4HB Challenge - FInal Results

So we've been lax in updating, but life gets busy sometimes. Here are the final results for our challenge. To refresh, the goal for me (Daren) was to do a body recomposition - lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Ideally I'd end up around the same starting weight (163lbs) but have more muscle and less fat than when I started.

April's goal was to lose weight and tone up a bit. Here's the final results:

Daren:

Weight (lbs): 163.8 > 167.8


Body Fat (%): 22.9 > 17.8


Total Fat (lbs): 37.5 > 29.9

Lean Mass (lbs): 126.3 > 137.9

So, I'd say the 4 hour body works! In 4 weeks (28 days) I managed to lose 7.6 pounds of fat and gain 11.6 pounds of lean muscle, which means a loss of 5.1% body fat. I'm not where I want to be yet (goal is sub 12%), but feel like if I do this for another month I could get there. I effectively did a 19.2 pound body recomposition, only 0.8 pounds away from my goal of 20. I have never done this well with a diet/workout plan, but it's actually really easy when you see these kinds of results each week. I highly recommend it to anyone trying to change the way you look and feel.

April lost a total of 2.5 pounds over the course of the month, but kind of fell off a little the last two weeks. She lost over three pounds in the first week but didn't really keep up with the exercise plan, which is a big part of her program. I see the 4HB as a great way for women to lose weight and change their body composition, but it takes the little bit of effort to make sure you're working out 3 times a week and sticking with the slow-carb diet.

So, we know what this means, right? Yes folks, I won the iPad.

What more is there to say? Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions about this diet & workout, please let me know.

4HB Challenge - Week 1 Weigh In!

So here's what happened over the last week: (new values are in bold)

DAREN:

Weight: 163.8 lbs > 164.6 lbs


Body Fat: 22.9% > 20.3%

Total Fat: 37.5 lbs > 33.4 lbs

Lean Mass: 126.3 lbs > 131.2 lbs

I'm a little unsure about the accuracy of our original weigh ins, after looking at the numbers this morning. According to the data, I lost 4 pounds of fat and gained 5 pounds of muscle... possible? Maybe, but I've never swung that much in my life. I like the idea of losing almost 3% body fat in one week though... Now on to April!

APRIL:

Weight: 124.4 lbs > 122.6 lbs

Body Fat: 29.9% > 28.5

Total Fat: 37.2 lbs > 35.5 lbs

Lean Mass: 87.2 lbs > 87.5 lbs


April weighed in one day at 121 lbs, so again the accuracy of the scale is in question, probably gonna replace with fresh batteries before next weigh in so it's as accurate as possible, but she is looking and feeling great. My guess is that she breaks the 120 barrier this week, but we'll see.

What's really important is who lost the most body fat percentage, and there is an obvious winner this week. We'll see if I can hold on strong!

4HB Challenge - Day 3

Day three and going strong! We made today our "binge" day, as prescribed by the 4 hour body diet. Though he recommends waiting at least 5 days for your first binge day, it would've been pretty hard to make the diet work around the big 4th of July festivities at my Aunt Kelly & Uncle Dave's house.

Yesterday was rough because I realized after Monday how much food I'd actually have to eat to get to 3500+ calories a day. So I ate, and ate, and ate. And barely made it - 3586 calories yesterday. It was a challenge to eat that many calories, mainly due to the fact that our diet is so healthy and low calorie. Each meal only averages out to around 300 calories, so either I can eat 10 meals a day, or figure out some other way. I ended up deciding to supplement with a few glasses of whole milk a day, two of them being part of my protein shake. It actually makes the protein powder taste better, so it worked out nicely.

Also last night I got a few supplements. I didn't want to go overboard and buy a huge stack of stuff, so I stuck with the basics and got:

 - 3.5g creating pills, to be taken once in the morning and one at night, 

 - 300mg alpha lipoid acid pills. From the book: 

Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) is a potent antioxidant and free radical scavenger that has been proven to regenerate vitamin C and vitamin E; restore levels of intracellular glutathione, an important antioxidant that declines with age; and increase excretion of toxic heavy metals such as mercury.

 - GNC Pro Performance Amplified Mass. I was running low on protein powder and figured this would help with caloric intake.

 - Glutamine powder. It helps with recovery of muscles after a workout, but also is prescribed to aid with food absorption. I am taking 80g per day for the first 5 days of the workout/diet, and then just after workouts from then on. It's a lot, but it doesn't seem to have any side effects, and making sure all that food goes to the right places is going to be a big plus.

Now for an exciting new addition to the Challenge! My youngest brother Michael was so skeptical of my workout plan that it ended up in me challenging him as well! He's an avid gym goer, 6 days a week for an hour or hour and a half at a time. Now there's nothing wrong with that if you enjoy going to the gym that much. I don't. I'd rather go rock climbing, or mountain biking, or any other outdoorsy type recreation. The 4 hour body's "minimal effective dose" approach really resonated with me, and I'm excited to see if I can actually put on more muscle in 30 days by only going to the gym a total of 4 hours, which is less time than Michael does in 3 days. We're going to see who can put on more lean muscle, and if I win he gets to buy me a new pair of vibram five fingers, and if he wins, well, I'll let you know when he lets me know. But yeah! I'm excited to have something to compare this workout to.

As far as overall feeling, it was nice and hard at the same time today to binge. I don't eat tons and tons of crappy food all the time anyway, so it's pretty normal for me to eat pie, cookies, and all the other desserts, as well as eat large helpings of bbq, and drink lots of soda at these family gatherings. It was a little fun to know that eating all this stuff today is actually going to help me lose weight in the long run.

I feel really good. My energy level seems a little higher, my "insides" feel like they've been optimized a little bit, and overall am really looking forward to the results that this month long experiment brings. Who knows, it might turn into our lifestyle if it all goes to plan.

30 Day Body Recomp Challenge, Day 1

So April and I decided to try the 4 hour body (4HB) workout and diet for the month of July, in an attempt to achieve a 20 pound (or so) body recomposition. What's that you say?

Instead of just loosing 20 lbs of fat, or trying to gain 20 lbs of muscle (hard for me to do, from past experience) a 20 lb recomp consists of a mixture of the two. Really its about lowering your percentage of body fat. 

My goal - 10-12 % body fat by the end of July. Extreme? Maybe, but that's where I'd be if I reached the full 20 pounds of recomposition.

What that entails for me is working out a total of 8 times during the month of July, for 4 hours of total gym time. Yep, just 4 hours total. If that sounds curious you should read the book to explain why I can get away with so little, yet expect such great results.

Diet wise, I'm doing a mix of the slow carb diet prescribed in the 4HB, combined with an increased caloric intake from the 2 protein shakes I'll drink every day to help with the muscle reconstruction. Each shake is about 750 calories (wow!), so two of those plus the 2000 or so calories I'll eat from my regular diet should get me up in the 3500 to 4000 calories a day I need to be at to gain the muscle I plan on gaining, as well as help me lose a lot of fat. 

So, here's the important starting measurements.

DAREN:

Weight: 163.8 lb

Body Fat Percentage: 22.9%

Stomach: 36"

Waist: 33"

Chest: 41"

Shoulders: 47"

Neck: 14.5"

Left Bicep: 13.5"

Right Bicep: 14"

Right Quad: 22"

Left Quad: 22"

APRIL:

Weight: 124.4 lb

Body Fat Percentage: 29.9%

Waist: 28"

Hips: 36"

stomach: 30"

Chest: 34.5"

Shoulders: 41"

Left Bicep: 11"

Right Bicep: 11"

Right Quad: 20"

Left Quad: 20"

And then the best part: Whoever gets closer to their goal wins a pretty decent prize: for me, an iPad, and for April, $400 worth of lights for her camera.

There it is, day one! Wish us luck.