Calories In vs. Calories Out
Yes, I'm a new member. No, I'm not a paid crony of the 4HB guy. I'm thinking of buying the book, and a search engine query for "4 Hour Body Results" pulls this thread up relatively early. So I waded through, my apologies for stating it, 15 pages of mostly bickering and uninformed/incomplete information (with some exceptions), and have learned very little about whether it's actually worked for real people in real life situations. (With some exceptions, and thanks for the useful posts. But by the way, thinking of a recent reply I read, are you allowed put cheese on your eggs? I thought he said no dairy.) I'm not sure why Jericho and some others are so intent on bashing this book. I was intrigued by the author when he appeared on Dr. Oz's show this past Monday, especially where Dr. Oz said that his medical team thoroughly researched the book, and that they confirmed many of the author's assertions and couldn't disprove any.
I read some of the Amazon reviews and also a good part of the free preview on my Kindle, and that got me rethinking my purchase. First, his claim that spending "an a-- kicking hour on the stairmaster burns 107 calories." Now that's just stupid. If he knows anything about fitness (or suspects his readers know anything), he should've made the claim somewhat believable, at least 400 calories. Also, his claim to have put on something like 34 lbs of muscle in a month? I'd like to see any other person in the world who can document putting on that much pure muscle without being a complete weightlifting neophyte using major steroids. (And it would be incredible even then.) Also, the doctor who supposedly verified his measurements? Apparently (according to Amazon review comments, where someone supposedly personally contacted her to verify his claim) he used her name without her permission and she verified only his increased measurements, not actual muscle gained. Add that to the claims of negative Amazon reviews being deleted and positive reviews being openly solicited by the author, and his book becomes highly suspect in my eyes.
But still . . . I do like Dr. Oz. And I did a lot of research on cold/ice baths/brown fat and its promising effects on weight loss through activation of brown fat. So what I wanted to know, and what brought me here, was , is there enough gold in them thar hills for me to bother sifting through it all?
Yes, ultimately, calories in - calories burned = weight lost (or gained). Calculating calories in is basic. Read labels. Use a kitchen scale. Eat only foods that you can fully account for (weight and calories). Use--well, I can't post a website, but a site closely named after a famous Tour de France competitor--that website to track every single morsel that goes into your mouth, and to determine calories in any homemade foods. I know all that.
I know exactly what I eat. I wouldn't try a sip of my daughter's smoothie the other day because I didn't want to track it. But this is what I don't know. Why I'm losing half a pound a week (or less) when "that website" says I should be losing 2.5 lbs a week. And this isn't the first time that's happened to me. I know it's hard to believe, but there are people like me out there. Talk to someone who has PCOS or thyroid issues or for some reason high insulin resistance or a very slow metabolism. You can't plug in your age and weight and activity level into a BMR calculator and have it tell you with any certainty what you, yourself, burn in a day. You can only get a close approximation of what the average person like you burns in a day. So that's where the difference comes in.
As I said, I know how many calories I eat. And I know how much I exercise. I burn 1200 calories in cardio, minimum, each week, and another 1000 or so in weightlifting. I call my life sedentary, even though that may be selling myself a bit short. I know, as most of us do, that Cal in - Cal burned = change in weight. I can't feasibly stay at a much lower calorie intake level than I have been (less than 1200 cal/day net). So I've got to look at the other factor in the equation, and hope to change that. And that is where goofy things like ice baths, supplements, etc. may have some benefit.
So no, I don't care about the 50 calories in an ice bath. Heck, I'll spend another 6 minutes on the elliptical for that. But tell me that stimulating the brown fat increases glycogen consumption by 15x and that it stimulates, and may even create more of that wonderful white fat-eating, brown fat, and you've got my attention. Researchers state that the difference between people with very little and more brown fat could mean burning a difference of as many as 500 calories a day. 500 calories a day, each and every day? Yeah, I could maybe handle an ice bath up to my waist for 20 minutes, twice a week for that. Considering I'm being so strict and not losing crap right now. I just plunked down a couple hundred dollars in carefully-researched supplements, protein powder and whole food vitamins trying to increase my metabolism. I'm surely open to other cheap and easy ideas, too.
And another of his ideas. If you know you're going to indulge in a big meal, drink a glass of grapefruit juice before and do 2 minutes of free squats afterwards. Okay, sure, I can do that. Anniversary dinner with the hubby. Glass of grapejuice before we leave, squats when we get home. If he's right and it does open up the sugar receptors so that more calories are used for energy and fewer are stored as fat, sure, I could handle that.
But not if everything he has to say is BS. That's what I'm trying to determine, and that's what brought me to these boards. There are a lot of quacks out there, but not every book is quackery. And in his defense, he does clearly state, these are *his* results, based on *his* research that he (apparently) willingly shares. I don't think he promises that everyone will have the same results.
So . . . if anyone has read his book and has implemented some/all of his suggestions, I'd be grateful if you would share your experiences, good bad or indifferent. And also note any deviance from his plan (such as cheese on your eggs <smile>). Thanks in advance for any personal experience.