Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body

by Michael Matthews

as far as your body weight is concerned, how much you eat is far more important than what you eat. Don’t believe me? Just ask Kansas State University Professor Mark Haub, who lost 27 pounds in 10 weeks eating Hostess cupcakes, Doritos, Oreos, and whey protein shakes.1 Or a science teacher, John Cisna, who lost 56 pounds in six months eating nothing but McDonald’s.2 Or Kai Sedgwick, a fitness enthusiast who got into the best shape of his life following a rigorous workout routine and eating McDonald’s every day for a month.3 I don’t recommend you follow in their footsteps (the nutritional value of your diet does matter), but they prove an indisputable point: you can lose fat and gain muscle while eating copious amounts of junk food. The key to understanding how this works—and to understanding what really drives weight loss and gain—is energy balance, which is the relationship between energy intake (calories eaten) and output (calories burned).