So I take it then, Tony, that you would not suggest that anyone use Lyle McDonald’s Rapid Fat Loss program?

In the end, the ONLY thing that matters is your calorie deficit. If there’s not one, you will not lose fat.

Further, as I am sure you know, only rank beginners are likely to actually build muscle on a diet.

Lots of competative body builders who are stage ready have been forced to steadily reduce calories while doing more steady state cardio to compensate for a crashing metabolism and they are lifting weights.

I think generally your advice isn’t bad but it’s probably more geared towards beginners with a good amount of body fat to lose, rather than already lean people looking to lean out further. To be specific, the proposals laid out in your post wouldn’t help a man go from 9% body fat to 6% body fat.

Barry’s back.. welcome back Barry.
I can’t speak for tony, but speaking from my experience:
Bodybuilders getting stage ready are not exactly the epitome of health, not to mention it’s a lot easier to lose bodyfat and maintain muscle on super low cals when taking some form of test. and copious amounts of clenbuterol.
No matter what your bodyfat percentage and preferred weightloss methodology; if you’re down to 1000cals/day you’ve mismanaged something, and are probably setting yourself up for some serious rebound pounds.
Getting someone under 9% without drugs requires an individualized program and diet, and lot of management.. which goes well beyond the scope of a blog post.
To be quite honest, 6% body fat (actual 6% not internet 6%) requires a level of commitment and attention that most people don’t have. Even for people who’s physique is their livelihood is a temporary state at best. For some people it’s all but impossible. Tony can correct me if I’m off base on this but, I’m pretty sure the point of this post was 1000 cals/day is not a good idea, and a nutritionist should know better. Not to get into a semantic internet fight over weight loss methodology.

I’ll fill in the gap between J.P. and Barry. I’ve actually followed one of Lyle’s Programs, Ultimate Diet 2.0, with great success. Getting me to about internet 6%, real life 8-9%. Go here if you don’t believe: http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/169225/0

Barry, you’re misrepresenting Lyle. Lyle specifically states for no one to take their calorie intake under 1200 calories (even on the low carb days), and that if 50% of your calorie intake would be less than this, to make up the difference with cardio as opposed to dropping food intake. And for me, at 200 lbs, the calorie intake was around 1750. Furthermore, this was only maintained for 4-5 days, before having carb-up days to refill glycogen, up leptin levels, and reactivate anabolism (Tony has touched on Leptin’s role before I believe). These carb up days recommend 7g carbs per lb lbm. For me, that’s about 800 grams (or 3200 calories from carbs alone) for 2 days. So you make up for the low calorie days with high calorie days.

Consequently, Lyle NEVER recommends straight up starvation level calories for weeks on end. Quite the opposite.

He notes that this method of carb cycling is one of the few ways natural lifters can get very low bodyfat without losing drastic amts of muscle mass.

To J.B., I used to agree about the level of commitment and attention getting to low bf would take (maybe you think I didn’t get really low, admittedly not bb contest low ever). But I got low enough for modeling purposes, probably right around 8%, and I think most would be very happy with that. The first week of Lyle’s program, I had to bust out the calculator, log, etc and plan ahead every single meal for the week. But after that first week –> auto pilot. In fact, I was surprised about how easy it was to do after you learned the first week, and the lbs melted away while my muscle mass stayed. The built-in carb up weekends even allowed me to keep up a pretty normal social life. I had beers and pretzels every friday night, haha. How many other programs can diet you down to very low bf while still eating 3 bowls of Lucky charms a week?

However, I do agree that 1000 cal is NEVER a good idea.

For the record, I have nothing against Lyle’s work - huge fan of it in fact. That said, I don’t think this “nutritionist” was following some scientifically researched rapid fat loss plan for a week or two. Rather, I can guarantee that she’s been eating like this for a loooooooong time, and thinks carrots are bad because they’re “high glycemic.”

@ Neil - solid point! This was the EXACT point that Chris Howard, our new nutrition guy at CP was saying as well. At no point during his FORMAL education was there any info on how to work with clients in a performance setting. Clinical applications, yes. Common sense, nope.

Check this video out, probably a little different perspective of what “calories” are…basically a bunch of crap.

http://www.progenexusa.com/Blog/post/Dr-Connelly-Talks-About-Insulin-Body-Weight-and-Energy-Production.aspx

Dear oh dear, so many nutritionists these days really have no clue about weight loss or health in general, they learn nutrition to treat illnesses and work in a hospital setting. Cutting calories is never a good idea to do for prolonged periods as it can have detrimental effects on not only the thyroids function but several other pathways in the body.

Great blog BTW your last paragraph of this article is great.

@ Robert and JB - nice conversation guys. Thanks for contributing to the thread! Internet high five to both of you….;o)

It’s nice when things on the internet can be discussed and not “argued.” Fist bumps all around.
I do think we agree.. I think we just have different perspectives. As a former wrestler/wrestling coach I have a good amount of experience with calipers and I have seen a lot of guys who claim to have whatever bodyfat percentage and my experience is that they’re usually 5% higher than they think. From what I’ve seen sub-15% is doable, sub-10% is hard, and sub-7% is damn near unmaintainable.. Particularly for folks who have not always had low bodyfat.. which at this point describes about >70% of North Americans. Individual results may vary.

In Australia and the US the term Nutritionist is not a legally protected job title - so as a previous commenter stated anybody can call themselves a nutritionist. Dietician is the protected term - I am currently studying for my Bachelor of Health through Queensland Uni of Tech. (Nutrition and Dietetics/Exercise Physiology) and I always get confused with people studying Naturopathy, which is mostly bullshit. A lot of Naturopaths claim to be nutritionists, and in doing so they might lack the proper knowledge. I would rather see a PT about diet, as opposed to a “Nutritionist”