What was your moment?

[rossco]

Thanks hisc1ay

Ha - nice to know I/we were previously disliked! Heh.

I have to say that although I've never had a problem losing weight, gaining it has been so flippin hard for me, my whole life.

If I DO try to gain weight I quickly get a fat stomach (but keep the sexy rake skinny legs and arms) but no muscle. So then I run heaps to get rid of that and drop any muscle that did grow. Then I'm tired of skinny so hit the weights and eat more again....cue fat gut...so I start running again....etc

I understand it is very hard to lose fat AND gain muscle at the same time without very intricate cycling of diet (see Tom Venuto's blog - google Tom Venuto) BUT I just want to stop overthinking everything.

I am following the Slow Carb diet with Perfect Posterior training for 6 weeks then moving onto Occams. The 1st 6 weeks should see me drop fat and build a strong core, then occams will ramp up the muscle.

Right now, I HAVE got fat to lose so these first six weeks will be interesting!

Had BodPod on Saturday, and started today (monday).

BodPod results are here: http://www.fourhourbodyworks.com/2011/0 ... d-results/

My Goals are here: http://www.fourhourbodyworks.com/2011/0 ... ody-goals/

Day one is just 10 hours down and I'm very excited already.

Bring it on!
Ross

[atropa]

A long time family friend posted on fb that he had lost 12 lbs in 8 days on 4hb. I had never heard of it and I trust his opinion. I am tired of carrying around the extra 30 lbs that are hiding " me" and like an above poster I am SICK of saying "back when I was thin". I took a chance and bought the book, and realized it didn't sound so bad! Honestly, if not for the cheat day I wouldn't think that.

[theoldecrone]

I can't recall the exact moment.

I started losing weight several years ago, when I changed jobs. I decided I simply was tired of being the Fat Person. I read Tim's "Geek to Freak" blog entry, where he talked about the diet, and went on it, in a modified fashion. I ate eggs for breakfast, a salad w/meat on it for lunch, and a meat and veg dinner. For a snack, I had an apple with peanut butter. I took one day off per week.

In about 10 months, I lost 35 pounds, without exercise.

I added exercise, and then when I was 15 months, I threw my back out when I was reaching for the kitten. (Don't ask.) I stopped exercising, but tried to keep eating right. I also had my cholesterol checked, and it was way higher than before. I changed my breakfast to oatmeal with a bit of peanut butter and agave nectar. The rest stayed the same.

And guess what happened?

That's right. My cholesterol went down, but my weight creeped up.

My back healed (we are now at June, 2010), and I joined a recreational roller derby league. You want some intense aerobic AND anaerobic exercise? Woof. It was brutal. It was also just what I needed. I kept exercising and going to roller derby, etc.

Now, I've read the 4HB, and I've changed my diet again. Eggs w/chicken and spinach for breakfast. Meat, veg, and beans for lunch and dinner, in different combinations. I've been losing weight and inches, both. I haven't measured officially, but my jeans are loose, even right out of the dryer, so I can do that math.

I have so much energy--some days it's unnerving.

The PAGG supplements seem to help me stay on track. I don't take the green tea one at dinner or bedtime -- I need to sleep.


I wish my story was more exciting for you, but there it is. Here's the exciting part: I'm 1.2 pounds away from being at my pre-back-injury weight. Yay!

[KimJackie]

Great stories guys.

I started 4hb on 1.1.2011. I spend a year as an exchange student in Portugal and we party and eat junk food and drink gallons of beer almost daily. I gained more than 10 kilos in that year and I didn't fit into my jeans anymore. Also my belly was looking terrible.

So I survived the Christmas and NY eve's dinner and start fresh. I've been sticking to the diet and so far I'm doing good. I've created a blog to track my progress and motivate me. Remember what Ferriss said about making public goals right?

Starting weight: 92kg
Goal: 72kg
I'm 180cm (5f11)

Current weight: 87kg

[Dada_Loft]

I've just been watching the weight pile on this past year - stressful job (that I no longer have - woohoo!) seemed to be the culprit. Have read, and used tips from, Tim's previous work and this really seemed simple to implement; I respect the amount of research he's put into it. Embodies walking the talk.

[dvugteveen]

MY "moment" is a little older: July 2, 2001. On family vacation in Yellowstone Park I woke up and literally could not see the MOUNTAIN outside of the cabin. My wife drove us back home and the doctor diagnosed me with diabetes. In fact, he almost sent me to the hospital with my blood glucose over 700 mg/dL. I lost over 100 lbs during the next 16 months following a routine close to the 4-Hour Body in diet, exercise and lifestyle. Following the "traditional" dieting advice and medication of the day did NOT bring my glucose lower or help with cholesterol. I ended up with a "slow carb diet" through basic self-experimentation (wish I had one of those glucose meters back then!) and added in a "cheat day" purely by accident. Amazing that the body needs variety!

I did have a struggle early in September that year, but then 9-11 happened. I lost fellow consultants who I knew, working in both towers, and another fellow who I had recently met and started working with who was on flight 93. The message there, that "life is short and you need to live at your peak", hit me like a freight train.

So, 2 Harajuku moments: when poor health literally hit me between the eyes, and then when I lost close friends to a terrorist attack. Sobering moments for a fellow then in his late 30's.

I personally found that "less is more" and that to be effective you need to find the right measures and the right levers. Measuring body composition made the biggest difference, and for over 9 years I only periodically step on a scale. Usually at my annual physical.

But despite the successes over the years, the way the body functions concerning glucose and weight gain were still a mystery, even after reading dozens of lifting and exercise books. UNTIL I read the 4-Hour Body. I've been following Tim's body composition program for several weeks now and already seeing results. And all of the refining points in 4HB have made this an amazing improvement over my crude attempts.

Thanks Tim!

[AdamHepner]

I actually followed the advice in Tim's book, and did some basic measurements. Realizing, that well over a third of me is just fat (I don't even try to visualize this, gross!) made me go nuts. However losing 2 kgs (Hello from Europe ) in the first 3 days of bingeing - it made clear, that it all can be done with MEDs, so I took the challenge. First its 30 kgs to loose, down to 10% body fat, then it's ultra endurance (from no endurance at all, thank you) and super strength (that's not that bad, actually - if I can do 10 push-ups in my current condition, I'm not all broke in the subject. However, I've never been able to do ANY sensible pull-ups, and my ultimate goal is to be able to do 100 of those bastards, in one run. Then I'll be satisfied). And in the meantime - breath holding. For swimming. I too can be a super human, I say

[jgd1955]

I realised that I hadn't been happy with myself for such a long time and had countered my own self loathing with too much alcohol.

Since then I've joined a gym, cut back on drinking, followed the slow carb diet to a large extent and my weight loss is Jan 1, 2010 - 213lbs, today 176lbs. Total weight loss 37lbs.

Learning to love myself again, leaner, fitter, stronger. Still want to lose another 5lbs and get my body fat down below 20% (currently 21%)

[TheMindOfButton]

Mine happened on stage. I was in a pretty little theater, with people enjoying their meals and watching the show, and when my music was in a quiet part, I heard a group of women chatting about me. With my job, you don't want to hear words like "thick" and "fat" while you're trying to be alluring and entertaining. I was my heaviest-225. I'm 6'1" with an athletic build, and though I could "carry" it, it wasn't something that was attractive wearing shiny, small costumes.

I almost immediately began HCG and was able to get down to 187-which I haven't seen since high school. I do think some of that was muscle loss though-and after the protocol, began building muscle again, but I'm up to 195, with a 30.5" waist. Size 12.

Since I know it's possible for my body to do what I need it to do, and what I want it to do in order to compete nationally and perform internationally-I have no excuses to not attain my goals.

My goal is to get below 20% body fat (I'm probably around 22-24%). My body would look bangin' around 180ish pounds. My goal is small, but I've been very stuck for months now.

I started 4HB a month ago, and I'm down 10 pounds (lost in the first 8 days). I'm hoping that being here will give me the missing piece, because I am very confident that this way of eating (I don't like bread, and have to avoid sugar-hypoglycemic) is the one that works for me.

[Vtec9k]

Mine was this summer.

I used to swim competitively and I was sitting watching a guy I used to compete against, and beat, winning Commonwealth medals to put along side his existing Olympic medals. Meanwhile I was pushing 210 pounds and 30%+ BF

Started swimming and getting to the gym again and was down to about 188 pounds by xmas. Now 4 weeks into the 4HB diet and I've lost another 10 down to 178 pounds!

Next steps... Stop skipping breakfast and eat more protein, start the geek to freak chapters