Credits: Social Media
30-minute diet rule that can help burn fat is 14 years old but simple to follow
Theres a ring to it, all right. 30-30-30. Easy to remember, easy to say. But what does the 30-minute diet method involve, and where did it come from?
If you want to lose weight, or indeed find any useful advice regarding health, nutrition, fitness, and dieting, TikTok is not a particularly good place to look. The vast majority of TikTok videos purporting to contain useful tidbits about such topics as psychology and dietary habits are at best scientifically unverified, and at worst overtly toxic. Still, it can be fun to learn about what people are talking about, cant it?
The 30-minute diet method popular on TikTok comes from Tim Ferriss
Tim Ferriss is an American entrepreneur, investor, and lifestyle influencer. Among the companies he has invested in are Duolingo, Twitter (now X), and Shopify.
He is also a big fan of the number four and coincidentally has written four books, three of which are: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef.
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In The 4-Hour Body, he lays out his ideas for rapid fat loss, having a good sex life, and becoming superhuman. The book came out in 2010, and advocates for what he calls a slow-carb diet.
Ferriss writes about eating at least 30 grams of proteins within 60 minutes of waking up, then working out.
Six years later, in a blog entry on his website, he wrote that during bulking periods, i.e. when hes working out in the mornings, he defaults to his slow-carb diet and 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking. �
This means that during the interim period between 2010 and 2016, he edited his morning recommendation to what has now become known as the 30-minute diet method.
But for most people, the method is not harmful or helpful
The 30-30-30 diet method, or 30-minute diet plan, is simple. You eat food containing 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up and then do 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise. In the TikTok clip embedded above, wellness influencer Gary Brecka says he has “never seen” anything “strip fat” off a person like the 30-minute diet method.
Mayo Clinic published a review piece on it in late 2023, in which it describes the regimen as more of a not-harmful-or-helpful situation for most people trying to lose weight.
Thats because the only reliable indicator of whether or not a diet will lead to weight loss is whether or not it creates a caloric deficit.
You can have your 30 grams of protein every morning and follow it with the best workout in the world, but unless you take in fewer calories overall than those you burn during your day, you wont lose weight, not in the way you want to anyway.
For general health, Mayo Clinic reminds us, 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity and at least two days of muscle-strengthening activity each week are recommended.�
If you want to lose weight, do this and then some.�Or eat less. Or both.
The main benefits of the 30-30-30 diet method, it says, are that it promotes three healthy habits: eating breakfast (especially one that isnt packed with carbohydrates and sugar), doing exercise, and consuming protein more than once throughout the day.
