I need a “preview” option when I type something that long.

Doug, that’s an interesting description of a place that is far different than the US in at least some aspects.

As for weight loss, the cynic in me wants to scoff at a “code” to crack. On one level, it’s very simple: calories in versus calories expended. Expend more than you take in and you will lose weight, by the laws of thermodynamics. A lot of complicated diet schemes and fads really boil down to tricking you into doing that. Personally I prefer to log my intake at fitday.com. I know about what my maintenance level is, and adjust my intake accordingly.

Looking at the blurb on the book at Amazon it looks a bit hyped, but that’s marketing talk for you. I don’t know about the particular approach to cyclical dieting in the book, but there is a benefit to occasional carb ups. Metabolic slowdown can be overstated but can approach around 20% as I recall, but probably only after at least several weeks of significant calorie restriction. Diet breaks or carb ups can help with that issue.

Cycling 50 km is a good amount of exercise but you still have to be aware that it’s hard for someone with a desk job to exercise enough to lose weight without still restricting intake. Lance Armstrong may be able to lose on 7000 calories a day; you and I can’t.

Really for most people the “code” is more behavioural than anything. So the diet you can stick to is likely to be the best. If it helps you feel better about it, if weight loss is your only goal then you have it easy. Those of us who want to change body composition (exchange fat for muscle, not just lose fat) have it much harder. It’s very hard for someone already fairly strong and not all that fat to add muscle and lose fat at the same time. Generally one has to add some muscle and fat then lose fat while trying not to lose muscle, which is a much harder proposition than just losing fat alone.

Anyway, that’s my 23-1/2 cents on the subject.

Really the “code”