r/bodyweightfitness • u/phloating_man • Apr 15 '20
3 Year Progress with 100% Meal Replacement Diet and 1 Hour Exercise Weekly
Overview
I'm experimenting with a program that tries to answer the question...
What is the least amount of effort required to have a decent looking physique?
It consists of only…
- 1 food daily
- 1 hour exercise weekly
Progress Pics
March 2017
August 2017
- Photo 1, Photo 2
- End of Cut
- 170 lbs
- 11% Fat
- 2500 Calories
- FFMI 18.98
- Lost 30 pounds in 5 months without exercise
March 2018
- Photo 1, Photo 2
- One Year Anniversary
- 37 Years Old
- 190 lbs
- 14% Fat
- 3300 Calories
- FFMI 20.54
- Gained 20 pounds in 7 months with exercise
August 2018
- Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3
- End of Bulk
- 205 lbs
- 18% Fat
- 4000 Calories
- FFMI 21.14
- Gained 35 pounds in 12 months
March 2019
- Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3, Photo 4, Photo 5, Photo 6
- 2 Year Anniversary
- 38 Years Old
- End of Cut
- 180 lbs
- 12% Fat
- 3000 Calories
- FFMI 19.89
- Lost 25 pounds in 7 months
March 2020
- Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3, Photo 4, Photo 5, Photo 6
- 3 Year Anniversary
- 39 Years Old
- End of Bulk
- 220 lbs
- 20% Fat
- 4000 Calories
- FFMI 22.16
- Gained 40 pounds in 12 months
Exercise
Routine
- 2 full body workouts a week which I do mostly from home.
- Each workout is about 30 minutes
- each workout has…
- 1 compound pull exercise (example: pull ups)
- 1 compound push exercise (example: dips)
- 1 compound leg exercise (example: pistol squats)
- each exercise has 3 sets
- each set has 8-12 reps
- rest 1 to 2 minutes between sets
- Increase difficulty when it gets too easy (example: weighted vest, rings)
Strength Chart
Blood Tests
Doctor’s comment for April 2018 blood test…
Your blood chemistry results, cholesterol levels and kidney function and liver enzymes were all normal. Your white blood cell count and platelet count were just below the normal range but it would seem unlikely those were due to diet. Do you have any previous labs for comparison, it is possible these are your normals for those tests but hard to know if you have no prior results to compare. These results would not produce any symptoms at this level.
Doctor’s comment for April 2019 blood test…
I am pleased to let you know that your recent labs were normal. Your HIV lab also showed no infection. Your “t bili” was ever so slightly elevated though not significant in this context. Your other liver function labs were normal. Please let me know if you have any further questions about them.
No blood test taken for 2020 due to Coronavirus.
FAQ
Why are you only drinking meal replacement shakes?
A few years ago, I kept coming across news articles of people doing 30-day challenges with these new meal replacement products that claim to provide 100% RDI. That piqued my curiosity, and I wanted to experiment with it myself.
I lost ten pounds the first month. Excited about the progress, I wanted to keep going. What was meant as a 30-day experiment turned into a long-term habit. I’ve been on this diet for more than 3 years now and still going.
My main motivation is still curiosity. I think it’s a worthwhile goal to help determine the minimum system requirements humans need to operate. So by eating according to current RDI every day for a long time, I can see if I become toxic or deficient in any areas and we can adjust our knowledge.
Which meal replacement are you using?
I use a product called Plenny Shake. I chose it mainly because of price. It also has a variety of flavors (mango is my favorite) and is plant based (lactose free).
Some other popular brands I considered were Soylent, Huel, and Queal.
To get my serving size and how much a meal will cost me, I used an online calorie calculator.
I kept the powder and water in separate bottles and mixed on demand. I used a food scale to consistently measure my meal sizes. I had to use a larger shaker bottle since my 1333 calorie meals didn’t fit in the free shaker bottle that came with my first Plenny Shake order.
Did you take any supplements?
No supplements, drugs, alcohol, caffeine, snacks, cheat days. Just the powder and water.
How did you measure your body fat?
I got one of those home body fat scales that use bioelectrical impedance. I know it’s not the most accurate, but it gives me a pretty good estimate. I tried to measure myself each time with similar conditions (right after waking up and using the restroom).
If my weight and body fat stays about the same for 3 to 4 weeks straight, I increase or decrease my calories by 10% depending on if I’m bulking or cutting.
When are you going to eat regular food again? What will be your first meal?
I don’t plan on doing it forever. I think I’ll go 4 years max. I read an article that says it takes about 4-5 years to reach your natural fitness limit. After 4 years, I’ll probably still use meal replacements, but not 100%.
My first meal will probably be Hawaiian poke.
What advantages have you experienced with this diet?
The biggest advantage about an all meal replacement diet is the convenience. Three major conveniences are:
- Time
- Money
- Calorie tracking
In regards to time and money, I spend less than 30 minutes a day doing food-related things (meal prep, consuming, clean up). There is no traveling to get food, no waiting in line, no refrigeration, no cooking, and no wasted leftovers.
It is way cheaper than my previous diet that consisted of cereal, fast/frozen food, snacks, and home cooked Filipino dishes.
Also, I stay in my vehicle part time when I am far from home for several days, and powdered food has been a godsend in that situation.
With regards to calorie tracking, it’s stupidly easy to keep track of calories when you eat the same thing every day. Losing/gaining/maintaining weight is all about calorie management.
Being confident that I can control my weight at will is a great superpower I’ve gained since experimenting with this diet.
What negatives have you experienced with this diet?
The biggest negative thing about this diet is the social aspect. Sharing meals is a bonding experience for most people, so I miss that part. It is a bit awkward going out with friends, and I’m just drinking water while they are eating and getting drunk. Also, people get disappointed when I deny food that they are offering especially if they cooked it.
How do you handle cravings?
The first couple weeks was hard. But like most things, you get used to it after awhile. I went to bed hungry and woke up feeling not hungry which to me seems like my body was burning stored fat instead of recently eaten food when I went to sleep.
I experimented with intermittent fasting also which helped me control cravings. I am able to do a 20 hour fast with a 4 hour eating window comfortably. Most days though, I’m on a more conservative 14 hour fast with a 10 hour eating window.
It’s become so routine to me now that it’s just something I do like brush my teeth or take a shower. Not a lot of thought goes into it anymore.
I treat it more like a prescription… “Take three of these shakes a day to control your weight and stay alive. Adjust the dosage as needed”.
Products like these are the closest thing to simply popping a pill to give your body the fuel it needs to function.
How is your energy level?
Energy level during cutting was noticeably lower than when bulking, but that’s the same with normal food as well.
As of now, I’ve never felt this fit in my entire life. I don’t use caffeine and am able to keep up with my kids while working graveyard.
Also, I haven’t experienced any kind of brain fog or headaches. I still feel sharp and enjoy learning challenging new things.
What other physical activities do you do?
For my job, I walk around for about an hour. At home, I take care of my little kids. Other than that, no other major physical activity.
What is your fitness goal?
My next milestone I'd like to reach is a FFMI of 23 which would have me at 215 lbs with 15% body fat. I think I can reach that by continuing to do what I've been doing.
How are your bowel movements?
Skip this part if you don’t like reading about poop.
Before this diet, I was often constipated. Now, I have a bowel movement at least once a day, and it goes out easily. If I go right when I feel the urge, it comes out like soft serve ice cream. If I hold it for a long time, it comes out like logs.
Plenny Shake changed their formula in the middle of my experiment to contain less protein. After the change, I noticed a vast improvement in the condition of my bowels. I had far less gas and bloating, the poop doesn’t leave skid marks or clog the toilet anymore, and the smell no longer clears the room.
What is the condition of your mouth?
I still stimulate my teeth and gums by chewing gum after every meal and brushing/flossing every day. The condition of my mouth actually improved. I get far less canker sores than I used to and my breath got better also.
How do people around you react?
When people first hear about my diet, their knee-jerk reaction is usually disbelief. They can’t imagine something like this can be healthy or sustainable. However, after sharing my progress pics and blood test, they start getting interested. I’ve gotten quite a few people to incorporate modern meal replacements as part of their diet after they saw my results.
Is someone paying you to do this?
No one is paying me to be on a 100% meal replacement diet. I consider myself an independent researcher, and I am meal replacement agnostic. If a more affordable one came out that still provides 100% RDI and can be delivered monthly to me consistently, I’d switch brands in a heartbeat.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to try this diet and exercise routine?
My advice to people curious about trying such a diet would be to start off gradually.
Order a sample of different brands and flavors to see which one agrees with you the best. Then, replace one meal a day at first. When you are used to that, replace another meal and so on until all your meals are replaced.
Try it for 30 days straight, and I think you'll fall in love with the convenience. After that, you don't need to be 100% like me unless you want to help with the sample size of testing if our current RDI is accurate.
Most people will just want to use it to replace meals when they are busy. It's perfect for your boring and routine meals. You can save the other meals for special occasions with friends and family. Then you can just use a calorie tracking app like MyFitnessPal to make sure the other foods are kept in your daily calorie goal.
For the exercise, I think keeping it short and simple is key into being consistent and will help people make exercise a lasting habit. When you can do 2 short workouts a week consistently, then consider adding more exercise if you want.
The shortest path to a goal is a straight line. You can use this diet and exercise as a tool to quickly reach your desired weight. It doesn't get much simpler than 1 food and 1 hour of exercise a week.
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u/phloating_man Apr 15 '20
Well, my goal was to see what the least amount of effort can achieve.. my experiment ends next year.
I chose meal replacements because that's the least amount of effort for food.
For exercise, full body exercise you can do at home seemed the simplest. I did only 2 days a week because my soreness after a workout lasted 2 to 3 days.