Other Helpful Tips

One more thing that I do are the cold treatments that Ferriss suggests in the book. I take my normal hot shower every day then in the final 5 minutes blast on full cold. I’ve done that every day with the exception of December and January when the water in the pipes was just too freaking cold. Forget ice baths. I’m not ready for that yet. Maybe never will be.

Everyone knows I don’t sleep much. Even now, I probably sleep 5 hours. I’ve noticed I don’t lose as much weight when I don’t sleep. Your body is doing a lot of work while you sleep. Repairing and healing. That takes a lot of energy. Even your brain is doing a lot of housekeeping during that time and you might be surprised that the brain burns a lot of calories. So I try to sleep a bit more now so I maximize my weight loss. I know, not entirely the best reason, but I’m sleeping more. No matter the reason, just be happy that I am.

The rest of my advice is all mental. The reason I include the starting point measurements in my spreadsheet is to remind myself how far I’ve come. I have good days and bad days. I still feel guilt sometimes when I slip from the slow carb program. That’s okay. You have to allow yourself indulgences. You have to give yourself permission to make mistakes and have setbacks. We are human and what good is all this getting healthy if you’re hating it the whole way?

The key is not to get too lax and to rationalize day after day of slipping from the program. Especially after your initial success, it’s easy to rationalize that you can always lose it easily. Now that I’ve lost 100 lbs that urge is far greater. Stay strong.

Another thing I always remind myself is that I didn’t put on all this weight overnight. So I shouldn’t expect to lose it overnight. When I first started out, I chose a one year time horizon. I stuck to it, keeping that timeline in mind. So here I am, 100 lbs lighter, 14% leaner, and fitting into L and XL.

Everybody’s a critic. Everyone will have an opinion of what you should and shouldn’t do. They’ll say the things the 4HB suggest are controversial. Fuck ’em. You know I don’t curse often–not in mixed company at least–but it’s apropos here. Fuck ’em. This is your journey and you should do what feels right for you (and what your docs approve for your health condition). Again, no program–no matter how great–is going to work for you if you can’t stick to it. For all the haters and naysayers, all I have to say is one hunnid. Suck it.

Next: What’s Next?

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