Shane's Drivel

Post Velocity Diet update August 5, 2008

Quick update on that crazy Velocity Diet that I tried…

Its been 2 1/2 weeks since I finished and I’ve lost and additional 5 pounds since I stopped dieting. Yep, I lost 10 pounds on the diet and 5 more pounds in the few weeks after I “quit” dieting. (BTW, this puts my bodyweight down 69 pounds from when I started in the spring of 2006.) Now there’s one secret to dieting that most people don’t get.

Put yourself on low calories and when you “quit”, ramp your calories slowly while continuing to eat healthy and you’ll keep losing weight – at least for a little while. What’s happening is that the metabolism takes its foot off the brake in response to more food intake (but not so much more that is stores the bountiful harvest ). During this metabolic acceleration, the body will continue to lose weight – until it reaches equillibrium.

The body always strives for homeostasis, adapting to whatever you throw at it. The trick is keeping it off balance. So as I gradually ramp my calories, I’m ramping up my exercise level too. My body won’t have a chance to adapt for at least a few more months. Maybe by then I’ll be where I want to be.

The Velocity Diet review July 20, 2008

What is it?

Before I say anything I must say that if you don’t know how lose weight in a traditional way or maintain weight loss, absolutely do not use the Velocity Diet. You may lose weight with it, but if you don’t know how to handle yourself nutritionally, you’ll certainly gain it all back plus more when you are done.

The Velocity Diet is a liquid diet based mostly on supplements which provide bare essential nutrients. It is a dummy-proof method to, first and foremost, build mental fortitude for dieting in general, and second to lose weight with minimal muscle loss.

The diet is 4 weeks with each week having mostly protein shakes and only one healthy solid meal (HSM). Following that, there is a 2 week phase to transition back to solid eating.

Gus and I ate all this in 28 days.

But Shane, given your success in getting fit, WHY would you do this?

Despite losing around 55 pounds, I was still carrying a pot belly. I could have continued my established path and been just as successful as you’ll see that I was with the Velocity Diet. But recently I was trying get off a mini-bulk cycle (eating enough calories to make one gain weight while training hard to make most of that gain muscle instead of fat) and was having trouble dialing it back down to weight loss mode. Yeah, yours truly was having nutritional discipline issues. And moreso than that, I was sick and #($^& tired of all the planning, preparation, and cooking that goes with eating 6 healthy meals per day.

So what exactly did you do?

The Velocity Diet is a product from Testosterone Nation. The diet consists almost entirely of Biotest supplements. Biotest owns Testosterone Nation. See the connection? OK, bear with me though.

Documentation for the diet is evolving into a book by its creator, Chris Shugart. Right now unfortunately the instructions aren’t neatly presented in one place. The starting point for reading about it is here. The most up-to-date info on the velocity diet is scattered through out this thread about a test subject (although not the 1st test subject; this diet has been done by 1,000′s of people).

Instructions for the 4-week diet are found here, about half way down the page. The gist of it involves calculating how many calories you need on weight-lifting days and non-lifting days. For me it was about 1,650 and 1,400. Then you calculate how many grams of protein you need per day. That info is used to figure out how many protein shakes you need (5 for me with the last one being not quite full size). Then the diet adds fish oil and peanut butter for health fats, as well as ground flaxseed and fiber supplements for digestion. And they recommend BCAA supplements which discourage muscle loss. And every 7 days you get to have exactly one healthy solid meal (HSM) containing whatever you want provide its not huge and its healthy.

Yes, for each of 28 days in a row I ate nothing but 5 protein shakes, 2 tbsp peanut butter, 8 fish oil caps, 4 tbsp ground flax seed, 12 metamucil capsules, vitamins, and some BCAA pills. Well except for the one meal every 7 days in which I ate something like a lean steak, broccoli, and a sweet potato.

Oh and on lifting days, there is a tasty sugar & protein workout drink (supplied by Biotest of course) that I got to have immediately after lifting. This is what makes up the calorie difference between lifting & non-lifting days.

I’ve just finished the 28 days and I’m transitioning back to regular eating now. Instructions for the transition phase are here about half way down the page. Transition is 2 weeks starting with 1 HSM per day and gradually adding a 2nd HSM, a 3rd HSM and on up to however many meals you’re going to eat regularly (6/day for me).

Did you exercise?

Yes, exercise is required. But not much. I’m following the recommended Velocity Diet training program. You’re free to make your own program. But the general style needs to be basic lifts with heavy weight and low rest (30-45s) in between. Cardio work is strictly forbidden. With caloric intake this low, cardio would be counter productive as the body would be forced to cannibalize mucsle to provide energy for the cardio. In place of cardio, NEPA (Non Exercise Physical Activity) is recommended.

My experience suggests NEPA is crucial. You’re encouraged to get as much NEAP as possible. The more NEPA I did, the better my results were. My NEPA was usually brisk walking or slow-paced cycling. NEPA could be everyday activity such as mowing the lawn, washing a car, or in my case sanding & painting kitchen cabinets. I usually got 60-90 minutes of NEPA per day spread out over 2-3 sessions.

What were your results?

In 4 weeks, I lost 10 pounds and 1.5 inches in the waist. As far as I can tell I did not lose muscle mass, although it is hard to tell. Your energy level is pretty darn low on this thing, so you don’t have much umph in the gym for making comparisons. But considering I lost an inch and a half of pot belly and “only” dropped 10 pounds, there couldn’t be much muscle loss if any.

The Velocity Diet isn’t the end for myself or most anyone else who tries it. Its just a real good start. I still have a pot belly, but its down to not being very noticeable with clothes on. Believe it or not, I’ve got visible ab muscles even if they’re, uh, “pillow-topped” like the mattress I sleep on. Next up, I’ll eat more real food, increase my exercise intensity, and keep on truckin’.

You can read my mini-blog on my progress here.

Would you do it again?

First of all, nobody needs to do this often. It simply isn’t healthy not to eat real food for a long time. I think you’d do no harm one time on The Velocity Diet since I doubt a 4-week absence from real food is dangerous.

Second, while the diet was dummy-proof, it was still difficult. Very difficult. You get real tired on this diet. You’ll want to go to sleep at 8pm. You’ll drag thoughout the days. If you went with similar calories on real food, it would be a lot easier.

Easier provided you were disciplined enough to plan what to eat, how & when to cook it, and not cheat one iota. If you could do all that, real food would be easier to live through. But if you could do all that, then you wouldn’t need the Velocity Diet.

The efficiency of The Velocity Diet is in its simplicity. Eat these shakes mixed with these supplements N times per day and that’s it.

The rewards one gets from the Velocity Diet that wouldn’t come from a real food diet are an appreciation for….real food. Moving forward, I will gladly eat the portions of real food that I need to eat, savoring every bite instead of lusting for more.

So would I do it again – yes, probably once/year. Certainly no more than twice/year. But before doing this again, I’d try a lot harder (and most likely succeed) at properly dialing in my real food intake.

In summary, if you need both a nutritional attitude adjustment and fat loss to boot, then go for it. But if you’re new to weight loss, aren’t sure how to maintain weight loss, or aren’t sure how you got where you are or how to get out of it – then pass on The Velocity Diet.

Shane’s Fat Loss Manifesto May 14, 2008

Having lost a bunch of weight, I get asked a lot about how I did it and what I’d recommend to other people. So I’ve decided to try and summarize all those ideas into Shane’s Fat Loss Manifesto. I’ve hope to include enough information to help somebody else be successful without dragging the reader through mind-numbing details which I’ve left out.