The idea is that either long-term fat loss or muscle gain are impossible is clearly ridiculous. There are simple existence proofs. How does the world have athle

The idea is that either long-term fat loss or muscle gain are impossible is clearly ridiculous. There are simple existence proofs. How does the world have athletes? Go look at the master's division of a natural bodybuilding or tested powerlifting competition. Or the master's division in some 5k or 10k road race. Are the lifters bigger and stronger than they were 30 years ago? Of course they are. Are the runners fat? Of course not. What research shows, unfortunately, is that taking a bunch of people in some kind of shape they don't like, applying a point-in-time intervention that changes it, and then going back five years later usually results in finding they went back to how they were before. That doesn't mean changing your physical condition for the long-run is impossible. It means there is no such thing as a point-in-time intervention with permanent effects. You need to make a permanent lifestyle change to see a permanent effect. The overwhelming majority of people will never do that, but it absolutely does not mean you can't do it.