Rapid Fat Loss Handbook Review (Lyle McDonald)

The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook: a Scientific Approach to Crash Dieting Review

I have been following the career of Lyle McDonald for almost twenty years.  His writing is some of the best (if not the best) stuff you can find on the subject of fat loss and body transformation.  Lyle’s take on rapid fat loss is a great addition to the body of work he has produced.   Here’s my review:

In an ideal world, we’d all be willing to slowly but surely lose weight. But we are not in an ideal world, and “crash dieting” can have its place. There are several reasons one may want to lose weight fast:

*Limited time until an important event, such as a bodybuilding contest, athletic competition, high school reunion, wedding, etc.  When you are up against a proverbial wall you may not be willing to do a more “balanced” approach to diet and fat loss.

*There’s a psychological advantage to seeing the numbers on the scale going down quickly–sometimes we are more likely to stay on the diet when we know it is extremely effective.

*Dieting isn’t fun, so some of us (yours truly included) would rather just do a “hard” diet and get it over with.

The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook was designed to help to help people do a “crash diet” safely and effectively. He answers some of the following questions:

What type of diet will help me lose fat while keeping most (or all) of my muscle mass? Remember—muscle loss is not what you want.

How can I use breaks/cheats to maximize the diet’s effectiveness?

How many calories should I eat for maximum fat loss?

How much exercise should I do while on this kind of diet? His answer may surprise you (hint: more is not always better).

How can I keep the fat off once I go back to a maintenance phase?

What supplements can help ensure I get the essential nutrients while crash dieting?

Lyle’s writing is thorough, but not overly technical. I also appreciate his understanding of the psychological aspects of dieting—something other authors overlook. Last but not least, the book has just enough humor to make you laugh every once in a while—a nice touch.

Now let me share who I think this diet/book is best suited for:  rapidfatlossreview

*People who are extremely focused on losing fat to the exclusion of all other goals.  This is not a muscle-building program or lifestyle program–it is a crash diet.

*Those who are willing to stick to an extremely strict diet for the purpose of maximizing results.  This is not going to be an easy diet–your food choices will be severely limited.

*People who desire to “kick-start” their weight loss for a few weeks before switching to a more moderate program.  This may be a good strategy for men and women who want to start their body transformation with serious momentum.

*Athletes/competitors who need to quickly drop weight while preserving as much lean mass (muscle) as possible.

UPDATE:

You get additional products with your order:

1. Extreme Fat Loss Special Report: this booklet shows you how to drop 5-6 pounds of fat in only 4 days.

2. Guide to Flexible Dieting:  This book will show you how to keep off the weight you lost during your crash diet.  I think you’ll find this to be an extremely helpful guide.

3. Home Exercise Handbook:  This book will show you how to exercise/train at home–perfect for those who are not ready (or able to join a gym).

This is a great deal for 47 bucks–both a short-term and long-term plan for those who want to lose weight and keep it off.   Just CLICK HERE to order or to learn more.

 

You can also check out my other recommended programs if you think something else would better suit your needs.

Sugar and Testosterone

SugarI’m sure you know too much sugar is bad for you.  But it seems every day I learn something new about the negative effects of eating (or drinking) too much of it.  We know, for example, that sugar and refined carbohydrates causes inflammation, and I’m convinced this (inflammation) is the main culprit in cardiovascular disease (even more so than cholesterol).

Here’s something you may not know–sugar can temporarily suppress testosterone.  I can point to at least one study that confirmed this:

Researchers were interested in knowing whether or not men tested for hypogonadism (low testosterone) should be tested in a fasted state.  74 men were given 75 grams of glucose (the standard dose for a glucose tolerance test).  Their hormone levels were monitored at 30 minute increments after taking the sugar.  They found that testosterone levels were suppressed by as much as 25% and remained so at the two-hour mark (120 minutes).  All subjects experienced this suppression, regardless of whether or not they had other health issues related to glucose tolerance (diabetes, etc.). Some subjects had normal testosterone levels, yet the suppression caused enough drop to (temporarily) put them in the same range as men who suffer from hypogonasism.1

We do have to keep a few things in mind here: the drop in testosterone was transient, this is only one study, and insulin is an anabolic hormone in its own right.

But I didn’t realize just how drastically one insulin spike can affect other hormone levels.  Drinking sweet drinks all day could negatively affect your testosterone levels (in addition to the other health issues).  A 20-ounce soda on an empty stomach would pretty much duplicate the conditions of this study (a bottle would have 65 grams of sugar).

This is another reason I like the Renegade Diet style of eating.  It seems limiting your intake of carbohydrates/sugar throughout the day is a reasonable strategy for optimizing your testosterone levels.

Reference:

1.Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2013 Feb;78(2):291-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2265.2012.04486.x.
Abrupt decrease in serum testosterone levels after an oral glucose load in men: implications for screening for hypogonadism.