What the heck are you eating?

So the question of my diet has come up recently. People want to know what diet I am following and most of them think I'm insane when I tell them.

First of all, let me clarify that the word diet refers to the food you eat not some magic ratio or calories. Just simply, diet is what you eat. My dietary plan is not some temporary technique that I will abandon and go back to my old ways when I reach my goal. (Which, BTW, is why 90% of diets fail. The diets themselves work just fine but the habits of the people following them remain unchanged; they have simply been put on hold.)

Second, most people assume that my goal is weight loss. Technically though, my goal is fat loss. I know it is a technicality to many people but it is very important to me. My current lean body mass is nearly perfect. If I gained NO muscle between now and the time I meat goal I would be okay with that. (Of course, I am hoping I do gain some!) My initial goal of 165lbs with 20% body fat would leave me with 132lbs of LBM. I currently have 139lbs of LBM so in that area I am ahead of the game. Now I just need to drop another 55 or 60lbs of fat and all will be good.

Now on to what I eat....

I had always been interested in low carb diets but was never successful at incorporating them into my lifestyle. After doing WSFL, I had learned a lot about eating low carb and decided to make it part of my normal eating. I have been reading every book I can get my hands on regarding low carb. I have learned a lot about how and why low carb works. I find ketogenic diets extremely interesting, but not quite obtainable for me and Paleolithic diets appeal to my love of anthropology (did you know I was an Anthropology major in college).

I have also been reading a lot about intermittent fasting and really see the health benefits of IF.

So how does that all fit into my plan. Well here goes....

1. Monday through Friday, I am following a low carb, high fat diet. My macros break down like this. Sixty percent of my calories come from fat, 30% from protein and 10% from carbs.
2. My 10% carbs gives me 50g of carbs a day to work with. Of those 50g, a minimum of 20g must be from fiber. Thus my net carb will be under 30 each day.
3. Saturday is a little different. I eat all my meals and snacks as I normally would except I allow myself one "free" meal. There really is no scientific reason behind it. Mainly it just allows me the freedom to take my boys out for pizza, go to a birthday party or go out to dinner with the moms without having to stress over my food.
4. I do a 24hr (ish) fast from Saturday evening to Sunday evening. For me, this sort of resets things. It gets me back into the right frame of mind, undoes any damage I did the night before and gives me a break from making sure my macros are right on.

You read that right, I eat 60% of my calories from fat. Butter, oil, cream, avocados, cheese, they are all allowed. Does it work? Well, I wouldn't continue doing it if it didn't! No, I am not going to have a heart attack tomorrow! If you are interested in the science behind a high fat diet I recommend you pick up a copy of the Men's Health TNT Diet.

You also read correctly that I DON'T eat for a whole TWENTY-FOUR hours. Guess what, my LBM has not suffered, my metabolism is just fine and I have not experienced the "unbearable hunger" that people seem to associate with fasting. No, I do not have an eating disorder! If you are interested in the benefits of intermittent fasting and a slew of research studies to back them up I recommend you pick up a copy of Eat Stop Eat.

Keep an eye out for my review of Eat Stop Eat. I also am planning on downloading Fast-5 and giving that a try to see how they differ.