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Go Hardcore And Cut Weight Like A Man

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Here we go gentlemen. If you’ve finally decided it’s time to burn off that extra weight and get back to your glorious and lean former self, then buckle up. You are going to come out of the gate hard, never look back and set the tone for the rest of your life. In a few short months you will transform your physique and develop the habits to excel as an elite physical specimen.

It’s time to go hardcore and cut weight like a man.

Go Badass

The first step is to cut out all alcohol, sugar and wheat. This will keep things simple and eliminate a huge swath of empty and harmful calories. It will also set the proper discipline for the rest of your life. After six months of eating as a man should you will have the energy to go full throttle all day, every day.

If you did nothing else but remove these three items from your diet you’d be well on your way to success. If you stay away from processed foods as well, all that remains are choices which will lead to fewer calories consumed as a natural course of action—more on that later.

Alcohol

Let’s start with alcohol. This is a tough one, but necessary if you’re going to go all out. At first you will make it an absolute because you’ve made a hardcore decision the weight is going to come off. Calories will be limited and they will need to sustain you through a transition from eating your fill at every meal, to eating at a caloric deficit until you reach your shredded prime. This new habit will be greatly aided by consuming quality sustenance and by maintaining a clear and focused mind.

Do yourself a favor and man up by quitting alcohol while you cut. Later, when you’ve reached your goal, you can reassess the limited consumption for relaxation and recreation.

In fact, let’s take it to another level and limit your beverages to black coffee and water. You will drink black coffee for pleasure and water to stay hydrated. Both are calorie free and in line with your new clear and focused resolve.

Water and Coffee Only

Sugar And Wheat

Next are sugar and wheat. These two items, especially wheat, are responsible for the cultural surge in weight and diabetes here in the United States. They both have the same effect on your metabolism, but wheat is the stealth killer of the two.

Refined sugar from sweets and beverages is an obvious source of empty and wasteful calories. No problem, you’ve made a man’s decision and will also make them an absolute no go until you get to where you need to be. Then like alcohol, and once the shallow habit is broken, the occasional indulgence will be allowed after you reach your goal.

Now on to the underlying cause of weight gain in the American diet.

Despite the rampant promotion of whole grains as a replacement for cholesterol and fat by the U.S. government and medical establishment since 1985, wheat has basically the same effect inside your body as refined sugar. Not coincidentally, the year 1985 marks the beginning of the rapid upward climb in body weight and diabetes here in the United States. Culturally, we are now a nation where wheat based products are pervasive and dominate our diet.

Glucose And Insulin

Both refined sugar and wheat are converted into glucose or blood sugar once digested. In fact, the glycemic index (blood sugar or glucose level) of whole wheat bread is higher than that of table sugar once metabolized. Imagine that, whole wheat bread is worse for you in some ways than table sugar and yet remains the darling of the U.S. federal government and other health advocates.

Each of these sources of bloodstream glucose results in a surge of insulin. This is a metabolic response to remove and convert them to stored fat. Unlike with protein, fat and more complex carbohydrates, this rapid glucose-insulin cycle will lead to hunger again in about 2 hours. Thus, emerges the need for between meals snacking, the resultant storage of more fat and another round of sugar high and then sugar low.

This is the crux of the obesity problem in western society. Break away from the slothful masses and remove sugar and wheat from your diet. Each meal will sustain you longer and as a natural consequence you will consume less.

Focus on Meat and Vegetables

Eat Paleo Plus

What to eat then you ask? Eat as we have as a species for 99.5% of our existence. Basically that means to eat Paleo or as we did as hunter-gatherers.

It is only in the past few thousand years that humans converted to an agricultural existence and radically changed our evolutionary diet. Eat Paleo and you will avoid the modern repeated glucose-insulin cycle and end up consuming the macro and micro nutrients we have evolved best to thrive on.

Today this means eating chicken, beef, fish, eggs, vegetables, tubers (root based food), nuts and berries. To these I would add dairy and rice which are not strictly Paleo, but will allow for an additional variety in a family setting. Keep the consumption of rice and non-berry fruit to a minimum to avoid their simple carbohydrate content.

Eat At A 25% Dynamic Deficit

Now that you know what to avoid and what is best to eat, you will consume at a 25% deficit below your breakeven caloric number. This is the daily total at which you will maintain your weight.

A good rule of thumb is to multiply your current weight in pounds by 14 or 15. For example, if you weigh 200lbs your breakeven number would be between 2800 and 3000 calories. Your actual number will vary based on metabolism and activity level. My advice is to be conservative and use the lower of the two. Thus, for a 200 pound man a 25% deficit would mean a daily budget of 2100 calories.

Also structure your diet so that you shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. In other words, make the basis of your diet meat, eggs and vegetables. These meals will provide the foundation for your new muscular and explosive frame, as well as keep you full as you lose the weight. Find a smartphone application such as MyFitnessPal to track your daily consumption.

And finally, as the pounds burn off keep the pressure on your metabolism and maintain the 25% deficit. In other words, keep dropping your daily caloric number. Get the job done.

Get Serious and Reap the Benefits

Lifting And High Intensity Training

I did say go hardcore and cut weight like a man, right? You want to lose weight, add muscle mass and then pursue an elite physical excellence from there. We don’t want you to end up losing a bunch of weight just to end up skinny soft and then put it all back on again.

Our metabolism has evolved to slow down as we lose weight. This is a survival mechanism to prevent starvation. As a result, your breakeven number will drop and eventually lead to rapid weight gain once consumption returns to normal. Sound familiar?

The answer to this metabolic adaptation is lifting weights and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Both will raise testosterone levels, add muscle mass and increase your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).

The body’s BMR is responsible for the vast majority of calories burned on a daily basis. It is the minimum amount of caloric energy necessary for your body to function at rest.

Adding muscle mass and putting your body under stress through resistance training and some form of HIIT (such as sprints or 2 minute rounds on the heavy bag) will raise your BMR. It will counteract the metabolic slowdown from losing weight.

Work Up a Sweat Every Other Day

Take Control

There you have it gentlemen. Cut out all alcohol, sugar and wheat. Eat meat and vegetables at a 25% caloric deficit. Limit beverages to black coffee and water. Lift weights and do sprints.

If you are serious about losing weight and pursuing a jaw dropping physical transformation you have your answer. In six months you can be a new man if you choose to do so. Make a man’s decision, go hardcore and become a Force of Nature.

Read More: The Ultimate Guide To Building Muscle: Nutrition

210 thoughts on “Go Hardcore And Cut Weight Like A Man”

  2. Didn’t we all move past the paleo thing a few years ago? HIIT and powerlifting on a low carb diet is going to leave most people just treading water. That’s why every CrossFitter I know thinks their 400 lb deadlift is impressive.

  3. Just don’t replace the sugar and wheat with 2x the amount of similarly starchy potatoes and rice. Potato starch is basically concentrated sugar that doesn’t taste sweet – stacked glucose molecules. White rice is also starchy (“brown” rice from Minnesota isn’t nearly as bad). And let me add another grain – NOT A VEGETABLE – corn. Corn is also starchy enough.
    Maybe Amaranth and Quinoa, but you should just eat eggs, bacon, or a steak instead. Meat is what men should eat, with just a few veggies for vitamins and minerals and fiber. Cheese can be good too.

    1. True, but in my experience it’s hard to eat too much potato. Mashed with butter, baked, or pan-fried it’s filling food.
      Grains do tend to encourage overeating more than potatoes, though, so rice is more likely to be a problem. And corn, as we all know, has its own host of issues.
      The goal should be to reduce your carbs overall, assuming you’re the average American. My advice is to take a long weekend fast (3 days) before you reintroduce carbs, just to shock your system and overcome any physical addiction to carbs you have.

      1. I love potatoes. I grow a lot of them in my garden. Potatoes are a pretty “pesticide intensive” crop, so it is nice if you can grow your own, to get a more natural product.
        Potatoes do seem to shoot your blood sugar up, and then crash it a couple hours later. I can eat a pile of fried potatoes from my garded (like 1000 calories), and then be hungry 3 hours later.
        On the other hand, I could eat three eggs fried in butter (maybe 250 calories) and take 4-5 hours before I get hungry again.

        1. We must fry them differently – I like them as saturated with fat as I can get ’em. It’s a combination of taste and a throat thing – if it’s too dry, my throat will get clogged in an unpleasant but non-fatal way.
          I do recall the story of this one guy who lived exclusively on potatoes in protest of some change to welfare regulations that cut them out of the acceptable foods to buy on stamps (or something like that). He ate only baked potatoes and drank only water, and he lost a lot of body fat (switching from crappier foods to potatoes).

  4. Can 100% endorse this. Although I played sports all my life, I was a fatass bitter virgin douche sitting at 240 lbs at my peak in college and lost damn near 70 lbs from crash/restrictive dieting and tons of cardio (and started getting plenty laid). Since then, I’ve lifted and have stayed active in some sport or activity from yoga to MMA to hunting, but had always been kind of chubby from my adolescent diet of sugar and booze. My weight slowly rose back to around 200 for most of my late 20’s and 30’s (although I was down to below 170 when I was extreme restrictive cutting weight for a no-gi grappling tourny).
    I’m 37 now and a year and a half ago I quit drinking (cannabis is so much better as a vice) and immediately dropped 10 lbs and saw my max lifts shoot up by at least 20%. However, sugar was always my Achilles heel (always had a bag of some high fructose corn syrup treat in my desk at work). Last September, I cut it out when the wife and I did the Whole30 and despite eating whenever and in whatever quantities I want (I’m a goddamn American and refuse to ever be hungry), the sugar fat just started dropping like crazy. I even lost five pounds on vacation where I was eating out almost every day for two weeks. I leveled out a bit and went rogue with cookies over Christmas but maintained around 200.
    At the beginning of the month, we went back to a modified paleo/Whole30 diet (very limited dairy and only bread and pasta I make at home) and my body just continues to shed fat. I’m now down to right around 170 and for the first time in my life can see some abs starting to poke through with just a little pouch of fat covering the rest. It’s ridiculous, I’m never hungry and in the best shape of my life just by eating clean and not drinking.

    1. I’ve done that crash weight loss thing before as well, but just ended up skinny and weak. I just reduced calories, and did a bunch of cardio (like a chick or something). I’d drop 30 pounds, only to gain it back again when I started eating the way I did before.
      Taking up weightlifting has been one of the best things I’ve ever done. I was always a pussy who couldn’t do pull-ups, chin-ups, or even push-ups. Now, I can do 15 chin-ups at a time (plus do pushups and pull-ups). I bench, deadlift, squat, overhead press, and jump rope as well.
      I’ve built a decent foundation of muscle. Now, I just need to continue to build it, while dropping 20-30 pounds of fat.

    2. Any chance this program can work in 1 month? I’m not overweight but could use the toning up.

      1. Oh yeah, you’d be amazed. Try the Whole30 thing. It’s quite restrictive in what you can eat, takes some planning, and for about a week you will poop like crazy while your body adjusts from wheat and dairy to vegetables and fiber, but you’ll drop a lot of fat really quickly.

    4. Solid work!
      I think its easier – not to be confused with “easy”, for guys who have been athletes to make these changes because they already know that all change requires passing through the Rubicon of pain/discomfort.
      Its one of the hardest things to teach others because they have to experience it – and then embrace it (discomfort) as a good thing.
      This is part of why diet is the first, and best, thing to address. And then finding the type of program or activity that is most likely to be enjoyed – or even tolerated, is way better than jumping straight into some optimization scheme that you actually hate doing. Fat fucks who go from their couch to Crossfit are never going to get where they want to be. Especially if they are still charging sugar and the pizza/beer feed.
      I’ve always liked the idea of grouping sugar and alcohol. They should both be viewed as drugs (poisons) and consumed accordingly. So much fatness and ill-health can be traced to the western diet and the addiction to sugar.
      The only thing I’d add to all of this is that gut health is essential. How we digest our food is almost as important as what that food consists of. Our GI plays a huge role in hormones (growth, metabolism, sex drive, sleep, hunger, etc.) as well as mood, focus, cognitive health, etc. as our GI is home to a significant amount of neurotransmitters.
      Healthy, diverse fiber intake, pro-biotics (however dubious the research might be), and pre-biotic foods (fermented, onions, cabbage, garlic, etc.) should be part of the dietary foundation.
      Healthy gut flora is the fastest way to curb sugar cravings too. And if you ever have to take anti-biotics, be sure to supplement pro-biotics. One day soon, prevalent antibiotic intake will come up as the next-worst-thing in terms of unforeseen health impacts.

      1. Great points about discomfort and enjoyment. Embrace the discomfort, accept it and move on. Once you feel the results, the symptoms become a good thing in your head. That grueling second day after a great leg set where it is hard to sit down to poop becomes a point of pride. Just the thought of a slice of the shitty store bought birthday cake at your monthly office birthday party makes your teeth hurt.
        Second, finding what you enjoy and what is sustainable is so clutch. Not everybody is going to be runner or backcountry skier. I had ACL surgery in my early 20’s and did a good stretch of running in my late 20’s/early 30’s but my joints just can’t take it. Thus, I walk, bike, swim. I won’t be finishing a marathon, but I’ll toast you on a 12 mile hike with 50 lbs on my back. If you find healthy and active hobbies you like, its not a chore to do them. It’s something you want to more of. Instead of spiraling down, you spiral up.

      2. It makes sense to group sugar, grains and alcohol. Grain is a grass. Sugar is a grass. Alcohol is made from grass. The trifecta of nutritional evil.

    5. This article is mostly correct but you don’t need to eat at a 25% deficit to your break-even calories or even worry about calories at all. You can eat as much food as you like as long as you avoid grains, sugar and alcohol. These toxins cause your body to enter fat storage mode. If you avoid them you will enter fat drawdown mode. This means you will feel less hungry with lower overall appetite.
      In this case, if you eat until you are full you will be in homeostasis as your body strikes a balance between nutrients from fat stores and nutrients from food intake. If you eat less calories than your body needs all that happens is that you will fatigue sooner and your performance will suffer, as will your ability to build muscle. You can also expect your sexual appetite and performance to suffer the same way for obvious reasons. You are starving.
      I’m 42 and banging chicks harder than a 21 year old. Sexual appetite is off the charts so hide your mothers, daughters and sisters. Hell even your grandmother in case I’m feeling that kind of horny. And yes I have.

      1. Yeah, it seems to be a popularly held belief that you have to be hungry to get (relatively) cut. But that doesn’t make sense. Mother nature didn’t design us to be hungry in order to be healthy.

        1. Yeah, this is totally not true.
          Here is a buddy of mine. If you tried to eat what this guy eats on a daily basis there is a good chance you would just break. We are talking ungodly amounts of food

          Fuck you @shredded.pork and ur 135lb snatch complex

          A post shared by Elish Le (@intuitivestrength) on

  5. I read gorilla mind set by mike cernovich and starting adding beet juice powder to my smoothies. Now I intentionally forget to flush at the gym locker room to show my glowing red turds to the next guy who follows me. Trigger alert for stormcucks into german scheizer vids.

    1. The best way to eat beets (delicious superfood) – red flannel hash for breakfast – onion, peppers, some sort of meat, potatoes if you are inclined, and some fresh herbs. That’s a breakfast of champions.

      1. Does sugar made from sugarbeets count? Sugar beets and beets are the same species. If I can just drop cane sugar for beet sugar, then life will be easy.
        Joking

      2. Soon to be a major motion picture. “Saving Private Ryan II.” Starring Natalie Portman as Nazi Killer and Summer Glau as Goldsteinwoman. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

      1. He’s referring to the White Supremacist website Stormfront and the face the Cernovich is a Jewish name.

    5. For me I’m all about gorilla strength with the gorilla grip. I’ll snatch your nose right off your face!

  6. I lost 50# doing basically this same thing. I also started with a one week fast where I just had coffee or a Guinness (very low calorie beer) once a day. 20-something college girls (I was 38) were my new favorite toy and it was like I took off an invisibility cloak. Like it says, man up, quit making excuses and do it.

      1. It’s not as hard as it sounds. Sure, the first few days going cold-turkey on calories is hard if you’re a habitual carb eater, but once your body’s adjusted it’ll happily burn fats without that gnawing hunger sensation.
        I went a few weeks eating nothing but a few pats of butter and spoonfuls of coconut oil with vitamins (A, D, and K2, primarily – they’re fat soluble, so it helps to take them with fat). It’ll be hard for me to do so again because I’ve gone to moderate carb for a while, but it can definitely be done.
        Careful with your lifts during a hard fast, though. A bit of light exercise and you’ll maintain your muscles, but go hard and your body won’t be able to supplement your muscle tissues due to lack of proteins and amino acids.

        1. I can agree with this. Did a 3 week experiment with Intermittent Fasting (16 hour fast and 8 hour feeding window, split into 2 meals a day). Stuck mostly with calisthenics though, so I can’t say what it would have been like if I lifted iron.
          Visible six pack, mental acuity and decision making improved. Greater lean muscle development. Noticed an increase level of aggression though. Not reckless aggression.
          Sustainability over a long period is challenging. I don’t do the strict fasts anymore but I’m trying to move towards a ketogenic diet though (prioritizing healthy fats and oils and protein and veges over carbs).

        2. True enough, though I have found IF to be fairly sustainable. Technically, all you have to do is go to bed at a reasonable hour and skip breakfast – that’s basically how I’ve lived for about six or so years.

        3. Yes! I love the increased clarity.
          Aggression, properly channeled, is a gift, I embrace it. Its the feeling of your body finally making more manly testosterone.
          I do feel a lot of disdain and disgust now for fat people. I think that, since I did it that everyone should. I am working on being more understanding.

      2. Ya, and water. Green tea is a good idea if you want variety or hate black coffee. The first two days are the worst. After that its easy. I had a couple glasses of milk for energy but when you look at hunger as the feeling of losing weight you start to like it.
        We live in a society that says if you feel hunger you will die. Fatties say that you have to eat more or you will GAIN weight. As if people in the third world are thin because they eat a lot. Most of the developing world feels hunger most of the day. Only in America is hunger seen as a crisis. You’re probably just bored, not truly hungry.

    2. was this 50 lbs of bodyfat? or muscle loss also? I’m 6’2 and weigh 205, I need to cut some bodyfat and maintain my muscle though. So probably could stand to lose 10 lbs or so.
      How long did it take you to lose that 50 lbs? You did this fast for a week, then what afterwards?

      1. I’m stronger now than ever. Exercise and lifting and eating lots of protein (which is more filling) will protect your muscle.
        Try intermittent fasting; eat one meal per day, or only between a three hour window. Another intermittent fast technique is to fast on Tuesday and Thursday and Sunday. It really mimics the way people used to live; only eating when they killed something, going hungry sometimes. Your body works really well like this.
        Fasting, contrary to popular belief is really good for you. Once in a while, when I was really weak and tired I drank a glass of fat free milk but it wasn’t that often. Fasting keeps you alert. Think hungry caveman- he isn’t sleepy, he is WAY more alert, looking for something to kill and eat.
        I fasted for a week (water, coffee, Guinness) then started in with about 1,200 calories of salad and lean protein per day. I ate a lot of chicken breast, chickpeas (kinda high in calories), plain oatmeal, plain nonfat greek yogurt, cottage cheese (as a salad dressing) nuts and MASSIVE salads with oil and vinegar and (filling). I worked up to about 1,600-2,000 calories daily and ran 2-4 miles per day. Running, for me, burns ~140 kCal/mile. I lifted two or three times per week.
        I lost all 50# in about two months. Just teach yourself that hunger is the feeling of losing weight.
        I was hungry 2-6 hours each day. It even woke me up sometimes but, instead of freaking out about it, pretending that I would die, I embraced it as a friend. I gained about five back after really hitting the weights but its all nice, lean muscle.
        Now I just eat two meals daily to maintain. Skipping lunch makes mornings faster and allows

        2. No. Guinness is like 4.3% percent alcohol and only 155 calories per can. Its light beer compared to the average micro brew. Its just dark because the malt is roasted. Its not a meal in a can like American Lager drinkers think

        3. Yep. Guinness is a light beer by any standard. Most people are shocked to learn that.

  7. The problem I have with weight is gaining it. I’ve outperformed beefy dudes when it comes to real-world tasks that require strength, but it would be nice to start looking the part. Gonna start eating more protein, lug around cinder blocks couple times a week and see what happens.

    1. Core lifts and consume a ton of quality calories (5k+/day). You’ll gain significant muscle mass. It’s just not that enticing to do for most people. I personally don’t like eating so the excessive caloric intake is a chore.

      1. Importantly, still keep your carbs lower. Most people who intake excess calories will do so with sugars, and as a consequence their gain is all in body fat (which, aside from weighing you down and bloating your appearance, increases your body’s estrogen production and inhibits your testosterone response).
        Avoid that temptation at all costs. If you want to go with excess carbs, throw a few extra eggs in the pan and choke ’em down, instead.

    2. How’s your usual diet? I find there are two drastically different reactions to metabolic syndrome:
      1. The well known “gets fat” response. Usually starts with a spare tire and spreads out from there.
      2. The lesser-known “wastes more” response. This is the problem where a skinny bastard can eat 12 meals a day and not gain a single pound because his body is throwing away excess calories.
      Either way, the recommended diet will help shock your system back into its natural state. From there, if you’re one of those in the second category, it’ll be easier to slowly gain bulk.

      1. I don’t really track it, but it is generally what the article recommends except for not as much protein and active exercise. Right now I just do the occasional intensive project/chore and occasionally lift the rear end of a lawn tractor. I’m gonna need muscle if I want my business to get off the ground…
        I figure I’m in #2: only gained 20 lbs (I can’t tell where) in college eating all sorts of crazy junky food. When commented on I usually joke saying it’s because I think so much by brain burns all the calories.

  8. Excellent advice.
    As a supplement/alternative, adhering to Kwasniewski’s ratio is very effective at maintaining your body’s ideal weight (provided, of course, you keep to the rules about sugars and wheat). The ratio, as determined by decades of clinic work, is as follows:
    1g carb : 2g protein : 5-12g fat
    Eating fat will not add to your body fat, as a rule. By focusing on intake of saturated fats and keeping the insulin response low through low carb and protein intake, your body will naturally adjust your intake to fit your caloric needs and your ability to handle insulin will improve (assuming, of course, you’re one of the average Westerners who has weakened insulin response due to decades of too much carb intake).
    As a bonus, as a rule you’ll have enough protein to build muscle through your workout regimen without supplementation. In addition, the lower carb intake will adjust your metabolic response to need fewer carbs to maintain muscle energy output.

  9. I hear this 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight number thrown around a lot, but wonder if that much is really needed. (some people say 1.5 or even 2 grams protein per pound of bodyweight)
    I’ve increased my protein intake substantially – eggs – cottage cheese – greek yogurt – whey protein – as well as more meat. I weigh about 225 (6’4″), and aim to eat at least 150 (and up to 180) grams of protein per day. I probably use to eat only 100g or so.
    I’ve made a lot of progress with my lifts since I’ve increased my protein intake. I know I still need to drop at least 20 pounds of fat. I know that cutting carbs (and alcohol), plus some reducing calories, (while continuing lifting and HIT) is the way to go.
    In cutting back on carbs, I’ve increased fat intake some as well. Do you guys think that is ok as long as it is real food, not crap? Do I really have to eat over 200 grams of protein a day?

    1. There’s a certain amount of protein your body needs to function. The rest is converted into carb at a very inefficient rate (so it’s still a bit better than eating carbs).
      If I had to guess, I’d say 0.5g/kg is a good enough intake for basic maintenance (that is, if you way 220lbs or about 100kg, you probably can maintain muscle with about 50g protein). Doubled would make sense for gain, so for you I’d say about 102g protein is probably about as much as your body actually physically needs for gains (though, as mentioned, 150 probably won’t kill you either).
      I used to have a resource for this, but I lost it a while back changing computers. If you find better information, completely disregard me.

      1. You’re not completely wrong, of course, but I would add more high-quality protein even while clean-bulking, and much more so while cutting. But of course it does also depend on your level of lean muscle mass and training frequency. Even though one has to be sceptical, a study from last year indicates that very high protein intake is not unhealthy.
        http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/904/art%253A10.1186%252Fs12970-016-0114-2.pdf?originUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fjissn.biomedcentral.com%2Farticle%2F10.1186%2Fs12970-016-0114-2&token2=exp=1485383986~acl=%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2F904%2Fart%25253A10.1186%25252Fs12970-016-0114-2.pdf*~hmac=75a9dd22b1cc4767e81289c69fcf90a61fae8fff5ee30648492c8082f3374a75

        1. I will add that protein without fat is unhealthy. The first historic reference I have for this is a condition Native Americans suffered during the lean part of the year, when their diet would be full of lean protein like rabbit. They got fevers and lethargy among other problems, because they weren’t absorbing vitamins properly.
          As a result many of them would supplement with fish and even go on carb-fast cycles just to keep their fat-burning process going. Many would even keep buffalo to get some dairy on a regular basis (raw dairy is pretty high fat).
          So very high protein is substantially better than very high carb, but fats are essential to proper health no matter what.

        2. I agree, of course. Going under roughly 50 grams of fat per day, for several days in a row, is detrimental for one’s fitness and well-being.

        3. The thing about the lean rabbits was a pretty extreme situation. Few of us today live on wild rabbit, and green vegetables. Most of us have access to butter, bacon, and eggs, as well.

        4. There are essential amino acids from protein. There are also essential fatty acids from fats, but there are no essential carbohydrates. None. Zilch.
          True your body needs glucose, but your liver can convert protein into glucose when needed.

        5. Saute that lean rabbit in butter or olive oil, crack an egg or two in the pan, serve over sauteed greens. Perfect for weight loss.

        7. True. It does serve as a good warning to those who take most of their dietary protein through lean sources like whey or lean meat, though, so I thought I’d mention it.

        8. That wasn’t protein per se, it was eating *rabbits*. They are so lean and contain basically nothing to help their digestion, such that if you eat exclusively rabbit for any length of time you’ll get a horrendous case of the shits, which will both deplete your energy and your water. The Injuns were quite specific when warning Europeans about this, and turns out, Europeans discovered that the Injuns were correct.
          Eating a nice fatty deer though, perfectly peachy.

        9. Perfect for making my stomach rumble hungrily too.

    2. As to foods, I’d definitely avoid low-fat supplementation. Whey, low-fat dairy, and the like will increase your protein but tend to have a lot of sugars (which is required to simulate the fat properties required to make yogurt and cheeses).
      Go natural. Saturated fats are your friends in many ways (won’t increase your body fat, will help with vitamin absorption). So bacon, eggs, butter, steak, and the like are probably as good as you can possibly get.

      1. I like bacon, eggs, butter, and steak (though steak is pricey). Why protein is such an easy, relatively inexpensive, and very convenient way to boost protein intake.
        I eat plenty of fat – you have to increase something when you decrease carbs. I increased both protein and fat.

    4. The weight loss occurs from cutting out all sugar, wheat, and alcohol. The protein is for building muscle. So, no, you don’t need 200 g a day, which is expensive, unless you’re trying to build enormous muscles.
      Bare minimum for protein: multiply your weight by .40, and that’s the number of grams. For you, that would be 90 grams. I’d recommend more. For instance, I weigh 215 lbs and probably eat about 150 g a day, so my multiplier is about .70. I’m happy with my body and am not trying to Ah-nold myself or anything.

      1. For me the struggle is keeping on weight, not losing it.
        I was 210 strong a couple months back and reached PRs on all strength lifts. But a combination of work, school, winter sickness, and unfortunate personal events brought me down to 190.
        I love lifting and this is the first time in three years that I’ve gone backwards. Feels bad man. I was surprised at how quickly uncontrollable disturbances in my lifestyle/routine affected me.

        1. Life is long. You’ll go up and down. It’s best not to beat yourself up about that which you can’t control.

        3. Happens a lot in our twenties I think. I know I had a lot more weight fluctuations in my mid twenties dealing with graduating and transitioning to the workplace and all the attendant crap that accompanies the process.
          In my mid thirties now and it’s more manageable. You’ll actually get stronger if you persevere and keep growing. Childbirth pangs on the way to becoming a developed man I guess.

        4. Happened to us all!
          Don’t worry about it, ‘muscle memory’ will kick in and it will all come back. It’s so much easier to regain what you’ve had than to build in the first place…

    5. 200 grams of protein a day is not a lot for a guy your size, especially if you’re hitting the weights 3+ times a week. I’d keep an eye on the yogurt, though, as it has quite a few carbs from the milk sugar.

    6. I eat 2g of protein per pound of body weight daily and I can actually see the growth in muscle. However, keep in mind that I eat less than 15g net carbs daily and all of those from vegetables and I am in the gym at least 3 hours a day 7 days a week. There are loads of different opinions on this, but I side with the classical idea that you need to prioritize protein and eat quite a lot of it. With no carbs in my diet it is a lot easier for me to do this. My midday meal (meal 3) is lean protein and my end of night meal (meal 5) is fatty protein. I also drink 2 protein shakes with 50g protein each every day and my breakfast now consists of 6 whole eggs, 6 egg whites, 1/4 pound of turkey breast and 1/3 cup cheddar cheese.
      In the end, however, no one can tell you how your body will respond. Keep playing around with tried and true methods and add and subtract as you figure out what works specifically for your body.

        1. yeah, I don’t fuck around too much with modern shit. I think they had the diet figured out a long time ago.

        3. No. And people will talk about gear gear gear. Guys like Zane and Arnold were on gear sure, but the gear is what boosted them from top 1% to top .0001%. Diet + Routine + Genetics was all 100% on point. Not sure if you looked at the relatively recent (last few years) 8 week “Blueprint to Mass” program but I found it very satisfying as far as pre packaged routines go.

        4. Amount of gear Zane and Arnold (and rest of Golden Agers, with exception of Steve Michalik) were on was minuscule compared to modern ‘bodybuilders’… as you say they have everything on point (and were consistent year-in, year-out).
          I don’t look at anything modern, but will look this one out if you think it’s good…

        5. Not modern, this is Arnold Classic program he just released it through bb.com. It is about as golden age body builder program as it comes. The kind of program you want to wear faggy green satin shorts with gold fringe while doing lol.
          Yes, the gear guys like Kai and Phil are using right now is really fucking insane. There is just no way those guys will live very long. That said, it is still incredibly impressive what they are doing and their diets and their workouts have to be on point to get to their level…they can’t just gear up and go pose. But yeah, there is nothing like golden age physique.

        6. Will definitely look into it then! … looking to change up my programme after my recent cut (down to 195, so got to get back up to 215-220)

        8. Thanks for the link… reading it now and already like the look of it!
          You may have just given me my routine for the next couple of months… looks exactly what I was looking for (6d.p.w. split, old-school, mass-building) 🙂

        9. 6day split is my favorite bulk. Straight old school. Usually on the rest day I will either do hot yoga or cross fit. I am def not a cross fit guy, but I consider it “Active rest” plus when they try to recruit you and you tell them that you only do crossfit on rest days the looks are priceless

        10. Mine too, and for the same reasons…
          Rest day for me is Karate at the dojo, works pretty well as HIIT 😀
          LOL to the crossfit as rest day! can imagine the looks…

        11. It is so great lol. Last time I went one of the instructors comes up to me and starts giving me the sales pitch “oh, sorry, no, I only do cross fit on my rest days.” THe look was just fucking priceless.
          Was just telling a friend, I have a hot yoga class this weekend to go to. I have half a stock already. There is nothing like hot yoga in manhattan.

      2. That is an unholy amount of protein and time in the gym! Out of interest, what kind of training do you do over a 3 hour session? How does your body go with no recovery day?

        1. The human body is an amazingly adaptive machine. I obviously, however, don’t bang out the same muscle groups every day. My current workout hasn’t me doing
          Day 1: Back, Ham, Bi + 1 hour cardio
          Day 2: Chest, tri + 1 hour cardio
          Day 3: Legs, Abs + 1 hour cardio
          Day 4: shoulders + 1 hour cardio
          Day 5: abs, cardio
          Day 6: back to day 1
          My workouts are generally 5-6 3 move Giant sets and then for cardio 1 hour of intervals on the stairs

      3. So between working all the time, working out 3 hours a day 7 days a week (how does your body keep up?)… hunting and fucking all your poon, playing your guitar etc etc… how in the world do you manage to be on ROK all the time? What, do you sleep only 2 hours every night or something?

        1. ROK is easy, I am on my phone most of the day. 90% of my job is at a desk and I have made most of it pretty routine. Guitar has fallen by the wayside. I probably pick it up once a month now like if I decide to just stay home and not bother with women. As for poon I have weekends. Usually I spend one night out alone cultivating new and one night on a date with something in rotation. It also helps to wake up early. It isn’t even 7 am not and I have already got up, set up my grocery order. Done some functional stretching and am on my way to the gym in a few minutes. I’ll be there for 3 hours and then I have a yoga class this afternoon and a date tonight. On work nights I go to bed st 9 now and get up and go to the gym very early. It’s a busy schedule but I like it that way

        2. Btw as a side note. When I see guys who have steady girlsfriends or wives who they are slaves to i have no idea how they manage time. I can’t imagine having to stop and call someone and let them know where I will be, calling someone to say goodnight, dealing with a wife/girlfriend when she is in a pissy mood.
          As far as I can tell the two most important things in this world are time and money. You always make more money but you can never make more time so you need to spend it wisely.

        3. ‘You always make more money but you can never make more time so you need to spend it wisely.’ Double props for this!
          I recently turned 30 and feel I have let allot of my life slip by with stupid shit. The march of time is certainly letting it’s tempo be felt more and more now. My dilema is that while I work, have no debt and pretty much keep my shit together… I feel I don’t have allot of direction. I have found only a few things I feel are worth my time. But hell, anything beats sitting around all day, playing video games, wanking to porn and generally lounging about when not working.
          This site does help to put things in perspective though. Also many of the commentators on here are gold. I guess I am just really comfortable in life and have no real set routine. I get off my ass to get shit done that I have too and after that’s its a free for all towards whatever I feel like doing. I can already predict in the future where this scenario does not have a happy ending. I can see by your writing and lifestyle that it comes down to a set routine that you stick with and build into a habitual pattern that you hardly have to think about.

        4. Routine that you stuck with and build into habitual pattern to achieve a goal works perfectly for me. It’s not the only way, but I think it is a very positive one. The fact that you are even thinking about this stuff is very positive

  10. Stupendous advice. I am going to keep this as a reference.
    I have not had an alcoholic drink in over 2 years, I do not touch bread of any kind (never have actually), sparingly eat wheat (in the form of pasta etc.) and I have tried to cut sugar down as much as possible having formerly been addicted to energy drinks being that i was in an awful working situation that necessitated abusing such to keep awake/functional/give me the will to live.
    My intent is to get lean but then build up dense muscle and get back into playing soccer again as well as going very hard at becoming a ‘shooter’ (of the real wrestling variety in the vein of Lou Thesz, Georg Hackenschmidt, Frank Gotch et. al).

  11. Fuck coffee it’s a big cortisol releaser, drink white tea it promotes weight loss and has a fraction of the caffeine, and loads of antioxidants that will slow your aging way down.

      1. there are researches that demonstrate that people who drink coffee on regular basis live longer. has nothing to do with caffeine – as decaf coffee produces the same results. too lazy to look up links sorry!

    3. Yeah, I’m beginning to agree with that assessment. I’m slowly-but-steadily losing my taste for coffee (I’ve been drinking it semi-regularly since high school, over 30 years). I’m in the pacific northwest, where coffee is ubiquitous, so I can smell the roasting going on, and find it a bit annoying. Sometimes, though, a cup or 3 on the weekends with a splash of heavy cream is a delight.

        2. True dat, but it’s quite a bit more expensive then green and as much tea as I drink…ouch

    5. there are researches that demonstrate that people who drink coffee on regular basis live longer. has nothing to do with caffeine – as decaf coffee produces the same results. too lazy to look up links – sorry!

      1. Yeah coffee has antioxidants but not nearly as much as white tea.
        The order of caffeine goes coffee>black tea>green tea>white tea, but inversely for the antioxidant content

    6. There are numerous studies that show coffee is an excellent pre-workout drink and that it aids in cutting fat…sorry, but I prefer my black.

      1. Dont get me wrong I love dark roast but I’m saying day-by day tea is better for you. I indulge in 1 cup a week usually with sunday breakfast.

    7. By the way teabaggers, you gotta use purified water or else it’s going to be cloudy and maybe have a skin of tannins on the top all of which will ruin the tea and gross you out. Dont get mineral water or distilled and absolutely do not use tap water – get purified water. It’s the key factor in making a habit of it.

  12. My dad and his girlfriend lost 20Lbs each by incorporating apple cider vinegar into their diet.

      1. AC vinegar and olive oil: great combo for salads, mixed with some herbs. Commercial stuff sucks; I threw out all of what I had left. Most dressings have soybean oil, no likey!

    2. I just put it in my evening herbal tea, or put some in with concentrated pomegranate or cranberry juice, it’s a real zinger!

    1. authentic is okay. Has a lot of omega 3. It does have a lot of calories per cup.
      The other problem is you want to stick to under 50-75 grams of fat per day.
      I assume you were being humorous but fat is not the enemy. In fact, I think its good to eat a lot of it.

  16. I’m lean and muscular because I have a lean and muscular lifestyle. That lifestyle includes alcohol, but also daily running and lifting 3 days a week. I don’t diet.
    Crash shit is for chicks.

  18. You also have to be careful with meats, as quite a few critters these days are pumped with so much whatevers that they’re also on the unhealthy side when it comes to consumption.

  21. I tend to view it as calories in, calories out. I eat or drink whatever I want, I just make sure the caloric amounts are balanced with my activities so as not to have an excess ingress of them.

    1. I think that this is perfectly reasonable and good as far as policies in general go. However, for people with very specific goals like muscle building, cutting to low body fats etc some specialized techniques must be used. I would not recommend it as a way to be healthy, but if your passion is in fitness you can learn how to manipulate or, if I may re-appropriate the term, game your body to make it behave in ways that look and act great but are far from natural.

      1. Yeah I agree with you, if I’m in muscle building mode I do as you and the article describe. I did not elaborate very well, I think my phone rang or something before I finished my thoughts. I keep it in balance for maintenance mode, and the whatever I want to eat is usually high protein foods. This works well for me in maintaining a weight/fitness level that I’ve already achieved. But if I fall off the wagon, or just want to adjust things, absolutely what you describe works great.

  22. Great post! I’ve been doing everything here (Minus cutting the alcohol, I still drink one night a week) since October and I’ve cut 20 pounds and I’m definitely looking leaner. I still have a ways to go, but I’ve been feeling great the whole process and I can’t wait to finally have a lean, muscular physique after a life of being skinny-fat.

    1. I live in Wisco so drinking is basically culture here. Its hard to cut alcohol. I typically only drink once a week but when I do its binge drinking 10+ beers. Ive stopped drinking about a month a time and never really noticed much difference on the scales.
      But now I plan on cutting back in other areas and shed 15 pounds. id like to be around 185-190 at 6′ and already have a good amount of muscle on me.

      1. I’d never have a stomach like the one pictured as I’ll never give up alcohol. I’ve been rigirous in years past on working out and watching what I ate. But I never gave up alcohol and therefore never had obnoxiously defined abs.
        And guess what? I don’t care. When I worked out like there was no tomorrow — yet still drank — I had girls all over me.
        I’ll never give up alcohol not ’cause I need alcohol but because I like the art around alcohol. I love going out and having a drink to strike up fascinating conversation.

        1. Really I think there comes a point in which your SMV may actually DECREASE as you hit the gym harder. If you focus more than a few hours each day at the gym, people will start thinking your priorities are out of balance. Yes, stay in shape, but there are other aspects that are just as, if not more, important.

        2. Yeah Im pretty much the same way. There are things I need to do every year which I do to shed some weight like a yearly cleanse (mostly for the health benefits, but I also tend to lose 5-10 pounds every cleanse I do) and working out to build muscle. My doctor said my BMI would be a concern to him if I was a fat slob and didnt lift or have muscle mass that I have. Id still like to cut some fat around my belly which is really the only area I have more fat than I’d like, but im not overweight or really out of shape by any means.
          I enjoy trying different craft beers, but im such a sucker for a good night of slamming the good ole lite beer lol. Or a nice mixer as a base layer before killing a 12 pack. Recently been into some nice scotch’s as well as drinking one of the bigger mixed drinks up here which is the brandy old fashioned. Im typically not an angry drunk so I dont have problems with alcohol like that. Its almost always a good time!

  23. For those of you living in colder climes, I would also recommend running DNP. That stuff burns fat like crazy, but don’t be tempted to run higher doses on your first run. You will die, I guarantee it.

    1. Just googled it. Sounds wicked, as one article claims that the side effect of HYPERthermia is akin to cooking your insides. Fun stuff!

      1. Victory cannot be achieved without sacrifice. You do save quite a bit of money on heating and winter clothing on the other hand though.

  25. Another question: fresh apples ok to eat? I know they contain sugar, but it’s the natural kind – is this different?

      1. I agree with you. I love fruit but have totally cut it out of my diet. It is candy plain and simple. In the summer I will have a mango or some strawberries but I fully consider this a dietary cheat the way some people will indulge in a scoop of ice cream on a hot day or something.

        1. In the summer when it’s super hot, it’s ok to indulge a little in cooling foods but when you lose the taste for fruit, it does not matter.

    3. depends on what your over all program is. I am currently in ketosis and have been at less than 15 net carbs daily for 6 weeks now. Oatmeal for breakfast would throw me all out of whack. It is important to take a larger, holistic approach that looks at your goals, your physical output and your overall diet and supplementation together.

      2. What’s a typical breakfast? I’m starting ketosis, morning 2 egg omelette with onions, tomato, some mozzarella, evening organic ground beef, cooked, raw onion, tomato, peppers, feta cheese…. few days in and carb addiction plummeting…..

        1. My current breakfast every morning is 6 whole eggs plus 6 egg whites 1/4 pound low sodium deli turkey and 1/3 cup of cheese baked.
          Take the tomato out of your omelette. Unnecessary sugar. Ass more eggs. No cheese at night. Also down the tomato. Add at least one full cup of steamed broccoli. Two would be better

  27. Max, great article. Everything you say here will work 100%. I would just put one note, if you are going to go into ketosis or go on a paleo or paleo plus diet there is a very real risk of kidney stones. Take it from the kneeman, you do not want to go through this. WIth that in mind please make sure you do the following
    1) A minimum of 1.5 gallons of water a day. (I always suggest 1 gallon for everyone but if you are going near paleo or ketosis you should up that. I am currently at 2 gallons plus whatever water is in my preworkout mix and protein shakes)
    2) Magnesium. Get a lot of it. Take supplements for it (try 4-600mg/day)
    3) Vitamin D. Again. A fuck load
    4) Vitamin K12 — as much as possible
    5) Lemon, lots of it. Squeeze them in your water. The citric acid (not the ascorbic or vit c so don’t supplement it) helps
    6) Treat salt like a sloppy drunk fat chick. avoid at all cost.
    7) Do not touch artificial sweeteners (they are always kind of bad, but when you deprive your body of carbohydrates like this you will have less of an ability to deal with them)
    If you have every gone through or known someone who has gone through passing a kidney stone they will tell you that these 7 tips are a very, very, very small price to pay to massively reduce that possibility. Remember, while carbohydrates are the enemy of your beach body, there is a reason we crave them, they do help us with some things…make sure that while trying to attain your great physique you don’t risk your health.

        1. It’s logical. With too much ejaculation, semen is depleted from the body. Men with kidney failure usually can’t father children.

        2. Um, that’s not proof, that’s assertion.
          Prove your claim with science.

        4. Ah, that’s how it is. You make an unsubstantiated claim, you throw out assertions instead of proof, then tell me to do my homework.
          Lame.
          Your assertion fails, lacking proof to back it up. Until you offer actual proof, which you can’t, I disbelieve your claim.
          Have a good one, FO3.

      1. Magniseum is good for a lot of things, is very inexpensive and has no toxicity or negative side effects. It think everyone should be taking atleast 22mg but if you are in ketosis or doing paleo etc it is really mandatory.

        1. Man really? I am into a bit of starvation now and then. Makes me think of rock climber’s chalk, magnesium carbonate. Very light cubes we used to get and crush up. I read that raw spinach and mackerel have a reasonable amount, will get hold of some pills..

        2. Hahaha the chalk yes. I take the pills so they are just in my daily stack

    3. Completely agree with this protocol, with a couple of trivial adjustments.
      As well as taking Mg (usually as part of ZMA) I like to use transdermal magnesium (or even occasional magnesium baths).
      It’s *processed*, i.e. refined, salt that is the real shit. Try something like Himalayan Pink Salt, which has tons of minerals in it and actually has taste as well as not doing the damage processed ‘salt’ does.

      1. I have never thought about magnesium baths? Is this something I can just pick up at local drug store? I will try one this weekend.
        Also, I have heard the same about Himalayan Pink Salt…like when you buy it in a rock with a grater, but I have been so long without adding any salt that I am just used to it at this point so I avoid all together. That said, many people whom I trust have told me exactly what you are saying and I tend to believe it for people who are missing salt.

        1. Well of course YMMV, and if it’s worked for you then why change it, right? having said that I do think there is value in the salts and minerals in something like HPS…
          I do get mine in rock form, and just grind it up as and when needed with a pestle and mortar. It’s great to be able to add salt to recipes and use it for seasoning without worrying about the havoc table salt works on the body (blood pressure and all that stuff).
          I usually get magnesium flakes online (easy to find) and chuck a couple of handfuls into a bath. You can get magnesium sprays to apply transdermally, but if you get the flakes it’s easy to make your own – just keep dissolving them in water until its saturated and put in a spray container – done! (and a fraction of the cost).
          Cost varies. It’s best to go for the ‘Zechstein’ Magnesium salts (250million years in the making), but you’ll pay a premium for the best known brand so shop around…

        4. Gonna pick some up at gnc on the way home. I usually order on line but it looks inexpensive enough and I want to grab some. I wake up at 430 am. Do you find it leaves you groggy at all or makes it hard to jump out of bed?

        5. No, quite the opposite. It can lead to some pretty vivid dreams though! (which personally I find rather fun…)
          Only thing I noticed is it can make your skin a little itchy (although that was only at first, and apparently may be a sign of deficiency). If it’s a problem simply shower to rinse it all off…

        6. I will give it a shot. The dreaming thing would be interesting. I don’t dream. I remember, maybe, 2 dreams I had in my entire life.

    4. This is some serious stuff..My cousin got kidney stones and was operated 3 times already..as a 15-year-old…not cool.

    1. No it isn’t. I do this exact same thing every January-March, every year. I generally drop 20lbs-30lbs in that time period doing these things. I also include intermittent fasting (18off:16on). Not fluff at all.
      Besides, if it’s marketing fluff, what’s being sold here? No product, no supplements, nothing like that, not even a book. What’s the point of marketing with no target to market to the masses?

      1. Good for you man, really but count how many “paleo” cookbooks there are on Amazon and tell me it’s not marketing ! Same for HIIT. I’m just tired of snake oil salesmen re-branding things that have been around for centuries.

        1. Who needs a paleo cookbook? I mean it’s meat and green leafies. That requires like zero cookbooks to figure out good tasting meals. It’s basic.
          And the article wasn’t hawking any of that. The actual diet is valid, who cares what marketeers are doing to profit from it.
          I still don’t know what HIIT is. I do HIT (High Intensity Training) which is the stuff that Mike Mentzer pioneered (a famous Mr. “basically everything” winner). Works great. Not a big fan of aerobics.

  29. In addition to doing all the stuff mentioned in this article, I’ve also been doing intermittent fasting for the past month. Basically, it’s where you go long periods without eating, then have a short eating window. For me I usually hold off eating until about 4PM, then get all my calories in between 4-midnight. I also work out and run in a fasted state. It might be placebo, but the theory is that if you work out in a fasted state then your body utilizes more fat than usual to fuel your workouts.

    1. IF has worked for me for shreds but I did get headaches (which might have been a result of the low body fat at the time) and also found my raw strength dropped severely. If you are looking for pure aesthetics and to look great on a beach IF will do for you for sure though.

      1. Yeah, I’m looking for aesthetics above everything else – After a life of being skinny-fat I’m more interested in getting lean, I’ll care about my gainz and PRs later.

      2. Absolutely. You can forget strength training while fasting. Low weight high reps is the way to go, and just focus on definition and getting lean…

        1. My last injury which I am not thankfully recovered from has me convinced that chasing big numbers on the bar and doing powerlifting, while one of my favorite things in the world to do, is something I have to leave behind. There is nothing that will ever replace the feeling the totally leaving my body as I lock out a 500+ lbs deadlift and then only coming back to this world when I feel the ground shake from the weight coming down. But my new trainer who is an IFBB guy has me doing traditional bodybuilding (rather than powerlifting) workouts and I am seeing serious results.

    2. Dude, you made the post that I was coming in to make.

    3. Just to clarify, are you fasting for 24 hours? Or does it work out to 12am-4pm therefore 16 hours?

      1. I try to fast for 16 hours – From midnight to 4PM. Then I eat all my calories for 8 hours from 4PM to midnight. However, some dudes will fast for 24-48 hours, usually to cut for a competition or reset their metabolism.

        1. Martin Berkhan’s Leangains protocol by any chance?
          Changed my world discovering his work…

    4. IF is awesome. I’ve just shed 20lbs over January using it and carb restriction (I consider the advice in this article elementary – I mean *obviously* one follows this advice all year round). Lean, vascular, abs showing… IF never fails to deliver.

      1. Is this your first time trying to get lean, or is it just your first time using IF? I’ve never really been lean in my life although I’ve been rather thin, and while IF is definitely giving results they’ve been very slow.

        1. Not first time, no. In fact it’s an annual thing for me and comes after a period of bulking.
          Slow is fine… just stick with it! In fact slow is probably best for keeping the most lean mass.
          IF on its own is often just missing breakfast… you’ve got to get the balance of macros right and stay off poor quality foods. I find pretty severe carb restriction works for me, plus lowering the weights and banging out lots of sets and lots of reps, but YMMV…

  30. Yes that’s it exactly. Had that routine going in the warmer weather and it worked very well. Not just HIIT but starved HIIT – do your interval training in the morning before breakfast. It might be slower than after eating but is said to cut better..
    I once read “The stubborn fat solution” and it’s basically as described here. Is a wacky addition of yohimbine (!) but that is illegal in some places and after reading about the risks I chose to keep it natural.
    Suppose that means no more oats for breaksfast, at least not in the early stages, but fried eggs with spinach..
    Oh and Myfitnesspal is fantastic to learn a sense of how many calories you are eating.

  31. I would alternate between weight training and TRX every other day…you’ll kick up your BMR for hours after a workout and burn a lot of calories…I still drink Vodka, and have wine with dinner…I eat Paleo…I hear people talk about the intensity of my workouts all the time, but at my age, its not the years, it’s the pain I’m willing to pay to remain fit without the injuries associated with running (boring) or doing “Tri’s,” etc. Frankly, my peer group is a testament to the largess and gluttony of a successful society. I see guys in their 20’s who have beer guts…wtf? how do they perform in the bedroom??? I don’t get it.

  32. Lost me at cut out alcohol. There are fatasses who drink and are happy, and ripped dudes like Jason Momoa that endorse Guinness. Find a happy medium.

    1. Guinness is a low calorie beer. Most people who drink, don’t do so “on occasion” but far more frequently. For most, cutting out drinking for a few months becomes a real tonic and a very good way to lose weight and regain some self control.

    1. Tea is good, also. I often drink sparkling water on ice with a slice of lemon in it, too.

  35. As truthful as this article is in its absolute entirety, the weight loss industry still peddles the idiom of every single quick fix there is around to make a buck out of someone. Yet, all one needs to do in order to lose body fat can be obtained completely free of charge. Time and time again, whether it be on TV, in magazines and papers, or on the internet – there’s always some skinbag trying to promote their latest snake-oil remedy on how to drop a few excess pounds.
    I have lost count at how many times people argue with me that caloric deficit is not the only way to drop body fat. Because, you know… Negative calories, opticrap shakes and all the other bullshit being hocked is clearly working for everybody. Yet, at the same time, all these arguments come from mostly ignoramus, lard asses.

  37. Great Article with Valid Points.
    What’s always worked for me (for getting leaner) was a Basic, Methodical approach. I was competitive in bodybuilding in the early 90’s, and the same techniques used by myself, and many others used then, and even long before, still apply today… Don’t get caught up in Trends… Don’t complicate things… Keep it Simple!… It’s just basic body chemistry.
    One key point to remember (especially when trying to get leaner) is to ensure that you keep as much muscle tissue on your frame as possible… Allowing 8-16 weeks to accomplish your “desired look” can pay huge dividends. Don’t sacrifice that hard-earned muscle tissue by crash dieting and going about this endeavor with a haphazard approach. Paying close attention to your body, adjusting carbs, fats, proteins accordingly as well as adjusting the intensity of your workouts, and REST – all imperative to your goal of shedding water weight and body fat to reveal all your hard work.
    Our bodies were developed to metabolize the Nutrients from Foods… If you Develop a firm grasp of Nutrition, and how your body reacts to certain foods, etc., you can establish a very keen sense, thus you can carry these techniques with you for the rest of your life; whether it be to impress some chick on the beach, personal development, quality of life, whatever – you’ll have the tools!

  38. Some good articles by Jamie Lewis on cutting (and bulking)
    http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-exactly-is-ideal-to-cut-or-not-to.html
    http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2009/03/you-can-be-strong-as-fuck-or-ripped-to.html
    http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2010/08/you-can-gain-weight-without-looking.html
    http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2010/08/you-can-gain-weight-without-looking_19.html
    http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2010/08/you-can-gain-weight-without-looking_22.html?zx=1ed21ff2650d22ec

  40. Eat steak and eggs on weekdays. Eat some carbs on weekends if you like. Lift heavy, three times a week.

  41. I did the extreme weight loss after I found out I had high blood pressure. Did a five day fast with one glass of beet juice a day and water, all while walking over ten miles a day. (My month long vacation started two days after I found out the bad news, so I decided to cut it down come hell or high water.)
    After my five day fast, I started to eat a little, but still probably about 500 calories a day, and continued my daily 10 mile walk. Started my fast on June 28, by end of July I had gone down from 185 to 165 pounds. (I am about 6″2)
    I still walk seven miles a day, waking up at 3:oo AM and walk 4.8 miles before work and 2.4 after. That gets me at 50.4 miles for the week.
    The walks have also allowed me to learn Spanish. I listen to podcasts of Spanish (Armand Alducin) Rudolf Steiner, Alex Jones, and sometimes Rick Wiles, Hagman and Hagman, and Paul Mcguire.
    But I prefer the 1st two, as Rudolf Steiner really does have unique insights. Armand Alducin is truly a great pastor, even if he is more fundamentalist than I am.
    After my walk, I come in and mediate on the Lord’s prayer and 23rd psalm with some relaxing Buddist music (or sometimes music of the Templars and Crusades) in the background.
    I have found that this approach, while very hard, allows me a deep inner peace and self-discipline of steel.
    I am continuing a one day a week fast. But the rigor of the week allows me to enjoy wine and grill steak and chops on the week-end. Not to mention, enjoy more red wine than I should, perhaps.
    (Wish Roosh would get an mp3 podcast. His are good too, but I cannot download them for my daily walks.)
    Walks are boring if you do not have something to listen to. I recommend foreign language. But at least, sometimes the monotony is broken. Like the other day, I saw a HUGE GREEN FIREBALL shooting star. It was so big, I thought it might hit the earth. Luckily, it did not.
    bY THE way, I think my blood pressure is better. Last time I checked after meditation, it was 132/79. I DO know it spikes back up to like 165/110 if I am stressed or uptight, but I think I am getting it under control without medication. I am a nervous type person, and respond to stress more than most people.
    The best way to avoid stress is to look down the road and solve problems before they get big.

  42. hi guys I also started doing this last 3 weeks and there is a result that I lost 4 lbs.. now I can see that I lost considerable amount of fat but also muscle.. there should be a cycle for this as you cannot follow this low carb diet on a continuous basis.. like they say calories in and calories out.. if you are doing high intensity training you need a boost of complex carbs to sustain the training..

  43. During weight loss, you should limit yourself to about a pound a week. Going all out will cut the muscle as well. Still, at one pound a week, in a year, you will look trim.

  44. ive been doing this…pretty much a ketogenic diet. its great for losing weight,and i believe even health in general. but i wont deny,its not plausible long term. do it for a few weeks/months,or however long it takes you to get your weight where you want it,then start adding in “carb up days” a couple days a week. especially as an athlete,i know from experience that if im real lean and trim my performance suffers on keto.

  45. Fuck the glycemic index. Net carb calories are what influence insulin resistance in cells not spikes. Bread gets more love than table sugar because they fortify it with some vitamins and because america has a rectal fixation with muh fiber.

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