Note: This post is the last update in an experiment with the slow carb diet. For a better understanding, read about how it all started.
It’s been a full 30 days following the slow carb diet. After the first couple weeks it became routine and I barely noticed it. If anyone wants to lose weight, I’d recommend giving it a try. The hardest part is cutting out all the white carbs (bread, pasta, potatoes, etc.) and the sugar, especially from drinks.
Slow Carb Diet Results
My weight decreased from 191 pounds 7 ounces to 182 pounds 2 ounces, for a total loss of 9 pounds 5 ounces. This amount was greater than I expected. These results would have been even better if I’d been able to follow the Colorado experiment workout routine for the entire period and had been a more disciplined dieter.
Overall, I’m very pleased with the results. In addition to the fat loss, I’ve also become slightly more defined and added a bit of muscle. I’ve started eating 3 full meals a day, stopped skipping breakfast, and have noticed an overall increase in energy levels.
Conclusions
As a first time dieter, the slow carb diet was a great place to start for a few reasons.
- It didn’t require me to buy all new food or drastically change my eating habits. The only changes were substituting beans/lentils for rice/pasta and avoiding sugary drinks and snack foods.
- You don’t have to reduce the amount that you eat, so you never feel deprived. I actually started eating more after going on the diet.
- Food preparation is fast, easy, and inexpensive. Using frozen vegetables, canned beans, and cooking on a Foreman grill, I was able prepare complete meals in under 15 minutes.
- The once a week “eat whatever you want” day gives you a chance to satisfy all your cravings. This makes resisting temptation much easier during the rest of the week and gives you something to look forward to.
The Colorado experiment workout routine was also an interesting experience, and although my results are minimal, others have reported significant muscle gains. Here are my most important observations.
- Breathing is very important. I can’t emphasize this enough. You can’t follow the same breathing rate you use for normal weight training. Before I started following the breathing technique explained in this post, I came very close to hurting myself (thanks Eugene Thong).
- Using the 5-5 cadence (5 seconds up, 5 seconds down) changes a workout completely. You need to lift much less weight and sets are much more exhausting. Just try it once and you’ll understand. Lifting until absolute failure with this technique is extremely strenuous and I’d recommend taking extreme caution or consulting a doctor.
- The intensity of the work out creates a significant testosterone boost. The day after each work out, I experienced a pleasant increase in energy levels and overall exuberance.
Next Steps
Now that the 30 day experiment is over, I won’t be posting weekly updates anymore. The regiment has become routine, I’ve already shared the bulk of my observations, and weekly results aren’t interesting enough to be posted.
However, I do plan to continue following the diet and workout, so if you’re also following the program, I encourage you to keep us updated with your progress by commenting on this post or sending me a message with the contact form. I look forward to hearing your results, and also if you plan to keep following the diet or not.
Overall this has been a very positive experience and I plan to continue optimizing my diet and exercise. In the future I plan to modify the diet to promote muscle gain instead of fat loss. Unfortunately, due to a very stupid move by myself (hanging on the rim during basketball), I’ve fractured my elbow and won’t be able to work out for a few weeks. 
This is very encouraging to hear that even after 30 days of the diet you going to keep with it – it says a lot about the quality of the diet!
Good luck (and stop hurting yourself!)
Thanks for sharing. Been interested in trying this, but I’m a big time slacker. Once I get moved into my new apartment, and things start rolling again, I might give it a try.
Cutting out rice would be verrry difficult.
I think your weight loss has been at a very healthy rate so congratulations for doing so well.
People have told me not to bother with this fad diet but I don’t see it that way at all. I think it’s a really healthy way of eating and I plan to stick with it in the long term.
My progress has been a little slower than yours. It’s almost 30 days since I started the diet and exercise program and I have lost 4 kgs (8.8 pounds) and am feeling much more toned. I did spend 5 days in hi-carb Italy so I’m very happy with my results. I hope to lose a further 10 kilos in the coming months by sticking to slow carbs.
Thank you for posting your results as it has really helped keep me motivated. It would be great if you could do another update in a couple of months just to see how everyone is going in the long term.
Good luck!
I had good results too, John. Thirty days; 17 pounds lost; no exercise. My wife and daughter lost zero. They may be victims of the “yo-yo” effect. Put simply, if you’ve done a lot of dieting but subsequently gain weight back, you will have a harder time losing on the next diet cycle. Since this was the first time I’ve ever tried a diet, I had better results–and that’s probably true with you as well.
But I agree: this diet is not a hardship to stay on, particularly if you have some red chili from New Mexico! I would love to hear from anyone in their fifties who has tried the Colorado experiment. There is a “slow burn” method that might work better for older physiques, but I have doubts about my ability to do the Colorado technique without damaging something.
Ken and Andrea,
Thanks for sharing your results. I’m glad the diet has worked out well for you as well. I agree that the slow carb diet isn’t a fad, it’s mainly just changing the type of carbs you eat, which is probably much healthier than cutting them out completely.
Although I’m going to stop doing weekly updates, fitness is still a topic I’m very interested in, so I’m sure I’ll come back to it in the future.
Actually, I’m really hoping you will keep up the updates, at least on a monthly basis. See, the hardest thing about all these diets is keeping them up and seeing results as good as you saw the first month. I’m curious to see how well it sticks with you.
Also, keep in mind that had you done more of the workout you might have actually lost less weight, since muscle does weigh more than fat. You would have been fitter and healthier, but not as light.
Gal
Monthly updates is about what I had in mind. It mostly depends on when I have something worth writing about it.
John, the wrap up for me is a loss of 6kgs. I didn’t lose any more weight the last week but still dropped another belt notch from around my waist. So it must have been offest by muscle gain.
I see from the comments that it seems to work better for the men. My wife went on the diet for a week and lost a kilo so she was pleased but I was expecting that she would lose more. Although unlike me she really didn’t have much extra fat to lose.
It is definitely a fantastic regime. Tim is a genius.
I started seeing results in the first week and that made it so easy to go the whole month.
I am going to have a break (and maybe go vegetarian for a month) and also go for the muscle gain next time around and I will be interested in your, and everyone else who follows it, experiences and advice.
Neil
I’ve never tried this particular diet, but I have tried The Zone, SouthBeach, and Atkins, all of which involve carb reduction or substitution of one kind or another. SouthBeach and The Zone in particular focused on the glycemic index — substituting beans for white rice, that sort of thing.
My wife the Dietician is always telling me that losing weight is as simple as calories in, calories out.
I may give this diet you’re on a try, John. Thanks for the updates.
Just a word of warning to anyone – at least to those in the older age group as I am (45+) – trying the Colorado workout. I’ve been working out regularly for many years so my body is no stranger to the gym. As a regular visitor to this site I was excited to attempt something new and tried this workout for the first time about three weeks ago. I’ve not been able to return to the gym since. I hurt my back and it’s been a slow recovery.
So be careful when trying this – it puts unusual and new strains on your body and should be done slowly and with a degree of wariness, at least at the beginning. That said, I can’t wait to get back to the gym and try it again!
Great blog John
Thanks, Seamus. I completely agree with your warning. The Colorado routine is extremely stressful, especially if you’ve never done it before. I should make a note of that some where so people know what they’re getting into.
I used to have a very bad soda consumption habit. After a decade of trying I found the perfect accountability method for myself to totally give up drinking sodas as a habit. I don’t have a exercise regime, but I have managed to lose just over 6.5 pounds in the last 68 days. Sugary drinks are nothing put empty calories and a major contributing factor to the increase in obesity in Western Nations.
You’re completely right. Those drinks are what kills you. They’re so easy to put down and contain so much sugar.
Carnival of Dieting Tips…
Welcome to the June 9, 2007 edition of a very public diet!. As Heather and I are both starting to hit the diet wall, we NEED inspiration. We are so grateful for people who send in their articles each week…
Carnival of Dieting Tips…
Welcome to the June 9, 2007 edition of a very public diet!. As Heather and I are both starting to hit the diet wall, we NEED inspiration. We are so grateful for people who send in their articles each week…
Hi everyone,
I am doing this program, and I am recording my results in detail. I am tracking every thing I eat, how much I sleep, and the exact details of my workout. I have created a blog to track everything and you can follow it here:
http://www.4weekstofit.com
Hope it helps some of you.
Darren
Good luck, Darren. I look forward to seeing how it works for you.
Hi John,
I got interested in your posts from your comment at Tim’s blog a while ago, and have been avidly reading your weekly updates. The thing that I’m not clear on (even after reading Tim’s posts and the Colorado link): what exercises do you actually do at the gym on each of the days?
Just to note: I *am* a complete stranger to the gym. I’ve always just worked out in the house, or via running/jogging etc.
Do you use free weights or nautilus equipment? Do you work out all the muscle groups? I should stop asking these questions, because I’m very poorly informed in the first place.
Hello John,
I’ve stuck to the slow carb diet pretty faithfully, and have been doing two half-hour weight training workouts (free weights) per week suplemented with almost daily walks of about 2 miles (my dog and I have come to love our walks – the cat can’t or won’t keep up with us) and I play tennis a couple of nights each week now.
I’ve just finished my fifth week and I’m extremely happy with the results so far:
Weight: I’ve dropped 21 pounds to date. I’ve no idea how much muscle I’ve gained, but I’ve made substancial increases in strength and endurance. I started this particular regimen at 290 pounds 37 days ago – but I actually started dieting and exercise January 2nd, 2007 at a starting weight of 326. I basically started off starving myself and exercising at every opportunity. I was feeling achy, miserable, exhausted, and hungry all the time. Most of the weight I lost was probably water and what little muscle I had. Now, I don’t feel hungry at all, and am well rested yet seeing improvements weekly. An amazing contrast for me.
Waistline: I won’t say because I’m too ashamed (even for an anonymous post) but my “fat” jeans fall off me now, and I’m wearing clothes I haven’t fit into in years. My overall appearance has been noticeably changing for the better – more humanoid than walrus (on one of my early walks back in January, a carload of concerned citizens threw some eggs at me while making the observation that I resembled that particular Sea World denizen; I’ve only been fat for 6 years, but I will forever sympathize with anyone in that condition rather than feel the perhaps natural tendency towards revulsion. It can sneak up on you, and the challenge to counteract it can be overwhelming for many).
Injuries: It seemed I was always getting muscle strains and pains in my joints from exercise before switching to the “slow count”; making each exercise as strict as possible with the resistance moved in a smooth fashion, and briefly stopped with the muscles in full contraction. Jerking the weights and sudden movements were obviously causing many of my injuries.
If I could start over on January 2nd, I would definitely have done things differently knowing what I know now; sparing myself months of self-inflicted torture. I can comfortably live with this exercise regimen for the foreseeable future, although I’ve now transitioned my diet to reduce the quantities of meat I was consuming, while increasing vegetable intake and having a sandwich every now and then if the craving persists. The truth is, I don’t really feel as though I’m dieting anymore; so long as I stay away from the fast food joints I think I’ve got a real shot at avoiding the diet yo-yo syndrome.
Hi Seemant,
For an example workout routine on this program, take a look at my daily blog at http://www.4weekstofit.com.
I describe everything I eat and exact details of my workouts.
Darren
Brion,
Your success so far is absolutely amazing and inspiring. Awesome! That’s the beautiful thing about this program. You don’t feel like you’re dieting. Quite the opposite really. I’m always checking the time to see if I should eat again. I’m eating way more than I used to and I’m losing fat while gaining muscle. It’s a lifestyle change that I can live with (thanks to the free days). Since being on the diet I’m finding that I crave the white carbs and sugary treats less and less. I can have a delicious looking cake right in front of me now and not want to eat it. Partly it’s because I’m eating so much that I’m never hungry, and partly it’s because when faced with a food choice like that I just think that I would rather be fit then eat something that is not going to help me reach my goals.
Thanks for sharing.
Darren
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This is a late comment but I’ve only recently discovered the blogosphere. Anyways, I’m currently trying out Tim Ferris’s slow carb diet as well, and have some questions for John or anyone else who has tried it.
Right now, my diet consists mainly of protein (nuts, lentils, beans, meat, eggs, fish), veggies (cooked, raw, frozen) and fruits. I’m increasing my calorie load with with lentils and beans. My 3 concerns are about fruits, milk and the number of calories. Has anyone else eaten fruits or drank milk during this diet and have it still be effective in burning out fat? For the number of calories, is it important to keep it at or around the approximate number of calories you burn daily? I know that nuts, beans and lentils (and fats) have high calorie amounts so eating a large amount of these would result in high calorie intake for that day.
I wouldn’t drink milk if you are trying to burn fat. When drinking milk it is VERY easy to put on more fat. With fruits, I would try not to eat a lot because you body converts fruit to fat when you eat too much of it. I would only suggest eating fruit post workout and consider a multivitamin.
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Hi John Wesley:
(Its kind of weird to refer to you by that name, as I come from a Methodist School) I am very happy with the positive results you have had received from the Colorado experiment. Unfortunately, it seems they have changed the link or something, because when I tried to follow the same exercising regime, the information was not really useful. Since I am really skinny, I would very thankful if you could send me the answer to these few questions:
What are the exercises one must follow? What equipment is needed? And, an exact as possible description of the routine. Thank you very much in advance.
Daniel
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