Today I’d like to share two different theoretical approaches to losing body fat and getting shredded. So not just lean, but really lean..borderline contest ready (just without the 
water depletion) Let’s say around 5-6% body fat for men, 12% ish body fat for Women (That’s really low).
In order to share these two theories with you, I need to start with the assumptions we’re going to be working with today.
Assumption One: There is a finite ‘rate’ for which each body fat cell can supply free fatty acids. Kind of like a speed limit… X number of free fatty acids per hour (FFA/Hr)
Assumption Two: Any Lean Body Mass / Volume that is lost during dieting is transient. It’s not ‘gone for ever’ and can be built back up.
Now that we have our assumptions down…here are the two theories.
Approach One: THE HARE – STRIP, Then Build back up.
Under this theory you would fast, diet, fast, diet some more and do everything possible to lose body fat as quickly as possible in order to get shredded.
This theory comes with one inevitability based on assumption 1 – Eventually your body fat will get so low that it will no longer be able to supply 100% of your daily caloric needs.
As an example: Let’s say that each pound of body fat can release about 5 Calories worth of fat per hour. This means that over a 24 hour period each pound of body fat can release about 120 calories for your body to use as an energy source. Under this scenario a 170 pound man with 6% body fat would only have about 1,200 Calories available as fat. Meaning some extra source of Calories must be found.
So in this scenario, it is possible that towards the end of dieting, some muscle mass/volume may be lost.
But, the benefit is that this approach would be quick fat loss, allowing some time to then build the muscle back up once the desired leanness is achieved (since any loss of muscle mass/volume is only transient).Chances are, since we are most likely talking about volume changes with an itty bitty bit of actual protein loss, this wouldn’t take long at all.
Approach Two: The Tortoise: The REVERSE RAMP approach
Basically, the opposite of what bodybuilders do. In this approach you start ‘hardcore’ Fasting, dieting, more fasting more dieting, to get the initial large amount of body fat off as quickly as possible. Then as you get close to contest lean, you would slowly start INCREASING your weekly calorie totals. You’d still be in a deficit, it just wouldn’t be as giant as the beginning weeks. Body fat loss would be slow, but not ‘stalled’.
As an example. Assuming a 6 foot male with 170 pounds of LBM on a 10 week diet down, with a BMR of roughly 2,000 Calories per day, and a daily need of around 2,400 Calories, not including planned exercise.
Week 1: Weekly average 7,000 Calories
Week 2: Weekly average 7,000 Calories
Week 3: Weekly Average 7,000 Calories
Week 4: Weekly Average 7,000 Calories
Week 5: Weekly Average 8,000 Calories
Week 6: Weekly Average 9,000 Calories
Week 7: Weekly Average 10,000 Calories
Week 8: Weekly Average 12,000 Calories
Week 9: Weekly Average 12,000 – 14,00 Calories
Week 10: Weekly Average 12,000 – 14,00 Calories
So weeks 1-4 our example person would be fasting twice per week and eating a max of 1,400 when he isn’t fasting. This would possibly be a combination of ESE style fasting and some ‘during the days’ fasts. During these weeks initial body fat loss would be impressive, probably as high as two – three pounds per week.
Weeks 5- 7 would be fasting twice per week, and eating a max of 1,700-1,800 Calories when not fasting. During this period we’d probably see another 3-5 pounds of body fat loss (total, not per week).
Weeks 8 -10 Fasting would MAYBE be once a week (if at all). Eating would be a strict max of 1,700 Calories Following the guidelines in The Anything Goes Diet. Fat loss would probably be a maximum of 2 pounds.
Under this approach we could see a theoretical 6 foot guy drop from a fairly lean and muscular 195 pounds down to a ‘shredded’ 178 pounds.
(Remember all numbers are theoretical)
So the reverse ramp would be a quick fat loss period followed by a tapering to allow for maintenance of lean body mass. Keep in mind that this tapering would occur at a level of leanness that most of us would already find very desirable (around 8%).
Both approaches have the same goal in mind, just one is the ‘hare’ approach and the other is the ‘tortoise’
I think both approaches have their mertis, and most likely the approach that is best would be completely dependent on the personality of the person following the diet.
Either way, I would love to hear your thoughts on these approaches.
[[Please remember these are also theoretical, and only meant as discussion point - Other than the need to get extremely shredded I still recommend a combo of Eat Stop Eat and the Anything Goes Diet ]]
BP
Hey Brad,
I’m actually doing something around the lines of both. Right now, I’m implementing a fasting protocol along the lines of the leangains.com, which is also inspired by your work and you probably already know about, and increasing my calorie consumption to see where I stall for a week. (I’m not counting calories, and just trying to determine by eye where my food consumption gets “right”. Once I do, I’m thinking about doing a final sprint for 2 weeks, with 16hour fasts and 24hour fasts for getting really lean.
Your approaches (any of them) are way better and make more sense, but I’m also doing for “academic” purposes, as in, knowing how much can I eat without putting on body fat, as I’m also a former obese.
best regards and love your articles
Mario Platt
Nice. Both approaches are great, but as you said people differ. I have been fasting for almost 8 months once or twice a week, and I noticed that every time I come out of the fast my body is begging for food. It feels like my system knows exactly how much i need to be happy and stopped thinking about food. I am 6.1 and currently I weight 173. I have visible six pack , but i still dont feel like it is perfect. So in last months I tried both approaches while following Adonis workouts. First was radical, when I would fast even 4 days a week. Second was 1 fast a week plus eating less. What I noticed was that it was easier to do more fasting then being on deficit and eating. For some reason, if I set my body that i will be fasting, my body is Happy and does not ask for food. If i limit the food intake, my body always knows that it was not enough and I keep walking and looking for anything to stick to my mouth which in the end would possible end with going over the daily calories need. (stupid 10-30 almonds is enough to overeat) So I personally prefer to fast more and work hard during that time and then reload at least with protein. But I must say that when you at low fat levels. I am probably around 8-9, it is very difficult to eat less to remove that extra fat and get really shredded. I think that in my opinion it is a short term sacrifice and it is very difficult. I have been struggling and I am stay within 170-172 pounds, even with so many fasts and workouts. (I am dedicated to adonis and I work as hard as i can) But it is still hard to go to that super shredded level. I wonder how you look now? Anything like JB? Are you by yourself able to restrict yourself that much? What people must understand, and this is something that you keep telling us all the time is that we really need little food to survive and it wont hurt if we eat little as a tool to the shredded state. But it is hard. Is not it?
I think my experience as a lean eating coach has shown me that most people, after they get the fat loss going, tend to naturally turn into the tortoise. Whether it is psychologically tough to keep going hard, or whether it is a case that most of them tend to keep gym performance as a priority or not, or something else, they seem to naturally get a little tortoise-ie.
However my experience with a more “hard core” group, athletes and such, suggests that they tend to want to rip that band aid off fast.
Of the two groups the lean eating clients out number the “hard core” folks by magnitude.
After reading this article I’ve understood that You really deserve to what you say on your Main page: Brad = Different!
[...] and NutritionBrad Pilonhttp://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/tortoise-and-hare-two-approaches-to-losing-body-fat/My Fitness [...]
HI bart
I’ve lived the same issue in the past:no matter how aggresssive I went with my diet,fat loss stopped,and prevent me to get shredded.I’ve developed my teoris about it,and for the next 12 weeks I’m going to put it into action.I’ll let you know.
ciao
Sandro
[...] Brad Pilon talks about the tortoise and the hare approach to weight loss [...]
So weeks 1-4 of a max of 1400 calories a day would look something like this:
M:1400
T:0
W:1400
R:1400
F:0
s:1400
S:1400
= 7,000.
So Is this how you derived at 7,000 calories fro that period? Thanks!
“As an example: Let’s say that each pound of body fat can release about 5 Calories worth of fat per hour…”
Okay, interesting. And obviously there must be some limit. But do we have any research on what that limit is? (Is 5 cal per pound realistic?)
Not that I’ve found… as you said, there must be an obvious limit…I’m just not sure what it is…
B
Brad, what would one do after this theoretical timeline of body fat shredding? Typical ESE Maintainance?
Yeah, just maintain with ESE. Either once a week type fasting, or twice a week with a little more food in-between fasts.
B
I basically use this approach. I use a cal defecit of 30 cals per lb. of bodyfat. As I lean out I raise the cals. Works beautifully