Gained 10lbs. of MUSCLE in less than a week!

[Paleo Donk]

Eating lean meat only isn't a problem, I set new PRs last night on my bench (Incline+Flat), Snatch and Weighted Dips, it's only a problem if you are under 5.8% body fat.

"In a study of these elite troops, body fat percent dropped from 14.3% at the start of the course to an average of 5.8% at the end. Fat Mass declined according to initial fatness. The body fat loss ceased at a point where each man still carried 2.5 Kg of body fat. This apparently represents a lower limit of body fat loss in healthy men.

In a few soldiers, bodyweight loss, but not body fat loss, continued after reaching this low Fat Mass. This bodyweight loss was fully accounted for by losses in Lean Body Mass. At a critical point in bodyweight loss, the body chooses to spare its remaining fat reserves. Now, instead of losing fat, it sacrifices proteins (muscles and organs) to provide fuel. " P. 196, UDS, Dr. Greggory Ellis

Maybe an extreme amount of lean would be bad, but then, other than sex and sports, everything extreme is bad for you.

I actually agree, that at least in the short term, eating just lean meat, might not be a problem at all, as long as you are not eating too much protein. The simplest explanation for this would be that, as long as you had enough body fat, all your energy needs should come straight from your own body, with the protein sparing your muscle and providing much needed glucose for proper brain function through gluconeogenesis. Very overweight people can actually not eat for very long periods of time, provided they are given a few supplements for mineral and vitamin balance. Lyle McDonald has a book on a diet called the protein-sparing modified fast that is designed to get you to safely lose the most weight in the least amount of time. You simply eat just enough protein to spare muscle and essential fats and the rare carb refeed.

Now, whether this will disturb your metabolism in the future is a huge question for concern. In keys famous starvation study, the men regained all their fat stores and more very quickly after refeeding. I can't remember if the study lasted long enough to see if their fat stores eventually went back to their pre-study amounts.

[Savage]

I have Lyle's RFL book, I don't do refeeds or cheat meals, or eat any carbs, the men in Ancel Keys' study did and I think Cheats/Refeeds are damaging and useless.

I am hungry these days, I was on plan except for one time, someone left 1lb of liver cheese wrapped in pork fat, I ate the whole thing without chewing.

Once I get to the body fat levels I want, I will increase fat by a bit, keep protein 250-300g. Fat gain is much slower on a zero carb diet, if I'm gaining fat, I'll reduce the fat a bit, if I'm losing, increase it and if maintaining, then no change.

I think most people do regain their weight because:

1-Carbs are addictive and they taste so good.

2-A mixed diet promotes more fat gain than a zero carb diet.

3-Hunger/Insulin are not controlled on a mixed diet like a zero carb (high fat) diet.

4-Humans suck at long term changes (Alcoholism, weed, cigarettes, gambling, junk food, etc....)

5-Food tastes good, we like to eat and be lazy.

6-People think that once they lose the weight, they can re-introduce some of their foods "in moderation". Moderation after deprivation is rare.

7-Societal structure and upbringing also make it harder to stay on a plan in some/most cases.

I think if you control hunger (high fat/zero carb diet), do a calorie/fat up(lost of fatty meat) once a week or so or when needed to stay on track and lift heavy weights do some cardio, you'll be good.