In my quest for the body beautiful I’ve finally found the formula for the fastest results when time is against you. In reflection it’s a pretty obvious dietary plan for those in the know but for me it took some experimenting to finally find what worked best. As much as we all hate diets (as a short term protocol) they can be incredibly useful when you want short term gains, and this post is just that, a diet and not a lifestyle plan.

**WARNING** – This diet is likely to cause some rebound weight gain if you don’t ease back into eating healthy afterwards. During the diet there will also be some down-regulation of hormones, nothing major, but is one of the reasons this shouldn’t be continued for longer than is needed.

So here is what my wife and I are currently eating with impressive results, often losing 0.1% body fat per day. Please note I don’t recommend you follow this dietary plan specifically, always find what works for you best after some period of experimentation. But if you want to try a fairly sure bet, then you can give this a go.

CCKP / Calorie Controlled Ketogenic Paleo

Structure

This plan has three key aspects.
1) Paleo – This ensures your body receives the right nutrients and not any of the bad stuff that physically damages us.
2) Ketogenic – Very low carb intake promotes ketogenesis. A Ketogenic dietary intake allows insulin senstivity to recover, allowing the body to burn its fat stores correctly.
3) Calorie Controlled – To lose body fat and get lean you ultimately need to have a net calorie deficit. An often quoted target is an intake of 10 calories for each lb of total bodyweight, e.g. 1600 calories per day for a 160lb person.

Exercise

A Paleo approach dictates followers should be exercising, period. For fat loss purposes interval training (anaerobic) is more effective than longer bouts of continuous (aerobic) exercise. e.g. 20 seconds full intensity followed by 10 seconds rest, repeated 8 times (4 minutes total) of an exercise such as rowing is a more effective fat loss regimen than 30 minutes of exercise at 75% of your VO2 max.

N.B. Exercise will definitely help you lose fat through many different bodily mechanisms but it’ll never be as effective as dietary changes.

Diet Rules

The first key ingredient to this food regimen is adherence. 100% adherence 100% of the time. No exclusions, no options. Changing any aspect of it such as a rare cheat meal can often defeat much of the gains.

Stick to your calorie limit each day. Try not to under eat. At first it helps to weigh and measure the food but after a while you get a feel for when you’re easting about the right amount.

The Food

No List

• No dairy – no milk, yoghurt, cheese, cream etc… (Only exclusions are grass fed butter [Anchor or Kerry Gold] and whey protein after a hard gym session).
• No grains – no wheat, flour, oats, barley, beer, pasta, bread, biscuits, floury sauces.
• No grain oils – no sunflower oil, safflower oil, canola oil, rapeseed oil.
• No legumes – no soy, beans, peanuts.
• No sugars – no added sugar at all, no artificial sweetener.
• No alcohol – pretty much none (If you really must then limited amounts of unflavoured Tequila, Vodka and Rum).
• No fruit – no fruit, no smoothies, no juices, no tomatoes (Exclusions are lemons and limes).
• No carb heavy foods – no starchy vegetables (potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots).
• Generally if it comes in a box or has a barcode it’s probably one of the above.

Yes List

• Water – Drink this and only this. Fizzy/sparkling is fine. Aim for about 3 litres a day. Just do it.
• Spirits – Ideally none, but if you really must then limited amounts of unflavoured Tequila, Vodka and Rum.
• Spices, herbs, lemons and limes – All help to make everything taste better.
• Meat – Keep it lean unless it’s grass fed beef or lamb for which the fat is definitely recommended. Organ meats are highly recommended too (liver, tongue, heart etc…).
• Fish – All types (no breadcrumbs or batter!). Oily omega 3 rich fish is massively preferential.
• Vegetables – Low carb veg only. This allows unlimited amounts of: Broccoli, Lettuce, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Mushrooms, Green beans, Onions, Asparagus, Cucumber, Spinach, All forms of peppers, Zucchini.
• Eggs – Free range only. I like 2 or 3 every day for breakfast. A great alternate breakfast is leftover lean meat and nuts.
• Breakfast – Don’t have it – Instead at mid morning have some coconut milk or coconut oil in a coffee or in 10g of whey protein (avoid whey that contains Acesulfame Potassium (also known as Ace-K) as it causes insulin spikes).
• Olive Oil – as little as possible but much better than grain oils. Better to grill food or dry fry really.
• Coconut Meat and Coconut Oil – Great stuff but still high in calories.
• Nuts – limited amount (around 100 kcal of nuts a day absolute max. I do best on zero or maybe 100kcal worth at lunch with lean meat).
• Butter – Grass fed only! Anchor or Kerry Gold. Great stuff but still high in calories.
• Whey protein shakes – Since these often have artificial sweeteners in them and are by their nature a food drink (insulin spiker) I wouldn’t have more than 2 a day, consumed in the morning (as above) or immediately after a hard gym session only. (For breakfast I recommend I like MyProtein Vanilla flavoured Whey Isolate. I also LOVE “Optimum Nutrition” Whey – Rich Chocolate and Mint Chocolate. I honestly think they’re as tasty as proper chocolate milkshakes. Critically this does contain Ace-K so it’s not suitable for breakfast.)

Not sure List

• Tea – Not sure on this as I don’t drink it but it seems pretty harmless when taken black, but recent reports suggest it might have negative health impacts.
• Coffee – There are very mixed reviews on this, but the general perception is the pros (coffee being an appetite suppressant and caffeine helping fat loss) outweigh the negatives. I’d be happy to drink coffee in limited amounts.

To make life easier

Always have these in the freezer. I add some of them to pretty much every meal.

• Frozen peppers
• Frozen sliced mushrooms
• Frozen broccoli
• Frozen cauliflower
• Frozen sprouts
• Frozen chopped onions
• Frozen puréed garlic

Meals

Use your imagination here, but an average day for me is:

• Breakfast: Shake of 10g of vanilla whey + 50g of coconut milk + crushed ice
• Lunch: salad, balsamic vinegar, meat or meat+nuts or fatty meat+eggs
• Dinner: lean meat and LOADS of green veg

Some third party reading:

Charles Poliquin’s Top 10 Carb Intake Rules For Optimal Body Composition