The 28-Day Beach Blitz Part 2: Diet Pedigree

« Virginia Tech - 28 Day Beach Blitz Part 3: Preliminary Preparations »

25 April 2007

Written by: Marty Gallagher Posted under Training and Exercise, Diet and Nutrition

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You need to be methodical and precise as every single day counts. Time is the enemy and with only four weeks to work our magic we don’t have time for fumbles, second thoughts or confusion. The dietary approach we’ll use is tried and proven by competitive bodybuilders, the acknowledged experts on shedding body fat while retaining muscle mass. We expropriate the fat-burning, muscle-retaining methodology of the athletic elite, stripping it down to bare bones for civilian use. By keeping the principles but cranking back on the degree of fanaticism the elite use, this dietetic approach is made palatable and doable for normal people. This is not another fad crash diet; this is an age-old approach designed and utilized by athletes whose competitive placing depends on how successfully they diet. Have you ever noticed that folks who slash calories using crash diet methods always end up looking just as fat at the end of the process as before? The reason is that they have lost equal (or greater) amounts of muscle along with body fat and despite dropping scale pounds their body composition remains still the same (or worsens) as pre-diet. They have succeeded in becoming a lighter version of their old fat self. Our goal is to retain muscle while oxidizing body fat. The key to hanging onto muscle in the face of declining calories during the diet process lies in keeping protein intake elevated throughout the process, modulating carbohydrate consumption and keeping fat intake to a bare minimum.