Four Times A Day!

That's how many times I'm supposed to sit down and eat a full meal. FOUR TIMES!

It's a food lover's dream!

Now, the food selections are severely limited, but that's okay. There's a binge day coming.

That's right. Eating whatever the heck you want one day a week is a NECESSARY part of this diet. You go from eating meat, beans and veggies four times a day to eating ANYTHING YOU WANT!

Ice cream, donuts, candy, soda. Now, I don't recommend that you consume nothing but sugar, but I'm saying, it's no longer off limits in that 24 hours you're allotted - actually, COMMANDED to take.

According to the Four-Hour Body, not taking a binge day is detrimental to your results and even your health. It can mess with a woman's menstrual cycle, to name one thing.

The Four-Hour Body book is 552 pages long. There's a lot of info in there. That means I still have a lot to learn, but I'll share it with you as I go...along with other info I've gathered from other places.

Let's talk about food. What CAN I eat four times a day from Sunday to Friday?

I choose one item from each list for each meal. The recommendation is to eat the same few meals over and over again.

Sounds kind of boring, but there's a lot you can do with these few ingredients and I'll share those tips along the way.

PROTEINS: 
Egg whites with 1-2 whole eggs for flavor.
Chicken breast or thigh.
Beef (preferably grass-fed)
Fish
Pork

Pork is not the most effective for fat loss, but if you  love it, you can have it.

LEGUMES: 
Lentils
Black beans
Pinto beans
Red beans
Soybeans

VEGETABLES: 
Spinach
Mixed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower or any other cruciferous vegetable)
Sauerkraut
Asparagus
Peas
Broccoli
Green Beans

Now, the deal is, you eat every four hours - four times a day. The guy who wrote the book is a night owl so his day begins and ends on a completely different schedule from most normal people with a regular 9 to 5 job or people with children.

So here's MY schedule, which is just like his schedule, except it begins and ends earlier.

**These are double portions, by the way, because my son and I are on it together.

8:00 AM - Breakfast. Yesterday I cooked fresh spinach leaves in the pan until it was wilted, scrambled 6 eggs (4 egg whites, 2 with yolks) on top of it, dumped in about a half cup of salsa and a can of black beans and heated it through. It's delicious!

12:00 - Lunch. Yesterday I brushed white vinegar on two thin sliced steaks and sprinkled on some steak seasoning. I just cooked them in a pan with some light butter spray. I boiled 1/2 pound of brussel sprouts in chicken broth and garlic, and I heated a can of kidney beans.

2:00 - Run around park chasing kids for one hour.

4:00 - Second lunch. I cooked two small salmon fillets in white wine and garlic stovetop, made the brussel sprouts again, and kidney beans again.

8:00 - Dinner. I cooked one chicken breast for John and I to split in balsamic vinaigrette stovetop, cooked some broccoli, and a can of pinto beans.

So that's it. Eat four times a day, drink lots of water and do something physical for one hour (He calls it recreation or sports training).

Seems simple enough.

Two days into the diet I've lost 4 pounds and it's only 4 pounds, but I just FEEL skinnier.

Hey Everybody! I'm Back 'Cause I'm Fat Again!

Let me tell you what happens when I get divorced.

I eat the contents of my fridge and make fast food runs late at night.

And I get fat.

How do I know this?

I just went through divorce number two.

Okay, so it's been almost a year since the divorce was finalized, but I like to wallow in self-pity for a lot longer than I used to. And also the days of starving myself when a guy decided he didn't like me are over. I prefer to drown my sorrows in greasy take out, chocolate and Dr. Pepper now. That feels so much better than slow death by starvation while lying in my bed staring at the ceiling wondering how much longer before God finally takes me.

ANYWAY...

I knew my situation was getting bad because my clothes were getting tight, but my scale was telling me it wasn't THAT bad yet. I didn't start worrying until my loose, lounge around clothing started getting tight.

A friend of mine made a post on Facebook about a scale she had just recently purchased, which tells you not only your weight, but your body fat percentage and hydration level. I was like, "Ooh. That sounds interesting." Then I asked where she got it. She said Wal-Mart. So I got in my minivan with my teenage son and said aloud, "I really hope it's not more than $30 because that's pushing it on my budget and I won't be able to buy it yet."

Guess what? It was $29.95.

"Yes!"

That's what I shouted when I saw the price. Fortunately, not many people shop that section of Wal-Mart and especially at the hour I was there so I didn't cause my teenager too much embarrassment.

Then I came home and opened it up and programmed my gender and age and height. And then I got on it.

And I was like, "WHAT?! I weigh one-hundred and HOW MUCH? That other scale LIED to me!"

And then it told me my body fat percentage and my eyeballs doubled in size and my jaw dropped and I grabbed the instructions and muttered, "Wait a minute. What does this mean?"

179 pounds and 43% body fat.

I'll tell you what it means. I don't even have to tell you. You're probably gasping in horror right now.

If you've followed this blog in the past, you've seen the ridiculous, drastic measures I've taken.

Unidentified pink pills smuggled in from Singapore
48-hour Hollywood starvation juice diet
Lose 20 pounds in 4 days diet
Jillian Michaels' 30-day shred
The 7 Shapely Secrets AKA tensing up your muscles for several minutes at a time AKA "Now pretend your bowels are about to explode and you're trying to hold it in. Perfect. Just stay like that now for 7 minutes."

I can honestly say I have tried every stinkin diet fad ever created...except the Alli diet. Hey! It's nicknamed the brown pants diet. I humiliate myself enough without sharting uncontrollably in my pants, all right?

I testify to you right now that every single one of those programs listed above works...except the 7 Shapely Secrets. It just felt dumb so I quit it. Oh, also I was feeling homicidal toward Jillian Michaels so I gave that up after two weeks also.

BUT....the problem is once you're done and you return to your normal habits, you're screwed. Plus they're dangerous. Okay, so that doesn't hold much weight with me. I don't really care if I die. That would be a welcome surprise. But some of you might care.

So listen up!

I'm doing something long-lasting.

Something I know I can stick with.

Something that's going to take patience and perseverance, but the results will be long-lasting.

I'm eating healthy. End of story. Just eating healthy. I'm following the 4-hour body protocol, to be exact. It's a huge book - like the size of a dictionary.

Okay, to be fair, I won't be eating healthy ALL the time. See, the great thing about this new lifestyle change is that there is a binge day once a week and you HAVE to do the binge day. It's an important part of the diet cycle. In fact, it's detrimental to your results and health if you DON'T do the binge day.

How great is that?

So stick around and watch me lose weight as I share the secrets of this lifestyle change - recipes I've concocted so that it is enjoyable, tips for making it work, what I've learned (mostly by making mistakes 'cause I'm really good at that), and you can cheer me on or laugh at me or both.