What was the biggest mistake you made while on the slow carb diet?

That's easy: peanut butter. I am an absolute PB whore. I only ever get the organic variety with two ingredients: peanuts and salt, but I'd down the stuff by the jar. As soon as I quit it, I dropped 6 lbs in one week!

But a more subtle mistake - not doing exactly what Tim says in the book for one full month, and then modifying it, if desired. I got the book and followed it quite closely, but still ate handfuls of almonds, globs of peanut butter, spent too much time at the gym, and had a few happy hour beers on non-cheat days. After I didn't lose much weight, I got discouraged. Then I took June to do exactly as the book says:

1. track inches, BF% (via calipers), and weight

2. eat 4 SC meals per day with NO snacking in between

3. cut out 95% of nuts (I have two brazil nuts daily and 2 tbsp crushed walnuts on salads)

4. I cut out 100% of peanut butter on non-cheat days. Occasionally I have 1 tbsp all-natural almond butter before meals to lower the glycemic index of the meal, as indicated in the Glucose Switch. Also, I tend to eat fist-sized portions of peanut butter on cheat days

5. no beer on non-cheat days

6. kiwi a/b workouts twice per week (though I still do hiit sprints twice per week too, but these are 20 minute workouts that I think Tim would approve of)

7. small, whey protein isolate shakes with 1/2 cup soymilk after workouts

8. all-out binge once a month, otherwise moderate binge days - mostly beer, peanut butter, and small portions of non-slow carbs.

I literally have done nothing outside the confines of the book for the past month and have lost 9 lbs. This is after 3 months of doing 90% SCD, 10% cheating and losing about 4 net lbs. To everyone looking to start - do EXACTLY as the book says for just one month, then if it works, try small modifications and track all effects.

Making mistakes and worrying about the consequences, instead of just getting over it and doing it better from that point on.

Sorry, not trying to push out some wise words, but that really was a big thing for me.

Once I screwed up on having to many nuts, so I wanted to give up... It's ridiculous I know. But once I make I mistake I start worrying, get demotivated or think "now it doesn't matter if I do a REAL cheat now...". And that is always way more counterproductive than any mistake...

Or was this more like a fun question, sharing funny screw ups?

Then it would be a 20-egg-omlette in a tiny pan

(but it was for two guys)

Or saving my posing pictures on my phone and giving it in someone else's hand, because I wanted to show him some photos... naturally people start scrolling through all your photos...

Reading the book but not reading the book "properly".

There really should be a test at the end of every chapter, lol!

Not drinking enough water. My idea of water consumption was maybe 3 glasses not 3 liters! Thank goodness my office is close to the bathroom because I'm now the office tinkle queen.

Here is a huge list of all the things I was doing wrong:

I Was 'Stalling' and Here is Why..

It cracks me up now because once I made a list of all the things I thought I could get away with I finally woke up. Initially, I was too embarrassed to publicly admit it but I figured that if it helps someone else understand or not make the same mistakes I did then it was worth it

Not getting enough protein on cheat days.

Too much (homemade) salad dressing. I love having a huge salad topped with refried beans and avocado for dinner, but I couldn't get enough of the delicious dressing. It's mostly olive oil, but also has sesame oil and tahini, so the fat (calorie) content is high making it easy to go over the daily limit. I was double-layering the dressing while the scale stayed unchanged. When I switched to single-layers, I resumed my 1kg/week loss.

whey protein shakes stalled my weight loss, also adding sour cream and a small amount of cheese did me in

Not drinking enough water! Seriously! Every day that I do not get at least 100 ounces of water, I can see it in the scale the next day.

Also, not getting enough sleep. I know this isn't really something Tim makes a big issue out of but it is inherent throughout the book whenever he talks about his routine. I find that if I do not get enough sleep, my fat loss slows. Luckily, the Magnesium supplements Tim suggests work very nicely!

Not reading the ingredients. Lots of stuff I assumed had no sugar or flour actually did.

Not eating enough while doing occam's protocol!

I have found roasted okra and green beans. Only ingredients: okra, non hydrogenated canola oil, dextrin and salt. They are crunchy, full of fiber and didn't seem to affect my weight. Just looked up dextrin today..... Big oops! One of those hidden sugars. Here's a list I found

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/sugars.htm

I am a bit bummed, cause I miss that crunchy snacky food.

I've got an eating problem on scd. I forget to do it. I get pretty involved in my work and go the whole day without eating. I ended up having to set a food alarm at one point so I'd stop feeling light headed and grouchy.

I'm good now but it was a long couple of weeks for my wife.

I will still make mistakes, week 6 and I was hovering and stalled around 13 pounds, I started measuring protein, eating way too much I think. stopped with the stevia, started doing air squats, drinking 2 glasses of cold water before breakfast, lentils are the best beans but for some reason I avoided trying them -- measuring the weight gain after cheat day made me consider taming it down some, because that got out of control. Today I got up to 17 pounds so I think I tweaked something.

Eating a ton of soybeans (edamame and all manners of processed soy)...turns out these are really bad for you! I ended up chucking the entire pot of soybeans I had cooked the night before after reading up on the terrible side effects of phytic acid (and phytoestrogen) in soybeans.

Then I logged on to the 4hourbody site and turns out soybeans are a no-no.

Avoid all soybeans!