[aspir]

I'm an amateur olympic-style weightlifter with a similar schedule to yours, and after trying every trick diet in the book I've come to the same conclusion. The only real advantage I can see from diets like paleo, keto, etc. is that they can make the average person feel satisfied with less calories. Also, processed high carb foods tend to be surprisingly high calorie bombs. But, it all comes down to cals in vs cals expended.

The discussion around _quality_ of calories, the mix of macronutrients for performance, etc is an entire separate can of worms.

[kjeetgill]

This rings incredibly true to me and I'm glad the idea is spreading. My diet philosophy pitch to people is this:

(Cribbed from my post above:)

THE BEST DIET to lose weight is about psychology 80% and nutrition 20%. Most of the value you're going to get by keeping your weekly calories low. You can try variations of macronutrients, meal timing and frequency, voodoo, etc. but the best one is the one you stick with, and can stick with long enough to reach your goals.

Maybe you'll need to think about essential minerals and nutrients if you're trying something really really extreme. But with even minimal variety you should be good.

[simonbarker87]

Interesting to get your perspective - when people ask me for advice on a specific diet I view them all as a way to help them eat less calories overall while not requiring quite so much shear will.

On your latter point my wife opened that can of worms in the run up to her first competiton and it got complicated!