So I have recently lost a significant amount of weight in a really short period of time and I have had alot of people ask me what I did. So I figured I would write it out so it would be easier for folks to understand. I lost 38.6 pounds in 52 days. This was due to the office weight loss pool I was involved in.
I didn’t starve myself (other than the last day) and in fact I never ate healthier in my life. About 8 years ago, when I was was a travelling consultant in Philadelphia, I was leading a very unhealthy lifestyle, planes, trains and non stop restaurants and I had put on alot of weight. The Atkins diet fad was starting and I went on it in an extreme way and lost about 30 pounds in 5 or 6 weeks. So I discovered my body would quickly lose weight when I deprived myself of carbs (Sorry everyone in the weight pool - I am truly the biggest loser). That being said I don’t think what I did was very healthy. I essentially ate nothing but skinless chicken, the odd pickle and eggs for that period. Not sustainable, yet it did work.
This time I wanted to eat healthier, yet continue to lose rapidly. I also had recently read Michael Pollan’s book “In Defense of Food” and the summary of his book, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” was the basis of my diet. This means I cut out preprocessed foods as well… if my grandmother wouldn’t have been able to eat it when she was a kid…. it was out. I combined that with trying to eat as low carb as possible…. lots of leafy greens. And I didn’t worry about fat (very much).
So what would I eat….
So no-go foods off the top:
-Milk
-Breads
-Rice
-fruits (Other than red berries - I love strawberries) - I know everyone says fruits are good for you. And they are. But they are high in carbs and I find the whole good carbs / net carbs thing confusing and to lose quickly, just cut them out for a couple months. If you are concerned take some vitamins.
-Cereals
Well let’s start with breakfast. I am not a big eater in the morning anyways, so if I was hungry I would have a hard boiled egg or two. An easy way to do this quickly in the AM is to boil some water and when it’s boiling, shut off the gas and put the eggs in the water and cover the pot. Then go have your shower, get dressed etc. The eggs will be ready when you are done (Only takes like 15 mins). Peel them and eat. I’d have a black coffee with Splenda and be out the door.
During the morning I would then sip on water or green tea / camomile tea till lunch. For lunch I would normally have a salad that was mostly greens (spinach and arugula), with things like eggs, guacamole, olives, some sprinkled goat cheese, some sliced chicken, artichoke hearts, olive oil and some sea salt, etc - low carbs stuff. Fat, like in the guacamole is fine.
Then tea / water in the afternoon.
Supper is lots of things. I would often bbq chicken (legs, thighs,etc) sometimes skinless… sometimes not, pork, lots and lots of fish. Tilapia, salmon, shrimp, etc. I wouldn’t say I avoided red meat, but I cut it down to about once a week. A really expensive tenderloin. And I would often have a salad with it. Or I would cook up some bok choy or chard with lots of olive oil and garlic as a side. Once again… lots of greens with some protein is essentially the formula. Eat Food (Low carb), not too much, mostly plants, was my motto.
Then tea and water till the next AM. No snacking! Yes that’s right no snacks! Okay if u really want something have a kosher dill pickle.
So fruits… my favorite fruit is strawberries. And I love whipped cream. So strawberries have carbs…. but not an outrageous amount. So once a week (okay sometimes twice) I would buy a couple pounds of strawberries and get some whipping cream (Not the pre-made ones… those are full of carbs) and whip it up myself and add some splenda for sweetness. I would then have several bowls of strawberries and whipped cream. MMMMM I loves strawberries 
So the weight seems to be dropping off for a week or two and then bam…. it seems to stop. This would happen to me and I have no idea if my solution has any scientific basis… but it really works for me. What I would then do is go “hard core for a day or two” to get my system going again. What this means is I wouldn’t have my strawberries snack, I would basically just have skinless chicken (or fish) for lunch and supper for 1 or 2 days. Sometimes I would have my chicken broth / egg / green onion soup (Boil chicken broth and when boiling throw in a couple eggs and a chopped up green onion). I like it with tabasco! And my metabolism would be off to the races again. And I would start eating as described above.
Alcohol - cut it out (more or less). I would go out with the guys and order salads and Coors Light. Not very often maybe over the course of two months 2 or 3 times and have 4 or 5 beers while out. And of course there was the tequila incident one evening…. but it’s zero carbs and was only a few shots. I actually think the bigger issue is I crave carbs if I have too many drinks, so its easier to avoid the carbs, by avoiding the booze.
Exercise - I exercised as normal… well maybe I rode my bike a bit more as the weather is getting more pleasant. But I basically stayed with my normal 15 kms per day on the bike (commuting to work). I am sure if you are a work out nut you will drop weight even faster.
So that is mostly it. I am sure I have forgotten a few things, but more or less that is my rapid weight loss diet. Lots of greens, nothing processed, little red meat, lots of chicken and fish, lots of tea and water - avoid carbs and stay focused on the goal! Pretty simple and boring really.
P.S. Oh - Also if you are in a diet pool - my strategy was to lose as much weight as possible in the 1st 2 weeks. I called it shock and awe. I figured I could get a significant number of folks to just throw in the towel if they thought they could never catch me. I then was as cocky as possible and told everyone how much I was losing. I’d like to apologize to the person who shall remain nameless, who bore the brunt of this… okay it’s Graeme
