Diets?

 

   A couple weeks back after writing a post titled, The Battle Plan Part 1, I received several messages from folks who wanted to share their recommendations about diet and exercise.  One message was from my friend and loyal FKC reader, Greg. He told me about a book called, The 4 Hour Body. He said he'd had success with its diet and exercise program and that I should take a look at it. That afternoon I went out and bought a copy.

   I'm American. That means that the second anyone says that they have a super-fast way to lose weight, I'm all ears. The 4 Hour Body promises quick results should you chose to follow their program. The book's weight loss outline follows something called, The Slow Carb Diet. It's essentially this: Six days a week eat only lean protein, legumes, and vegetables. The seventh day, eat as much as you want of whatever you want and drink as much as you want of whatever you want. On the cheat day it's also recommended that you sneak exercise periods in there now and again to keep your metabolism going. So long as you follow this plan the author claims that you can lose roughly 20lbs in a month without exercising. I'm seriously considering taking a shot at this.

   Here are my hesitations. a) I hate legumes. Hate em. b) How long can you possibly keep something like this up for? c) What happens once you go off the diet?

    Remember The Atkins Diet? I remember seeing folks following it like crazy when it first showed up. I too dabbled in it back in college when I was on a health kick where I was steadily losing weight and then out of nowhere I plateaued. I remember losing 7lbs in one week while I was on Atkins. I also remember having headaches, feeling sluggish, and generally being miserable. A few years back I was reading an article on fad diets, I believe in Men's Health, which made me dismiss Atkins and Diets like it all together. I'm sorry that I don't remember the name of the person who said this, but I just can't forget what they said, "Only in America will people believe that bacon is healthier than an Apple."

   When I reformatted the blog I made a promise to myself that I would approach diet and exercise different this time. No crazy plans, no crazy promises. Slow and steady wins the race. This month has been pretty good, certainly better than the several before it. I'm looking forward to gym today as well as my run. My plates are filled with more fruits and vegetables. I lost a notch on my belt. That being said, I want to step it up. I want to move this along a bit. 

  My question to you; Are there diets, crazy or otherwise, that have worked for you? Do you like them? Why do you like them? What happened when you stopped them? Has anyone else looked into The 4 Hour Body approach?

You know the drill. Comment or Facebook message. You thoughts and opinions are always valued more than you know dear reader friends. Thanks and everyone have a good Monday.