The End of 4 Hour Body

Well folks, I did 100 days on this diet, and I’m finding it time to call it quits.

Lately I have been feeling sick, and there is nothing to blame but the diet. I think that weeks of reducing my meals to eggs, stir fry, taco salad, and chicken thighs have ultimately been unhealthy for me. I started taking a women’s dietary supplement a month in to address some of these problems, but it’s not the same as getting the nutrients non-synthetically.

Furthermore, my rate of weight-loss has slowly been decreasing. That is in part because my dedication to the diet has been wavering; I have had about one additional cheat meal a week. However, I also believe that the shock of going onto a low carb diet is wearing off. If you look at Tim’s study in the back of the book, his main study only lasted a month. From there, he only lists extreme cases of people doing well on the diet–like his father. It makes me wonder if in the long term, this diet is only meant for certain metabolisms. Furthermore, I wonder why he didn’t list any long-term women… and studied women far less than he studied men. From what I’ve seen in active 4HB communities, women do far poorer on the 4-Hour Body diet than men. I doubt that this is a coincidence. Thus, I believe that 4HB is great for shocking the system into losing weight quickly for about 4 weeks, but nothing longer than that.

Right now I am at 124.4 pounds, right where I was last week. The following week is my period–my weight will go up, and then likely drop back to 124.4 no matter what I do. After that, I graduate. I’ve decided that I’m going to take these last few weeks of college and focus on enjoying time with my friends instead of regulating my diet so intensely that I decline beers mid-week because I’m afraid of the effects of cheating. Sometimes, I feel like 4HB is a regulated eating disorder, full on with scare tactics, incredibly strict rules, and numeric obsession. Once again, it’s time for me to end.

SO, now that I quit, where do I go from here?

The Post 4HB Diet

There have been many important educational experiences from 4HB that I intend to stick with beyond the diet.

1. Eat a big breakfast with a ton of protein.
In general, this has had  a positive impact on the way that I eat, even if I’m binging. Eating a big breakfast has made me less hungry throughout the day and definitely wakes me up in the morning. I fully intend on keeping with my eggs/turkey bacon/veggies/beans routine in the morning.

2. Emphasize lean meats and vegetables.
I haven’t missed eating fatty meat at all, and I find that I am most ready to exercise after I’ve had an animal-flesh intensive meal. I do miss fruit on occasion, but I agree with Tim that we don’t need to emphasize it as much as the government tells us to. For the most part, fruit is pure sugar.

3. Continue exercising.
This one is a no-brainer. I lose more weight the weeks that I climb more frequently, plus I feel better. Though Tim doesn’t emphasize exercise in his diet plan, he should.

4. Continue avoiding white carbs.
This is going to continue to be difficult for me. I have missed pasta, rice, and bread. However, I do believe that it is what has made me chubby in the past. Thus, I should continue avoiding it.

5. Continue avoiding processed foods.
For the same reasons as above.

6. Continue drinking enough water.
I’m pretty sure that my personal policy of drinking 8-10C of water a day is what led me to getting rid of all my acne and feeling great throughout the day.

Concluding Thoughts

For those who are familiar,  my new diet sounds a lot like primal/paleo. Tim’s diet is based off these concepts, so that shouldn’t be too surprising. However, I’m going to need to toy and tinker to find the right diet for me, not some prescribed diet that’s supposed to fit everyone. I don’t think it works that way.

I intend to keep this blog running to meditate on changes to my diet and keep me honest; this blog has been the best thing for me in my 100-day run on 4HB. There has not been a lot documented about going off 4HB–what to do about the supplements, should I do squats after every meal, should I drink grapefruit juice regularly–so I hope to begin answering some of those questions. I will be happy if I lose more weight but not disappointed if I don’t.

It’s been a good run, folks.
– Suzie