Slow-Carb Diet Results

My weight. Dotted lines are when I couldn't measure a) without a scale, b) during the Arenal trip and c) going back to the US

While Nick, George and I were in Costa Rica, we tested out the Slow-Carb diet to try and get ourselves trimmer than we already were. Really we didn't need it that much, especially Nick who started off with 12% body fat. Usually whenever we told people we were doing it, we got funny looks, oftentimes with a strong hint of concern. After all, don't you only diet when you're overweight or anorexic? And we didn't look overweight. But we simply wanted to do better than good in terms of health, and there was a strong dose of curiosity and challenge, especially to see if this diet were as miraculous as Tim Ferriss had said it was in his book. Or in George's case, an insatiable hunger to prove him wrong.

It took most of the two and a half months in Costa Rica to get fully used to it, really. Mostly, it was me figuring out how much I had to cook. Nick and George eat a ton, and I never truly appreciated this until I had to cook everything for them. Given the tenants of the diet, they couldn't just snack on granola bars or cook up some pasta whenever they were really hungry. Everything that they ate six days of the week had to be prepared and cooked. And usually what would happen is I would cook modestly more than I would imagine three of me would eat, and it wouldn't be anywhere near enough. The wails and moans of hunger were competing with the toucans and geckos for acoustic superiority. It was also a drag on our work.

So finally at the end I figured out the trick. Cook up a ton of beans and put them in a plastic bag in the fridge. Beans are the main source of carbs in this diet, and so they could be snacked on whenever they wanted, or mixed with whatever paltry leftovers remained from before. I also gradually got used to cooking more every night, but having a sizeable backup source of ready to eat beans or lentils was key.

Granted, by the end it was pretty much just Nick on the diet, though he has since wrapped it up after settling into Pittsburgh. George and I largely gave it up after the Arenal trip. I had lost about ten pounds before Arenal and was curious if I could push myself lower without following the exact instructions of the diet, thus also figuring out how I would maintain a low weight post-diet, and I think George had simply had enough of dealing with it. I tried sticking to some of the minor hints and tricks listed in the 4-Hour Body, like making sure I had plenty to drink, eating eggs at the beginning of the day so I would be less hungry for food the rest of the day, eating slower and making myself stop once I felt full. It worked; I lost some more pounds, including the ones I had temporarily gained during the Arenal trip, and I felt confident I could maintain my lower weight without too much effort.

So, overall I think the diet works pretty well. It probably works better for people with more weight to lose, but it does the job. It really is important to eat enough, at least for some people. I seem to be immune to the bothersome effects of eating too little, but George and Nick felt the pain far more readily. As long as you eat a lot of beans, you should be fine. What I consider more important though is forming the habits that will allow you to stay at the same weight after the diet has done its job.

The most important thing I learned about this diet though is just how much fast-carbs form the onus of our eating. By cutting out this one subset of carbohydrates from your diet, it really makes you realize how much you depend on them for meals and snacks. Bread, pasta, fruit, starch and sugar are so much of what we typically eat. Perhaps if anything will stick with me beyond this diet, it will be a focus on eating more beans and vegetables in general, which I imagine can only be a good thing. Especially since it appears that my acid reflux completely went away when I was on the diet. And that's something I'd like to keep to a minimum.

Now, back in the states, I'm headed right back up in terms of weight, but on purpose this time. I'm trying the muscle building program in the same book as the Slow-Carb Diet, Occam's Protocol, so named because it strives to be as simple as possible while achieving maximum results. Basically I drink a bunch of protein milkshakes and go to the gym every few days at measured intervals for a few short but intense and very specific workouts. I've definitely been gaining weight and strength and soreness, but so far my belt has remained tightened at the same hole. I've only been at it for a week, so we will see how it goes...

Dinnertime, George