This past summer when CR and I were in Seattle, Bri casually mentioned a diet she had done for a while that allowed her to lose more than 17 pounds while never really feeling hungry and not doing any exercise. After a week of being in a (awesome) carb coma from donuts, fried foods, and drinks, I was like sign me up...tomorrow, after this amazing bread-filled meal we are about to have. On the plane ride back, CR read the book cover to cover (I slept).
Basically, the 4 Hour Body diet has the following basic rules: no carbs (that includes breads, potatoes, and fruit), and no dairy. There are a lot of other things that go along with the book, including supplements and certain work out plans, but for us, the main rules have been no carbs and no dairy. I look at it like a variation of all the other whole 30/ paleo/ low carb diets out there - it's about eating less processed and carb-rich food, and getting more vegetables into your diet.
To back up a little. I felt that for most of my life I've been pretty healthy and active. In high school I did several sports (including cross country), in college my extra-curriculars kept me more active that I ever had been, and while I worked I was a member at my local gym and ran a half marathon. I also generally ate pretty well, but I have a weakness for carbs and cheese(burgers). While I had plenty of salads and lean meats, I also enjoyed probably one too many butter burgers from Culvers, and late night snacks of cheese curds (I am from Wisconsin after all!). Basically I was kind of at one weight, and I was fine with it. I like my food but I also generally evened it out with salads and occasional runs.
When school started last year, I quickly fell into a habit of "all the carbs" - they were just so easy! Pasta for dinner took all of 5 minutes, ramen was cheap, and sour dough toast with swiss cheese made the best snack. I actually lost weight the first semester of school just due to stress from school and going through a break up, but I knew it wasn't healthy. It was strange, going to school and learning all about the horrible things that happen when you don't take care of yourself, and then going home and eating just toast for dinner. It got better second semester when everything became a bit more normal - my personal life got sorted out, I got used to the school thing, I cooked more. Then summer happened, and with summer comes traveling, and with traveling comes all of the great food - garbage plates in NY, all of the donuts in NYC, all of the donuts in Seattle, all the cheeseburgers in Wisconsin. It was delicious and amazing, but by the time summer was over, it was time to actively work on eating like an adult, and not like a 20 year old college student.
So on Bri's recommendation, we started the 4 hour diet plan. Here's a rough idea of what we eat:
