Lift for Show, Eat for Dough*

On the importance of nutrition relative to exercise to get and stay lean.

More and more people have been reaching out to me about health since I started writing Prime Cuts but especially in the last couple months.** 

The most common theme is fat and weight loss, yet the most common questions concern exercise. There is a subtle but super important distinction here. 

You don’t get lean from exercising. It’s great, don’t get me wrong, please (!) move your body everyday - but it is not the way.

You get lean first and foremost by nutrition.

You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet.

I don’t remember where I heard this line first. I didn’t make it up but it is the thing you must acknowledge, know and behave on to get lean and stay lean.

Exercise is phenomenal for many reasons, but if you do it like crazy and eat garbage, you will limit if not fully counteract results.

So, you gotta start with nutrition habits and lifestyle. No ifs, ands, or buts. 

The only possible exception is the ultra-marathoner and there’s only one of them reading this today that I am aware of 👋🏼 😉. Those mofos can eat anything.

For the three remaining January posts, I will address nutrition habits including:

01/17 - High Protein, Low Carbs/Sugar

01/24 - Eating Windows and Intermittent Fasting

01/31 - Sugar, Processed Garbage, Alcohol, and Supplements

* You all know that saying from golf - Drive for show, putt for dough. The idea is that hitting a big drive gets the oohs and ahhs but golfers win by putting well and saving strokes on the green.

** I am loving the correspondence, so keep it coming! You can hit me by replying to this letter if you get it by email or by emailing me directly at ppearlman@gmail.com if you are reading this online.