4 hour body

lizjoan3

I just finished the slow carb or 28 day challenge and did not lose any weight.disappointed since it was not easy. Prior to this I had lost 18lbs this summer just counting calories and not eliminating any foods. I have other people that were successful doing the challenge and lost weight. Looking forward to going back to counting calories tomorrow and begin my weight loss again..

spoiledpuppies

Good for you for not getting so discouraged that you throw in the towel. At least now you know what works--and what doesn't--for you. You'll be back on track and kicking it!

yoovie

Good attitude! Enjoy your workouts! You always get out of those as much as you put in! :flowerforyou:

Stage14

Good for you for going back to what works and not giving up! Out of curiosity, did you continue to count calories or at least measure out portions on the challenge or not? It sounds like no, but I am not familiar with the program.

gigglesinthesun

is that a low carb thing? I somehow do worse on low carb - mentally and physically - for some reason, but I know it really works for some.

Anyway, well done for sticking with it and good luck :-)

lizjoan3

you do not count calories..the basics is veggies every meal, beans, meats, fish, no fruit no sugar, no dairy, no alcohol, no carbs but you can have a cheat day every week...so I ate lots of beans to keep full, meats, tomatos and avacados are ok although fruit, olive oil is ok, hummus, organic peanut butter, eggs, nuts..basically nothing processed and no sugar...exercised 4-5 times a week so surprised with all the veggies I ate..I did not lose..you are supposed to lose 4% of your body fat in 28 days

shadus

You should have counted the calories too so you could see why you didn't lose the weight... that is one of the flaws with several diets, like atkins and slow carb... they (passingly at least) advertise to eat as much as you want as long as you're not breaking the diet rules.... some of us can eat an absolutely staggering amount of calories of those items compared to the average person and the diet breaks down and there is no loss.

In the end, if you eat +1000 calories above your maintenance of protein, fat, or carbs... in conjunction or alone, you're still going to gain 2lbs a week. If you eat your maintenance you will maintain. If you eat less you will lose.

I can eat enough meat, rice, beans, or pasta at a single sitting to blow my daily allotment of calories for every single meal if I don't control the portions.

If I had to guess why you didn't lose... I'd guess hummus and pb... they're both staggeringly high calorie in any significant quantity.

I'll also add... beans are extremely high carbs... just sayin'

[Don't get me wrong, I love my hummus and pb. I also love beans, but for example a cup of great northern beans are ~300 calories, 55g of carbs, 15g of protein.]

lizjoan3

yes you may be right about the high calorie..but I was just following what the book and trainer said to do..I was aware not to eat too many nuts, avacado pb etc and use portion control but something definately was not right..the beans I believe were the culprit but if they are then the diet has a flaw! They encourage you to eat them with meals..Maybe it was just my body..like I said other girls I did this with were successful I will say besides the weight issue..I felt better! I had more energy!! and I did have 2 cheat meals in the last day and boy did my stomach tell me it didnt like it! I will try to adapt "clean" meals but counting calories.. just wanted to post in case anyone else wanted to try the diet

randomtai

I just eat at a deficit and exercise. Works for me. :flowerforyou:

DoingitWell

Well atleast you can now take what you have learned from this challenge and tweek it.

Stage14

Yeah, I think those types of diets can work for people who are just starting their weight loss journey from the "eat however much of whatever" place because they DO tend to reduce calories by limiting empty carbs and sodium intake compared to what they were eating before. But I doubt that going from counting and contientious portion control to not ever creates a higher deficit. Also, anything with a "cheat day" is always the death of my weight loss plan, personally.

tomcornhole

I lost 50 lbs doing 4HB Slow Carb Diet (SCD). I was a pundit and thought it was the answer to everyone's weight loss problems. After a year of SCD, I joined MFP to track macros. Logged on the forums and got very irritated with the drone of the deficit mantra. I thought you were all full of crap. I lost another 20 lbs continuing SCD but tracking calories. I reached my goal weight of 185 lbs and went into maintenance. I also decided to come off SCD because I think it was adversely effecting my strength training. I now eat whatever I want as long as it fits my calories and macros. And guess what? It works. Oatmeal, yogurt, milk, rice, bread do not magically make me gain weight. I did my last 5 lbs cut via MFP and it was just as easy as SCD. So I am now believing the calories in vs. calories out.

Having said all that, everyone must find what approach works for them. Everyone is different physically and especially mentally. Find an approach that you can sustain and stick to it. For you, that seems to be SCD.

I found this article to be particularly helpful. http://impruvism.com/flexible-dieting-basics/

I have since removed my SCD pundit moniker and accept all approaches to weight loss as viable if it fits the person. But I also accept that it truly is as simple as calories in vs calories out. Eat at a deficit to lose weight, work out to manage body composition and to enjoy life.

Tom

Mr_Knight

you do not count calories..the basics is veggies every meal, beans, meats, fish, no fruit no sugar, no dairy, no alcohol, no carbs but you can have a cheat day every week...so I ate lots of beans to keep full, meats, tomatos and avacados are ok although fruit, olive oil is ok, hummus, organic peanut butter, eggs, nuts..basically nothing processed and no sugar...exercised 4-5 times a week so surprised with all the veggies I ate..I did not lose..you are supposed to lose 4% of your body fat in 28 days

Wow. Those are some seriously calorie-dense foods! Not surprised at your results.

But like others have said - you figured out something that does and something that doesn't work for you - so it's all good!

pavrg

Yeah, I think those types of diets can work for people who are just starting their weight loss journey from the "eat however much of whatever" place because they DO tend to reduce calories by limiting empty carbs and sodium intake compared to what they were eating before. But I doubt that going from counting and contientious portion control to not ever creates a higher deficit. Also, anything with a "cheat day" is always the death of my weight loss plan, personally.

Yea, no.

The biggest fallacy with diets like Atkins/Paleo is that carbs are more calorie dense than meats, when that's not always the case. Pig out on a 12 oz steak and you can easily eat 1000 calories just there, that's before you eat your veggies drowned in butter/oil. But it's a good thing you stayed away from the 200 calories of rice or potato...that's totally what makes people fat.

Penny_Wren

He also says not to exercise too much.. This could possibly be it?