This was me recently, on my 40th birthday:





Yeah, yeah, I'm flexing. But I have not been to a gym in 5 years.



This was me in February 2006, age 25-something:





If you have a long enough time horizon, here is how you too can get good results with "minimal effort". The title is an exaggeration: if you keep up what I describe for 5 years, you'll see the results in 5 years, and probably sooner.



Calories in, calories outIf you want defined muscularity, you need to hit low body fat. To hit low body fat, you have to use up the fat you have now. To use up the fat, you have to eat fewer calories than you are using.



Long term, there are no tricks or workarounds. You need to track the calories you eat, without exception.



There's a lot we still don't know about how the body uses calories. We don't know the effects of different gut bacteria on digestion. We know the bioavailability of different foods varies. You might get way fewer calories from food that is stale or raw …