The 4-Hour Body / Slow-Carb Diet

I think the great thing about this book is the author's approach to experimentation. If you want yogurt, then have yogurt, track it, see if you can determine if it affected you and learn from it.

I will be implementing the AGG and PAGG supplements in the next week, but one step at a time. I also like snacking on cinnamon covered almonds to keep my glucose levels steady throughout the day. I don't consider this a diet anymore, just a good healthy way to live the rest of my life.

I think I typically take in at least 5000 calories on my day off but any additional weight taken on is gone within 48 hours.

Snacks.....Edamame is always a good go-to snack for me. I'll cook up a bag at a time and then keep the leftovers in the fridge to heat up when needed. I also keep a container of almonds (roasted with sea salt) in my desk drawer for those days where I just need to calm the stomach grumbling. I'll take out 10 at a time and eat them and that usually does the trick. Otherwise, I'll just refill my water glass and that usually does the trick too. Otherwise I'm not a big "snacker". I usually have a pretty good size salad (romaine and spinach) at lunch so that keeps me pretty full along with whatever protein/legume I have. I've also noticed that by breaking up my lunch into 2 meals (one at about 11:30 and the other around 3) I can cruize thru the day easier. For that 3:00 meal I usually have tuna, chicken and hummus, or something that doesn't require heating and I can eat pretty quick at my desk. Otherwise I hate those "she's eating again....." looks that people around here have.

brentoski, I agree! That is the best thing about this plan....the ability to experiment. I think that makes this plan so much easier to work into your current lifestyle. For instance.....I'm not one to spring out of bed in the morning and whip up some eggs or something. I'm much more the flying-out-the-door, running late, grab-a-protein-shake type person. So, on days I go into the office, I do just that. I just try to get the one that has very low if any sugar.

circadianswing, I agree.....no "ice" here either!!!! The wind chill was 3 below this morning!!!! Although I do turn the heat down to 65 at night, so it's a bit chilly all night long. I don't mind a cold shower in the middle of summer on a scorching hot day, but not when it's 0 outside.

Ok so I am on day one and I am wondering if its possible to eat too many "slow carbs"? I haven't had lunch yet (I had breakfast and a midmorning snack/first lunch) and I have already had a cup of legumes is this too much? I wish I had some numbers that I am suppose to follow, I want to get this right and make it work for me. How much protein? How many slow carbs? How many veggies? Am I making this more complicated than it is?

Yep, too complicated. Protein/Veggie/Legume at every meal. Don't worry about calories. At least 30g protein at breakfast.

I love the program but I struggle with eating so soon after I wake up. I am used to eating mid-morning but after 1 week on the diet the scale is finally starting to go down! I have upped my protein this morning and I am curious to see how my day goes.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! People...diets do NOT work. It is as simple as that. You must change your style of living, and be healthy. Worrying about greek yogurt vs. cottage cheese, or water vs. tea is silly at best. Our bodies are amazing machines, and they don't need gimmicks to make them fluorish. The only 'diet' any of us needs is to eat clean and work hard. That's my book, the Eat Clean - Work Hard 'diet'. That's all there is in my book.

Those basic tenents, with a bit of explanation are all you need. Eat good foods that our bodies can utilize in an amount that balances with our activity. But, that activity has to be there. Covert Bailey was one of the best ever in his book 'fit or fat' concering these topics. Read it.

We all grasp at "plans" that fit, and gimmicks, but can you really expect to eat copious amounts of beans the rest of your life? Seriously - no one in your house can enjoy the after effects of that. Grilled meat diets? C'mon. If you stick with the basics long term, work out, and limit your calories to be less than what you burned and intake quality foods...you will get fit. Please, please, please stop the madness! Low-carb doesn't work long-term...if it did, there'd be about a billion fit people with Atkins shirts on from 15 years ago...but those people are either weight yo-yo's or fat again.

Please, for your sanity and health, stop buying 'diet' books, and use your heads on this one.

This post implies that those of us who have read the 4-hour body are ignorant about nutrition and fitness. You're assuming that anyone who reads a diet book is mindlessly hoping for some "magic bullet" that will make fitness and weight loss easy. That's not the case.

Many people here, myself included, are looking for new information and such that we can use to put together a healthy eating/living system. For me, the idea of eating legumes at every meal is a great idea. I love beans, and, yes, I enjoy eating them 3-4 times per day. I don't eat "copious amounts" of them, and I suffer no ill-effects. The bottom line is that beans provide additional fiber and protein source while also providing healthy carbs, which allow me to fuel my exercise without filling myself up with processed and refined foods. In fact, I'd suggest that the fact that you chose the "beans" aspect of this diet as a failing point indicates that your knowledge of nutrition is suspect.

The bottom line is that everyone's body is different. You clearly have had success with diet and fitness, and also may not have some of the food-related emotional issues others on this board have (though the arrogant and insensitive nature of your post indicates that you have other emotional issues). For many of us, any "book" diet we try gives us another example of how we feel and how our body reacts when we eat a certain way. Over time, we can take the things that make us feel beat and include them in our lifelong healthy eating plan.

Anyway, since you've clearly mastered health and fitness through the sheer strength of your almighty willpower, you might want to check out the Dale Carnegie classic, "How to Win Friends and Influence People", as you've clearly got a ways to go in that department

I couldn't agree more mcferg!!!!! Very well put!!!

well said Stephanie and mcferg. The personal motivations and goals are similar in this forum, and we can all agree there are many roads that can be taken on a journey like this. magic pills/bullets, and other sorts of condescending remarks are for those who require another forum, likely littered with ads from pfizer and Merk's latest antidepressants. after 6 weeks, if I had lost no weight, I have discovered the meaning of whole foods versus processed. I have unlocked a new way to cook, and enjoy my food, inside my home, out on the town, and at the store. If that's a fad or the latest marketing gimmick, so be it. I'm comfortable with what I've learned, and treat it with a little more respect than that of a dexatrim tablet, or a trip to a plastic surgeon.

Good luck to my teammates who are with me on this road, and on this journey now.

I picked up some Calcium and Vit D when I got my new scripts filled today. My prenatal vitamin gives me 100% of most things, but not Vit D, so I figured it couldn't hurt to get some more in.

I'm way behind on meals and such today since I had a doctor appt this morning. I grabbed lunch right when I got home and I'll eat again in another hour or two. I've also got a killer head cold kicking today, so I think my next meal is going to involve some chicken broth to help clear my head....since I'm running on DayQuil right now.

hard boiled eggs? Not sure how long though? not much else I can think of. You know you want the tuna :P I have a stash of about 20 cans at my office hehe

tried canned salmon?