I Went 2 Weeks on an Amazing Diet!

The Slow Carb Diet

The defining diet of my life :D

It was a hot Monday night at my dance class and we were taking a short breather. As I stood facing the mirrors, I suddenly noticed that my arms were not looking like my arms. Had they grown in size? I began to stare a little harder at the mirror. All thought the class right until the next, I was fixated at the size of my arms. Had I put on weight?

A Monday later, I chose to wear my airy bumblebee dress to the office. To my utter horror, the dress wasn’t so airy. It felt snug in the waist area. I had definitely expanded. I spend the whole day touching my stomach and contemplating body strategies.

“Well, you have been eating that Giant Currypuff everyday,” my colleague Cindy pointed out. “Sometimes 2 times a day.” It was true. I love all things sugary, milky and creamy. I gleefully have two cups of milky and sugary tea every day. And this Giant Currypuff in my office, priced at RM1.80 (USD0.44) and made of the loveliest pastry and potatoes. It was addictive. I had been eating it for 2 months.

I’ve never gone on any fashionable diet in the past. My knowledge on nutrition is alright, but I’m not proactive about it. That night as I crawled on to bed, I reached for my book “The 4-Hour Body” by Tim Ferriss. I had been reading it leisurely, but that night, it seemed like the Universe read my mind. I turned to my book marked page and there it was! Chapter 3: Lose 9kg in 30 days without exercise. The Slow-Carb Diet. Hoho! I devoured that chapter that night and was dead-set about starting immediately.

For the uninitiated, Tim Ferriss is the New York Times bestseller for his books “The 4-Hour Workweek” and “The 4- Hour Body.” His books are unconventional and bent on getting maximum results with minimum work. Tim seems obsessed with eating while getting a shredded body. He experimented with pretty much everything related to body science and interviewed athletes, doctors and black-market drug salesmen. He went to great lengths to prove what was what and the book was hilarious. Initially, what I loved about his crazy diet is that it allowed me to binge and eat my favourite things. Tim eats pizza himself and drinks wine every night. Woohoo! Looks like I need not say goodbye to my Giant Currypuff after all.

The Slow-Carb Diet is basically distilled to these 5 short rules.

Rule 1: Avoid all white carbs.

Rule 2: Eat the same meals again and again.

Rule 3: Don’t drink calories. No sugar/ milk in your coffee/teas.

Rule 4: Don’t eat fruit

Rule 5: Go nuts and eat all you want one day of the week.

TIm pointedly informs that this isn't a fun diet. It’s effective. I would highly recommend everybody to read Chapters 3 and 4 of the book before going on the diet. It’s a simple diet but useful to see the FAQ’s and some of the issues people face going on this diet. It’s important that people be a little well-versed about nutrition before going on this.

The Slow-Carb Diet and I

I spend the first day bemoaning how I could no longer eat my Giant Currypuff. As a vegetarian, my choices in food suddenly became exceedingly limited. I began eating beans and eggs for breakfast everyday. I began taking sugarless coffee and tea with the allowed cream. I carried my water bottle everywhere and stopped ordering drinks in restaurants. I ate more vegetables and snacked sparingly on cashew nuts.

In the beginning, I wasn’t hungry but I felt unsatiated. I remember going to a flea market and watching my friend eat churros while I ate sour vegetables. It was most unappetizing and I began fantasizing about Sunday, my cheat day.

The diet wasn’t without some side effects. On the third morning, I struggled to wake up. In the evening, I was fatigued when I exercised. I was making common mistakes in the diet. I needed to eat bigger quantities of my allowed food. I guess my body was also in shock at the sudden halt of carbs and sugar.

However, because I was so determined, it also wasn’t that difficult. Every morning, I would jump from bed and scrutinize my body for any signs of reduction. "Where is the change, where is the change?" I asked, scanning my reflection with great focus.

I had neither measured nor weighed myself prior to the diet as the book recommended. Now it’s very silly, but I couldn’t bear to see my numbers. In the event, that I fell off the diet, I didn’t want to know where I was at. So, my results are based on what my naked eyes see and how I feel in my clothes.

But on the fourth day, I was amazed when I began seeing results. Not just my tummy, the contour of my body looked smaller. My arms had gone down and so had my thighs! Wow, I was joyous. After that, the diet became so much easier. Each time I said no to white carbs, I just needed to look at the improvements in the mirror to feel better.

Sunday was my cheat day and boy, was I excited on Saturday night. I had bought iced sugary coffee and chocolate cake in preparation. Sunday came and I dashed downstairs to my sugary goodness. The first gulp of coffee suddenly felt a little too sweet. The chocolate cake too. I couldn’t finish my coffee. I had imagined a day of utter bingeing, but 5 days of eating clean had changed my psychology. Suddenly I was a little pickier about eating unhealthy.

But I had made plans with a friend to celebrate my cheat day. So I went out and ate bread, tomato pasta and a giant Sundae with too much whipped cream. After I finished, I noticed allergies on my hand. Whipped cream was making me allergic. When I went home, my tummy felt bloated the whole night. This diet had made me identify what wasn’t good for my body.

The next day, I happily went back on my diet. Taken by my enthusiasm, two of my friends joined me on the Slow-Carb. However, one discontinued after 2 days. That’s’ why it’s important to read the book and be a little well-versed about nutrition before going on the diet. My friend experienced bad muscle pain and was extremely tired. It was a common symptom for people on a low-carb diet. Also, most people don’t have their proteins and vitamins in order. When you go on so drastic a diet, the lackings start to show up.

Around this time also, I listened to a podcast by Dr Mark Hyman, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. Like me, he used to be a vegetarian who loved all things sweet. But he was growing flabby even with exercise. He made a switch to eating fats and the changes he saw in his weight and energy levels surprised him. In his interview with the New York Times recently, he said “Food is not just energy. It’s information. It’s instructions that turn on or off different switches in your body that regulate hunger and metabolism. Obesity is not about how much you eat. It’s about what you eat. If you just focus on quality, not calories, then the quantity takes care of itself.” I became even more determined to cut out refined flour and sugar from my diet.

I’ve been on the Slow-Carb Diet for 2 weeks and I have to attest to its’ excellent results. So thank you Tim Ferriss. My skirts are looser, my tees are looser and the ultimate test was jumping into my black skinny jeans. It felt different. I didn’t fill it up so much like I used too. Mama came down for the weekend and commented that my face looked smaller.

I have no numbers to show, (I wish I had now) but my body is a lot leaner compared to 2 weeks ago. I took many pictures of my stomach but out of sheer shyness and a small percentage of prudishness, I’m not posting it here. My body difference is not obvious to people who see me everyday, but it’s very obvious to me, the owner of my body. The lines running down my tummy are higher and deeper and my tummy has really gone down. Because I have cut out so much sugar and dairy from my diet, my skin is better too. I don’t know if I’m imagining, but some minor thigh ache I have seems to have gone off too.

I’ll probably continue on this diet for another 2 weeks before introducing natural carbs back to my daily diet.

I never thought the day would come when I would eat clean and be one of those annoying low-carbers. I never thought I would be sipping sugar-less coffee or shopping for nuts and seeds. It’s mindblowing for a girl who loves ice cream and chocolate wafers. The change in my psychology in just 2 weeks is pretty drastic.

This diet has done more for than that get me a tighter silhouette. It's made me a whole lot healthier in my eating choices. I’ve been telling all my friends about the hazards of refined flour and sugar and everyone seems to be taking iniitative in cutting some parts of it out.

Yesterday, I bought the giant currypuff for old time’s sake. I used to love it so much, but after one bite………… it tasted different.

Dear Giant Currypuff, it was good while it lasted. But I guess, the time has come for us to go our separate ways …… …till we meet again………maybe on my cheat day! :D

This article was written in 2016. While I don’t practice it as strictly, it has become a part of my life.