On the other hand, and I’m sincerely not trying to be contrarian here because this is an outstanding article, it really does depend on your training.

I spent about a decade as a serious amateur marathoner. I logged ridiculous numbers of miles every day, and usually put in a 20 miler or thereabouts on a Saturday or Sunday.

My daily run would be anywhere from 6 mi to 12 mi, depending on where I was in my training cycle. I did a little weight training also for core strength and to try to not look like a skeleton.

I took one day a week off.

Let me tell you, I had to struggle to eat enough food to keep weight on. Pizza and beer? Bring it on!

So, while your advice is dead-on accurate, especially your numbers about lean muscle mass calorie consumption, sometimes you really can train your way to weight loss.

If you’re a maniac. ;-)