Full list here.
Don’t be afraid to load your plate with these low-carb vegetables. You can eat massive amounts of them without going over 20-30 net carbs per day.
The vegetables and the meat contain all the fiber, vitamins and minerals you need to be healthy. There is no physiological need for grains in the diet.
Fat Sources:
- Coconut Oil
- Butter
- Olive Oil
- Lard
- Tallow
Eat 2-3 meals
per day. If you find yourself hungry in the afternoon, add a 4th meal.
Don’t be afraid of eating fat, trying to do both low-carb AND low-fat at the same time is a recipe for failure. It will make you feel miserable and abandon the plan.
The best cooking fat to use is
coconut oil. It is rich in fats called Medium Chain Triglycerides (
MCTs). These fats are more fulfilling than others and can boost metabolism slightly (
6,
7).
There is no reason to fear these natural fats, new studies show that
saturated fatdoesn’t raise your heart disease risk at all (
8,
9).
Bottom Line: Assemble each meal out of a protein source, a fat source and a low-carb vegetable. This will put you into the 20-30 gram carb range and drastically lower your insulin levels.
Rule No. 3 – Exercise 3-4 Times Per Week
You don’t need to exercise to lose weight on this plan, but it is recommended.
The best option is to go to the gym 3-4 times a week. Do a warm up, lift weights, then stretch.
If you’re new to the gym, ask a trainer for some advice.
By lifting weights, you will burn a few calories and prevent your metabolism from slowing down, which is a common side effect of losing weight (
10,
11).
Studies on low-carb diets show that you can even gain a bit of muscle while losing significant amounts of body fat (
12).
If lifting weights is not an option for you, then doing some easier cardio workouts like running, jogging, swimming or walking will suffice.
Bottom Line: It is best to do some sort of resistance training like weight lifting. If that is not an option, cardio workouts work too.
Optional – Do a “Carb Re-feed” Once Per Week
You can take one day “off” per week where you eat more carbs. Many people prefer Saturday.
It is important to try to stick to healthier carb sources like oats, rice, quinoa, potatoes, sweet potatoes, fruits, etc.
But only this one higher carb day, if you start doing it more often than once per week then you’re not going to see much success on this plan.
If you must have a cheat meal and eat something unhealthy, then do it on this day.
Be aware that
cheat meals or carb refeeds are NOT necessary, but they can up-regulate some fat burning hormones like
leptin and thyroid hormones (
12,
13).
You will gain some weight during your re-feed day, but most of it will be water weight and you will lose it again in the next 1-2 days.
Bottom Line: Having one day of the week where you eat more carbs is perfectly acceptable, although not necessary.
What About Calories and Portion Control?
It is NOT necessary to count calories as long as you keep the carbs very low and stick to protein, fat and low-carb vegetables.
However, if you really want to, then use
this calculator (opens in new window).
Enter your details, then pick the number from either the “Fat Loss” or the “Extreme Fat Loss” section – depending on how fast you want to lose.
There are many calorie counters you can use to track the amount of calories you are eating. I like
Cron-O-Meter (my favorite), but
Fitday and
MyFitnessPal are also good.
The main goal is to keep carbs under 20-30 grams per day and get the rest of your calories from protein and fat.
Bottom Line: It is not necessary to count calories to lose weight on this plan. It is most important to strictly keep your carbs in the 20-30 gram range.
Other Weight Loss Tips to Make Things Easier (and Faster)
Pretty much all you have to do is to stick to the three rules:
- Eliminate Sugars and Starches.
- Eat Protein, Fat and Veggies.
- Exercise 3-4 times per week.
However, there are a few other tips that you may find useful if you want to speed things up even further.
None of these are old wives’ tales, they all have scientific evidence to back them up.
Drink Water, Coffee or Tea: Satisfy your thirst with water. If you’re a
coffee or a tea drinker, then by all means drink as much as you want as both can raise your
metabolism slightly (
14,
15).
Avoid Artificial Sweeteners: Despite having calories in them, the sweet taste may play tricks with the mind and increase hunger and cravings. Artificial sweetener use is associated with
weight gain (
16).
Use Smaller Plates: Studies show that people automatically eat less when they use smaller plates. Strange, but it works (
18).
Sleep Like a Baby: Poor sleep is associated with weight gain and obesity, taking care of your sleep is important (
19).
Reduce Stress: Being stressed can elevate the stress hormone cortisol, which can cause fat accumulation in the belly (
20).
Bottom Line: It is most important to stick to the three rules, but there are a few other things you can do to speed things up.
You Will Become a “Fat Burning Beast”

You can expect to lose 3-10 pounds of weight (sometimes more) in the first week, then consistent weight loss after that.
I can personally lose 3-4 lbs per week for a few weeks when I do this strictly.
If you’re new to dieting, then things will probably happen quickly. The more weight you have to lose, the faster you will lose it.
For the first few days, you might feel a bit strange. Your body has been burning carbs for all these years, it can take time for it to get used to burning fat instead.
It is called the “low carb flu” and is usually over within a few days. For me it takes 3. Adding some sodium to your diet can help with this, such as dissolving a bouillon cube in a cup of hot water and drinking it.
After that, most people report feeling very good, positive and energetic. At this point you will officially have become a “fat burning beast.”
Despite the decades of
anti-fat hysteria, the low-carb diet also improves your health in many other ways:
- Blood Sugar tends to go way down on low-carb diets (21, 22).
- Triglycerides tend to go down (23, 24).
- Small, dense LDL (the bad) Cholesterol goes down (25, 26).
- HDL (the good) cholesterol goes up (27).
- Blood pressure improves significantly (28, 29).
- To top it all of, low-carb diets appear to be easier to follow than low-fat diets.
Bottom Line: You can expect to lose a lot of weight, but it depends on the person how quickly it will happen. Low-carb diets also improve your health in many other ways.
Take Home Message
If you have a medical condition (especially if you’re diabetic) then talk to your doctor before making any changes because this plan can drastically reduce your need for medication.
By restricting carbohydrates, you change the hormonal environment in your body to make your body and brain “want” to lose weight. This is
proven to make you lose more fat, faster, than typical low-fat calorie restricted diets (
30,
31,
32).
This way, you avoid the main side effect of dieting, the one that causes most people to fail… hunger.
I don’t know about you, but I hate being hungry. If I get hungry, I eat.
So if there’s a method out there that helps me lose weight without hunger, then that sure as hell is the one I will go with.
Do you have any suggestions of your own? Feel free to contribute in the comments!