I started the Warrior Diet (this is day 4 for me), and I think it is ingenious. I first heard about this a few years ago when I read about a Pentagon General:
"When I was a lieutenant in Special Forces many many years ago, I thought I was getting fat," said [Gen. Stanley] McChrystal. "And I started running, and I started running distance, which I enjoyed. But I also found that my personality is such that I'm not real good at eating three or four small disciplined meals. I'm better to defer gratification and then eat one meal." For McChrystal, the one meal he eats is dinner after he is finished with work, which he said was usually around 8 to 8:30 p.m. "I sort of push myself hard all day, try to get everything done, and [then] sort of reward myself with dinner at night." https://www.businessinsider.com/why-star-us-general-stanley-mcchrystal-only-eats-one-meal-per-day-2015-7
The Warrior Diet was invented by Ori Hofmekler, who based it on his experience in the Israeli Special Forces. It is simple to describe - you just eat one meal per day in the evening. What makes it ingenious? First, carbs make you sleepy, so it makes sense to eat them right before you go to bed. Second, you are burning fat every single day (the period of intermittent fasting in 20 hours). Third, you get to cheat - every single day! You can have whatever you want. The diet encourages overeating - within your eating window. Fourth, because you overate, your stomach is satisfied, and while you do have to deal with hunger a little, you are also recovering from the previous night's meal. So hunger is much less of a concern. Fifth, you have to exercise and this is right in the name of the diet.
In the official guide (I will link to it later), there are 3 phases, each which lasts 1 week. First, detox. In this phase, you eat only vegetables, with no cheese, no wheat and of course no sugar. (This is similar to the Whole30 diet, but you can eat beans on this, and Whole30 bans beans). Second, keto - just do a regular keto diet with mostly meat and cheese, but only eat once per day. And third, freestyle - just eat anything. (It says alternate two days of high fat with two days of high carb, but I think that it is too picky).
Before I post this, are there any celebrities who have tried this? I can only find a few. There is General David Petraeus who only eats once per day, the article didn't say when. There is mention of Tom Hardy's Warrior diet, but that was in preparation for the movie "Warrior" ("To look like the rough yet vulnerable MMA fighter required a strict diet that was mostly chicken and broccoli everyday."). Jack Dorsey, former president of Twitter, does it - ("In an interview with Wired, Dorsey states that he only eats one meal a day — just dinner — which he has seven times a week. In a previous interview, he says this is a “really big meal” that consists of protein like fish, chicken or steak, and “a lot of greens“. He then has “mixed berries as a dessert, maybe some dark chocolate.”). Herschel Walker - ("Walker has never followed the fitness norms. He eats once a day, skipping breakfast and lunch. After a long, intense day of training, he eats salad and bread for dinner. He doesn't care for meat or fuss about getting enough protein. Walker's a vegetarian). Kohei Uchimura, (the greatest male gymnast of all-time, might have the weirdest athlete diet yet. In an interview on Japanese television, the two-time Olympic all-around champion and six-time world all around winner—he’s going for his seventh straight title next week in Montreal—was asked to share a secret. His admission: He eats only one meal a day, which comes after his two workouts. Uchimura claims he only fuels himself with coffee until his evening meal.)
So here is to the Warrior Diet - cheers.
