Since October 11th, 2011 I’ve been trying out the slow-carb way of life as described in Tim Ferriss’s book, “The 4-Hour Body“. To get the full layout of how the diet works you’ll have to read the book, but here are the main points condensed and simplified before I start my list:
Avoid White Carbohydrates; Avoid Fruit, Sugar, Dairy and Alcohol; Eat a Protein Rich Meal Within 30 Minutes of Waking Up; Eat Whatever You Like One Day Per Week; Do the “minimum effective dose” of high-intensity, compound exercises.
The Take-away
- Carbs are Everywhere! When you cut carbs from your diet, you realize how much of your diet is made up of them! No more burgers, no more sandwiches, no more macaroni, no more spaghetti.. I was looking for a small snack one night and ended up with a teaspoon of organic peanut butter and a glass of water!
- Strict Diets are Boring! A lot of people will try to tell you that diets can be easier than what you’re used to. Yes, you can pre-make a bunch of meals and that can simplify things, but these meals don’t last as long as you’d think. Make yourself the hugest stir-fry possible on your stove. Now give some to your significant other. See how many meals it actually lasts you. You’re going to be cooking more, period. Nothing instant is going to fit your diet, I promise. Also after a few weeks, preparing and force-feeding yourself egg whites and spinach first thing in the morning just doesn’t seem like a habit for the long-haul. I’m back to skipping breakfast.
- I’m Hooked on Food! Once you start disrupting your usual eating habits, you start to realize how much you build your days around food! There’s a definite void when you remove regular snacks or side dishes from your day. And if you can get used to not having these, you realize how psychological your food expectations are. I’m not actually physically hungry at the times I used to snack! If you need an item or activity to fill voids, chug some water; as many glasses as it takes. It’s not exciting, but it’ll work!
- Diets Adhered to Work Fast! My progress in the first WEEK surprised me very pleasantly. I didn’t have a ton of weight to lose though, and I definitely plateaued after several more weeks. This tells me that you can reach a very respectful, attractive look without killing yourself, but to achieve full-on greek god abs, you’re going to need to be very serious about your goals, and make some serious sacrifices.
- Absolute Adherance isn’t Sustainable My first days on the diet went pretty well, but by that weekend and following Monday, I found myself surrounded on all sides by special occasions and free food. Burgers, cake, beverages, office doughnuts; could I have ‘just said no’? Yes. But hey, you only live once, and life is made up of small pleasures. I quickly decided that a life of ‘no’ wasn’t for me. So in the first week, I made the following alterations to the diet: I’m allowed to eat free stuff (you may want to watch this one if you run into a lot of it), and weekends are ‘eat normally’ days. It just sucks too much to be out places and unable to join your fellow humans in enjoying the treats that occasions bring!
- Tracking Encourages and Enlightens I don’t own a scale, but I did buy some Accu-Measure Body Fat Calipers. The encouragement of a measurable (not always immediately visible) difference in my first week really helped me to keep going. It REALLY did! If you’ve got a lot of weight to lose, I’d say progress measuring is KEY!
- You Don’t Need to Live in the Gym Get some goddamn exercise. Really, just do it. You’ll be much happier, and it will help you achieve your fitness goals. And when you least want to get off your ass, that’s when you need it most. But you don’t need to waste your life in the gym. Do the minimum effective dose. I firmly believe that this varies person to person, but 20 minutes at a time really is enough if you fill it with the right things! I downloaded an app on my android phone called “A HIIT Interval Timer”. Basically I do things like mountain-climbers and burpees (40 seconds on, 20 seconds rest) and it tells me when to stop and go. Try a 3-set, 16-minute workout and see if you can stand by the end of it! Try to throw in a day of high-resistance weight training too. More muscle burns more fat. Just pick a large muscle group, and work it with as much weight as will allow you to barely squeak out 3 or 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps. Jogging will not help you very much. Mentally, maybe; but I wouldn’t personally spend too much time on it. It doesn’t end up burning many calories.
- Food Only Gets So Good When I started off doing just one giant cheat day on my diet, one unexpected thing struck me. I couldn’t think of what meal was going to absolutely blow my mind. It just seemed like there should have been some kind of amazing dish that would make all of the waiting worth while, but when the time came, I couldn’t put my finger on it. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a sucker for ribs and wings, and eat them I did, but I really thought I’d go crazier. It helps to keep this in mind: food is not your ultimate solution to everything.
- Diet Doesn’t Affect Mood …That much. I know that certain nutrients have certain effects on the body etc, but you know what? I’ve never felt like a million bucks by just “eating right”. It’s good and even important to make healthy choices in your life, but don’t expect being a diet snob to make you feel good about life. It can help; just don’t be too let down when your life isn’t immediately amazing. That is an unreasonable expectation!
- Know What you Want Once I reached a point where my fat loss had plateaued, I had a good look at what other changes I’d have to make to keep the progress coming, and then considered how important it all was to me. I came to a conclusion: A healthy, attractive weight is sustainable, but eye-popping abs are like tuxedos; you bite the bullet when you need to look amazing, but unless you make your living in fitness or on-screen, maintaining them will probably just make you miserable or cause a complete relapse.
So there you have it. To summarize, my advice is to read The 4-Hour Body (or South Beach Diet, or whatever you’re into), absorb the info, and try their advice as strictly as humanly possible for a week or two. Then make some small adjustments to it based on what you believe you can fit into your life sustainably. After a few months, you’ll have very visible progress, and an arsenal of effective habits to use as you see fit. You may not come away from the experience with a body for the cover of Men’s Health (unless you really need it), but at the VERY least, you won’t have wasted your time.