Lyle McDonald
1 Good info that you don't really need
If you spend some time browsing diet books here at Amazon you'll be amazed at how many of them have 5-star ratings. Even idiotic diets (like tha Atkins one) have enthusiastic reviews - barring the odd reader who gives just one star maybe because he didn't succeed on that specific diet.
The truth is that most of these books don't say anything new. If you read some textbooks from the 60s you will realize that authors like McDonald just keep reinventing the wheel. Everything has been tried decades ago: Low-carb, keto, low-fat, carb-cycling, protein-cycling etc. If you train with adequate intensity and volume, if you alternate bulking and cutting phases and if you count calories, you will be doing your best, period. True, there are a lot of details that you will inevitably have to focus on, but as the late Mel Siff said somewhere, there are a multitude of methods that have been proven effective and so no one holds the Holy Grail of Diet and Exercise. The most important thing was and remains mental attitude and persistence over the years, and this cannot be taught - at least not by diet books.
So here we have a lot of useful info and a really detailed way to follow a workout and diet plan and track your progress, but I daresay the whole concept is somewhat misleading: That level of detail is NOT what you need in order to achieve your goals, not even if you are a pro (or maybe especially then). Search for Lyle's keto-files which are available around the net and you will see the same level of detail and the same commendable passion about nutrition and exercise. Lyle was a passionate proponent of ketogenic diet at the time, but it is obvious that something is missing: It is the dedication and the ability to stick to eating below maintenance that unfortunately is more than necessary if you are not blessed with fat-burning genetics. So, the author himself has failed to transfrom his physique in a spectacular way (although his goal was not losing fat but adding muscle).
First it was ketogenic diet, then it was bromocriptine, now it is ultimate diet 2, next year maybe it will be "ultra super duper diet 3". The point is that if you follow some really simple guidelines (which you can print in less than one page), all the level of detail in this book will not make any measurable difference. At the end of the day you will realize that there are no magic recipes for weight loss and there are no diet books that stand out because they are so much better or because they contain unique "secrets" (although, to be fair, there are diet books that stand out because they are really bad - blood type diet anyone ?)
In conclusion: Good book, but you don't need it to get lean.
2 Effective Low Carb Dieting for Intelligent People
I can't add much else to the positive reviews already posted, except to say that anyone who's looking for a systematic, scientifically based, and effective way to lose bodyfat should buy this book. No hype. No BS. Just straightfoward, realistic and readily applicable information.
3 Great book, the real deal
If you want to know what is really going on with low carbohydrate diets and exercise in regards to fat loss, get this book. If you need a PhD to tell you that you can sit around, watch TV and eat nacho cheese and pork rinds, while still losing fat, this is not the book for you.
4 Lyle McDonald Does It Again
Lyle McDonald has come out with yet another facinating body of work. The Ultimate Diet 2.0, based on McDonald's acknowledgements is an update and/or revised dietary/physiological approach of the original Ultimate Diet and Bodyopus written by Duchaine and Zumpano. Based more on the original 1982 Ultimate Diet approach, McDonald has taken us to another level with the UD2 with the great amount of intensive research he has conducted on the subject.
This book has a lot of emphasis placed on one: how the human body metabolizes fat and two: how it synthesises muscle mass. Though technical in nature, if one is patient and reads throughly you will come away with a very good understanding of the mechanics. Thereby, not only increasing your knowledge, but also enhancing your success with this approach.
The ultimate goal of this book is to educate the reader on how to burn/lose fat with minimal loss of muscle mass. McDonald takes a very honest approach explaining in understandable detail the human conditions reaction and the dietary/physiological munipulations that must be accomplished to make this process occur. He by no means paints any of this work looking through rose colored glasses. His brutal honesty along with some humorous tid bits thrown in warns the reader that this regimen is not for everyone or the weak at heart.
I have found this book to be very helpful to my understanding of the whole fat loss/muscle loss problem in dieting and exercise. Extremely well written, honest and scientifically technical this book is a masterful source of information regarding this subject matter. There is no other study I have found anywhere else with this much of a cutting edge on the market today. Another added bonus is that one can refer to McDonald's website: http//www.bodyrecomposition.com and dig into more articles, information and member forums and discover the Motherload on this subject.
5 Not worth the money
Another author trying to capitalize on people who are obsessed with developing a body that it leaner than is necessarily healthy.
Most any diet that is low enough in calories combined with proper exercise will enable one to achieve reasonable leanness.
This particular diet is nothing new. It is just another variation of the cyclic low carb diet recommended by various other authors.
Reports of good results following this diet are purely anecdotal and cannot be relied on.
All this book does is to cater to insecure people who are obsessed with body appearance such as those with eating disorders.
Not recommmended.
6 I can have carbs again !!!
The Ultimate Diet 2.0 was a God-send for me after doing a low-carb diet (like Atkins) for 3 months. I was afraid to reintroduce carbohydrates and get fat again. I had reached my weight goal.
Lyle McDonald has shown me how to cycle between low-carb dieting and carb-up (eating great carb foods). I cycle between the two and employ varying weight training and aerobic workouts, detailed by Lyle, to deplete muscle glycogen so that carb-up preferentially goes to glycogen resupply, and not fat production.
I recommend this book/diet for those who like to weight train and watch their diet and want to lower their body fat below 15% while protecting lean muscle.
Thanks Lyle !!!
7 Excellent book!
Awesome book! Really puts things into perspective for the laman reader! Lyle explains everything in such a manner that the diet is easy to set up and follow, the reader is not lost! Have used the UD2 to shed alot of unwanted bodyfat!
8 It works if you do...
UD2 is an excellent informative step by step book that tells you exactly what you need to do to lose weight and retain muscle. If you feel your questions are not answered in the book simply visit the support website and Lyle himself will get back to you quickly.
I've never had trouble losing weight. I have had trouble with losing too much muscle and strength when I'm cutting though. UD2 has held up to it's claims on little or no strength loss (I've actually gained some strength) which is important to me.
It's not easy but it's well worth it if you're serious about your body.
9 The only diet-book you`ll ever need
There are tons of diet-books available, so you might ask what makes this one so special? Well, basically it works. If you follow the guidelines this book describes, you will be able to get very lean without sacrificing a lot of muscle (if you`re lucky, you will even be able to gain some).
However, if you are not into weight training and unable to count calories or have the will-power of a alcoholic gamble-addict, UD2 will do nothing for you (nothing will).
10 Honest Information, No Baloney
Lyle's book is full of quality information, and it is not a supplement catalog like the majority of diet books on the market today. You will get extraordinarily lean through implementing what you read in this book. There is no hidden agenda in this book, no you must use these pills to acheive leanness. Get the book. Its good.
11 The Ultimate Recomposition Program for the 21st Century.
The Ultimate Diet 2.0 is, quite simply, the best thing to happen to dieters since the discovery of sympathomimetics. The training techniques, human physiology, and dieting advice Lyle presents are all top notch and indisputably cutting edge. What the UD 2.0 represents is not a 'cookie-cutter' how-to on dieting; it does not a book that 'feels sorry' for you, and it does not just 'give you all the answers.' But what it does do, is show you a way to alter your physique and maximize your genetic potential in ways that would seem impossible to the 'average' individual. After reading Lyle's other books "Bromocriptine" and "The Ketogenic Diet," I attained a preview copy of the UD 2.0 at a time where I'd nearly given up on dieting. I was already lean, I already had the muscles, but I always felt I could look even better. Still, no matter how severely I cut calories, or how intensely I trained, or what supplements I took, I could never quite 'break through' to the plateau I'd always yearned for. The UD 2.0 changed all that. Normally, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. But this book/program is/are the exception. The UD 2.0 is legit. In 8 weeks, I went from 11% bodyfat to 7% bodyfat, while maintaining nearly all of my muscle (I also actually gained strength for the first 5 weeks of the diet), without the use of any performance-enhancing drugs. Results like that don't lie, and I'm not the only one. I know countless bodybuilders, fitness enthusiants, and dedicated athletes who have used the UD 2.0 to reach new levels of physique recomposition. The UD 2.0 is not easy, it is not a 'cake-walk,' but it works-- better, in fact, than anything else I have tried or discovered in my years as a weight-trainer and athlete. If you're 'for real' about dieting, this book will take you there, and perhaps, beyond.
12 Ultimate Diet 2.0
I give this book a five star rating for the effectiveness of the diet itself. The diet is not a beginners diet, but a powerful tool for any athlete looking to shed bodyfat while sparing, or possibly gaining muscle and strength. It has worked extraordinarily well for myself, and makes all other low-carb, ketogenic, and cyclical diets obsolete.
This book is written with personality and easy to read. It's verbose in the way that it describes who it's for, why they need it, and how to make minor adjustments to suit your needs.
I recommend this book for any athlete of any kind. It is a tool all should be familiar with.
13 The Bottom Line -- Lose Fat
I have been overweight almost my entire life and have tried ALL the diets and exercise programs out there. I am very much into educating myself and being in the "know" as much as possible.
I am a 34 yo male, 5'8" and used to be 235 pounds, 35% fat, and looked nine months pregnant (no exaggeration). I am now a healthy 180 pounds and approximately 19% fat. My goal is 8% fat.
The information in this book is nothing less than fantastic. It simply works.
As I said before, on other diets and programs, I have lost fat, but I have never kept it off nor have I been this "lean" before. Although this book contains tons of great information and is easy to read, I think the most important piece of info for me that was a BREAKTHROUGH was Lyle's work on leptin and refeed.
This information alone is easily worth the price of the book and then some. The reason I think so is because, as anyone who diets and exercises knows, there is usually a point in your "program" that you hit a plateau. This book will definitely break you through that plateau and keep your fat loss going until you decide to stop.
I hit a plateau at 195 pounds using a typical balanced diet and exercise routine. No matter what I did, my body refused to lose fat. And interestingly enough, 195 pounds is the lowest I have ever been my entire life. It's as if my body memorized it or something. But once I incorporated the UD2.0 diet and exercise, I broke through the plateau, lost 2 pounds of pure fat in the first week (I use several fat measuring methods so I know it was fat and not muscle or water: caliper, tape measure, and tanita fat scale). I have since lost 15 pounds of fat and am consistently dropping between 1.5 to 2 pounds of fat per week!
Also, I am personally doing this without cardio--just weights (although you can do cardio too on the diet).
And I get to REGULARLY pig out and eat junk food too! Yes, you read right. How can you do this? (read the book). So it's great psychologically and I know I'll be able to maintain this "diet" the rest of my life because it doesn't make you deny yourself the foods you enjoy--not like other diets. You still have to practice restraint, moderation, and consistency, but you have to do that with any diet. And it is WORK, but tell me what SUCCESSFUL exercise program doesn't make you work? Anyone who has lost weight and kept it off knows there is no magic pill, no secret "something". Diet and exercise is unavoidable. But which one?
If you're like me and you've tried them all and are still looking...
...the UD2.0 diet works. Period.
And if you're still doubtful or want more info, check out the forum on the website http://www.theketogenicdiet.com. I know, I know, you're thinking this is some sales pitch or something. That's what I think all the time too. So I avoid all the advertising crap and go right to the forum boards and read up on what the real, uncensored, unpaid people (who are using the program/product/whatever) are saying.
14 There's simply no other book like it.
Last time I counted, there were about 5,788,324 dieting books out there, give or take. There's the 'Grapefruit' diet, the 'Southbeach' diet, the 'Pritikin' diet, 'Protein Power', the 'Atkins' diet, and so forth. Some of them even work, believe it or not. In fact, most of them do. Restrict calories far enough (and/or increase you activity level enough) and even the most lame-brained, piece of crap diet will result in weight loss. It's pretty simple actually, burn more calories than you're taking in, and you WILL lose weight. Now if you're like most people that's all that matters. Muscle or fat, it's all the same, just so long as the scale is moving downwards.
Most of these diets seem, at first glance, entirely dissimilar from one another. They have some very basic commonalities, however. With a very few exceptions, they are based on a piss-poor understanding of the actual physiology of what goes on while dieting. Generally, they either dispense with science entirely, instead contenting themselves merely to tell you what to eat (which often results in rigid and idiotic guidelines). Or they give partially correct, pseudo-scientific gibberish twisted to support the author's contentions about dieting. Again, as long as somehow the author somehow tricks you into eating less, most folks (read: those not already fairly lean) WILL lose weight.
And for your average couch potato, that's probably good enough. The UD2 isn't really meant for those looking merely to shed a few pounds and go from overweight to 'normal'. It's for those who want to go from normal (or lean) to super lean and who are concerned not merely with the 'how-to's, but who are concerned with the 'whys' as well. For the latter, Lyle McDonald's UD2.0 simply has no equal. The diet itself is quite simple. But it cannot be stated often enough, it's not for Joe Shmoe. It requires real discipline, a TREMENDOUS amount of hard work in the gym and, the worst of all, requires thought.
Lyle has examined the literature and distills it to some very important basic guidelines. He explains why your body reacts so negatively to dieting, and how (to some degree at least) to circumvent the problem. Best of all, Lyle does this all in a breezy, informal (and often very humorous) writing style that makes reading the book a joy rather than a chore. So, rather than coming away from the book with a rigid, disposable diet, instead you'll have a framework with which you can evaluate any diet and know why it will fail or succeed.
And as great as Lyle's explanation of dieting is, the diet itself is even better. Follow Lyle's advice and you'll see amazing results : quick fat loss, minimal muscle loss (you might even gain a bit of muscle), and, best of all, it only really involves dieting 4 days out of every seven.
When it comes to dieting, there is simply no one else out there as knowledgeable as Lyle and no better book than the UD2. Do yourself a favor and buy it.
15 Recommended
Great book. It covers the messy physiological effects of weight loss in a concise manner, then gives a diet/training routine to effectively deal with these problems.
The UD2 is effective - I lost 1.5lbs of fat weekly with minimal actual dieting.
Lyle's greatest strength is his honesty. The book emphasizes what to expect while on the UD2... Lyle bluntly tells you about the highs and inevitable lows of the diet. Knowing what to expect (and why to expect it) day-by-day made it easy to stick to the diet and obtain positive results.
Essential for the informed dieter.
16 The most effective diet I've used.
The UD2 isn't for couch potatoes looking to turn back years of neglecting their body. It's aimed at men and women who are already relatively fit and lean - which is not the typical diet book audience. Because of this, Lyle's book isn't likely to be more than a niche publication, which is a... shame, because it deserves much better.
The UD2 is an integrated program of diet and training (and some judicious use of nutritional supplements) that is remarkably effective at shedding body fat while preserving lean body mass. The program is laid out in simple terms and well-explained: in fact, the program itself takes up less space in the book than the physiological reasoning behind the program. This is not Atkins-style pseudo-science; Lyle knows his stuff. In fact, in my opinion the physiology section is worth buying the book for, even if you never use the program itself.
The scientific background shows why this stuff works; the anecdotal evidence shows that it does work. In roughly six weeks on the diet, I lost eight pounds of fat and gained strength. Drug free.
That said, the UD2 is not for everyone. As I mentioned earlier, it's aimed at folks who are already in pretty good shape. It also requires a fairly [strict] approach to training and diet - be prepared to plan your workouts and to count your calories. Also be prepared for extreme hunger, boring and unpleasant workouts, mood swings, et cetera and so forth. This is not a fun diet. But if you can handle the above, it's [very] effective, and worth every penny. Highly recommended.
