Hello! I actually joined a long time ago but can't remember my username!

Anyway...hello all!

I am starting the Body RX diet by Dr. Scott Connelly and have a pretty good grasp of things (I've also done BFL, so...), but I have a few questions, perhaps someone can help?

I am 180 lbs, so my daily protein is 180g (six 30g/4.5oz servings of protein per day). I am taking his advice and drinking two met-rx protein shakes per day (each with 38g protein). Now, he doesn't say anywhere in the book about treating the protein drinks any differently in terms of counting protein grams, but I am worried that if I drink two protein drinks and eat four other meals I will gain (as in a person trying to gain adding protein drinks to their diet); so my question is should I, say, deduct the 76 protein drink grams (because the 38g is a little more than the 30g I should be having at each meal) from my daily 180g and then divide that into the 4 remaining meals? Or just keep my grams the same with the protein drinks simply replacing two meals....since he doesn't mention it. (However, he does mention things like if you have a bigger steak at one meal, have a smaller piece of some kind of protein at another, so....)

*sigh*....I know I am "thinking" too much, but I don't want to overdue it and gain weight.

OH!...Also, one more thing: Fat still confuses me a bit. He just says don't add too much. How much is "too much"?

Thanks so much and I hope I wasn't dreadfully confusing!

Hi Lucky! No, you weren't confusing at all!

I haven't done BRX myself but we have several members who have - with mixed results. If you post your question in the Ladies Who Lift forum, you might get some feedback from those more familiar with the plan.

I can tell you that those who started out overweight - with a goal to lose fat - found that the protein requirements and calories as written were too high to allow for weight loss (though they did add muscle). Several members ending up gaining weight on the plan. However, those who started at close to a normal weight and were looking to build muscle were more successful. Overweight people had more success in losing fat when they tweaked the plan to match the protein requirement to their GOAL weights rather than their CURRENT weights.

It all boils down to calories in versus calories out in the end, and excess protein is going to stall weight loss as sure as any other excess calories. Anyway, that doesn't really answer your question , but with that being said, I would definitely recommend that you count the 38g of protein in your shakes as part of your daily totals. And monitor your progress and don't be afraid to tweak the plan to fit your needs and goals. No plan is a perfect fit for everyone!

Hope this helps!

What Meg said.

I know this is going to sound like I'm repeating what she said - but it's important to stress that bottom line - losing and keeping off weight comes down to calories in and calories out. No matter where the calories come from - whether it be from protein, fat, or carbs - if you eat more than you burn your body is going to store them as fat.

I actually have a copy of the BRX book (bought it out of curiosity a few years ago) but I haven't read it in awhile. When I first read it, I knew that there was no way this program was going to work for me, because simply there were WAY too many calories involved and also - I need to do cardio to help burn fat. I get the idea that the book was written primarily for men, or for women who have only a small amount of weight to lose, because if you're extremely overweight or obese, the "one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight" calculation just DOESN'T WORK.

(We actually had a thread on this very recently at LWL - you can check it out here)

Anyways...here at 3FC we HAVE had a few members who have tried the BRX program (and similar types of plans - no cardio, a buttload of protein, etc.) - I guess the lure of no cardio and lots of food with the promise of losing weight is hard to resist. But if you need to lose a lot of weight/bodyfat, I wouldn't recommend BRX...that's just my two cents...