4 Hour Body: Week 6

I’ve completed my sixth week of 4 Hour Body. If you want to read previous posts about my journey, use the links in the table at the bottom of this post or browse the 4 Hour Body tag archives of my blog.

Day 36 – Sunday, February 20, 2011

First time I didn’t weigh myself the morning after cheat day. Drank a large glass of ice water while making breakfast. I ate scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and spinach. Went for a 3.2 mile hike at South Mountain Park. Went to Chipotle for lunch and got a bowl with veggies, pinto beans, chicken, tomatoes, salsa, lettuce, and guacamole (no picture). Played 18 holes of golf with cart. At dinner I had a couple of pieces of bread with garlic butter and we split a plate of fried mozzarella. I had chicken breast topped with prosciutto, spinach, mozzarella cheese, in a light lemon-butter sauce with pasta for my meal. Drank a couple of glasses of red wine and an amaretto on the rocks. Went to a movie and had a small popcorn and Cherry Coke (no picture). Went a little overboard today, but it was good stuff.

Breakfast Fried MozzarellaDinner

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4 Hour Body: Week 5

I’ve completed my fifth week of 4 Hour Body. If you want to read previous posts about my journey, use the links in the table at the bottom of this post or browse the 4 Hour Body tag archives of my blog.

Day 29 – Sunday, February 13, 2011

I woke up sluggish this morning. Probably due to the amount of calories I ate after 7PM last night for cheat day. I gained just over 2 pounds, which has been normal the morning after for me. Hopefully I can lose it faster than usual and start losing pounds that count.

For breakfast I had scrambled eggs, 5 slices of turkey bacon, and spinach. Went for a 3 mile hike at South Mountain Park. For lunch I had Ahi tuna, peas, and lentils. After lunch I walked about 5.5 miles on the golf course, playing 18 holes. For dinner I cubed some cheap steaks and cooked it with butter, garlic, and a chopped onion in a pan. Ate it with peas and lentils. Iced my shoulders and chest while watching a movie before bed.

BreakfastLunchDinner

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4 Hour Body: Week 4

I’ve completed my fourth week of 4 Hour Body. Check out previous posts:

I started the week at 185.8 lbs and 17.7% body fat.

Day 22 – Sunday, February 6, 2011

To continue with the Ice Age chapter of the book I had a large glass of ice water to start the day. Jumped on the scale to check out the damages from yesterday and nothing new there. I gained 2 pounds just like every other cheat day. For breakfast I had scrambled eggs with salsa, black beans, and peas. I’m going to take pictures of every meal again (even if it’s a repeat) like I did for week one because it helps to see portion sizes and makes the posts look more interesting.

I went hiking at Camelback Mountain and had to park a mile away. So did a mile walk, over 2 miles hiking, and another mile walk back to my vehicle. For lunch I decided to take the turkey tacos I made last week a step further with some inspiration from The Great Taco Salad by Suzie at Waist and Taste. I used ground turkey instead of beef, black beans instead of chili beans, and didn’t use Better Than Sour Cream. It was really tasty!

I played 18 holes of golf where I walked 5.35 miles. That’s a total of 9.5 miles on my feet, so I picked up a bowl from Chipotle with veggies, pinto bears, tomatoes, salsa, guacamole, lettuce, and chicken. If there was ever a day I could go for an ice bath it would be today, but there is no way I’m going to try it. Used ice on my shoulders while enjoying some wine.

BreakfastLunchDinner

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4 Hour Body: Week 3

I’ve completed my third week of 4 Hour Body. Read 4 Hour Body: Before I Begin, Week 1, and Week 2 to see where this journey began. I started the week at 187.9 lbs and 17.9% body fat.

Day 15 – Sunday, January 30, 2011

Didn’t eat breakfast this morning. Had lunch with the WordPress Phoenix crew at Gangplank which consisted of a hamburger pattie (they were out of buns), a few tomato slices, small bag of popchips, and a small brownie. For dinner I cheated a bit more and justified it because I hadn’t eaten much all day. I had some salsa and chips, chicken fajitas, and a glass of wine. I forgot to take pictures.
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4 Hour Body: What I Miss

I’m closing in on 3 weeks of my 4 Hour Body plan and have been thinking about things I miss eating and drinking.

  1. Milk
  2. Pasta
  3. Bread
  4. Potatoes
  5. Rice
  6. Iced Coffee w/ milk or cream
  7. Chocolate
  8. Cheese

Amazingly I haven’t been hungry on the new diet, but I’ve had my share of cravings. Lucky for me, I cleaned (ate) all of this stuff out of the apartment before I started on 4HB because I knew I’d end up cheating. I’ve been keeping a list of cravings in an app on my iPhone and plan to take full advantage of Saturday’s cheat day since I’m not traveling this weekend.

I saw nice progress during week 1, but it dropped off last week and I’m not seeing much improvement this week either. This is surprising because I was out-of-town most of the first week and ate more off the diet for dinners than I have in the last two weeks. I think I’m going to cut back on my bean portions to see if I stay full throughout the day and hopefully it will help to shed a few more pounds. I’ve been doing my fair share of cardio because I want to get in better shape too, so I wonder if that’s having an impact on weight and fat loss.

4 Hour Body: Week 2

I’ve completed my second week of 4 Hour Body. Read 4 Hour Body: Before I Begin and Week 1 to see where this journey began. I started the week at 189.7 lbs and 18.7% body fat.

Day 8 – Sunday, January 23, 2011

Looks like I put on almost 2 pounds on cheat day. Weight was up to 191.5 this morning. Bad start to the week by eating french toast and sausage links for breakfast. It was the last meal with our Theme Team in Tucson though. For lunch I had a grilled chicken salad. Played 18 holes of golf where I walked 5.67 miles. For dinner I ate a chicken bowl from Chipotle with guacamole and veggies instead of rice. Glass of red wine before bed.

BreakfastLunchDinner

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4 Hour Body: Week 1

I’ve completed my first week of 4 Hour Body. Read 4 Hour Body: Before I Begin for more information. It wasn’t the best week to start because I was on the road most of the week, but I stuck very close to the diet. I started the week at 193.9 lbs and 19.4% body fat.

Day 1 – Sunday, January 16, 2011

After weighing in, I did swings with a 50 lb kettlebell (3 sets of 25), 10 myotatic crunches, and 10 cat vomits. These exercises were a lot harder than I expected, especially the kettlebell swings.

Breakfast consisted of black beans, spinach, and egg whites with one whole egg topped with southwest salsa. The egg and salsa mixture was very good. The beans and the spinach were OK, so I need to find a way to put some excitement into them. I didn’t eat soon enough after waking up, so I’m going to switch to one weigh-in per week because I need to wait at least 30 minutes after getting out of bed to get consistent body fat numbers on the scale.

For lunch I had turkey breast slices, a small avocado, peas, and a lettuce and tomato salad with homemade vinaigrette. The sodium content in the turkey is terrible, but I wanted to eat it instead of throwing it away. While golfing, I had a small thing of trail mix at the start of the back 9. Walked a little over 5.5 miles on the course. Dinner was black beans, asparagus, and garlic stir-fry beef. Had a glass of red wine at night.




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4 Hour Body: Before I Begin

Last week I read The 4 Hour Body: : An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman by Tim Ferriss and loved it. The book is loaded with great info. I’m going to do the Slow Carb Diet, kettlebell workout, 6 minute abs, some cardio of my own, and of course I’ll be golfing. My plan is to keep track of everything, take photos of my meals, and publish a weekly update.

Equipment

Before 4 Hour Body

For full disclosure, I lost some weight since November 28th, when I hit 198 pounds on the scale. I was able to do this by cutting out junk food, fast food, pop/soda, and trying to eat good healthy foods most of the time. I did a few short workouts near the end of December and have been doing cardio for the last 2 weeks.

Current Data

To track progress I’ll be using 3 key numbers, which I recorded this morning:

  • Weight: 193.9 lbs
  • Body fat:  19.4%
  • Total inches: 144.75

Total inches is a sum of the right arm (mid bicep), left arm, waist at navel, hips, right thigh, and left thigh.

Goals

At the end of 4 weeks I want to get my weight down to 180, body fat to 12%, and total inches to 135. The plan is to weigh in each day and take the other measurements on Saturday since that’s cheat day. I’ll post a progress report every Sunday. I dare you to join me on this journey!

The Journey