Okay, I'm not doing it exactly as the book says to, so I want to say that right up front. I could not get an answer from the Protein Power camp on why I had to drink shakes instead of just eating the same macronutrients of real, whole, fresh food. So I calculated the macronutrients recommended for a woman my size, and came up with a plan that included a breakfast of bacon and eggs, a shake for lunch, and a regular dinner.
Here is where I started on the morning of Day 1:
141.6 pounds
30.75" waist
12.5" neck
40" hips
25.1 BMI
0.49 waist-to-height ratio
0.77 waist-to-hip-ratio
33.7% body fat (47.7 pounds)
66.3% lean mass (93.9 pounds)
Here is where I am now, on the morning of Day 4, after three full days:
141.6 pounds
31" waist
12.5" neck
40" hips
25.1 BMI
0.49 waist-to-height ratio
0.78 waist-to-hip-ratio
34% body fat (48.1 pounds)
66% lean mass (93.5 pounds)
In three days I have gained 0.4 pounds of body fat and lost 0.4 pounds of lean mass. Not great results so far...
Even if you ignore the body fat calculator results, in the past three days I have lost nothing on the scale and have gained 1/4" around my waist. I suppose those numbers are too close to call accurate, but still. The 6-Week Cure book told me to expect to start losing weight from Day 1.
Here is what I have eaten in the first three days:
Day 1 - Bacon, eggs and butter and BCAA for breakfast, a shake, fiber and BCAA for lunch, and a pork chop, salad and BCAA for dinner. True to the book, I was not hungry.
Day 2 - Bacon, eggs and butter and BCAA for breakfast, a shake, fiber and BCAA for lunch, and grilled salmon, cooked cabbage and BCAA for dinner. Still no hunger.
Day 3 - A shake and BCAA for breakfast, and I was starving after about two hours. A shake, fiber and BCAA for lunch, and again, I was starving after about two hours. Pork "hamburgers" and salad for dinner. After this meal of real food and no BCAA, I was fully satisfied until time for bed, when I took my final BCAA for the day.
I do Atkins - I'm not used to starving! I'm used to eating on schedule even though I am not really hungry. I'm not used to counting the minutes on the clock until I can eat again! And what's that weird noise coming from my midsection? That's my stomach growling! I haven't heard that in over a year and a half!
In the actual 6-Week Cure, you do not only have two shakes per day - you have three. The problem there is that I am so small that I can only have four scoops of protein powder in one day. If I have it in three shakes, that's only 1-1/3 scoop in each shake, which makes a pretty thin, watery shake. So I thought that I would have two thicker, better tasting shakes, and the BCAA was supposed to suppress my appetite. It didn't.
Just because I am a glutton for punishment and I might as well find out for sure, I'm going to do three watery shakes and a meal today, and see how my hunger does. If I am still starving all day like yesterday, I will go back to meal-shake-meal the next day.
Starving all day - Mama don't play that game! If I was losing fat and inches, I might play that game, but I am not. I have been doing low carb for 19 months, and I do not have excess water weight to lose at the beginning, like most people who are trying the 6WC after eating the SAD (Standard American Diet).
And the BCAA - I'm not sure what I think of that. I am actually getting used to the taste of it, and it no longer makes me gag, so that's good! But is it suppressing my appetite and preserving my lean mass while I lose fat? So far, not so much!
Plus, it does weird things to my body. I read on the internet that it is supposed to energize you, but I am having the opposite reaction - it is putting me to sleep! It actually makes me feel drowsy. I took it last night after dinner, and within 20 minutes or so, my eyes were drooping and my throat, mouth and eyes were very dry! I slept like a stone last night!
I am having one other problem with conforming to the plan - I have some sort of inflammation going on in my right calf, and the pain is so bad that it keeps me up at night and keeps me noticing it all day long. So, against the rules of the diet, I have had to take an ibuprofen twice since starting. The pain I am in is like 50% of a "charlie horse" and I can't just ignore it. During the day, it's better, but lying in bed at night is torture. Gotta have the drug.
I am willing to tough it out, but if I am still seeing no results by the end of seven days, I may decide to just put this "diet" into the scrap pile with all of my other failed diets. I think seven days is a long enough trial.
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