Is the bulletproof diet by Dave Asprey any good? Will it actually help you lose weight? Well, I’ve tried it for over a year now, and here’s my review.
Most people don’t realize this, but diet is actually the highest leverage point when it comes to losing weight. Diet accounts for about 80% of whether you lose weight or not.
Sure, if you work out enough you can burn off those pancakes and cheese burgers, but if you just follow the right diet, you won’t even have to work out at all.
That being said, if you combine a good diet AND working out…it can kick some serious ass. Here’s my experience with the Bulletproof Diet and how to use it to lose weight.
Best Diet to Lose Weight
First off, I want to say this: there are many ways to skin a cat. Some fitness models that I know do intermittent fasting as a way to lose weight. They just don’t eat anything for the first 8 hours of the day, and then work out using BCAA’s (more on this later), and have a ridiculously fatty and unhealthy meal.
But, because they don’t eat more calories than they need to, they remain shredded. Others find that this type of approach makes them feel like shit the next day, due to their feast of pizza, burgers, and fried chicken.
Some people prefer to do a more traditional bodybuilder’s diet, where they have a meal every 2-4 hours. This works really well for people that control their own lifestyle, but for anyone who has a job or is trying to learn game, it’s really difficult.
Others like the freedom and flexibility that the Paleo Diet gives them; they don’t have to count calories, as long as they eat certain foods, and they don’t have to worry about eating every 2-4 hours.
Do you see my point? There is no “one definitive way” to shred fat. There is no best diet to lose weight. It all comes down to your preferences, your lifestyle, and your genetics.
Paleo: Fad or Fantastic?
This being said, the best diet overall for losing weight, in my opinion, is the Bulletproof Diet. I talk about it in the video above, but the idea is that it’s a modified Paleo Diet.
The Paleo Diet first started gaining mainstream recognition around the early 2000’s, and is based around one simple principle: if cavemen didn’t eat it, then you shouldn’t eat it either.
The whole idea behind paleo was that our bodies evolved to run off of certain foods for literally millions of years…and now we have all these processed, weird foods that our bodies can’t use very well.
So basically, the paleo diet consisted of:
- A ton of vegetables
- Beef, chicken, pork, and fish
- Nuts
- Fruit
- Squash, pumpkin, and other gourds
- Etc.
Do you see the idea? Basically if cavemen didn’t have access to it, you’re not supposed to eat it (when on paleo). So that double bacon cheeseburger that you love so much? That bun, that ketchup, mustard, and cheese aren’t paleo (although the patty and bacon are).
After paleo shot into the mainstream around the early 2000’s several other authors put their own spin on it, and they all claim to be the best diet for losing weight.
The Bulletproof Diet
Dave Asprey, the creator of the Bulletproof Diet, decided to take paleo to a whole new level. He decided to refine all of the different foods on the paleo diet, and rank them in order from bad to good.
Take a look at the picture below; you’ll see that the majority of his diet consists of vegetables, followed by a healthy serving of fats and proteins. In my opinion, this is the way that it should be.
If you look closer, you’ll see that he’s ranked everything from good to bad, however. Take protein, for example: at the top is grass fed beef, which is the healthiest type of beef you can get. Then below that, there’s wild caught fish. All the way at the bottom, there’s soy protein and wheat protein.
Do you see the point? It’s all on a spectrum—and the more of the “green” foods you eat, the better your fat loss and performance will be.
Personally, this is one of the reasons that I think this is the best diet to lose weight: no foods are necessarily “bad,” because it’s all a spectrum. No food is really “bad,” it’s just bad for a certain goal.
For example, if you’re Michael Phelps and you need to eat 12,000 calories a day in order to get through your grueling 10 hour workout, you’re probably going to need to eat a shit ton of sugar for energy.
But, if you’re concerned with simply losing weight, while getting some muscle definition? Then it’s best to follow the “green” areas of the Bulletproof Diet.
Do you see my point? What you should eat will depend on your goal. In fact, this is why if you’re doing the Bulletproof Diet, you’re going to have to slightly alter it depending on your needs.
Goal: Fat Loss
As I said before, the Bulletproof Diet is by far the best diet for losing weight. I put someone who weighed 285lbs onto this diet, and within a month and a half he’d lost 45lbs…and he didn’t even follow it 100%.
The key here is that you’re eating a high amount of vegetables, fats, and proteins, but very little carbohydrates. I won’t talk too much about this here, because I cover it in depth in Body of an Alpha, but the idea is this.
When you eat carbohydrates, your body spikes insulin which is a storage hormone. Depending on what your body needs at that specific moment, the carbohydrates will either be stored as fat or as muscle.
So, in other words, if you don’t work out, the Bulletproof Diet is the best diet to lose weight hands down. When you don’t work out, you don’t need that many carbohydrates, and the net effect is probably bad.
You do need some carbohydrates, however, which is why Dave recommends you eat a serving of fruit or white rice each night.
It’s not that carbohydrates are “bad,” as the mainstream media tells you, it’s just that they spike insulin. Remember…everything that I tell you on this blog will depend on your goals, and your diet is no exception. So, when you’re trying to lose weight, you don’t want to spike insulin. Remember, insulin is a storage hormone, and you spike it by eating anything, but ESPECIALLY carbohydrates.
Goal: Muscle Building
Although the Bulletproof Diet is probably the best diet to lose weight on, it isn’t very efficient at building muscle. Even Dave Asprey, the creator of the Bulletproof Diet, has said in a podcast that if you want to build muscle you will need to eat more carbohydrates.
Recall back to what I said—insulin is a storage hormone, and it’s spiked by carbohydrates, right? Well, if you’ve just completed a grueling workout, and you eat some carbs, where do you think insulin will store those carbs?
In your muscles, of course. This is the whole idea behind “carb cycling,” which again, I discuss in depth in my new eBook Body of an Alpha. The whole idea behind carb cycling is that you eat the majority of your carbohydrates before and after a workout.
This way, the carbs you eat before the workout will be used for energy, and the carbs you eat after your workout will be stored in your muscles for recovery (instead of in your gut for fat storage).
This is what I recommend you do if you’re following the Bulletproof Diet—it will allow you to get the health and fat loss benefits, but also to build muscle.
If you decide to follow the Bulletproof Diet, you’re going to have to eat more carbs before and after your workout. I recommend that you eat the carbohydrates on the green end of the spectrum:
- Sweet potatoes
- White rice
- Butternut squash
- Pumpkin
- Plantains
If you eat around 125 grams of these carbohydrates before and after your workouts, but follow the Bulletproof Diet aside from this, you’ll feel amazing and be shredded in no time.
Bulletproof Diet Benefits
One of the greatest benefits of the Bulletproof Diet, in my opinion, is the mental clarity that it gives you. Sure, it’s the best diet to lose weight on, but it’s also one of the best diets for overall health benefits.
Dave ranks his foods based off of a number of factors, including:
- How inflammatory they are
- How many anti-oxidants they have
- How many toxins they have
- And more
So, in other words, the foods at the green end of the spectrum are not only meant to shred fat, but to also boost your mental clarity and overall well being.
When I’m on the Bulletproof Diet, I find that I feel amazing. I feel happier, my energy levels are more stable, and I’m overall more focused and energetic.
To be fair, there is a little bit of an adjustment phase—for the first week or two, you might feel kind of strange as your body gets used to digesting all of these different foods that you aren’t used to.
But, after this, you’ll feel amazing—from here, it’s just a matter of fine-tuning the specifics. Should you have a little bit more vegetables or meat? Should you have bulletproof coffee at 8AM or 10AM? Oh, and speaking of the coffee…
Bulletproof Coffee Review
Bulletproof coffee, which is also one of the best nootropics of all time, is a recipe that I got from the Bulletproof Diet. A lot of people, when they first hear about it, wonder why the fuck I would do something like this.
Bulletproof coffee consists of the following blended all together:
- 2 cups of high quality coffee
- 2 tablespoons of grass fed butter
- 2 tablespoons of MCT oil
Overall, it’s a whopping 460 calories of sheer fat and caffeine. So why would I do something like this? Well, remember that it’s mean to be used while you’re on the Bulletproof Diet. If you just use this out of nowhere, you’re going to feel kind of crappy.
But, if you’re on the Bulletproof Diet and you use this? You’ll feel absolutely amazing. You’ll have laser focus for a solid 8 hours and won’t have to worry about getting hungry or feeling groggy from not eating.
The idea behind this, is that when you’re on the Bulletproof Diet your body gets used to using fat as fuel. Fat can be used much more smoothly as fuel than carbohydrates—that’s why carbohydrates like sugar give you an energy spike, and then an energy crash.
But when your body learns to use fat as fuel, it’s very steady and smooth. This is the idea behind combining bulletproof coffee with intermittent fasting—you only consume bulletproof coffee for the first 8 hours of your day, and it leaves you with a steady fuel source to think clearly and have high energy.
Bulletproof intermittent fasting is a great substitute for guys who don’t respond well to regular intermittent fasting (or IF for short).
The healthy fats in the coffee will give your brain the fuel that it needs for the next 8 hours, so that you can focus on getting work done and accomplishing great things.
Again, however, it will depend on your genetics—some people respond very well to bulletproof intermittent fasting. Others prefer to have their bulletproof coffee with a nice salad and some sardines. It all depends on what works for you.
That being said, the Bulletproof Diet is by far the best diet to lose weight. Plain and simple.
Bullet Proof Diet Summary
Overall, the diet that you choose will depend on your goals. Do you want to build muscle? Burn fat? Train for the Olympics? Your diet will change for each one. Furthermore, we all have different genetics and lifestyle preference, so there is rarely one definitive diet that everyone should follow.
That being said, however, in my experience, the Bulletproof Diet is probably the best diet to lose weight. When I follow the Bulletproof Diet, I feel absolutely amazing—and if I’m trying to build muscle, I just tweak it slightly so that I can do so.
There’s many ways to skin a cat, but if you try the Bulletproof Diet out for a few months, I promise that you won’t regret it. You’ll feel pretty amazing…all of the time. It’ll help you think more clearly and give you more energy, which will help you earn more money, learn game, or just feel better all around.
If you guys have any questions, comments, and concerns, be sure to let me know. I’ll see you next time.
Hi Jon, 58 yrs.old pretty good shape but hard to get rid of tummy and love handles. Sending you a message from Vancouver B.C. Canada. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. As we age ,harder to burn fat. P.S. 230 lbs. WHOA! THKS.
You could check out SARMs, man. I also wrote a couple articles on shredding fat, definitely check that out in the “fitness” category of my blog.
Somebody suggest that we should only eat meat and an all-meat diet guarantees health. Do you agree?
Depends a lot on your genetics, but no. Eating all meat will help with weight loss, but it poses its own problems (lack of micro-nutrients, no fiber, etc.).
Steak and eggs diet is good for testosterone and lean muscle growth, but that’s about it.
Please please work on your public speaking skills. I love the content of your videos but it gets kind of ruined by all the”errs” and “aaaahms”. Just a hint. I think it’s some kind of habit but if anyone knows how to break habits, then it’s you! 🙂
Haha, thanks for the tip. The YouTube channel is currently undergoing a major change – expect some great content within the next 3-6 months
Jon, have you ever try any king of supplement in order to inhibit your cortisol. I read some adaptogenic herbs like Ashwagandha or Rodhiola are good choices.
Yes, I’ve tried Rhodiola and liked it. GABA and L-Theanine work well, too