Ok, so I'm in the middle of round three of a diet experiment based on Phinney's research into the effects of a very low carb diet on athletic performance.  As I'd posted here previously, of the past few years twice I'd attempted this experiment and twice found what to me are some fascinating results.

So here's where I am.  It's the morning of day seventeen.  Excluding the first three days water weight loss, I have dropped 7.2 pounds in two weeks, a rate of 3.6 pounds per week.  I am now exactly one pound from my goal weight.

Let's do the math.  Weight maintenance for me is about 2400 cals/day per the Mayo clinic's online calculator given my age, height, weight, and activity level.  And I'm told a pound of weight equals 3500 calories.  I am averaging 1800 calories per day right now.  Mathematically there is simply no way I can be dropping 3.6 pounds a week or half a pound a day.  Half a pound a day would be a 1750 calorie deficit, meaning of course that I'd have to be only consuming about 650 calories per day.

Something else is going on here as, again, I'm averaging about 1800 calories per day.  Hmmmm.

How am I doing athletically?  Well, I lost ground initially as can be expected.  And pretty quickly I returned to pre-diet levels.  Energy is up and down -- I don't believe I've given enough time yet to allow adaptation.


Jim Swayze
www.fireholecanyon.com