This diet gets the following six stars:

1. Maintains muscle size
2. Maintains strength
3. Improves skin tone and texture
4. Gets rid of fat
5. Keeps energy levels high
6. Does not cause hunger

At 5’ 9½” and thirty-seven years of age, I went from 195 pounds to 175 pounds (waist 35” to 31½”) in one month with the weight loss being almost entirely fat at my waist. My shirts and jackets remained tight through the chest and shoulders. My legs and arms remained the same except for some improved definition in my thighs with some size increase!

My guides are the mirror, photographs and comments from family, friends, and gym mates. Weighing myself is important only to show progress in the right direction and to prevent weight loss in excess of two pounds a week. Depending on my competitive goals — powerlifting or bodybuilding — weight will become important but only to make a weight class, not as a goal in and of itself.

Besides ignoring body weight, I broke another dieting rule, because I did not count calories. It is easy to count calories in this diet and to estimate my (or your) caloric needs. But why bother? Rather, ask these questions:

1. Do I look as if I am getting results?
2. Do I feel as if I am getting results?
3. If I take in these calories, will they give me a good nutritional return?

Over the years, I had tried every popular and bodybuilding diet that came my way. For me, there was at least one thing wrong with each one, and none got my six star rating. But each diet taught me more about nutrition and, more importantly, about myself. My six star diet is the result of these years of experimentation.

My diet includes unlimited amounts of tap water and bottled water, both carbonated and uncarbonated. Besides being one of the six basic nutrients (the others, of course, are: vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates), by volume and weight, water is the largest component of your body. Water also flushes away toxins and creates a full feeling in the stomach. Do not worry about water retention, because the proper diet, especially one low in salt, combined with strenuous exercise, prevents water retention problems.

Alcohol, even that contained in small quantities of beer and wine, effected my strength and my skin tone and was given up. The physical cost of beer and wine was not worth the enjoyment it gave. Alcohol in hard liquor has no nutrients and has worse effects on the body in general, especially when mixed with sweet beverages.

No salt and no sugar were to be added to anything. My one allowed vice and needed diversion was, and is, black coffee. Occasional restaurant meals are allowed and, in fact, encouraged to break monotony (also, sometimes my job requires restaurant meals). Sunday evening’s meal is always in a restaurant. Additional restaurant meals are two or three breakfasts a week, one lunch a week, and one other meal every week or so. Regarding restaurant meals, enjoy them but try not to eat too much butter, fried food, or salad dressings. A sundae, cheesecake, or other outrageous dessert is all right every five to seven days.

Basic supplements in moderate amounts seem important. They are a potent multi vitamin-mineral tablet, desiccated liver, protein powder, and fiber. Here is the six star diet:

That’s it! It worked for me after years of failure with diets. With minor individual alterations, it should work for others, athlete or not, young or old. Although this article is about a diet, exercise and diet are so intertwined that exercise routines must be mentioned briefly. During the first two weeks of this diet, I was using a powerlifting routine six days a week with heavy single repetitions in the bench press and squat two days a week and in the deadllft, one day a week. In addition, I did other weight exercises, mainly assistance ones for the three powerlifts, with total weight training taking 30 to 45 minutes each training day.

Six days a week weight training while losing substantial body weight seemed excessive. So I switched to a four day a week bodybuilding routine with repetitions in the 8 to 10 range, 9 sets per bodypart, doing chest, triceps and thighs Mondays and Thursdays and back, shoulders, biceps, and forearms Tuesdays and Fridays. Throughout the diet, I trained my abdominals, calves, and neck three to four times a week and rode a stationary bike 20 to 30 minutes twice a week. At the end of the diet, I switched to a three day powerlifting routine which I will remain on for two to three months.

Further, a four day a week weight routine, especially one with higher repetitions, has never worked that well for me, and I think that the diet would work better for me when mated with a routine emphasizing heavy power exercises with low repetitions. In any event, I will know in a few weeks!

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