Express Diets

When it comes to improving strength to weight ratio, no training strategy is as effective as weight loss. I wrote a series of express diet plans that we offer with our programs. Today I start one of my own. It’s an extension of the Bob Diet that I did last month. Instead of focusing on alkalinity, this time I’ll focus on caloric intake.

These diets came about when Jon Congdon, our president, asked me to write out what “seven days of perfect eating” would look like. Since this is different for each person, I wrote a bunch of versions of what a perfect week would look like for someone trying to kick-start a new exercise program. I worked with one of our trainers, Debbie Siebers, and created the 6 Day Express Diet Plan. It was so successful in our test groups that I then created a version for all of our trainers.

These are essentially a just week of ultra clean eating. They are also devoid of all but subsistence calories. Glorified fasts, if you will. They are about the minimum amount you should eat if you’re trying to exercise. Even then, they shouldn’t be done for long, hence the six-day moniker. We’ve extended them for up to two weeks, though it’s almost always with added calories during the second week.

I don’t have a lot of weight to lose, but if I can lose 8 pound, that’s nearly 5 percent of my body weight. It’s feasible that I could do this over the next month or so. There’s no way to gain that much strength in a month. So as long as I can maintain fitness my strength to weight ratio will improve nearly 5%. Massive.

This type of diet is the wheelhouse for supplements. With minimized caloric intake you want to eat nutrient rich foods. Supplements are condensed nutrients, so a strategic supplementation strategy is essential. If done correctly, you will get maximum nutrients out of minimum calories.

This morning’s weight is 177.4. Body fat is 14.8%. I’m using an in-accurate scale, as most are, and the highest readings. According to the scale, my body fat percentage went up 3% last night. But I’ll take my measurements under similar conditions each day. I don’t really care what the figures say as long as they read consistently. And drop, of course.