What Do You All Think of Dr John Berardi's Get Shredded Diet?

[gstatefaith]

Some people here say that it is very bad to drop your kcals to under 2000 per day yet this diet only allows for one to eat 2000 kcals if you are 200+ lbs. Also, there is no protein ingested after training, only bcaa's and creatine. I'm not sure how cardio is worked out either. In any event, it is interesting and I am curious if anyone has tried this diet.


Edit: type in John Berardi's get shredded Diet into google to find the diet if you don't already know about it. It is too long to post here.

[IronAdam]

Well I wasn't able to find his "get shredded diet", but the articles that I did read from him on eating lean seemed pretty accurate and logical. But what you mentioned in your post makes no sense. You cannot lump people into "over 200lbs", and suggest only 2000kcals per day. A much better approach would involve using ones proportion of body fat and lean body mass, combined with their maintenance level of kcals, and taking into account their activity level and fitness routine...and this approach is called the harris-bennedict equation (google it or search this forum). A quick and dirty (and not as accurate way) is to take your body weight and multiply by 11-13 to get your target number of calories for cutting, 13-15 for maintenance and 15-18 for bulking. Then break those calories down into 5-7 meals with a macro break down of about 40P-40C-20F. The carbs should come primarily from low GI sources like brown rice, yams and whole grain breads. The protein from lean sources such as tuna, chicken, turkey, lean ham or pork, as well as sources with healthy unsaturated fats like tilapia, salmon, almonds and other healthy nuts.

[gstatefaith]

rereading my post, I'm making little sense. I wish I could just post the link to the article but it doesn't work and I think it is against board rules. Anyways, I'll try to be a little more specific with some key excerpts from Dr. Berardi's "Get Shredded Diet".

The Calories:

The goal of the Get Shredded Diet is to help you drop 0.5% -1% body fat per week for between 6 and 12 weeks (the duration depends on how much fat you have to lose and how long you want to endure the plan). With this goal in mind, you know you're gonna have to cut calories. And you're gonna have to cut them hard.

So here's your new calorie formula:

Body weight in lbs x 10kcal

Now, does it have to be exactly bodyweight x 10 every day? Not necessarily.

Your calorie intake will likely fluctuate unless you eat the same exact things every day. So, if it fluctuates naturally, don't worry if you're at bodyweight x 9 one day and bodyweight x 11 another day. You can likely get away with that 10% spread. However, just make sure you stick within this range of calories — and don't try to justify taking in more!


The Macronutrient Split:

Ok, now that we've established the right calorie range and the conditions necessary before starting the Get Shredded Diet, let's talk macronutrients.

Protein should make up between 30 and 35% of your daily intake and all of it should come from whole food sources. This is the case for 3 reasons:

1) Whole food sources will contain more vitamins and minerals and it's essential to maximize vitamin and mineral intake when on such a low calorie diet. With this level of hypocaloric intake, you'll already be borderline deficient in some micronutrients so don't make it worse by using low micronutrient proteins during this extreme hypocaloric diet.

2) Whole food sources provide better satiety vs. most supplemental protein sources. As you're going to be huuuungry, you'll need every bit of satiety you can get.

3) Whole food sources have a higher thermic effect vs. most supplemental protein sources. Since you'll want to maximize your metabolic rate during the Get Shredded Diet, you'll want to increase your thermic cost.

Carbs should make up 10-15% of your intake. All of your carbohydrates on the Get Shredded Diet should come from fresh vegetable sources (preferably organic) like spinach, broccoli, green beans, asparagus, zucchini, caul***ower, different color peppers, carrots, tomatoes, etc.

Again, right now you'll need all the nutrition you can get in as few calories as possible. The veggies listed above fit the bill beautifully. Every day I'd like you to get at least one serving (1/2 cup) of each of the veggies listed above.

Fats should make up 55-60% of your intake. You should be getting a fairly even mixture of saturates, polyunsaturates, and monounsaturates (this means about 33% of your total fat coming from each). But don't worry, you don't have to be exact. Simply adding some olive oil, flax oil, fish oil, and avocado each day will help.

[gstatefaith]

cont'd

Meal Timing:

Now that we've established your calorie, protein, carb, and fat goals, let's talk meal breakdowns. Fortunately, this part is simple. You're going to eat 4 food meals each day with your calories evenly split throughout the day. So, simply divide the numbers above by 4 to get your per-meal totals.

The Supplements:

Now, after reading the calorie ranges and macronutrient breakdowns above, you're probably ready to give the local loony-bin a shout. You might be thinking that I'm outta my mind. Perhaps you're worried about muscle and strength loss. Perhaps you're thinking that you'll suffer poor brain function with that few carbohydrates. Perhaps you're worried about nutrient deficiencies. Or you might have one of a host of other maladies in mind.

Well, worry no longer. If you use the following supplement strategy, you'll be filling in your nutritional gaps, you'll be making sure to avoid as much brain fog as possible and you'll be preserving muscle mass quite well.

And this isn't just theoretical. I've done the nutritional analyses; have used this protocol repeatedly with myself and other clients; and promise that if you do exactly what I say, you'll have the best experience possible — although, again, this won't be easy. Nor does this mean that you won't lose an ounce of muscle or won't lose any strength. What it does mean is that my suggestions will help mitigate the muscle and strength losses, minimizing them.

So here's what to do:

Supplements #1 and #2

Branched Chain Amino Acids and Creatine

Think of these two supplements as your muscle mass saviors. These two supplements will help mitigate muscle and strength loss and will help keep your aerobic and anaerobic systems running closer to optimal, ensuring that you don't feel like total dog poo during your diet.

You'll only feel like partial dog poo. But at least your workouts will stay productive.

In fact, I've tried the Get Shredded Diet without and with the BCAA+creatine combo and have found that the difference is night and day. With this combo you'll feel much better physically and mentally, will still get pumps in the gym (even with this very low carb approach), and you'll avoid the gumby-leg syndrome. That's where your muscles, especially your legs, feel flat and rubbery most of the time.

Here's what to do:

For those under 200lbs, use 5g of BCAA and 2.5g of creatine 4x per day throughout the Get Shredded Diet. You'll use 1 serving during strength training and 1 serving after strength training. The other 2 servings you'll use between meals — whenever you like (see below for an example).

For those over 200lbs, use 10g of BCAA and 5g of creatine 4x per day throughout your diet. You'll use 1 serving during strength training and 1 serving after strength training. The other 2 servings you'll use between meals — whenever you like (see below for an example).

In terms of brands, obviously, Biotest's BCAA and Micronized German Creatine are top of the line. However, before there was Biotest BCAA, I used a brand by Extreme Formulations called ICE — it's also a good product.

Supplement #3

Greens+

Anyone who's read my work likely knows I'm a huge fan of Greens+. It's full of vitamins and minerals, loaded with free-radical absorbing antioxidants, packed with a variety of base producing compounds that will neutralize your dietary acids, and is rich with healthy bacteria to protect and detoxify your gut.

Greens+ becomes especially important on the Get Shredded Diet as it has a compliment of nutrients to help detoxify the body (this is important during periods of rapid fat loss when toxins are being released from your fat cells) and to help neutralize the high dietary acids you'll be taking in.

Here's how to use Greens+:

Use 1 serving per day, taken either with or between meals.

Also, if you're in the US, you'll have to stick with the regular Greens+ varieties. However, if you're in Canada, you should try Greens+ Daily Detox as it's got a better detoxification profile than even the regular Greens+ varieties.

Supplements #4 and 5

multi+ and ZMA

I'm going to provide you with an example dietary plan below. I've analyzed this dietary plan thoroughly, looking at fat balance, protein quality, vitamin and mineral intake, and more. And in the end, although it provides a great variety of vitamins and minerals and covers most of an individual's daily needs, it's a little low in a few vitamins and minerals that I'd like to see more of, including:

Vitamin B1
Vitamin B6
Vitamin E
Pantothenic Acid
Copper
Magnesium
Zinc

Therefore, rounding out your intake with a daily serving of Biotest's ZMA and a serving of Genuine Health's dissolution tested, bioactive multi+ formula should take care of any potential dietary deficiencies.

I know what some of you are thinking — why not just rearrange the diet to contain more of these micronutrients? Well, the truth is, it's damn hard to get all the necessary vitamins and minerals on such a low energy diet. So, this is where supplements come in — to fill in the gaps.

Keep in mind that one added bonus of these two supplements, besides preventing dietary deficiencies, is the fact that they'll help you sleep better while on the Get Shredded Diet.

When following a hypocaloric diet like this one, especially when you're getting very lean, it's very hard to get good quality sleep — for two reasons.

First, you'll be getting up to pee about 3-5x per nite. Second, your sympathetic nervous system tends to be amped up constantly. Having an adequate vitamin and mineral intake help tremendously in reducing the frequency of urination and in settling the nervous system at night.

Supplement #6

Fish Oil

Do I really have to expound on this one? I didn't think so. Simply take your 6-10g of fish oil per day and you'll be covered.

I use Biotest's Flameout and Genuine Health's o3mega, alternating between the two as I like to rotate fish oil types, just as I like to rotate protein powders during my other 92-98 weeks.

Supplements #6 and 7

HOT-ROX and Abs+

In terms of fat burners, it's no surprise that I often shy away from them. However, during your Get Shredded Diet, you're going to need the appetite suppression, thyroid hormone support, and metabolic rate support that HOT-ROX offers. Plus the energy boost won't hurt either.

However, as many folks are sensitive to stimulants (especially HOT-ROX Extreme), I like to do one week on and one week off HOT-ROX, using something like Abs+ during the off weeks.

Abs+ is a blend of very high dose EGCG (green tea extract) and CLA. Although it doesn't produce quite the fat loss effects of HOT-ROX, it's milder on the nervous system while still assisting in fat loss (through different mechanisms).

In terms of dosing:

Use HOT-ROX (3 capsules) 3x per day for one week.

Then, during the following week, use Abs+ (3 capsules) 3x per day.

Supplement #8

Power Drive

As a program like this will be pretty taxing on the CNS, regardless of your training program, you'll want something like Power Drive to help improve your focus, concentration, and training intensity.

When following the Get Shredded Diet, take one serving of Power Drive first thing in the AM and one serving in the evening between meals.

Now, to some of you this may seem like a lot of supplements. In fact, I can already hear the cries regarding expense, etc. But don't get too carried away. First of all, you won't be spending much money on food during the Get Shredded Diet,t so you'll have money left over for supplements. Second of all, you should only be following the Get Shredded Diet for 6-12 weeks every 2 years. That's a maximum of 3 months. So it's not like this is an ongoing cost. Save up for the other 21 months if you have to. Just use them!

Like I said, all of these supplements are in place to mitigate muscle loss, to ensure adequate nutrient status, and to keep you feeling sane during a relatively insane protocol.

[spywizard]

Some people here say that it is very bad to drop your kcals to under 2000 per day yet this diet only allows for one to eat 2000 kcals if you are 200+ lbs. Also, there is no protein ingested after training, only bcaa's and creatine. I'm not sure how cardio is worked out either. In any event, it is interesting and I am curious if anyone has tried this diet.


Edit: type in John Berardi's get shredded Diet into google to find the diet if you don't already know about it. It is too long to post here.

that's because the goal in dieting is to lose the fat, not the muscle.. he doesn't care as long as you lose weight..

see a difference..??

[gstatefaith]

that's because the goal in dieting is to lose the fat, not the muscle.. he doesn't care as long as you lose weight..

see a difference..??

The goal of this diet is to lose .5-1% of body fat per week according to the doc so I'm not entirely sold he is just out to lose the weight as he tends to focus on body fat % in stead of lbs. The protein intake seems very low to me and fat intake very high. Only getting carbs through greens for 6-12 weeks sounds like you will be pretty famished. Is creatine/bcaa post workout without a protein source efficient in retaining strength gains? This diet seems cooky but I've heard it works.

[IronAdam]

The bottom line is if you're more than 300-500 calories below your maintenance level you're going to be losing muscle mass along with the fat no matter how much creatine or BCAA's you take in. Do yourself a favor and look up the harris-bennedict formula and find out exactly what your needs are instead of following some doctors blanket diet advice.

Think about it this way, does a 5' 4" 200lb sedentary person with 40% body fat need the same calories as a 6' 2" 200lb triathlete with 6% bodyfat?

[gstatefaith]

The bottom line is if your more than 300-500 calories below your maintenance level your going to be losing muscle mass along with the fat no matter how much creatine or BCAA's you take in. Do yourself a favor and look up the harris-bennedict formula and find out exactly what your needs are instead of following some doctors blanket diet advice.

Despite my post count I'm not a complete noob. Everyday I'm doing research. I already know my caloric needs according to the Harris Benedict formula. This post is simply presenting a diet from a different school of thought. If it was just "some doctor" I'd heed your advice, but this guy is pretty well known in the fitness world. He also sports his own 3.9% body fat. He competed in bodybuilding competitions throughout his prime and now writes books and trains athletes.

Dr. Berardi is a sought-after nutrition and physiology consultant to NCAA, Olympic, and professional sports organizations and has worked with the following:

° The Toronto Maple Leafs

° The US National Bobsled Team

° The Texas Longhorns

° The Spike Professional Track Cycling Team

° The Canadian National X-Country Ski Team

° The Canadian National Speed Skating Team (individual athletes in this sport)

° The Canadian National Alpine Ski Team

° The Canadian National Canoe/Kayak Team

° The Canadian National Bobsleigh/Skeleton Teams

° The Olympic Oval in Calgary

° The Manitoba Sports Centre

° Individual athletes in many professional sports organizations, including the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, as well as athletes competing in Triathlon, Rugby, Cycling, MMA, Bodybuilding, and Powerlifting.

[IronAdam]

He may be a doctor that is very accomplished, but he still has an agenda...to sell people his cook books and consultations. If you really feel it may work for you then give it a shot. I for one know that on that diet I would loose muscle mass, but everyone is different.

[StoneGRMI]

Give it a try for a few weeks and let us know your progress. Also let us know if your lifts have gone down in weight which would indicate muscle loss. Get an accurate body fat test and begin! I'm curious.

[gstatefaith]

I'm thinking I will give it a try..I'm trying to figure out a few things before doing this diet though.

1) The author of this diet doesn't state anything about cardio (whether to abstain or do a consistent/daily cardio routine). I play pick up basketball for 2 hrs+ 2 days a week and hit the treadmill 5 times a week. Do I up my cal intake accordingly or do i keep it at 10 times my body weight despite all my exercise. I'm also worried how carb intake just off of veggies will make me feel.

2) I ordered lipoflame/********* yesterday and it will arrive shortly. How will lipoflame affect me on this low cal diet? If i use it and do cardio will I be burning too much lbm or should I just use it in the mornings without doing any cardio? Should I take the lipoflame/********* as directed and maintain my same cardio/basketball routine while keeping my calories extremely low as the diet states? Any thoughts?

[FallenWyvern]

Bonecrusher used similar diet to cut.

Collection of pictures of me before and after cycles

[FallenWyvern]

No protein/carbs shake after weight lifting seems awfully bad though.

[IronAdam]

No protein/carbs shake after weight lifting seems awfully bad though.

Especially since it defies the logic of almost every nutritional study ever conducted on the subject of post workout nutrition.

And to the OP, you made no mention of anabolics yet. Do you plan on using any steroids during the course of this diet? Also, you mention your 2hr basketball routine plus cardio....this is why you should follow a formula that takes into account your daily caloric expenditure, and not some genaro sub 2000cal diet. I don't follow the logic of this diet....

[gstatefaith]

Especially since it defies the logic of almost every nutritional study ever conducted on the subject of post workout nutrition.

And to the OP, you made no mention of anabolics yet. Do you plan on using any steroids during the course of this diet? Also, you mention your 2hr basketball routine plus cardio....this is why you should follow a formula that takes into account your daily caloric expenditure, and not some genaro sub 2000cal diet. I don't follow the logic of this diet....

I don't plan on using any steroids during this diet. I am a few years away from even considering aas as I feel I have lots of room to grow naturally and to build a solid base. My dad, brother, and sister are all doctors and I feel very hesitant to go the steroid route because I'm scared of the long term effects and must be extremely knowledgable before I consider injecting anything into my body. Growing up around physicians will scare you straight but after researching and seeing all the knowledgeable people that do go the roid route, I do believe that steroids can be beneficial if done correctly. I'm not ready. I don't know enough about steroids yet and I've only been lifting a year and started out at 120 pounds and 5'11. Over the span of a year I have put on over 50 pounds and want to cut even though I'm currently only in the 170-75 lb range. My goal is not to achieve the body builder physique but very lean/ripped physique similar to bball players and boxers.

I'm currently around 15% body fat at 170 lbs and want to get to 10 or sub 10 % which would put me around 150. That is very lean/small considering my height but I have built some muscle during my 50lb gain that I believe will help me look shredded even at 5'11. I bulked cleanly over that 50lb gain so I have some muscle underneath my fat. I plan on clean bulking after 6-12 weeks of my cut.

The supplements I will be using are LipoFlame/amp02, bcaa's, creatine, green+, zma, fish oil, and multi vitamins/vitamin C. My biggest struggle with this diet is adjusting the numbers to my cardio. I play a lot of bball and don't really know how many kcals I burn. I'm in a league and play pick up weekly and sometimes play for 3 hours +. I feel like extreme diets are the best for me. I'm an ectomorph and really have to shock my body with tons of cals to make any gains. I feel like shocking my body when I cut is the best route as well.

[IronAdam]

gstatefaith: It's good to hear you're taking the time to develop your body naturally before even considering using...that's comendable. But without the aid of heavy anabolics all your going to do on this diet is lose precious muscle mass. (This isn't a suggestion to start using!)

At 170lbs you can figure you're burning about 600 calories per hour during a pick up game. So after a three hour game you're looking at 1800 calories burned. If you're only taking in 2000 calories that day you're only allowing 200 calories for maintenance. That's a starvation diet.

If you're an ectomorph (even an endomorph) I can guarantee you're going to lose much of that hard earned muscle in the process, even with the proper supplementation of BCAA's and creatine.

Whatever you decide to do, I wish you luck.

[gstatefaith]

ok so i started this diet..I'm on day 2. Let's see if I lose all my muscle or it actually works. I'm 5'11 164 13 percent body fat.

This is my daily diet

meal 1 3 whole eggs
2 pieces lean turkey bacon
28 g havarti cheese
assortment of veggies
3 fish oil supps



in between meals

5 g bcaa
2.5 g creatine


meal 2

6oz lean beef
2 pieces of lean turkey bacon
assortment of veggie
3 fish oil supps

in between meals

5g bcaa
2.5 g creatine


train
15 mins of low intensity cardio directly after


PWO
5g bcaa
2.5 creatine
despite everything, I'm not gonna do a protein shake or carb here


Meal 3

6oz lean beef
2 pieces of turkey bacon
assortment of veggies
3 fish oil supps


Before Bed
2 eggs
veggies
3 fish oil supps

I didn't eat my before bed meal last night as it is recommended to try and skip this meal.


So far, I've been pretty hungry while adjusting to this. I have lipoflame/amp02 but I'm cycling it and will be off for the first week as I am starting to develop a tolerance (2 lipo/7 amps didn't do much for me last time i used it and that's a pretty big dose..2 lipo/3amps hit me hard the first time i used.)

[FallenWyvern]

My gut feeling is that this diet will make you a smaller person that weighs less. Kinda like a skinny fat guy. Too tired to explain.

[AandF6969]

Whats the total protein/fat/carbs for the day?

[ChuckLee]

Your body doesn't really need whey after workout. It needs aminoacids and carbs.

CL

[gstatefaith]

damn..i feel pretty anemic on this diet so far....Day 4 and i'm already down to 160.5...3.5 lb loss in 4 days....I took lipoflame last night before playing an hour of bball...never again on this diet...i had gumby, sea legs because of the lack of carbs and the lipoflame left me too wired/felt like i was going to faint. It was the first time taking the lipoflame while on this diet and i just think it is too much...i like the lipoflame when ingesting carbs but not now. Is 3.5 lbs in 4 days a cause for concern?

[AandF6969]

yeah you're definitely losing muscle

[gstatefaith]

yeah you're definitely losing muscle

i don't wanna give up on this yet...would ingesting more protein be the logical step? Upping protein intake, keeping fats still around 50-55 percent and no carbs?

[AandF6969]

No carbs is a retarded diet in my opinion... it's just asking for shitty weight workouts and NO energy to do anything. A couple guys pulled this shit trying to diet for the show we have Saturday and they lost a ton of muscle..