How To Make Any Diet Work

You’re probably not trying to get peeled like a stage-ready bodybuilder. That’s fine. But if you want to get relatively lean (something beyond seeing your top two abs), and you’ve had trouble doing it, then your dietary compliance probably sucks. You just can’t stick with the plan. But why? Let’s get into that, then talk about five proven ways to stay compliant. Compliance Matters Most “My diet is better than your diet!” You hear that a lot these days… and anyone who says it is probably wrong. Throughout the 1990s, bodybuilders used moderate protein, high carb, low fat diets to get ripped. But somewhere into the 2000s there was a shift where carbs suddenly became the enemy and were responsible for everything from cancer to Nickleback. Lately it’s become sugar. Just eliminate sugar and eat more fat and your jiggly tissue will fall off. None of that’s accurate, of course. But it hasn’t kept the masses from getting overzealous about high-fat, low-carb, n=1 anecdotes. Incidentally, they ignore mountains of research and discredit the anecdotes of those who didn’t use that approach. Here’s the truth: For the person who’s lifting weights and trying to lose fat, all diets that equate for caloric and protein intake work basically the same. When it comes to fat loss, no one type of diet is superior to any other when those factors – eating plenty of protein and being in a caloric deficit – are considered. What generally allows a person to get results from ANY diet is their degree of compliance. Ultimately, that ends up being the secret of why it worked. It’s not because removing carbs or reducing fat did something magical. Each diet just reduced caloric intake. Those who claim that their diet is superior basically just found a style of eating that was easier for them to adhere to. Because their diet was a nice fit for them, they were able to stay in a caloric deficit for enough time to lose fat. Period. Why is compliance a big deal? Because a consistent energy deficit is what has to happen to get lean, and you can’t maintain a consistent energy deficit if your diet is too hard to keep doing. The 5 Steps to Dietary Compliance 1 – Know Your Triggers All of us have trigger foods. These are foods that send us spiraling right into the seventh circle of gluttony hell. Those triggers vary greatly from person to person. This is one area where I’d define foods as being “good” or “bad” based on your reaction to eating them. Contextually, a bad food is one that meets the seventh circle criteria when you’re trying to get lean. It’s up to you to be aware of what foods cause you to eat more even after you’ve had your fill. For me, it’s basically anything that doesn’t fall under the bro-diet umbrella. So basically anything that’s not eggs, oatmeal, rice, chicken, etc. I don’t just eat a slice of pizza; I eat four pizzas. I don’t just eat one doughnut; I clean out the bakery. Some people CAN just have two Oreos. They’re called sociopaths and they feel nothing, have no emotions, and lack empathy. It’s up to you to identify your trigger foods and eliminate them during the time that you’re trying to have a high degree of compliance. No, this isn’t something you have to do forever. But if you’re wanting to shed fat and you don’t want to screw it up, then just eliminate the foods that cause those problems. Now, there’s one obstacle to look out for: the scarcity effect. It’s when we end up wanting something because of the perceived lack of availability. The less access we have to something, the more we tend to crave it. This can be a lethal combination when it comes to trigger foods. The solution to replace those trigger foods with foods that are “close enough.” If you love pizza, try a thin crust or cauliflower option using toppings that are higher in protein and lower in calories: grilled chicken instead of sausage, extra veggies, half the cheese, etc. If you love cookies and brownies, try the low fat and/or low carb recipes for those foods. If it’s easier for you to just abstain all together, then do that. But figure out what you need to do to stop short-circuiting the fat loss process by giving in to your trigger foods. 2 – Figure Out Your Ideal Meal Frequency For decades there was this belief that eating more often raised our metabolic rate causing us to lose more fat. You know, eat six small meals a day instead of three big ones. We know now this isn’t actually true and eating frequency has no major effect on metabolic rate. What most likely was happening was that frequent eating created a higher degree of satiety throughout the day, so people had a higher degree of compliance and didn’t feel the need to overeat at any one meal. From a muscle retention standpoint, it’s probably a good idea to have some protein coming in every four hours or so to stay highly anabolic and to keep muscle protein synthesis elevated. That usually means about four meals a day. Anecdotally, I’ve found this to work well for people who don’t
Origin: How To Make Any Diet Work