Until recently, I have always been on of those people who could eat anything in whatever size portion I wished while somehow maintaining a 30 inch waist and a cocky air during mealtimes. I was a wrestler in high school, where I found it easy to hover around 140-145 during the week, then magically cut to 135 in a matter of a day for weekend tournaments. I didn't think I'd ever have to worry about diet.
Then came college....
Not to say I'm anywhere near overweight for my body, but I went from 145 to 170-175 in a matter of a year. How? Well, I won't go into the details, but I'd say it was a combination of beer, fried food, and sitting at a study table. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't go overboard with the bad stuff, but it's much easier to go to the campus fast food station and order a grilled cheese with french fries than stand in the cafeteria line, only to discover the lunch special is salisbury steak and boxed mashed potatoes (I would rather forage for grubs). I also did a bit of weight training and the like, but not too much cardio or anything. In the end, I'd say the 25-30 lb gain was a combination of 10 lbs lean muscle, and another 10-20 lbs of fat on my emerging beer gut (woo hoo! I now look like I am actually from Wisconsin!)
Now, I'm not saying I didn't put forth ANY effort to regain my six-pack (or the visibility thereof). I did have short stints of daily ab exercises + more salads at lunch + more looking at myself despairingly in the mirror. I saw some minor results, but at some point I had to be honest with myself; I never actually considered, let alone tried, a regimented diet plan where meals are planned out and progress is tracked.
Before deciding to try the slow-carb diet in this book, I had the usual excuses and qualms that most people use to prevent them from actually trying something new with their diet. For me, they were:
1. Education - I'm not sure what is considered healthy or not nowadays; it seems like I need a degree in nutrition to understand how nutrients are used by the body and what kind of foods optimize fat loss/muscle growth.
2. Convenience - I don't want to have to take the time to cook something healthy or learn about nutrition. I'd rather just buy what I like and know and not have worry about anything else.
3. Cost - I don't want to spend extra money on healthier options.
4. Habit - I'm used to eating certain things, I don't want to change because change = effort.
As in most first round assumptions, I was wrong on all four counts. Not only did the fat-loss chapter take like 20 minutes to read, it uses the Pareto principle (80% of effects come from 20% of causes) to show that changing your diet to something conducive to fat-loss really takes much less effort and commitment than you'd think.
Now, being a slacker by nature, this was great news! The simplicity was just too attractive. Tim breaks down the diet into 5 simple rules:
#1: Avoid "white" carbs.
#2: Eat the same few meals over and over again. Mix and match from three food groups: Proteins (eggs, lean beef, chicken, etc.), Legumes (lentils, beans, etc.), and, of course, Vegetables (spinach, mixed veggies, asparagus, etc.)
#3: Don't drink calories.
#4: Don't eat fruit.
#5: Take one day off per week.
I was astonished at a couple of these rules, namely "don't eat fruit" and "take one day off per week." I had always thought that fruits were a safe food to eat in large portions, but it turns out that the principle sugar, fructose, is actually converted to glycerol phosphate (glycerol phosphate -> triglycerides -> fat storage) more quickly than almost all carbohydrates. Dang! Also, taking one day a week to indulge in whatever is supposed to ensure your metabolic rate doesn't downshift from extended caloric restriction. This means that, for me, Saturdays I can eat whatever the **** I want, and in as big of portions, without feeling like a fatty, and still lose excess weight. JOY!!!
I started this blog as an incentive for me to stick with the diet and tracking its results, and also to share it with anyone who is interested in adopting an easy way to lose some extra-poundage.
This is how it will work:
Each Friday morning, I will get a body composition analysis done using the InBody 230 during my workout break at GE Healthcare. This will give me weekly metrics on Total Body Water, Dry Lean Mass, Body Fat Mass, Weight, Skeletal Muscle Mass, Body Fat Mass, Body Mass Index, and Percentage of Body Fat. I will post results weekly, with my best attempt at interpreting the results. It's as simple as that!
Stay Tuned!
