The 4-Hour Body / Slow-Carb Diet

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  • walkers345
    walkers345 Posts: 50 Member
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    Oh Yes, I'm starting my third week and the first 1 or 2 weeks, I would say, were a little unpleasant, but this week, I am not really noticing any issues at all. I think that we may adapt. :wink:
  • mcferg
    mcferg Posts: 142 Member
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    funny you ask why i even drink coffee... good question...haha. probably for the caffeine content! and i don't really enjoy tea all that
    so tomorrow, my omelette for breakfast, homemade hummus w/ bell peppers and sugarsnap peas to dip in it for a snack, and a yummy leafy salad w/ alfalfa sprouts and salmon for lunch. no legumes in my breakfast but that might be because i cannot fathom adding legumes to my omelette. that's why i will make up for it later w/ the hummus. then for dinner it will probably be the leftover minestrone soup and maybe some edamame for "dessert"

    how does all that sound? it's definitely a lot more food prep than i am used to, but i really want to get rid of these final lbs or inches, or whatever they turn out to be.

    It sounds pretty good. Personally, I love refried beans with eggs, so I never skip them in the morning. As for the amount of food prep...this can be an issue for me. If you're spending too much time prepping food, eventually, you'll get tired of doing it. I think that's why Ferris preaches eating the same few meals over and over. You can choose easy to prepare meals, and you can get a system down to save time. It makes the eating boring - but like he says - the diet isn't supposed to be fun; it's supposed to be effective. However, I'm the kind of person that could eat the same thing 15 times in a week. My wife would never go for that. So, if you demand variety, I understand, but if you have meals that are too much work, eventually, that can come back to bite you.
    Sorry, I meant the other issue with beans, i've heard the body adapts. Beans 3x a day doesn become a "social issue"??

    No issues here. The only thing that really gives me any issues is if I try to eat too many raw veggies.
    Any thoughts on pork rinds?

    I love pork rinds. Since they are technically "pork" which is allowed, they may be okay. I would stay away from BBQ flavor as they likely contain sugar though. Keep in mind, though, that they are high in calories but present very little, if any nutritional value. Being chip-like, they also could be a "domino food". I think if I were going to indulge in pork rinds, I'd put them in the same category as wine (at best)...not everyday, and in very limited quantities.
    I am having the hardest time processing all the protein. I know this is tmi, but I have had the worst consipation.

    Maybe increase your legume intake? The fiber in beans should help this issue. More veggies too, perhaps.
  • briteyes
    briteyes Posts: 435 Member
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    i definitely don't have an issue w/ things getting stopped up. but am having a bit more gassiness this week than i noticed last week - maybe the increase in legumes?

    so excited to make almond milk tonight. i soaked them last night. and can make the milk tonight. i really hope it fixes my dairy craving. wish i could find something to fix my sweet craving though.
  • mcferg
    mcferg Posts: 142 Member
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    wish i could find something to fix my sweet craving though.

    I'm not sure if I've said this before. I probably have. I have a habit of repeating myself. Maybe it bears repeating. I dunno:

    The best way to fix your sweet craving is to avoid sweets altogether. Over time you'll think about them less and less. Of course, everyone is different. Also, keep a list of sweets you want to eat. Write them down, then eat them on cheat day, to excess if you think it will help you stay off of them the rest of the week.
  • briteyes
    briteyes Posts: 435 Member
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    mcferg, i think you've said that. i am just stubborn. i only think about them at night, and it's tough when everyone else in the house is getting something tasty. that's why i am planning to have edamame for dessert tonight...lol
  • mcferg
    mcferg Posts: 142 Member
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    mcferg, i think you've said that. i am just stubborn. i only think about them at night, and it's tough when everyone else in the house is getting something tasty. that's why i am planning to have edamame for dessert tonight...lol

    Yeah... don't mean to be a broken record. And you may actually do better having a little here and there. I tend to be either 0 or 110 in all aspects of my life...I'm either "all in" or completely out. Sometimes that works (like when I focus on fitness, etc), and sometimes that works against me, too!

    What you gotta do is just tell the rest of your house to suck it up and cool it with the sweets! If momma ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy! Not only will that get them (the sweets) out of your face, but you'll have the rest of your family to commiserate with about not being allowed to have them.
  • caprica
    caprica Posts: 80 Member
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    Mcferg, may I ask are there any slow carb rules you aren't following or have trouble following consistently?
  • bahmur14
    bahmur14 Posts: 5
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    what about bacon?
  • recesq
    recesq Posts: 154 Member
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    Sporty you are taking that slightly out of context, and I think its probably because you want to eat yogurt. That section is one page about how we need bacteria in the gut and what can encourage that good bacteria. Fermented foods are one of the 3 things you should consume. And he lists about 6 things before he mentions yogurt, as an aside. Elsewhere in the book he says dairy should be avoided, period. Just like Stevia isn't supposed to chemically impact blood sugar, but in some people it does nonetheless. Same with yogurt. If you cant stand to eat yogurt just one day a week then just tell people you are doing a variation of the 4 hour body.
  • recesq
    recesq Posts: 154 Member
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    Thats fine.
  • recesq
    recesq Posts: 154 Member
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    Mcferg, you are right on. Check out his blog where he elaborates on some of the things in his book. One of them is if it tastes sweet (artificial/natural sweeteners) don't put it in your mouth.
  • mcferg
    mcferg Posts: 142 Member
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    Mcferg, may I ask are there any slow carb rules you aren't following or have trouble following consistently?

    When it comes to beverages, I'm not to the letter. I drink way more than the allotted diet cola he recommends, and I don't always adhere to the 2-glass max on wine (I occasionally have 3)...of course sometimes I don't have any as well, and my average is probably less than 2, but still.

    The artificial sweetener thing...I dunno. I know he says that it prohibits fat loss, but there's no explanation. I will attempt to cut them out if things stall.

    Other than that - so far, no other issues.
  • caprica
    caprica Posts: 80 Member
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    mcferg: so from what I can gather the only way you might have hit the 20 lbs in a month thing claimed in Tims book was by either:

    a) having much more weight to loose to start with OR
    b) skipping the most appealing part of the slow carb diet - the cheat day.

    I am starting to wonder if the whole thing in the book about the slow carb diet making "veins" pop out on Tims abs, was probably because of something else he was playing with, such as some risky thermogenic he doesn't recommend in his book or on cheat days him following that crazy exercise + PAGG + cinammon + lemon juice thing he talks about in one of the chapters. Either that or he sleeps in a bath tub of ice or something ....
  • mcferg
    mcferg Posts: 142 Member
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    mcferg: so from what I can gather the only way you might have hit the 20 lbs in a month thing claimed in Tims book was by either:

    a) having much more weight to loose to start with OR
    b) skipping the most appealing part of the slow carb diet - the cheat day.

    Right - I honestly think losing 20 lbs is a little extreme...that would have put me at 170 lbs (@6'3"), but, regardless of that - anyone losing the "final 20" they have to lose in a month (without lipo or something) seems impossible. However, I wouldn't skip the cheat day under any circumstances. I personally think shaking things up once per week is good for your metabolism. I think maybe a modified or more-healthy cheat day might quicken weight loss, but that would also lessen the other benefit - the fact that being able to eat whatever you want guilt-free one day per week makes it easy to stick to things the rest of the time.
    I am starting to wonder if the whole thing in the book about the slow carb diet making "veins" pop out on Tims abs, was probably because of something else he was playing with, such as some risky thermogenic he doesn't recommend in his book or on cheat days him following that crazy exercise + PAGG + cinammon + lemon juice thing he talks about in one of the chapters. Either that or he sleeps in a bath tub of ice or something ....

    Sure. Or he just made up the 20lb thing in 1 month to sell books. Here's the thing - if there was a silver bullet for weight loss...it wouldn't be a secret for long, whether it was safe or not.
  • mcferg
    mcferg Posts: 142 Member
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    BTW...there's a an actual 4-hour body forum here:

    http://www.4hbtalk.com

    I'm not sure what affiliation Ferris has with it, but he linked to it from his blog. It's pretty active.
  • caprica
    caprica Posts: 80 Member
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    Sure. Or he just made up the 20lb thing in 1 month to sell books. Here's the thing - if there was a silver bullet for weight loss...it wouldn't be a secret for long, whether it was safe or not.

    The appendix in the back of the book shows some stats about different peoples reported outcomes. I think that is where the claim of 20 lbs in a month comes from.
  • mcferg
    mcferg Posts: 142 Member
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    The appendix in the back of the book shows some stats about different peoples reported outcomes. I think that is where the claim of 20 lbs in a month comes from.

    There's an old adage that goes "Statistics never lie, and liars always use statistics". Jus' sayin'.

    It's very easy for me to envision a certain group of people losing 20lbs in a month. I've lost 20lbs in a month on other diets. Hell, there are folks on The Biggest Loser that lose 30+ lbs in ONE WEEK. So, it's not necessarily revolutionary...you stack the deck, and you're going to win...that's how it goes.

    In the end, Ferris has recycled a bunch of diet-logic from other sources and made it look new. For me, there was a lightbulb moment over the whole beans thing. It seems elementary, but I've yet to see another diet that says: have beans with every meal, and as much as you want to be satisfied. Is it revolutionary? No - but, for me, I read that and said, "Yes...that sounds great, and, more importantly, it sounds like the difference between me being able to stick with this vs other 'low carb' diets".
  • walkers345
    walkers345 Posts: 50 Member
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    Thursday-Finally lost the weight from my Saturday binge day. Down 4.5 lbs from when I weighed myself after binge day. I am down .5 lbs from my start weight. I am just happy to see some movement in the right direction, even if it is .5 lbs. I completed concentrated on drinking water-I can get to 6-7 glasses a day (that's a lot of water!) I realize now, I was no where near that a week ago. Also, I re-read some parts of the book and today I had 30 grams of protein upon waking (within 30 minutes)--which is about 10 grams up from what I normally do. I am really hoping these small changes will do the trick.. Keep ya posted.
  • sbracken
    sbracken Posts: 79
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    mcferg, i think you've said that. i am just stubborn. i only think about them at night, and it's tough when everyone else in the house is getting something tasty. that's why i am planning to have edamame for dessert tonight...lol


    What about having a small cup or a few spoonfuls of Sugar-Free Jello? He mentions it in the book somewhere as a "last resort" for those unstoppable cravings.

    I've found the best way to fight cravings is to not have that kind of food in the house. And I refuse to buy it at the grocery store if DH wants it. If he wants it, he has to go out and buy it. Then gets home and feels guilty for having brought junk into the house. Luckily it's not the kind of junk I like, so it's not too hard to avoid it.
  • mcferg
    mcferg Posts: 142 Member
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    Thursday-Finally lost the weight from my Saturday binge day. Down 4.5 lbs from when I weighed myself after binge day. I am down .5 lbs from my start weight. I am just happy to see some movement in the right direction, even if it is .5 lbs. I completed concentrated on drinking water-I can get to 6-7 glasses a day (that's a lot of water!) I realize now, I was no where near that a week ago. Also, I re-read some parts of the book and today I had 30 grams of protein upon waking (within 30 minutes)--which is about 10 grams up from what I normally do. I am really hoping these small changes will do the trick.. Keep ya posted.

    My binge day is Sunday...and today (Thursday) my most recent binge weight is gone (plus 0.5 lb, just like you). What's weird is that this was the least I've gained on binge day (~1.5 lbs), and it took me longer to lose it then some other times. Of course, Ferris says to binge on Saturday and not worry about the scale until Wednesday, so, I'm right on schedule. Also, for the record, every week the day I finally got rid of the binge weight, I overshot it by at least 0.5 lb. That's nice. It's great to have that sort of scale-reinforcement to motivate me during the home stretch of the week.

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