Modified PSMF - 42 Days of Hell

N

NedoCTB

New member
Stats:
Age: 23
Height: 5'9
Highest Weight: 260
Current Weight: 175-185
Lowest Weight: 160
Body Fat: Going to estimate at anywhere from 20-22%
Goal: I would be satisfied with 13-14%.

Pictures can be found here:

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-diary/41901-journal-2-260-175-a.html#post712407

The newest picture is the one in the khaki's. I'll post a pic at the end of this, regardless of the outcome. Hopefully that will keep me on track.

I'm going to start a PSMF diet - I don't recommend it to anyone. I highly doubt it's going to be sustainable long-term but it's always fun to try new things and learn more about your body/what it can handle. Some people fast for long durations of time, others do dangerous stunts - well, I'm not brave enough to do those so I will just test my body in a controlled/safer way!

I'm shooting for sub 1000 calories, which puts me -1300 under maintenance at my current weight of, I hover around 175-185 depending what I eat. Let's just say 180.

I'm aiming for anywhere around 150+ Protein. Exercise is going to be mainly weight lifting and hopefully cardio if I'm not completely drained. There will be one day a week where I will re-feed anywhere from 150-200 carbs. The first week will have no re-feed day. If I determine on the third week that I need more carbs on the re-feed I will definitely get more carbs in.

I'm hoping I can stick to this...

Supplements: Myofusion protein shake, ON Gold Standard, Opti-Men Multi vitamin, fish oils, glucosamine, 5g creatine, and potassium supplements.

Well, good night! I'll post back here with how the day went.
 
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Day 1

Today is going great thus far. It's already 2pm and I still have tons of stuff left to eat/drink to sustain me over the rest of the day.

Exercise:

2 Mile Jog
30 Mins Elliptical

Food:

-- Whey Protein Shake

-- 1/4 cup lentils, 4 slices of turkey sandwich meat

-- Can of Tuna, 2 slices of turkey sandwich meat

-- Myofusion Protein Shake

-- 1 Cup Shrimp

-- Myofusion Protein Shake

Calories: 935
Protein: 172g

Note: Day went by without any problems arising. I didn't even get hungry... but it's the first day. I'm sure after a week I'm going to be hungry every minute of the day, lol.
 
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Wanted to pop in and say HI to Nedo the Protein Police! Ha ha...
You keep on 'em Nedo!!! :smash: Up that Protien!!!
 
Are you following the PSMF from Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Book?

If so, I'd suggest following it to a "T". I'd also suggesting making sure you completely understand all the ins and outs before starting.

Assuming you did read it, you'd know it's not a long-term type of arrangement for anyone.
 
I didn't read it. I just got a crap load of information from several people so I'm giving it a shot. Worst that is going to happen is I'll lose some muscle. I meant the fat loss isn't sustainable long-term. I figure it's just like any other "Crash" diet where you lose rapid amounts of weight and then gain it back.

Thanks for popping in!
 
Day 2

Exercise:

Target: Arms, Shoulders, Back, Abs

Food:

-- 2 scoops Whey Protein

-- 3/4 Cup Shrimp

-- Protein Shake

-- 3 Chicken Thighs

-- Sausage

Note: Workout felt like ass. You can definitely notice a huge drop in your motivation to workout with no carbs. It's only 10:40ish AM and I already went through a gallon of water. I think that is a lot of the reason I haven't been feeling too hungry.

Note #2: So, uh... total calories today was around 1200 or so. I only got around 165g of protein. Going to go for a walk with my dog and burn off some of those calories.
 
NedoCTB said:
I didn't read it. I just got a crap load of information from several people so I'm giving it a shot. Worst that is going to happen is I'll lose some muscle. I meant the fat loss isn't sustainable long-term. I figure it's just like any other "Crash" diet where you lose rapid amounts of weight and then gain it back.

Thanks for popping in!
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To be blunt, I think it's silly to try the diet without fully understanding it.

If you had, you wouldn't be saying some of the things you're saying.

If I were you, I'd be asking myself, "What's the opportunity cost of not going into something like this fully educated?"

That's me though and I understand most people are merely going to "program hop" without ever fully understanding any of the underlying principles and thus, they'll claim that nothing really works.

Again, my intent is not to be rude or anything like that... I simply like to shoot straight from the hip.
 
I'm not looking for amazing results, so the outcome doesn't matter to me that much. Ideally I'd just love to lower the body fat, which I have no doubts in my mind will happen. It's basically just consuming protein so you aren't losing muscle. Thanks a lot for the concern, but I've seen people do this without "full knowledge" and they are not knocking the results they had. It really just depends on what your goals are in life. I don't care about being big and muscular... I'm just tired of having so much fat.

I'm not taking any offense to the things you are saying! I'm glad you're genuinely concerned enough to post.

As for the training schedule... I'm doing a lot of the workouts from P90X, but I'm adding heavier weights and reducing the workout duration. I intend to workout with weights at least 3 times a week, possibly 4 depending how I am feeling.

I was told to eliminate any form of cardio unless it is low intensity... so I'll just go for walks.

EDIT: Also, I'd love to know... do you think 42 days is too long, or is too short? 42 days seems like a really long time to me, but I'd love other peoples opinions.
 
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I'm 5'9, roughly 180 lbs and if I had to guess my body fat I would put it in between 20-22% body fat. I'm basing that off pictures I've seen from people around that body fat.
 
NedoCTB said:
I'm 5'9, roughly 180 lbs and if I had to guess my body fat I would put it in between 20-22% body fat. I'm basing that off pictures I've seen from people around that body fat.
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Ya know, I only brought up the idea of actually reading the book for the simple reason that Lyle is an educator first, a researcher second. You'd learn a shit ton reading his book that you could carry with you going forward.

I've been in this industry a long time and if there's one thing people fail at more than not, it's educating themselves.

With that out of the way...

Essentially Lyle breaks dieters up into 3 categories. You'd find yourself in the category 2, which means a few things:

1. You should be aiming for around 1.25 grams of protein per pound of goal weight.

2. The rest of your intake should consist of fibrous veggies and fish oil supps.

3. The lower the category dieter you are, the shorter you should use this diet. For you, extending much beyond 8 weeks without a full diet break would be silly, IMO. In order to understand what constitutes a full diet break, you'd need the book.

4. Lyle recommends refeeds once per week lasting 5 hours. To understand what a refeed is, as it's very specific, you'd have to refer to the book.

5. Lyle recommends a free meal once per week.
 
Day 3

Exercise:

30 minute walk /w my dog

I tried to resist it but I went for a 3 mile Jog... I just ate some chocolate to make up for the jog. :p

(*UPDATE: Went for another jog... got 4 miles in this time.)

Food:

-- 1 scoop whey protein

-- 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese

-- Sausage

-- 10 Almonds

-- 9 Hershey Kisses /w caramel

-- 1 cup Shrimp

-- Pork Loin

-- 2 scoops protein

-- EDIT: Ate 4 ounces of chicken after my jog. Not going to bother updating the cals.

Calories: 1350
Protein: 166
 
I plan on doing this again sometime in the future after I complete my 6 weeks. I'll definitely buy the book for the next go. It does seem like it would be really helpful.

1.25 x body weight? That's nearly 200g of protein! How can I possibly fit that into a low calorie diet? I'm really high in calories just getting what I am right now.

Yeah, I have my fair share of supplements. My protein powder has 25% calcium per serving, so I'm not sure if I should get a calcium supplement or not.

I'm going to go for 6 weeks max. Possibly shorter based on results.

I thought a re-feed was just when you go above maintenance and get something like 6

You gave some great info. I really appreciate it.

I'm going to buy the book for my second go. I've made some decent results in these few short days so I'm sure if I followed everything to the T I would see even better results.

Steve said:
Ya know, I only brought up the idea of actually reading the book for the simple reason that Lyle is an educator first, a researcher second. You'd learn a shit ton reading his book that you could carry with you going forward.

I've been in this industry a long time and if there's one thing people fail at more than not, it's educating themselves.

With that out of the way...

Essentially Lyle breaks dieters up into 3 categories. You'd find yourself in the category 2, which means a few things:

1. You should be aiming for around 1.25 grams of protein per pound of goal weight.

2. The rest of your intake should consist of fibrous veggies and fish oil supps.

3. The lower the category dieter you are, the shorter you should use this diet. For you, extending much beyond 8 weeks without a full diet break would be silly, IMO. In order to understand what constitutes a full diet break, you'd need the book.

4. Lyle recommends refeeds once per week lasting 5 hours. To understand what a refeed is, as it's very specific, you'd have to refer to the book.

5. Lyle recommends a free meal once per week.
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NedoCTB said:
Exercise:

30 minute walk /w my dog

I tried to resist it but I went for a 3 mile Jog... I just ate some chocolate to make up for the jog. :p

(*UPDATE: Went for another jog... got 4 miles in this time.)

Food:

-- 1 scoop whey protein

-- 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese

-- Sausage

-- 10 Almonds

-- 9 Hershey Kisses /w caramel

-- 1 cup Shrimp

-- Pork Loin

-- 2 scoops protein

-- EDIT: Ate 4 ounces of chicken after my jog. Not going to bother updating the cals.

Calories: 1350
Protein: 166
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So you're not actually doing a true PSMF. Otherwise you wouldn't be eating high fat meats such as sausage, you wouldn't be eating almonds, you wouldn't be eating candy, etc.

That's not PSMF.

PSMF is nothing, and I mean nothing, except for adequate protein to stave off muscle loss, fibrous veggies, and essential fats. Period.
 
NedoCTB said:
I plan on doing this again sometime in the future after I complete my 6 weeks. I'll definitely buy the book for the next go. It does seem like it would be really helpful.
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I think that'd be a good idea.

1.25 x body weight? That's nearly 200g of protein! How can I possibly fit that into a low calorie diet? I'm really high in calories just getting what I am right now.
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Like I said, you're really missing what the PSMF is. This diet has been used by thousands and it works. But you're missing the main points.

Let's take me as an example, as I've done this diet a number of times.

I'm a category 1 dieter, which calls for me to take 1.5 - 2 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass.

My lean body mass is 170 lbs.

Which means, IF I'M GOING TO FOLLOW THE DIET, I'd be shooting for 250-340 grams of protein per day. This would account for 1000 to 1360 calories per day.

And that's it, aside from the trace calories I'd pick up eating fibrous veggies and essential fats.

That's the PSMF.

It's not about taking calories as low as possible at all costs. It's about taking calories as low as possible while ensuring adequate health and muscle preservation. These factors call on certain, specific things... one of them being a high protein intake.

And I'm not telling you to do it right. I don't really care what you do. But you can't say you're doing a PSMF based on what I've seen you say you're doing.

I thought a re-feed was just when you go above maintenance and get something like 6
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Nope.

A refeed is a very specific way of eating to trigger a physiological response that fends off starvation signaling. Without going into all the biology... suffice it to say that hormones get out of whack while dieting hard like the PSMF calls for and there are specific ways of eating that help *somewhat* bring said hormones back in line.

If you search posts by me that include the word refeed on this forum, I know I've talked about what they are specifically before.

I'm going to buy the book for my second go. I've made some decent results in these few short days so I'm sure if I followed everything to the T I would see even better results.
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Yea, anytime you cut calories drastically and stick to it, you're going to see results, in that the scale is going to fall. It's basic thermodynamics. You're creating a massive energy deficit and that shortage needs to be made up for somehow and that somehow is by oxidizing body tissues like fat. And muscle.

But there are results and then there are optimal results.

Which in some cases can be a big difference.
 
I did state in my thread that this is "MODIFIED." I never intended it to be anything like Lyle's book. I never even mentioned him once. I've seen several people from other forums, some in my own life that never followed his book or even his rules to the "T" and still saw amazing results with very minimal muscle loss. I'm sure if you check around on other forums you would see other people making journals with bread and cereal for meals every other day and they still saw results. You're basically just cutting calories down and getting proper protein so you have minimal muscle loss/and or none if you follow it the way you do.

If I begin to get weaker in my weight lifting routine I'll up my protein, but as of right now I'm not worried at all. This is only the first week, so if I feel like I need to make changes in the second week I will make changes.

There are a lot of things I don't understand about the protein rule. I mean, I've been reducing body fat while rarely ever paying attention to my protein amount until maybe September of last year and I was still seeing decent results. I think the amount of protein that we're told to eat is largely over-exaggerated. Estimating by the food I use to eat I was getting roughly 145g of protein and still seeing results. Would you like to give your opinion on that? I'd like to hear it.

I just feel like 42 days is not enough time for me to completely fuck my body over. Our bodies are a lot more durable then 42 days of damage could do to it. My body put up with me destroying it for 6 years, so I'm sure it can last 42 days.

Thanks for all the info you've given me. I'll modify in the future if I see that I need to.
 
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NedoCTB said:
I did state in my thread that this is "MODIFIED." I never intended it to be anything like Lyle's book. I never even mentioned him once. I've seen several people from other forums, some in my own life that never followed his book or even his rules to the "T" and still saw amazing results with very minimal muscle loss. I'm sure if you check around on other forums you would see other people making journals with bread and cereal for meals every other day and they still saw results. You're basically just cutting calories down and getting proper protein so you have minimal muscle loss/and or none if you follow it the way you do.
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My apologies. You'd be the first person I've encountered in the online world that's doing some semblance of a psmf that isn't basing it off of Lyle's protocols. He's really the man who popularized the diet to the mainstream.

Forgive my assumptions.

If I begin to get weaker in my weight lifting routine I'll up my protein, but as of right now I'm not worried at all. This is only the first week, so if I feel like I need to make changes in the second week I will make changes.
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Fair enough.

There are a lot of things I don't understand about the protein rule. I mean, I've been reducing body fat while rarely ever paying attention to my protein amount until maybe September of last year and I was still seeing decent results.
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If you weren't paying attention to your protein, how do you know how much you were consuming? Maybe it was adequate amounts.

I think the amount of protein that we're told to eat is largely over-exaggerated. Estimating by the food I use to eat I was getting roughly 145g of protein and still seeing results. Would you like to give your opinion on that? I'd like to hear it.
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I'll repeat. Invoke a deficit. You'll see results. Your body has no choice. How you define results though can make a huge difference.

You can sit there and say, "my muscles weren't falling off" but unless you've enough experience adding fat and subtracting fat to yourself as well as others, you really don't have the perspective to apply to this.

I can tell you this.

I've read all the prevalent research and there are no clear cut rules that apply to everyone. If you're carrying a lot of fat, not weight training, etc... sure, your protein requirements are going to be much lower than someone who's closer to his or her genetic potential as far as leanness goes who's interested in weight training.

Everything is context specific.

And sometimes I forget that not everyone is trying to build the best body their genetics will possibly allow... though I bet if you twist arms, most folks would if they could easily and safely. Put differently, most folks aren't shooting for mediocrity. They want to optimize their results.

So more often than not I'm speaking about optimal results.

I'm not a protein nazi who drills people to eat it by the truckload or else. I'm only rigid with it when I see someone doing something like a PSMF.

But given that you're not doing a true psmf... it isn't as much a concern.

If you were though... it'd be a different story... assuming you cared about optimizing your results.

I just feel like 42 days is not enough time for me to completely fuck my body over. Our bodies are a lot more durable then 42 days of damage could do to it. My body put up with me destroying it for 6 years, so I'm sure it can last 42 days.
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Yea, I don't know where you got the idea about destroying your body. I never brought anything up about that. And you're right. You won't. Strict dieting in the developmental years of life or disordered eating can have some permanent effects... but temporary ways of eating as an adult aren't going to do anything that "damages" your metabolism permanently.
 
You're so informative it is amazing. This forum is very lucky to have you!

I'm shooting for 13-14% body fat, which I think is fairly easily obtainable. Our bodies seem to naturally want to be around that body fat with very little effort involved. I'd like to do amateur fighting in the near future and I definitely don't need the body of a Greek god to do that. I'm getting by extremely well even with my current body weight/fat, I'm just looking to improve upon what I have already. In the future I will be looking upon improvements such as lowering body fat but I'm just not in that mind-set right now. I'm doing a lot of weight lifting and cardiovascular training right now.

The reason I am adding some carbs/fats into it is because I just don't see how I'd function with my cardio/training if I did otherwise. You think I would be able to complete an hour to two hour classes with no carbs or fats? I can give it a shot starting next week if you think it would be beneficial. Weight training and fighting are completely different and take different amounts of energy.
 
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