Velocity Diet - Reflections
Sorry this has taken so long. My parents were up this weekend helping the wife and I get things packed away. Yesterday eve when I got home from work we made a run to the storage unit to pack away our precious books (or at least most of them). I just finished some touch up paint work ...we are getting there.
I remained 100% strict and got in every shake. Not cheating other than a day or two where I had to have 10 whole calories of Crystal light to stave off the cravings. The Results: I lost a tad over 3 inches off my gut and 20 lbs on my 28 days. I am having 1 solid meal until Friday and on Sat I am bumping it up to 2 solid meals a day. Next weekend I'll go back to normal (I am speeding up the transition phases a bit to get my injury healed). So the big question is ... was it worth it. Soo many protein shakes ... so much pain. I think my general consensus is the Velocity Diet is not worth the 28 days of pain and physical agony you put yourself through. On the first workout of week 2 I hurt my right elbow, which is still healing. In addition to being limited in the gym, I also got sick for about 8 days or so - nasty crap in the lungs sick. I will note that last time I tried this diet and failed I got sick as well. And of course there is the gastrointestinal distress. Suffice to say the first half of the diet you don't make it to the restroom other than to piss. The last 10 days of the diet was worse, with extreme diarrhea. I hate to be gross but those are the facts.
Simply put I would not advise anyone to do this diet except under the most extreme conditions. Of course to be fair I can't yet fully evaluate if and how this has changed my eating habits. I have not had a pizza in 4 plus weeks - which is a record - nor do I have any real cravings. I am hoping the biggest benefit will not be the weight lost but the dropping of some bad dietary habits. Also because of all the protein, I kept ALOT of my muscle, this despite the fact I was limited to pulling movements and legs. It is my firm opinion that I could have had the same results with 3 months of strict dieting ...but it just would have been harder to not fall off the wagon. Also I think I might have made some more dramatic inches lost had it not been for the sickness/injury. Still though 20 lbs and a tad over 3 inches off ye olde gut is damn impressive.
Here is my list of this to DO and DO NOT if you are going to attempt this diet.
DO:
1) You must get some sugar free flavored syrups ... this will help the diversity of the shakes by orders of magnitude. Its the single biggest reason I made it this time. I had 7 different flavors to help augment the stock chocolate, vanilla, banana, and strawberry.
2) You must have great support. Sig other, spouse, friend whatever ... someone who will help you through this month of hell. One Sunday I was so sick I could barely move - had my wife not made all my shakes for me I probably would have missed em all.
3) Tell everyone you know what you are doing ... not to brag but the more people who know the better - it motivates you. I also posted an almost daily log on my livejournal so my friends could follow along. With folks watching you its harder to quit.
4) Mentally prepare yourself for the exhaustion, stomach cramps, and gastrointestinal distress. Your body is going to wage several revolts at this and you must be prepared to stick it out. The past two times I failed I was not mentally prepared enough. This time I was 100% committed. I fought through sickness and injury to make it to the end.
5) Be prepared ... see notes below
6) Give yourself some deserving props for getting through this thing. Surviving all 28 days with 100 % strictness makes your one tough SOB.
DO NOT:
1) Try this diet during flu season. You WILL get sick. I'm not even screwing around here ... unless you live in a warm climate year round, do not try this diet during the winter. Your immune system is going to be too weakened to resist picking up a bug at work/school. The last time I tried this and failed, I quit because I got sick.
2) Try a bunch of exercises you don't know. Even though weighted dips is where my elbow finally got hurt, trying all these Olympic lifts I had never done before certainly did not help my elbows. Big movements like squats and deadlifts are fine as long as the pace is still quick. If you don't do compound movements, well all I can do is shake my head at that.
3) Be unprepared - make ALL your shakes up for the whole day in the morn. Also make sure you have enough shaker bottles clean to accommodate your "meals" for the day. This is especially crucial on the weekends !
4) Attempt to schedule anything big. Any big event will be tough to get through because especially by week 3 your are going to feel like ass. The last 10 days I had some pretty serious stomach cramps almost every evening.
5) Miss your NEPA walks. They are key ... especially if you get hurt like I did.
So to those of you out there thinking of this diet ... there is the whole truth. Am I glad I did it ? Yes. But I'm not convinced if its that my habits and tastes have changed that will keep me from getting heavy again as much as its the stark abject fear at ever having to do this diet again. Still fear is a pretty powerful emotion, and so is pride. Its been a long time since I felt good about myself walking around without a shirt. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all ...
I remained 100% strict and got in every shake. Not cheating other than a day or two where I had to have 10 whole calories of Crystal light to stave off the cravings. The Results: I lost a tad over 3 inches off my gut and 20 lbs on my 28 days. I am having 1 solid meal until Friday and on Sat I am bumping it up to 2 solid meals a day. Next weekend I'll go back to normal (I am speeding up the transition phases a bit to get my injury healed). So the big question is ... was it worth it. Soo many protein shakes ... so much pain. I think my general consensus is the Velocity Diet is not worth the 28 days of pain and physical agony you put yourself through. On the first workout of week 2 I hurt my right elbow, which is still healing. In addition to being limited in the gym, I also got sick for about 8 days or so - nasty crap in the lungs sick. I will note that last time I tried this diet and failed I got sick as well. And of course there is the gastrointestinal distress. Suffice to say the first half of the diet you don't make it to the restroom other than to piss. The last 10 days of the diet was worse, with extreme diarrhea. I hate to be gross but those are the facts.
Simply put I would not advise anyone to do this diet except under the most extreme conditions. Of course to be fair I can't yet fully evaluate if and how this has changed my eating habits. I have not had a pizza in 4 plus weeks - which is a record - nor do I have any real cravings. I am hoping the biggest benefit will not be the weight lost but the dropping of some bad dietary habits. Also because of all the protein, I kept ALOT of my muscle, this despite the fact I was limited to pulling movements and legs. It is my firm opinion that I could have had the same results with 3 months of strict dieting ...but it just would have been harder to not fall off the wagon. Also I think I might have made some more dramatic inches lost had it not been for the sickness/injury. Still though 20 lbs and a tad over 3 inches off ye olde gut is damn impressive.
Here is my list of this to DO and DO NOT if you are going to attempt this diet.
DO:
1) You must get some sugar free flavored syrups ... this will help the diversity of the shakes by orders of magnitude. Its the single biggest reason I made it this time. I had 7 different flavors to help augment the stock chocolate, vanilla, banana, and strawberry.
2) You must have great support. Sig other, spouse, friend whatever ... someone who will help you through this month of hell. One Sunday I was so sick I could barely move - had my wife not made all my shakes for me I probably would have missed em all.
3) Tell everyone you know what you are doing ... not to brag but the more people who know the better - it motivates you. I also posted an almost daily log on my livejournal so my friends could follow along. With folks watching you its harder to quit.
4) Mentally prepare yourself for the exhaustion, stomach cramps, and gastrointestinal distress. Your body is going to wage several revolts at this and you must be prepared to stick it out. The past two times I failed I was not mentally prepared enough. This time I was 100% committed. I fought through sickness and injury to make it to the end.
5) Be prepared ... see notes below
6) Give yourself some deserving props for getting through this thing. Surviving all 28 days with 100 % strictness makes your one tough SOB.
DO NOT:
1) Try this diet during flu season. You WILL get sick. I'm not even screwing around here ... unless you live in a warm climate year round, do not try this diet during the winter. Your immune system is going to be too weakened to resist picking up a bug at work/school. The last time I tried this and failed, I quit because I got sick.
2) Try a bunch of exercises you don't know. Even though weighted dips is where my elbow finally got hurt, trying all these Olympic lifts I had never done before certainly did not help my elbows. Big movements like squats and deadlifts are fine as long as the pace is still quick. If you don't do compound movements, well all I can do is shake my head at that.
3) Be unprepared - make ALL your shakes up for the whole day in the morn. Also make sure you have enough shaker bottles clean to accommodate your "meals" for the day. This is especially crucial on the weekends !
4) Attempt to schedule anything big. Any big event will be tough to get through because especially by week 3 your are going to feel like ass. The last 10 days I had some pretty serious stomach cramps almost every evening.
5) Miss your NEPA walks. They are key ... especially if you get hurt like I did.
So to those of you out there thinking of this diet ... there is the whole truth. Am I glad I did it ? Yes. But I'm not convinced if its that my habits and tastes have changed that will keep me from getting heavy again as much as its the stark abject fear at ever having to do this diet again. Still fear is a pretty powerful emotion, and so is pride. Its been a long time since I felt good about myself walking around without a shirt. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all ...