Thread: Christiancoach 4 Hour Body Blog

In his new book 4 Hour Body, Timothy Ferris offers up a different approach to losing weight, gaining muscle, and improving sports performance.
Some of the tips he offers besides the actual what to eat type advice, is to make your goal public, track everything, and take photos of everything you eat. This blog is going to be used for making this public and for tracking my progress.
I will be posting daily how I am progressing, my daily weight, measurements at least once a week, and as suggested by the book, a picture of everything I eat. I will shrink the food pictures to be very small.
In short the method for losing body fat, the Slow Carb diet, is to stop eating everything white: rice, wheat, bread, potatoes, and grains. He suggests replacing those items with beans. He emphasizes high protein, lots of vegetables, and low sugar. Very minimal fruit is also recommended. One upside of the diet is that you can eat as much as you want of protein and vegetables. No need to be hungry.
Once a week you are allowed a cheat day. You can eat as much of anything that you want. This is to reset your body and to keep it from settling into the Slow Carb habit. The cheat day also keeps you on a much shorter time frame. You only need to keep to the diet 6 days at a time, rather than keeping it for months. The book breaks from a lot of “common assumptions” about weight loss, and gives several examples of individuals losing five pounds a week.

A little about me: over the last 15 years I have been on a health roller coaster. I have gone from being in extremely good shape, to way out of shape. Since my mid 20’s I have struggled with my weight even when training heavily. I was never really that athletic, and didn’t play any sports in my youth. When I joined the Army in 1992 I could do about 7 pushups, and could barely run two miles. I left basic training doing around 50 pushups, 50 sit ups, and ran two miles in 13 minutes flat, a time I have never equaled, even through 7 years in the Army.
Over the last couple of years I have completed two half marathons, the Seattle Half, and the Seattle Rock and Roll Half. My best time for a half marathon is 2 hours and 3 minutes. In 2008 I completed the Kirkland Triathlon (spring distance) with a time of 1:47:02.

I am starting at 218lbs. I am planning on heading to the gym to get my body fat measured tomorrow, the start of my journey.

My goal for 2011 is to hit 175lbs, which 43 pounds from where I am today. After reaching that goal, I plan to incorporate the muscle gain portions of the 4 Hour Body and get back to 200lbs by adding 25lbs of muscle without gaining any body fat. On the athletic side my goal is to complete a Half Ironman Triathlon.
I realize that these are some pretty serious goals. I am going for them full out.

Starting Line:
12/19/2010
Weight 218
Bicep 13.75
Belly 44.5
Hips 41
Thigh 23
Bust 45.5
Chest 42

I would appreciate positive comments, and support!

cant wait to see the results.

be sure to take your multi v and minerals...to supplement those lost by not eating fruits.
and dont forget the water...drink as much water as possible

I got a little jump start on the diet last night. A little salmon on green salad, avocado with Garbanzo beans.


Monday Morning Breakfast:
2 eggs, refried beans, onions, fresh garlic, and salsa. It may not look pretty but it tastes good!


My wife is also doing the diet, hence the double portions.
Pictures of me coming later today!

Just out of curiosity what is your height?

I can not wait to see your progress! I did the exact same thing this year (45 lb loss) and got to my 175 goal

Originally Posted by silvElise

Just out of curiosity what is your height?

I can not wait to see your progress! I did the exact same thing this year (45 lb loss) and got to my 175 goal

45lbs lost, nice job!!

I am exactly 6 feet tall, and no inches. Multiple embarassing "before" photos later today.

Nice then 175-180 is the place to be.

Any lower you will be at what i call "gay weight"

Originally Posted by silvElise

Nice then 175-180 is the place to be.

Any lower you will be at what i call "gay weight"

I certainly don't want to be at "gay weight". My plan is to slap on some muscle as soon as I hit the weight goal. One of the other parts of the 4 Hour Body is called "From Geek to Freak." I plan on putting the methods to the real world test.

And now the moment of truth. If there are small children in the room you may want them to look away!

My lunch today:
Ground Turkey and Black Bean Chili. 1 Cup Edamame. 25-30 grams of protein.


Unfortunately I am starting off on the wrong foot. I woke up with a terrible cold this morning. I have taken two packets of Thera Flu, which is full of sugar. My wife has been sick in bed all day. Praying for a quick recovery so I can be 100% good to go, and get some swimming in.