Cheat to Lose Diet

You know, I've never been a fan of these different weight loss "concepts" we see popping up all around us. Lots of these books offer bits and pieces of good advice, but on a whole, I don't think they're all that great.

For me at least, it took changing my lifestyle by getting active, exercise, and eating the right foods. When people ask me how I lost weight and I respond with "diet and exercise" - (diet as a noun of course, not a verb) it's almost as if they didn't believe me. Nope, it didn't take diet pills, a trainer, or some special "concept."

The cardio they talk about is HIIT High intensity interval training. It is the best way to lose fat, google it, you don't need to buy a book.

This is nothing new and he didn't make it up. Cycling calories and carbs has been around for decades. Here's one way, go no bread/dairy/fruits Mon-Fri with healthy fats, veggies and protein, eat healthy but whatever you would like to on the weekend (no restriction on carbs but dont go too crazy..if carbs go up, fats have to go down), repeat and lose weight. Just another fad book now focused around the new hot topic of the hormone "Leptin". Oh yeah...he is also promoting a supplement which I am sure he has vested interest in. (aka the Bill Phillips route...smart marketing though if you are running a aupplement business). HIT works and has also been around for a long time...as it promotes the neccessary hormones to burn fat all day, as that is what real fat burning is...an all day/night process. (not how many cal you burn in an hour of jogging)

Anecdotally, I'd say this works. I've experienced myself that feeling of actually having lost fat after a binge, provided it was surrounded on both sides by sensible eating.

Besides leptin, there is also an increase in metabolism that goes along with increased food consumption, and a decrease in metabolism from a long-term caloric deficit.

I'd love to read through the references on this one. I've been interested in Leptin research for a couple of years now. One would think though that gradual weight loss would also avert a major leptin fluctuation that would promote regain?

HIIT training is very effective, but let's consider for a minute those who are looking to lose substantial weight. They are often deconditioned and may suffer from joint pain. It's important to build a good cardio base.

Mike OD,

Yeah - I was wondering about the supplement thing. I know Bill Phillips promoted them heavily because of his EAS interests.

SCal said:
The cardio they talk about is HIIT High intensity interval training.[...]

It think I will buy this book. Looks interesting. I and some friends are running a site that looks into different weight loss methods. I think we will review this book.

:-)

My sister told me about this book and she said it was pretty interesting and better than most diet books. One of the things I like about it as it has cheating in it and weight loss is not all about eating everything good.

I don't usually "cheat", diet-wise, but I do allow myself a day off from working out once a week. It seems to help me keep the weight off. I also have experienced the same thing that Kailash has...losing weight after eating a lot. Once I ate a massive ice cream sundae for dessert (it was HUGE) and I was 5 lbs lighter the next day. Weird, but true.

Spectra said:
Once I ate a massive ice cream sundae for dessert (it was HUGE) and I was 5 lbs lighter the next day.[...]

Introducing the latest revolutionary diet plan: The "Massive Ice Cream Sundae Diet" by Spectra. Lose 5 pounds in one day!

This one has "best seller" writen all over it Spectra, lol...

This concept used is interesting though I do not like the word 'cheat'. You can cheat once or twice but the body knows it. Actually the method involves confusing the body so as to burn more calories and to make sure that the food get converted and utilized more effectively. The nutrients from the food are put to good use rather than stored as fats. The problem is that not everyone can follow the method and thus do it well at the same time. It boils down to sensible eating and a conscious effort to control your food intake.

"Metabolic Drive" is actually a product of Biotest. Joel Marion is a contributing writer for their free, online bodybuilding magazine and community, T-Nation.com

I'm not sure how the financial ties might exist between Marion and Biotest, if they exist at all. He did get a real nice plug on T-Nation (article-cum-advertisment) for this book a few weeks back.

And that might have been all Marion got in exchange for the Metabolic Drive recommendation. It is actually just a protein powder, and he might prefer a recommendation for his readers, rather than others of unknown quality.

Overweight people do not burn fat doing cardio training at a high heart rate. Very briefly, fat sits outside the muscle cell, stored in fat cells. Carbs (glycogen) are stored inside the muscle cell. The body is inheriently lazy and find's it easier to breakdown carbs for energy than fat. If you do cardio exercise at a high heart rate the body does not have sufficient time to transport the fat from the fat cells, through the blood stream to the working muscle, get it inside the muscle and break it down to then get it into the mitochondria in time to meet the energy requirments. This is why athletes do not use fat to fuel sports performance- it's more than twice as energy dense as carbohydrate but the body cannot metabloise it quick enough to meet the energy requirments of intense cardio.

Fat breakdown for energy occurs when muscle glycogen has been sufficiently depleted from doing higher intensity activity, which is then immediatley followed with 'easy' intensity cardio activity (heart rate 125bpm women and 140bpm men). This is the basis of my '2 Fuel Tanks' System of weight loss.

I too have budged from a plateau (in the right direction LOL) by having a cheat day (actually, I think I read it on this site, "zigzagging" calories) so I think this could very well work.

Hi All,

Just to clarify the Metabolic Drive issue, I have no financial interest there and T-Nation.com would have still interviewed me about the book whether or not I recommended any Biotest product -- I am a regular contributor to their publication. I believe meal replacements are valuable in any diet and Metabolic Drive just happens to be the one I feel is best from both a quality and taste standpoint.

I trust those who have picked up the book enjoyed it. While it may share similarities with other programs (all diets have at least something in common), you'd be surprised just how different and unique it is by checking it out.

Best of luck in your fat loss endeavors,
Joel