The Two Things That Cause Diets to Fail
"Most diets fail!" You've heard that before, but is it true? Yes, statistically, most dieters gain back the weight they lost. But here's a hot take: Only bad diets fail. And study after study tells us exactly what makes a diet bad:
- Dieting without resistance training. This leads to muscle loss and metabolism damage.
- Low protein intake.
Resistance training is easy for us. That's the fun part. But what about protein intake for lifters whose main goal is fat loss?
The Study: 90 Grams vs. 207 Grams
One study took 20 weight-lifting athletes and put them on a strict four-week diet: 40% below maintenance calories. Half of them ate what they normally ate, just a lot less of it. A 200-pound lifter in this group ate about 90 grams of protein per day.
The other half replaced some of their carbs and fats from solid foods with protein shakes, increasing their daily protein intake to 2.3 grams per kilogram. A 200-pound lifter in this group ate 207 grams of protein.
The results?
- The lower-protein dieters lost just as much muscle as they did body fat, even though they kept lifting during the study. Losing 14 pounds means 7 pounds of muscle loss and 7 pounds of fat loss. Not good.
- The higher-protein group lost pure fat and no muscle.
Practical Applications
To keep it simple, replace 220 calories you'd normally "spend" on carbs and fats with equal protein calories. That's two scoops of Metabolic Drive protein – 44 grams of protein. Or adopt the Metabolic Velocity strategy: simply add two MD shakes per day to your diet plan. You'll naturally stay full, reduce cravings, and preserve muscle mass.