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(Note: See my previous article for the introduction to this weight loss series.)

This is the simplest most effective diet you will find anywhere. Ever. It’s not fun or trendy, but it works like no other. So read the disclaimer below and then decide if it’s worth a try.

Disclaimer: What follows is extreme. Not “Oh cool, I like extreme” extreme, but “Shit oh shit! How do I get myself out of this?!” extreme. This is not a “balanced” diet. It is not a “healthy lifestyle” choice. It is not for wimps, sissies, or girly men. It is not for folks with medical or psychological conditions. In fact, it is not for any normal, sane, health-minded individual.

So who is this for?

It is for those who wish to lose extreme weight, extremely fast, and are willing to go to extreme lengths to do so. So before you attempt the protocol, be sure to ask your doctor one very simple question: Will this kill me, doc?

I already know his answer.

So only if you’ve decided to ignore your doctor’s advice and are willing to take absolute full responsibility for what you put into your mouth should you proceed to read the rest of this article.

Now that you know what you are getting into, let’s get down to the real meat and potatoes (or eggs, as it is).

The steak and eggs diet is nothing new. It’s been practiced since at least the golden era of bodybuilding, and likely long before that – as evidenced by these two fellows. It was popularized by that famous guru of physical culture, Vince Gironda.

Gironda used the diet to attain a level of leanness never before seen back in his day. His method was simple: two meals a day, breakfast and dinner, consisting solely of steak and eggs cooked in butter. Every 4 days he would carb up to replenish his glycogen stores. That’s it.

He passed his method on to the great bodybuilders of the 60’s and 70’s which (with the help of some new and improved pharmaceuticals) resulted in some of the finest physiques to ever grace humanity.

The steak and eggs diet, Gironda style, is highly effective, no doubt about it. But we’re going to take it a step further. How do you take a near perfect weight loss diet and make it even more effective?

Intermittent fasting.

That’s right. We’re going to take the greatest fat loss diet of all time and combine it with the greatest fat loss method of all time. Extreme? For sure. Necessary? Nope. Effective? Fuck yeah!

Here is the protocol. Do not stray from it. Seriously. I will hunt you down.

Monday thru Thursday

One meal per day consisting of 10-24oz. of fatty steak (ribeye, NY strip, etc.), 2-6 whole eggs and one glass of red wine allowed. (No beer for you!)

Friday

Same as above except you may have one additional glass of red wine and a handful of nuts, if so desired.

Weekend

On Saturday or Sunday (your choice) you can eat as many meals of “real” food as you want provided that at least one of these meals consists of steak and/or eggs. Feel free to have up to 3 glasses of red wine as well. For the remaining weekend day, anything goes. Eat and drink to your heart’s content.

Now I’ll confess, I sometimes add a few slices of bacon to my steak and eggs. I figure it counts as steak so I don’t sweat it.

As for drinks, you are allowed the allotted wine but no juice or soda (diet or otherwise). You may also have a couple mugs (not thermoses) of coffee with heavy cream only. The rest of your fluids will come from water, and you had better drink plenty of it.

There is to be no counting of any kind while on this diet (unless you want to count the pounds you’ll be shedding). Forget about calories, protein, fat, etc. Just eat your damn steak and eggs.

How will you know if you’ve eaten enough? Simple, eat until you’re slightly disgusted and then eat a bit more. I usually struggle to get through the last third or so of my meal. You’re only eating one meal a day so man up and get the most out of it, even if you’d rather stick that fork in your eye.

As with any change in lifestyle, temporary or otherwise, there are certain consequences to be aware of, both positive and negative. We might as well start with the negative.

Above all you will become sick and disgusted of eating steak and eggs. Sick and fucking disgusted! Accept it now or don’t even attempt this diet. I told you this will not be fun.

You may become constipated in the first week or two if you’ve never strayed from your AHA approved high-fiber diet before. Conversely, you might instead get the runs if you’re new to such a high fat diet.

In the beginning you may have trouble adjusting to one meal a day. For someone used to eating 3 times a day (or 5-7 times as is often prescribed) the sudden switch to once per day eating can be quite the shock. You may get severe hunger pangs as your regular meal times near. This is temporary so just tough it out.

A more serious problem to be aware of is salt depletion. No other diet will have you shedding so much water, and with that water will go all your electrolytes. If you become faint when standing quickly, or start getting nighttime leg cramps, you are probably salt depleted.

To avoid this problem, salt the hell out of your food. I cannot emphasize this enough, but I’ll try. For the love of God will you please just salt the shit out of your food, and then salt some more! If your food doesn’t taste like a salt lick then you haven’t added enough. If you absolutely cannot salt your food enough, then just mix some salt in a glass of water (it should taste just shy of sea water) and chug it down quickly. Don’t puke.

If you’ve made it this far then you’re quite the trooper so I’ll introduce you to some of the benefits you will reap.

First and foremost you will see massive fat loss in record time. Assuming you’re eating enough with each meal and engaging in some sort of physical training (running back and forth to the john to “shed some water” doesn’t count) then you will actually lose relatively little lean mass.

You will also see a huge water drop in the first couple weeks. This will quickly move the scale downwards and may reduce lower leg edema (if you’re edema prone). It may also result in a significant drop in blood pressure (even if you are salting the hell out of your food).

Once you get into the swing of things you will rarely suffer from hunger. There is nothing more satiating than a massive pile of fat and protein – eat a huge dinner of steak and eggs and you’ll hardly notice any hunger for the next 24 hours. Your body is burning so much fat (both from your meals and body fat stores) that hunger becomes a non-issue, even with just one meal a day.

After you have become fat-adapted you will find you are more focused and mentally alert. You will have energy to burn and your motivation levels will reflect that. So enjoy the extra productivity you have during the week – come the weekend, you will crash hard after your carb up (and you will carb up, trust me).

So what makes this diet so damn effective? Well, as stated earlier we are combining a classic ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting. Ketogenic diets are super low carb, high fat diets that induce a state of ketosis which has you burning fat out the wazoo. Add intermittent fasting on top of that and you’ve created the perfect conditions for dropping fat fast.

And I do mean fast. You will see noticeable changes in just a couple weeks (likely even after the first week). So please be aware . . . if you are severely overweight approach this diet with caution. Rapid weight loss can result in loose hanging skin. It would be better for you to practice this diet in phases. Perhaps a few weeks of the steak and eggs diet separated by a few weeks of a more typical low to moderate carbohydrate diet. Patience will pay off in a tighter physique by the time you reach your weight loss goal.

However, if you are already leanish (2-4 pack with a bit of jiggly low back and belly fat) then just a few weeks on this diet will get you more than beach ready, and another few after that might just have you freakin’ shredded. And if you’re not so leanish, this diet can get you there quicker than any other.

So there you have it. The single most effective fat loss diet in existence (short of total starvation). But it takes balls.

Good Luck!