I’ve long been critical of the theory that you need to be in a big calorie surplus in order to build muscle. Now, new research has come out to support the idea that a fattening calorie surplus is not only unecessary, but it can compromise your long-term ability to look and feel great.

Now, some new research, presented by the REPS research summaries offers to shed more light on the fact that you probably won’t benefit from being in a big calorie surplus. Plus, the amount of calories you do need to build muscle is such a small amount that you’re probably already covered if you have a satisfying and healthy diet.

Here’s just a few of the references to the research (there’s not enough space to post them all here.)

TRE studies:

1. ​Chang Y, Du T, Zhuang X, Ma G. Time-restricted eating improves health because of energy deficit and circadian rhythm: A systematic review and meta-analysis. iScience. 2024 Jan 26;27(2):109000. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109000. PMID: 38357669; PMCID: PMC10865403. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38357669/
2. ​He M, Li B, Li M, Gao S. Does early time-restricted eating reduce body weight and preserve fat-free mass in adults? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2024 Feb;18(2):102952. doi: 10.1016/j.dsx.2024.102952. Epub 2024 Feb 5. PMID: 38335858. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38335858/
3. ​Maruthur NM, Pilla SJ, White K, Wu B, Maw MTT, Duan D, Turkson-Ocran RA, Zhao D, Charleston J, Peterson CM, Dougherty RJ, Schrack JA, Appel LJ, Guallar E, Clark JM. Effect of Isocaloric, Time-Restricted Eating on Body Weight in Adults With Obesity : A Randomized Controlled Trial. Ann Intern Med. 2024 May;177(5):549-558. doi: 10.7326/M23-3132. Epub 2024 Apr 19.PMID: 38639542. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38639542/

Calories for building muscle:

1. ​Slater GJ, Dieter BP, Marsh DJ, Helms ER, Shaw G, Iraki J. Is an energy surplus required to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy associated with resistance training. Front Nutr. 2019;6:131. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2019.00131.PMID: 31482093.
2. ​Larson-Meyer DE, Krason RK, Meyer LM. Weight gain recommendations for athletes and military personnel: a critical review of the evidence. Curr Nutr Rep. 2022;11(2):225-239. doi: 10.1007/s13668-022-00395-3. PMID: 35233712.
3. ​Trexler ET, Jagim AR, Torres M, Potter ND, Ketterly J, Kerkow-Provo Z, et al. Fat-free mass accretion: limits, targets, and best practices. Strength Cond J. 2026;48(4):521-539. doi: 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000986.
4. ​Hall KD. Mathematical modelling of energy expenditure during tissue deposition. Br J Nutr. 2010;104(1):4-7. doi: 10.1017/S0007114510000206.PMID: 20132585.

Conventional programs demand rigid progression standards, like hitting set rep counts or times, to advance. While these offer order, they are often arbitrary and stressful. Beautiful Strength Program 2.0 introduces “Freestyle Progression,” letting you adjust difficulty anytime. This freedom enables autoregulation and a more consistent training stimulus. Success comes from creating that stimulus your way, not from meeting arbitrary benchmarks.

Finally build a strong body that looks as good as it feels with the Beautiful Strength Program: https://bit.ly/4jxTjEE

Much of the difficulty in eating well and remaining lean stems from the mistaken idea that health comes from avoiding harmful foods.

A strategy based on food avoidance appears simple, practical and straightforward. However, it often makes healthy eating impractical and inefficient, especially because defining what is harmful is hard. Everyone holds different views, and history suggests we have never succeeded with this method.

Attempting health through avoidance also risks overlooking key elements that support eating well and staying lean.

That’s why the Beautiful Strength Program doesn’t use dietary restriction and food avoidance. A healthy diet is much easier to achieve when you eat for the sake of good outcomes as opposed to avoiding bad ones.

It also makes getting and staying lean a heck of a lot easier just as long as you have these major items checked off.

Watch this brief on video: https://youtu.be/zousRVUojq8

Finally build a strong body that looks as good as it feels with the Beautiful Strength Program: https://bit.ly/4jxTjEE

Statistically, you are likely not a hard gainer. Although building muscle is difficult, most “hard gainers” do not struggle against genetics while trying to grow muscle.

Instead, they rely on the outdated idea that muscle growth centers on stress and recovery.

Focusing on stress and recovery creates gaps in your plan, which explains why you struggle to build muscle regardless of how “right” you eat and train or how hard you push yourself in the gym.

Stress and recovery belong to the muscle-building process, but they do not cause growth.

The actual process involves stimulus and adaptation, and this list covers the most important elements for generating that stimulus and supporting adaptation.

Finally build a strong body that looks as good as it feels with the Beautiful Strength Program: https://bit.ly/4jxTjEE

Watch this brief on video: https://youtu.be/mzKXgVUCX4M

A lot of common diet methods aren’t actually about eating for the sake of health and wellness. Instead, they are about avoidance.

Avoiding “bad foods”, avoiding weight gain, avoiding illness and so on. Such habits aren’t about winning, they are about trying not to lose.

That’s why ideas like Intuitive eating, which use auto-regulation in your diet can feel scary. It feels like you’re going to put yourself at greater risk of negative consequences when you eat in a flexible manner.

And that’s true, if you don’t have a clear objective that you’re trying to achieve with your dietary habits. That’s why eating to satisfy in the Beautiful Strength Program changes everything. It recognizes that a healthy diet doesn’t make you avoid detrimental effects by forsaking “bad foods.” Instead it helps you pursue as much benefit as possible by satisfying your hunger & metabolic support, nutritional support and hedonic support.

Because when you eat to satisfy, you’re eating to win and that makes a flexible approach through intuitive eating a lot less stressful, but also far more beneficial.

Look & Feel Great with the Beautiful Strength Program: https://bit.ly/4jxTjEE

Fitness trackers can provide a wealth of data like heart rate variability and sleep scores, but they can also be misleading for helping you auto-regulate your workouts.

Instead, the smarter play is to base your training more off of your overall strength and energy level that you assess in your Warm-up.

Get the Beautiful Strength Program: https://bit.ly/4jxTjEE

A lot of fitness rules out there will have you believe that your workouts are only effective if you cross some sort of an imaginary finish line.

Do an hour of cardio

Do X-number of exercises per muscle group

Always do X-number of sets and reps.

Eat at least X number of calories, protein, etc.

This finish line can be a good guideline, but it can hold you back if you can, and need to do more to achieve your objectives. It can also force you to work beyond your means when time, energy, focus, and other resources are in short supply.

That’s why auto-regulation can help you overcome the illusion of an imaginary finish line so you always do enough, but never too much.

Get the Beautiful Strength Program: https://reddeltaproject.com/rdp-books-on-pdf/ols/products/beautiful-strength

Eating for health and fat loss may seem complementary, but they are actually two different things with competing objectives.

The objective of a healthy diet is to support your needs and satisfy your appetites. This naturally reduces stress on your body, mind, and lifestyle.

Meanwhile, a fat loss diet involves some degree of stressful restriction for the objective of creating a negative calorie balance.

These two competing objectives are why many people struggle with both healthy eating and fat loss when they attempt to do both at the same time.

Get the Beautiful Strength Program: https://reddeltaproject.com/rdp-books-on-pdf/ols/products/beautiful-strength