How to Lose 20 Pounds of Fat in 30 Days (Without Doing Any Exercise)
It is possible to lose 20 pounds of body fat in 30 days by optimizing any of three factors: exercise, diet, or drug/supplement regimen.
I’ve seen the elite implementation of all three in working with professional athletes. In this post, we’ll explore what I refer to as the “slow-carb diet.”
During a span of six weeks, I cut from about 180 lbs. to 165 lbs., while adding about 10 lbs. of muscle, which means I lost about 25 lbs. of fat.
This is the only diet besides the rather extreme Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD) that has produced veins across my abdomen, which is the last place I lose fat (damn you, Scandinavian genetics).
Here are the four simple rules
Rule #1: Avoid “white” carbohydrates
Avoid any carbohydrate that is — or can be — white. The following foods are thus prohibited, except for within 1.5 hours of finishing a resistance-training workout of at least 20 minutes in length: bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pasta, and fried food with breading.
If you avoid eating anything white, you’ll be safe.
Rule #2: Eat the same few meals over and over again
The most successful dieters, regardless of whether their goal is muscle gain or fat loss, eat the same few meals over and over again. Mix and match, constructing each meal with one from each of the three following groups:
Proteins:
· Egg whites with one whole egg for flavor
· Chicken breast or thigh
· Grass-fed organic beef
· Pork
Legumes:
· Lentils
· Black beans
· Pinto beans
Vegetables:
Spinach
· Asparagus
· Peas
· Mixed vegetables
Eat as much as you like of the above food items. Just remember: keep it simple. Pick three or four meals and repeat them. Almost all restaurants can give you a salad or vegetables in place of french fries or potatoes.
Surprisingly, I have found Mexican food, swapping out rice for vegetables, to be one of the cuisines most conducive to the “slow carb” diet.
Most people who go on “low” carbohydrate diets complain of low energy and quit, not because such diets can’t work, but because they consume insufficient calories. A 1/2 cup of rice is 300 calories, whereas a 1/2 cup of spinach is 15 calories! Vegetables are not calorically dense, so it is critical that you add legumes for caloric load.
Some athletes eat 6–8x per day to break up caloric load and avoid fat gain. I think this is ridiculously inconvenient. I eat 4x per day:
10am — breakfast
· 1pm — lunch
· 5pm — smaller second lunch
· 7:30–9pm — sports training
· 10pm — dinner
· 12am — glass of wine and Discovery Channel before bed
Here are some of my meals that recur again and again:
Scrambled Eggology pourable egg whites with one whole egg, black beans, and microwaved mixed vegetables
How to Lose 20 Pounds of Fat in 30 Days (Without Doing Any Exercise)
It is possible to lose 20 pounds of body fat in 30 days by optimizing any of three factors: exercise, diet, or drug/supplement regimen. I’ve seen the elite implementation of all three in working with professional athletes. In this post, we’ll explore what I refer to as the “slow-carb diet.” During a span of six weeks, I cut from about 180 lbs. to 165 lbs., while adding about 10 lbs. of muscle, which means I lost about 25 lbs. of fat. This is the only diet besides the rather extreme Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD) that has produced veins across my abdomen, which is the last place I lose fat (damn you, Scandinavian genetics). Here are the four simple rules
Rule #1: Avoid “white” carbohydrates Avoid any carbohydrate that is — or can be — white. The following foods are thus prohibited, except for within 1.5 hours of finishing a resistance-training workout of at least 20 minutes in length: bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pasta, and fried food with breading. If you avoid eating anything white, you’ll be safe.
Rule #2: Eat the same few meals over and over again The most successful dieters, regardless of whether their goal is muscle gain or fat loss, eat the same few meals over and over again. Mix and match, constructing each meal with one from each of the three following groups:
Proteins: · Egg whites with one whole egg for flavor · Chicken breast or thigh · Grass-fed organic beef · Pork Legumes: · Lentils · Black beans · Pinto beans Vegetables: Spinach · Asparagus · Peas · Mixed vegetables Eat as much as you like of the above food items. Just remember: keep it simple. Pick three or four meals and repeat them. Almost all restaurants can give you a salad or vegetables in place of french fries or potatoes.
Surprisingly, I have found Mexican food, swapping out rice for vegetables, to be one of the cuisines most conducive to the “slow carb” diet. Most people who go on “low” carbohydrate diets complain of low energy and quit, not because such diets can’t work, but because they consume insufficient calories. A 1/2 cup of rice is 300 calories, whereas a 1/2 cup of spinach is 15 calories! Vegetables are not calorically dense, so it is critical that you add legumes for caloric load. Some athletes eat 6–8x per day to break up caloric load and avoid fat gain. I think this is ridiculously inconvenient. I eat 4x per day: 10am — breakfast · 1pm — lunch · 5pm — smaller second lunch · 7:30–9pm — sports training · 10pm — dinner · 12am — glass of wine and Discovery Channel before bed Here are some of my meals that recur again and again: Scrambled Eggology pourable egg whites with one whole egg, black beans, and microwaved mixed vegetables