
A Diet and Exercise Plan to Lose Weight and Gain Muscle - credo
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/03/a-diet-and-exercise-plan-to-lose-weight-and-gain-muscle/
======
brianwawok
> Of course, by the end of the month, none of the men wished to continue. This
> type of extreme calorie cutting combined with intense exercise “is not a
> sustainable program in the long term,” Dr. Phillips said. “It’s more a kind
> of boot camp,” he said, manageable in the short term by people who are very
> committed and generally very healthy.

No no no.. don't diet.. change your lifestyle. Drinking a fancy shake for a
month is a diet. Never touching Soda again is changing your lifestyle.

One works for the long term, one does not.

~~~
MCRed
I've been paying very close attention to the responses of my body to different
foods, etc. Drinking water has not produced better weight loss than drinking
coke zero. Maybe by "soda" you meant soda with sugar...but for me, the coke
zero is well worth the mood improvement, and I've observed no negative
effects.

~~~
billmalarky
Diet soda causes insulin resistance, dental erosion, and I believe acid
reflux. Just something to consider when weighing the pros/cons.

[http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/32/4/688.full](http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/32/4/688.full)

[http://www.colgate.com/en/us/oc/oral-
health/basics/nutrition...](http://www.colgate.com/en/us/oc/oral-
health/basics/nutrition-and-oral-health/article/sw-281474979359772)

A better alternative, though still exacerbates acid reflux I believe, is
flavored club soda like la croix. After about a week of drinking it, lime la
croix tastes like sprite. Then if you have a real sprite you'll gag. Plus it
gives you an excuse to act all fancy.

I should probably add that the difference between diet soda and flavored club
soda are the flavoring agents.

With la croix, "The flavors are derived from the natural essence oils
extracted from the named fruit used in each of our LaCroix flavors. There are
no sugars or artificial ingredients contained in, nor added to, these
extracted flavors."

[http://www.lacroixwater.com/nutritional-
faqs/](http://www.lacroixwater.com/nutritional-faqs/)

However I suspect drinking carbonated beverages in general is worse for you
than straight water, of course.

~~~
parenthephobia
The conclusion of the diabetes-related study you linked to is not that diet
soda causes insulin resistance, but that diet soda consumption is positively
associated with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

The nature of the link is not established, but the authors speculate that diet
soda consumption may lead to increased consumption of high-sugar beverages or
food either directly by causing sugar cravings or indirectly by impairing the
ability to gauge whether one has eaten enough.

~~~
tzs
> The nature of the link is not established, but the authors speculate that
> diet soda consumption may lead to increased consumption of high-sugar
> beverages or food either directly by causing sugar cravings or indirectly by
> impairing the ability to gauge whether one has eaten enough.

Or it could be the other way around. Suppose you are consuming a high sugar
diet, both from consuming high sugar soda and eating high sugar foods. You are
fat, and you know you are heading toward diabetes. You want to start taking
steps to avert that.

The easiest step to take is to replace regular soda with diet soda some or all
of the time. For many people that is as simple as inserting the single word
"diet" into their order at the fast food place.

Thus, I think that you are going to see correlations between diet soda and
various bad things because people who have these bad things or are worried
about developing these bad things switch to diet soda.

------
pvnick
Great article, nice and short, and to the point. This is not news to diet and
exercise enthusiasts, however, but it is always nice to see supporting
evidence. Strength training, combined with a high-protein diet, is ideal for
maintaining or increasing muscle mass even in caloric deficit. Compound
exercises, like squats, deadlifts, benchpress, etc, involve greater whole-body
muscle recruitment and are more effective than accessory exercises like bicep
curls. It is likely, however, that the 3 pounds of muscle gained was
attainable because of the relatively untrained status of the participants and
their high body fat percentage (article mentions approximately 24% average
body fat percentage for the participants). Leaner, more well-trained
individuals, have a harder time packing on muscle when in caloric deficit.

------
mattquiros
The study is very misleading. I was excited to read about some scientific
breakthrough because I saw the link from Hacker News, but this one crucial
fact gave it away:

> the McMaster researchers rounded up 40 overweight young men

Of course they both lost weight and gained muscle. They were overweight to
begin with. Anyone overweight who starts exercising loses a lot of weight and
gains muscle simply because their bodies began to have higher caloric
expenditures, and their muscles had to adapt to more mechanical stresses.

If we're talking about someone whose body fat percentage is already normal,
however, we'll go back to choosing between losing weight or gaining muscle,
because you can't do both. When you exercise, you burn the carbs first, then
the fat, then to a small extent, the protein, though these three are being
used simultaneously to produce energy. You hit the fat-burning zone when your
carbs can't produce as much energy (fat produces way more energy but requires
way more intensity to burn), but since fat also takes some time to burn and
you already need to produce energy to continue with the exercise, you use the
protein too, which comes from your muscles.

This is the reason why bodybuilders have a cutting phase and a gaining phase.
They gain muscle or strength for 2-5 months, cut for 1-2 months, then go back
to gaining muscle again. How do you gain muscle? You put on weight--meaning,
you eat more. The weight that you put on will be about 5 parts fat and 1 part
muscle, and that is why the cutting phase is necessary. Muscle is only gained
with the fat and continued weight training, so burn the fat once you put on
the weight. Whenever you attempt to lose fat, you will always inevitably lose
muscle, so if you want to get buff, you can only do so much fat-burning
exercises. That means keeping your runs at 10-15km, for example.

In summary, you can't do both. You can only gain muscle and lose weight
together if you're really fat to begin with. If you're within the average body
fat % range, though, you still need to switch between cutting and gaining
phases.

------
melted
Just ask any competitive bodybuilder how to lose fat without losing much
muscle and they will tell you about their "cut" diet, cycling, periodization,
etc. Some of them (eg Ben Pakulski) work with scientists in fact, and go to
ridiculous lengths in that regard. Except body builders drop carbs
significantly and they always eat a ton of protein, cut or bulk. Of course
steroids help to achieve and sustain single digit body fat percentages, but
even without steroids you should see OK results if you're willing to put in
the work in the gym.

------
NicoJuicy
Here some tips after losing weight ( 25 kg = 55 lbs in 6 months) ( healthy
way).. It was 1/4th of my weight.

\- Morning cardio, after a protein shake

\- Eat every 3 hours ( no sugar please!)

\- Men are easier at gaining "muscle" ( testosteron), i'm not a woman. But
woman would have more effect with more cardio. Men have more effect with doing
both

\- If you eat more then 4 consecutive days too little, your body will cut on
the daily energy requirements. Eat 1 cheat meal every 4 days. ( because of a
hormone called leptine, it's the reason why you can survive 30 days without
food)

\- Eat every meal ( morning, noon, in between and evening) || 6 meals a day
will make you a king

\- Last (small ) meal = 2 hours before going to sleep

\- Protein to be lean, drop the carbs closer the evening. In my opinion, you
should have the "big meal" in the morning, so you have to whole day to digest
it..

\- You don't digest things in your sleep, it gets stored as fat ( you're not
doing anything, so your body doesn't need it now)

\- Sleep enough

\- Weight exercise in the evening, if you want to do cardio. Do it afterwards.

\- If you suck at running, don't try Start 2 run. Run 1 minute, stretch 20
seconds and repeat for half an hour. Next time. Run 2 minutes and stretch. I
ran 10 km in a month ( and i hate running and i was pretty fat :p )

\- Don't like running, try rope skipping

\- Don't like rope skipping, rowing is awesome!

\- If you have pain, take care and don't overdo it!

\- 40% is exercise, 60% is better / healthier food

\- Fish is healthier then every meat

\- Poultry is the best meat

\- Repeat exercising every day, except 1 day in the week ( rest day)

\- Don't expect extreme results after a week, it will become more and more
visible as your metabolism will improve

\- Don't check your weight on a scale daily... Do it monthly or biweekly

\- Change your exercises regularly, your muscles adapt / become more efficient
at what you do the most. You don't want that...

\- A pure protein diet as in the commercials, will ruin your metabolism... (
Eg. When you eat after the diet, like you ate before the protein diet, you
will gain weight faster then you lost it)

\- If you want your weight to stay off, respect your metabolism. Eat always (
preferably small portions)

\- Not every fat is bad ( transfats are), not every sugar is bad ( eg.
fructose and dextrose)

\- Probably some controversional theory, but they always say alcohol are empty
calories. I also think that alcohol lowers your metabolism

You want reading material with more information? Try Tom Ventuo with "Burn the
fat, feed the muscle". ( you'll learn more about calorie cycling and much more
then what i've said here)

You want another good author ( short / good articles), search for anything of
Lyle McDonald. Eg.
[http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/](http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/)

~~~
NicoJuicy
And somebody downvoted me, why? I just gave a lot of tips which i used and who
are effective for other people... And i didn't wrote a book about it... :)

~~~
sixQuarks
yeah, not sure why you were downvoted.

------
prostoalex
They reduced calorie consumption, but also mandated that 50% of the diet comes
from carbohydrates. Is it possible that for their average experiment
participant the weight loss was a result of net reduction of carbohydrates
consumed, not variations on a 50-35-15 formula?

------
MCRed
In both groups %50 of their calories came from carbohydrates. Carbs are quick
sugar energy, and the resulting rise in blood sugar tells the body that it has
plenty of energy.

This would have been much more interesting if one group had low to zero cards,
and high fat and high protein.

Such a diet has worked well for me to lose a hundred pounds in 8 months...
without any exercise. (and I don't think I'm losing muscle.)

The question is- can you cut carbs and become fat adapted (Which is what I
have done, and the results are dramatic, my bodies response to fat is much
different than before)... while still building muscle.

This is the next phase for me- the second hundred pounds I want to lose I will
do while working out and building muscle.

In my case, this change in diet has become a change in lifestyle. I'm
perfectly happy eating steak and BBQ and when I get a hankering for a pizza I
make it with almond flour and have very little carbs. It's easy and fun and
I'm eating better now (and saving money) while feeling much better.

Like the people in the study I've also recently started experimenting with a
shake. It's called "Keto Chow" and you can find the recipe at diy.soylent.com.
The nice thing about this is that I put my daily vitamins in the shake and
some supplements so I'm getting better nutrition than I was before.

This is taking essentially no effort. Before when I dieted (low fat, high carb
standard "diet") it was very difficult because it took a huge amount of
willpower.

This takes almost none.

Of course, exercising will take willpower so I'm finding exercises that I like
to do. Dancing is my aerobic approach. Not sure what I will do for muscle
building yet, though, because lifting is kinda boring. (but I do have
dumbbells next to my chair and I pick them up and exercise a bit when I'm
thinking.)

I think the whole theory of "calories in < calories out" is BS-- people are
different and some people are more sensitive to insulin the others.

~~~
redthrowaway
>I think the whole theory of "calories in < calories out" is BS-- people are
different and some people are more sensitive to insulin the others.

You think the first law of thermodynamics is bullshit?

~~~
logfromblammo
It isn't bullshit, but it isn't helpful information to someone trying to lose
adipose mass.

Repeating it to a fatty as fat-loss advice is a lot like trying to teach
someone to swim by continually telling them that water is wet. Absolutely
true, but completely unhelpful.

The broken element in a fatty is a complex biochemical feedback system that
ultimately does not send "start eating" and "stop eating" signals at
appropriate times. The frontal cortex can consciously override it to some
extent, by refusing to eat when the "start eating" signal is sent, but this is
psychologically very stressful.

One of the great things about low-carb and keto diets is that the body's
backup ketone-burning power system is usually not affected by the buggy
firmware updates that have been applied to the carb-burning system over the
years. Once you are adapted to it, you can consciously control your caloric
intake as appropriate for your body-reform plan _without_ getting bombarded by
unsatiated appetite signals every waking moment of your day. You can eat a
1200 kcal diet without biting through the padlock on the fridge and gorging
yourself on whatever is in there.

A fatty usually isn't fat because they _want_ to be, or because they don't
understand thermodynamic balance. They're fat because they have a little
shoulder devil constantly whispering in their ear, that just won't shut up,
ever.

    
    
      DEVIL:  Hey.  I want a doughnut.  I want a dozen doughnuts.
      FATTY:  No.
      DEVIL:  Get me a doughnut.  Do it.  Do it now.  Gooey jelly doughnut.
      FATTY:  Those are like 300 Calories.  Each.  So, no.
      DEVIL:  Don't care.  Ok, compromise.  3 beignets.  C'est si bon.
      FATTY:  No!
      DEVIL:  Fine.  Churros, por favor.  Me gusta.
      FATTY:  No.  No fried sugar-dough of any kind.  Will french fries work?
      DEVIL:  Super size!  Extra ketchup!  Fountain drink!
      FATTY:  [om nom nom]
      DEVIL:  Now I want chocolate.
    

As you can see from the example conversation, the fatty _already_ knows that a
doughnut has too many calories in it. That knowledge simply does not help to
silence the imaginary anthropomorphization of appetite.

~~~
boyaka
I love the dialogue there! When I'm up in the middle of the night (certain
periods when my sleep schedule is off) I have this exact voice in my head,
planning to go get a donut from my favorite shop when it opens. Luckily my
desire to get in better shape has been keeping this urge under control, but
it's amazing how persistent it is at convincing me otherwise.

------
marklawrutgers
I've been following this guide which has a lot of information on better foods
and how your body functions: [http://ss.fitness/](http://ss.fitness/)

Most notably:

Cut grains/flour/wheat/sugar/baked goods from your diet completely.

Diet accommodates for about 60% of your body while exercise makes up the rest
40%. Give or take 20% depending on your type and metabolism.

------
lintiness
anybody get to the conclusion?

"Of course, by the end of the month, none of the men wished to continue."

