The Mike Diet
This is the version of the email on the diet I sent to one of my sisters six years ago:
The key to the diet is that for everybody, one pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories. If, during any time period you eat 3,500 calories more than you use, you will gain one pound. If during any time period, you eat 3,500 calories less than you use, you will lose one pound. To lose one pound during a week, for example, you must eat 3,500 less calories during that week than you use. To lose two pounds in a week, you must eat 7,000 calories less than you use during that week (7,000/3500 = 2). On a daily basis, to lose one pound per week, you must eat 500 calories per day less than you use (500 x 7 = 3,500), and to lose two pounds in a week you must eat 1,000 calories per day less than you use (1,000 x 7 = 7,000.)
The other key is to figure out how many calories per day you need to maintain your current weight. Everybody has a number of calories that they can eat that will exactly maintain their current weight. It seems to average around 15 calories per pound of body weight. It is higher for men than women, higher for young people than old people, higher for active people than inactive people, and some people have naturally higher or lower metabolic rates. Ben, as a 21 year-old, male, on the wrestling team, can probably eat 25-20 calories per pound per day and still maintain his body weight. Barbara, as a 79 year-old, female, probably can only eat 12-14 calories per pound to maintain her body weight. Still, for most people, 15 calories per pound per day is a good place to start. As you stay on the diet and see the actual rate at which you lose weight you can adjust that number to more accurately reflect your own rate. If you are losing more than two pounds per week, you can conclude that either you are wrongly estimating the number of calories that you are eating and you are actually eating less than you think, or that your metabolic rate (calorie burning rate) is higher than 15 calories per pound. If you are losing less than two pounds per week, you can conclude that you are estimating your calories eaten too low or that your metabolic rate is less than 15 calories per pound. Eventually, you will get very good at estimating the number of calories that you are eating and you will be able to accurately determine your calorie burning rate. (The chart at the end of this email is from the November 2002 issue of the Berkeley Wellness Letter. It has estimates for calorie consumption on a daily basis for men and women from 19 to 60. I think that is too broad a range as 19 year olds burn way more calories that 60 year olds but in any event the chart is helpful in validating my theory of starting at 15 calories per pound per day and adjusting based on your actual experience.)
Starting with the 15 calories per pound, if you weigh 250 pounds, this means that you can eat 3,750 calories per day to exactly maintain your 250 pound weight. If you want to lose one pound per week, you would have to limit your consumption to 3,250 calories per day (500 calorie per day deficit x 7 days = 3,500 calorie deficit per week = one pound loss), and if you want to lose two pounds per week, you would have to limit your consumption to 2,750 calories per day (1,000 calorie per day deficit x 7 days = 7,000 calorie deficit per week = two pound loss).
2,750 calories per day is a lot of food. It is seven Subway turkey sandwiches per day, or 15 Taco Bell tacos per day. Or, six tacos and four turkey sandwiches. One Thomas English Muffin, sliced and toasted (120 calories), with one wedge of Laughing Cow Light Cheese (35 calories) divided between the two halves of the muffin, with a giant slice of tomato on each wedge (5 calories per slice) with all the mustard you want (0 calories) and a dab of soy sauce (almost 0 calories), and a spoon of salsa on each half (5 calories per tablespoon), makes two very good and filling half sandwiches for a total of 175 calories. You could eat about 15 of those (30 halves) per day and still lose two pounds per week.
To estimate the calories you are eating, there are a lot of calories books and WEB sites. Almost all of the fast food places have their calorie counts online. Most foods have their calorie counts on the packages and frozen dinners tell you exactly what you are getting. Some of the keys to be able to eat a lot are to be very sparing with mayonnaise and butter and soft drinks and juices. The typical soft drink and juice has about 15 calories per ounce and the big gulp has about 600 calories. You can eat anything you want (a piece of See’s candy typically has about 75 calories and those red and white stripped, round mints, that many restaurants serve have 20 calories each), as long as you include the calories in your daily total. The typical whole piece of fruit (apple, pear, orange, banana)) has about 100 calories and a whole tomato has about 30 calories. A typical piece of bread is between 70-120 calories.
Each morning when you get up, weigh yourself. Multiply that number by 15 and this will give you your maintenance amount for the day. Subtract 1,000 from that number and you will get the amount you can eat and still lose at the rate of two pounds per week. I know that your weight will vary each day depending on water, whether you’ve gone to the bathroom, etc., but ignore those differences as they make little difference in how much you can eat. That will all work out in the long run and you should see a definite downward trend.
After a few weeks you will be able to evaluate better your metabolic rate. I, unfortunately, have found, that I only use about 14 calories per pound. Bummer. Exercise helps in that it raises your metabolic rate. A typical mile walked burns an additional 100 calories per day.
From the Berkeley Wellness Letter:
For Men:
Very light activity 14.1 calories per pound per day to maintain your weight.
Light activity 17.2 calories per pound per day to maintain your weight.
Moderate activity 18.6 calories per pound per day to maintain your weight.
Heavy activity 22.7 calories per pound per day to maintain your weight.
For Women:
Very light activity 13.6 calories per pound per day to maintain your weight.
Light activity 15.8 calories per pound per day to maintain your weight.
Moderate activity 16.7 calories per pound per day to maintain your weight.
Heavy activity 20.0 calories per pound per day to maintain your weight.