Here We Go

Above, I wrote about how, just for the sake of experimentation, I wanted to get ridiculously lean for summer. Sure, I do need to lose some winter flubber, but I want to take it a step beyond that and see what I look like when uncomfortably ripped to shreds. I'm sure I'll learn a ton along the way.

For a long time now, I've wanted to update and improve T-mag's old Fat Fast diet. At the very least, this would make a great "kick start" to a longer, more sensible fat loss plan. Let's review Brock Strasser's original Fat Fast diet and the results.

Review of Original Fat Fast

Goal: Rip 20-30 pounds of fat off in four weeks while retaining muscle.

Method: The Fat Fast was based roughly on a diet given to morbidly obese patients in emergency situations. It was modified to better suit bodybuilders and allow the retention of muscle mass. Basically, you drank flax oil and low carb whey protein shakes all day, rarely eating solid food (maybe an egg or piece of cheese as a "treat.")

It was a ketogenic diet where 50% of your calories come from quality fats and the other 50% come from protein powder. And get this, you consumed only 50-60% of your resting energy expenditure in calories per day, so it was very low calorie. The author ingested only about 1300 calories per day. Ouch.

Supplements: In the original diet, a cheap bulk whey was used, cold-pressed flax seed oil, Metamucil, a multivitamin, MD6 and Androsol. MD6 was Biotest's original fat burner which contained ephedrine. It was replaced by the more effective HOT-ROX and not long after ephedrine was banned from fat loss products. Androsol was a topical 4-AD product later replaced by MAG-10 and oral 4-AD-EC, both now banned along with all other prohormones.

Results: The author's plan was to drop 25 pounds. He lost 14. He planned to stay on the diet 28 days but fell off the wagon after 24. However, he retained all his muscle and quickly dropped two inches from his waist. He did become constipated and said if he ever did it again he'd use a prescription laxative. He also suffered quite a bit and said he had to gag down the protein shakes.

Failure Rate: High. Many people tried this diet, but most (based on feedback T-mag received and forum chatter) failed or fell off the wagon too early. Many also quickly gained the fat back and binged after the diet. In short, it's simply a brutal diet. Also, it wasn't too healthy, but given that it was meant to be short term, that's okay.

So, why was it so popular? Mainly, simplicity. After you figured out how many calories you were going to consume and bought your supplements, protein and flax, the diet was a no brainer. It was "easy" to get on; it was tough to stay on.

Preparation was also easy. You drank shakes all day. No cooking required. Even the busiest person could drink shakes. It was also a fairly inexpensive diet. Yes, a lot of supplements were used, however, your regular grocery bill was nonexistent.

And although the diet had several drawbacks, it did rip the fat off quickly -- if you were willing to suffer.

The science of nutrition, training and supplementation has come a long way since the original Fat Fast was written, however, as noted most of the supplements used are no longer made because of sweeping (and ridiculous) government bans. But since we have years of feedback to learn from, I think this diet can be greatly improved. We know what went right and what went wrong.

But still, this is an experiment. Think of this web log experiment as a diet article in raw, unfinished form. Instead of reading the final article (which may be published later) you're reading it as it happens, during the formation and experimental phase. In other words, you may not want to try this yet. Let me be the guinea pig.

My Goals

There are many goals here:

1) I want to see what all I can learn seeking extreme leanness.

2) I want to write a new diet based on improving and updating the Fat Fast.

3) I want to test out some new supplements and compare them to the now banned ephedrine and prohormones.

Original Fat Fast Improvements

Here's where the original Fat Fast needs improved:

1) More fiber and fiber variety

2) Higher quality, better tasting blend of proteins rather than discount whey

3) Salmon oil as well as flax oil

4) More calories

5) More protein

I could be wrong of course, but that's where I see the need for modifications so far. Also, I'm toying with the idea of an occasional solid meal. The perfect solid mean may just be oatmeal with berries. This would add fiber, healthy nutrients, and a feeling of satiation. However, it takes away from the simplicity of "shakes all day." I'll need to think about this more.

My supplements are ordered. I'll be starting the experiment soon.

Thinking Out Loud

You're going to be seeing a lot of thinking out loud here. I tend to cogitate better when typing anyway, so as part of this open, public experiment, I'll be posting these thoughts here in the blog. Today's topic: Post-workout nutrition

This is a staple, foundational element in any good weight training program. But if I'm going to go on a low carb Fat Fast type of diet, where does the post-workout drink fit in? Does it at all?

Post-WO drink means simple carbs, the bane of low carb diets. But I really don't believe in super low carb diets anyway. I co-wrote the popular T-Dawg Diet as a way of improving on the Atkins or Anabolic type of diet. I noticed there was basically no difference between consuming 20g of carbs per day and 100g when it came to fat loss, yet the extra carbs allowed for more fiber and a proper post-training nutrition.

Can I do the same with the Fat Fast? Maybe.

The Risks

One of the big risks of any low carb diet for the weight trainer is catabolism, basically, losing muscle along with the fat. The risk increases the closer you get to your goal. Big fat guy losing 60 pounds = not a big muscle loss risk. Normal guy losing 10-15 pounds to get extremely ripped = big risk. Not good.

Brock was able to retain muscle but he also had access to prohormones. We don't now, or at least won't for much longer unless you stocked up. (I did stock up, but have chosen not to use them for this experiment.)

But wait, training itself can put a dieter into a catabolic, muscle wasting state. This is why post-workout nutrition is so crucial. After exercise, glycogen stores are low, protein breakdown increases, and muscle protein balance is negative. Now, all that nasty crap happens even when you're bulking and getting excess nutrients, imagine what happens when you're on a low calorie, low carb diet?! You're practically kicking your own ass!

But as we know, the right nutrition during and after training can put a halt to all the negative stuff that goes on and actually increase all the positive things that happen, such as shifting the body toward a positive protein status -- the anabolic state you need to be in to build and retain muscle.

Surge to the Rescue?

The best post-training drink to accomplish all this is Surge. So could I possibly add Surge to a very low carb diet designed for rapid fat loss?

I think so. And Dr. John Berardi does too. In fact, JB has written in past articles that ". . . the enhanced muscle growth and recovery you'll get will far outweigh that small reduction in the rate of fat loss."

I think Surge would very likely even speed fat loss goals because (among other reasons) it'll give you the ability to train hard despite your otherwise calorie and carb-deprived state.

If I try this, that means I'll need two dietary game plans: one for training days where a post-training drink is used, and one for non-training days. Still, I'm not sure if I want to add that to my supplement arsenal. I want to keep it simple. But if it's all planned out beforehand, it won't be complicated. It'll just take a few minutes of planning before the diet begins.

Ketosis: Who Cares?

But won't a post-training drink temporarily throw me out of ketosis? I don't care if I'm in ketosis or not! Some people seem to care more about this and what color their piss strips turn than actually losing fat! A person can lose fat just fine on a low carb, but not keto diet, so why go keto? In fact, a person can lose fat on a high carb diet!

In the end, the low calories are going to trump the particulars of carbohydrate manipulation. Yes, I prefer reducing carbs, but there's no need to go nuts in a fit of self-punishment:

"If 100g of carbs per day is good, then 50 must be better! And if 50 is better, then zero must be the best! And if suffering is good, then I'll whack myself on the toe with a hammer all day! I'll be ripped for sure!"

Um, no, you'll just be stupid.

I need to think about the post-training nutrition decision some more. It may be something I just have to try.

Training

I'm getting tons of PMs and emails already asking this question: What kind of training will you be doing for this experiment?

* Thoughts: I don't think the particular style of resistance training makes a huge difference provided certain things are covered ("money" exercises, lots of free weights, etc.) Fat loss is primarily about diet, not training.

Most of us can't out-train a poor diet plan. See all those hard-training yet still chubby people at your gym (or maybe in your mirror?) Their diets suck.

* Cardio: I've overdone it in the past and lost muscle. I've also under-done it and noticed that I started to lose my "wind" easily during vigorous sexual activity with Canadian triplets, er, I mean, running up stairs.

I'm thinking of going the Dr. Lonnie Lowery route this time with low-moderate intensity "cardio" so as not to interfere with training load. I'm going to be pretty calorie and carb deprived for much of the day, will I be able to consistently (physically and mentally) perform high intensity sprints along with a tough weight training program? And if I do, will I lose muscle?

I think Lowery's approach may be better in this situation. My plan is to perform outdoor walking every single day of the program, a few miles a day, rain or shine. As Lowery says, this type of exercise will ". . . drain calories and body fat without kicking up cortisol and beating-up the joints." I may add a weighted vest if needed.

Most of us have sedentary jobs these days so at the very least we should do enough non-weight training activity to make up for our ass-in-chair ways: something I do a lot of given the nature of writing and editing.

If this were the mid-90's, a time when I spent summers working outside pushing lawnmowers and weed-wacking, I wouldn't bother. But these days, I have to keep moving with a cardio-like activity a few times per week.

If I do the long daily walks, I'll do them mostly in the morning on an empty stomach. Later in the day, I'll do my weight training.

* Weight training: I'm leaning towards a Waterbury-inspired, full-body program performed 3 days per week. More details later.

Why No Prohormones, Shugs?

I'm getting asked a lot why I'm not using 4-AD-EC or MAG-10. Surely I have some backstocked, right? Yes, I sure do, though not a lot, a few bottles of MAG-10 and one of those big honking 4-AD-EC canisters.

But I'm performing this experiment prohormone-free. Why? Well, because if I used a substance which is now banned (or will be sometime this month officially I think) that wouldn't be very interesting or educational for those who didn't stock up and won't be able to buy them if they should decide to try the program.

They'd think, "Sure, he got good results [hopefully] but he used a banned substance that I couldn't buy now if I wanted to. What was the point of that article?"

Another reason: pure marketing. A couple of the supplements I'll be using are made by Biotest, and I want you to buy them from this site if they work out well for me. (And also because they're the best supps on the smart/hardcore trainer market, but that should go without saying.)

Why would I use something you can no longer buy from us? This is a business and, shocking as this may seem, we want it to be successful. (I know, it's crazy, isn't it?) And if you don't like that, move to some dying third world country and stick a State-provided sock in it.

Finally, I really want to test out the newer Biotest supplements. Can I really pull off a Fat Fast-type diet without ephedrine or andro? We'll find out.

And also think about this: I could use steroids and GH too if I wanted. But I'm not going to because, again, most people don't want to break the law to get lean and muscular so that would kill 99% of the interest in the article and this journal of the experience. I want this article to appeal to a large portion of the T-Nation audience, not just those darn drug monkeys!

So, that's why I'm doing this pro-hormone, pro-steroid, steroid, clen, thyroid drug, and GH free.

Thinking Out Loud II: The Solid Meal Option

Five years ago when the first Fat Fast plan was published here at T-Nation, many readers tossed around the idea of adding in a solid meal. A couple of them, in the adrenalin rush of epiphany, decided to do the diet with all solid foods. Wow. We call this the Atkins Diet; perhaps you've heard of it?

Reinvention aside, the idea of adding at least one solid meal per day has merit and appeal. It could add fiber, increase satiety, and studies have shown that a big breakfast reduces cravings and hunger later in the day, which is where most people upset their wagons and dive for their kids' Lucky Charms like a Labrador Retriever goes after a bloody steak. (See my interview with Dr. Jeff Stout for all the details on the big breakfast theory: http://www.t-nation.com/...ic.do?id=472495 )

So, adding in one solid meal would be wise and probably not slow down the fat loss much, if any. Breakfast would be the smartest time to add this solid meal and I'm thinking oatmeal with berries and a scoop of Low-Carb Grow! would be ideal because:

1) Oatmeal provides a feeling of fullness and a nice shot of fiber, which is desperately lacking in a normal Fat Fast or low carb diet.

2) Berries are pretty low in carbs and provide lots of nifty health benefits.

3) Low-Carb Grow! is a good way to get some protein in the morning and "break the fast" of nighttime catabolism. Plus, oatmeal tastes sooooo good with Grow! in it!

4) Stupid fat people skip breakfast. Keeping with the "do the opposite" theme, that means we certainly want to eat breakfast.

Marketing and Simplicity

Now let's look at the other side of article preparation: appeal to a mass audience. The Fat Fast was appealing because it was simple, fast and "easy." No cooking, no intensive food logging, etc. You figured what how many shakes to drink daily, how much flax to put in them and you were done. The rest was just willpower.

If I suggest a solid meal, it would dissuade probably 30-40% of the people who would have tried the diet otherwise. They'd get confused and not want to keep a food log. They'd claim to be "too busy" for anything more complex. They'd email and PM with questions like, "I don't like oatmeal, what should I eat instead?" and "Can I switch the solid meal to lunch?" and "Please write me a new diet and workout program for free even though by just asking this I'm proving that I'd never in a million years actually follow through with a diet or workout program. . ."

Some of them might even switch the diet around so much it no longer resembles my suggestions. Then, if it didn't work, they'd post, "Yeah, I tried that diet of Shugart's and it didn't work at all" even though they did it wrong. This makes those of us in the body biz want to dismember hookers and bury them in the basement.

I also admit that adding a solid meal makes the plan lose some appeal for me as well. I've written a lot of diet plans and have had several published. I've tried to write even more diets but about halfway through I realize they're starting to sound exactly like the T-Dawg Diet 2.0, a diet TC and I wrote several years ago that remains popular today.

There's a reason for that: I think the T-Dawg 2.0 ( http://www.t-nation.com/...ic.do?id=473067 ) is a damn good plan! It's no wonder my other diets start to look like it. Although it needs updated to 3.0, it's still a smart diet and the one I recommend to most people.

Now here's the thing: if I mess with the Fat Fast too much it'll start to look just like the T-Dawg Diet! I want something different!

So right now I'm leaning toward NOT including a solid meal. I want to keep the new diet simple and appealing, and I want to keep it unique in the spirit of Brock's original plan.

Maybe a once-a-week solid meal though? Not a cheat meal, but a big healthy bowl of oatmeal and blueberries every Saturday morning to clean the system out, increase compliance, and boost willpower a bit? This sounds better, not so complex, and I think it would help the diet and not slow fat loss a bit. Might even increase it.

That's where I'm leaning right now. I better decide soon; the supps should be in this week.

Measuring Progress

I'll be using four main methods to measure my progress during this experiment:

1) The scale: Tricky and often deceitful, but handy when combined with other forms of measurement.

2) Photos: I have my "befores" taken already. Why photos? See this: http://www.t-nation.com/...ic.do?id=534813

3) Tanita scale: Also tricky and often deceitful, but hell, I already own one, so why not?

4) Tape measure: This is the one I'm really excited about. The main thing I've measured is my love handle area. I think too many men rely on waist measurements or judge their level of fatness or leanness by how their pants fit. This is dumb.

Men typically store fat just above the waist. Many males can gain a ton of fat in this area long before their waist size increases. If you've ever seen one of those old guys running around with size 32 jeans and a belly that looks like it's carrying a set of twins, then you know what I'm talking about. (I think just about every man over the age of 40 looks like that in small-town Texas!) So I made sure to measure my love handle area with my Myotape ( http://www.t-nation.com/...ic.do?id=480453 ).

One slight problem is that I'm a Former Fat Boy. And as all FFBs know, we often have damaged skin in that area caused from a permanent loss of elasticity. Some experience this worse than others and the degree of damage is affected by age and genetics. This loose skin can't be trained off or dieted off or supplemented off. Surgery is the only option.

Yes, that sucks.

Plastic surgeons often say that when a person loses 100 pounds of fat or more, he or she needs to get the extra skin removed, sometimes a few pounds of it. My loose skin around the love handle area is caused from a 60-plus pound weight loss back in college. It's annoying but not quite so bad that I need surgery. Still, if I had the dough I'd probably get that annoying extra skin cut off just for cosmetic reasons.

So, this will affect the love handle measurements to an extent for FFBs, but it's still a very valuable measure of progress. Do it.

The Poop on Fiber

Most normal people don't get enough fiber. Dieters get even less. Dieters using an extreme, perhaps slightly insane Fat Fast type of plan get nil.

Not good.

Besides the fact that it's obviously unhealthy in the long term, adequate fiber intake can aid the fat loss process in a variety of ways. Fiber helps maintain healthy levels of serum cholesterol and triglycerides. It may also help control post-meal blood glucose levels and end up helping you lose fat easier. And since adequate fiber intake helps "clean you out" so to speak, it may even help with proper protein absorption. At the very least, fiber may provide a sense of fullness lacking in liquid diets.

In the first Fat Fast diet, the author used Metamucil but it wasn't enough. He said if he did it again he'd use a prescription drug. I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to use a drug just to poop.

So I'll be using a buttload (get it? get it?) of supplemental fiber. So far I have milled flax seeds (which provide a lot of fiber as well as healthy fats), Benefiber (overpriced guar gum), unflavored psyllium husks from GNC (the standard fiber source found in Metamucil), and Fiber Choice chewables which contain a natural vegetable fiber. Fiber-Psyll is okay too, but I don't have any right now.

I'll use these as needed, adding more if I have to. Usually flax seeds are enough, but I think it's wiser to go with a variety of sources.

Oil Wrestling

The first Fat Fast used all flax seed oil. I fucking hate flax seed oil! The taste is 90% covered up by Grow! when you blend them together, but still, I hate flax oil with a passion. The taste and texture is repulsive to me and I think fish oil is superior anyway. Still, I'll be using flax oil, milled flax seeds, flax capsules, and salmon oil for my healthy fat needs during this experiment.

Problem is, you'd need way too many fish capsules to use all salmon oil during a diet like this where a huge part of your daily caloric intake comes from fat. So I'll gag down the flax oil and take around 20 or so fish caps a day. The flax capsules I purchased mainly for when I'm away from the house or traveling. They'll be handy.

Of course, Udo's is another option I may look into. Coromega ( http://www.t-nation.com/...ic.do?id=461111 ) makes a good Omega-3 dietary supplement too that comes in a sort of paste form, but it's pricey. I honestly haven't looked into the flavored liquid fish oils. Last time I did, most were cod liver oil and there are better sources out there. I'll probably stick to flax oil and fish capsules mainly because that's what most readers would end up using when availability and cost are factored in.

If I decide not to contaminate my prized Grow! shakes with flax, I may get an oral syringe for the flax oil. This makes it very easy to measure and it's less messy than using a spoon. Just suck up the liquid in the syringe and shoot it down your throat! Yeah, it puts the ass in nasty, but at least it won't taint my orgasmically good Grow! shakes.

By the way, milled flax seeds are much less harsh. You don't get as much healthy fats as you do in the pure oil, but the taste is okay, kinda nutty, and it can hardly be tasted when added to oatmeal, yogurt or shakes. But pure flax oil? shudder

I'll suck it up though.

Training Details: Energy Systems Work

I've finalized the cardio portion of this experiment. I'll do Lowery-inspired low intensity fast walks every morning in a fasted state, sometimes with a weighted vest, outdoors over semi-rough terrain. I'll do this every day.

I thought you might be interested in both the physiology and the psychology behind this choice and the thought process that lead up to it. If you have a life or something, you can skip this.

Here's goes:

A quick lesson in calorie burning: Whatever gets you moving the most muscles and using your whole body weight will drain the most calories. Walking or running beats riding a stationary bike because more muscles are involved. Common sense alert: Sitting down can't be as good as standing up when it comes to expending energy!

Walking outside burns more cals than walking on a treadmill because you're working more to propel yourself compared to just keeping up with the belt drive of the treadmill. Walking on rough terrain or on hills burns even more. Adding weight to yourself causes more work to be performed = more calories burned. Running would add even more of course, but as mentioned above I'm avoiding high intensity cardio which might be too catabolic in my dieted state and interfere with the weight workouts.

Using one of those cardio machines with handles for your arms burns more calories than one without those handles simply because you're moving more muscles. Holding onto the rails of any cardio machine reduces calories burned. On a stepper, people naturally tend to slightly lift themselves with their hands, thus reducing the load and burning less energy.

Side note: Tests have shown that cardio machines that track your expended calories are about as accurate as Debbie the big-chested weathergirl. Most of these things greatly overestimate energy expenditure. Last I looked into this, some consumer groups were accusing the machine makers of doing this on purpose in an effort to fool the consumer into thinking a certain machine was better than another similar device made by another company.

Reminds me of the "protein wars" in the supplement biz. You know, when a company puts "more protein that the other brands!" or similar on their labels. How do they do this? They make the serving size bigger and throw in a bigger plastic scoop! Of course, this marketing only works on dumb people and teenagers. In other words, the company makes a bundle!

Anyway, I'm not using any kind of machine. I've always found it amusing that people would pay a gym free and drive to a gym just to walk on a treadmill. I was in beautiful La Jolla, California, over the summer and saw people doing this. About a mile away from the gym, maybe less, was a great little beach and park with a walking/running path around it. But no, let's go inside so we can sit down on a recumbent bike and watch TV!

Weird, weird, weird.

Now, the mental stuff. It's important to choose something you'll actually do. We humans tend to repeat the things that give us pleasure and satisfaction and avoid those things which do not, which is why people bench press more than they squat.

Sure, I could tough out my usual stadium sprints on this program (provided it's not too demanding given my calorie/carb deprived state) but would I stick with it? Yeah, I would, but it would be tough. And it could push me into overtraining. Plus I'd have to drive to the local high school, which provides an opportunity to make excuses and miss a session. "But the steps are wet and I might slip and bust my noggin!" That's a pretty good excuse actually, but I'd like to avoid all excuses, even the good ones.

With the Lowery plan, I just walk out the front door, which means I'll never have an excuse not to do it. Plus, I like going off on my own for a long walk. I just pop an audio book into the CD player and take off. I enjoy this little bit of time away from the office chair, the phone, and the demands of family life, so I'll be more likely to stick to it.

The audio book is key too. I can handle hard work much better than I can handle boredom. Walks might get boring without the audio books. I'm on the second to last book of the Dark Tower series, Song of Susannah. I'm really itching to know what happens next. So I've made a rule for myself: I can only listen to the audio book while doing my rehab work on the foam roller (correctly some minor kyphosis) and during the cardio. This will make me stick to both. Never underestimate the power of setting rules for yourself.

Why do it every single day? Because I have an All Or Nothing Personality. What's that? Read this: http://www.t-nation.com/...ic.do?id=474074 And since the cardio is pretty low intensity, I can perform it more often.

Timing

Why do it first thing in the morning? Because most agree this burns fat faster. But I would never lift on an empty stomach or perform high intensity cardio in a fasted state. That would probably cause some muscle loss. Besides, who the hell can deadlift and do pull-ups 20 minutes after waking up?

Okay, some people do it because it's the only time they have (I did it for almost a year once) but it's not optimal and the nervous system hasn't even fully "woken up" yet. But fairly light cardio is okay early in the morning on an empty stomach. There will probably be days when I can't do it in the morning, and in that case I'll just do it whenever I can. But I will do it even if I have to do it at 3AM.

Summary: Low to medium intensity cardio, every damn day (preferably morning in a fasted state) with weighted vest as needed. Hopefully it'll snow and rain a lot. Bring the pain.

I'll post the finalized lifting program soon.

The Weights

As I mentioned above, I don't think a person needs a specific "fat loss training program" when it comes to the resistance training side of exercise. The reduced calories are going to do most of the work anyway. Any non-wussy weight training program is fine.

Here's my initial plan for the resistance training portion. This program fits my needs and equipment availability at the moment. It may change as I go along. I encourage everyone to build your own program if you want. Or you could just pick one of the pre-written full programs from this site by Alessi, Waterbury, Staley, King, Poliquin, Davies, Thibaudeau etc.

You'll see that my program is heavily influenced by Chad Waterbury's ideas with perhaps a touch of Dr. Darden thrown in. I'll perform this full-body program three times per week with at least one day between each session.

Day #1

Pull-up: 10 x 3 weighted
Bench Press: 10 x 3
Squat: 3 x 8
Hamstring Curl: 3 x 6
Calf/Biceps/Triceps exercises, 1 set each 6-10 reps
Ab exercise: anything goes

Day #2

Deadlift: 10 x 3
Rack Pull: 3 x 3-5
Flyes: 3 x 8
Overhead Press: 10 x 3 standing, cleaned from floor
Calf/Biceps/Triceps exercises, 1 set each 6-10 reps
Ab exercise: anything goes, but different than previous session

Day #3

Dips: 10 x 3
Rows: 10 x 3
Lateral raises: 3 x 8
Lunge variations: 3 x 6-8
Calf/Biceps/Triceps exercises 1 set each 6-10 reps
Ab exercise: anything goes, but different than previous session

I'll blast through the concentric portion of each lift. Why? Read this: http://www.t-nation.com/...ic.do?id=529331 The only thing I'll do to make it fat-loss specific is take shorter rest periods.

Note that there are usually two primary lifts with some secondary exercises added in with fewer sets. Note that these rotate. Note that although I'm hitting chest three times a week (as well as most other muscle groups) the exercise each day is different and usually focusing on a different muscle function. Note that the program revolves around big, compound exercises with little focus on smaller muscle groups like arms and calves.

Again, the specifics of the program just aren't that important. As long as you're weight training, using big compound movements, and not wimping out on the man-makers: squat, deadlift, dip, bench, row, pull-up, etc. then you'll kick ass.

If this becomes a diet article and you try it while doing a pansy program of kickbacks, too many machines, no deadlifts, Pilates etc., don't bother sending me a whining letter or making a forum post saying it "didn't work" for you.

Sorry, chump, but you didn't work for it.

Biotest Supplements

As noted earlier, the original Fat Fast used some bulk whey that made the author gag, MD6, and Androsol. Ephedrine and prohormones have been banned and Biotest stopped making those products even before then. Science has moved forward. I'll be using the latest bleeding-edge supplements for this experiment.

Instead of MD6, I'll be using Maximum Strength HOT-ROX. Not only is this a superior thermogenic compared to ephedrine, it also has the ability to help you retain and perhaps even build muscle. Most people remain fat throughout their lives in spite of dozens of diets. This is because they lose muscle during the diet, wreck their metabolisms, and balloon back up after the diet is over, often getting fatter than they were before. This won't happen with HOT-ROX.

Instead of some crapolicious discount whey, I'll be using Low-Carb Grow!. First of all, the taste is incredible, more like dessert than a protein supplement. For those of us whose first protein powder experience was with some grocery store Weider product or Met-Rx, Grow! is a small miracle in flavoring.

Besides taste, Grow! uses a blend of protein sources, not just whey. This is ideal. (I don't know why anyone would want a plain whey product for use as an MRP. It's just not smart.) Part of that blend includes mass quantities of micellar casein, an expensive, exotic protein that has several desirable qualities and seems to be perfect for a diet like this. (The link above explains it all.) I'll use chocolate and vanilla for variety and choose whatever flavor I feel like at the moment.

Now, Brock used Androsol to help him retain muscle during his Fat Fast experiment. At first I thought I'd replace this with Methoxy-7, which can also help you build and retain muscle. (An earlier version of this stuff was what we recommended women use during a Fat Fast because it's non-hormonal. The latest version of Methoxy-7 is much more powerful, even for men.) Then I thought I'd just stick to HOT-ROX only, since I think it can do a good job all on its own.

But soon after beginning this blog entry, supplement insiders began whispering in my ear about something new coming down the pipeline, a powerful supplement called Carbolin-19. I'm really not supposed to be talking about this stuff yet, but I have to say that I've been offered a pre-release bottle and I'm certainly not going to turn it down. Depending on when I get it, I might make this part of this experiment.

Finally, there was no such thing as a specifically formulated post-workout supplement when the first Fat Fast was written. Now there is. I pondered this issue a few entries above, and I've come to a conclusion: I'm going to go against the low-carb Gods and use Surge.

The advantages far outweigh any slight disadvantage. And besides, we're talking only three servings of this stuff per week. I think superior workouts, increased muscle building, anabolic and anti-catabolic effects, less soreness and perhaps even faster fat loss as a secondary effect are worth it. Or at least I'm going to find out.

Note: That's a lot of supplements, even if I don't go with the "Mystery Supplement." Four weeks or so on such a plan is going to be fairly pricey (though much less expensive now that Grow! ditched the middleman and sells for less than half of what it used to.) But think about this: the normal grocery bill is going to all but disappear!

My grocery bill for the next month is going to be around $7 (tea, coffee, and four solid meals of oatmeal and berries.) So the diet isn't as pricey as it may seem. And if I'm so lean this summer you can see my pancreas secrete enzymes, any price is worth paying!


The End is the Beginning

The preparation period is over. I'm waiting on the last shipment of Biotest gear to arrive (plus I'm eating up all the food in the kitchen so it won't go bad during the four weeks or so of this experiment) then I should be able to start.

I'll be starting a new web log thread for the experiment, a sort of journal of my daily experiences. Also, TC and I think it would be a good idea to run this as two articles: one of my plan and another of my results, just like we did with the old Fat Fast articles. I'll be finalizing the first article within the next couple of days.

Don't wish me luck. Luck is for the unprepared.


Note: You can read now the diary thread here:

http://www.t-nation.com/...ic.do?id=543421

And Part I of the full article can be found here:

http://www.t-nation.com/...ic.do?id=546491