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Extreme Fat Loss Diet

About a week ago, Joel Marion came out with an Extreme Fat Loss Diet that promises to help those in need shed as much as 25 lbs in just 25 days. Normally, I have a really hard time suggesting people should go on "diets" or take extreme measures to lose weight fast. They always screw up their metabolisms and they end up having to gain control of it again to achieve any long term results. Any results they do obtain in the short term never last.

I do realize that there are so called legitimate emergencies where people might feel they need to lose weight quickly. Brides, beach season, health concerns, making weight for a fight are a few. Considering that and Joel's claims that this extreme fat loss diet actually prevents the starvation response from kicking in keeping the metabolism burning hot - I felt it was worth a look.

Can You Trick Your Body?

The key to this program is timing. Eating the right combination of foods (or lack thereof) coupled with training that works with what is or isn't going in your mouth maximizes its effect either in preserving lean muscle or persuading the body to use fat as the primary fuel source to create massive caloric deficits and thus huge fat loss numbers.

You're fighting evolution here. Your body has adapted over many many years to survive. The success of this program relies on your ability to manipulate your metabolic processes.

Remember, one pound of fat is 3500 calories. Creating a caloric deficit without starving yourself causing your body to rebel, that will burn 25 lbs = 87500 fewer calories going into or being burned by your body over the course of the 25 days. That's a staggering figure and extremely difficult to achieve.

My Honest Thoughts

I have given the Extreme Fat Loss Diet a read and am comfortable with it in theory. I understand how it can work - but be warned - when Joel said it wasn't for the lazy, he was understating just how extreme this program actually is. To be completely honest, it will be very difficult for most people to follow this program exactly.

The Weaknesses As I See Them

While I agree with the strategic theory behind the program, I was a bit put off after purchasing the program for a couple of reasons:

1. Supplements. The program essentially requires you to purchase large amounts of supplements. Protein powder and BCAAs (Branch Chain Amino Acids) at minimum while also suggesting metabolism booster, multivitamins, and something else I don't recall at the moment.

   In Joel's defence, he does point out that following the program will save you plenty of money at the grocery store, which you can use to buy these supplements.

2. Lack of Mealplan.The diet explains the theory of the diet, but requires you to purchase an upgrade in order to actually get a mealplan. It provides lists of foods and tells you how to go through the calculations to determine what quantities you need, but it isn't as straight forward as I had hoped.

   Having been involved with fitness for many years, it still took me a few hours to decipher what needed to be eaten and when. I can only imagine how difficult this will be for someone new to nutrition and exercise. I suspect the level of difficulty was also a "strategic" upsell decision to make the upgrade look really, really good.

Can It Be Improved?

Even though it has weaknesses, in the interests of developing a similar product for How to Box members, I have decided to test it. I started it today and for the remaining 24 days, I'll follow the program as closely as possible with a couple of modifications:

1. I will limit the supplement intake to protein powder. With the exception of the protein powder, I'm not 100% sure how effective the rest are and if I sacrifice a 1/2% bodyfat because of it, then so be it.

2. Use boxing routines as part of the training. Most of the training is bodyweight training, which is excellent. It doesn't require a whole lot of equipment with the exception of some exercises requiring dumbbells. (couple of rocks from the garden will suffice in most cases) That said, I'm into boxing and believe adding a couple of boxing routines into the mix will not only spice things up, but help with the results.

3. Provide a Mealplan.I will provide the actual mealplan I have developed and will use to go through the extreme fat loss diet program so you can replicate my results.

At the end of the next 25 days, I will be able to show you the results of following the Extreme Fat Loss Diet using myself as a guinea pig. I certainly do not have 25 lbs of fat to lose, but will consider it a success if I knock my bodyfat % down to about 8-9% from the 12% I'm currently at without losing any LBM (Lean Body Mass).

Looking For a Few Volunteers

Following the completion of the program, if the test is a success, you can expect to see How to Box produce it's own Phenomenal Fat Loss Diet guaranteeing similar results in 25 days. At that time, I'll be looking for 10 volunteers to test it and provide their honest feedback. More details will come out via the blog and email, so ensure you're on my mailing list.

If you're interested, please consider sending me a quick email for details. (contact link at top of page). My goal is to improve on what I consider faults in this program to provide users with something they will more likely be able to follow to achieve the results they are looking for.

Last, I'd be very interested in hearing what others who have invested in the Extreme Fat Loss Diet think of its claims and how you're finding the eating/training. I can tell you that Day One's workout was quite intense and I'm looking forward to the three workouts I'm supposed to be completing tomorrow. Not so sure about not eating anything for the entire day - but we'll see.

Take care and boxon.