Note: This post is part of the Fitness Experiment series. If you’re new here you should read this post for the background.
It’s been one week since I started the slow carb diet and Tim Ferriss’ workout routine. I’ve never put myself on a restricted diet so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
The Slow Carb Diet
After exchanging emails with Tim I’ve modified my goals a bit. Initially I wanted to gain weight and cut fat. These are opposing goals so I had to choose one or the other. I’ve decided to go with fat burning, at least for the first few weeks.
I made this choice for a couple reasons. 1) Gaining weight would require eating a ton of food. I’ve never gone on a diet before, so I figure maintaining my regular food consumption should be easier than cooking 4 huge meals a day. 2) The fat burning diet includes an “eat whatever you want” day. The spike in carbs keeps your body from adjusting to the reduced calorie intake and gives you a chance to satisfy your cravings. The opportunity to indulge myself is very appealing and should help me stick to the diet the rest of the week.
So far the transition has been relatively easy. I’ve actually been eating more than before. I’ve gone from two meals a day to three. Cutting out white carbs makes me hungrier, but I’ve actually noticed a small rise in energy.
The biggest change in my meals has been cutting out rice/pasta/macaroni and substituting black or pinto beans. I like beans a lot so I haven’t minded. Aside from that, the hardest part is avoiding sugar and the random free food that presents itself. It takes a bit of will power, but the diet is definitely sustainable.
The Workout
The workout routine is more intense than I expected. 4-7 sets doesn’t sound like much, but using the 5-5 cadence and going to absolute failure makes a huge difference. For example, when I used to do bench press I always let gravity do the work on the way down. With the 5-5 cadence, the way down is so slow that it requires a lot of effort to keep the bar in the air.
Going to absolute failure has also made my workouts more intense. I’m slightly worried that the stress could be a problem. Towards the end of my first workout, during the last rep of a shoulder press set, the back of my neck got really tight and I felt a bit light headed. I stopped, cooled down for a bit, and did one more set before finishing. Today, the same thing happened during my first set of dips and I decided to postpone the workout until tomorrow. I’ve never felt anything like this before. Has anyone experience anything similar? Hopefully this won’t keep happening, but I’m not going to push it.
Besides the workouts the only other exercise I’ve taken is pickup basketball. I’ve felt normal (though out of shape) energy levels while playing and the extra cardiovascular activity compliments the fat burning plan.
Results
After only one week there isn’t much to speak of but I’m very optimistic. I’d let you know about any weight change but there isn’t a scale in my apartment. I expect the results are minimal, probably 1-3 pounds. I definitely feel a bit leaner, especially around the abdomen, and my muscles have become more firm and toned. I’m looking forward to seeing the results develop in the coming weeks.
If anyone else is trying the diet or workout routine, please let us know how it’s going in the comments or on your own blog. Brion already posted his results to comment thread of the first post (at the bottom) and they seem similar to mine. Having more results to compare should help us all to optimize our programs.
http://www.traineo.com/12_2484_0.html
A couple people may be trying it in the traineo community.
John,
You have motivated me to at least give this a try. But I am wondering if aerobic activity such as running/jogging is complementary to this sort of program?
Mike,
I think it all depends on your goals. If you want to burn fat, aerobic activity is probably beneficial for burning more calories. If you to add muscle, you need to consume more calories than you burn. Aerobic exercise counteracts that.
I look forward to hearing about your results.
I’m on the edge of my seat with this experiment, John! Can’t wait to see the upcoming weeks’ results. Good job on sticking with it for a week.
John, I have also been trying the plan. I am at day 5 and am about to go and do my second workout for the week.
After reading that you have modified the plan I may do the same.
I seem to be losing fat from around my chest and shoulders faster than my middle. I will add some walks to the plan I think.
I haven’t been drinking the wine.
Any suggestions?
Neil,
I’m new to all this too, so your guess is probably as good as mine. I’ve heard abdomen fat is usually the last to go.
With regard to Neil’s and John’s comments, it is true about fat loss being progressive. Having been fat all my life, and therefore on a permanent diet/exercise regime for nearly thirty years, I’ve come across the process often (my bodyfat yoyo’s, so I go through fatter, less fat cycles).
Fat loss begins with the chest area or the face. Next you see your face, wrists, hands, ankles and feet getting thinner. The waist and calves become more trim after that. Finally the thighs and abdomen start to firm up. In general, it will take as long to slim the latter areas as it did to lose all the overall fat in the rest of the body. Some people, like me, are never able to lose all the abdomen fat and must be content to just be fitter and healthier. That is, in fact, the only way I’ve been able to cope with being overweight – the knowledge that I do the best I can and keep as much fat off as I am able.
With regard to the lightheaded feeling, I often get this problem with certain exercises and find it so scary I’ll often give up the exercise that caused it for a few weeks. Hearing that someone else is having this problem, I now wonder is it a normal part of muscle toning. I use a combination of Callanetics, dynamic tension and gardening or cleaning as an exercise routine, so I don’t think the issue is related to weight training as such. I thought it was something to do with being a cigarette smoker, but your experience suggests not.
The tightness in the neck and shoulders is, I think, the result of pressure and tension. Callanetics stresses the necessity not to tense these muscles when exercising to avoid straining them. However, Callanetics builds strength and muscle without using weights, so it may not be pertinent to weight training. I’d recommend Callanetics to anyone who wants to be strong, flexible and use a relaxed routine to build muscle. Having said that, it’s an extremely tough work-out and takes a long time to build the strength to do a full routine. The benefits are worth the effort, however, as your body becomes more flexible, posture improves and stress is lowered.
Sorry about the length of this post, I’ve not gained the art of succinctness yet.
Decheron,
I think you’re right about the neck tightness being caused by tension. I think its a combination of neck strain from working at a computer all day and the stress of the workout. This is actually the first time it’s ever happened to me, at least with this intensity, so I plan on taking a few more days off before my next workout. In the interim I might do some lower stress activities like pushups.
High intensity is definitely the way to go. I’ve worked out using a number of different methods in my life, but short periods of highly intense work has far and away produced the greatest and longest lasting gains.
A couple of examples:
Last spring I was doing intense cardio such as hill sprints and three mile runs with hills. I ran everything as hard and fast as I could, but never worked out for more than 30 minutes. Meanwhile my wife had been running long slow distances, working herself up to a 20 mile run. A few times she asked if I wanted to run longer distances with her (12-16 miles). I was nervous because I’d never ran anywhere close to that distance before, but I always kept up with her just fine.
The year before that I began with highly intense workouts and worked hard for about three months. I saw great gains in strength, but the most interesting thing happened when I stopped after I had to get a second job. I continued to lose weight! 3 months later, I had lost 15 additional pounds of fat. And I was eating terribly–junk food, pop, etc. . . .
I can only attribute this to a sharp increase in muscle mass resulting in an increase in metabolism.
Chris
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Chris. I’m definitely becoming a believer in high intensity workouts. It’s amazing that adding a bit of extra muscle helped you keep losing weight for months after you stopped training! Hopefully I’ll see similar results.
I’ve been doing this for 5 days and am happy that I haven’t been hungry at all and yet I’ve already lost 2 kilos. I do find it difficult though as I tend to want to eat even when I’m not hungry. I keep thinking to my day off when I can relax and eat whatever I like (within reason, I think).
One problem I have found is a lack of energy. I’ve been going to the gym 4 times a week for 6 months so I’m fairly fit but this week I’ve been struggling to do an hour of cardio, which is normally nothing for me. I don’t think I’m eating enough beans and lentils but I don’t really like them and am not sure what I can substitute for them.
I look forward to reading your updates and hearing how everyone else goes on this diet.
I have been following the program for 12 days (completed 3 workouts) and have been plotting my results here.
I am definitely getting stronger, but haven’t yet seem any drastic change in my bodyfat or overall weight.
http://www.sethigherstandards.com/seattle-experiment-check-in/
This regimen obviously won’t produce the same results with everybody; my wife is on her 7th day and her weight hasn’t budged although she’s getting a little stronger now, while I’m on my 9th day (and also my “free day”!) and my weight is down to 284 from 290 and my energy levels are very above average for me.
From January 2nd, 2007 when I started dieting and exercising, to the end of February; I went from 326 to 290 – the weight seemed to fall off and I even increased my efforts I was so encouraged. But though I was exercising and dieting more, I hit a sticking point at around 290 that I haven’t been able to shake until now.
I’m no longer feeling hungry from starving myself, and I’m no longer feeling exhausted from too many workouts. Two weight training sessions per week, walking 4 days a week, and following the slow carb diet is working for me so far.
John – I disagree with the “no aerobics” part, its common practice to combine at least some level of the two. In fact, I remember a research that showed that spending half the time on aerobic and half on weights is better for fat loss then only aerobic routine (no to mention the fact that the mere mass of muscles burns calories (although not as much as assumed previously, see here: http://exercise.about.com/od/exerciseworkouts/f/muscle.htm), meaning that gaining muscle could be very helpful for fat loss in the long run.
Re lightheadness – sounds like a lack of oxygen problem. Make sure you breath well and don’t move too suddenly (which should all already be true if you follow the 5/5 rule).
Re being tense, workout should actually decrease neck tension caused by lack of movement (computer worker’s syndrome
) – but if you just begun training after a long period of no training at all it’s common to have some stiffness in the first two weeks. If you’ve been training before, maybe you put too much strain on yourself, be cautious.
Just a small addendum to my post yesterday -
Last night my wife and I decided to take a dinner & movie; We purchased our movie tickets, then went to a 50’s style diner to eat. I had a mushroom burger, onion rings, and a large vanilla milkshake since it was my “free day”. I felt very full shortly afterwards although it wasn’t really a huge dinner, and oddly, the sensation of fullness seemed to increase on our way to the theatre until I was in discomfort. As we waited in the theatre lobby, I broke out in a sweat and felt ill so we decided to call it a night and went home. Not long afterward, I became violently sick and my head was swimming like I was drunk.
This morning I’m fine, but that was a darn weird experience last night. Does that sound like food poisoning or a reaction to the rich food I ate? Has anyone else experienced sickness on their “free day” from eating rich foods?
Ran,
Thanks for the advice. I think I may have strained myself a bit by pushing too hard in the first workout. I think I’ll take it easy next time. Hopefully the tension problem won’t persist.
Brion,
That sounds very strange. I haven’t experienced anything like it myself. Maybe it was your body reacting to the rich food, or possibly it was just a freak occurrence? Hopefully it won’t happen again.
John, I am now at day 9 of the program. My energy levels are great and I suspect that I am doing a lot more little things that are contributing to the weight loss as a result. E.g I spend less time sitting down at work.
I have lost ,2 notches on my belt worth of, weight from around my middle.
I have gained muscle on my shoulders, arms and legs. I am finding that the most extraordinary thing about this routine is that I don’t suffer from the second day stiffiness I used to get from weight training.
I have been careful about ensuring that I drink enough water.
I will keep posting my experiences with this system.
Neil
Neil,
Thanks for posting. Those results sound great. I’m actually a bit disappointed that my body hasn’t cooperated and I’ve missed a couple workouts. I always seem to have trouble staying hydrated as well, despite drinking water at work all day.
I started this regimen May 7. I’ve been eating Ranch Style beans for pinto beans, in addition to steamed vegetables and peas. My progress the first week was slow–I think I should not have considered hot dogs as “pork”. The cheat day was definitely fun, though the scale said I gained 3 lbs by Sunday morning. This week, I stuck with more “pure” protein sources, like eggs and chicken breasts and have today dropped a belt notch. I was about to give it up and go back to Abs, but now I have hope!
Haha, yes I don’t think hot dogs really work with the diet.
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.
I’m just two days into this diet, and I’ve noticed at least for me that I feel slightly lightheaded and irritable and have a hard time concentrating. I’m going to assume that this is because my blood sugar levels are “crashing” from the lack of quick fix carbs, but I’ll try to increase my legume intake regardless, and hope it passes quickly.
You may be right. I definitely craved white carbs for the first week. You’ve got the right idea with eating more legumes. Good luck!
Low carb diets are more harmful than helpful. If you refer to the food pyramid carbs are the most essential part of your day. What a low carb diet will do is actually make you gain fat and lose muscle. You gain fat because with the reduce muscle fat is needed to insulate the body. To target fat and keep muscle walk at a conversational pace. I hope I have helped.
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