Challenge: The 4 Hour Body

Sean and I have taken on a health challenge. Winter usually brings about laziness and gorging over comfort foods. Instead of putting on the winter weight, we’ve decided to challenge ourselves with a slow-carb diet. Ideally, we’d like to eat and exercise consciously throughout the winter so that once Spring comes about we’re in the right position to get Summer fit.

The 4 Hour Body is written by Tim Ferriss, of The 4 Hour Workweek fame. Don’t get the wrong idea, neither one of us turned to this book looking for a four hour results! I had read reviews of the book a few times and when Sean brought it home from his family’s house, we both became intrigued by it and decided to give it a go.

At 27, I know my body habits quite well. I tent to put on about 10-15 pounds of lower body weight in the winter months, which I shed pretty easily in the Summer. I even enjoy gaining a more womanly figure in my winter months! In my eyes, full-figured women are much more beautiful than the wafer-thin women of our generation. That said, I’ve had the pleasure of being ridiculously fit and the high that comes with being in great physical shape definitely wins me over.

The Slow-Carb Diet

Rule #1: Avoid White Carbohydrates
Prohibited: bread, rice (including brown), cereal, potatoes, pasta, tortillas, and fried food with breading.

Rule #2: Eat the Same Few Meals Over and Over Again
Eat as much as you like of the items below, but keep it simple. Pick three or four meals and repeat them.

Proteins:
- Eggs
- Chicken breast or thigh
- Beef
- Fish
- Pork

Legumes:
- Lentils
- Black beans
- Soya beans
- Red beans
- Borlotti beans

Vegetables:
- Spinach
- Mixed vegetables: Carrots, cauliflower, etc.
- Asparagus
- Peas
- Green beans

Rule #3: Don’t Drink Calories
Drink massive amounts of water and as much unsweetened tea, coffee, or other no-calorie/low-calorie beverages as you like. Do not drink milk (or soy milk) soft drinks or fruit juice.
* Up to two glasses of dry red wine per night won’t do any damage.

Rule #4: Don’t Eat Fruit
The only exceptions are tomatoes and avocados. Just say no to fruit and its principal sugar, fructose.

Rule #5: Take One Day Off Per Week
You are allowed to eat whatever you want on your dieter’s day gone wild! ANYTHING. The trick is to spend your 6 days dieting thinking about the foods that you would like to indulge in, and then treat yourself to it on your day off.

That’s the gist of the diet. What I really like about this book is that it’s broken down into brief, easy to read chapters. You can pick and choose what information you’re interested in and focus your personal goals. So far we’ve only focused on the weight loss and muscle gain chapters – you can view all the chapters from the book on the www.4hourbody.com website.

We started three weeks ago and neglected to take down our weight and measurements. The first week we toyed with the diet to see how hard it would be to live with. The second week we found it relatively easy to adhere to the diet and now, third week in, we’ve become accustomed to the change in eating habits and preparations. Herbs and spices are allowed, so it’s not as dull as it may sound!

Breakfast consists of lentils and spinach sautéed with onions and garlic, served with 2 hard boiled eggs. Delicious and filling!

Lunches we eat salads with vegetables, beans and protein (tune for me, egg for Sean).

Dinners we eat stir fries or chillies. I often opt for a portion of meat with a side of vegetables and lentils.

We finally weighed ourselves today, at the beginning of week 4.

Sean: 76 kg
Jess: 66 kg

We haven’t been focusing on exercise as of yet, but we’re starting this week! Let’s see where this takes us! Stay tuned for updates and recipes.