4HB Summary Part 3 of 4: Energy Level and 4HB
ENERGY
During the 4HB diet, be ready for your energy level to take some hits. I have been somewhat low energy throughout the diet with some real low energy spots in the last 2 weeks. I haven't been exercising as much as I normally would due to an MCL sprain. In retrospect, 4HB would have required me to lower my exercise quantity quite a bit and I might lower it considerably anyway as I continue on with the 4HB diet. Personally, my body seems to respond best to weight loss efforts with a 90% focus on diet and 10% focus on exercise.
That was an important realization for me, (again for me) exercising has little or no impact on my weight, only diet does. That doesn't mean I'll abandon working out but given an extra hour in the day to work out or plan meals, I feel the time is better spent planning meals if the goal is weight management.
Two 30min exercise sessions per week might be a good amount of exercise with this diet without over taxing you and making you too tired. I’ll probably end up at two 30min weight sessions and two jiu jitsu sessions and some yoga mixed in per week. Also, one good thing I have experienced is the complete absence of blood sugar crashes. I get one or two of these a month and I have not had one in the last 30 days. If you experience these heinous things, this is another benefit to 4HB.
All in all, lowered energy levels are worth the results and not having to deal with blood sugar crashes is a very nice benefit along with the drop in weight and BF%. Be wary of your energy level though. I feel that a failure point for many folks on a diet plan has to do with feeling too tired and trying to do so much exercise that they eventually need more energy from foods not a part of their diet plan. I would recommend skipping a work out or greatly toning down the workout before deviating from the 4HB diet plan. Again, almost all of my losses came with very little exercise and close adherence to the 4HB diet plan.
Thanks for reading!
Hey Nick, I appreciate your comments on the 4HB's slow-carb diet. I wanted to comment on your energy levels for others who may come along.
ReplyDeleteIt's natural for your body to have an initial drop in energy levels when you get to a much lower carb lifestyle. Without knowing what you ate before, I'd wager it included grains and refined sugars.
When that's an available fuel source, our bodies prefer it. However, once you deplete your body of those fuels, it's got to get used to burning fat as fuel. That's actually why people have so much success with the high-fat low-carb diets: their bodies are burning body fat instead of carbohydrates as fuel.
I'd bet if you kept going you'd notice your energy pick back up.
The weird thing for me was that I noticed a sharp uptake in my energy when I started. I think it was because my blood sugar was more regulated and wasn't getting tired because of insulin spikes.
Anyway, I enjoy reading your analyses and props for the results you had on the protocol!
All the best,
-jason
findingmyfitness.com