Rabbit diet does not make fitness model bodies.
On Keto, protein and getting lean simply.
“I thought you were on some steroids — all the girls I’ve talked to, who compete and have form like yours, they all take something.”, — an old friend of mine back in Russia, Siberia, where I’m visiting my parents at the moment.
I look so vastly different from majority of people, especially women in the gym, no matter what country I’m in these days, that people assume:
a) I’m taking something heavy, steroids or drugs, or fat burners or all of it
b) I’m getting ready to compete
c) I’m eating some protein heavy, low fat, low carb, low calorie diet
None of which is true.
Besides a multivitamin, and essential amino acids during my daily fasted strength workouts finishing my 18-hour fasts, — I take in nothing but whole food.
I’m limiting non-whole food caloric sources too at the moment (another experiment #noingredientsketofatloss, bit.ly/noingredientsketofatloss), even though a lot of them are totally keto and totally healthy, like bulletproof coffee for example — for a month of experiment to see how lean I can get, tapering my calories (changing the amount of food I eat, fasting, overeating and under-eating).
People assume all the wrong things about me — I look like a freak in a good freaky way, I do nothing what others do “oddly” enough.
When some of my friends in the gym pay attention and actually care enough to ask — they quickly learn, that I do everything almost the exact opposite of what the majority of people do (especially women) and that’s why I probably look so much different too. Plus I’m strong, fit and super flexible — that most assume are all natural God-given talents. I train daily — but I don’t do that much total work as people assume, given my looks, I do, recovery is my focus as much as training — get in, go intense and heavy, get out, no long cardio, no super long workouts, and not doing that much (although I’m not a couch potato for sure), I look like I’m a couple of weeks away from a physique competition (Today a guy asked, if I was competing this weekend in Siberia, where I’m visiting my parents), when I pump up intensity a bit — I look like I’m about to get on stage right now. Kind of easy. Now that I’ve learned and practicing all the recent fat loss and body re-composition science. The more I learn — the simpler it gets. And I’m learning daily!
I made this post yesterday on my Instagram.
And because of lots of responses, I’ve decided to make a longer post about it, explaining a few things in it, and also talking about why lots of people, women especially, can’t move their body re-compositioning progress anywhere significantly. Guys do that too — belly fat, can’t build muscles, feminine physique — lots of those cases too!
This is my ultimate recipe for someone, who wants to cut without counting much of anything.
You can do a high fat diet (the post is all about that) in a number of ways, not all of which will result in significant fat loss, especially if you are not obese, and want to get leaner, not just average. You will get impressive results (most of you, not talking about people who are already super lean). And it’s simple. And it works. In a seemingly simple formula, there is whole lot of low carb, keto, circadian and metabolic science.
Having your meal times restricted to 12-hour or less eating window, and having 2–3 meals with no snacks outside that — it is important for your gut and metabolic health, for satiety and natural hunger control, intuitive eating.
Having your carbs below 50, will guarantee, for most people, stable and balanced blood sugar, that is also a BIG contributor to shredded physique (assuming here, your carbs come from whole fiber rich foods like vegetables and nuts and seeds, not processed food and sweeteners).
The protocol is also based on whole foods only — dairy, added oils and butters of any kind are not included, only natural, fatty foods, created by mother nature, that once were alive running or growing, with great nutritional profile, of the best quality (without toxins) — this will insure low inflammation levels if any, again balanced blood sugar, minimized or eliminated allergic and auto-immune food reactions, reduced cravings and hunger, due to rich nutritional profile of foods you will be consuming.
If your goal is not just look normal avoiding obesity and health problems correlated with modern diet of processed food of most people, but you also want to get lean and shredded, enhancing your mental and physical performance dramatically — this is a great simple formula to use without calorie counting.
The only thing I’d recommend you to count (based on my recent experience with a lot of clients) — the amount of protein, that “naturally” skinny guys, most women, a lot of keto people, tend to under-eat, and some manage to over-eat, spiking blood glucose and liver fat accumulation.
A good formula for protein amount, that works perfectly for most — your body weight in pounds is the amount of protein in grams you need to eat from whole foods daily. I wouldn’t go under this amount, if you work out and want to stay lean building muscle, if you go a bit over 10–20 grams, not a big deal.
This post also evoked a lot of questions.
I used to make those same mistakes many years ago, having very little nutrition knowledge, worrying about numbers on the scales more than about the quality of my health, fitness, performance and body composition (how much lean muscles and how much fat I have and of what kind).
Rabbit diet — lots of plant foods with very little high quality protein and big calorie reduction. Also usually low fat. Very often leads to weight loss indeed! But at what cost! Lost muscle mass, skinny-fat body, loss of strength, loss of energy, fitness, loss of mood and drive for life, loss of libido very often — I doubt it you want any of that! But that’s exactly what you create, eating lots of low fat salads, some low fat yogurts and leanest meat, counting every calorie and having very poorly designed nutritional plan, putting yourself in forever-under-eating mode. Do it a bit longer and your skin gets dry, your hair and nails get dull and dry too, and very soon you start questioning the worthiness of your pursuits and your whole existence on this planet.
The truth is — you NEVER want to cut essential for life proteins (amino acids), that are needed to support your training, lean muscle mass and biochemical processes of repair and building, happening in your body all the time.
The truth is — you NEVER want to cut essential for life fats, that your body uses to build and support cell membranes, ensuring smooth communication between cells and the environment, creating hormones essential for your life and well-being, your happiness.
The truth is — carbs are not essential for life, and you can cut those calories.
The truth is — most people, who are not trying to look like magazine cover super models, do not need to count anything (well, still, maybe protein), but instead need a good eating and nutrition, training and lifestyle plan and routine.
For eating and losing/burning fat — see post number one (posted on my IG yesterday).
Having helped a lot of people, getting cut, following what I’m teaching you, having read all the major studies and books on nutrition, training and lifestyle — I know it works for 99,9 % of people with personalized variations (which are also many, that’s why I don’t ever create the exact same program for people I work with. Ever)
