4 HB Clarifications to Know

I have been contacted by several people wanting to know how things are going so far, besides all the food.

I will be measureing inches, weight and fat loss on my cheat day this week and will probably share here.  I think it's really important for people, especially women not to get too caught up in the numbers.  Women's bodies are strange and wonderful things.  However, with things like menstration, our bodies do not react or respond like men's bodies.  Why do  I mention this?  Because we want results and we want the pounds off NOW, but it is not always that easy for us. 

On this plan, you HAVE to follow it to the letter, you HAVE to measure yourself, NOT just weigh and I would highly recommend getting an Omron or something similar to measure your body fat.  The bottom line...if you don't follow it, it won't work for you...end of story.  Don't try to fine tune it, don't count calorie, and DO NOT weigh yourself every day.

Below is an excerpt from a blog post of Tim's.  I can't find a way to link it, so I am cutting and pasting it.  I hope it helps. 

The main point, is that I feel REALLY good!!  I am sleeping great and have a lot of energy.  To me, that is a win right there.  =)

Slow-Carb Clarifications


I’m currently getting at least 500-1,000 questions a day via the blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc. about the slow-carb diet. Let me clarify a few things:

Do not eat the following, except for cheat days:

Yams

Sweet potatoes

Quinoa

Dairy (this includes cheese and yogurt of all kinds)

I mention cottage cheese at one point as a last resort. It is low in lactose, which is what you need to avoid. Ghee and cream (for coffee) should contain little or no lactose, hence you can use them. The same goes for effectively lactose-free, unflavored whey protein, etc..

The following will address 99%+ of confusion:

- If you have to ask, don’t eat it.

- If you haven’t had blood tests done, I don’t want to hear that the diet doesn’t work.

- If you aren’t measuring inches or haven’t measured bodyfat % with an accurate tool (BodPod, etc. and NOT bodyfat scales), I don’t want to hear that the diet doesn’t work.

- If you’re a woman and taking measurements within 10 days prior to menstruation (which I advise against in the book), I don’t want to hear about the lack of progress.

- On the critical 4-6 week window:

For people over 40 and women (especially after two kids), it’s quite common that the most dramatic fat-loss and weight change comes after 4-6 weeks on the diet. I have no explanation for this. Needless to say, if you haven’t done the diet for AT LEAST four weeks, please don’t post a comment about plateauing and panicking. I can’t give you meaningful advice without a ton of other supporting data (blood tests, etc.), and it’s physically impossible for me to respond to each person.

To reiterate: The entire goal of 4HB is to make you a self-sufficient self-experimenter within safe boundaries. Track yourself, follow the rules, and track the changes if you break or bend the rules. Simple as that. That’s what I did to arrive at my conclusions, and that’s what you will do — with a huge head start with the 4HB — to arrive at yours.

Do it for 4 weeks and then troubleshoot if you’re plateauing.

If you post a plea for help anywhere, include at least two FULL days of your meals and snacks so people can actually help you.

Most of those saying they’re “following the diet to the letter” are doing nothing of the sort. Reread “Slow-Carb II” in 4HB.

Last, I’ll repeat the basic approach to the unknown: If you have to ask, don’t eat it.

4 HB Day 17

Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with sugar free vanilla creamer and truvia
3 organic eggs
2 pieces turkey bacon

Lunch:
2 pieces chicken
salad w/balsamic vinegar

2nd Lunch:

2 pieces chicken
salad w/balsamic vinegar

Dinner:

Shredded beef
Salad
black beans

4 HB Day 16

Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with sugar free vanilla creamer and truvia
3 organic eggs

2 pieces turkey bacon

Second Breakfast at brunch with friends:
2 eggs scrambled
2 cups of coffee with Splenda and half & half

Late lunch:
Shredded beef
Salad with mushroom, cucumber, tomatoes, black beans, avocado with balsamic/olive oil dressing.

Late dinner:

Shredded beef and pinto beans

4 HB Day 15

Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with sugar free vanilla creamer and truvia
3 organic eggs
2 pieces turkey bacon

Lunch:
Chicken
Salad
black beans
balsamic vinegar/olive oil dressing

Dinner/brinner

eggs
bacon

4 HB Day 13

Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with sugar free vanilla creamer and truvia
3 organic eggs
2 pieces turkey bacon
Fresh Salsa

Lunch:
2 pieces of chicken
salad
balsamic and olive oil dressing

Dinner/Brinner:

3 Eggs, mushrooms
2 pieces bacon
black beans
avocado

4 HB Day 12

I forgot to take a pictures of my breakfast

Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with sugar free vanilla creamer and truvia
3 organic eggs
2 pieces turkey bacon
pinto beans

 Lunch:
La Salsa bowl with lettuce, steak, black beans, guacamole and tomatillo salsa

Dinner/Brinner:

3 pieces turkey bacon
3 organic eggs

4 HB Day 11

Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with sugar free vanilla creamer and truvia
3 organic eggs
2 pieces turkey bacon
pinto beans

Lunch:
Salad, mushrooms, turkey meat
Balsamic vinegar dressing

Dinner:
Salad, mushrooms, tomatoes and 1/2 avocado
Chicken meat

4 HB Day 10

Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with sugar free vanilla creamer and truvia
3 organic eggs
2 pieces turkey bacon
pinto beans

Lunch:

Steak

salad, mushrooms, avocado with balsamic/olive oil dressing.

YUMMMMY!

Dinner/Brinner:
I had a headache so dinner, was more brinner
3 organic eggs
3 pieces turkey bacon.

4 HB Day 9

Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with sugar free vanilla creamer and truvia
3 organic eggs
2 pieces turkey bacon
pinto beans

Lunch:
La Salsa salad with black beans, steak guacamole and salsa

Dinner
Salad bowl from Chipotle.
salad
black beans
shredded beef
guacamole.

4 HB Day 8

Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with sugar free vanilla creamer and truvia
3 organic eggs
2 pieces turkey bacon
pinto beans with salsa

Lunch:
This was a bit of a debacle.  I brought my lunch to services, but there didn't turn out to be a microwave.  =(  So, I ended up eating turkey meat, cherry tomatoes, olives and pickles.  Not the best, but still pretty darn good.

Dinner:
We went to Outback.
Lamb YUM!
double portion of broccoli
Garden salad with balsamic vinegar, salt and olive oil.

4 HB Day 7 Cheat Day and Measurements

So, day 7 was two-fold.  One, it's my first "cheat day".  What did I have?  Brace yourselves...

Oreos
Chocolate
Krispy Kreme
Snacks at church
Lots of coffee
Cheeseburger
Chips
Oreo cake
Carrot cake
Nutella
breadsticks

I will say I was ready to get back to "clean eating" by the time I was done!

On to the second fold...my results for week one.

Weight:  -4.4
Measurements: -5.25 inches in total (measuring: upper chest, waist, rib cage, hips, tummy/hips "pouch", thighs, biceps, neck, and calves).
Bodyfat: -.2%

So far so good.  I can honestly say, it's no hardship eating this way during the week and it's certainly NO hardship to have a cheat day!!!

4 HB Day 6

Breakfast:
One cup coffee with sugar free vanilla creamer with Truvia
3 organic eggs
Pinto beans
2 pieces turkey bacon

Lunch:
La Salsa Bowl (lettuce, steak, black beans, guacamole, tomatillo and salsa)

Dinner:

No picture for dinner.  I ate on the fly at my parents' house.

Steak
Pinto beans with lots of seasoning!

4HB Day 5

Breakfast:
One cup coffee with SF Vanilla creamer and Truvia
3 organic eggs
2 pieces turkey bacon
pinto beans
spinach

Lunch: YUM!
La Salsa bowl w/ black beans, steak and guacamole
I should have had a vegetable, but didn't think to ask them for lettuce.

Snack:

Medium Americano with SF Vanilla and manufacturing cream.  I have a sneaking suspicion that my SF syrup wasn't really sugar free, so I didn't drink more than a 1/3 of it. 

Dinner:
Same as lunch.  I added some more steak and tomatillo salsa

Notes:  

I didn't drink near enough water.

4HB Day 4

 Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with sugar free vanilla creamer and truvia
3 organic eggs
spinach
2 pieces turkey bacon

Lunch:
Forgot to take a picture again.  Stink!!


Peets Medium Americano with manufacturing cream and SF Vanilla

Dinner:

Two organic eggs
Pinto beans
2 pieces turkey bacon
spinach

Notes:
I am feeling really good.  Eating this way is no hardship at all and it's kind of nice taking some of the guess work out of my food choices.  It is much less stressful sticking to the same basic meals each day.

In the 4HB Tim recommends making a list of foods you might be thinking about while eating strictly.  You know, THOSE kind of food.  The point of putting them in a list is to remind yourself that you can have them, just not until your cheat day.  It helps keep you focused.  I have to say, I am quite enjoying compiling my list.  And I will admit, Krispy Kreme is high up on it. 

4HB Day 3

 Breakfast:
One cup coffee with Truvia and SF Vanilla Creamer
3 organic eggs
Pinto beans
3 turkey bacon

Lunch:
I forgot to take a picture.  =(
Turkey sausage
steak
black beans

2nd lunch:
Black beans
salad

Dinner:
2 organic eggs
Turkey bacon
Spinach
Pinto beans

Water Intake:  90 + ounces

Notes:  I already feel "lighter" and less bloated generally.  I slept like a baby.

4HB Day 2

Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with Truvia and 3 TB SF vanilla creamer
3 organic eggs
Turkey sausage from Farmers Market
Pinto beans

Lunch:

Steak
Spinach
Black beans and diced tomatoes

2nd Lunch:
Steak (about half as much as I had at lunch earlier)
black beans  (left overs from a work function)

Snack:
8 almonds (I really need to more them out of my line of vision, stinkin' things)

Dinner or as I like to call it brinner:
2 organic eggs
Black beans (left overs from work function)
turkey sausage from farmers market

Notes:
Today went great.  Ate when I got hungry and breakfast tided me over very well until lunch.  I drank about 102 ounces of water and one diet coke.

I also took my before pictures...uggg.  Necessary, but sheesh...uggg!

4HB Day 1

Breakfast: 

1 cup coffee with Truvia and approx. 3 TB SF vanilla creamer

4 organic eggs

pinto beans 

(I should have had a vegetable, but I am house sitting and didn't have any yet.)

Lunch: 

meatballs (from Safeway that were awful!  Yuck.  I ate them, but threw the rest away)

Avocado (I should have had a vegetable, see excuse above)

Snack before dinner:

8 almonds (I wasn't hungry, but they were staring at me.)

Dinner:
Steak with a chipotle rub
Spinach with garlic salt and ghee
Black beans with diced tomatoes.  (I ate all the beans but not the liquid)

Notes:
So far so good.  I had a raging headache for most of the day, but I am pretty sure that was due to watching too much television while house sitting.  I drank a LOT of water today, probably about 60-80 ounces.  I will start keeping better track tomorrow.

4 Hour Body 30 Day Experiment

Okay, I am honestly dismayed that I haven’t blogged for almost a year!  Where has the time gone and what in the world have I been up to?  I can’t even tell you, not because I would have to kill you, but because there hasn’t been much worth sharing.  Okay, I did go to Paris, but that’s a story for another time.  Let me just say it was magical and I can’t wait to go back.

So, why am I back to blogging?  Because I finally have something to share and because I will do better being accountable during this process.

I have been superficially interested in Tim Ferris’ books The 4 Hour Workweek and the 4 Hour Body for several years.  Which is lamespeak for I never bought either.  However, whenever I would watch a seminar or interview by Gary Taubes, I would inevitably be drawn to a seminar or interview with Tim Ferris.  Unfortunately, the process of interest stopped there…until about a week ago.  I finally bit the bullet and order the 4 Hour Body and have been entranced ever since. 

A little background on me.  I have been overweight to some degree since I hit puberty.  Although when I look back at pictures of my youth I realize that I wasn’t as heavy as I thought, but like most young women I had a distorted view of my body.  Fast forward about 20 years and I found myself shocked to realize that I was now not only fat, but I was obese.  All it took was a picture from a year-end party at work that circulated the office to finally get my attention.  Couple that with being in another beautiful wedding and a remarkably awful trip to Alaska and I was ready to get the weight off.  I lost 67 lbs, doing mainly low-carb eating and have kept 57 of it off for two years. 

I am very proud of my weight loss and that I have kept it off for so long.  But I have found myself in a sort of purgatory.  My weight is…well…okay, but not where I want to be and although I have tried to lose an additional 20-30 lbs, it hasn’t happened.  I seem to lack the motivation to get out of the “I feel alright” and move into the “I feel fantastic” place I want to be.

This is where the 4 Hour Body comes in.  I am dedicating myself to a 30 day experiment or challenge, if you will. 

In order to be successful or as successful as possible, it is important that I be accountable.  In an effort to do that, I will be documenting my meals through pictures and posting them and my thoughts here.  Why take pictures?  Because studies are showing that people that take pictures of their food are more accountable and lose more weight than those that don’t.  (See this article)

Here are the details:

My challenge will go from May 12, 0213 through June 11, 2013. 

So, what are the rules for my challenge?

Rule #1 Avoid “White” Carbohydrates. (he gives you a list of foods to eat to get you started)

Rule #2 Eat the same few meals over and over again

Rule #3 Don’t drink calories

Rule #4 Don’t eat fruit

Rule #5 Take one day off per week

That’s right folks, you get a “cheat day”, or as Tim calls it “Dieters Gone Wild” (DGW).  And when he says eat anything you want, he means eat ANYTHING you want and as much as you want in that 24 hour period.  Um, yeah?  How cool is that?  Before you get freaked out by this idea, you should know that people that do this, lose more weight than those that chose not to do this part of it.  Seriously, twist my arm! 

So, I have weighed myself, taken my measurements and documented my body fat percentage using the Omron.  I will be weight, measuring and Omroning (is that a word?) every Saturday morning before eating.  Saturdays will be my “cheat day”.

To say I am excited about this is an understatement.  Over the last year and a half I have been become very interested in health and food.  I am obsessed with gluten free eating in conjunction with low carb and authors like Gary Taubes and Maria Emmerich.  This challenge is going to be a great way for me to kick start getting where I want to be, but also for completing something that I have committed myself to. 

So here I go. 

P.S.

Here is a video of Tim Ferris giving a talk at Google.