April 19, 2010
Martin Berkhan – Scorch Through Your Fat Loss Plateau
I have never met anyone who stays as lean as Martin Berkhan does year round. In fact, most people think it is near impossible to stay below 6% body fat for more than a few days at a time. Martin has held at a steady 5-6% body fat for three years straight! Many people will immediately think it is just do to great genetics or a naturally fast metabolism, but they would be wrong. He was a chubby kid growing up and simply figured out a methodology of staying lean without depriving himself of good food. He outlines these methods on his outstanding blog, Lean Gains. Here is an exclusive guest article he wrote for Fitness Black Book.
[Yeah, I probably overdo the fire effects on this site. I just couldn't resist with the word "scorch" in the title.]
-by Martin Berkhan
This article’s title was originally going to be “Food Choices That Kill Your Chance of Getting Lean” per Rusty’s suggestion. But it would be highly ironic if I, who regularly ate ice cream and cereal on my last cut to 5.5% body fat, told you that there are certain foods that would kill your chance of getting lean.
Besides that, there are about one billion articles on what foods cause fat gain or stall fat loss. You’ve seen them and it’s usually the same tired stuff. Do you guys need another article telling you to avoid white bread, fast food and hot pockets? Nope.
So I asked myself how to approach this topic and make it worth your while. There’s no food that, once you eat it, flips on a metabolic switch that completely shuts down fat burning and weight loss if you’re maintaining a daily caloric deficit. It’s a question of quantity, moderation and context.
[Martin Berkhan at 5.5% body fat]
I believe most foods can be consumed in the right context, but should be avoided in another context, in order to optimize body recomposition and fat loss. For example, most of my clients consume a fair amount of starchy carbohydrates following a workout. This isn’t a problem because it’s part of optimizing the plan. In this context, starchy carbs are great for restoring muscle glycogen. On rest days however, my clients might skip starches, eating fewer carbs and more satiating ones. This strategy optimizes satiety, fat loss, diet adherence and performance.
That being said, there are some foods that should be ditched first from your diet if weight loss is stalling or if you want to speed things up. Same thing goes if you just want to make the diet as easy and painless as possible. Having reviewed and created hundreds of meal plans throughout the years, I know a little something about this topic.
Your diet is where you fix things first and foremost. Adding more cardio when your diet is suboptimal is an inefficient and time-wasting strategy that will result in an increased risk of burnout and overtraining.
In this article I’ll spotlight a few less-than-obvious staples that people tend to include in their diets. These are foods that people generally think of as “healthy” and diet friendly, when they can be diet killers in disguise.
Nuts, protein bars and dried fruit
Nuts in all their various forms are the most overrated and overhyped foods in the “health conscious” community. Just because it’s a natural food doesn’t mean it’s all that diet friendly or even healthy for that matter.
Packing a higher calorie density than chocolate, it’s no big mystery that people easily overdo it with nuts. Some people rationalize a high nut consumption by saying it’s a healthy and natural snack, but this is wrong. Nuts contain an incomplete amino acid profile and consist mostly of plant fats. The westernized diet is already highly unbalanced in the omega 3: omega 6-ratio—the polyunsaturated fats from nuts certainly won’t help.
Optimize the fat composition of your diet by kicking nuts to the curb and add more fish, that’s my recommendation. You’ll be more satiated and healthier to boot.
A protein bar is nothing more than a chocolate bar with slightly higher protein content and crappier taste. A whopping 300 calories for a bar that you’ll gulf down in a few minutes is crazy. For most women that amount makes up about ¼-1/5 of the daily total calorie intake needed to lose fat efficiently. Besides that, eating protein bars to up your protein intake isn’t a great strategy as a bar’s protein content makes up only about 30-40% of its calories. You could down half a Snickers bar and a protein shake, and end up consuming fewer calories with a better nutritional breakdown than having your typical protein bar. Protein bars are nothing more than glamorized candy. And you don’t eat candy on a regular basis if you want to optimize fat loss and diet adherence.
Unprocessed fruit is good, but dried fruit including dried apricots, dates and raisins are just sugar lumps with some extra fiber. These snacks have high calorie density and tend to stimulate hunger rather than quench it. Out of the three popular snacks discussed here, dried fruit may just be the worst of the lot. You don’t want or need them on a fat loss diet.
Shakes
Shakes, liquids and anything else that resembles baby food shouldn’t stay on menu when it’s time to shave off calories or make your diet more manageable and painless. This includes “recovery shakes” with high-glycemic index carbs and protein shakes, fruit juices, milk and yogurt. Packing a good deal of calories in proportion to the little satiety they provide, liquid calories have no place in your diet other than for convenience.
Think you need a “recovery shake” post-workout? Think again. Unless you’re an elite athlete training twice a day and need to refill muscle glycogen as fast as possible for your next training session, “fast carbs” are a complete waste of calories. Your time (and money) is better spent with whole food carbohydrates that offer chewing resistance.
Are you drinking whey protein shakes throughout the day because you’re too lazy to cook or eat real food? Well, if you’re too lazy to step into the kitchen or chew your food, you’re probably not going to reach your fat loss goals anyway. I’d rather have you learn to savour a good steak with veggies rather than rapidly chugging insulin-spiking and appetite-triggering whey protein shakes. Liquid calories should be replaced with whole foods, including your protein choices. But if you must supplement your diet with protein shakes, I recommend casein or milk protein isolate over whey.
What about those vitamin drinks, smoothies and fruit juices people are drinking to make sure they’re getting enough antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals? Another complete waste of calories Do you think you risk missing vital nutrients if you cut these “health drinks” out from your diet? It’s actually the other way around: strong evidence suggests that overdoing intake of antioxidants and vitamins can negatively affect your health and your training results. A balanced diet with wholesome foods such as meat, eggs, berries, veggies and some starches, doesn’t need vitamin or antioxidant support. It has everything in abundance. If you’re still paranoid, take a multivitamin with your first meal.
Breakfast
I apologize in advance to readers who were expecting a third group of food items that I think should be ditched from your diet. This is in part tongue-in-cheek. There is nothing inherently bad about breakfast. Nor is there anything inherently good about it either. But for me, skipping breakfast was the single greatest diet fix I ever made and the one that allowed me to really take it to the next level in terms of lowering my body fat. There’s a lesson in here, so keep reading even if you don’t think you can live without breakfast.
I was never a breakfast person in the sense that I wasn’t hungry in the morning and preferred to eat later in the day and evening. Yet I forced myself to eat breakfast on every diet attempt I made until a few years ago. I believed breakfast was absolutely crucial for a few different reasons.
First, sleeping supposedly leaves your muscles without a steady supply of amino acids for several hours, making breakfast crucial to keep your muscles from falling off.
Second, my poor fragile metabolism apparently couldn’t handle a few hours without food before completely shutting down.
And third, breakfast-eaters were on average healthier and weighed less than breakfast-skippers so there had to be something good about it, right?
One day I looked into all of this—the actual studies that is, and not what I had learned through fitness magazines and supplement ads. Guess what? All of those claims about the healthiness of breakfast, muscle catabolism and metabolic rate were wrong.
I’ve written a lot about this topic on my blog, but let me provide the main points.
Your metabolism doesn’t scavenge amino acids from your muscles after an overnight fast. Fatty acid metabolism is highly up-regulated, but muscle catabolism doesn’t occur in short-term fasting for up to 24 hours. If you’re still paranoid about this (I am), make sure to eat some slowly absorbed protein before bed, such as cottage cheese, egg white protein or meat with veggies (the extra fiber will slow absorption as meat is generally considered a “fast” protein). Another thing to keep in mind is the very slow absorption rate of whole food proteins. We’re talking a few grams per hour, which means that a mixed meal with 40-50 grams of protein will maintain a steady level of amino acids in your bloodstream well through the night and into the next day. The belief that a few hours without food will cause muscle catabolism is absurd.
Metabolic rate does not slow down during short-term fasting. It actually increases slightly. That’s probably the complete opposite from what you’ve heard, but this is an undisputed fact. It takes more than three days without food before metabolic rate is negatively affected via down-regulation of thyroid activity. That skipping breakfast or missing a meal affects metabolic rate, a myth still propagated in the fitness and health community, is ludicrous.
What about those studies showing breakfast is healthy and people that eat breakfast weigh less than breakfast-skippers? Those are all correlational studies. Skipping breakfast is connected to a certain dysregulated eating behavior that predisposes people to weigh more. The Average Joe or Jane breakfast-skipper is the personality type to grab a donut on the way to work, eat junk food for lunch and finish the day off with a big dinner and snack in front of the TV. Those studies have no relevance to the conscious dieter that skips breakfast as a fat loss strategy.
Summary
<-----------End of Article----------->
Make sure and visit Lean Gains and learn more tips for getting lean from Martin. He actually has one of the more entertaining posts I have ever read where he downs an entire cheescake: Cheesecake Mastery Part 2: Easter '10 Massacre. In fact, the picture from that post is so clever, I have to post it here. All former video game geeks will instantly know what this is all about. The comments on the post are hilarious. People told him it was irresponsible, he was setting a bad example, etc. I give him props for crushing the entire cheesecake (plus being able to pull off the Fatality in style).
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Comments
April 19, 2010
Eat Steak Lose Weight said:
Awesome, awesome post. I have always thought that I had many of the big chunks on diet correct but was missing a lot of the nuances. Bravo to Martin. People can really go crazy on the whole primal/paleo diet, but the essence always seemed to be that the foods suggested are slow to eat and slow to digest.
My experience is that hunger has at least two parts: physical (food in the stomach, chewing, etc.) and biological (the amount of nutrients). It seems many of the foods Martin is against fool at least some part of the system for satiation.
The part of a food being easy to overdo it with is an epiphany I had on my own recently. does anyone else notice that when you are really hungry, the hunger evaporates almost instantly after you start chewing?
I am ready to devour his blog as ravenously as he ate that cheesecake.
Martin Panorama said:
Haha, this is hilarious!
Awesome post, Rusty. As always!
Very true what you said about breakfast. When I do skip it (fortunately very infrequently) I tend to not be hungry the rest of the day.
Keith said:
Cool Awesome post,
Regarding MArtins approach to fasting, he does 16 hrs fasting each day, but what exactly happens during these 16 hrs, does something magical happen that allows you to burn off fat during these 16 hrs? Thanks
Chris said:
Great post.
Martin has an awesome blog with tons of great and original content. I highy recommend people go read The Secret Benefit of Being Lean and The Marshmallow Test.
IMHO one the absolute best and interesting writers in the blogosphere.
Christian said:
Hi! I'm new to the site but spent hours of my lazy Sunday trying to read as much as possible making up for lost time. I'm 5' 5" ~115 lbs and trying to get more lean and tone up at the same time. I'm an avid breakfast but try to stick to eggs and fresh fruits….all that being said my question is about eating dinner. I always hear people say they don't eat after 5:00 or 7:00 or whatever time they've "heard" not to eat after. If I'm not snacking or over eating throughout the day, is there any truth to this or does it more so have to do with your daily intake as a whole?
Any thoughts appreciated!
JC said:
Good to see you here preachin' the good word, Martin.
Michael Miller said:
@EatSteakLoseWeight,
I would argue that you forgot to mention the psychological/behavioral aspect of hunger. The part that is helped the most by fitting your diet to your schedule and personal preferences as Martin states in the article.
@Keith
Martin linked a study in the article to the slight increase in metabolic rate that results from short-term fasting. Insulin should also be low during this time, which should help with fat loss. Furthermore, if you're creating a caloric deficit overall, then your body should be burning fat for fuel over time, so presumably you spend a part of the 16 hours burning fat. Nothing magical at all.
April 20, 2010
Charles said:
Nice post! I had no idea that breakfast was so unimportant, and I always thought smoothies were a really healthy alternative. Man I`ve gotta fix myself LOL! Thanks for the useful info.
Rach said:
"Average Joe or Jane breakfast-skipper is the personality type to grab a donut on the way to work, eat junk food for lunch and finish the day off with a big dinner and snack in front of the TV. Those studies have no relevance to the conscious dieter that skips breakfast as a fat loss strategy." = My thoughts exactly! I always get a good laugh when a popular magazine gives nutrition tips like "eat first thing in the morning, within 30 minutes of getting up"
@Christian, I think it is a myth that you will slow down fat loss if you don't stop eating ~4 hours before bedtime. I have girlfriends who stop eating at 6 pm because they are on a diet, but they always cave and binge eat bagels or other carby comfort foods because they get hungry (or because they get bored). I actually have more energy and look fitter the next day if I eat in the evening, as late as ~1 hour before bed (given that I make the right eating choices of protein + good fat + veggies).
Luke M-Davies said:
Rusty and Martin – thank you so much for bringning the truth in this awesome post! It addresses so many of those killer fat loss myths!
Anyone that challenges me – now I can just point them to this post!
My one concern is NUTS. I love nuts and am sad to see them being put down :/ I think I will have to consume them more in moderation because of that crunch and addictive taste and their verstility, we can get carried away with nuts, so it is good to flag this point.
Thanks,
Luke
Rahul said:
Hi,
I totally understand the logic of the first two points and always knew I was going overboard on nuts myself just because it's natural and tasty as you pointed out.
However accepting the point about breakfast is tough for me. As long back as I can remember I have always been a BIG breakfast person and somehow eating breakfast always seems to keep me more 'alive' and the body more satiated and in general I have much higher levels of concentration etc. on days that I have a satisfying breakfast. I definitely have a tendency to eat snacks etc on days that I miss breakfast and eat a smaller lunch and dinner on the days I have a good breakfast. I can almost swear to these effects and that makes me feel that my body naturally just demands breakfast.
Perhaps it varies from person to person for I do know people who puke at the thought of eating breakfast. Of course I am nowhere near those Body Fat levels myself
Regards,
Rahul
Andy said:
Wow I have never heard of Martin before but everything he mentioned I have spent years finding out the hard way.
It is great to finally have someone come out and say some of this stuff….and be brutally honest about it
Thanks heaps for hooking the article up Rusty
Great work as always
Andy
gus said:
rusty & martin awsome post
i have followed Martins blog for a while and it is one of my favoritte bloggs, it is really entertaining as well as solid info to find over there. love how the myths about what and how to eat for fat loss is being proved wrong:D
im also aiming to do like Martin, to stay in amazing shape year-round, ofc while enjoying myself every now and then, good job with eating the entire cake btw.
any idea when Martins book is coming out?, cant wait to get itt.
joe said:
Martin's & Brad Pilon's sites are the only two I frequent when it comes to nutritional reading. They are both head & shoulders above the crowd.
Mindbodygoal said:
Very very good post which flies in the face of "traditional" diet culture.
I will certainly be adopting some of the principles from this point forth.
Gain Muscle Mass With Nick said:
I think it's kind of funny that you are able to buck the traditional "breakfast is good for you" wisdom eat some junk food and still get lean. It just goes to show that sometimes you've gotta find out what works for you based on your preferences and lifestyle rather than just adopting what everybody else tells you to do. Sometimes I find that fat loss success requires the right state of mind (still allowing you to eat some of your favorite foods) rather than just an iron will.
Sterling said:
Martin knows his crap. I think from reading Martin, Lyle McDonald, Mark Sisson, and Tom Venuto you can reach your fitness and fat loss goals easily. Just find what works for you. I will say this — IF (intermittent fasting) plays a key role in losing body fat and building lean muscle.
Sherah said:
This article was the BOMB – thank you!!!! I haven't checked out Martin's site yet, but I will – I'm always searching for more sites that promote the same way of thinking as you, Rusty. Yay!
My husband was recently at a fat loss plateau and decided to get rid of the nuts he was eating in his diet – all raw nuts, but still. LOTS of calories. He also implemented just one day of Eat Stop Eat and he very quickly broke through is fat loss plateau.
I also love the whole idea of skipping breakfast – it just feels so much better to me because like Martin, I am not that hungry in the morning. It FEELS right not to eat until about noon, no matter what time I wake up.
Thanks for another great article – I'm off to investigate his site!
Caleb - Double Your Gains said:
Martin is my BOOOYYYY!!!
you go man
Later,
Caleb
The Spaniard said:
Hi Rusty. I have visited Martin's blog and I must say I am pretty confused by now. Let's see: he says that you shouldn't workout on an empty stomach, but if you do then you should ingest BCAA and a protein shake 15 minutes prior to your workout (I don't use any of this things) and then start the 8 hour feeding window with your biggest meal. I have a problem with this. I get up at 6:30 to take my son to school (why do the little ones have to get up so early?) and by 8 I workout (just started after 6 months of total lazyness). If I do what he says, it would mean that I would start eating around 9:30a and I would have to stop at 5:30p? If I do that I think I will go nutts. I spend all day in the store and all I eat is a salad (with a homemade cafe con leche) because when my wife and I get back home it is the only time we can have a delicious homemade dinner (usually around 8 or 9, depending on how late we leave the store). If I have to skip this dinner because I have to stop eating at 5:30p I won't be able to have a decent meal…
What I am trying to do is have an orange/carrot juice before my workout and then a banana and another piece of fruit as a post workout meal. Then, some days around 1 and some days around 3 (depending on how hungry I am) I will have a salad (decent size) and I will end the day with a great meal from my wife (fish or chicken with veggies). I recently read the book "The No S Diet" and I am leaving pasta, rice and some other good stuff (you know the sweet stuff) for the weekends. So basically, my fasting period is around 11 hours (from 9p to 8a).
Fredrik Gyllensten said:
Another great article Martin!
Couldnt agree more with you abouth chewing foods when dieting.. Luquid calories can be helpfull if one have problems reaching the proper amount of calories (which very few have), but when dieting chewing is the king. Thats why I feel like meat is so great for fat loss.
David Gowing said:
Great post.
I do think the whole "eat breakfast or get fat" myth is somewhat over done. I used to eat 6 meals a day, and while I have never been overweight, I wasn't able to keep my body fat as low as I wanted.
Now I eat 3 meals per day and just eat protein and vegetables in the evening and I have been able to build muscle and keep my body fat real low.
However, I do think keeping blood sugar stable is important and fasting may not suit everyone.
Great information.
the other G from AUS said:
(So glad I’m not the only person disappointed about the ‘nuts’ revelation – I’m crushed!)
I’m new to the site too, and it’s Posts like this have gotten me hooked. They’re positive, good humoured and deliver the sort of unconventional, detailed information to those of us seeking answers that is not readily available for mass consumption (that’s probably safer for the masses!), and all without taking the whole bloody thing too seriously! Top stuff.
Regarding controversial posts, I’ve been doing Marathon Cardio runs as part of my steady decent down to the last few kilos. I’m doing this partly because like many women, I have more muscle in my thighs than I like/need. But soon I’d like to start Spin Cycle classes – I’ve enjoyed them in the past since they are intense (and I get competitive!) and think it could be good prep for HIIT.
My question is: if I keep resistance low enough to maintain highest rpm, ie; not ‘free-wheel’ the crank, can I avoid building muscle in my legs? I suspect not, but have to ask
Looking forward to the female focused workout you’ve been promising Rusty. Keep up the good work.
G
David Grim said:
Rusty,
Thanks for that guest post.
Martin,
You look great and have great info. Thanks for sharing your experiences and putting out the word. A lot of us want to get that "Lean" look that you have. With you and Rusty helping educate people many of us will get those results faster. Thanks again.
Enrique said:
Just one point about dried fruit: If you are already eating a sizeable portion of protein like a big lump of cottage cheese, it isn't much of a problem as long as its perfectly measured. However, you are correct that it is much more preferable to have something a bit more satiating.
lovely, dark and deep » Blog Archive » Changes. Big changes. In diet land. said (pingback):
[...] was inspired by Martin Berkhan who runs the Leangains blog. See an interesting new article of his here. He's a very lean (think 5% body fat) natural bodybuilder from Sweden. He espouses an [...]
Martin Berkhan said:
Just wanted to drop by real quick and say thanks for the positive feedback so far. Glad you guys enjoyed the article.
Tim D said:
Martin,
I love your point about breakfast. I spent years reading articles online and in magazines about how important eating breakfast is. It's as important as any other meal because it all boils down to calories in versus calories out. And breaking an 8 hour fast isn't a big deal. It's been proven that fasting for up to 24 hours and even longer can increase human growth hormone and speed up fat loss. So why worry about breaking an 8 hour fast.
Rachel said:
Thanks to both for a great post!!
It's sad that all three "diet killers" used to be in my diet just because tons of articles said that's the way to eat to lose weight. I didn't even like any of them actually, so I was happy to cut them out. Also definitely agree that chewing calories beats out drinking calories.
Currently, I never eat breakfast and do ESE fast on three days per week because it's convenient for me to actually do that with my class schedule. I also exercise in the morning, so that leaves me with no food for 3~4 hours after exercising. Would you say that's too much fasting or would that just mean I can eat bit more when I do eat?
Thanks again for the post
April 21, 2010
Karsten said:
Hey Rusty!
I don't know if it is "legal" to ask this question, since the subject don't have much to do with it.
I have an idea about where you stand when talking about eating for muscle gain. If you're experienced you need less calories than if you're new and skinny. Im 62kg, new in weight training, with 8.1% bodyfat. From Adonis Blog i've also heard that you don't need an excess amount of calories to gain musclemass, but im still having a hard time believing that. I've been weight training and consuming 2750 calories pr day for the last 2 weeks and i have lost 0.5kg. So that must mean im in a deficit of calories, right.
What do you think i should do. Try to eat 200-400 extra calories a day, or just try to hit my maintainance level?
My goal of cause is to gain muscle.
Karsten said:
*just wanted to add something to my post above* ^^
Have you every seen guys gain muscle eating only at thier BMR -
Or below it for that sake.
I mean..is there any prof of not eating more than your BMR can build muscle?
Jeffrey343 said:
Good article. I've always been a big breakfast eater, but my wife is never hungry enough to have more than a glass of milk in the morning. I guess I won't keep bugging her about the need to eat more than that.
Interesting point on nuts. I love nuts, especially pistachios. But even though they have a lot of fat and some protein and even some fiber, they never come close to filling me up. I've tried to use them as snacks before, but I can honestly stave off hunger a lot better with less-healthy alternatives such as potato chips. I don't think even a whole bag of nuts (at over 1000 calories) would satisfy my hunger (but it would taste pretty good!).
I do think a simple smoothie (plain fat-free yogurt, milk [lately I've used coconut milk], banana, frozen fruit [strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, maybe pineapple] and a little bit of wheat germ) is a pretty good snack as long as I take those calories out of a meal. Eating all that separately is good, and the fruit portion is a lot higher portion of the smoothie than the yogurt & milk. No added sugar or anything artificial either.
Rafi Bar-Lev - Passionate Fitness, Fat Loss said:
This is definitely an interesting post. I think your advice gets a bit complicated, but what I would take from it is that different things work for different people.
Cheers,
-Rafi
Martin Berkhan said:
Karsten,
'Have you every seen guys gain muscle eating only at thier BMR -
Or below it for that sake.
I mean..is there any prof of not eating more than your BMR can build muscle?'
No, there isn't. Only in beginners. The first few months of starting weight training is where a lot of magic happens; you lose fat and build muscle even if your calorie intake or nutrition is somewhat compromised. Sadly, that period doesn't last for lvery long.
Dan said:
Martin,
I hear you on breakfast. I rarely eat breakfast anymore. I like to get up, drink some coffee/tea, do some work and then hit the gym in a fasted state. I'll usually eat my first meal an hour after I get done with my workout.
Dan
Jim said:
Idk man this guy kinda seems crazy…people need breakfast…the most important meal of the day!
Daniel said:
I often read Martin's posts on a well known bodybuilding forum.
What really surprised me is that Martin always says that meal frequency has NOTHING to do with anything (his own words)
To those who ask him if intermittent fasting has any advantage he always says no and when someone asks him why he doesn't Intermittent Fasting he always replies it's because it's confy and convenient for him (saving time and not thinking about and preparing food all the time) but he also says that aside from convenience there's no other reason (no metabolic magic)
What do you think?
April 22, 2010
Martin Berkhan said:
Daniel,
There's plenty of potential benefits such as improved insulin sensitivity, nutrient partitioning and disease protection (esp cardiovascular and neurodegenerative).
However, long term human trials are sorely lacking so there's nothing conclusive so far.
I've written about this on my blog and talked about it in various interviews.
But to be honest, I'm not doing intermittent fasting for any of those reasons per se. I didn't discover intermittent fasting and go "hey this looks cool, I'm just gonna go ahead and fast 16 hrs a day now to improve my insulin sensitivity and make sure I don't get Alzheimers".
It was a meal pattern that I gradually drifted into and then discovered might have a host of benefits as I learned more and more about it.
The key benefit for most people, I think, is that it's such an amazingly effective way to lean down and control your body fat in the long term. And all in all, a surprisingly easy method for such an ambitious goal (since our modern environment and lifestyle isn't really conducive for maintaining leanness).
Andy said:
Have you heard of John Barban?
You should check out his blog aswell…friends of Pilon
They also do a podcast together called Phi Life
N Starr said:
Hi,
(Have to say I love your site, I learn something new AND sensible every day).
I have recently read about the Dukan Diet where you eat ONLY protein for about 2 days, add veg for the next few weeks, then add carbs for the next few months whilst having one 'protein only day' per week for life. I'm not a dieter but I over the last 2 days i have lost 5 pounds! Could I not just do that every week for life instead? What do you think of this new French diet? I don't want to screw up how my body works in any way. I'm already quite fit (female), I just aim for perfection.
agreed said:
I've always been a non-breakfast eater too simply because i had other things to do in the morning and i just wasnt hungry. Im in highschool and i find that if i do end up eating breakfast around 7am it just makes me hungrier up until lunch time which is usualy when i have my first meal of the day around 1130am.
Daniel said:
N Starr: The Dukan Diet doesn't make much sense to me.
It's just another variation of the Atkins diet but even worse because Atkins didn't limit vegetables so much and indeed there's no reason to limit vegetables they have so little calories. It's just a meaningless concept.
Also the only reason why someone would lose weight in such a diet is that it has so many restrictions, rules and forbidden foods and such specific quantities (just one piece of fruit, just two pieces of bread…) that it automatically restrict calories. A lot.
I guess the average diet in such a diet would average 900 calories a day.
Also I don't like how restrective the maintenance phase is (one protein only day a week, 6 protein and veggies days a week and 2 proteins and limited amount of starches days a week) I wouldn't want to eat like that for life, remembering what day I'm supposed to eat what and in my opinion either people would keep losing too much weight on maintenance or they will maintain at a very skinny emaciated body size. Imo
Daniel said:
N Starr: that being said the idea of having one protein only day a week (very few calories) sounds like Eat Stop Eat, where rather than spreading caloric limitations throughout the week, you just create a huge caloric deficit one or two days a week, making your average caloric intake a lot smaller.
Nathaniel said:
Great post Martin! Right on, especially about nuts – I've never hear anyone put the truth about nuts so bluntly.
Leangains is an excellent blog with lots of useful information, and Martin knows what he's talking about. Everybody should check it out!
Paul Nicolson said:
Totally agree with most of what you have said.
General rule of thumb exercise what you eat.
Http://www.healthclubsathome.com have some good articles that really back up your comments on fitness and healthy eating.
Understanding that you need to spend time in the gym to burn of the calories.
susan said:
The only thing I hate when not eating breakfast is that breath smells less desirable, no?
Zlatan said:
I was wondering is it ok to do eat stop eat and HIIT when I am trying to build muscle mass?
Thanks,
Zlatan
April 23, 2010
Clement said:
IMG_7407
Seether – careless whisper
Hey, rusty and Michael, great content here. I used to frequent your blog, Michael. It first got me into the groove for fasting. I'd like to ask you, what did you do after downing the whole cheesecake? Get back to your 16h daily fasts and really cut back after that, or something else?
Rusty, I'm 168cm tall and weighing 127Ibs. I'm 13-15% bodyfat (the measurements keep fluctuating). I have visceral and subcutaneous fat mainly at the abdominal area. I also have irritatingly chubby cheeks. I want to put on muscle while losing that hateful bodyfat and get the ripped Taylor lautner physique. What is your advice for me nutrition-wise?
Some background information for you: I currently follow jay ferruggia's triple threat muscle programme, which is an intense 3-day-per-week strength and muscle gaining and conditioning programme for MMA fighters and other athletes. I do his workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Each consists of a variety of resistence work for sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar muscle growth with shorter rest periods than most programmes would recommend (the longest prescribed one was about 2min) and end with a short, intense finisher. On Saturdays, I play soccer for 2h. I'm thinking of adding a cardio session of 30min at easy pace on weekday mornings (on an empty stomach) and some short sprints on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Do you think it's a good idea to do steady-state cardio for fat-burning purposes or would it result in overtraining? Also, do you think I should replace the sprints with intervals or barbell complexes?
Thanks, and I apologise for the long hiatus from commenting on your posts! I've been busy! Love the blog!
Clement said:
Sorry – I meant Martin, not Michael!
The Spaniard said:
susan, I was just going to say the same thing. Two things happen when I try to do the fasting thing: 1) my wife offers me mints and 2) I get the biggest headache. It could all depend on the way your body works because she has coffee in the morning and then can spend all day without eating (she just eats when she is hungry) and her breath doesn't stink nor she gets headaches. But she has been doing this since she was a kid.
Deanna said:
Great post — it succinctly summarizes a lot of things I suspected.
I'm sad, but not surprised, about the dried fruit and nuts. I look better (and, let's be honest, feel better) when I'm not chowing the dried fruits and nuts.
I am personally a die-hard lover of breakfast, but normally I get up in the morning, hit the gym, get showered, and THEN make breakfast, so there's a good chance I've already been awake for 2-21/2 hours before I actually eat anything. It's just that when I do finally eat, it's breakfast food (eggs and meat and veg).
And I'm REALLY glad someone said that three meals a day is fine. That's what I do, maybe with a snack to tide me over for one meal. Maybe. Eating for fat loss requires a low enough amount of calories that if I tried to spread that over six meals, I would go absolutely insane. It would be the most extreme form of deprivation! Give me real meals!
Again, thanks for the great post. This gets me excited about further fat loss!
N Starr said:
Thanks for your reply Daniel! Any other opinions are appreciated too, and thank you in advance.
April 24, 2010
sam said:
Rusty,
Great post as usual.. had a question though..have been working out religiously for the past 2 months.. 5-6 days a week ..a combo of resistance training and cardio(45 mins of resistance and 20-25 mins of HIIT+steady cardio)daily. But i feel i have hit a plateau.. as my upper body looks great..except for the lower abdominal..where..it is not as defined as i would like it to be.. and my glutes..not really firm. My diet is a good mix of carb and protein..3 meals a day..what do you suggest i do to get to the next level of body.definition..thnx in advance ..
Less Than Obvious Foods That Are Preventing Weight Loss | How I Lost 20lbs said (pingback):
[...] guest post by Martin Berkhan of Lean Gains up on Rusty's blog Fitness Black Book. Martin Berkhan, if you are not already familiar, is known for getting and staying really lean which [...]
Kalvin Chinyere said:
Great post!
Wow! You just killed three of my most preached fat loss strategies. Eating breakfast, eating 4 – 6 meals daily, and eating single servings of nuts for snacks.
I'm going to have to do some literature searches to verify what you are saying.
Zlatan said:
I was just wondering, if I am doing ESE and start taking Creatine, will I get fat? My friend started taking it, and he got chubbier. I dont want to get chubbier, just more muscular.
Henry
Mike @papastarhealth said:
This is a great article with the exact information it takes to get extremely lean. Thanks for another great Post!
Kelly@fitnessoverhaul said:
After reading through some of these comments, you can see that some people are so afraid to stray off the path of 4-6 meals, eat breakfast, etc. The best thing to do is to just try different things and see how your body reacts. Martin is one of the leanest people that I have ever saw, why not try some of his advice and see what happens.
Once I tried intermittent fasting, I loved it and regularly use it to keep my calories low. Keep in mind that there are many different ways to accomplish your goal of being lean and getting tight abs. Just because you are doing one thing and you read a post about somebody doing it another, doesn't mean that either way is wrong or right. They are just different. Try new things and don't be so rigid as to not be open to a new way of doing things. Thanks for the great post Rusty and Martin!
April 25, 2010
Tony the Pink Panda said:
Martin is my hero! Thanks for dispelling the myths behind having to eat breakfast ^_^. Also, love the mortal combat nerdiness at the end. Seriously, awesome.
Martin Berkhan said:
Kalvin,
'I'm going to have to do some literature searches to verify what you are saying.'
Go ahead. However, it might be hard to find anything saying that nuts can hamper fat loss or that whole foods trump protein shakes for satiety. These topics aren't exactly high on the agenda when it comes to funding research studies.
Figuring out why people are obese and finding new weight loss drugs trumps figuring out how to get to single digit body fat or break a fat loss plateau.
Martin Berkhan said:
Zlatan,
"I was just wondering, if I am doing ESE and start taking Creatine, will I get fat? My friend started taking it, and he got chubbier. I dont want to get chubbier, just more muscular."
No. Creatine may cause some water retention, but it will not make you fat.
April 26, 2010
Aaron Curl said:
Conventional wisdom says we need breakfast! CW is why the world is fat and out of shape. Do yourself a favor and do not follow any CW!
Karen said:
I started using the products from WellnessPro.com, that's been a great addition to all the other physical activities Ive been participating in.
The Infrusion has been awesome for use before I workout.
I just joined their flyaway weightloss challenge. You can win some pretty cool stuff! Wish me luck!
-J
LOLO said:
regarding nuts; how cares if almonds have higher calorie density than chocolate? chocolate ( even dark one) has more sugar. do me a favor, read good calories bad calories, and stop counting mkay
also no milk? thats nuts. how about no gluten / carbs / sugar?
enjoy your cake. btw, im super lean/ ripped and i eat cheese, whole milk, cream, bacon, pork, butter, eggs, etc. Hyperlipid baby.
Zorik said:
Hey,
I agree with everything you said Martin except for the nuts.
They are good sources of monounsaturate fatsn and some protein.
Wouldn't they be healthy to consume as long as you don't over consume them and not go over your calorie max for the day?
April 27, 2010
Martin Berkhan said:
Zorik,
No, nuts are not good sources of monos. The ratio between mono:poly is piss-poor and the protein is shit.
"Wouldn't they be healthy to consume as long as you don't over consume them and not go over your calorie max for the day?"
I think you are missing the point of the article completely.
Martin Berkhan said:
Let me rephrase that. The ratio is not "piss-poor", depending on the nut – it's great in hazelnuts, but pretty bad in walnuts.
But there are a lot of better ways to get more monos in your diet (avocados and olives, for example).
April 28, 2010
Stephan said:
I have read that as long as the n3 intake is adequate, the ratio of n3 to n6 is not that relevant. There are indeed researchers out there who believe the EFA ratio issue is either overrated or a myth to debunk. I know that there are studies that showed that raising n3 intake negates the effect of high n6 to n3 ratio.
What I do know is that all studies I have seen seem to show that the higher the nut consumption the healthier the subject. Of course, it's just epidemiology… but it must mean something I guess.
Watch Your Trainer said:
Wow… such an eye opener! I have been using ESE for a while now but before this i would fast periodically for spiritual reasons and realized how good i felt and notice I was leaner. It is very much true that conventional wisdom keeps us fat! So many people think they will die without food for even an hour. (smile)
April 29, 2010
katie said:
hey rusty,
great post ! u are spot on about these food's hindering diet as a matter of fact when i diet i also avoid dried fruits. your advice on
skipping breakfast is great i will try to implement that into my diet to help lose muscle. i am also very eagerly waiting for your articles on "women workout" to lose muscle. also kindly advice what u meant on other post when u answered me to do 1 min fast 1 min slow and a jog of 15 min.what did u mean by fast and slow is it a fast and slow run or jog?
thanks in advance
cheers
Robert C. Morreale said:
to The Spaniard,
Why make this so complicated. the only thing that really matters is calories in vs calories burned. under eating (below maintenance) is the only scientific proven way to lose weight. have a slight surplus(100 – 300) if you want to add muscle and have a slight reduction if you want to lose fat. we are not Olympic athletes here, life counts too. i like working out on an empty stomach, that's me. after i workout i have a Cajun chicken burrito with a bag of classic lays potato chips. on my workout days M-W-Sat i over eat slightly. on my days off i under eat, lots of salad (fibrous carbs), chicken and fish. love those sardines.
to sum it up,
1) eat balanced
2) eat healthy most of the time
3) brief but intense workouts (3 x per week max) if you can workout more you need to crank up the intensity and workout less
4) sleep, if you get up tired you are not getting quality sleep
5) calories count
that's all folks!
April 30, 2010
Sonny Kombo said:
WOW..i just wanted to say thanks for this rusty.
On the internet today there are thousands of fitness sites with lovely images and quotes, then after a few clicks you get to a point where they ask for your money.
I long gave up on fitness advice from the internet, i relied on book publications and advice from the gym instructor.
I accidentally stumbled upon this site through a friend and it immediatley interested me..not because of glossy body builders. It was different.
Reading through the site, it is adamant that you really just want to help people break through to their fitness goals.
I was experiencing a very serious plateu and thought id give your report a chance because it was humble, informative and honest.
Finnaly i am starting to notice progress and couldnt be happier..so just wanted to say thanks!
May 1, 2010
Vaiidya said:
Hey Rusty,
I just wanted to know if there is any particular protein supplement source you recommend. It would be great if you could suggest a brand cause I hate the over-advertised and over-branded ones that does not do the job.
Thanks.
Vaiidya
Vaiidya said:
Hey,
Just found the article about protein shakes. So ignore my previous question. Thank you so much for the site tough and the regular replies to your readers. This is by far the best source for motivation and knowledge for fitness. Thanks Rusty.
Vaiidya
Vaiidya said:
I jus had one question. I am a college student and budget is tight. Are there any other supplements that you suggest than EAS-Myoplex that fits the budget a little better??
Thanks
May 3, 2010
Astrid said:
Hey, I was just wondering, have there not been any updates on the mailing list for a long time, or did I somehow "fall off" it? I used to be on the mailing list and I haven't received any e-mails in a really long time. (And, yes, I have checked the spam folder). Anyways, if I "fell off" somehow, can I get back on?
May 4, 2010
Alexis segura said:
Hi Martin I´m a big fan of your blog and Rusty´s blog. I have been doing the IF for 16 hrs and the overfeeding 8 hours and it is wonderful but i have a little problem. Before I try IF and today that I use it, I feel on a daily basis an urgent crazy need of chocolate. I feel my body is asking for t, believe me I´m not trying to cheat, actually I control myself and step away from it, but I wonder is there something I can do about these "need"
May 6, 2010
Semper Phi said:
Just in three days of paddling canoes and kayaks through flooded Nashville, including rescuing friends animals, kayaking up downtown and through world-famous Opryland hotel which is up to 15 feet under in places with service and employee access tunnels completely submerged. Not to mention wading through waist high water in places. This stuff will really take some flab off of you and put some burn on your skin to, maybe "scorching through your fat loss plateau".
Jan Michael said:
Hey Rusty !
Have you ever considered doing a merge of fitnessblackbook and leangains ? lol. You and Martin would make a great team ! Thanks for all the "blackbook" info you are giving us instead of those lousy mainstream so called "facts". It would definitely be useful to my dream of reaching an elite state of physique and to my health conscious father who has a big potbelly and counters it with a LOT of healthy options.
Have a good one you two ! Thanks again and God bless !
Jan Michael said:
and oh could you let me in your mailing list ? jm.lapuz@yahoo.com
thanks !
Danny Winters said:
Hey rusty, great post- again!
I love the whole ethos of this site and was wondering if you could possibly comment on this workout? All exercises are 3 sets of 6-7reps done slowly.
1. Incline press. 2. explosive press ups. 3. Seated dumbbell press. 4. Bicep curls. 5. Close hand press ups. 6. Tricep dips. 7. One handed press ups. 8.Flys 9. Reverse flys.
Sorry to burden you with this!
May 9, 2010
Glen said:
That bro is legit
May 10, 2010
JM said:
Would it hurt to drink a 3in1 sugarfree coffee with 30 kcal during fasting ?
May 11, 2010
Frank said:
You van postpone your 8 hr feeding window by ingestint 10g BCAA every 2 hours after your workout.
9.15: 10g BCAA
9.30: workout
10.30: 10g BCAA
12.30: start feeding window
20.30: end feeding window
May 15, 2010
peter said:
Hi Martin,
your diet results are great ! I have read that you are about to releasing your new book.Are you describing your training way too ? Im interesting in HIT training way, is you way in the shadow of this ??
thanx for replay
peter
Will said:
Rusty, what is the difference of effectiveness from intermittent fasting and the Eat Stop Eat Method?
May 16, 2010
Will said:
Rusty, what is the difference of effectiveness from intermittent fasting and the Eat Stop Eat Method? IF you do everyday but for 16 hours tops but for Eat Stop Eat its one or twice a week for a full 24 hours. Which is better?
May 18, 2010
Mike OD - Fitness Spotlight said:
Martin, great stuff as usual! I really like the emphasis on ditching nuts and so called "health drinks" (and the reality of using more antioxidants is just taking things in the opposite direction for the body…been a firm believer of that too).
I think the truth hits home for people doing IF once they actually try it…instead of fearing their muscle will melt away and they will gain 30lbs from crashing their without their Zone bars/protein shakes every 2 hours. If that were the case…I should be very obese by now….still waiting for that to happen.
Mike OD - Fitness Spotlight said:
Opps….left out "metabolism" above…
gain 30lbs from crashing their "metabolism" without their Zone bars/protein shakes every 2 hours
May 30, 2010
Arnold said:
Martin,
I assume consuming whey drinks together with a regular meal to increase the protein amount is OK to you? My meals are normally made up by 300-350g of meat/chicken, veggies and sometimes starches. Adding a whey drink gets me up to about 100g protein per meal. Getting up to that value is tough with only lean meat and no shake.
June 3, 2010
Glenn D said:
Fasted training is hitting the mainstream. See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37492881/ns/health-fitness/
August 3, 2010
The Belly Burner said:
Thanks for sharing this post. It has a lot of great tips for keeping low body fat. I think it is great that he was able to achieve under 6% body fat for so long.
August 9, 2010
FitMarker said (trackback):
Scorch Through Your Fat Loss Plateau | Fitness Black Book…
Advice on what to fix in your diet if you're experiencing a fat loss plateau….
August 11, 2010
Nathalie said:
I love Breakfast!!! I once fell into that whole eat within 30 minutes of waking up nonsense…and much to my dismay I gained 2lbs. I don't feel it's necessary for everyone, but for me, if I don't eat breakfast I'm that person that will eat the donut later. Egg whites scrambled with pico de gallo and a cup of fruit after my morning workout. I really liked the section about liquid fat. I have a bachelors in exercise science and even did a research paper on the topic, but if there's one thing that meatheads always wanna argue with me about it's this. Shakes are worthless and a waste of money!! They make me bloated and actually stimulate my appetite. I also had a sneaking suspicion nuts weren't all they were cracked up to be. That's def one thing I will be cutting out to increase my fat loss. Great post, but I'm still a breakfast type of gal!
August 16, 2010
Intermittent Fasting for Fat Loss, Muscle Gain, and Easy Maintenance said (pingback):
[...] Leangains – I’ve linked to Martin a million times. His information is rock solid and backed by research. Check out his post on Fitness Black Book – Scorch Through Your Fat Loss Plateau. [...]
August 29, 2010
Angela said:
Very interesting…. but you are right about nut, dried fruits, etc. So yummy…but not the end all when it comes to healthy eating.
And holy abs! All I can say is "we've got a situation!" Okay, I may be the only one that watches Jersey Shore.
Nice abs. 
September 25, 2010
Steve - More than just Muscle said:
I would love to get down to below 6% for any length of time. I'm very primal and find it effortless to stay around 10%, which gives me just the beginning of a 6 pack, nothing like what martin has though.
December 6, 2010
Mark said:
Love your articles but I do take issue with the protein bar and nuts.
Having to drive around on my job, I had a protein bar and some nuts each work day for 10 months. Was able to lose 55lbs while increasing lifts in the gym.
Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. A protein bar and nuts is an order of magnitude better than a Big Mac and Fries for lunch.
December 7, 2010
drejedoktor said:
I tried IF systematically for the first time through the Eat Stop Eat approach. After nearly two months I found out about Leangains and made the switch about 2 weeks ago. What a smooth transistion into a lifestyle where the morning and mid-day energy is through the roof.
If I have a good morning, I have a good day, and this Leangains approach let me have time and energy for focusing and learning in the hours that matters the most for me. (I'm a marine engineer student).
For now, my plan is to undergo a body recomposition, emphasizing fat loss through a slight calorie deficit on rest days.
Workouts lasts 30-40min 3x a week.
I'll snap another abs pic in 3-4 months and time will tell, if "We got a Situation".
Things look like they're going the right way
One thing makes me wonder;
Is it possible to have a fair amount of glycogen left in the muscles in the morning and mid-day (hours 12-18 of the fast) and still burn mostly fat if not all fat? Brisk walking etc. will still only require fat mobilization?
I seem to have stalled in a couple of workout movements lately, and weight dropped like crazy at the same time. Jacking up glycogen stores just enough to keep strength and estimated weight seems like a wise approach. I love experimenting!
December 13, 2010
Gaining muscle and losing fat? said (pingback):
[...] The Leangains Guide | Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health Martin Berkhan – Scorch Through Your Fat Loss Plateau | Fitness Black Book Reply With Quote + Reply to Thread « Previous Thread | Next [...]
December 22, 2010
Crude Fitness « When eating to excess is a good thing said (pingback):
[...] so? Besides being a test-dummy myself, there are other advocates for this kind of naughtiness. Martin Berkhan from leangains.com does it all the time — heck, he even ate a whole cheesecake in one sitting and [...]
January 12, 2011
Howard said:
Regarding Martin's comment about using fish to replace nuts. Everyone bows down to fish, but I think it's overrated and it's so damn expensive. My wife and I each eat a pound of meat for dinner. For the same money we'd starve trying to eat tiny pieces of fish. If you look at the cultures around the world that eat fish, they coincidentally also eat lots of pork. But that's politically incorrect, so it's ignored. How do we know it's not all that pork that's keeping them healthy?
January 31, 2011
Viktor said:
Hi guys,
I've followed Martin's approach for a while and I still prefer Eat Stop Eat approach..
Martin's blog has many interesting articles (perhaps a little bit too scientific…).
Pro – His approach is very simple: eat between noon and 8pm (8 hours in fed state) and fast the rest of the day (16 hours).
Eat the majority of your calories intake after your work out.
Protein all the time, carbs when you work out and low carbs when you are off.
Lift "very" heavy 2/3 times per week (compounds movements only).
Con – He has always been very skinny (he has been a model since very young age) so maybe is nothing amazing that he is at such a low body fat percent.
He is "very" arrogant and aloof: have a look at his FaceBook page where he insults whoever 'bother' him with f***ing questions!
I guess being a celebrity is quite stressfull for Mister Berkhan… he should take an holiday!
February 7, 2011
Flowers said:
What a wonderful article! Thanks for sharing this information!
February 23, 2011
Stacey said:
Good article. I like the part on breakfast. Thanks for assuring me that the whole world doesn't end if I skip breakfast.
March 9, 2011
gmat said:
I felt identified with your blog since the first day i've started to visit, finally a place about balanced Life, fitness, health, aesthetics, and not just the sickness of getting big and spending Lives between gym and the couch to grow big.
April 13, 2011
Dean said:
In years and years this is the first person i have ever come across that is saying breakfast is not important! And probably the only person on the net saying this……I wonder who is right? this guy or the 1,000,0000,0000's of people on the net saying how important it is!?!?!?!? Oh and nuts are bad eh?
April 30, 2011
mark Winward said:
This is a great article.. It's funny, I go to my local gym and they're all there lapping up the excuse to down Protein Shakes within 30 seconds of the workout,..but don't actually take a look in the mirror and realise that they really need to loose about 2 stone in fat before worring about muscle catabolism! I've found that the breakfast thing seems to make sense.. Why eat when you don't feel hungry! To add to this when you excercise really hard with HIIT you are sure as hell going to be hungry right there.. It would make sense to remember to take on the most calories right after a hard training session.. Keep up the good work.. P.S. using your strategies I've managed to keep my abs visible at 35 and going strong! Thanks
May 1, 2011
haibo said:
This is really a funny way to lose weight. My readers will love it. thanks!
May 7, 2011
yohimbine hcl said:
Why eat when you don't feel hungry! To add to this when you excercise really hard with HIIT you are sure as hell going to be hungry
May 11, 2011
grinder1243 said:
He was a chubby kid growing up and simply figured out a methodology of staying lean without depriving himself of good food. Here is an exclusive guest article he wrote for Fitness Black Book. Same thing goes if you just want to make the diet as easy and painless as possible. Nuts contain an incomplete amino acid profile and consist mostly of plant fats. Protein bars are nothing more than glamorized candy. These snacks have high calorie density and tend to stimulate hunger rather than quench it. It has everything in abundance. There is nothing inherently bad about breakfast. Nor is there anything inherently good about it either. Yet I forced myself to eat breakfast on every diet attempt I made until a few years ago. I believed breakfast was absolutely crucial for a few different reasons. Another thing to keep in mind is the very slow absorption rate of whole food proteins. The belief that a few hours without food will cause muscle catabolism is absurd. It actually increases slightly. Skipping breakfast is connected to a certain dysregulated eating behavior that predisposes people to weigh more. Those studies have no relevance to the conscious dieter that skips breakfast as a fat loss strategy. Another factor to consider with snacks and shakes is the appetite stimulating effect they have on some people. Three meals is also a meal frequency that I have favored for years. Invest some time in your meals and eat less frequently. Ditch the snacks and shakes in between meals. Choose a meal frequency completely based on personal preferences. That was the lesson I wanted to teach through with my tale of skipping breakfast. Or whatever other eating pattern that lets you adhere the best to your diet. All former video game geeks will instantly know what this is all about. The comments on the post are hilarious. I have always thought that I had many of the big chunks on diet correct but was missing a lot of the nuances. It seems many of the foods Martin is against fool at least some part of the system for satiation. I highy recommend people go read The Secret Benefit of Being Lean and The Marshmallow Test.all that being said my question is about eating dinner. The part that is helped the most by fitting your diet to your schedule and personal preferences as Martin states in the article. on days that I have a satisfying breakfast. I definitely have a tendency to eat snacks etc on days that I miss breakfast and eat a smaller lunch and dinner on the days I have a good breakfast. I can almost swear to these effects and that makes me feel that my body naturally just demands breakfast. He also implemented just one day of Eat Stop Eat and he very quickly broke through is fat loss plateau. Thats why I feel like meat is so great for fat loss. Thanks for sharing your experiences and putting out the word. With you and Rusty helping educate people many of us will get those results faster. See an interesting new article of his here. Glad you guys enjoyed the article. I spent years reading articles online and in magazines about how important eating breakfast is. No added sugar or anything artificial either. I rarely eat breakfast anymore.com have some good articles that really back up your comments on fitness and healthy eating. It first got me into the groove for fasting. I have visceral and subcutaneous fat mainly at the abdominal area. I also have irritatingly chubby cheeks. I want to put on muscle while losing that hateful bodyfat and get the ripped Taylor lautner physique. But she has been doing this since she was a kid. But i feel i have hit a plateau.it is not as defined as i would like it to be. My diet is a good mix of carb and protein.what do you suggest i do to get to the next level of body. The best thing to do is to just try different things and see how your body reacts. Keep in mind that there are many different ways to accomplish your goal of being lean and getting tight abs. There are indeed researchers out there who believe the EFA ratio issue is either overrated or a myth to debunk. the only thing that really matters is calories in vs calories burned. after i workout i have a Cajun chicken burrito with a bag of classic lays potato chips.i just wanted to say thanks for this rusty.not because of glossy body builders. So ignore my previous question. Thank you so much for the site tough and the regular replies to your readers. This is by far the best source for motivation and knowledge for fitness. I am a college student and budget is tight. Not to mention wading through waist high water in places. It would definitely be useful to my dream of reaching an elite state of physique and to my health conscious father who has a big potbelly and counters it with a LOT of healthy options.still waiting for that to happen. Getting up to that value is tough with only lean meat and no shake. It has a lot of great tips for keeping low body fat. Egg whites scrambled with pico de gallo and a cup of fruit after my morning workout. I really liked the section about liquid fat. His information is rock solid and backed by research. A protein bar and nuts is an order of magnitude better than a Big Mac and Fries for lunch. Jacking up glycogen stores just enough to keep strength and estimated weight seems like a wise approach. My wife and I each eat a pound of meat for dinner. It would make sense to remember to take on the most calories right after a hard training session. An Effective Body Weight Exercise for Fat Loss and Mobility.When You Can Take the Pebble From My Hand.This is my google
May 25, 2011
Sharlene said:
What a great post! Nice to read a post supportive of eating based on individuality, not dogma. Great stuff.
I really appreciated how you explained how eating for fat loss is based on reasonability and context as opposed to heavily leaning toward supposedly "healthy" foods. Your example of nuts and dried fruit is right on the money!
I agree with going back to real foods to lose fat and get healthy as opposed to protein bars and shakes.
Keep up the great work!
June 3, 2011
Ella - Natural Weight Loss for Women said:
Wonderful post on the myths of fat loss and fitness. I particularly like the part which we need to devise a meal plan and eating schedule to fit the personalisty and preference.
Will come back for more certainly. Good job and keep it that way!
June 4, 2011
lose thigh said:
Great weight loss discussion, thanks so much!
June 8, 2011
Greg - Kinobody Fitness Systems said:
This is an awesome article!
I too have always found that nuts were soo overatted. In addition I also felt that post workout shakes with 1:1 carb protein actually increased my appetite. I also like to skip breakfast.
These little tricks add up big time.
Greg O'G.
July 12, 2011
Olivia May said:
fat loss.. hmm… i am eating nuts and chocolate for lunch, does that help?
July 14, 2011
space jam jordans said:
Great blog post here. Will keep checking back for updates. Thanks
July 28, 2011
P90X Coach said:
VERY Interesting!
I need to rethink breakfast and almonds, I guess – two staples in my current 'diet'.
I am also one of those 'every 2-3 hours' kind of eaters, so I am going to read this again and other information Martin provides…good stuff.
September 29, 2011
martin from leangains just made internet history with the greatest post eve | Mark's Daily Apple Health and Fitness Forum page 7 said (pingback):
[...] through a primal prism but I think he endorses whole food though not necessarily primal/paleo Martin Berkhan – Scorch Through Your Fat Loss Plateau | Fitness Black Book Reply With Quote + Reply to [...]
October 11, 2011
Roger Vivier said:
I need to rethink breakfast and almonds
November 26, 2011
Personal Training Highgate said:
Great Article.
Munching on those almonds right now, great stuff!
December 18, 2011
John said:
Almost Every type 1 diabetic knows about the dawn phenomenon – tha hormone soup that invades our bodies each morning and raises our insulin resistance (IR). Some have minor ones, many of us have giagantic, troublesome ones.
The key here is it increases your IR in the mornings, so when I eat breakfast, I need more insulin. More insulin means more fat storage. As far as I'm concerned, it's simple math – skip breakfast or consume only fats.
February 19, 2012
Destiny said:
I am a pescatarian and as such have a considerably smaller range of protein options, and while some say "well just load up on your fish", seafood is a bit more expensive than a slab of cow. So that being said, I kind of need protein shakes… Why casein and not whey?
April 2, 2012
Michael- Somebody Lied said:
These are all great tips that I have adopted over the past year. Lean gains is a great system. I used to think it was just 16 hours fasting but after dissecting a lot of Martin's stuff found there was a lot more to his approach.
April 24, 2012
Mike said:
I have a protein shake almost daily because I actually enjoy it and it fills me up, not to mention a solid source of protein. Considering the negatives you pointed out about them, is what I'm doing wrong? The shake itself is 335 cal with 45g of protein.
May 7, 2012
isabelle marant said:
These are all great tips that I have adopted over the past year. Lean gains is a great system.
roger vivier flasts said:
I am a pescatarian and as such have a considerably smaller range of protein options.