4HB Summary Part 2 of 4: Feasibility of 4HB

4HB Summary Part 2 of 4: Feasibility of 4HB

Today's post is part 2 of 4 of my 4HB summary. The post really focuses on the feasibility of the program and has some good pointers that I believe are big keys to success.

FEASIBILITY

One thing to think about when choosing a diet/weight loss program is the ability to actually DO the program as written. I really find this to be the problem with a program like P90X, a dude with a day job and family with twin babies can't handle 60+ minutes of exercise every day in addition to cooking every meal and ensuring you meet all aspects of the diet. P90X works, no doubt, but it’s tough and I admire those that can make it through that program. That said, my life is a bit crazier than most and I think the 4HB is quite manageable. In the section below, I’ll talk about doing the 4HB diet with kids and family, work travel and visitors all trying to interfere with your best laid 4HB plans.

With kids, you may already thinking ahead to meals if you cook at home, what to get out of the fridge, what you have in the fridge and what the kids will like to eat. I'm pretty fortunate there as my twinkies are good tiny eaters and devour most anything. With 4HB, you really need to think ahead to meals, that means, in order to succeed with the least amount of hassle, think a few meals ahead. After dinner, as the evening is winding down, think about what you want to eat for breakfast, get some things out for dinner the next night (defrost meats for instance) and maybe think about what you’d like to take for lunch tomorrow at work. This is maybe the biggest key to success for 4HB, the better you get at planning ahead, the better set up you are for success. One last nice thing about 4HB is it is fairly healthy-family compatible, you can cook 4HB meals and add whole wheat pasta or dinner rolls to the meals as sides for others in the family to round out the meal for everyone at the table.

If you travel, this diet becomes tougher because you don’t have all the consistent things at home you can normally rely on. It’s much harder to pre-plan for meals on the road. So, eat when you can. You see a Qdoba/Chipotle restaurant that is handy and you have time, go in and just get lunch. Also pack some snacks. I looked to low sugar jerky and mixed nuts just to act as small meal substitutions while on the road. 4HB can be done on the road, pre-planning is now more a function of having some decent snacks available and taking advantage of opportunities to eat at places that comply with the diet. It is less a function of pre-planning meals because you don’t know really what will be available when travelling.

One last note about travel, the 2 glasses of wine can be very handy at business dinners. You have the latitude to fit in for a drink with clients before and during dinner and a glass of wine can also allow a substitute for desert allowing you to stay and enjoy the conversation with folks without missing out on a post dinner treat.

Visitors can really throw a wrench in a diet plan. Folks that come into town want to have a good time and celebrate and that’s great! Save your cheat day for when those travelers are in town. You’ll want to have a day where you can let loose and enjoy your visitors uninhibited by your diet plan. Also, save your glasses of wine for times when others want to have a drink with dinner on days that aren't your cheat day. Also be plain about your diet once and plan for some questions about it, that way you can answer the curiosity and then move on. I also cooked for my folks as well when they were in town. This allowed me, for a couple of meals, to have a little more control over my diet. If you go out to dinner, choose somewhere like Mexican or Thai where you can get a meal that fits in with the 4HB diet plan. It is tough for sure and it won't be perfect but you can manage it if you game plan your visitors stay.

Treats are nice to have throughout the day and its good to time when you get these little treats, if you can call them that. I would pace out my coffee with a bit of cream, fruit tea, diet coke and wine throughout the day so that if I needed a little something, I could fall back on these and not raid my co-workers chocolate stash. I would typically have a cup or two of coffee in the morning, pomegranate tea in the afternoon then diet coke for the drive home, a glass of wine upon arriving home then maybe one more with dinner. It worked for me and kept me on track.
I touched on this earlier concerning business travel but I’ll speak to it again here. The 2 glasses of wine can be very handy in a social situation. On 4HB you and your friends can go to happy hour, enjoy a couple of glasses of wine and good conversation without disrupting your diet plans. I find many diets like Atkins and P90X somewhat cut you off from your social circle and invite too many questions and conversations about food and diet. Invariably, if you go out with your friends and you are known to enjoy a drink and you get seltzer water, men, your friends torment you, ladies, everyone will think your eggo is prego.

A note on the financial aspect of 4HB, it is quite cheap. Cooking at home is cheap, beans are cheap, and the supplements can be a little spendy but are not necessary. You might already have some of the equipment like a scale and a measuring tape. I think a BF% measurement tool is ok as a relative scale to track progress but I don’t know that I trust the accuracy of the one I have. I spent a total of about $140 on the book, gear and supplements.

To wrap up, 4HB is quite feasible and for 30 days, if you plan your meals out, you’ll have a high likelihood at success at this diet. I have to add one final note before I end the feasibility section. My wife did not like this diet, it did not work well for her, she didn’t tolerate the beans well and was very low energy, she gave it up after about 25 days. It was quite discouraging but my friend at work who is also doing the 4HB program with me is down about 10lbs as well. So be aware that it didn’t work for one person. However, I feel like if you follow the plan closely, you’ll have a very high chance at success.

Thanks for reading!