I have been experimenting with a fat loss diet that has been so effective, pleasureful and simple that it would be a crime not to share it with you right away! This is a diet that has allowed me to consistently eat low calories without feeling deprived and thus get lean rather quickly. It has also freed up massive amounts of time cooking and cleaning in the kitchen. Since following this diet I have plenty of energy all throughout the day, laser like focus and I sleep like a baby at night. I would now like to run you through the diet program and how it works. Enjoy!
Intermittent Fasting
On this diet you will eat all of your meals in a 6-8 hour eating window. This is best accomplished by going 5-6 hours upon waking before having your first meal. Your last meal should be around 2 hours before going to sleep. Example – Wake up at 10am. Meal 1 at 3-4pm. Meal 2 at 6-7pm. Meal 3 at 10pm.
By skipping a morning breakfast you force your body to break into it’s fat stores to fuel itself instead of burning food energy. In addition by pushing your first meal later into the day you can enjoy big, satisfying healthy meals while staying in a caloric deficit.
If you haven’t skipped breakfast before it may take some getting used to. After a few days of skipping breakfast your body will learn to thrive in the fasted state. You will stimulate the sympathetic system and feel effects such as alertness, laser like focus and a hunger blunting effect.
Coffee in the Fasted State
Consuming 2-3 cups of coffee while fasting will accelerate your metabolism, reduce your appetite and make you feel good. In addition if you are going to be working out then the coffee will have a positive impact on your strength and stamina. The effects of coffee seem to last up to 6 hours so even if you train later in the day you should still get an extra kick from the morning coffee. In addition coffee is a rich source of anti oxidants and has been shown to have numerous health benefits.
Breaking the Fast
I recommend keeping the first two meals very healthy and modest in size. If you break your fast with a big meal you will shift your body out of the sympathetic mode and into the para sympathetic mode. This will shut off fat burning and make you tired. Definitely not ideal for the midday/afternoon. In addition a big meal during the day doesn’t seem to be very effective for limiting hunger (my own personal experience, could be different for you). Lastly cooking, eating and cleaning a large meal during the day is a hassle and is not very lifestyle friendly.
Your best bet is to eat just enough food to nourish your body and stave off hunger without overtaxing your digestive system. This will allow you to maximize energy and focus. I like to have a smallish meal of 300-400 calories. I opt for some quick/easy protein, fruit and some healthy fats.
Meals 1 & 2 Example:
1) Greek Yogurt or Cottage Cheese topped with berries and almonds.
2) Can of Tuna, Apple and 1tbs of olive oil
3) Chicken breast, Salad Greens, Apple and Half an Avocado
4) Omelette (2 whole eggs + 0.75-1 cup whites) and Berries
5) 40g whey protein mixed with 1 cup almond milk (unsweetend), 20g almonds and serving of fruit
Key Points
As you can see all of the sample meals include a convenient source of protein, fruit and some health fats. This food combination is what I have personally found to be the most effective for staying satisfied on low calorie meals. The fruit is highly nutritious, easily digestible and is effective at replenishing liver glycogen. By increasing liver glycogen you will bring your body into an anabolic state and reduce hunger. I recommend including the fat source (nuts, olive oil or whole eggs). If you keep fat too low in these small meals you will get hungry again very quickly. I pretty much stick with Greek Yogurt (250g), Fruit and Nuts (25g) for these two meals. It’s quick, easy, doesn’t require cooking/preperation and tastes amazing. I will usually throw some cinnamon in too.
The Grand Feast
By this point you have fasted, consumed two small meals and thus have creating a very large calorie buffer. It is likely that you have only consumed 600-800 calories by this point. When on a fat loss plan I like to eat around 10 calories per pound of goal bodyweight per day. This level of calories has never failed me at getting lean even with the absence of cardio. Depending on what your goal weight is this may give you 600-1200 calories to play with. I generally keep this meal around 800-1000 calories in size. I recommend keeping this meal high in protein with moderate amounts of fat and carbs. If you are having a very lean source of protein (chicken) then you can use fats more sparingly (butter with potatoes or rice, coconut oil for cooking, cheese for topping). If you are going for a fattier cut of meat (beef, salmon) then I recommend staying away from any additional fats.
Sample Meals
1. Chicken Breast, Veggies, Brown Rice, Coconut Oil (add 1-3tsp to rice and 1tsp for cooking chicken)
2. Chicken Breast, Veggies, Potato Wedges (boil for 5 minutes and cook on skillet in 2-3 tsp of oil)
3. Steak, Veggies, Sweet Potato (add cinnamon)
Nate Miyaki has a cutting edge program called the Fat Loss Consultant, which is now my favorite book on diet and nutrition. Nate is a total genius in the field of fat loss, nutrition and intermittent fasting. Oh and Nate is one of the few fat loss experts who actually walks around at a shredded 4-8% body fat year round.
I really feel this book will help people finally reach very low levels of body fat with ease.
Question & Answers
- Why have you included carbs in the main meal? I thought carbs make you fat? Carbs are only problematic when eaten excessively, beyond what your body requires. As long as you are eating low calories then carb intake will make very little difference in respect to fat loss. In other words two diets of equal calories with varying levels of carb intake will result in the same level of fat loss. If you are still unsure then you can read this brilliant article by Lyle Mcdonald, Low Carbohydrate Diets Have No Metabolic Advantage. In addition carbs in the main meal serve very important functions such as increasing leptin (improved satiety and metabolic rate), refilling depleted muscle glycogen stores and triggering the release of seratonin which will improve your quality of sleep and make you feel good.
- Can I have Fruits instead for the Main Meal? I recommend avoiding fruits for the main meal. Fruits are rather inefficient at replenishing muscle glycogen and don’t have as much of an effect on leptin levels as grains/tubers.
- Won’t eating a big meal before bed make me fat? As long as you are in a calorie deficit then meal timing is irrelevant. In some cases large late night meals have been shown to preserve muscle mass better on a diet and result in a greater loss in body fat percentage. I highly recommend reading Martin Berkhan’s article on the subject – Is Late Night Eating Better for Fat loss and Health.
- I am hungry during the day, what should I do? Give your body time to adapt to fasting and under eating during the day. This adaptation process may take a few days or a couple weeks. The best part about this diet is that while you might feel slight hunger sensations at times there will be no junk/food cravings. Many people including myself find it easier to deal with a little intermittent hunger then to deal with sneaky food cravings. As well everyday you get to look forward to eating a very big and satisfying meal at night. This takes the grind out of dieting.
- Can I have a cheat meal? Once or twice per week you can have a treat. Remember you will have 600-1000 calories to work with in the main meal. This should make it pretty easy to enjoy some of your favourite foods or go out to a restaurant with friends/family. Just make sure to not go over the calorie budget for the day. If you do end up going over the calorie budget for the day then you can compensate by slightly reducing calories the following days.
- Won’t I lose muscle and have no energy if I train on an empty stomach? I have had my best workouts completely fasted! Once you adapt to training in the fasted state you get a boost of energy and strength. I think this goes back to stimulating the sympathetic system (fight or flight). In addition Fasted training has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity and improve nutrient partitioning. This means that your body will be more efficient at directing nutrients into muscle cells and away from fat stores. Thus training in the fasted state makes the subsequent meals more anabolic. With that said pre workout protein is beneficial at increasing protein synthesis, elevating metabolism and reducing muscle breakdown. Therefore I recommend 10 grams of BCAA before fasted training.
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Hey man. First off… I’m loving your blog. I just started on this diet and I’m already feeling more energized after just a couple days. Its a lot easier also from knowing before i wake up what my meals are going to be for the day. Quick question. What is your stance on low calorie drink mixes like crystal light and great value? Only 5 calories a serving. They are helping me kick sweet tea and soda.
Awesome dude! Keep it up.
If the low cal drink mixes help you stick with your diet and kick your sweet tooth to the curb then I think that’s great. I see no reasons why you would need to give up crystal light.
Hi,
I love your article, it’s very informative. Just a few questions though:
– Do you recommend intermittent fasting for guys like me who are just starting out?
– Do you fast whole year round or just a few months a year? Since this is a ‘diet’ program which usually means temporary.
– I checked out the link in the last part of your article about “pre-workout protein” and in that site, in the author’s summary, he says that you should end the fast with the biggest meal of the day and gradually taper down, which is a reverse of what is in your article, what do you think about that?
Thanks again and hope to hear from you
I do intermittent fasting every single day. Once you adapt to fasting it becomes something you really enjoy. You get hooked to being in the fasted state. As a result you embrace every single fast.
I have tried that approach with myself and my clients and I don’t find in nearly as effective and enjoyable as making your last meal the biggest. After eating a big meal during the day it almost opens up your appetite for more and more food. So it’s really hard to go from a big meal during the day to a smaller meal in the evening. For me a big meal during the day welcomes overeating by triggering cravings that I don’t normally get.
As long as you get in protein within a couple hours after the workout and load up on carbs/calories at night then you will get great muscle building benefits. No need to load up on carbs post workout. It is a misconception that you need an insulin spike from carbs after a workout to trigger protein synthesis. After training insulin sensitivity is higher which is enough to trigger mTOR/AKT – the cellular pathway that deposits protein in the muscle towards repair and growth.
Greg!
Any updates on that Bulking Diet program? I remember a while back you said you were planing on making a bulking manual. I can’t wait to see that, looking foward to it!
Just a quick question: I recently started a leangains-slowbulk bulk and took your advice about eating maintenece cals for a while to makes some gains. So far so good, strength is going up in all lifts and making some gains.
For a bulk, would you suggest fasted training? Or go wth a pre workout meal? I was just going to do the same thing as I did on my cut and just do 200mg coffeine or a pre workout(1MR) Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Yes. My bulking program should be released in the next month or so.
I’ve never actually had coffee just the smell its self doesn’t seem to please me what coffee should I try what to add what not to add and everything
Suck it up and drink it. You will eventually love it. Or you can have caffeine pills instead.
Hey Greg,
Just a few more questions. In this article, you mentioned that intermittent fasting with an 8 hr eating window of around 10 cals per pound of target body weight. How about protein intake? Don’t we also need to regularly consume at least a minimum amount of protein so as not to lose muscle? Lastly, is this program similar to your Kinobody Cut Protocol that you posted in your IF article -> http://www.kinobody.com/1576/intermittent-fasting-for-maximum-muscle-and-minimum-fat/ ? which requires 10 cals on rest days and 14 cals on training days?
Thanks a lot! :)
Yes! Aim for 1 gram of protein per pound of goal body weight. If you choose from the sample meals in the article you will be eating plenty of protein. You can blend concepts by following the kinobody fat loss diet but having 14 calories per pound on training days 3x per week.
My job requires me to be awake at 5am. Based on your program my meals would be 10am, 1pm, and 5pm. I can fit cardio in before I leave for work but my resistance training window is somewhere between 530pm and 8pm. If my last meal is at 5pm will I actually make any muscle gains by lifting at 630pm and not eating till 10am the next day. Should I consume some sort of low calorie protein shake after my 630pm resistance training?
Thanks for your help!
Mike
Definitely try and get your last meal in after training. See if you can do 12pm, 4pm and 8pm. I wouldn’t bother with morning cardio because it will make the fast unbearable.
Hi Greg.
I do my workout first thing in the morning, around 5:30 or 6:00 AM.
How will my eating schedule (with fasting) look like? Heaviest meal in the morning after workout? 8am, 12pm, and 4pm?
Thanks!
I always recommend the biggest meal in the evening even when you’re training in the morning. For fat loss this seems to be the most effective.
If I were you I would do meal 1 around 12pm, meal 2 around 4pm and meal 3 around 8pm.
The other option would be to combine meals one and two. This way you’ll be eating two big meals per day. In this scenario you would have have your first meal at noon and second meal at 6pm.
Thank you for the helpful comments, Greg. I truly appreciate it.
Just to clarify, after my 6am workout, do I wait until 12pm for my first meal? If I finish at 7am, I have to wait 5 hours until my post-workout meal? That seems kinda tough! :-)
Thank you again.
You can. May be wise to take 10 grams BCAA after training. If you find the fast unbearable it may be easier to plan your workout before anyone of your 3 meals.
Thank you Greg. I’ve been sharing your site to my family and friends.
How does this look?
Whey protein – pre-workout
6am – workout
Whey protein and bcaa – post workout
8am -first meal
12pm-second meal
4pm-last meal (heaviest)
Well this isn’t using IF. You would need to use strictly BCAA before/after training. Also I would recommend pushing your first meal later (10-12pm) and your last meal around 6pm.
Hi Greg, I was just wondering, when I flex my abs they tend to show with good lighting; however when I leave them unflexed it seems as though I don’t have abs and I am currently at 8% body fat. What would you advise me to do? Can your new fat loss program help me get to the low body fat digits? Could you also say more about which exercises create thick and dense abs and explain the sets and reps. Thanks for your time.
If you’re 8% body fat then your abs should show without flexing. Perhaps your didn’t get an accurate reading. Do you have visible lower abs veins? If not you’re probably higher than 8%. If you do then you will need to work your abs harder. Get strong at hanging leg raises.
Hi Greg, been following your plan for a few months now and have gotten great results! Down 14lbs, 3inches on my waist, and i hold steady around 8% body fat (previously at 14% =/-). But i’ve moved on to the maintenance portion (and trying to put on a few lbs of lean mass and I’m having trouble eating that many calories in 3 meals. My maintenance goal is about 2500 so I ain for 2800. Even drinking protein shakes i find myself short about 200-500 calories quite often. What do you recommend?
Suck it up and eat man! This is food we’re talking about.
Instead of keeping calories low in the first 2 meals I recommend keeping the calories even. So have some protein and starches (rice/potatoes) with 2 or 3 of your meals. Stick to less filling foods like rice or pasta instead of potatoes
Hey Greg
I had a question for ya regarding water retention. I recently lost alot of weight and got my self really lean(7%Body Fat). My arms, legs, chest and upper back is ripped but my mid section is still kind of blurry. I have a six pack flexed, but blurry when unflexed.
My skin doesn’t feel tight, it feels thick. I’m not sure it its fat. Could this be water retention? Or lagging skin from the diet?
Also, should I be increasing my water intake ( 1 gallon a day or more)?
Any advice is greatly appreciated Greg, Thanks man.
You’re not 7% bf. Your measuring device is probably inaccurate. If you’re under 10% bf then your abs should be very visible when relaxed.
Hi Greg! What’s a good instrument to measure body fat? What do you use?
Also I’m experiencing bad breath or Ketosis lately due to intermittent fasting. How do I remedy this?
Thanks!
I don’t bother measuring bf%. I prefer to do the mirror test and waist measurement. Get your waist to 45% of your height and you’re doing very well.
Ok great! Will do that. Thanks!
How about the bad breath (ketosis) issue?
Also, I find my acne to be breaking out when I take Whey Protein. It stops when I stop taking Whey. Should I consider different sources of protein?
Maybe use cottage cheese or greek yogurt as an alternative for whey protein.
I’m surprised you are going into ketosis? How many carbs are you eating per day? Eat at-least 100 grams of non vegetable carbs per day and you shouldn’t go into ketosis. Intermittent fasting won’t put you into ketosis as long as you include carbs into your meal plan.
Hey man, how can you tell if its loose skin on your stomach or fat? Cause i looked in a recent response to someones question you said if your waist is 45% of your height then you are doing well. My height is 67 inches and my waist is 30in. And i still cant see my abs, and when i bend over there is a good chunk of loose skin or fat hanging down. ANy thoughts?
Appreciate it man!
It’s probably still fat.
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Hi Greg,
First of all, i would like to thank you for this great post.
I would like to ask, is there a risk of losing muscle mass or it’s just normal
that if during my Intermittent fasting days I do some bodyweight exercise upon waking (at 7am)
of approx. 250 push ups and 40 pull ups, and then continue fasting before i had my first meal around 7pm in the evening?
thank you
That’s a very long fast, I don’t recommend going more than 6 hours after waking without eating. Looks like you’re trying to do 12. Remember this has to be something that you can maintain.
until now, i have been doing it since 2011 for every monday and thursday. i’m able to maintain it,hopefully, but i’m just afraid that i might lose muscle mass or the catabolism effect.
i’m also quite fixated with the body weight fluctuation through out the day and does daily fluctuations significant? thank you
You won’t lose muscle mass as long as you strength train 3x per week and get sufficient protein. Don’t worry about bodyweight fluctuations. They’re meaningless.
thanks Greg. by the way, I just would like to ask you , could you please have a look at my training log and advice me since i did not see any progress despite training at this rate, or maybe it’s still below average. how can i pass it to you or should i just post it in the comment box? thanks
Sorry nazrin but I don’t give this type of attention for free. If you’re interested in coaching you can email me.
Hi Greg ……great post I was wondering what workout would you recommend doing with this diet and how much weight would I lose by donig this? hope to hear back soon. thanks a lot.
I have diabetes and can not skip breakfast, whats your suggestion I do to follow your diet plan?
I’d recommend sticking to the meal plan but consume breakfast. So you’re meals would just be spaced 4-5 hours apart. Hitting the calories is what matters.
Hey Greg. Thank you for this great article!
I have a quick question. What is your take on post workout shakes for fat loss? Would you include that in the meal plan? How about if I’m training in the morning during fasting time.
Thanks!! :)
Whole food is superior for fullness so it makes sense to stick mostly to real food that you can chew when dieting. That said, if you stick to your calories and consume protein shakes you will drop fat no problem. You might just find that you’ll be a little hungrier.
Hey Greg, would you modify this diet to the Intermittment Feast and only have 2 meals, or do you still recommend the 3 meals outlined in this diet? I want to lose more then 1 lb a week for about 4-6 weeks, and I read on one of the replies you posted that the Kinobody Fat Loss Diet will help me lose fat faster than the Beach Ripped diet. Obviously i’ve been reading your postings so im just trying to differentiate between diets and see what will work best for me. Trying to go from 205lbs to 185-190lbs. Thanks man.
Yah after doing this diet for several weeks I naturally gravitated towards 2 bigger meals. More enjoyable that way I found.
Hey Greg, once you reached your weight goals while consuming 10cal x pound, which is lower than most reccomended websites, but seems more effective. How many cal x pound do you recommend to maintain that weight once reached?
plus, lets assume you would say 12 or 14, coud you jump right there or you would need to increase it gradually such as 100cal surplus x week?
Good question. You should be able to maintain your weight at around 14-16 cals per pound.
You can probably jump right to 14 cals per pound. Stay there for 2 weeks. You may gain a few pounds the first week. This is simply from more water and glycogen from the higher calories. After the first 2 weeks depending on your weight change you may need to adjust upwards or downwards to find your maintenance.
Great BBC documentary on intermittent fasting here:
http://vimeo.com/54089463
Hey Greg, when you say not to count veggies cals, you mean only lettuce cucumbers brocoli etc. or all kind of vegetables? tomatoes carrots? beans and legumes?
Well tomatoes technically are a fruit so you’d want to count them. Beans and legumes are not actually veggies, plus they have plenty of carbs and protein, definitely count them. Just don’t worry about counting fibrous veggies like the first ones you mentioned.