My 4 Week Rapid Fat Loss Experiment Results

I just finished a 4 week experiment with the Rapid Fat Loss diet. Posting this because when I was researching diets I saw some generally positive discussion of that diet on these forums including some feedback about it from coaches here, but it was all from a few years ago -- 2014ish was the most recent discussion I saw with any amount of detail. Thought I'd post a summary of my results as a resource to others and maybe to have a fresh discussion on the pros and cons if anyone wants.

The diet is a modified Protein Sparing Modified Fast. I followed the protocol in Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Handbook. The goal is to create the largest daily caloric deficit while providing enough protein to avoid/minimize muscle loss. So the diet consists basically of just a certain amount of protein determined based on your body composition and activity level. For me it worked out to 230 grams of protein per day from lean protein sources. That’s the heart of it. The other stuff called for by the plan are fish oil supplements, a multivitamin, a potassium supplement (I got mine from the multivitamin), a magnesium supplement (I took 400mg in addition to what’s in the multi). On workout days I would have 5g of carb (Gatorade powder) about 5 minutes before the workout. I also continuing to take BCAA, 5-10g before and after my workouts. Fibrous veggies are basically free on the diet. I ate about about 200 or so calories per day worth of spinach, green beans, celery, cucumber, bell pepper, and/or cauliflower. Lots of black coffee and water and diet pepsi. Depending on body comp when you start, you get certain weekly diet breaks in the form of one or more free meals and/or a carb refeed window each week. My setup allowed for one free meal per week, and one refeed period each week which is a 5 hour window during which I was to eat 555 grams of carb. 


RESULTS/RECAP

Time on the diet: I planned to do this for 4-5 weeks, and made it 4 weeks and 3 days. The handbooks says that people in my diet category shouldn't do it for more than 4-6 weeks at a time.

Age/Other: 41 with extra recovery needs, extra demands, lots of busy blah blah blah

Weight Loss: I lost 25lbs. My weight went from 238.5 to 213.4. I haven't gotten back on the scale in a couple of days since stopping the diet, but I am expecting up to 10 lbs to come back from water/glycogen etc. The day after my refeeds I saw a consistent 5lb bump back up.

Waist Measurement: lost 3.5 inches. Went from 39 to 35.5

Body Fat%: I measured body fat percentage using a handheld BIA device and the Navy method. According to the BIA device, my BF went from 22% to 18.4%. According to the Navy method, my BF went from 23% to 17.5%

Fat Loss: Using the BIA measurements, 13.2 of the 25 lbs I lost are fat. According to Navy method, 17.5 of the 25 lbs I lost are fat.

Calories and Macros: 
Including refeeds, my average daily consumption on the diet was:
1681.47 Calories
232.07 protein
84.2 carb
40.46 fat

Excluding refeeds, it was
1,475.37 Calories
232.03 protein
32.58 carbs 
39.75 fat

Training: I've been doing a Strength and Mass Over 40 program for just about a year and I just continued my usual programming and it was fine. All of my lifts went up. Didn't miss any targets on my main lifts. Workouts were harder than usual obviously but it wasn't until the last week that they got REALLY hard. I cycle sets/reps of 3 x 5, 3 x 3, and 3 x 1, and over the course the diet I added at least 5 lbs to each of my lifts in each rep range, which are PRs for all of them except squats.