He didn't go on a starvation diet; he went on a ketogenic diet. While there are still risks associated with this kind of weight loss, its rapidity can be attrib

He didn't go on a starvation diet; he went on a ketogenic diet. While there are still risks associated with this kind of weight loss, its rapidity can be attributed to a few things: 1. As water retention is significantly diminished while in ketosis. 10-15 pounds of initial loss can be sometimes be attributed to water weight coming off. 2. As jacques_chester put it below, "Gluconeogenesis is difficult and wasteful. Lipolysis is by comparison a doddle." The standard benchmarks around rate-of-loss are simply inaccurate for this metabolism. Just as a point of reference, I've been on an MD-supervised ketogenic diet for roughly 7 months now. My blood pressure is perfect (down from stage-2 hypertension levels) and my weightloss has been phenomenal: http://i.imgur.com/nghqf.png http://i.imgur.com/nghqf.png