Tag: Diet

Diet: the truth about planning your calories and nutrition for maximum results (weight loss, etc.).

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.

Diet Soda and Weight Gain

Does diet soda cause weight gain?  I’ve been meaning to write about this for some dietcoketime.

Let me start by saying this: I have a diet soft drink every once in a while.  According to conspiracy theorists I should be dead soon (or at least have grown an extra appendage or two), but I feel just fine.  Yes, I’ve always been a little skeptical about the alarmist articles floating around the internet regarding the dangers of artificial sweeteners.

Now let’s consider something else: we know that sweet drinks (like regular sodas) are a major factor in obesity.  One of the first things I tell people who want to lose weight is to eliminate all liquid calories (except milk).

But diet sodas have also been demonized, and I’ve run across articles claiming they cause weight gain (and other random health problems).  Most of these drinks have zero calories, so there are only a couple of scenarios I can imagine that would cause diet soda to be associated with weight gain:

The first possibility is that artificial sweeteners cause some kind of insulin response. But I’ve yet to find any convincing evidence that any artificial sweetener affects insulin (sorry–don’t feel like citing and analyzing every study I’ve read on this).  Unless I see some new definitive research I’m comfortable saying diet sodas have little to no hormonal impact as far as fat loss goes.

The second possibility is that drinking diet soda is connected with weight gain in some indirect way.  Remember: correlation is not the same thing as causation.   Consider this: what if those who drink large amounts of diet soda simply haven’t “trained” themselves to lower their intake of sweet drinks/food?  This scenario (or something like it) would easily explain why some researchers find a connection between drinking diet soda and weight gain.

A recent study done by Dr. Jim Hill has caught my attention (Dr Hill is a physician at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Health and Wellness Center).  It was funded by the beverage industry, but it seems to be pretty well-designed.  300 subjects were divided into two groups.  One group was told to drink only water and completely avoid all soda consumption.   The other was allowed to drink diet sodas.  The subjects were followed for 12 weeks.  The “water-only” group lost an average of 9 pounds, while the diet soda drinkers lost an average of 13 pounds.

What’s the lesson here?  Something I’ve written about several times: compliance. Water is certainly a better choice than any kind of soda (diet or regular).  But those who were allowed to use artificially sweetened drinks simply had an easier time complying with their diet–this helped them be more successful in their efforts to lose weight (much like those who eat carbs at night).

The bottom line: I don’t see anything wrong with using diet sodas if they help you avoid liquid calories and stay within your daily caloric limit.  I would encourage moderation, of course, but that goes for about anything you consume.