Rapid fat loss experiment

[Dominique]

After bulking for the past five months (from 62.9 to 67.4 kg, +4.5 kg / + 9.9 lb, 0.9 kg / 2 lb per month), I’ve decided to experiment with a rapid fat loss phase: I intend to lose 6 kg (13.2 lb) in two months.

Here is how I’ve structured this phase:

1. During the first four weeks (January 2017), I will have 4 low calorie days and 3 maintenance days each week
2. The fifth week (first week of February 2017) will be a break, i.e. I will eat at maintenance
3. During the last three weeks of February, I will have 3 low calorie days and 4 maintenance days each week

"Low calorie" means 1084 calories, while expending 3000 calories (which has been my average expenditure for the past four months according to the more conservative estimate of my Surge). To keep it simple, I will be eating the exact same items each low calorie day (I’m not easily bored and this won’t last forever anyway). "Maintenance" means 3000 calories. If things go according to plans, I should have a weekly deficit of 7664 calories during the first four weeks and of 5248 calories during the last three weeks. The expected weight loss should be 1 kg per week during the first four weeks and 0.75 kg per week during the last three weeks. Total weight loss therefore should be (1 x 4) + (0.75 x 3) = 6.25 kg.

My low calorie day includes my usual breakfast (skimmed milk with dark cocoa, oatmeal, three egg whites), 250 grams of spinach, 250 grams of brocoli, 3 protein shakes (30 grams of unflavoured whey protein isolate, 90 grams of skimmed milk, 20 grams of ripe banana and 5 grams of dark cocoa) and 8 grams of fish oil. This comes to 140 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber.

Don’t know if it’s going to work, but at least that’s the plan! Once it’s over (end of February), I intend to slowly bulk (+ 0.75-1.00 kg/month) for at least six months.

[Dominique]

Second week of the experiment just ended:

The chart shows that weight loss definitely isn’t linear (when you look at individual daily values), but TrendWeight really evens things out and shows I’m heading in the right direction at the expected pace.

Still no cravings during low-calorie days and plenty of energy for training.

[WendyB]

Looks good!

[Dominique]

An update on my rapid fat loss experiment: end of January, the first phase is over. Technically speaking, I cheated a little, because the first four weeks ended on Sunday, not today (Tuesday). Anyway, happy to report weight loss on the scale was 4.3 kg (67.7 to 63.4), ie. 9.5 lb:

 TrendWeight loss was "only" 67.4 - 64.7 = 2.7 kg (5.9 lb), but it’s kind of expected since by design the trend always lags behind when gaining and losing weight. At least the trend has been going very nicely in the right direction, almost as a straight line.

I think this has been my sharpest weight drop since the initial drop 4 years ago when I got bitten by the Fitbit bug:

 (I started from 75 kg, but this doesn’t show on the graph since I bought my Fitbit Aria three months after my Fitbit One).

I’ve decided to make a few modifications to the second phase of my experiment:

1. The first week of February was supposed to be a maintenance week, but I’ve shifted it to the third week, when I will be travelling to France to see family. I also dread the impact of that week on my eating, but I’ll try to limit damages.
   
   
2. I was supposed to switch to 3 low-calories days per week in February (instead of 4 in January), but I’ve decided to stick to 4, since it looks like my real deficit wasn’t quite 2000 calories on those days (my Surge likely overestimates energy expenditure) and I had no issues (hunger, lack of energy, loss of strength etc.) whatsoever on those days.
   
   
3. I will reduce my calories on low-calories days from 1084 to 996, while keeping protein almost the same (140 to 136). I will do so by cutting milk in half in both my breakfast and the three shakes I consume on each such days. This should make it easier to reach a suitable deficit with slightly less activity.

I’m still hopeful to reach my goal of 6 kg by the end of February (no technical cheating possible since there are only 28 days).

[katanel]

Hi @Dominique ,

Good and impressive job to loose 4.3 kg in 4 weeks!

996 calories / day is quite on the edge but it happens to me to 'survive' on low activity days with 1000-1100 calories so...it's douable.

Good luck and keep us updated!

[Dominique]

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@katanel wrote:

996 calories / day is quite on the edge but it happens to me to 'survive' on low activity days with 1000-1100 calories so...it's douable.

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I agree it's not a lot, but the experiment is only supposed to last for two months max., after which I will be eating at a surplus for several months. And it's only four days a week: during the remaining three days I eat at maintenance, which is about 3000 calories and includes a lot of carbs. The key for me is the energy I have for weight lifting on Monday, which is the second low-calorie day of the only two consecutive such days: so far I haven't lost strength even on that day, which should be the toughest. I'm quite happy I can do weighted chin-ups (5 sets of 3 reps) with 19 kg extra weight.

BTW, I think I will be able to use these low-calorie days also during my lean bulking phase. I can eat at a fair surplus six days a week and throw in one low-calorie day if I notice I'm gaining weight too fast. This was my problem last Autumn: I freaked out when I saw I was gaining 1.5 kg per month.

[WendyB]

You have done well!

Have fun with family!

[Dominique]

Valentine Day update: I’m now six weeks into my experiment and the weight is still dropping nicely. I’m at 62.5 kg on the scale (down 5.2 kg from Jan-1) and 63.6 kg on TrendWeight (down 3.8 kg from Jan-1):

The forthcoming week will be challenging: on my way to France (until next Tuesday), little control

over my food, no access to weight training. It will be an exercise in damage control. I’ll have 9 days left when back home before the end of the month to lose more. However, I’m ready to push it further by another 2-3 weeks (= in March), since I’m very close to my Fitbit-era (2013- ) all-time low:

Good thing is I’ve still had no craving issues, nor any loss of strength.

[WendyB]

Looks good!

Have a great Trip and enjoy!

[RachelShrinks]

@Dominique, you're awesome! Enjoy France and I hope the damage isn't too significant!

[Dominique]

Thanks, @WendyB & @RachelShrinks!

I walked half through Paris (13.3 km) on Wednesday afternoon, enjoying excellent weather for this time of the year:

[WendyB]

Oh sure make me jealous! I bet it was an awesome walk!

[A_Lurker]

I'm jealous as well.  We will be getting a little warmer weather, but I think Paris sounds better.  I'm off on a short business trip myself next week where the weather might be a couple of Celcius warmer but I'll likely be stuck in meetings for a good portion of it.  It's close enough and the hotel I've booked has a fridge in the room so I might actually pack up some foods for dinner and stock up the fridge when I get in.

[katanel]

@Dominique

Well...I wish you nice time in Paris!

Pay attention to...croissants, baguettes, wines and steaks! French cuisine is excellent...even if they use a lot of butter 🙂

[Dominique]

OK, the third week of February was supposed to be a maintenance week (while on a trip to France), and the next week should have ended my rapid fat loss experiment. However, I totally blew it up and my maintenance week became a rapid fat gain experiment, and a very successful one at that, since I managed to gain 2.1 kg in one week!

I was only able to partially undo the gain during the last week of the month, which means I’m now pretty much at the same point as in Mid-February. Never mind, this is not the end of the world: since I really want to reach my initial goal (total loss of 6.5 kg since January 1st), I’ll simply extend the experiment by 3-4 weeks. I have nothing special planned in March, so I should be able to be in my familiar, controlled environment.

[A_Lurker]

@Dominique- that's about what I'd expect to see with a maintenance week.  Well, maybe a little more weight gain, but if you compare two days before with 4 days after you're pretty much at the same level.  In fact, your low 3 days after is in fact lower than the day before.  I suspect that a week or two from now it will just be a blip on your chart.

[WendyB]

I agree it will be a Blip soon. France must of been awesome!

[Dominique]

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@Dominique wrote:

since I really want to reach my initial goal (total loss of 6.5 kg since January 1st), I’ll simply extend the experiment by 3-4 weeks. I have nothing special planned in March, so I should be able to be in my familiar, controlled environment.

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I failed at my goal of losing a further 2 kg or so in March. All I could do was maintaining my weight at just a tad above 63 kg:

This in itself isn’t too bad, given it’s close to my absolute lowest point in the four years of my AF (after Fitbit) era. It’s also my lowest point since I graduated (33 years ago). Because of that, I’ve decided to extend my cut by another month, to see how low I can get. Since I wasn’t able to do it in March by "winging" it, I’ll revert to the stricter approach with dieting that worked so well for the first six weeks of this year.

One thing I’ve noticed is I was unusually active in January, whether I look at it by steps, active minutes, calories burned or time spent in HR zones:

This is strange in a way, because I can only get my cardio outdoors (no treadmill or other indoor cardio equipment) and January is one of the coldest month of the year with short days where I live (Finland). I think it’s the "New Year’s resolutions" effect, combined with the motivation at the very start of this experimental cutting phase. I’ll have to make sure I have the same motivation again in April, after 6 weeks of "slacking".

[A_Lurker]

@Dominique- I obviously have no personal experience on the bulk and cut phases.  However, I do know from a friend who used to do it often (he actually competed in body building) that the cuts usually have to be very strict.  I suspect that winging it isn't going to get you the results that you want. 

[EmjayH]

I do 5 x 45 min sessions at the gym every week. 2 cardio (boxing) and 3 resistance days. I don't manually log those on my Fitbit. Does that mean I'm burning more calories then it's telling me???

[Dominique]

@EmjayH: if you have a Fitbit that supports multisports, telling it about the activity you’re performing (e.g. weights) may marginally improve the accuracy of calories burned, since it will "know" what you are doing and make assumptions based on that. However, even if you don’t log these activities, it will still estimate your energy expenditure based on detected impacts, HR etc. In the end, I don’t think it makes such a big difference.