Hey all,
I hear a lot about the benefits of a low calorie diet, but I love training hard in the gym and on the track. I want to extend my life and have good health, and I know that eating a low calorie diet(1600-200k for me) will do that, but I also want to continue to make training part of my life. Can I have both? Is this an example of ‘trying to have you cake and eating it too’?
Also I want to note that if I go through with the low calorie diet I’m also going to significantly reduce the amount of protein I get, probably to 50-70g(I’m at about 190g a day now). I want to know if it’s possible to gain muscle or stay fit(fit not in the T-Nation sense of the word, but fit in the wider cultures sense of the word) with 50g of protein a day.
Lastly,I would rather this not turn into a debate about the efficacy of a low calorie diet for longevity and general health.
Refer to our Rapid Fat Loss vs. V-Diet thread. We go over training on a very-low-calorie diet.
and how do you “know” a low calorie diet will make you live longer? are you a lab rat?
I don’t think you’re going to be fit with 50 grams of protein per day? What physically active man can survive on this? The recommended protein intake espoused by dietitians for athletes is 2 grams per kg of bodyweight and the the amount espoused by sports and bodybuilding nutritionists is 1.1 to 1.4 grams per pound of bodyweight.
There are people on here with a variety of fitness and physique goals. What do you mean by fit, but not in the T-Nation sense. Even some of the writers on here don’t want to be huge.
My 1,200- to 1,400-calorie plan for the Rapid Fat Loss Diet included 230 grams of protein per day.
Lower calorie diets should have a high macronutrient percentage of protein. Otherwise, be prepared to feel like shit and look like a concentration camp inmate. The more calories are lowered, the higher the protein percentage of the diet should be.
2,000 calories is not “very low” for a normal-sized man. And, not to be a dick, considering that you are ignorant on this topic and even contemplate eating 50 grams of protein per day, I’m willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that you are far from big. Actually, because of this, I don’t even know why you’re contemplating off-the-wall, eccentric diet plans at this point.
Do you want to stay on a low-calorie diet long term? Why? If you don’t have adequate nutrition - and this included adequate caloric amount - your physique, health, and performance suffers.
What are you trying to do?
Training on a VLCD should be scaled back to two to three times per week. See my routine in the RFL thread.
Brick, i don’t think he’s talking about a PSMF type diet, but instead he’s one of those “life extension” wackos who belives by eating ~1,200 calories a day for the rest of his life, he’ll live to be 120 or something.
Sorry, but even if that DID work to extend lifespan by a significant degree, who the hell wants to be skinny, cold, and and hungry all the time?
Furthermore, who’s to say you won’t die in a car accident tomorrow? Doing a short term VLCD to drop fat fast is one thing, but doing that as a long-term strategy (especially when coupled with extremely low protein intake) is just asking for trouble IMO