Top all-time · #1531
L
Lyle McDonald
Personal blog · bodyrecomposition.comhealthscience
Lyle McDonald writes Bodyrecomposition, a personal blog at bodyrecomposition.com about health and science. Since 2008, 47 different Hacker News readers have linked it 78 times, most often “How We Get Fat”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-08-05, and you can follow it by feed.
78mentions?
13recommend?
47HN people?
2008–2023first – last linked?
Sometimes recommended · 13 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Lyle McDonald's bodyrecomposition.com for articles on fat loss, nutrition, energy balance and dieting science, and often recommend it as a starting point.
- Recommended for · 13 comments
- Called the best nutrition source; keto e-book 'the best thing I've ever read'; a 'really good article' on calorie cuts.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
The Home of Lyle McDonald
Most-linked posts?
- /fat-loss/how-we-get-fat.html3 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2013-02-19
- /fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html3 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2010-11-08
- /3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-01-03
- /2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-01-09
- /research-review/straight-talk-about-high-fructose-corn-syrup-what-it-is-and-what-it-aint-research-review.html2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-09-20
- How We Get Fat2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-08-13
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2008-04-18
- /nutrition/how-many-carbohydrates-do-you-need.html2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-03-14
- /fat-loss/is-a-calorie-a-calorie.html2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-04-18
- /nutrition/nutrient-intake-nutrient-storage-and-nutrient-oxidation.html2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-02-12
What Hacker News says?
Low carb doesn't mean no carb. If you limit meals to 5-10 grams of carbs or less, most low carbers would be happy. [1] One of the more extreme low carb diets, the Atkins Induction Phase, allowed up to 20 grams per day. Other diets such as keto or The Zone allow 50-100 grams. [1] http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/how-many-carbohyd...
Comment linking /nutrition/how-many-carbohydrates-do-you-need.html
on “Show HN: Automatic weekly meal planner, also plans your leftovers”Submitted Effects of Moderate-Intensity Endurance and High-Intensity Intermittent Training as a story · 6 points
HN discussion"Carbohydrates do not make you fat." Yes, they can, though it is rare. More accurately: - Fat loss is ultimately about caloric deficient sustained over time and adjusting for metabolic adaptation. - Sustaining that deficit over time (diet compliance) is highly variable. For some is easier with carbs than it is with protein or fat. YMMV. So, yes, your diet works, but the problem is that many people wouldn't be able t…
Comment linking /fat-loss/how-we-get-fat.html/
on “Machine Learning and Ketosis”Submitted How We Get Fat as a story · 3 points
HN discussionFair point. There is research which shows your BMR may drop after sustained reduction in caloric intake, far below what your body weight would indicate. Probably one of the more well known recent ones was: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.21538/abstrac... - which shows the effect can go on for several years. Here's a really good article discussing caloric-reduction, impact on Leptin (key hormone involv…
Comment linking /muscle-gain/calorie-partitioning-part-1.html
on “Machine Learning and Ketosis”Submitted Should You Train when Sick? as a story · 1 points
HN discussion>That's because low carb diets cause stored glycogen in muscles to be shed Uh huh. >That's not really true Yes it is. Bodybuilders cut with low fat, not low carb. http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/how-many-carbohyd...
Comment linking /nutrition/how-many-carbohydrates-do-you-need.html
on “This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again”Start here: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/a-primer-on-nutri... http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/a-primer-on-nutri... Then explore the rest of the site: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition When you're ready, start reading LeanGains: http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debun... http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html
Comment linking /nutrition
on “Cutting Back Sugar Improves Obese Children's Health in Just 10 Days”It's frustrating for sure. And it's not as simple as everyone makes it to be. The calorie in / calorie out has a lot of variables that need adjustment. It's very important not to go on an aggressive diet but requires working down from what you consume right now where the weight is stable (maintenance calories). Unfortunately, what most people don't talk about is the effect of LBM loss and its effect on the RMR/BMR […
Comment linking /fat-loss/lean-body-mass-maintenance-and-metabolic-rate-slowdown-qa.html/
on “The Sugar Conspiracy”Oh dear, intervall training. http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/stead-state-versus... Spillover can be very significant, regardless of training. It depends on the makeup of the trainee. The body doesn't work like that (first muscle, than fat) for most people. It's a constant flux in and out of the cells and the overall trend over weeks and months matters for your body composition. For that reason muscle gain…
Comment linking /fat-loss/stead-state-versus-intervals-finally-a-conclusion.html
on “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food”> It is completely orthogonal to weight but insulin resistance makes it much easier to gain even more weight. Insulin sensitive women on the high carb diet lost nearly double the weight as insulin sensitive women on the low-carb diet. Similarly, insulin resistant women lost twice the weight on the low-carb diet as on the high carb diet. https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/insulin-sensitivity-a... > It is entirely…
Comment linking /fat-loss/insulin-sensitivity-and-fat-loss
on “Thoughts on the potato diet”Lyle McDonald is the best source out there. His website at http://bodyrecomposition.com has a near-endless wealth of articles. Alan Aragon's work ( http://alanaragon.com/ ) is on a similar level, and in many ways he's a kinder, gentler version of Lyle. However, his best stuff is only available as part of his subscriber-only Alan Aragon's Research Review. James Krieger is another one whose website at http://weightolo…
Comment linking /
on “Salt, We Misjudged You”> the uselessness of "calories in, calories out." There's nothing useless about energy balance. It can be misinterpreted and misapplied, but Taubes throws the baby out with the bathwater and pretends it doesn't apply at all. For example, classical low-carber mythology is that on a low-carb diet you can eat virtually unlimited calories (as usually defined) and maintain weight, if perhaps not lose weight outright. As…
Comment linking /fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html
on “Salt, We Misjudged You”It's actually a sign of insulin over-secretion rather than poor insulin sensitivity. However, in practice, there are signs as to whether you have good insulin sensitivity or not and possibly whether you over-secrete insulin. Here’s two very simple questions to ask yourself regarding your response to diet. 1. On high-carbohydrate intakes, do you find yourself getting pumped and full or sloppy and bloated? If the form…
Comment linking /fat-loss/insulin-sensitivity-and-fat-loss.html
on “Intermittent Fasting Is Gaining Acceptance”Lyle McDonald: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-freque... Probably the best and most researched article on this. Bullet point 4 here: http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debun... has an article reference. Basically, you can certainly go into starvation mode, but not in any reasonable amount of time. Skipping meals or even fasting for a whole day will not cause "starvation mode…
Comment linking /research-review/meal-frequency-and-energy-balance-research-review.html/
on “Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?”Even at a basic level, that's not true. Despite popular myth, the body can derive 1.5/2 cal/g of fiber as well. > While there is still some debate in the area, researchers have assigned a caloric value to fiber of 1.5-2 cal/gram (depending on the specific type). Source: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/fiber-its-natures...
Comment linking /nutrition/fiber-its-natures-broom.html
on “What Does 200 Calories Look Like?”Here's the explanation from an expert - http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-we-get-fat.htm... "Carbohydrates are rarely converted to fat (a process called de novo lipogenesis) under normal dietary conditions. There are exceptions when this occurs. One is with massive chronic overfeeding of carbs. I’m talking 700-900 grams of carbs per day for multiple days. Under those conditions, carbs max out glycogen st…
Comment linking /fat-loss/how-we-get-fat.html
on “What Does 200 Calories Look Like?”I recommend Lyle MacDonald, http://www.bodyrecomposition.com he's quite scientific to his approach, plenty of material can be found on youtube and on those 'sites' you know of ;) Pdf such has http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-rapid-fat-loss-handbook have helped me structure great nutrition programs.
Comment linking /the-rapid-fat-loss-handbook
on “A Call for a Low-Carb Diet”I could have posted a better reference for that claim, but I was actually very busy when I wrote that. This article by the same author (Lyle Mcdonald, a revered expert on nutrition) clears up that point very well: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-we-get-fat.htm...
Comment linking /fat-loss/how-we-get-fat.html
on “John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar”>The insulin response to sugar is the primary way your body stores fat and sugar itself is readily converted to fat This is a common myth, but it's wrong. Dietary fat is what is primarily stored and leads to weight gain during caloric excess; dietary carbs just decrease the amount of fat being used for energy, but can also get stored as fat tissue during overfeeding in a process called de novo lipogenesis (which is…
Comment linking /nutrition/nutrient-intake-nutrient-storage-and-nutrient-oxidation.html
on “John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar”Forgot to post the link to the original citing article. http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/training-the-obese...
Comment linking /fat-loss/training-the-obese-beginner-part-2.html/
on “Calories in, calories out”Coming from Lyle McDonald, one of the most respected trainers in the industry.. "Some of this also comes from the still gross misconception that ‘muscle burns a ton of calories’ (a myth I took apart in Dissecting the Energy Needs of the Body – Research Review). That is, they hope to jack up metabolic rate by increasing muscle mass. Which is a futile activity because the effect is minimal (on top of the fact that the…
Comment linking /research-review/dissecting-the-energy-needs-of-the-body-research-review.html
on “Calories in, calories out”But neither is loading 3x your bodyweight onto your spine "natural". What does "universally accepted as one of the best natural movements" mean? - As you suggested to the previous comment, please "Provide some data or get out of here". It all depends on your objective and goals. As with everything moderation is key. A balanced program of squats, deads, pushing exercise (chest/pecs) and a pulling (back/delts) is best…
Comment linking /muscle-gain/squat-versus-leg-press-for-big-legs.html/
on “Raising the American Weakling”I highly recommend people reading a similar story by Lyle McDonald, called No Regrets [0]. He drops everything to become a world-champion short-track speed skater, which is miles and miles less competitive than professional golf. [0]: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/no-regrets-part-1....
Comment linking /training/no-regrets-part-1.html/
on “An Average Guy Who Spent 6,000 Hours Trying to Be a Professional Golfer”Interesting to see how mainstream intermittent fasting has become. It's worth noting where it started. A few years ago a few hardcore fitness fanatics started playing with the idea of using controlled fasting for weight loss and/or body recomposition. Two people that should be mentioned are Lyle McDonald[1] and Martin Berkhan[2]. Martin especially made IF popular via his blog, laying out the principles he used as a…
Comment linking /
on “Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body”Lyle McDonald's e-book on Ketogenic Diet is probably the best thing I've ever read. It's well referenced and pretty comprehensive. http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-ketogenic-diet
Comment linking /the-ketogenic-diet
on “Always Hungry? Here’s Why”Up your calories. Since you're a vegetarian keep eating tons of veggies (snack on them all day if you can), actually everyone should take this advice. Eat nuts, great source of cals, good fat and healthy. Personally I like something better than peanuts. Find a whey protein powder that you like. This will require some trial and error. Drink a serving post workout. In a pinch, chocolate milk will work fine. http://www…
Comment linking /muscle-gain/an-objective-comparison-of-chocolate-milk-and-surge-recovery.html
on “The Startup Diet: How I Lost 35 Pounds While Working Overtime”Agreed, the best diet is the one you can adhere to over the long term. Here is a great series comparing dieting approaches: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/comparing-the-diet...
Comment linking /fat-loss/comparing-the-diets-part-1.html/
on “A 12-Hour Window for a Healthy Weight”Congrats ! A few points: - metabolism: http://examine.com/faq/do-i-need-to-eat-six-times-a-day-to-k... - Losing weight = eating less than your TDEE. Training more is a bonus, all you need to do is eat less to lose weight - what do you call a protein diet? around 2g/kg of bodyweight is enough ( http://examine.com/faq/how-much-protein-do-i-need-every-day.... ) - alcohol is ok if you are not abusing it (ie a 6 pack is…
Comment linking /
on “Losing 58.3 Lbs for Science”This series of articles[1] goes into some depth in explaining why certain countries (and ethnicities) dominate various sports - this includes an in-depth discussion of why Kenyans are so good at distance running. The author focuses on genetics, location, support, training, incentives, culture, etc. of various combinations of these sports and the countries that seem to dominate them. It's not yet complete and is quit…
Comment linking /training/why-the-us-sucks-at-olympic-lifting-part-1.html
on “Is it wrong to note 100m winners are always black? ”
