Raw 'till Four

I'm not a vegan. I'm not a vegetarian. I don't really even eat particularly 'clean'. I'm actually renowned for eating massive quantities and never backing down from a food related challenge, I once ate burgers every day for 30 days straight, just for 'fun'. 

So please, understand that what I'm about to say is extremely difficult for me, but the anecdotal evidence (for me at least) is undeniable. First, some background information...

The Warrior Diet and why eating less really is as easy as... Eating, less.

I've been employing periods of intermittent fasting when I want to lose weight for years. I like it, it works for me, it's simplistic, it fits my lifestyle and allows me to enjoy large hearty meals and know I'm still working towards my goals. I've experimented with everything from Brad Pilon's 'Eat Stop Eat' system of two 24hr fasts a week, to shorter more frequent fasts and longer less regular periods of calorie restriction. I settled for the longest time on a simple system of only eating for 8 hours a day, having a high protein, high fructose lunch at 1pm and then, a large dinner in the evenings (which would vary from extremely clean calories such as half a kilo of filet steak, salad and avocado to completely glutinous but utterly rewarding pizza binges.) On a work and training day, my total energy expenditure is somewhere between 3500-4000kcals, if I only consume 600-800 calories throughout the day, it's then VERY difficult (all be it nowhere near impossible, trust me) to get to maintenance calories, let alone any sort of waistline damaging excess. This has always worked for me, I'm not even going to go into all of the scientific data proving the health benefits of fasting, I'm just going to tell you that one of my favourite 'diet' dinners, is cooking a whole Pizza Express margherita, dropping half a kilo of chicken and tzatziki in the middle, rolling the bad boy up for express consumption and washing it down with a milkshake.

This is how I *like* to eat, so this is easy for me to sustain, ultimately the sustainability of a diet is all that really matters, at least in terms of fat loss. If you think you're more 'dedicated' because you can stomach white fish and rice cakes every three hours on the dot, well that's just great, here have a gold star; I'll be in Frankie and Benny's with my girlfriend eating steak with mac and cheese and wondering whether I should have one or two desserts. 

It's calories in versus calories out, even if you eat nothing but rubbery, reheated chicken all day, the calories still have to fit. Might as well enjoy yourself. 

So... Now you know, generally speaking what I'm about.

If you read my blog post last week, you'll know I planned on eating nothing but bananas during the day and a balanced meal in the evenings. I'm a big believer in auto regulation, listening to your body and  not giving it more than it needs, there were days in the week when I didn't feel I 'needed' all of the sugars from multiple bananas, so I adjusted and ate the odd apple or handful of strawberries. What I did stay true to though, was keeping the calories incredibly low throughout the day (when I was busy working), by only eating after one PM, consuming small servings of raw fruits throughout the afternoon and eating a good meal in the evening.

 I can tell you this for nothing, I felt great, the fruit sugars were just enough to keep me satiated but my calorie expenditure and workload MUST have resulted in fat being oxidised and used as fuel. The meals in the evening HAD to be hearty to hit my macronutrient goals for the day, which left me feeling full and satisfied whilst allowing me to eat out and enjoy food socially.

If any of this sounds familiar, it's because it's the same basic premise laid out in 'The Warrior Diet' by Ori Hofmekler, which I read a few years ago and highly recommend. 

Some people will argue that we're biologically programmed to eat and function in this manner as a throwback to our hunter/gatherer roots, any of that conjecture aside I'll tell you this; picking up a few apples on your way in to work is CONSIDERABLY more convenient than prepping three Tupperware containers with dry chicken, brown rice and pasty over cooked broccoli (the unwanted step child of the vegetable world.)

My day job is incredibly labour intensive, so if I can make it through I'm sure you can to. Try it for a week before you knock it and let me know how you get on. I'm going to be keeping it up for the foreseeable future, let's see if we can't all get ourselves a set of caveman abs.

Peace out

AT