No Sugar, No Carbs

For the past three months I've been busy with implementing the principles of the "Slow Carb Diet" into my life.

In the first four weeks, I lost 20 lbs (10kg) and have in general experienced much more energy and less fatigue.

I'm usually not a big fan of diets. You invest all your willpower in starting them. And then, four weeks later you go back to your normal life and things are exactly the same as before. There are hundreds of diets that don't work, and there is a huge bullshit business around them.

Luckily, the core principles of the Slow Carb Diet are more than just a diet. They serve as a good base for more of a lifestyle change rather than a rapid fat loss diet.

I first read about the diet in Tim Ferris' book "The 4 hour body." But below I like to offer a quick summary with little tips & tricks of how I implemented it myself.

I don't like complicated diets, and I don't like to count calories. I always need someone who explains it to me in a simple & stupid way. No bullshit, just plain English.

IMPORTANT: Before you continue reading, please note the following: I'm not a doctor and I in general have very little dietary restrictions or allergies. If you have doubts, consult your doctor before starting any diet. Otherwise you do it at your own risk.

How does it work?

The diet helps you to burn fat by avoiding food that promotes fat storage. That means, no sugars (including fruits), no white foods (bread, pasta etc.) and no dairy (no milk, cheese etc).

Think of it this way: Your body needs to burn something in order to generate energy. Because your body is also lazy, it has a few things it can choose from. Burning sugar to produce energy is the easiest way for your body.

Now that we take away sugar, your body aims for the second easiest resource, carbohydrates (carbs are essentially sugars as well). Now that we take away carbs, your body aims for the third option: Your actual body fat.

This is pretty much the simplest explanation. If you're an expert, please don't be offended by my simple language.

Starting a diet is often the hardest part, but here are the basic rules:

1. No sugar, no fruits, no bread, pasta, potatoes - Just avoid carbs in general. You might think it's hard, but there are so many recipes and a variety of foods out there, you can easily get creative.

2. No alcohol (red wine is fine, one or two glasses) - I opted for NO alcohol without exception. I actually stopped drinking alcohol exactly 12 months ago.

3. No dairy, no cheese, no milk - If you love milk in your coffee, you can go for a little bit of unsweetened almond milk. I personally stopped drinking milk more than 2 years ago, so that's fairly easy for me.

4. One cheat day every week where you can go crazy and eat whatever you want - I usually have mine on weekends due to social pressure. OK FINE I ADMIT, IT'S FOR THE PANCAKES!!

5. Consume 30g of protein within 30 min of waking up everyday - That can either be a protein shake, or it equals to 3 eggs and half a cup of beans.

Why? Essentially this is just to trick your body, since we're usually craving something like a bagel or toast in the morning. It's a bad habit and resisting the urge can be difficult. But if you replace the bad habit with consuming 30g of protein within 30 minutes after waking up, the craving will be gone until lunch. (And your body starts burning fat immediately, rather than bagels.)

6. Drink at least 2 liters of water everyday.

Tricks for sticking with the diet

1. Put a piece of paper next to your mirror where you get ready everyday in the morning. Put a scale next to it and make it a habit to measure & write down your weight every single morning. Once you've done this for just seven days, there is some excitement in continuing tracking your weight. Don't use an app, put it on a piece of paper. I promise you it will work better.

2. For the first week, sit down for just 10 minutes and plan every meal for one week. And please, do NOT get overly creative. Just eat the same fucking thing everyday. The less room you have to think about what you want to eat, the easier it will be to just stick with it.

3. Get a diet buddy. I have Sam, a friend & colleague. You can push each other and share weird pictures of your dinners, because no one else will appreciate your madness.

4. Just be antisocial for the first 2-3 weeks. Try to eliminate any distraction while you establish your new habits.

5. When you cook something, cook too much and put it in the freezer. Every time I did that, I immediately answered the question "What's for lunch?" for the next two days.

6. Find your little cheats to survive. Coke Zero tastes sweet, isn't really healthy but can help if you're craving something sweet. It has zero sugar and zero carbs. But again it's not good for you. Only use in emergency.

I also ate a lot of QuestBars. They have almost zero carbs, and zero sugar. Probably the only protein bar that you are allowed to eat on this diet. I always have a few of those with me. They're very filling and taste good if you feel hungry or you're craving something sweet.

You are also allowed to eat a handful of nuts or 1-2 spoons of peanut butter each day. Try to avoid it, but if you feel exhausted and low on energy, a spoon of peanut butter will work wonders.

7. Go crazy on your cheat day. Eat as much as you can. Pancakes, ice cream, sandwhiches, pizza. Celebrate it! Two things will happen because of this:

a. Your body will be like WTF and start burning fat immediately. But since you take it all away again the next day, your body still expects more to come and keeps burning at a faster rate. It essentially pushes your metabolism.

b. At the end of the cheat day, you will feel the weight of all the shit you ate, and may feel a bit sick. You will look forward to the next day when you are 100% on the diet again. Every cheat day is a celebration, but it's also a reminder how bad you can feel by not sticking to the rules.

My weekly meals

I kept my meals very simple to give myself as little room as possible to cheat. For the first four weeks I essentially ate almost the same thing everyday.

And remember, you don't need to count calories. You can eat as much as you want from the allowed food.

Breakfast options:

1. Three eggs (any style you want) with half a cup of black beans and steamed broccoli. I usually add some spicy sauce on top so it doesn't get boring.

2. If I'm not in the mood for food, I just have a protein shake. (Any protein shake you want, as long as it has no sugar in it.)

Lunch options:

1. Green salad with beans, chicken or steak. Or tuna + guacamole. I'd just rotate the choice of protein every day, but stick with the basics. You can also use tofu and seitan, which are great protein sources for vegetarians.

2. Curry lentils with salad and steamed broccoli

3. Pretty much any burrito bowl (minus the rice and corn) is perfect. Mexican restaurants will become your go to choice.

Dinner options:

1. Steak with steamed vegetables (broccoli most of the time). Or replace steak with seitan or tofu.

2. Chicken breast or seitan with lentils or white beans

3. Burrito bowl

Drinks:

1. Usually water

2. Unsweetened ice tea

3. One diet soda drink a day, max!

This is pretty much the food I stayed on for the first four weeks. Just make sure you get enough protein and enough vitamins through vegetables. If you feel weak and know you need more vitamins, you can go for supplements, but I avoided them as much as possible.

Eating out:

Eating out is actually easier than you think, you don't have to become complicated and avoid restaurants. You can order pretty much anything on the menu and either not eat the things you want to avoid, or ask upfront to swap it.

Some classics for example:

Order a burger! Just don't eat the bun. Swap the fries with salad and you're done.

Order a steak! Swap the fries with salad and you're done.

Order any salad you like! Most salads work perfectly fine for this diet. Some might have cheese on them. Just say you want it without cheese and done.

I don't like fish very much (I'm picky) but everything that is fish or seafood you can eat, as long as you don't have carbs on the side. You like sushi? Fine, just go with sashimi (without the rice).

PS: If you're a vegetarian, just replace the meat with your usual protein source.

Making it a lifestyle, rather than a diet.

My first goal was to reach a certain weight. I wanted to lose 20lbs (10kg) as quickly as possible without working out and just changing my eating habits. It was my personal challenge.

During the process I learned that there are many more benefits than just losing weight with this diet. I felt much more healthy and productive. After two months, I slowly started to open it up and make it less restrictive.

Instead of having a cheat day, you can have a cheat weekend as long as you don't go too much overboard. You can slowly mix things in you really missed, such as dairy or a little drink here and there.

In general, what I learned from the diet is that I like to stay away as much as possible from anything that is highly processed food, such as bread, pasta, sugar heavy goods etc. In return, I suddenly have much more energy, feel less tired and sleep much better.

It made a huge impact on me and my productivity. I'm only three months in, but I plan to keep it going and continue to share my experiences with you.

If you have questions, please feel free to ask me on Twitter and share your experience with me.

Thanks for reading,
Tobias