that Pollan quote is cute, but useless for humans who aren't already on the margin regarding fat loss. it is not specifically aimed at fat loss and therefore not optimal.Felipe wrote:"Eat real food, mostly plants and not too much"
if Felipe wants to lose fat, and maintain muscle mass reasonably, brute has a very simple strategy:
water fasting for one week at a time. yes, it's doable. no, Felipe isn't going to die. is it a crash diet? yes, but it works. the problems with crash diets only appear if Felipe goes back to eating high-carb junk after.
it is completely safe to not eat for days or weeks at a time if a given human has body fat >10lbs. at 211lbs, Felipe can likely fast for 2-3 months before running into trouble, but that's not necessary.
fasting will put Felipe into ketosis very quickly and very deeply, making him access body fat for energy. it will also result in a huge energy deficit of approximately 100%.
Felipe will lose approximately 1-1.5lbs per day, some of which will be water/digestive weight. but much of it will be fat.
now the important part is not to eat high-carb after ending the fast, or everything will come back. there is such a thing as "set points" in body fat, and fasting is the fastest (<-- haha) way to break through them. in brute's experience, there's a set point approximately every 20-30lbs. meaning it's almost impossible to diet down with a smaller deficit, because the body will retain fat and rebound to that point quickly. but once these points are broken through, the body is happy at this new fat level and doesn't necessarily gain all that fat back.
brute still recommends keto in addition to fasting, both before and after. makes transition easier and prevents regain of fat by controlling insulin.