Modifying the Velocity Diet

I’m about to start up the V diet tomorrow to shed this winter bulk. Thanks to T-Nation advice, I got up to 225 from 180 in January, and made huge strength gains!

But now, the suns coming out here in Santa Cruz and its time to head to the beach!!

Two ideas to modify the diet:

I’ll substitute the new Biotest Whey(its low carb) for about half my shakes(i’m taking 8-9 a day after I did all the math) since Metabolic Drive is so damn expensive for me.

I’m just gonna take a shot glass full of olive oil(just over an ounce) each day to halve the amount of fish oil caps i take, to cut down on costs.

what do you guys think? good idea for a cheaper version of the diet?

You realize that part of the point of taking fish oil is that fish oil encourages the body to burn more calories from fat rather than carbs (in addition to its antinflammatory qualities and some muscle sparing characteristics).

If you can’t afford it no way no how, try taking flax seed oil instead (cheaper than fish oil) or walnut oil (even cheaper). Those two are at least omega 3 oils, though not as good as fish. Whatever you decide to do, definitely divide up the dose of oil over the day rather than chugging it all at once!

Mabey use sugar free instant jello to flavour the Grow! Whey. I read that on here not to long ago.

I don’t think using straight whey powder is a good choice for this diet. It digests too fast.

Also, just out of curiosity… are you planning on using the HOT-ROX, or were you going to skip that to trim costs, too?

[quote]Rykker wrote:
I don’t think using straight whey powder is a good choice for this diet. It digests too fast.

Also, just out of curiosity… are you planning on using the HOT-ROX, or were you going to skip that to trim costs, too?[/quote]

The flax meal in the shake should help with this, as well as this fats.

[quote]itsthetimman wrote:
Rykker wrote:
I don’t think using straight whey powder is a good choice for this diet. It digests too fast.

Also, just out of curiosity… are you planning on using the HOT-ROX, or were you going to skip that to trim costs, too?

The flax meal in the shake should help with this, as well as this fats.
[/quote]

I don’t agree. You should be using the flax (or another fiber source) and fish oil anyway.
Substituting straight whey for a casein/whey blend is a bad idea in this case.
The V-Diet is designed to be extreme bare-bones, as is. Cutting corners is risky.
If someone can’t afford to follow it as it was set forth in Shugart’s original threads (Velocity Diet I and II), then they should wait, and save up for it, or try a different diet.

[quote]Rykker wrote:
itsthetimman wrote:
Rykker wrote:
I don’t think using straight whey powder is a good choice for this diet. It digests too fast.

Also, just out of curiosity… are you planning on using the HOT-ROX, or were you going to skip that to trim costs, too?

The flax meal in the shake should help with this, as well as this fats.

I don’t agree. You should be using the flax (or another fiber source) and fish oil anyway.
Substituting straight whey for a casein/whey blend is a bad idea in this case.
The V-Diet is designed to be extreme bare-bones, as is. Cutting corners is risky.
If someone can’t afford to follow it as it was set forth in Shugart’s original threads (Velocity Diet I and II), then they should wait, and save up for it, or try a different diet.
[/quote]

Alright, read his post, it says “half of the shakes.” Therefore, it would mean the other half are the metabolic drive. The digestion system would be slowed somewhat with the flax meal, seeing that it has 4 g of fiber in it. I also said it’d help with the fats, I never suggested, “don’t take fish oil.”

In my experience, I’ve done semi-V-diets before I knew about the V-diet and the flax meal helped keep my full long enough until my next meal (2 to 3 hours).

I think he’ll be fine going half and half though. If he time them right, the whey shakes would be excellent at certain times of the day (1st thing in the morning, Pre and PWO) He never said he’ll be taking Surge so these two whey shakes could be accounting for pre/post workout. And as dave barr has suggested before using Surge, though for the insulin sensitivity and response, the whey will quickly hit the muscles. Therefore, 3 out of the 4 shakes are explained.

[quote]itsthetimman wrote:
Alright, read his post, it says “half of the shakes.” [/quote]

I read his post before I gave my first reply to it.
He asked for opinions…

[quote]
what do you guys think? good idea for a cheaper version of the diet?[/quote]

and I gave mine (that it’s not a good idea), based on my knowledge of, and experience on, the diet. I explained my reasoning in my second post.
And I stand by my opinion

[quote]
The V-Diet is designed to be extreme bare-bones, as is. Cutting corners is risky.[/quote]

You’re already right on the edge between a catabolic/anabolic state when you follow the diet as it was intended. Anything lesser (and whey is a lesser-quality protein source than a blend – for the purpose of this diet) – even if it’s only half of the time – and you’ll most likely drop your metabolism into starvation mode.

But, again, that’s just my opinion. He doesn’t have to follow it.
He might be better served by asking Chris Shugart about it directly.
Who, by the way, states in the Velocity Diet I thread:

[quote]
I also think it’s silly to use a whey-only supplement. We know now that a blend of proteins is far superior for use as a meal replacement shake.

Metabolic Drive![/quote] [Metabolic Drive] [quote] contains the blend of protein sources I’m looking for, including whey and micellar casein, scads of it. Micellar casein’s amino acids are intact, unprocessed and unaltered, with increased nutrient absorption. Most importantly, nitrogen retention – the physiological condition you gotta have for muscle growth – is amplified by micellar casein. Add the fact that it’s absorbed slowly and uniformly, and you have the perfect dieter’s protein. I’d be a nut to use anything else.[/quote]

I would take special notice of the last sentence,

I would guess that he says that for a reason.

He was pretty thorough, and precise, in presenting this diet to us. Nowhere, in either V-Diet thread, does he recommend using straight whey, at anytime during the diet, as a substitute for a blend. If he thought it was a viable change, then he probably would have included it in his revision of the diet in the Velocity Diet II thread.

But, again, that’s just my opinion.
Ain’t nobody gotta listen.

[quote]Rykker wrote:
itsthetimman wrote:
Alright, read his post, it says “half of the shakes.”

I read his post before I gave my first reply to it.
He asked for opinions…

what do you guys think? good idea for a cheaper version of the diet?

and I gave mine (that it’s not a good idea), based on my knowledge of, and experience on, the diet. I explained my reasoning in my second post.
And I stand by my opinion

The V-Diet is designed to be extreme bare-bones, as is. Cutting corners is risky.

You’re already right on the edge between a catabolic/anabolic state when you follow the diet as it was intended. Anything lesser (and whey is a lesser-quality protein source than a blend – for the purpose of this diet) – even if it’s only half of the time – and you’ll most likely drop your metabolism into starvation mode.

But, again, that’s just my opinion. He doesn’t have to follow it.
He might be better served by asking Chris Shugart about it directly.
Who, by the way, states in the Velocity Diet I thread:

I also think it’s silly to use a whey-only supplement. We know now that a blend of proteins is far superior for use as a meal replacement shake.

Metabolic Drive! [Metabolic Drive] contains the blend of protein sources I’m looking for, including whey and micellar casein, scads of it. Micellar casein’s amino acids are intact, unprocessed and unaltered, with increased nutrient absorption. Most importantly, nitrogen retention – the physiological condition you gotta have for muscle growth – is amplified by micellar casein. Add the fact that it’s absorbed slowly and uniformly, and you have the perfect dieter’s protein. I’d be a nut to use anything else.

I would take special notice of the last sentence,
I’d be a nut to use anything else.

I would guess that he says that for a reason.

He was pretty thorough, and precise, in presenting this diet to us. Nowhere, in either V-Diet thread, does he recommend using straight whey, at anytime during the diet, as a substitute for a blend. If he thought it was a viable change, then he probably would have included it in his revision of the diet in the Velocity Diet II thread.

But, again, that’s just my opinion.
Ain’t nobody gotta listen.

He says it’d be silly to use it as a meal replacement, one of my arguments in the my previous post is that a couple of these shakes are serving as workout nutrition.

We’ve both had our experiences and what worked and didn’t work at the time. Personally, I’d only use the whey around workout times and maybe first thing in the morning if I were in a bind, but I think it’s completely feasible to use whey for some of the shakes if you’re a little short on money.

[/quote]

I would have to agree with Rykker and stay away from the Whey while cutting and especially on the V-diet…

Here is a quote from Coach Poliquin:

[quote]the german wrote:
I’ll substitute the new Biotest Whey(its low carb) for about half my shakes(i’m taking 8-9 a day after I did all the math) since Metabolic Drive is so damn expensive for me.[/quote]

Two things…

  1. You didn’t calculate it correctly if you came up with 8-9 shakes. Recalculate and realize that one shake has 40g protein and 220 calories. 9 of those and you’d be at 360g of protein and 1980 cals from just your shakes.

  2. Everyone I’ve ever read about that modified the V-Diet in any way failed it. Including myself. It’s just not worth the time and effort if you aren’t going to do it 100%.

[quote]eengrms76 wrote:
the german wrote:
I’ll substitute the new Biotest Whey(its low carb) for about half my shakes(i’m taking 8-9 a day after I did all the math) since Metabolic Drive is so damn expensive for me.

Two things…

  1. You didn’t calculate it correctly if you came up with 8-9 shakes. Recalculate and realize that one shake has 40g protein and 220 calories. 9 of those and you’d be at 360g of protein and 1980 cals from just your shakes.

  2. Everyone I’ve ever read about that modified the V-Diet in any way failed it. Including myself. It’s just not worth the time and effort if you aren’t going to do it 100%.[/quote]

acutally smart guy, one shake of Metabolic Drive has only 20 grams of protein. read the label.

as for everyone else’s comments, thank you very much.

some of you got confused so i guess i should have stated that those were the ONLY modifications. in other words, i am still taking a post workout Surge shake on workout days and still using flax meal as prescribed(6 servings, spaced evenly throughout the day) I am also using full doses of HOTROX(the old one, unfortunately not the Extreme!)

I am taking 3 servings of Flameout each day and was planning to throw in a bit over 1 serving (so about 16grams) extra virgin olive oil to cut the costs. thats about 16 grams of fat from FLAMEOUT, 16g from oliveoil. As olive oil is very healthy, I don’t see why this would be a serious problem in the diet. after all, its only half the amount of fat.

As for using whey to cut costs, you’ve convinced me not to do it. Not even half of the first day has gone by yet, but I am already realizing the badassness of this diet. I’ve never done such serious low-carb diet like this in my life! I normally eat really healthy carbs(i pretty much bulked on lots of fruit) and I miss them already.

But I’m not worried cause I have infinite amounts of determination. you should’ve seen my skinny self forcing down meal after meal this bulking season, it was a sight I assure you! a couple times i was so full i threw up and then went back and made a whole new meal to eat so i wouldn’t lose ground!

The whole keeping the longer lasting protiens in my body idea is a must. So I’m ditching the whey idea, at least for now. I might work in 1 or 2 whey shakes a day as i get more of an idea of where I’m at in the diet, and what I can tolerate.

If anyone is confused as to why I’m taking in so much fat and flaxmeal and protein, its because I had to try to up everything equally from Shugart’s numbers, since my caloric range is 1600-1900 using his equations.

Chris if you have any comments i’d love to read them.

[quote]the german wrote:
acutally smart guy, one shake of Metabolic Drive has only 20 grams of protein. read the label.[/quote]

Actually “smart guy”… if you had actually read the V-Diet threads and pretty much anywhere else on this site- a typical shake is two scoops, not one. You could deduce that from the fact that Chris indicates he was only having 5 shakes a day, and he weighs very similar to you.

[quote]eengrms76 wrote:

Actually “smart guy”… if you had actually read the V-Diet threads and pretty much anywhere else on this site- a typical shake is two scoops, not one. You could deduce that from the fact that Chris indicates he was only having 5 shakes a day, and he weighs very similar to you.

[/quote]

On the Metabolic Drive label, it says 1 scoop is 1 serving which is 20 grams of protein. thats what I was referring to.

you don’t have to get your panties in a bunch and attack my diet plan by assuming that I was referring to “dedcutions” that aren’t even clearly stated.

One thing you were right about, regardless of what I meant by a shake, is that I miss calculated. Thanks, because you led me to rework my plan. (good thing its only day one!)

I overlooked that I need 1 gram protein per pound of weight. That means I’ll just drop the olive oil and a couple servings of flax, raise the number of shakes to 10-11 a day (by my count), and call it even.

But substituing whey is back on my list of ideas, now that I’m looking at going through 2.6 tubs of MD a week!! goddamn!