V-Diet, Good/Bad Idea

Diet and Nutrition
1

So, a few weeks ago I finished the V-Diet. I guess we take this venture because we want to lean out a bit. Well in the 28 days that I was on this diet I lost a lot of weight. Went from 239 to where I am today 222. So I was successful in one way but not happy about all of the results.

The down side to the diet is you will lose alot of strength. My bench went down 40 lbs at least and reps are down also. Second you get so used to not eating that it is hard to get started again. I seem to be losing a lot of muscle from not getting the nutrition I need. It is also much harder to eat like I used to. I would guess that I am getting less than 2K cals and I have been off the diet for 2 weeks. I am going to start up eating again but I am afraid it is going to take me several months just to get the strength back I lost from an one month diet.

If I were to diet again I definitly would not do it by means of the V Diet. It is unhealthy both physically and mentally and unless you need to lose the weight for compition it is better to lose it through hard work and proper diet.

He, if you dont try you wont know.

2

I think it is safe to say not everyone responds in the same manner. Catherine and I did not experience any strength loss while on the Velocity Diet. We were both able to increase slightly in all lifts. Our experience was positive. And we had no problems slowly working our way back up to eating a lot of real food. I don’t think it would be fair to say it was “unhealthy” for us.

Christopher

3

How were you able to drastically cut your caloric intake and continue with the same workout and not get weaker? It is pretty much the concencus that you lose strength on this diet but that is ok because of the loss in BF. With all of the restraints on this diet how was your body able to do the opposite of what should be happening?

I know my normal intake was 3500 cal and on the diet I was down to about 1500. I really do not see how you can gain strength with a cut like that. I am not saying you did not, but I think it is more the norm than your outcome. I also think this diet has its place, just not the most healthy diet which I am sure you can agree on that. It does work to lose weight though.

4

[quote]Hugrafix wrote:
How were you able to drastically cut your caloric intake and continue with the same workout and not get weaker? It is pretty much the concencus that you lose strength on this diet but that is ok because of the loss in BF. With all of the restraints on this diet how was your body able to do the opposite of what should be happening?

I know my normal intake was 3500 cal and on the diet I was down to about 1500. I really do not see how you can gain strength with a cut like that. I am not saying you did not, but I think it is more the norm than your outcome. I also think this diet has its place, just not the most healthy diet which I am sure you can agree on that. It does work to lose weight though.[/quote]

Did you do your calculations correctly on how many calories you should have been taking in, both on work out days and non-work out days.

I put my V-Diet plan in a speedsheat so that when I start it up in the next few weeks, I know exactly what to take.

I am starting at the same weight as you, 240, and by my calculations (using the formaula in the V-Diet thread, the total calories on work-out days is 2000 and on non-work-out days it is 1660.

Maybe you just didn’t eat/drink enough.

5

Also, what workout were you performing? You said you tried to maintain the same workout, however, that may have been too intense for the V-Diet.

If you read Chris Shugart’s article he mentions dropping down on some of the intensity.

6

I am not sure how we were able to not lose strength. Notice I did mention we had a slight increase in all lifts. I will elaborate more. The first week of the diet we used the same weight as the week before. We both stayed at those weights for the first two weeks of the diet. The third week I was able to increase the weight on most but not all of my lifts. This was the smallest increase possible for any lift that was increased. The fourth week Catherine was able to increase in all her lifts at the smallest increase available for all lifts.

I was able to increase in the lifts that were not increased in the third week. I do not have the numbers available, but I remember the timeline. As mentioned, they were not huge increases, but we did increase. The first week after the diet was following by working our Monday and Tuesday at the same weight as the fourth week of the diet.

Then we were out of the gym until the following Monday while we enjoyed a trip in which we were extremely careful in how we ate by taking Metabolic Drive with us, only eating lean protein and healthy fats, and limiting our carbs to oatmeal and whole wheat. The following week we stayed at the same weight again before increasing in some lifts the following week.

My point is we were able to see a slight increase in strength levels while on the Velocity Diet. Also, not trying to shill, but I would attribute this to the use of Surge. The one day we forgot to take it with us to the gym was miserable. Both of us had a terrible time that night. We made sure that did not happen again.

I know the diet is not healthy as eating whole foods since it doesn’t provide a broad spectrum of healthy intake, macro and micronutrients, and phytonutrients. But I do think it is healthier than other dramatic weight loss diets that cause the dieter to lose more muscle and water weight than actual fat. Most other drastic diets have nowhere near the amount of protein intake and healthy fats provided by the Velocity Diet.

Fortunately I was taking in more calories than you. Here is some of my information from the diet.

Workout Days
2,165 calories - 1320 from shakes, 525 from Surge, and 320 from milled flax seeds
277.5 grams of protein

Non Workout Days
1,750 calories - 1220 from shakes, 210 from fish oil pills, and 320 from milled flax seeds
240 grams of protein

Christopher

7

Yes, I think I must have been on the low side of the caloric intake. I also did keep my workouts pretty much the same as prior to the diet. That must have caused my strength losses.

Here is the thing. I really didnt lose my weight till the third week. I didnt lose the strength till after the diet was over with and I started bringing in more whole foods. I think my body just finally gave up at the end of the diet. Glad everything went well for you.

8

Did you do the diet exactly as written? You already said you didn’t take Shugart’s advice on training. What about supplements?

9

Yes I took the supps. I didnt think I read anything about having to change your workout but more that with the low caloric intake it would be difficult to not do so.