I know zero about that diet and I’m happy if it works for you…but man…I briefly looked at that link and it read like a bad infomercial! Couldn’t get through 1/4 of it.
Sorry about that. I didn’t buy the program just gleaned the info from various internet searches. Basically you eat what you want (up to a point) for two days, fast for 24 hours, and repeat. Sounds hard but it really isn’t. If your last meal/drink is 7pm on the 2nd day just wait until 7pm the next day before taking in any calories. There’s science behind it but I didn’t read it. Caveman shit.
And to be fair I try never to consume more than 2000 calories a day and never eat more than twice a day. Also rarely have sweets (wine fixes the sweet tooth). That said, even if I go way over, the fast thing seems to even that out.
I lost 30 pounds in about 4 months last year without trying too hard.
About the usefulness of a dry January:
Nice man - much better breakdown than that painful article 
And congrats on dropping all that weight…especially if it wasn’t that difficult for you diet-wise!
Let’s not confuse the issue with medical insight. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
So on the days you eat you eat 20% below the recommended caloric intake for an adult male, and fast entirely every third day? Not surprised you lost weight. I think I’d talk to my Dr before doing this, but maybe that is just me
Not being combative here but this actually has the opposite effect on me, spicy foods make me eat more (more rice, more naan)! Congrats on the 20 lb loss ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
- J
Not full dry, but getting back on the dry week, wet weekend kick.
I will let my waistline know! ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
Again, as vanity has been my primary motivation, I’m quite pleased with how its going. Any ancillary benefits are what they are.
Just a recalibration in our household …
A bottle between two of us every two nights is what I feel comfortable with in terms of long term health. Roughly 6oz per night each with dinner. In the last couple of months, that has crept up to about 8oz per night each.
So since Jan 1, we are back on the 6oz per night regimen.
Oddly, that seemingly small reduction makes the difference between feeling very very slightly buzzed after dinner, and just feeling relaxed. I feel much more sanguine healthwise about drinking wine every night when I keep it at this level.
Well, I’m a little dude. 5’4" and now around 125-130 lbs so 2000 calories is plenty for me. If you’re a regular size guy maybe 2500-3000?
Gained 30 pounds in 2015 and didn’t even really realize until none of my pants fit and one day I got on the scale and to my horror it read 161. Thought it was broken.
In the past I’ve tried Atkins, South Beach, Cabbage-Soup, Paleo, etc. The reason none of those are sustainable is that they limit the things you can eat and then your body absolutely craves those things. Try Atkins or Paleo for a month and when you finally eat a piece of bread it will be the greatest thing you’ve ever had.
With the eat/stop/eat you can eat what you want (again, you can’t eat 10k calories and expect success) as long as you fast on the third day. Is it for everyone?
No, but it definitely works for me and I can easily maintain it for the rest of my life since I still eat and drink what I want. But I agree if you have doubts ask your Doc first.
This is my BP chart from when I started eat/stop/eat. Can’t argue with this…
“If you think you need to take a month off, you’re either drinking too much during the rest of the year or you have a guilty conscience.”
And there’s the key take-away
Hey, seems like lots of people working on interesting diets out there. Congrats to all who’ve found a way, whatever that way is, to keep things under control.
For me, I have little problem keeping things in balance for 10 months of the year. My workouts just about balance food intake. Maybe I lose the battle a little in August when we generally take a long vacation to an eating/drinking destination, but generally ok. It’s just Nov/Dec where I lose it.
I’m terrible with diets where I’m hungry. Can’t do those. The ‘protein’ diet never leaves me hungry. Bored, yes. But not hungry. And the funny thing is I eat very little red meat on this diet, I crave salad (I guess as a replacement for the carbs?).
So it’s a protein bar for breakfast, a late morning psyllium husk / protein powder shake, maybe a chicken caesar salad for lunch and miso soup and sashimi for dinner.
That’s about 1,200 - 1,300 or so calories in a day of intake (and bored but not hungry). Toss in a 1,000 calorie workout and I’m running about a 1,500 - 1,800 calorie deficit each day, or around .4 to .5 lbs per day of weight loss (yeah, I know, these are averages and everyone is different, but this ‘formula’ has worked for me for the last few years).
On small problem this year, I’m leaving for London on Friday the 27th and will be there on the 28th and 29th. Still no problem. But it looks like i’ll be heading for the Piedmont area from the 30th of Jan - 1st of Feb. 2 days before the end of the month, think I’m gonna have to cut this year a little short and find another 3-4 week ‘dry’ period in March/April…
Oh, no doubt there! But nothing can be done about that as it’s lots of fun!
So a net calorie intake of 200 - 300 calories per day? Wow. I have never heard of any doctor, nutritionist or fitness professional advocating or even condoning a diet that drops you so far below your BMR for days or weeks in a row. In other words, that has you consuming basically none of the calories you need to maintain your basic bodily functions. Please be careful.
Calorie restriction doesn’t work long term.
Long term, lifestyle change is needed.
Agreed. I have been doing that since 1995, to lose and keep off 55 pounds.
My Dr says “Peter, you’re the man!!!”.
Seriously though, zero issues, been doing it this way for years, and (the big win) I’m not hungry, so no need for more food. Protein diets are amazing, no hunger. I could take my calorie intake up, but that would mean that I’d have some bread with lunch / dinner, maybe sushi instead of sashimi, a bottle of wine, and maybe some dessert. And starches. So everything I want to eat to take the calorie intake from 1,300 to say 2,000 (or higher) would be ‘empty’ calories. Low or no nutritional value.
You do have to knock out 1,000 calories in the gym each day to make this work at this rate. That’s a reasonable time and energy commitment. I’m usually good for 3,000 calories a week or so the rest of the year so it’s roughly a doubling of my workout time over the week.
My Dr. suggested that I try a specific diet that is structured to engage different organs at different times in the week. I started last Monday…while it wasn’t a “dry” January…it will be a “dry” 28 days for me. If I like it, I’ll try to schedule a “fun” weekend to see some friends and then maybe start over…so far, I’m pretty happy with the results.