As I come on the year anniversary of starting the 20/20 Lifestyles program at the Pro Club, I thought I’d reflect on some of the aspects of what it took to lose 70 pounds. Perhaps the biggest question I get from people is about the diet:

• What can you eat? (or it’s evil twin: what did you have to give up?)
• What can you drink? (or, it’s evil twin: can you still drink?)
• How can you stand it?

First, let’s talk about what you eat and drink once you start on the 20/20 Program. I’ll refrain from calling it a diet. While a diet is supposed to mean a choice of food & drink, invariably it has come to mean a temporary choice of food and drink to reduce weight. The temporary bit is what tends to get most people — if you do something that has caused you to gain a lot of weight, then you do something to lose it, then you revert back to what you did to gain the weight… what do you think will happen?

According to the dieticians at the Pro Club, I, a 6′1″ 33-year-old male, am supposed to consume 15-1700 calories a day, so averaging 1600. Your mileage will vary, but for this discussion we’ll use this number. If you’ll recall, a pound contains 3500 calories, so I’m consuming a little under half a pound per day to keep the body running. More than that, and the intake is converted into fat. So, the question is now, what does 1600 calories look like, and how can you get through a day / week / year on that?

The program advises that people should eat 5 times a day: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. For example, about 300 calories for breakfast, 100 for snack, 400 for lunch, 100 for snack, and 700 for dinner. The other aspect is to consume about 40 grams of fat (yes, fat) throughout the day, especially the earlier meals. The reason being is that it’s fat that is one of the key things that makes you feel sated or full. So, what do you eat with a budget of 1500 - 1700 calories per day?

Well, for starters, remember the Food Pyramid? Here’s that famous picture you probably saw:

6-11 servings of grain;
3-5 servings a day of veggies
2-4 servings of fruit
2-3 servings of protein (meat, fish, eggs, nuts, or beans)
2-3 servings of dairy
a pinch of fats, oils, and sweets

Well, don’t do this. This makes people fat. In particular, let’s look at calories. A serving is basically 100 calories, so the above has you eat 1500 - 2600 calories per day (averaging 2000, thus the 2000-calorie average you often see on food labels). Now, it isn’t completely wrong. Veggies, fruit, dairy servings are good, and minimizing sweets (meaning refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup) is good. The main gotchas are high grain, low protein, and no fat. First, ask any rancher what a grain-fed diet vs a grass diet does for beef. Grain-fed is super fatty, while grass-fed is lean. People aren’t cows, but turns out that grain-fed people tend to be fat. This is why diets such as South Beach and Atkins have worked so well. But it’s only part of the solution.

BTW, you can’t find the Food Pyramid anymore on the USDA’s site; they have a new one that’s all about picking a pyramid for each individual. So at least they’re recognizing things and trying to move in the right direction. Dr. Mark Dedomenico, the founder and director of the 20/20 Program, has a fair amount of evidence that he presents that also supports why a higher protein / low grain diet works well.

So what should you do? Again, 1600 calories, 40 grams of fat, high protein. Here’s what it looks like

This is a sample of what I’ve eaten, with some variety to show what you can do. It’s not much different than lots of other meal plans; the main thing you’ll notice is that there’s very little bread. Turns out that a hamburger bun is 200 calories right there. Rice is another one… 15pc sushi is about 900 calories, while 15pc sashimi is 450 — that’s 450 calories in the rice alone! Yow!

Next up: induction, or how to get your body to start to lose the weight!