Okay, everyone. After much research and thought, I’m going to try an experiment for a few weeks to see what sort of results I get. I’ve read The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook before, and even gave it a half-hearted attempt back in the winter of 2008/2009. I gave up before I saw measurable results, partly because I didn’t quantify or track in a specific manner ANYTHING. I returned to this recently and decided to give it another look. I’ve read hundreds of pages of conjecture and several actual published studies on the diet I am starting today, so if you have questions or concerns for me or my health, please don’t hesitate to comment and I’ll try to respond in a timely manner.
So what I am doing, specifically? It’s called a protein-sparing modified fast, and it’s similar to the first phase of Atkins in that virtually no carbs are consumed on it. PSMF says almost all calories will come from protein. There are free meals twice a week (not pig-out sessions, mind you, just a brief, moderate, increase in carbs) that accompany workout sessions and a structured 5hr refeed once every 8-10 days to help upregulate leptin levels, though that won’t happen right away, considering my present BF%. The internet has an amazing amount of information about PSMF; if you’re interested, I suggest teh googlez for some basic knowledge and background.
I love the test of willpower aspect of it. No bullshit, just pure will informed by pure science…maximally efficient. I’m going to try to be more regular with my blogging now that I’m starting this, and provide you all with handy weekly breakdowns of my progress with a handy table, seen below. Mostly, I want to focus on the emotional aspect of severe caloric restriction in my semi-daily recaps, since the actual breakdown of foods is pretty elementary for anyone. How it affects my day, thoughts, head, social life (or lack thereof, given what I’m proposing), etc. I also have never measured/kept track of nutrients as meticulously as I plan to do during this, so the thought of tracking all these things is appealing to the data geek in me. (Maybe a Daytum integration??) Maybe I’ll even get to do some sweet infographics for you guys recapping my progress! Anyway, that’s about it for this first entry. Sound off in the comments if you have requests for content from me.
EDIT: Created a dedicated page at the top for my log. I will keep it as up to date as possible (read: daily)
Wow, that’s barely any calories. I’m going to have to do some reading on this one. Are you taking a multi vitamin?
Brenna, my apologies; when I posted that table, I had only consumed a morning protein shake. My table has now been updated with my entire first day’s calories. Furthermore, I have estimated my total intake for today (5/20) just to “fill out” the table a bit more. I think though that I will begin updating the table at night instead of the morning as it’d be more convenient for me.
Regarding supplementation, I take a basic multivitamin (Centrum), 500mg of magnesium, 1g of potassium, 600mg of caffeine, 6g of EFA (fish oil caps), and 1g of calcium daily, split up into 3 doses to coincide with my meals.
For reading, may I suggest Lyle McDonald’s excellent, and exhaustively researched, website at: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com
I can also “loan” you his books in PDF format if you’re interested in getting down to the nittygritty.