The Alternate Day Diet
Do you despise dieting? Is it hard for you to control your cravings day after day? If so, you may be a good candidate for the Alternate Day Diet, described by Dr. James Johnson in his 2008 book. On Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, you can indulge yourself in absolutely anything. But on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you stick to a strict regime of low-fat yogurt, lettuce, fruits, and veggies.
The Alternate Day Diet is based on animal studies in which mice who were only fed every other day experienced incredible health benefits, including increased longevity. Since it would be difficult/dangerous for humans to do the same, instead of not eating, Dr. Johnson proposes that you ‘nibble.’ A typical M/W/F diet for him includes a protein shake, a salad, broth-based soup, and a piece of fruit – and that’s all you eat for one entire day. He takes in about 20% of his typical caloric intake on his dieting days. However, once you’re in the maintenance phase, you can eat about 30-50% of typical intake on your MWF dieting days.
On the non-diet days, you can eat anything you want. The potential problem with this, of course, is that people will binge and nullify any progress they were making. However, proponents of the diet say it actually prevents bingeing because of the variety it offers. Since most dieters binge because they are bored or frustrated with the monotony of low-calorie meals, the Alternate Day Diet makes constant variety easy and can ward off the urge to binge.
Scientifically speaking, cutting your calorie counts every other day may activate a gene called SIRT-1, discovered by Harvard researchers and dubbed the longevity gene for its work in promoting the lifespan of irreplaceable cells, which allow people to live longer. A small study demonstrated that alternate day dieters with asthma experienced a dramatic reduction in symptoms after only two weeks of the alternate day diet. The dieters also had a reduction in oxidative stress markers, which can be signs of future cancer, heart disease, or arthritis.
In repeated studies with primates and mice, diets that involved systematic feeding every other day yielded significant health benefits. The animals were fed only every other day with a diet that consisted of 30% fewer calories than usual. It has been proposed that alternate day eating could ward off everything from Alzheimer’s to cancer to heart disease, as well as diabetes and obesity.
The Alternate Day Diet has proven successful for many followers of Dr. Johnson, who used the diet to lose an incredible 35 lbs. in only three months. However, its long-term success in humans has yet to be demonstrated. Eating a variety of healthy foods on both the dieting and non-dieting days is one key way to ensure that you lose weight, regardless of how closely you follow this plan. It’s also unknown whether there are any risks to dramatic caloric reduction. However, it seems like a promising potential tool for people who constantly struggle with dieting and weight loss.
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This diet JUST WORKED
I've been working out for years and years and one big challenge I've always had is losing the FAT I pack on during the winter or during times when work gets in the way of exercise. A lot of elitists told me I was going to lose all kinds of muscle mass doing this diet but let me tell you they're WRONG. I've tried calorie restriction, cutting, etc and they're all TORTURE. You inevitably are bitter, lose muscle mass, etc. And they cause rebound effects where you eat like a horse after starving for weeks on end.
The alternate day diet STOPS all that. When I first got on this diet, I was still working out every day, but was having a nightmare of a time losing any fat, and I simply didn't have time to spend hours in the gym or outside in -40 degree weather doing cardio.
My wife bought this book, but I picked it up and read it one day and it made a lot of scientific sense. The author has a very solid hypothesis based on roles of different genes that are activated during times of calorie restriction. My wife originally purchased the book because we're both studying microbiology, genetics and sens research (longevity) and the author had some theories regarding FOXO and Sirtunin genes which are also implicated as 'longevity genes'. We've both been studying life extension via calorie restriction models and their mechanism of action.
So, I used this diet and lost 20lbs of fat in two months. During that time, my energy went up, my performance measurably increased (more pushups, more pullups, more weight during lifting, etc). Now the bottom line is that this diet reduces overall calorie intake by a significant amount and that's most likely why you lose weight. But what I believe is different about this diet is that it seems to prevent homeostasis (i.e. adaptation of your body to lower calorie levels) by interrupting the fasting cycle with higher calorie days preventing longer term catabolic effects and lowered BMR.
Is this diet easy? No, but it worked for us and it's worked for other people too! What are the disadvantages? Well the alternate days are hard. For the first few "fasts" we were hungry, bitter and crabby, but it only lasts 24 hours, not for weeks and weeks like other diets or cutting. And we soon adapted. Our stomachs seemed to shrink and we craved less food on our fasting days.
I would highly recommend at least reading the book before you pass judgement on the diet.
35lbs...
of what? Mostly muscle tissue probably, seeing as I also don't see any recommendation of exercise on this "diet", doesn't seem realistic, functional or logical (as there as much better ways to lose bodyfat, especially seeing as its not weight people need to lose, it would be bodyfat)
just my $.02
.:. Lifestyle Changes .:.The REAL Beginner's Guide to Fitness, Health & Nutrition
http://www.myfittribe.com/blogs/imjj123/20070610/starting-out.html
Will_I_Am (245c)
not such a crock
I have to say I thought similar things about the Alternate Day eating approach. I got the book, and read it thoroughly. It's a bit scientific, but if you can get through that, you'll find that numerous valid studies have supported that people not only lose weight doing this, but that they have actually gained lean muscle mass. With any weight loss, some is always water, and some is always muscle; the best approaches find the majority of "weight" loss coming from fat. Activation of SIRT1 through alternate day calorie restriction seems to promote fat burning, and the metabolism remains up since you are eating normally THE VERY NEXT DAY. Not enough time in calorie restriction for the body to go into "starvation mode". But just enough restricion on alternate days for the body to think, "I'm not getting my energy today from food: I'll have to burn stored fat".
I've employed this approach, and found after months of playing around with the same two pounds, I lost six pounds in two weeks. I feel great. I keep my UP days high in protein, and my down days filled with fruit and vegetable based carbohydrate, along with lean protein.
I had my bodyfat tested at my gym, along with my RMR. I will have it checked again in a month. I am hoping to see fat loss. TIme will tell. In the meantime, while employing the UP day DOWN day eating pattern, I exercise, do strength training, 5 days of Iyngar yoga a week, eat no more than 40% carbohydrate on UP or DOWN days, drink tons of water, take in lean protein sources, and get my 8 hours of sleep.