Note: This is the second update of my experiment with the slow carb diet. If you’re new here I suggest reading the introduction and first update so this post makes sense.
It’s been 2 full weeks since I started the slow carb diet and results are slowly starting to show. I’ve definitely gotten leaner, but for dramatic effect (and because I don’t have a scale) I’m going to hold off on weighing myself until the 1 month mark. Sticking to the muscle gain program has become second nature. Today I was able to walk past a spread of free desserts without eating any, although I was disappointed it wasn’t my off day.
The only times I’ve gotten in trouble is when I want to eat with other people. Last weekend a college friend came to visit and we ended up going out for drinks a couple nights, leading me to break the “don’t drink calories” rule. If I hadn’t been able to use my off day the weekend would have been a complete debacle. Overall the damage was minimal but I can imagine how difficult the diet would be to maintain for people who regularly eat with others or dine out a lot.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to follow the weight training routine because of the throbbing that developed at the base of my skull after the first workout. I think it was caused by straining too hard so I’ve been taking it easy and substituting basketball, pushups, and crunches in the mean time. Hopefully when I hit the weights again next week the pain will be gone.
I’d also like to highlight reader Brion’s progress because it’s inspiring and because it makes me happy that writing about this stuff has encouraged someone else to give it a try too. Brion writes:
It’s been two full weeks on this diet and exercise routine for me now and I’m very encouraged. I’ve lost 10 lbs of body weight, and my overall strength has improved considerably. I wish now that I had a body fat measurement taken before I started so I would have some idea of how much muscle vs fat progress I’m making.The diet part is starting to feel habitual now; like I’m on automatic pilot. I’ve lost my cravings for sweets, breads, pasta, cheese, and junk foods – this amazes me! I hope it is a lasting effect. I’ve reduced the amount of meat I’m eating though, and increased vegetable consumption by double what I had been. I just eat a small portion of meat (chicken, beef, turkey, or tuna) at each meal now and I seem to still be making strength and endurance progress.
My recovery time from exercise has improved dramatically, and I no longer cringe at doing squats – I used to HATE doing squats! – and they, along with deadlifts, have become my favorite exercises for overall strength. The 5/5 count while doing repetitions seems very beneficial to me and increases the effort required while reducing the risk of injury for me.
My main goal has been to lose weight and it’s happening. I can see myself hitting my target weight of 195 lbs now; and more importantly, making this a viable long term weight management program while increasing my overall fitness.
For the other readers who are giving the diet and workout a try, I look forward to hearing about your progress in the comments. Also, if anyone has experience with this stuff advice is very welcome.
Thanks for the update John (and Brion). Your progress is inspiring, and I look forward to more updates!
Thanks for the update, I’m interested in hearing how other people are going on this diet.
As for me, I’ve been on the diet for 12 days and I’ve lost 2 kilos. That might not be a lot but my clothes are much looser, which I’ve very happy about.
I don’t like meat and eggs that much so my concern is how I will go in the long term. I’m not missing eating bread, pasta, and rice so I think I will be able to make that a permanent change. I do miss potatoes though.
I’m going to Italy next week so that is going to be a real challenge!
Justin — Thanks for the support.
Andrea — Good luck in Italy! I was there last summer and barely ate anything but pizza and pasta. The food is so good though, it might be worth indulging a bit.
John, in addition to crunches, I recommend that you try captain’s chair stomach exercises. If you’re up for it, crunches on an exercise ball will REALLY maximize the benefit. Though it’s not part of the program you’re following, I can say from personal experience that pilates will give you a rock hard core and awesome abs. Just once or twice a week is all it takes. It’s like the ultimate non-workout.
Andrea, tempeh, nuts, cottage cheese and fish are good proteins, and yams, lentils, and wild rice (actually a grass, not a rice grain) are great carbs that don’t spike your blood sugar. Yams are a great alternative to potatoes.
Sara,
Thanks for the suggestion, I think I’ll give it a try. I’m definitely trying to incorporate more core strengthening exercises. They seem more appealing than bulking up.
I’ve always wondered what yams are and after a quick search on Google I’ve found out that they are just sweet potatoes with an American accent
I do like sweet potato so I’ll give that a try.
I tried pilates a few years ago and confirm that it works really well. The ydo a pilates class at my gym but it’s not using the machines so I don’t know if it will have the same benefit.
Thanks for the tips, Sara.
John,
Kudos to you for trying something new. Best of luck in your efforts!
Regarding the throbbing at the base of your skull, it sounds like you’ve been developing exercise-induced headaches (EIH). These happen because of increased pressure within the skull or excessive tension in the neck muscles. They are common among folks who switch to a slower-speed routine who may be unfamiliar to resistance training. Here are some things you can try that I’ve found personally to help with trainees:
1. Overbreathe – Rather than use the “exhale when you exert, inhale when you relax” standard, breathe with a steady repeating pattern, increasing your rate of breathing as the effort increases. At the end of the set when you’re giving your best efforts, your breathing should almost resemble Lamaze or hyperventilating.
The reason this helps is because it’s instinctive to hold your breath when straining. By not holding your breath, it keeps blood pressure down and minimizes tension in your neck. Incidentally, this one thing seems to help the MOST.
2. Maintain neutral and relaxed head/neck – Neutral head/neck means to keep your neck straight, i.e., don’t whip your head around, or twist the neck. Maintaining a straight neck position (think holding a large egg under your chin) will also help to minimize head/neck tension.
3. Keep face relaxed – Keeping a relaxed face (as best as you can) even when giving your best efforts helps to minimize neck tension.
4. When working with barbells, use a power cage (squat rack) – Inside a power cage, you can set spotter bars so that if you hit failure, there isn’t the danger of you getting crushed by the weight. I’ve found that many trainees panic when getting close to failure and they do one of the above things to help them “try and get the weight up again.” Mentally it seems to help knowing that the weight won’t just crush you if you hit failure mid-rep.
Since you’re just starting out, you may want to consider selecting exercises that facilitate head and neck support (like using an overhead press machine vs. barbell military press) until you get the hang of the above points. It’s important to keep up the resistance training as it’s the only thing that will maintain your muscle mass as you lose weight (and you definitely want to keep your muscle!).
Keep up the great efforts!
Eugene,
Thanks a lot for the advice. It puts my mind at ease to finally have an explanation for the headaches and a way to prevent them. I’ll definitely put your suggestions to use.
John, today is day 15 for me on the regime. I measured myself on Friday and I have gained 1 cm on each leg, around my chest and my right arm and 1/2 cm on my left arm (no idea why it isn’t the same as I train both arms the same). I have lost 3 notches on my belt from around my waist and dropped my weight by 3 kgs despite the gains in muscle. It doesn’t sound as impressive as it looks.
I still have a lot to lose from around the middle and on my hips but I am getting there fast.
So far I have avoided most of the traps. I didn’t expect there to be dextrose in bacon.
I find that I have made a huge gain every Monday morning after the Saturday eat fest and the Sunday back on the protein.
I am eating lots and lots of fish. I never added the walks to the program but am still considering it.
Neil
Neil,
Thanks for the update. You’re making me jealous I haven’t been able to keep up with the workouts! Hopefully that won’t be the case the next two weeks.
I’m following the diet as well. I was really happy when I saw that I’d lost 8 lbs by my 15-day mark (Saturday)–so I was at 210. The day before, I cut my calories in half for the day, as I saw recommended somewhere.
On cheat day, I did a few really stupid things, including eating 8 (e-i-g-h-t) Drumstick ice cream cones. Yeah, I know. I know. So on Sunday and today, it was as if my gains were erased according to the scale.
But, if what happened last week holds true, by Friday I should be back to where I was, minus, hopefully, at least 2.
I’ve done the 5/5 TUT workout twice during this period. I was sore, but in a good way.
8 Drumsticks. Wow.
Patrick,
I know exactly what you mean about using the free day. A couple times I have eaten so much that I’ve thought I would burst! It probably hasn’t helped my weight loss, but it seems like most of it comes back off fairly quickly.
Came across this blog on blogsearch for this diet from the Feriss site.
I wanted to mention that I am doing this but without any exercise. Since his blog mentioned that any one of the three could work ( exercise, diet, supplementation) and was specifically titled “Lose 20 pounds in 30 days- Without any exercise”- I want to put those exact conditions to the test.
From reading a few posts on the blog, I take it you are combining the workout from the Muscle Gaining regimen with the Diet from the 20 lb Fatloss Slow-Carb Diet.
Personally, I am going to do the fatloss phase first. Once I drop 20lbs or so I am going to try to Bulk. Right now I need to lose fat more than gain muscle. I have a pretty good muscle base but BF is too high.
I also think taking an extended rest from lifting combined with depletion will create more of a Casey Viator/Colorado experiment effect. Hopefully muscle memory will kick-in and I can lean bulk after dieting very lean.
As of right now I am about 5 days in. I have been fairly strict but I have had very small portions of flour ( without a workout) and a low GI piece of fruit or so. Even so I am certainly in caloric deficit and have not made any major mistakes. I have definitely lost water weight, at least. Since I started on a Friday, I am going a little more than a week until my first cheat day.
IF I do workout, it will probably be once a week on Saturday. that way I can have plenty of energy before and refeeding after. I am still not sure. I am also going to try mostly healthy cheat days. I am thinking just higher calories and more carbs- like eating a lot fruit, oatmeal, pizza,etc. I think if I eat cake and candy and all that crap I will probably endup blowing it, feeling sick,etc. Besides, even when Im not trying to lost weight I try to make sure I get vitamins and nutrients from food. I wouldnt want t have a day devoid of substance.
Greg,
I’d recommend doing at least a short, full-body maintenance workout once a week or so in order not to lose muscle while dieting. Your body isn’t picky about what tissue it uses to burn for energy when in caloric deficit and will cannibalize your muscle tissue along with fat. This’ll slow down your metabolism and ultimately limit the amount of fat loss you could achieve.
Remember, Casey Viator started the Colorado Experiment so “small” (for him) because of an allergic reaction – he almost DIED. He wasn’t trying to lose muscle beforehand.
Great work on the diet so far! Best of luck to you!
So here’s the problem, are you going to be able to stick with this for the rest of your life? If not, then don’t bother. The minute you stop and go back to your old routine you will go back to your old body. You’re better off trying to find ways in which you can permanently change your lifestyle into a healthier one.
Also, 10lbs in two weeks is not healthy and probably represents water weight. 1lb of fat equals around 3000 calories. Your normal diet is about 2000 to 3000 calories. Your normal daily expenditure is about the same (obviously, both these numbers vary from person to person by gender, age, lifestyle and so on). So if we do the math, you have to do the equivalent of fasting for over a day just to drop 1lb. Fast all week and you’ll drop around 6 to 7lbs but then of course you’re killing yourself. Also, fast for too long and your body starts spending calories at a much reduced rate. A reasonable target is around 1 to 2lbs a week.
Much better idea:
Figure out your daily calorie requirements by looking at your age, target (not current) weight and a life style you think you can maintain. Obtain these calories through four or five healthy meals a day with low fat, and yes, processed foods full of carbs are indeed bad for you. Carbs themselves are not.
Exercise three or four time a week with both reasonable (if you injure yourself, you’re not being reasonable or healthy) weight training and cardio
Lead a healthy life style. That means walking when you can, not drinking calories and a whole bunch of other stuff.
I lost 60 lbs over 3 years this way and I’m still going strong. I have around 20lbs to go but I’ve also put on a lot of muscles and recently ran my first marathon
Day 22 of the diet and exercise routine:
I seem to be having no problem sticking to the diet, this morning I weighed in at 277 so that’s 13 pounds shed so far. My wife is struggling with it though and has made very little progress.
I’m most happy that my energy levels are high and I’m making strength gains. I don’t think at this point that I’d have lost the weight without the exercise.
Carnival of Diet Tips…
Thank you, thank you for some great articles that will help us on our journey to lose weight and change our thinking about food for life. Hope the articles will inspire you to achieve your goal. Gal Josefsberg presents Snacking…
[...] John Wesley presents Fitness Experiment: 2 Weeks on the Slow Carb Diet and Going Strong posted at Pick the Brain. John’s blog is great! He writes on all things healthy with great authority and I am sure you will find tonnes of excellent articles throughout his site, well worth bookmarking and spending some time looking through. [...]
1 week= 8 lbs so far. Today is my Cheat day and I will lift sometime this afternoon.
For me this is pretty easy to follow and probably very easy to modify as a way of life for maintenance.
[...] John Wesley presents Fitness Experiment: 2 Weeks on the Slow Carb Diet and Going Strong posted at Pick the Brain. Your weekly round up of the best healing articles posted around the blog-o-sphere. I LOVED that post. Our kids go to a Steiner School so we love home remedies in our house. [...]
Randy Couture Workout for MMA Conditioning…
Check this crazy little workout out:
Do the Randy Couture workout if you’ve got a barbell and you want to get into fighting shape or even if you are a weekend MMA warrior. I’d start with the 45lb empty bar and work up. That way you won…
[...] John Wesley presents Fitness Experiment: 2 Weeks on the Slow Carb Diet and Going Strong posted at Pick the Brain. [...]
Weight loss challenge…
Please use this site to lose weight. It’s useful for your health and beauty….
[...] fertility and menstrual cycle, but they should watch out as drinking these can cause them to shed off weight rapidly, and this can be very unhealthy and dangerous for their [...]
[...] your kitchen with these foods. However, a better and more organized approach is to first make out a menu list for the following week. When you shop from a planned menu and the recipes that go with those meal choices, you’ll only [...]
[...] planning and bulk cooking are both wonderful techniques you can utilize and modify to fit your families needs. The idea behind this is simple. The principle is that you cook and or prepare your meals ahead of [...]
[...] low residue diet is also known as the low fibre diet. The low residue diet is usually meant for patients during the pre- and post- operation. What the low residue diet is [...]
[...] phobias, which are irrational fears. They could make one dizzy when standing at the edge of a low balcony, have one refuse to touch door ways and public areas with bare hands because of they are [...]
This is great post,I’m surely bookmark this page and keep reading every post you made, thx!
The link for the “muscle gain program” doesn’t work. What is the exact workout and lifts that you are following, as I would be interested in testing this out as well to provide further “validation” as to whether or not this works!