A Guide to Flexible Dieting (notes) By: Lyle McDonald • Diets are a lot easier to stick to, when there is a planned break in there of 2-6 weeks. There is no significant weight gain during that period, and it is easy to return to the diet after that. This is because the dieter feels that the break was under his/her control, as opposed to the typical dieter who has a sudden craving and goes for it. • 3 different flexible dieting approaches: o free meals o structured refeed o full diet breaks. • Different strategies based on different levels of body fat: Category Male Body Fat % Female Body Fat % 1 15% and lower 24% and lower 2 16-25% 25-34% 3 26%+ 35% + • Different strategies also based on different levels of activity: o Category 1: people who do serious resistance training 2-3 times per week for at least 1 hour. Or people doing endurance work either extensively (1-4 hours) or intensively (at or above lactate threshold). o Category 2: people who perform low intensity aerobic activity or not exercising at all. Free meals • Main benefit: psychological. Physiologically, 1 meal isn’t enough to affect the hormones related to metabolism. • A free meal is not an attempt to see how much bad food you can fit into yourself at one meal. • A free meal is going and eating what you want that may not necessarily adhere to the guidelines of your diet. • Eat some healthy stuff along with the free meal. • Bodyweight may spike the morning after a free meal. It’s just water. • Everyone should include 1-2 free meals per week, regardless of level of body fat. o Don’t include any free meals the first few weeks of a diet. This gives the taste buds some time to adjust, so
when a free meal does come around, you don’t go crazy. • Have the free meals on non-consecutive days. Structured Refeeds • Deliberate periods of high-carbohydrate overfeeding that lasts 5-24 hours up to 3 days. • Some psychological benefits, but physiological benefits as well. • A refeed replaces 1 free meal. • Body weight tends to spike even more. • 1 gram of carbohydrate holds 3 grams of water. • Physiological benefits: o Replenishing glycogen stores, which is important for people participating in high-intensity activity. o Temporarily turn off diet-induced catabolism. The leaner you are and the more you exercise, the more important this is. o Normalizes hormones related to regulation of metabolism and bodyweight. High carbs normalize all of these hormones, but protein and fat doesn’t. • Common mistakes: o Seeing how much food you can down in 5 hours. o Eating nothing but junk food for 24 hours. • Sufficient amounts of proteins and fruits/veggies are needed even during refeeds. • It is imperative to keep fat low (50 grams or below) on those days. • Sources of carbs for refeeds: starches (breads, bagels, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc.). o Some junk food is ok, but limit the fructose (50 grams) and sucrose (100 grams). • Duration: o 5-hour refeed: eat 1.5-3 grams of carbs per pound of lean bodyweight o 1-day refeed: eat 4-6 grams of carbs per pound of lean bodyweight o 2-day refeed: eat 2-3 grams of carbs per pound of lean bodyweight o all dieters (category 1, 2 and 3) should start at the low end of the recommendation, and if they respond well, increase it. • Start with a 5-hour refeed, and see how your body responds. o Good response: no problems returning to previous diet; don’t regain weight that doesn’t come back off (suggests fat gain, not water); diet proceeds better after refeed.
o If response is poor despite adhering to guidelines for refeeds, then refeeds are not for this dieter. Diet Category Exercise Category Duration Frequency 1 1 5 hours-1 day Every 3-5 days 1 1 1-2 days Every 7 days 1 2 1 day Every 7-10 days 2 1 5 hours Every 7 days 2 1 1 day Every 10-14 days 2 2 5 hours-1day Every 14 days 3 1 5 hours Every 10-14 days 3 2 5 hours-1 day Every 21 days. • It may be best if category 3 dieters avoid structured refeeds altogether until they are in category 2. Full diet breaks • 2-week periods of controlled eating but not sticking to a rigid diet. Dieting Category Number of weeks on a diet before a break 1 4-6 2 6-12 3 12-16 • psychological benefits: o breaking down a large fat loss goal into smaller chunks o keeps the long term in perspective. • Physiological benefits: o Despite refeeds and free meals, eventually, the body adapts and slows down its metabolism. Diet breaks return it back to normal. • 1-2 pounds of fat may be gained during the diet break, but this is like taking 10 steps forward, and 1 step back. That’s fine. Additionally, if adding 1-2 pounds of fat will help you lose fat at a faster pace once you return to your diet, it’s all the more worth it. • Goals: o Raise dietary carbs to at least 100 grams/day. o Eat at maintenance level (maintenance: allowing fluctuations of 3-5 pounds in weight). • 2 ways of eating a maintenance diet: o Fast approach: ramping up calories from diet levels to maintenance levels over 1-2 days. Easy to lose control of food intake, and turn it into a binge. ♣
Best for category 1 dieters. o Slow approach: calories raised to maintenance over the course of 1 week. ♣
Have to be meticulous about food intake. • When fat and protein are consumed in combination with carbs, it slows the entry of glucose into the bloodstream, avoiding major blood glucose swings and crashes (then why do I have the swings and crash effect with lasagna?) ♣
How to eat without having to count calories 1. Eat more frequently 2. Eat plenty of lean protein 3. Eat a moderate amount of fat at each meal 4. Eat plenty of fiber from vegetables, fruits, and unrefined carbohydrates like beans 5. Eat moderate amounts of refined carbohydrates such as breads, pasta, rice and grains 6. Eat slowly 7. Continue to utilize free meals and/or structured refeeds 8. Exercise
