Michelle's Stats / Before & After

[Michelle]

Hey ya'll!

I started on the Slow Carb Diet on Monday Dec. 27 - I read about it from Tim Ferriss' new book, the "4 Hour Body."

But I was looking online for other folks doing the diet and couldn't find much, so I decided to put this site up and give people a chance to share with each other.

So here are my "BEFORE" stats (taken this morning). I used a digital scale for the body fat % I got, and I followed Ferriss' instructions in the 4 Hour Body to get as accurate reading as possible.

SCALE READINGS
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Weight lbs: 141.2
% Fat: 31.3 % (OUCH!)
% Water: 48.2 %
Muscle lbs: 91.8
PHYRate: 5
BMR: 1345
Metabolic Age: 34 (BUT I'M ONLY 31!!!)
Bone lbs: 5.0
Visceral: 3

MEASUREMENTS (in inches)
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R Arm: 10.75
L Arm: 10.75
Waist: 31.00
Hips: 38.50
R Thigh: 23.25
L Thigh: 23.25

Total Inches: 137.50

(Funny thing, Tim Ferriss talks about imbalances from left to right and how they can be dangerous for an athlete... Thankfully, I do nothing with either side of my body so they're all even!) :lol:

SO I'm in the middle of my second day eating the Slow Carb Diet way, and it's actually been pretty easy so far. At night I do want a little sweet treat... I think Ferriss' settles into a glass or two of wine and I think if I was getting a little buzz on I wouldn't mind missing a sweet too! But as it is, last night I had a chocolate protein powder shake (made with water, no milk on the slow carb diet!) and it was close enough.

I do hope this works, as I constantly feel like (with my normal eating habits) I'm always hungry and not getting enough protein and I've felt much more satisfied with this diet so far. Perhaps I was missing protein this whole time?

[Michelle]

Today is the end of week 1 on this eating program. Actually, since I started on Monday and my "week" ends on Saturday, I'm only 5 days in to eating on the plan.

So in 5 days I lost exactly 2.6 lbs, that's over 1/2 lb per day! Wowza!

I didn't re-do my measurements this week to see if I lost any inches / body fat %, as this eating plan is supposed to not only help you loose fat but also gain muscle.

I spent some time this morning looking over my food logs from the past 5 days and I'm not quite eating to plan, I need to up my breakfast protein and leave out a few carb-y treats I was trying to get away with (like marinated bean salad, calling it part of my "beans" requirement, LOL).

So I have those improvements to make, I wonder if it will make a difference next week?

Regardless, despite my absolute love of carbs, bread, etc. and how much EASIER it is to live life with carbs (i.e. sandwiches for lunch), this has been the simplest diet I've ever tried.

I'm never hungry, I feel incredibly full and satisfied after each meal. I never get that low-blood-sugar panic like I used to get where I'm getting so hungry I'm getting a headache and cranky. I'm on an even keel all day I have more energy. And, this may sound silly, but I'm not thinking about food all the time. Like I would eat something and then just start thinking about what I would eat next, because nothing ever seemed to fill me up. That's over now.

Today is cheat day - eat whatever you want day. You're supposed to start with a high protein (30 grams of protein) breakfast that is on-program and from then on, have whatever you want.

The only stuff I've really been craving while on this diet is sweets - there aren't a lot of sweets in the meat, veggies and beans isles, LOL! So that will probably be my main indulgence!

[Michelle]

I'm back down to my pre cheat day weight again (138.2).

Interesting thing - I use a GoWearFit armband thing to track the calories I burn per day and I also count my calories eaten. I haven't had much of a deficit during this whole diet period, yet the weight is still coming off. I'll be interested to see if this trend continues or if it's just "water weight" like detractors say.

[kalldredge]

Michelle,
Just wanted to let you know that I too have started the slow carb diet from the "Four-Hour Body". I started the diet on Monday, December 27th. I weighed in at 145 lbs. I chose Friday as my cheat day. I weighed myself Friday morning and I had lost just over 5 lbs in 4 days! Can you believe it? After my cheat day (which consisted of two long johns, Chick-fil-a, sloppy joes and other various New Years Eve snacks) I gained around 3.5 lbs back. Today, I am almost back down to 140. The cheat day discouraged me a little but I'm determined to stick with it! Look forward to hearing all about your progress! Good luck! :)

[bren.stan15]

This is quite interesting. I have been planning to reduce for ages but it seems I am always being dominated by the worldly devilish (but soooo yummyyy!!) food around me :) I guess I will be needing enough determination and huge self-control to be able to reach my goal - ok it's still a dream for now I suppose :))

[Michelle]

CHEAT DAY!!!

Weighed in this morning at 135.8 lbs.

This week was difficult. From Sun-Weds I wasn't really seeing much movement on the scale and was getting frustrated.

I burn about 1700 calories in the course of a normal day - not much, I know. I work at home at the computer, so there's not a lot of movement in general.

Eating the slow carb diet has done wonders for my hunger and overall energy level. However, by eating 3-4 meals / day my calories would end up in the 1500 range. Which is just too high to see a significant difference from week to week.

So.... Mid week I stopped eating breakfast. Yes, I know we're not supposed to do that.

But that's when the weight started coming off faster... So it makes it difficult to commit to breakfast when I appear to do better without.

Plan going forward? I'm not sure. Perhaps I can adjust breakfast to just be like one egg, or maybe a protein drink. Or maybe I'll continue skipping breakfast until I reach a plateau in my weight loss.

But for now, I'm thinking of all the yummy treats I'll eat today for cheat day!

[Michelle]

Pigged out on cheat day - and only weighed in a lb heaver on Sunday! Had lunch today at a Mexican restaurant and ate carnitas, refried beans and mixed veggies, just like Tim suggested, and it was fantastic!

I haven't been remembering to have the AAG / PAAG with every meal, so I set reminders on my phone to prompt me before mealtimes. I'm interested to see if it brings a more subnstantial weight loss next week.

[Michelle]

Back on to eating breakfast. I shouldn't have stopped. I need to follow the plan EXACTLY as in the book, otherwise I'm introducing too many "what if's"?