Diet this month

I've commented a few times that my main focus this month was on my diet and on counting and restricting calories. I haven't mentioned at all how I've been doing this. To be truthful, it's been a difficult 3 weeks so far and I can't wait for my current eating protocol to change.

Basically, I've been living on protein shakes and one solid meal per day for the past 3 weeks. Right after a workout, I use a protein shake that has some carbs in it. During the course of a typical day, I will work out, have a shake with carbs, then have two low-carb shakes during the day, work out again, and then have one more shake with carbs.

Then, I have one meal in the evening - typcially a big salad, a veggie, and a lean protein source. Mid-way through the month, I planned a single cheat meal - a high carb meal of whatever sounded good at the time.

I thought this diet would get easier over time, but the past few days have been tough.

All of this has been based on something called the Velocity Diet, published on the T-Nation.com web-site. Be warned that the site has some pictures that might not be safe for work. It's dedicated primarily to bodybuilders (T-Nation is a shortcut for Testosterone Nation), and there are numerous photos of female bodybuilder and figure competitors.

Anyway, the true Velocity Diet allows you to have only one solid meal per week, not one per day. I will admit that I don't think I could do that, but I felt I could follow the one-meal-per-day variation.

My 4 shakes during the day total 900 calories on a day where I lift and run for my two workouts, and 750 calories on a day where I run twice. Then, my evening meal is typically 800-900 total calories.

Starting this weekend, I'm going to start transitioning off this diet. I will eat 2 solid meals per day this weekend. Next week, during the work week, I'll have two meals some days and one meal some other days.

It looks right now like I will have lost about 10 pounds by the end of this month. The tape measure and the mirror and my clothes and my belt all confirm the weight loss.

As I get into March, the most important thing will be to follow a reasonable diet and not re-gain any weight. I will then have a few months where I hope to drop another 5 pounds or so before Western States, but I will have lost most of the weight I need to lose before my running mileage really peaks.

I don't know if I'd recommend this diet to others or not. I think it has been effective, but it's been mentally tough. I thought it would be expensive, but in reality, the supplements that I've used haven't really cost any more than the food I've skipped. It might have even saved me some money.

It hasn't been fun at times. But, it will all be worth it on June 29th.