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Anonymous
Whats your opinion of the Zone Diet?
>> Anonymous
I'm going to quote the opinion of Tom Venuto, because I've never used this diet myself.

"Despite its popularity and best-seller status, the Zone Diet has some serious
shortcomings. The biggest flaw of the Zone program as Dr. Sears prescribed it in his 1995
book, is dangerously low calories. The Zone is basically just another very low calorie
diet. That’s why Zone dieters often run into to the same pitfall that every other low
calorie dieter succumbs to - the starvation mode.

Suppose you weigh 175 lbs. and your body fat is 10%. That means you have 17.5
lbs. of fat and your lean body mass (LBM) is 157.5 lbs. If you work out five times per
week for one hour, then according to Dr. Sears, you should consume .8 grams of protein
per lb. of LBM. That's an "activity factor” of .8 X 157.5 (LBM), which equals 126 grams
of protein.

There are four calories in each gram of protein, so that's 504 calories from protein
or 30% of your total calories. Your fats should also be 30% of your total calories. 504 fat calories, divided by nine calories per fat gram equals 56 grams of fat. Your carbohydrates
should be slightly higher, about 40% of your total calories, or 672 carbohydrate calories.
There are four calories in each gram of carbohydrate so that's 168 grams of carbohydrates.
Add up all these calories and you get 1680 calories for the day:

Zone diet recommendations for a 175-pound moderately active man:
Carbs: 672 calories = 168 grams = 40% of total calories
Protein: 504 calories = 126 grams = 30% of total calories
Fat: 504 calories = 56 grams = 30% of total calories
Total: 1680 calories"
Copyright 2003, Fitness Renaissance, LLC
>> Anonymous
continued
"1680 calories is too low for a moderately active man. The protein
recommendations fall short as well: 126 grams of protein is plenty for a couch potato, but
not enough to support a program with cardio and high intensity weight training. Will you
lose weight on 1680 calories? Sure - but it won't be long before the starvation mode kicks
in.

As a whole, the Zone program was denounced by nearly every mainstream health
and nutrition organization in the world, including the American Dietetic Association, the
Mayo Clinic, the American College of Sports Medicine, the Center for Science in the
Public Interest, and many others. However, you can learn some important things from the
Zone by reading it selectively, plucking out the useful tidbits and throwing away the rest.

The Zone made two particularly important contributions to modern trends in
nutrition that have shifted the predominant thinking about fat loss in the bodybuilding and
weight loss world since 1995.

First, The Zone brought to the public's attention the importance of having a good
balance between proteins, carbohydrates and fats instead of being heavily slanted towards
mostly carbohydrate at the expense of protein and fat - a big mistake in our day and age of
"fat phobia" and “high carbohydrate mania.” It also pointed out the dangers of eating
large amounts of processed carbohydrates such as white breads, white pastas, fat free
snack foods and baked goods.

The second important point made by the Zone program was the idea of always
combining a lean protein and complex carbohydrate food at every meal. This is probably
one of the most important aspects of a nutrition program designed for improving body
composition, because it helps to control the hormones responsible for fat storage and it
provides a steady flow of amino acids from protein foods for muscle growth and
maintenance."
Copyright 2003, Fitness Renaissance, LLC
>> Anonymous
UNF UNF UNF doesn't have a complete understanding of what the Zone is all about. 40-30-30 is based off of the Zone block system, where you try to obtain your macros by estimating. They have block charts that list which foods are good for what calories or carbs/fats/proteins, but they break it down into sections based off of one of those macros. So by only focusing on getting the requirement for your daily blocks, many people don't understand that there are additional calories in those blocks from the other macros. A strict reading like UNF UNF does into this will leave you in calorie deficit, but in reality you are taking in additional calories from those foods that the block charts leave out. Basically block charts only care about the most important part of the food, and leave out the rest of the information. So the guy he uses in his example is definitely getting 1680 calories, but he's also getting those phantom calories that aren't measured by the block charts. And that 175 lb male at 10% has an athletic physique, so I'm going to venture that UNF UNF's example guy is an athlete. Sears recommends athletes should be getting around 60% of their daily caloric intake from fat anyways. Go figure, VENUTO wrong? Oh yea, he's trying to compete in the market place too by selling his book.

I mean I like UNF UNF, but I also like Sears. I don't follow a strict Zone split anymore, but what the main benefit I got from following the Zone is understanding what kind of foods I was eating, and how much of it.
>> Anonymous
so from what i gather is that the biggest problem with the zone diet is not enough caloric intake?
>> Anonymous
fuck diets. l2 portion control.
>> Anonymous
UNF.

Universal Nutritional Fuckery.
>> Anonymous
>>186097

>so from what i gather is that the biggest problem with the zone diet is not enough caloric intake?

If you're trying to gain weight. Otherwise, it's great. It seems counter-intuitive at first (like HIIT), but eating less in this way makes you feel more energitc. Probably for the first few weeks you'll feel drained, but your body will adapt and eventually you'll feel lighter and more vigorous.
>> Anonymous
>>186116
What if i'm not trying to lose at this point, just trying to maintain weight while increasing muscle?
>> Anonymous
>>186161

Keep your diet the same, lift more weights, and see what happens. Your body should be craving more food naturally, so feed the machine. Don't eat so much and not work hard enough that you'll be adding on lots of fat along with the muscle.

I'll start over, increase your food intake slowly to find out where you need to be to steadily gain muscle mass and not fat.
>> Anonymous
>>186011
>>186097
Everyone forgets to mention Sears's recommendation into increase fat intake to meet caloric needs. If you're trying to loose weight, just stick with the basic amounts of fat, but once you hit your goal, you're supposed to increase it to anywhere from 2-5x the amount of dietary fat. Those calories would have previously come from body fat, however, you're body fat would be low enough that you'd need another source... dietary fat.
>> Anonymous
I am starting the Zone myself. It's pretty complicated to get everything right. It is low in caloric intake, but sweet Jesus if you eat the recommended carbohydrates (mostly fresh fruits and veggies), you will have a hard time finishing a meal. Go to crossfit.com, you will see some of the most in shape people ever in your life and the most hardcore devotees all use the Zone.