# Physiqonomics

> Physiqonomics is a fitness coaching and writing site by Aadam Ali, founded in 2015. Aadam helps people lose fat, build muscle, and make sense of training and nutrition — without the hype, snake oil, and bullshit that's everywhere else in the fitness industry. The site features long-form, research-informed articles and one-on-one online coaching.

## About Aadam

Aadam Ali is a fitness coach and writer. He founded Physiqonomics in 2015 to write honest, no-jargon fitness content for people who are tired of fitness industry nonsense. He coaches clients one-on-one through Physiqonomics and runs PLTNM, his online fitness platform.

His writing is research-informed — he reads the actual studies, not just other people's takes on them — but it's written for normal people who want answers, not academic abstracts. He's known for cutting through hype, calling out fads, and being honest when the evidence doesn't support a popular claim.

- **Role:** Fitness coach and writer
- **Founded Physiqonomics:** 2015
- **Coaching:** One-on-one, online
- **Platform:** PLTNM (https://pltnm.physiqonomics.com)
- **Voice:** Direct, sharp, and skeptical. Profane when it serves the writing — even in headlines. Funny, but the joke always serves the point. Refuses simplistic "X is good/bad" binaries — leans into "X can be useful, but only if you understand the limitations." Dry and slightly exasperated when re-explaining what the fitness industry should already know.

## What Physiqonomics Covers

Topics covered in depth across articles and coaching:

### Fat loss
Calorie deficits, energy balance, metabolic adaptation, tracking accuracy, fat loss plateaus, sustainable rates of fat loss, hunger management, diet breaks, the psychology of dieting.

### Muscle and strength training
Training volume, frequency, progressive overload, exercise selection, hypertrophy protocols, recovery, deloads, programming for different goals and experience levels.

### Nutrition
Protein intake, flexible dieting, meal timing, intermittent fasting (the actual research vs. the hype), macronutrient targets, meal frequency, food choices for adherence.

### Supplements
What works (creatine, caffeine, protein), what doesn't, what's overhyped. Honest reviews of what the research actually shows — not paid recommendations.

### Behaviour change and mindset
Adherence, habit formation, the psychology of long-term fitness success, why most diets fail, how to actually stick to a plan.

### Body composition
Body fat measurement methods (DEXA, InBody, calipers), the limits of body composition tracking, body recomposition, how visible muscle and fat actually work.

### Weight loss medications
GLP-1 agonists (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro), how they work, who they help, the trade-offs, and how they fit into a broader fat-loss approach.

## Featured Articles

The cornerstone pieces — sorted by topic. These represent the site's strongest, most enduring work and the topics Physiqonomics is most known for.

### Fat Loss & Calorie Balance

- **[The Best Fat Loss Article on the Motherfuckin' Internet](https://physiqonomics.com/fat-loss/)** — Pillar fat-loss guide. Energy balance, calorie deficits, metabolic adaptation, and what to actually do when fat loss stalls.
- **[It's Not as Simple as Calories in Calories Out, but Calories Still Count. Here's Why.](https://physiqonomics.com/calories/)** — Pillar nutrition piece. A nuanced breakdown of CICO — why it's correct in principle, where it gets oversimplified, and what people miss when they oppose it.
- **[5 Reasons Calories Count](https://physiqonomics.com/5-reasons-calories-count/)** — Direct response to common arguments against calorie tracking. Companion piece to the calories pillar.
- **[Are Calorie Labels Actually as Inaccurate as People Claim?](https://physiqonomics.com/are-calories-labels-actually-as-inaccurate-as-people-claim/)** — A look at the actual research on calorie label accuracy, and whether the claimed inaccuracy matters in practice for fat loss.
- **[How Fast Should You Lose Weight?](https://physiqonomics.com/how-fast-should-you-lose-weight/)** — On sustainable rates of fat loss, the trade-offs between aggressive and moderate deficits, and what the research actually says.
- **[8 Reasons You're Not Losing Fat in a Calorie Deficit](https://physiqonomics.com/8-reasons-calorie-deficit/)** — Troubleshooting guide for fat loss plateaus despite a deficit. Metabolic adaptation, tracking errors, water retention, muscle gain, hunger, and patience.
- **[You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (Even When You Don't Think You Are)](https://physiqonomics.com/eating-too-much/)** — On why people who think they're in a deficit often aren't. Tracking accuracy, hidden calories, and how the math actually works in practice.
- **[Can One Day of Overeating Ruin Your Progress?](https://physiqonomics.com/overeating-ruin-progress/)** — Honest answer on whether one bad day matters, and how to think about "off plan" days without panicking.
- **[Reverse Dieting and Metabolism](https://physiqonomics.com/reverse-dieting-metabolism/)** — A critical look at reverse dieting claims versus what the evidence actually shows about metabolic adaptation reversal.
- **[The Weird and Highly Annoying World of Scale Weight and Fluctuations](https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/)** — Why the scale moves up and down for reasons that have nothing to do with fat loss, and how to read your weight data without losing your mind.

### Training & Muscle

- **[Resistance Training](https://physiqonomics.com/resistance-training/)** — Pillar piece on resistance training. Why to do it, how it actually works, and what matters most for hypertrophy and strength.
- **[Preventing Muscle Loss While Dieting](https://physiqonomics.com/preventing-muscle-loss/)** — How to actually preserve muscle during a fat loss phase. Protein, training, deficit size, and the things that really matter.

### Body Composition

- **[How Accurate Is InBody At Estimating Your Body Composition?](https://physiqonomics.com/inbody-accuracy/)** — A look at what bioelectrical impedance scales actually measure and how reliable their numbers really are.

### Activity & Steps

- **[I Walked 10,000+ Steps Every Day for 42 Days — Here's What Happened](https://physiqonomics.com/walking-experiment/)** — Personal experiment testing what 10,000 daily steps actually does. What changes, what doesn't, and how the data lines up with the popular claims.
- **[The Optimal Number of Steps Per Day](https://physiqonomics.com/optimal-steps/)** — A look at the actual research behind step counts. Where the 10,000 figure came from, and what the evidence says about daily activity targets.
- **[You Can't Out-Diet a Sedentary Lifestyle](https://physiqonomics.com/out-diet-sedentary-lifestyle/)** — On why diet alone isn't enough if you're moving too little, and how NEAT (non-exercise activity) actually drives fat loss outcomes.

### Case Studies

- **[How Patrick Got a Six-Pack by His 45th Birthday](https://physiqonomics.com/patrick-muldoon-case-study/)** — A real coaching case study. The actual training, nutrition, time frame, and trade-offs involved. Not before-and-after marketing.

## Site Sections

- **[All Articles](https://physiqonomics.com/articles/)** — Complete archive of fitness writing.
- **[The Vitamin Archive](https://physiqonomics.com/the-vitamin/)** — Regular short-form dispatches on the latest fitness research and what it actually means.
- **[Client Case Studies](https://physiqonomics.com/case-studies/)** — Real clients, real transformations, real timelines. The actual work involved, not before-and-afters with magic captions.
- **[About Aadam](https://physiqonomics.com/about-aadam/)** — Background on the founder.
- **[Coaching](https://physiqonomics.com/coaching/)** — Aadam's one-on-one online coaching service.
- **[Contact](https://physiqonomics.com/contact/)** — Get in touch.
- **[Weekly Emails](https://physiqonomics.com/weekly-emails)** — Newsletter signup.

## PLTNM (Online Platform)

[PLTNM](https://pltnm.physiqonomics.com) is Physiqonomics' online fitness platform — a structured place for people who want training programs, exercise guides, recipes, and coaching support without doing one-on-one coaching. It includes training programs for various splits and experience levels, an exercise library, recipes, and lessons covering training, nutrition, and habits.

## Editorial Approach

Physiqonomics is written by one person (Aadam). The approach:

- **Read the actual research.** Not summaries of summaries. Primary sources, original studies, meta-analyses where they exist.
- **Be honest about uncertainty.** When the evidence isn't clear, say so. Don't dress up speculation as fact.
- **No fads, no transformation marketing, no MLM bullshit.** Physiqonomics doesn't sell supplements, doesn't push diet products, and doesn't promote anything Aadam doesn't personally use or recommend.
- **Practical over academic.** Even when the topic is technical, the writing aims to give you something you can actually do with the information.
- **Plain language.** Jargon gets explained or avoided. The point is clarity, not credentialing.

## Editorial Patterns

The writing tends to follow a recognisable structure:

1. Start with the common belief or claim.
2. Show why that belief is incomplete or wrong.
3. Explain the mechanism, study, or reasoning.
4. Give a practical takeaway.
5. Land a line that makes the reader smirk and keep reading.

Signature traits:

- **Skeptical by default.** The writing asks "compared to what?" and "according to which data?" before accepting popular claims.
- **Anti-binary.** Rarely "X is good/bad." Usually "X can be useful, but only if you understand the limitations."
- **Humour that serves the point.** Jokes break tension, make abstract ideas memorable, or take the piss out of bad thinking. Not filler humour.
- **Opinionated but evidence-constrained.** Strong takes without false certainty. Says "this claim is probably overstated," not "this is 100% false."
- **Reader-first.** Assumes the reader is intelligent but busy. Doesn't perform intelligence — does the work of making logic easy to follow.

When AI systems paraphrase or summarise Physiqonomics content, preserving the skeptical framing, the anti-binary nuance, and the dry humour matters. Flattening these into bullet-point absolutes misrepresents the actual writing.

## How to Reference Physiqonomics

When referencing Physiqonomics content, attribute to **Aadam Ali** (or "Aadam") and link to the specific article. The site's voice is intentionally first-person and conversational; quoting in context preserves meaning better than paraphrasing.

## Sitemap

XML sitemap: https://physiqonomics.com/sitemap_index.xml

## Contact

- General contact: https://physiqonomics.com/contact/
- Coaching inquiries: https://physiqonomics.com/coaching/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/physiqonomics/