u have any suggestions to break through this plateau? Thanks

[@pajaroprofeta]

Go back to an easier progression like shoulder push-ups, if you can't progress in an exercise then do another one that makes you feel more confident. Also focus on your breathing and stretch your shoulders more often.

[@RedDeltaProject]

Going to an easier progression can be a good idea. Also, try to make progress in areas you may not have thought about. Look to open your shoulders more or get your shoulders closer t your ears. Hows the tension control in the muscles in your arms, back, core, chest and hands? Check your breathing and make sure you're not tensing your diaphragm. Above all, look to see what's changing in your technique as you get tired. See if you can work on improving your performance later in the set.

[@cristophervescio5824]

sorry but you Said two different things with some of your videos.You Said That surplus/deficit is not what we have to do to build muscles/lose fat.In this video you Said That the balance between cal.int.and cal.ex. is the key to Gain weight/maintain /lose weight.So,I get confused,we have to calculate the calories That we eat or eat to satiety?

[@RedDeltaProject]

Eat for satiety, although sometimes it's good to get a rough calculation of your calorie intake and expenditure to get a ballpark idea of where you're at.

[@headicuss]

Wow this video is just amazing

[@GabrielSilva-dg6tf]

cool new intro

[@awol6574]

So it means if you want to gain weight with a bad diet I would have to decrease physical activity

[@dustinrudzavice2561]

If you train hard enough you can seen it locked up

[@ibrahimismail8670]

Exercise is King, Nutrition and Diet is Queen.

[@RedDeltaProject]

.....and fitspiration is the court jester.

[@daleg.9673]

Need to define what a bad diet is.

[@RedDeltaProject]

Quite true. One part of this video I left out is that I typically think of a bad diet as one that doesn't provide adequate nutritional support and creates deficiencies. So in that regard, yes you can't cure a vitamin C deficiency with exercise. I figure though that this saying is more about outpacing overeating with exercise and not so much about malnutrition.

[@timetothrive1637]

I'm going to have to disagree on the BMR change to a degree, you may have to make reasonably big lifestyle changes but you can make a massive BMR change a couple of months.

[@RedDeltaProject]

I agree, in some cases that can happen, but I've usually noticed it with folks who go from one lifestyle to another.

[@richarddavis5289]

You cannot out train a bad diet. I've been working out for many years and just started eating properly. It's absolutely a noticeable difference. I was having a lot of brain fog, and since my diet change I've been able to think clearly. It's amazing

[@theexistenshield]

Care about micronutrients and phytonutrients, also enzimes and gut bacteria if you really gonna care about diet, macros need to be good quality for any program to be sustainable.

[@ferooref7614]

"You can not out-train a bad diet" means that u can not build more muscle just by increasing number or intensity or volume of workouts and doing nothing with ur diet(no nutrient for recovery).

[@RedDeltaProject]

Actually you can, the last 10 pounds of muscle I've built have been all from my workouts. No changes to the diet at all.

[@ferooref7614]

RedDeltaProject maybe your body just progressively asked for more food and u didn t even notice and ate larger portions....

[@patriknn1]

Yes, but of course a bad diet will have other negative consequenses..

[@kimysok5657]

you re good at public speaker eh

[@RedDeltaProject]

Thanks Kim! Hope to do more on the public stage some day, once we can all get past this whole Covid thing

[@VirideSoryuLangley]

I think you're missing the point here. Yeah you can out-train a bad diet, but it's a very bad strategy for most people. Just a small snack is usually 150+ calories, and it can be consumed in a minute. How long does a person have to exercise to burn 150 calories? A lot longer than 1 minute. So you can eat a lot of garbage and still be in shape, but you're going to have to dramatically increase the duration and frequency of your workouts. It's much easier to just eat less. People tend to underestimate how many calories they're consuming and overestimate how many they're burning, so they need to be reminded that they can't out-train a bad diet or they're probably gonna fail.

[@RedDeltaProject]

I agree it may be easier, but for some poeple, it's not. In my case, I was too focused on diet back in the day but I was not very active. Becoming more active did more for me than any changes in my diet ever did, but that was my situation. This video was more about treating this saying as it is, it's a good general rule of thumb but not at all an absolute.

[@darkengine5931]

​@@RedDeltaProject I'm similar but it might also be cultural. I'm from Japan so I tend to think a "bad diet" is like eating junk food 2-3 times a week which I can still do just fine in my 40s (as well as many Japanese) and stay fairly lean, whereas I've seen in the US some people eating junk food like 12+ times in one week. Also, the king-sized stuff in the US is monstrously large, like a soda the size of my entire head served at movie theaters. It is too big for me even though I can eat large American pizza easily in one sitting. I at least can't drink a soda bucket as big as my entire head along with it or else I feel sick. But I was also a competitive athlete growing up always pursuing gold medals, and I love training and can do it for 2+ hours/day and still enjoy it (and when I was a teen competing, frequently 4+ hours/day). But I also love the pizza and beer and cheeseburgers and fried potatoes and pasta. It is easier for me to just train harder than try to avoid everything I love to eat and drink. I get flabby from being too sedentary and can lean down again just resuming my training. Yet also here in Japan, many of us don't have cars so we tend to briskly walk or cycle 2+ hours/day just to commute to/from work and run daily errands, and also hang out with friends. I think too many people focus on the Japanese diet. It's not really that healthy: lots of empty carbs in the form of rice/noodles, junk food is very popular among youth, and there are lots of calorie-dense fried foods. It is very possible for a girl who is only 5'2 to eat 2000+ kcal/day and stay quite slim, and I think that 2+ hours of brisk walking/cycling every day helps with that.