4 hour body self experiment...

Well gang, I have been missing from my blog for a long time. Dealing with stuff with family, school, and life, busy as ever. I am writing so much for school some days the thought of writing anything else makes me want to scream. This I have to share and get your opinions for sure.

As some of you readers know starting from 2004 I lost a lot of weight, about 120 lbs. Since our big move to NY the weight has started to creep up.. Frustrating especially when you know what to do! I am after all working on a master's degree in nutrition. Well I read a few blog posts on the 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferriss and decided to give it a whirl and see what all the excitement was about. I am still most hesitant about fad diets and all the hype that goes along with them however I just had to try this one out for myself!
The rules are pretty simple.

1. No dairy
2. No grains- What no pasta, no brown rice, no nothing.
3. No Fruit- bigger shocker how in the world would I survive a day without fruit. I am a total fruit a holic!!!
4. No soy products! I am vegetarian where will I get my protein from!
5. Eat at least 20 grams of protein each meal, including 1/2 of beans a legumes each meal.
6. take one day off each week (preferably after 5 days) I pick Saturday.

Seems pretty simple right? Well day one starts. I am so lucky because my husband and my workout partner decides to jump on the bandwagon with me. Then what happens, I head out for my run with my friend and take a pretty awful fall, injuring my hand and knee (doing better but still recovering) So day one gets postponed until Monday.

When Monday am hits sore and barely walking, I get up and decide eggs is going to be the breakfast of the 4 hour body (4HB) So here it is scrambled eggs with BEANS, on a bed of spinach topped with a little salsa. GAG! really I was gagging. The first week of breakfast I missed my banana Oat cakes and or green smoothies. Lunch and dinner more beans, salad greens and veggies. I am VERY full, but missed my pasta and  fruit boy did I miss my fruit.

The first week was REALLY hard! Today is the last day of week two! It is getting easier to stick to plan. The foods are repetitive and taste great. The best part is that I am eating whole foods. The worst part, I miss fruit. The reason why I tried this is pretty simple. An experiment of sorts, with the book, checking out the hype, wanting to kick start some weight loss but mostly something I have been learning in school too many carbs (even the healthy whole grain ones) in the diet lead to insulin imbalance, which leads to weight gain, regardless of calories intake. Too much sugar (yes even fruit sugars) lead to weight gain.

So all week I was looking forward to binge day (yesterday was my second). I went shopping on Friday and bought watermelon and strawberries. Not exactly what you would call a binge food but it is truly what I wanted. I couldn't wait to eat my oatcake. I had no bananas so I ran out early in the am to get them. It was heavenly. In the afternoon I made a carrot cake with my daughter, I wanted to make pizza for dinner but ran out of time since we were going out to the drive in movies. I ate a sandwich instead. I hadn't had bread in weeks. Lunch was some leftover pasta that I had made for the kids, I missed this recipe. Guess what? I didn't taste all that good! HUH? My favorite pasta didn't taste good! How could that happen it's all cheesy and everything! Weird, I must be changing. Something inside has shifted!

Funny thing, when I woke up this morning, I felt like crap. I stayed up too late, ate junk (in my standards, although it is healthy eating for most Americans, sad but true). Could it be true I woke up this am, READY and WANTING to eat beans and eggs for breakfast! Then I checked my email. My friend on the plan with me wrote that she had the 4 hour hangover! I laughed hysterically when I saw the title of her email! It's so true. That is exactly how I feel. I imagine that on some level my body chemistry is changing. Binge week will be very different next week! Or will it?

I have committed to myself (and my friend) 4 weeks on this program. Where it is fadish and I am sure in the long run I am not going to eat exactly like this forever, I feel a true change and that is the important part of it all. There is a long lasting positive result. Health! I look forward to what the next two weeks bring and then I am going to alter the plan. I have swayed a little bit from the plan and added small amounts of organic tofu to my diet and a serving or two of quinoa (a high protein whole grain) otherwise pretty much following to the letter. The good news is, it is working. I am down about 5lbs and my husband is down somewhere around 7-8 lbs.

I am already looking into modifying this plan for life long changes. Adding small amounts of grain, less eggs and a little fruit. My goal yes to lose weight, but to get myself off of so much pasta (even whole grain which is what I eat) and eating more raw, and whole foods. Which I see when I do I feel better. There are quick results. That I can tell you I notice more when I indulge in a binge day.

About a month before starting 4 hour body - the experiment, I started something new with my kids, being that they complain all the time that I never have 'treats' in the house. We started making a true dessert once a week. With a few rules, They have to help and it has to be made from scratch. If they don't help we don't make it. I feel better giving them home made treats than buying pre packaged crap. Once a week is OK to me.. yesterday was carrot cake... it was good.

I hope to keep you up to date on this experiment and how it is going anyone else try 4 hour body, what are you thoughts on it?