Has anybody tried Sears Zone-Diet? Results? Thanx 4 every answer.
Though I can’t argue with Barry Sears’ anecdotal evidence, his science is way off. If you read the book, what most people miss is that near the beginning, he basically say “Let’s just say that this is true…” Then he bases the rest of the book on that supposition! By the time people get to the next chapter, they forget that they’re now talking about an assumption. Just baffles me. But like I said, apparently there’s a lot of people who have had good results.
The macronutrient ratios make a lot of sense, but when you follow the diet as he lays it out, the calories are way too low, especially for a bodybuilder. As much as I hate college nutrition professors, one pointed this out to me. A lot of the diets come out to about 1,200 calories a day if you eat five times per day. Sears is also pretty anti-dairy because of the insulin response to lactose, so a calcium supplement is a must. He does do a good job of emphasizing the importance of healthy fats. I think that you could definitely make great progress in cutting or bulking with the 40C-30P-30F breakdown; I would, however, recommend that you do it Berardi-style instead of according to Sears.
I tried it a few years back. I’ll say this for it. The one time in my life that I actually remember having a feeling of “well-being” was when I was following his ratios pretty strictly. On the other hand, I was looking for it to help me lose some fat, and it did NOT do that.
I tried it for like 3 months. When i followed it to a T i got good results. Increase in strength, size went up, bodyfat stayed the same. So i gained some muscle mass on it but bodyfat didnt drop much and strength went up…hope this helps…good luck
I agree with Eric and some of the other responses that if modified, namely by adding calories, the Zone can be a decent diet to follow. The foods it recommends (other than soy products) are all good choices…if you are thinking of starting it, MAKE SURE to add enough calories for your goals…the Zone calculations had me at about 1,000 calories under maintenance when I tried it out last year.