This is the third and final chapter in the Dieting For Fat Loss series. In parts one and two, we discussed the nuts and bolts of how to structure your diet for maximal and sustainable fat loss. Additionally, we addressed the cold hard “fat loss facts” that are truly non-negotiable if fat burning, muscle maintenance, performance, and overall health and are your goals (which they must be if you want to guarantee your success).
Now it’s time to put the finishing touches on the fat burning foundation that has already been laid down. In this post, we will fill in the blanks and provide answers to the important questions that rarely get answered in an honest and straightforward way. I chose the following topics because they are some of the most common concerns of dieters.
The first issue I’d like to address is protein requirement. If you’ve been in the fat loss/fitness game for any period of time, I’m sure you’ve had just about every expert drill into your head the need for a very high protein intake for muscle building and fat burning.
I myself was a victim of the same rhetoric early in my training career, and I bear the scars of believing this flawed theory. In fact, I’ve wasted thousands of dollars on protein supplements, amino acids and enough steaks to feed an army. In the end, none of helped helped my wallet, my health or my level of fitness.
You see, when I first bought into the high protein theory, I was eating two grams of protein per pound of bodyweight daily. Like an obedient soldier, I religiously followed this protocol for two straight years. During this time, I would hear my internal “protein alarm” sound off every 2 ½ hours; if I didn’t get a huge serving of protein within minutes of this alarm, I wasn’t very pleasant to be around.
What was I thinking?
Looking back, I was a real tool! There I was, carrying my Tupperware (loaded with some type of flesh) everywhere I went. Like a drug addict, I was the guy walking out of the party to go to my car to get my “protein fix”. Even with all of this sacrifice, dedication and sticktoitiveness, I did not get any leaner, stronger or more muscular during this time. Not even a little bit! Actually, considering I got no noticeable benefits from eating all of this additional protein, it is surprising that I stuck with it for two long years.
The truth is that I was scared to stop eating all of that protein. You see, the protein industry’s brainwashing process was quite effective. They had me convinced that my muscle would shrivel up and my strength would diminish if I even considered reducing my protein intake.
However, this all changed on the day when a blood test revealed that I had elevated liver enzymes and kidney values. Since I suspected that my diet might have contributed to this, I decided to make some big changes that would support my health first and foremost.
For the first time in two years, I started to include more fruits and vegetables into my diet, while cutting back significantly on my protein intake. To be honest, even with my dangerous blood levels, I was still a little apprehensive about cutting back on the protein intake, so I did it in stages.
First I cut back to one and a half grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. And guess what? I didn’t lose an ounce of muscle, mass or strength. This gave me the confidence to cut it even further. Then I cut it to one gram per pound of bodyweight. Still no muscle loss! Hmmm, this experiment was starting to get interesting.
Then, out of pure curiosity, I cut my protein intake down yet again, this time to one half of a gram for every pound of bodyweight. Can you guess what happened? Nothing! My rate of progress and my body composition continued to improve at the same exact rate as before. This was absolutely astounding to me!
That's more like it!
All along, I neglected to eat enough fruits and vegetables because I was under the false belief that protein was the MOST important nutrient. As it turns out, all nutrients are important for health, performance and a lean body. Since making this change, my blood tests have revealed perfect values. Some may suggest coincidence, but my instincts tell me otherwise.
The verdict is in. You need about one half of a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight to maintain your lean muscle mass and stay optimally fit. In other words, a 200-pound man only needs to consume approximately 100 grams of protein daily.
The major exception to this rule would be individuals with very poor tolerance to carbohydrates. These folks may need to decrease carbs a bit and substitute them with extra protein and fats. In these cases, increasing protein up to one gram per pound of bodyweight can be helpful.
I’m sure many of you think you fall into the “carb intolerant” category, and thus, that you need to continue to eat high amounts of protein each day. I would caution you to NOT jump to that conclusion. I’ve met countless dieters who thought they were terribly carb sensitive but were not.
If you got fat from eating this for breakfast everyday, don't assume that you're "carb sensitive"
Instead, they just were not on a sound diet containing healthier carb sources (fruits, vegetables, sweet potatoes, etc.) You see, most people are “sensitive” to calzones and pop tarts so don’t form your judgment while following this type of junk food meal plan.
The next topic I’d like to tackle is meal frequency. We have all heard that frequently eating small meals (usually 5 or more) throughout the day is the best way to go. The reason for recommending this protocol is that it helps stabilize blood sugar levels and provides a constant influx of protein to the body.
Although I understand and agree with this philosophy, I do recognize the downsides of this approach as well. There are two major shortcomings to following this feeding schedule. The first one is the lack of freedom it provides you with. Most people don’t want to live their entire lives planning, preparing and/of finding the next perfect meal every 2 ½ hours. This constant state of “hunting down the next meal” is unrealistic for those with even a moderately busy lifestyle.
The second downside (and perhaps the more important one) is that this protocol never allows the digestive system to take a break. When your body is constantly digesting food, it doesn’t have a chance to detoxify itself. This can lead to a compromised ability to recuperate and heal, which is clearly undesirable for many reasons.
There are two ways to circumvent this problem. They are:
1) Eat the standard three meals per day and supplement these meals with one snack. This schedule works well for people who want to eat at “normal” times throughout the day and don’t want to feel as if they are a slave to their diet.
2) Practice intermittent fasting. Fasting (done the right way) can solve both of the above-mentioned problems with frequent meal feedings. For starters, nothing can give you more freedom from your diet than fasting! You literally don’t have to even think about what to eat, where your next meal come from, or stress about the quality of that meal.
Additionally, being in a fasted state allows your body to detoxify itself. Furthermore, the reduction in inflammation, the increased recuperation and the mental alertness that a proper fast can provide makes fasting a great option, in my experience.
For more info on intermittent fasting click here.
Well, there you have it. Follow these recommendations and you’ll be on the right path to health, fat loss, and performance!
Dedicated to your success,
John Alvino
If you’ve missed any of the parts of this series, click the links below to check them out.
Hey John, great post! Quick question- I really like to eat so eating frequent meals works well for me. Do you think I should decrease my meal frequency in order to get the benefits listed above? Thanks!
@Gina:Hey Gina, if if ain’t broken, don’t fix it! I would still suggest an occasional fast or partial fast for the aforementioned benefits
Great article, thanks for posting this. I absolutely love the first picture
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@Kirpal: Hey Kirpal, I figured that pic would get your attention
Thanks John for all the fat loss series posts, I like all of them.
Two months ago, I started a similar experiment with my diet like the one you described in this article, I reduced the protein intake while adding some more carbs, and the results are the same.
Now I’m traying to do three big meals, insted of the five-six meals I used to do, but I’m having some problems, specially in the morning, I have a big breakfast and I eat all I can, but feel very hungry all the morning until I have lunch. To solve that, I eat some mixed nuts and drink fruit juice between classes (I’m at the university all the morning from 8-9 am to 1-2 pm), but don’t now if that’s the best solution. What you do think?
One last thing IO want to comment, is that I miss the discussion about the suplements that are necessary and the ones that are a waste of cash, that was announced in the part II of the series. I will enjoy a post about that topic.
Thanks for all.
@Adrià: Hi Adria, I would eat fruit with a handful of nuts during midmorning. As for the supplements, I will write a post on them in the near future. I thought I could fit it here but the post was starting to get too long. Stay tuned…
Well worth the wait!!
Thanks for clearing up the protein confusion! I have moved to a flexible IF protocol and love the freedom it has brought me after years of frequent, timed feeds but as I posted previously I had been slightly concerned about protein intake. No longer!
I’m not sure if it’s an age thing (or learning from past errors!) but both my training and nutritional practices have transitioned toward a less is more and simpler is better type template and I’m enjoying both more than I have in years.
As always, keep up the great work!
@Carl: Hey Carl, you are definitely on the right path. Stay on it and thanks for sharing your experience with us!
Great post John!
I am normally somewhere between .5 to 1 gram of protein per day and dont put to much thought in it. Like you I have noticed no ill effects from it.
Now that you are only having about 100 grams or so do you have mostly fruit and maybe a shake during the day then a big meal in the evening, a la the warrior diet?
@Gary Deagle: On many days that is exactly what I do. But on some heavier training days, I will eat throughout the day
John, could you update your blog so that the entire article shows up in rss feed readers? At the moment I only get part of the article and have to come to your page to read the entire article, which is difficult on a Kindle
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Excellent excellent info John. That clears up a lot of confusion for me. I am a lacto vegetarian (no eggs:)…so when ever I talked to the other “fitness pros” online, I used to get chastised. I ingest approximately 100 g protein per day (including a post workout whey + creatine shake; no sugars:)…I follow Eat Stop Eat for 1 day a week too. thanks for clearing this up. But I need your advice on pre/peri workout nutrition and carb cycling. Can you either direct me to your earlier posts or give me advice in pre/ peri workout nutrition? And is IF the equivalent of carb cycling since I won’t be eating much carbs on that day. Give us an integrated approach. Thanks so much:)…excellent work and top quality info…\/
@Rajat: Hey Rajat, Here are links to some posts that should help you out:http://johnalvino.com/2010/07/the-best-post-workout-meal-for-rapid-fat-loss/ andhttp://johnalvino.com/2010/09/post-workout-meals-what-to-eat-after-your-workout/ also for carb cycling info, download (for free) the NINJA FAT LOSS ebook at the top right of this site. And yes a day of fasting would be considered a low day. I hope this helps you out, good luck!
definitely a great article John. finally someone that ‘dare’ to break the rule imposed by nonsense clichè!
I was a slave to eating too, and if you have a life, eating that much times and that quantities is simply absurd.
in fact the advantages of properly fasting and eating more vegetables and fruits along with the right NATURAL protein are countless.
thumbs up John……….
Michael, Italy
@michael mellner: Hey Michael, glad you enjoyed the post!
Hey John,
Again a great and eye-opening article! About three months ago I started to implement three big meals instead of six and this works pretty well for me. What I don’t like is that because of eating such a huge breakfast I get fattigued and having energy is very important for me (make a lot of sales calls). Are there more people who experience the same?
I got a question John, you say in your article that for a person of 200 pounds, 100 grams of protein is appropriate to maintain muscle mass. Is this the same for when you’re in a muscle building phase?
On this moment I’m 208 pounds at 15 % bodyfat and I’m weight training three times per week. My goal is to gain muscle and lose fat to minimum of 10 % and don’t want to lose weight. How much protein should I eat do you thing?
Thank you very much for answering my question John, it would really help me out!
Greets Marc
@Marc: Hi Marc, I have the perfect solution to your problem. Eat your 3 meals but start eating at lunch. So instead of eating breakfast, you’ll just drink a lot of pure, clean water. Make sure you drink at least 40 ounces of water by lunchtime. Then eat your first meal at 12. Eat 2 more meals between then at 9 pm. You’re golden! You will have a ton of energy all morning. Kill you sales call then! If you have good carb tolerance, you can definitely just eat 100 grams of protein daily but if you don’t tolerate carbs well, you can go as high as 200 grams but I rarely would have someone with your profile go above 150.
This is awesome!
Man, you need to release a training program
@Chris: Hey Chris, I’m putting the finishing touches on the program now. Just have to edit the images. I’ll keep you posted, thanks man
I enjoyed all three articles on fat loss! I can’t wait to make changes to my diet and also try intermittent fasting. Also great pictures in the articles!
The pop tart picture + Subtitle made my day.
Great post.
Excellent post John. In fact the whole series was good. It was interesting to see the different ways intermittent fasting is employed. I was only most familiar with the 24 hr version (Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon) and the 16 hr version (“Leangains” style by Martin Berkhan). I didn’t really recognize that I actually follow the 12-13 hr approach myself already. And like you said, it has no down sides. I feel better, am effortlessly lean, and can gain strength and muscle just like before. By the way, I found the same thing to be true as you mentioned concerning protein as well. Better for my health, and better for my wallet! It’s great, and a real comfort to see that others are coming to the same conclusions.
@Thomas Morrison: Hey Thomas, the 12 hour fast is a less aggressive variation but is still better than eating all day long. I’ve looked at plenty of diet journals over the years and a lot of people only fast for 7-8 hours per day. This is not good. Well anyway, it seems like you’re on the right path, keep it up!
Awesome series! I don’t have the time to eat 6 meals per day and I hate the typical grilled chicken diet. I can’t wait to incorporate these tips into my diet. Thanks John
A new study was done (you can find it at leangains.com) and reported that frequent meal times do not in fact stabilize blood sugar. 3 meals in a smaller window, somewhere around 8 hours are much better at that.
@J-Rizzle: I’ve seen conflicting studies on this topic. I think there are so many factors to consider when testing blood sugar levels (i.e. types of foods eaten, food combinations, activity levels, etc.) But I’m a real world guy and based on my experience, I agree with you. Thanks for sharing
Hey thanks…I wanted to know the importance of pre workout nutrition?…
@Rajat: What to eat during the pre-workout phase depends on many factors. For example, if you are weight training in the a.m. while fasting, you can have some pre-wrokout BCAA’s. If your goal is primarily muscle building, you should have a meal that has insulin levels rising moderately. In order to explain this better, I will write a future post on this topic
Thanks for your answer John!
Today it was the first day I tried it and I CSM tell you, it works! More energy,and not that hungry either when I drink the water, feels great!
If it also has a positive impact on my BF level, would be a perfect solution! Thanks!
Waiting for your program
@Marc: You’re welcome, glad that worked out for you
For fat loss and body recomposition do you think eating the three squares, and having a post workout protein shake with water and some sweet potatoes or yams would work for low carb days?
@Kirpal: Yes, that would work (assuming the three squares are low carb of course)
Sure. Still a bit confused at present though about pre/para nutrition…I will wait for your future posts. Hey if you do not think protein shakes are necessary for post workout, where is the place for protein supplements in our diet? And congratulations for your soon to be released program:)..any ball park date for it’s release? I will want a copy of that one for sure
….hope it will be within my reach though…..
@Rajat: Protein powders are used for convenience. They are not necessary. I’m doing everything I can to have the program released by the 7th of April