During 9 months of 2011 I was able to lose 50 lbs of fat. What did that take? I'll try to lay out how I did it, and give relevant links if you're interested.
The diet portion of my weight loss started with me reading The 4-hour Body. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's summary is as follows:
Rule #1: Avoid “white” carbohydrates (or anything that can be white).
Rule #2:Eat the same few meals over and over again.
Rule #3: Don’t drink calories.
Rule #4: Don’t eat fruit.
Rule #5:Take one day off per week and go nuts
This worked very well for me, I lost about 35 lbs using this method over several months. I don't know if the 'science' Ferriss is talking about is true or not. He posted lots of references to studies, but I didn't evaluate them personally. Specifically regarding insulin sensitivity stuff and so forth. One thing I didn't like about this diet was, during intense training, I would bonk. I would feel like I was totally out of gas. I feel like this was the result of the 'slow carbs' not replenishing my glycogen stores completely or something. It was funny because I would eat my bowl of beans with salsa and some meat and veggies, and still feel 'hunger'. Though I'm sure it wasn't hunger, and just my body whining that it wasn't a bunch of rice or something. Not sure if that craving was a conditioned response to a lifetime of too much carbohydrate, or because my muscles needed the sugars. Either way, there were some mentally tough spots. I felt real hunger during this time. This was a good primer for my next experiment in diet and fat loss.
More reading and more research led me to intermittent fasting. This is the method I used to lose the last 20 lbs, as well as maintain my current weight of 180 lbs. What I like most about this diet is that with a little bit of will power, and a change in attitude towards food, and some mental rearranging, it's sustainable for long term. The nuts and bolts of it are simple. Don't EAT for 24 hours, 2 or 3 times a week. So, eat lunch Tuesday, and don't eat again until Wednesday lunch. I do this usually sunday dinner/monday dinner, tuesday lunch/wednesday lunch, thursday lunch/friday lunch. What does this do? Here's a solid summary of the science. But in the broad sense, what you're doing is just not putting calories in. I'm able to train while fasted, no real issues. There is obviously hunger involved, and I feel real hunger while fasting. Not the usual "Oh look at the time, better eat" hunger. The book Eat/Stop/Eat is a good manual to follow. The website leangains is also a good place to learn about intermittent fasting.
One thing that was very convincing, and surprising, was just how few calories we need to maintain a low fat percentage composition. To get a pretty accurate idea, use the simple Basal Metabolic Rate calculators online. When doing the calculator, I always purposely underestimate my daily activities, lest I overestimate them and wonder why the hell I can't lose weight. Turns out a person my height should probably eat about 1700-1800 calories a day to maintain a healthy weight. I am barring body builders with lots of extra muscle here, but a guy my height (using the Body Mass Index charts) should weigh probably 170-180. If you're 6'0", then you should probably weigh about that much too.
There is also some scientific research that shows fasting may help kill cancer cells. Here's an article about that. This is relevant to me, obviously.
The hardest parts, but ultimately most liberating are the self control issues that I had to overcome. Like I said, real hunger is something I have been facing regularly, by my own choosing. My friend Larry L. noted them as 'brain hacks' you can do to help with the mental toughness it requires. The most useful one I have used is "Hunger is the feeling of your body burning fat." I try to revel in the hunger and know that I am doing my body good and reaching my goals. The results have been well worth the occasional irritability and discomfort. It also makes food taste better to me. If you know you will get lunch every day at the same time, and you can have whatever the hell you want... then what's the fun in that. But when you go 24 hours without eating, going to Willy's Burrito to "break your fast" is like mana from heaven.
The other important thing to do is to consider your caloric intake on a weekly basis, not daily. So if I pig out on Saturday and Sunday , I try to eat smaller meals for the rest of the week, in addition to my fasts. I could probably continue to lose weight if I didn't take any cheat days, but I like to take my wife to dinner, and I like beer, and I like eating a pizza every once in a while. I'm able to hold strong at 180lbs and train as hard as I want. It's a balancing act, but it's very doable. It affords me the chance to live a normal social life, and not have to eat rabbit food when I go to a steak restaurant. Which brings me to another point.
The alternative proven diet technique would be caloric restriction. The problem with that approach, for me, is I'm very inclined to overeat. I don't like weighing portions or thinking too hard about portions. I prefer to chose healthy foods that I can sort of gorge on, and then plug the fasts in to keep overall caloric intake in check.
One more thing that I feel obligated to say is that fat composition should be controlled by diet, and muscle mass, cardio, or sports performance should be controlled by exercise. You can run for an hour and burn only 400 calories. That's like 2 sodas. But sleeping on the couch all day, just being alive, burns you 1800 calories (my basal metabolic rate, your mileage may vary). It's just not worth trying to exercise your way thin. Go back and read the first sentence of this paragraph again. Then watch this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQbuzsY_34Q
The only way I alter the eat/stop/eat diet is I'll allow myself a few tablespoons of 1/2 and 1/2 in my coffee, and have some BCAA/Glutamine powder after training, go give some repair fuel to the muscles. I believe these are leangains principles. I got them from Larry L.
Nothing of the above has anything to do with Macro-Nutrients or food type selection. There are probably optimal combinations of fat/protein/carbohydrates, but until you can keep from eating a surplus of calories above your basal metabolic rate its just not worth worrying about.
Anyway, I'm only a user of this method, and not a nutritionist. But I advocate it, for what it's worth, based purely on personal experience, and stories from friends who follow the same system.
That's all I can think of for now.
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