The Anabolic Diet, despite being hailed as an amazing muscle-gaining diet, is also the best weight loss diet I’ve used. Specifically, the Anabolic Diet is the best diet I’ve used, bar none, to lose fat and retain as much muscle as possible.
I’ve been asked frequently how to lose weight using the Anabolic Diet. The answer is simple.
To lose weight on the Anabolic Diet, all you need to do is take a “regular” Anabolic Diet menu and subtract macronutrients. So, for example, if you are eating 3500 calories a day on the Anabolic Diet, you need to chop off an appropriate percentage of calories proportional to macronutrient levels. Let’s say, for example, you want to start off conservative and drop your calories by 20%. You would move to 2800 calories. Let’s say at 3500 calories, you were eating 230 grams of fat per day. You would then drop that amount 20% to 184 grams of fat. If eating 300 grams of protein, you would drop it 20% to 240. On and on it goes, dependent on the number of calories you plan to eat. Then just shrink the portion size of each meal you have.
But how many calories is appropriate to lose weight? This is entirely dependent on your body. If you are gaining weight on 3500 calories a day and your bodyfat is remaining very low, then if you
maintain the same amount of work (or, better yet, add in a little more work in the form of cardio) and drop calories by 20% or more, then you should be able to lose weight. If you keep lifting heavy weights and do some cardio, your weight lost will likely be all fat and not muscle.
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-30% OFFThe best answer to how many calories to drop is: experiment. Start at a conservative number, like 20%, and then drop more calories every week dependent on your progress.
An example of a somewhat extreme “cutting” diet based on the Anabolic Diet is the Get Shredded Diet by Dr. John Berardi. I say it is extreme because it only has one carb refeed day every two weeks, and the calories are very low — about 10x bodyweight, for eight to twelve weeks. It is a diet for people who are already relatively low in bodyfat, but want to get even lower. (The link above will provide sample diet plans, as well as lots more information.)
I have followed the Get Shredded Diet twice over the past two years (each time separated by two years) and it truly gives amazing results. I have done a lot of “extreme” cutting in the past, but using the principles of the Anabolic Diet and the Get Shredded Diet helped me retain my strength and muscle.
Here is an example of my most recent Get Shredded/lower-calorie Anabolic Diet “cut” menu. I followed this for about eight weeks. Before this, I ate a very similar diet, but calories were bumped up around 2800. I was losing weight on this diet, but plateaued, which is why I jumped to the Get Shredded Diet next. Macronutrient percentages remained the same. The following diet provides about 1800 to 1900 calories and regular Anabolic Diet macronutrient ratios — about 60/35/5 fat/protein/carbs.
MEAL 1
4 omega 3 eggs
½ scoop protein powder
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup waterIN-BETWEEN
10g BCAAMEAL 2
½ lbs 94% lean beef
4 g fish oil
Small salad with ¼ avocado and 1 fertile eggIN-BETWEEN
10g BCAAMEAL 3
½ lbs 94% lean beef
4 g fish oil
Small salad with ¼ avocado and 1 fertile eggIN-BETWEEN
10g BCAAMeal 4
Four eggs
½ avocado
6 g fish oil
Again, as with all other sample diet plans I list, I will supplement with psyllium husks and flax seeds in various meals, and I try to get as many veggies in as possible, whether they are listed in each meal or not. What I have listed simply provides the “bulk” of what I eat.
Using the principles of the Anabolic Diet, losing the little bit of pudge you gain will be a no-brainer.
