(Update: I’ve completed the diet. Thank God. Here are all the posts in this series . . .
Steak and Eggs Diet Instructions
Steak and Eggs Diet Week 1 — Work lunch and cookie fail.
Steak and Eggs Diet Week 2 — Stay Puft Marshmallow Man fail.
Steak and Eggs Diet Week 3 — Nachos fail.
Steak and Eggs Diet Week 4 — Donuts fail. Damn it.
Steak and Eggs Diet Week 5 — Pumpkin bread fail.
Steak and Eggs Diet Week 6 — Success! Finally!
Steak and Eggs Diet Week 7 — Utter fucking fail! Three days without food. Then chips, beer, brownies, and cookies.
Steak and Eggs Diet Week 8 — Done! Waist reduced by 3 1/4 inches. Before and After Photos.)
A while back, I wrote a post about the steak and eggs diet. Don’t bother looking for it in the archives – I never published it. It was extreme.
My blog was still brand new; I was trying to find my voice, and I soon found myself writing more about personal development than diet and exercise. So I put the article on the back shelf. It’s been gathering dust there ever since.
Excuses . . . Excuses
In addition, I discovered that trying to get a new blog started from scratch is fucking hard. Especially if you’re a technophobe like I am.
I knew blogging would be difficult, but I was clueless as to how steep the learning curve would be. Even with my usual 4:30am wake time, I just did not have the time I needed to fit in a good workout and toil away on my blog.
Yeah, that sounds about right.
So I made a choice. I put my training on hold.
Just until I’ve settled into my blogging routine. Once it’s up and running I’ll have more time and I’ll start lifting again.
HA!
What the fuck was I thinking?
You don’t free up more time as you get deeper into blogging . . . you have to dedicate more and more of your time to it!
Damn. Where does that leave me and my excuse to avoid training?
In the same place all excuses belong . . . the shit-heap.
So I decided, “Enough.” I snapped a couple shitty cell phone self-shots in the mirror as a starting reference. I figured I might as well document this since I have a blog now — and half of my tagline is “Own Your Body.”
I’d better get to owning mine again.
Unfortunately, when I saw the pictures I realized just how far I’d let myself slip. Fuck. Cookies and beer . . . they get me every time.
Oh well. It’s not my first slip up, and I doubt it will be my last. But I realized I had some serious work to do.
Enter the Steak and Eggs Diet
Which brings me back to the good ‘ol steak and eggs diet. This has often been a go to diet for me in the past. I’ve never been a fan of long, slow and steady weight loss. When you’re severely overweight, you have no choice – it’s going to take a long time. But I’m not that far off from decent shape. And I have little patience for drawn out dieting.
I Want Results Fast
So I’m going with the tried and true. Steak and eggs . . . and not much else. And since I’m doing this, I figure I should publish the protocol I use for anyone else who might be interested – or foolish enough – to try it. My way is strict and brutal . . .
But so damn effective.
I’m going to dust off that old article, maybe rework it a bit, and publish that in my next post.
Disclaimer: I call it the “Steak and Eggs Diet Challenge” because it IS a challenge. It’s a bitch . . . and not for everyone (or even most people). I make that clear in the actual post. It is NOT to be interpreted as a challenge issued to YOU.
In order to hold myself accountable — and illustrate by example that the diet actually does work – I’ll be tracking my progress right here on a weekly basis.
I won’t be able to provide actual weight loss numbers for you . . . I don’t own a scale. I judge progress through pictures and the mirror, but I’ll take some waist measurements in order to provide concrete evidence.
What I Expect
Rapid transformation. Nothing less.
The diet, combined with the resumption of my training (4:00am wake time?) should have me back to a respectable body composition within 4-6 weeks.
The sooner the better.
As effective as this diet has always proven for me, I tend to despise it before even the first week has ended. But I’d rather just hit the diet hard and get it over with. Then I can move on to more varied (and enjoyable) eating.
Going into this, I do have a few things in my favor:
- Muscle memory. Due to years of training, my body has become quite adept at regrowing muscle lost through inactivity.
- Metabolism. I’ve always responded well to dieting – at least to diets of the low carb variety.
- Been there done that. I’ve used this diet on multiple occasions in the past so I know what to expect. Shit. On second thought, that’s actually a deterrent. Well, at least I still have the first two points going for me.
Below, I’ve included some pictures. They’re kind of ass backwards — the before shots are better than the after shots. The first pictures are from the last time I was using this diet. They were progress pics, not final shots (which I never ended up taking), but they’ll give you an idea of what can be accomplished with this diet (and they help a bit with my bruised ego). The last couple pictures are where I stand right now. It’s not pretty, I know.
But fuck it.
Cheers!
Before shots taken from the last time I did the steak and eggs diet
Where I stand now
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Your soft-porn photos aside, I can relate to this post. But in addition to mirror/photos, I would posit performance to be another marker of progress. Stronger, faster, higher, etc. … if you can feel an increase in speed after weeks of running run, or of power after a dedicated lifting regimen, who cares what the mirror says?
Re: the never-posted entry, do you have a preferred cut? A source for grass-fed, etc?
Oh, and your beard is too short. Like, comically.
Soft-porn photo’s! I’m baring it all here! Well, maybe not all.
I agree that performance is a massive indicator of success. Over the last couple months of non-training I think it would be safe to say that my performance has suffered. And I’ll confess, I do care what the mirror says. Back in my heavier training days I was lifting some pretty damn respectable iron, but it always bothered me how soft I looked once stripped of clothing. These days I go for a blend of performance and looks. I don’t think I’m particularly vain (as you can tell by my unmanscaped hairy ass), but looks are important.
As for preferred cuts, I like ribeye and NY strip (can’t get tritip out here, dammit). But they are not cheap. I do grass-fed on occassion as a treat, but it’s too expensive on a regular basis. I do have a great source for grass-fed nearby during the summer. There’s a girl who works at the corner store who co-owns an all grass-fed farm with her grandfather . . . and their prices are really cheap. Unfortunately, she’s in school right now and I don’t feel like driving the hour to her farm to get the meat. So it’ll be hormone and antibiotic infested steak until summer again. As for eggs, I sometimes just walk next door and pull the eggs out from under the cranky chickens asses. Delicious.
And yeah, my beard is pretty pathetic these days. I wish I had a smart-ass retort, but the truth hurts. Oh the shame.
Cheers!
Trevor,
I lost about 50 lbs on a low carb’ish type of diet. I’ve gained about 15lbs back being so busy these days. I’ll be interested in seeing how this diet works for you. Actually sounds delicious.
So are you just eating steak and egg’s for all meals? You said “not much else”, does that include greens etc.?
Well Aaron, I don’t want to spoil the article, but I’ll add that a measure of wine is allowed. But the protocol is strict. Severe even. I designed it based on the way I’ve always approached the steak and eggs diet. I never thought I would have a blog and be publishing my diet for others to see, but life is funny that way.
Since it was designed for me, it was designed puritan. I’m good about sticking to my diets . . . in the short term at least. That’s why I hit ‘em hard and fast, then transition into more sustainable healthy eating to either maintain or just slowly drop a bit more fat without feeling restrictive.
Cheers!
The wine makes sense. I’ve read good things about it’s impact on diet. I think Tim Ferris says some good things about wine use for his “slow carb” diet.
Red wines are pretty low carb, someithing like 3-8 grams or so per glass, depending on variety. But the real reason I allow a bit of wine is just for my own mental health — to break up the monotony.
Hi Trevor,
This is insane.. never heard of a steak and egg diet… but I LOVE IT!!
That’s awesome that you’ve had huge results before.. I’m looking forward to seeing how you go with this one.
P.S. Reading on this black background is pretty hard work!
P.P.S. Loving the beard!
Brendan
Hi Brendan, the steak and eggs diet is pretty old school. It fell out of favor when the low fat craze started picking up steam in the 80′s, but prior to that it was pretty well known in fitness circles.
I’m glad to finally hear some feedback on the design of this blog. I have zero design skills and wanted something that was bold. I like black/dark backgrounds since I do a lot of my computer work in the wee hours of the morning while the sun’s down, or in the evening by candlelight — dark backgrounds are easier on the eyes in low light. I realize I’m the exception here.
But you’re right. A redesign is something I have planned for the future — preferrably done by pro. I may try fooling with some of the text colors though, see if I can’t improve the contrast. I appreciate the feedback.
As for the beard: 1 vote yea, 1 vote nay. Anyone else want to chime in?
Cheers!
You could buy a theme template… you can get some good ones for about $35-$50. Worth the investment if you’re spending a lot of time doing this.
That’s not a bad idea. I’ll look into that — it could be money well spent. Thanks for the suggestion Brendan.
Added suggestion for you, Trevor: If you can substitute and get either grass-fed beef or bison (I prefer bison), then you can get a better ratio of the right fats!
Ground bison isn’t all that expensive, either. And it is delicious. Good work, brutha!
I’d take grass-fed anything over hormone/antibiotic pumped food. But, we make do with what we have. And if you ain’t got the money then you ain’t got the money.
But your point is valid. The higher the quality of meat we can buy, the healthier the diet will be.
Cheers!