On Thu, 30 Mar 2000, Ken Stuart wrote:

> I think you are confusing the Zone Diet with what someone tells you to eat
> (regardless of their official status). :-)
>
> There is nothing in the Zone Diet theory that requires a caloric deficit greater
> than that which can produce the most burning of stored body fat.

The Zone diet is whatever Barry Sears and his minions say it is.
If you follow Sears' "rules" to the letter, as I did, you may or
may not end up with a program that conserves muscle.  While Sears
acknowledges that body fat burning is a rate-limited process, he
does not actually give guidelines for determining how great a
caloric deficit one is in.  Instead, he gives rules for figuring
out one's Zone "prescription" in blocks.  Note that you are
supposed to add one block for every 25 lbs. (after the first 25)
that you need to lose.  One block is about 100 calories.
"Maintenance" for 25 lbs. is about 350 calories (And I am using
the conservative 14 cal/lb rule, while 15 cal/lb is actually
"standard").  So even the extra block allowance for additional
weight to be lost still represents a *massive* caloric deficit.

Todd Moody
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