Potato diet - Epic Fail, Glorious Victory page

[pklopp]

The results of my adventures with the all(ish) potato diet are in, and they are unequivocal. The reason for the ish caveat is that I actually ate more than just potatoes by including albacore tuna and egg whites for protein.

Basic Parameters

1. Ensure a minimum intake of 1.5g of protein per kg of body weight
2. Only low fat protein sources: potatoes, egg whites, albacore tuna
3. Once protein requirements were met, consume only potatoes for remaining calories.
4. Consume 1500 kcal per day, 500 below BMR.
5. Evaluate progress after one week, continue for an additional week depending upon results.

I monitored my weight for about 10 days prior to engaging on dietary modifications to establish a baseline weight. Subsequently, I consumed variants of 1500 kcal isocaloric diets that provided the bulk of the calories from either potoato CHO or rice CHO. In all cases, the amount of consumed protein was constant and provided by egg whites and albacore tuna in order to minimize ingested fat while on the high CHO phases, resulting in single digit intake averaging about 8 grams per day.


Changes in body weight



After an initially promising couple of days, as you can see from the graph, we suffer a reversal of fortune and weight starts to climb back into pre-intervention levels. Switching from potatoes to rice seems to improve things initially, but weight starts to climb again after the initial switch. This is particularly interesting because calories ingested during the baseline were about 20 - 25% higher than with either rice or potatoes:


Caloric Breakdown



Were it not for the data of Nov. 1, where I ate somewhat less that my usual fill, the 500 – 600 calorie difference between the baseline diet and the intervention diet would be much more readily visible in the graph.


Epic Fail

What would be the definition of an epic fail in the body recomposition world? How about taking in a significantly reduced calorie diet and turn that into a weight gain?! Does that qualify? I believe it probably does. The trend lines in the graphs below tell the whole sordid story. From a slight downward trend during the baseline to a dramatic reversal while eating potatoes, and only a slight improvement, albeit still trending upward, while eating rice instead of potatoes:








In the trend graphs, rather than showing my actual weight, I wanted to have something that was comparable across each intervention, so I transformed the data by standardizing each observation. This entailed calculating the sample mean, subtracting that from the observation, and then dividing the result by the sample standard deviation. The net result of all of this is that the values are dimensionless, and in each of the graphs you will note that the y-axis scale does not change.

-PK

[pklopp]

Glorious Victory

Maybe you found yourself wondering what the results might have been had we maintained the pre-intervention macro-nutrient breakdown, but the intervention caloric intake of ~1500 kcal? Well, I’m glad you brought that up, because the very same thing occurred to me as well… I think I’ll let the data speak for itself:


Changes in body weight




Caloric Breakdown




Weight Trend Line



If ever there was such a thing as a beautiful trend line, that right there is surely one of them. When you stop a moment to realize that with a calorie restricted high fat, high protein dietary regimen the total weight loss was on the order of nine pounds over six days, you have to seriously take a step back in some awe at this, particularly within the context of the baseline / high CHO results.

-PK

[primalrob]

i love this data...really paints a clear picture.

i do have one question though--did you only measure weight, or did you take any tape measurements or body fat measurements, or notice any body comp changes?

[Leida]

Did you actually went 500 below BMR, not below the whole energy expenditure including exercise? How did you estimate the BMR? I am just wondering because an almost a month on 0.75 BMR would have destroyed me mentally.

EDIT: Heck, a month AT BMR would have sent me to a suicide for that matter. On CW I was not digging in trash cans at BMR only because there was no tasty orange peel in the trash can to dig up and devour....

[otzi]

I would be more impressed if you did 14 days of the potato part first. I would have been even more impressed if you did potatoes-only, nothing else for the first 7 days of the all-potato diet. And uber-impressed if you had a body-fat scan before and after. But, well-done.

[bloodorchid]

yay, now do the potato hack

[pklopp]

i love this data...really paints a clear picture.

i do have one question though--did you only measure weight, or did you take any tape measurements or body fat measurements, or notice any body comp changes?

I have body fat measurements, both ultrasound and bioelectrical impedance, for what they are worth. The problem is that the impedence tests were performed using a scale, meaning that they assess only lower body ( legs ) and they are sensitive to hydration levels, whereas the ultrasound was done using a 3 point model since I was self-measuring and can't really reach point behind me very accurately.

I will post those as soon as I get a chance to generate the graphs. It's a bit painstaking.

-PK

[InSearchOfAbs]

yay, now do the potato hack

+1

and why spam this website when you had your whole other website/blog devOted
to all these findings?

i figured people could've followed there, if they cared about the "Not The Real
Potato Hack" you were doing.

but, whatevs.

[Paleobird]

and why spam this website when you had your whole other website/blog devOted
to all these findings? i figured people could've followed there, if they cared about the "Not The Real
Potato Hack" you were doing.

This is not spam. It is interesting information that clearly shows this person's experience documented very carefully. The fact that his experience, that a restricted calorie diet that has plenty of fat and protein works better than a restricted calorie diet of carbs, doesn't agree with the hack du jour doesn't make it spam.

And, as far as this being the "real" potato diet or not. Get over it folks. He was not willing to sacrifice his lovely muscles to do the "real" thing. I don't blame him. It would be a shame to waste abs like that.

[pklopp]

+1

and why spam this website when you had your whole other website/blog devOted
to all these findings?

i figured people could've followed there, if they cared about the "Not The Real
Potato Hack" you were doing.

but, whatevs.

May I suggest that if you don't like what I post, then by all means feel free to not read it. This is especially true of threads that I start. By all means feel free to black list me.

And with respect to the "potato hack", I'm not sure what you mean? Do you mean the approach where I eat an indiscriminate amount of calories from potatoes and then hold my breath waiting for results that may or may not materialize?

Perhaps you find the inclusion of protein objectionable, because that's like a potato magic antidote? Interesting, then, how this didn't seem to affect the results of the high fat, _same_ protein, low carbohydrate approach.

but, whatevs.

-PK