Kinda-Sorta Review: Xtreme Fat Loss Diet
(http://xtremefatlossdiet.com)
From March 8th through April 1st, 2017, I kinda-sorta ran the Xtreme Fat Loss Diet program. This was after 20 weeks of an intentional attempt to eat in caloric excess and build muscle.
THE SELECTION PROCESS:
Understanding that I was going to go on a bulk starting in late October 2016, I knew that at the end, I’d need to shed the excess fat that comes along with trying to build muscle. Given that I’m a woman with several years of training under my belt and in my late 30s, it was understood going in that if I was obscenely lucky if 20% of any weight that I added would be muscle. So I wasn’t going to go about gaining 20 pounds, understanding the difficulty of dieting at the end vs. the possible muscle mass gain. I settled on closer to 10–12 pounds as a goal. And then I immediately began searching for how I would strip off the fat while trying to not compromise the lean mass I’d added. I needed this sort of mental assurance from the start, that I had a plan ready to go, so as to have less fear about adding pounds.
Given my leanness starting out, and my lifting history, I wanted to look into some of the more extreme programs out there that are meant for people who fit that profile. One of the most popular is Lyle McDonald’s Ultimate Diet 2.0; it’s also very well known that this program is brutal, but it works if you can stick with it. That was the first one that I researched. However, since I am a Special Snowflake with a rare digestive tract issue, I realized I would not be able to handle the massive carb refeeds required in that program. So I set out to find a program that was based on a similar premise — calorie/macro cycling, refeeds, synergistic optimized workouts — but not with a requirement that I eat 2200 calories of carbs in a 36 hour window.
Searching bodybuilding forums brought me to the Xtreme Fat Loss Diet, with some general thumbs-up outside of the caveat that UD2 is superior. The website, however, made me want to stab myself in the face with a fork. But after skimming some of the principles of how it works, I thought that it might tick most of the checkboxes I was looking to check. I found a discount link and grabbed the program for a price that was at least worth it for research.
After reading through and comparing with a few other programs, I decided I would roll forward with the Xtreme Fat Loss Diet as my start to cutting. Well, sort of.
PRINCIPLES VS. EXECUTION:
When I say that I ran XFLD, what I’m really saying is that I took the dietary guidelines and some of the exercise methodology to craft a plan that was more tailored to my own goals. While one might say “you’re not doing the program,” one has to consider the way XFLD was built as well as recognizing its weaknesses — and trying to fix those.
XFLD is marketed to be appealing to as wide of an audience as possible. It tries to make things “easy” by speaking in portions vs. calories or macros. And its workouts are almost entirely bodyweight-based to appeal to the gym-averse. However, the program never comes out and says that it’s really not the best plan for those with a large amount of weight to lose. Its methodology is better suited to those who have to step beyond mere calorie reduction due to an already somewhat-lean body fat percentage, and require hormone and glycogen manipulation in order to lose fat while preserving muscle. Men over 20% or women over 25% don’t need anywhere near this level of granularity. But, it’s XTREME! People are desperate, and they like the idea of having cheat meals. Why cut out that market, outside of the fact that maybe it’s not terribly ethical?
So what remains is a bodybuilder’s program toned down for the layman, but someone with the right understanding could bring it back up to a bodybuilder’s standards; sort of bridging the gap between XFLD as written and UD2. And that’s where I went with it.
THE STRAIGHT-UP PROGRAM AS WRITTEN:
XFLD is a 25 day, 5-cycle plan where each day has unique attributes and workouts. Without getting into detail and giving away the program for free, it looks like
· Day 1: Cheat Day — “eat what you desire for each meal” vs. “eat everything in sight”
· Day 2: Fast Day — nothing but clear liquids and BCAAs all day
· Day 3: Shake Day — 5 shakes, each combined with either a carb or fat source
· Day 4: Moderate Carbs Day — 5 meals with carbs and fats partitioned from each other
· Day 5: Protein Day — avoiding as many carbs/fats as possible
On days 3–5, calorie/portion intake is set quite low. There is a list of “free veggies” one can consume ad libitum. Although I doubt the authors mean it’s okay to have a half pound of broccoli and four cucumbers — moderation applies if one wants to be successful.
There are two workouts for each day: one that resembles something out of P90X and lasts 20 minutes, and an optional targeted fat loss cardio workout that lasts 40–45 minutes. There are no rest days.
Great? Great! Maybe crazy. Perhaps, even, xtreme.
THE NONSENSE PROGRAM AS WRITTEN:
XFLD spends a lot of its text attempting to explain the science behind why their program works for fat loss while preserving muscle. Certainly this information is good for the mass marketing they’re doing. However, it’s also full of contentious “science” that floats around the fitness world as fact but truly is of no influence. There’s a lot of talk about glycemic index. There’s a lot of talk about organics. And of course, there are MLM supplements and other products being pushed, because selling a program means trying to also profit from its execution.
Typically I would not encourage people to hand over their money for nonsense like this as I don’t think this behavior should be encouraged. So it is only with a heavy disclaimer and a long discussion that I would recommend someone purchase the program. Because, with all of its faults in marketing and text, the fundamental principles still work.
MODIFYING FOR LIFTERS:
Diet-wise, I was keen to follow the plan to the letter. Despite the text trying to speak in portions instead of calories and macros, it DOES provide hard numbers for those of us who are happy to be anal retentive, seeking optimal compliance. I made no changes apart from a small adjustment as recommended in the text for petite women. And while their cheat days came with zero guidance and no need to track, I tracked them to make sure I wasn’t going completely over the top.
But as far as exercise was concerned, I did not want to stop lifting heavy for 25 days. This seemed completely counterintuitive to me for muscle preservation. With that in mind, I looked at the lifting program I’d been doing all winter and I looked at UD2, trying to line up similar macro days and similar intensity. I did want to attempt the optional cardio from the XFLD program so I strategically added that as well. I ended up with four lifting sessions ranging from 30–50 minutes and four cardio sessions ranging from 40–50 minutes; some two-a-day, some specifically AM vs. PM, and a brutal glycogen depletion workout before my cheat day cheating could begin.
I should also add that outside of the program, I was concerned about declining NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis; the movement in your daily life that isn’t specific to exercise sessions) so I was vigilant with hopping on my stationary bike whenever I was planning to be generally sedentary. There’s not much resistance on it, so the effect isn’t any more effort than slow walking. They key is that it has a laptop desk built into it. I easily put in 3–4 hours on the bike total every day.
THE ACTUAL EXECUTION OF THE PROGRAM:
The biggest key was planning — and I am a pro at planning.
I’ve been using Cronometer.com for over a year for my food tracking as it tracks calories, macros, and micronutrients/vitamins. The site allows you to enter dates ahead of current, so with my weigh-in the morning of Cheat Day calculating my calories/macros for each day, I could plan the cycle. On Fast Day, I’d head to the grocery store to buy any items that I planned that weren’t on hand. All I had to do once things kicked off is follow exactly what I entered. And because I am a robot, it went flawlessly.
For Fast Day, I used Scivation Xtend BCAAs. The guide tries selling you BCAA tablets that are ridiculously priced and you have to take a mountain of them to hit targets. That is stupid.
For Shake Day, the book tells you to just drink 5 of their branded shakes without worrying about macros; this does not work well when you are a petite woman. Given that we have 10 different protein shake vats in our cabinet, I did have 5 shakes but otherwise followed their calorie/macro guidelines along with accompaniments (I don’t like stuff IN my shake so I’d eat it on the side) and some free veggies.
For Moderate Carb Day, this was tougher than I thought as the carb level is high but you’re eating all your carbs in two meals early in the day. So those meals tended to be high carb with a low to moderate amount of protein, and my other three meals contained the majority of my protein with fats just so that they’d be meals of substance. Oats and fruit. Oats and fruit. Good thing I like oats and fruit.
Protein Day was my biggest challenge. It wasn’t so much about finding sources — I had a carton of egg whites that served to make omelets for two of my meals — but digestion. As previously mentioned, I’ve got issues, and Protein Day liked to weigh in my stomach like a brick for the entire duration. I didn’t want to resort to shakes because I had a whole stupid day of shakes, but I ended up replacing one of the five meals just to keep things moving. Shrimp was also a lifesaver.
As for my workouts, most of these went off without a hitch. Sometimes the cardio would feel tedious, and the Cheat Day glycogen depletion workout was miserable. During the fourth cycle, I had a particularly rough cardio workout on Moderate Carb day that left me feeling incredibly weak and sick to my stomach, but that was an anomaly. I maintained strength on what, for me, was somewhat of a minimalist routine.
I say this as it is important to note: prior to starting this program, my average daily caloric intake each week (including a cheat) was around 2100 calories. On XFLD, my average caloric intake for each 5-day cycle (that includes Cheat Day) was around 1230. And for the most part, I did not at any time feel hungry or deprived. Nor did I (mostly) feel exhausted or unable to complete a workout. Each cycle I kept wondering, when is this going to get difficult? When am I going to become an unbearable cranky dieting person?
Let me repeat that. I was never truly hungry. I had no strong cravings. Not even on fast day.
It also feels very strange to report this. Am I an anomaly? I feel like people out there who have tried crazy extreme diets in the past are giving me the biggest stink-eye imaginable. For me, following the plan was easy and I didn’t struggle. Maybe there’s something to the distribution of macros and attempts at hormone manipulation that keeps this in check. Maybe this program is one that works exceptionally well with my body. I can’t say for sure.
Honestly, my biggest struggle was keeping my bowels moving. Expected, but ugh.
SUCCESS BY THE NUMBERS:
Okay, great. I did the program. DID IT WORK?
Revisiting my bulk — after 20 weeks, I somehow only put on 8.9 lbs total. I had originally set aside 11 weeks for my cut. At this point, that seemed like overkill, but I had no idea how well I would be able to stick to my plans. Life interrupts sometimes, after all.
I had settled on the idea that if I was obedient, I could probably expect to lose 6 pounds, and I would be more than happy with that. That’s a great base to then taper into more typical cutting to finish things out slowly.
There were fluctuations throughout. Some cycles had minimal drops, while others were huge. Part of this is due to dealing with a human body, affected by sleep, stress, salt intake, and constipation. I have spent years dealing with the psychology of dieting, so none of this affected my motivation or caused me to doubt what I was doing as long as I hadn’t strayed and the scale was still trending down. I’m a robot. But I could imagine that for most, doing a diet that is this strict and not seeing stellar results might make it far more of a struggle to make it through the entire cycle.
First: I did stick to the program 100%. A couple of my cheat days went a bit higher and cheat-y than I had wanted them to because, well, sudden freedom when on a strict caloric deficit can make your brains swim with happy thoughts of all the things in your face. I didn’t miss a single workout though.
Here’s what that looks like in practice.
Final results:
Starting weight on March 8: 130.4 lbs
Ending weight on April 2: 122 lbs
Total change: -8.4 lbs
Measurement change (bust, chest, waist, hips, upper thigh, calf, upper arm, lower arm): -5.25 inches
So yeah. One could say that it worked. I’ve had to shorten the time I had planned for the remainder of my cut, to say the least.
MY FINAL THOUGHTS:
As mentioned before, I find it difficult to recommend this program based on pseudoscience in the text, pushing to purchase wildly overpriced products, and not being entirely sure that following the program on their vague portion-oriented terms and using their workout plan would yield similar results.
But there’s no denying my outcome. So with that, I leave it to the reader to make a now-hopefully-better-informed decision as to whether to jump into this sort of crazy short-term fat-loss program.
