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The subject of this new experiment is to test the Eat Stop Eat (ESE) diet created by Brad Pilon.

From my understanding, ESE is quit simple. All I have to do are mini fasts (24 hrs each), once or twice per week and make sure I also do resistance training (to preserve lean mass). For training, Brad suggests 2-3 times per week.

My goals for this experiment are:

1. How ESE compares with a “classic” constant calorie deficit diet (my Quebec experiment #2)?
2. Will I preserve all my hard-earned muscle, as Brad says in the book?
3. And a more subjective goal, can I convert the diet into a lifestyle?

I’m really curious about goal #2. Last time I did a fast, it was a disaster: almost half of my loss was lean mass! I must tell that the fast was a week long (which is crazy, I know).

The duration of this experiment is again 3 month. And yes, it will conflict with Christmas vacations… My rational for doing this anyway is there are conflicts all the time. I cannot wait for the perfect time to start doing things.

My current schedule looks like this:

• Monday and Thursday: Fast.
• Tuesday and Friday: strength training.
• Wednesday: cardio.

I plan to take my BKI (body weight, fat%, fat and lean mass) on Fridays and will start this Friday, Nov. 19.

Until then, Lift Consciously

Hey! I’ve been away long enough now… Let’s get going!

The goal of this experiment#2 was for me to drop my fat % down to 15. By looking to my latest BKI, I think we can call it a draw…

According to my “BIA-T” at 16.9%, it’s a near miss.  But if I compute the average for the 3 methods, I’m pretty close to my goal (15.3%)!

Here’s a graph that shows how my BKI evolved over the 3 month period:

And a data grid of the exact numbers:

(All weights in lbs.)

What are my take home lessons? Difficult to say, in fact…

I did not make this experiment in a controlled environment. I was mixing it with the “usual me”. I’m the kind of guy who have a tendency to go overboard without even thinking about it. I was, I think (even if I took no record about my intakes), on a constant calorie deficit.

So, after the fact, it’s no surprise I lost 10.36 lbs of fat (FM). The other fact is I lost 3.84 lbs (the target was zero lbs!) of muscle (LM). That should not be a surprise either.

My take home lesson would be this. It wasn’t that difficult to lose weight after I made the choice (or was able?) to be in a constant calorie deficit. The difficult part was the dark side of it: lean mass loss. But again, this was my choice.

My priority was to drop fat % and this is what I got…

On a final note, I suggest you read this post by Rusty Moore about “How to Gain Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time”.

Until next post, Lift Consciously