Here's the quick rundown if you're not into the whole shock value thing: I didn't get sick. I lost 11 pounds in 15 days. Of that, I estimate I lost around 7.3 pounds of fat and only about 1.1 pounds of lean mass over the 14 days of the quick diet. Not bad for a cubicle dweller, eh?
And, no, I have no idea if these results would be typical if you were to try it. But at a 1,300 calorie a day deficit or so, you're bound to see some scale movement.
By the Numbers - How I Lost 11 Pounds
The diet was based on Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Handbook, modified to mesh with my wife's eating habits (OR you decide: another explanation is because I'm a wimp and I would have had to cut further in the fat/carbohydrate categories to follow it 100%). In essence, I targeted around 1 gram per pound of lean mass daily, but I cheated a bit on the fat side when cooking.
(His manual is highly recommended, by the way - above all else it will help you understand diet design when doing a modified "Protein Sparing Modified Fast". The is the third year I've done some form of it in the Spring.)
Here are the days by the numbers, with the re-feeding day on the 19th:
| Date | Calories | Carbohydrates (g) | Fat (g) | Protein (g) | Dietary Fiber (g) | Weight (lb) | Workout? |
| May 19th, 2014 | 1653.0 | 208.9 | 33.2 | 131.1 | 5.4 | 174.0 | |
| May 18th, 2014 | 1959.7 | 112.4 | 83.7 | 167.8 | 10.2 | 170.0 | x |
| May 17th, 2014 | 1224.6 | 28.5 | 71.0 | 117.8 | 7.0 | 172.4 | |
| May 16th, 2014 | 1576.5 | 86.6 | 65.9 | 150.1 | 7.0 | 172.4 | x |
| May 15th, 2014 | 1147.3 | 15.5 | 54.0 | 141.7 | 1.1 | 172.8 | |
| May 14th, 2014 | 1393.5 | 19.8 | 48.8 | 193.9 | 3.0 | 173.0 | |
| May 13th, 2014 | 1231.9 | 35.1 | 58.8 | 138.0 | 2.8 | 173.2 | |
| May 12th, 2014 | 1340.9 | 19.3 | 54.6 | 177.3 | 1.7 | 174.4 | |
| May 11th, 2014 | 1209.1 | 55.1 | 65.9 | 119.0 | 9.7 | 176.2 | |
| May 10th, 2014 | 1978.2 | 88.8 | 65.8 | 138.6 | 10.9 | 175.0 | x |
| May 9th, 2014 | 1248.8 | 15.5 | 66.8 | 132.9 | 3.7 | 176.6 | |
| May 8th, 2014 | 1228.7 | 9.6 | 47.1 | 174.4 | 2.5 | 177.0 | |
| May 7th, 2014 | 1200.8 | 46.2 | 43.3 | 149.4 | 3.5 | 177.6 | x |
| May 6th, 2014 | 1180.6 | 16.6 | 47.6 | 138.4 | 2.6 | 178.4 | |
| May 5th, 2014 | 1108.6 | 27.8 | 28.4 | 163.6 | 3.3 | 185.0 |
I took caliper body fat readings on the first day of low carbs, the 6th, and on the last, the 18th - I got 15.5% on 5/06 and 12% on 5/18... that's how I quoted the lean mass/fat poundage in the introduction.
I averaged consumption of 1,378.8 calories, 52.4 grams of carbohydrates, 55.7 grams of fat and 148.9 grams of protein a day. Because of that, this diet was a rousing success - I estimate I probably would keep my weight flat around the 2,600 to 2,700 calorie a day mark (read: I expected to lose around 5 real lbs). I reduced my workout days from 3x a week to 2x a week during this span, and didn't do any cardio other than yard work, either - go figure.
A note: you can't really count that 185 lb day - one feature of reduced carbohydrate diets (really, anything below around 75-100g a day) is the massive drop in water weight in the beginning. Dropping to 178.4 overnight obviously isn't sustainable - 6.6 lbs a day would mean I would weigh in the mid-90s at the end, on a 5'10" frame. The real weight loss is reflected in the low carbohydrate days - 178.4 to 170.0.
I lost 11 pounds, here's how it looks on a graph...
What's Next? What's Your Goal?
I plan on taking a few days off, then back to the grindstone (maybe even tomorrow - it might be a lean weekend!). My final goal is to be in the single digit body fat percentages - somewhere under 166.7 pounds at 150 lbs of lean mass. And, yeah, long time readers will note that I'm not using BMI - at 174 lb I'd be overweight (25.0 BMI) at 12% body fat... good joke!
Who said folks with a day job had to be in bad shape?
