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Hi,
Hoping I can get some help here.
So I've been following everything to the T in terms of the diet specifications (no supplements + no exercise, just straight diet plus cheat day).
I'm a 23 yr old male and I did go from 172 to 165 after the first week, but after that there hasn't been any drop at all.
I do drink a cold glass of water in the morning and a few more through out the day at least with each meal. I haven't done much with ice packs. No exercise (although I will pick up a set of kettle bells and see if that makes a difference)
Breakfast had been within one hour of waking up except for this week. I usually get in 3 meals a day, and I'm not overeating.
I've been following the diet itself exactly. Yet no real change. I'm a pretty skinny guy except for my belly. I have a small pot belly that protudes and I really want to get rid of it. According to calculations I'm at 27% body fat and labeled obese, although I don't really look obese in my opnion. I'm 6ft tall and weigh 165lbs. My waist is at 37 inches, hips at 36 inches, and arms at 12.5 when flexed.
I really don't want to give up the diet after going at it for a month, but if I'm depriving myself and seeing no change I met as well go back to eating what I was before.
If anyone can help me out, I'd appreciate it. Thanks so much for reading. Here's a before and after of my non-existent progress lol.
Thanks for the feedback everybody. I myself am thinking the same thing that I might just need to get on the exercise and that SCD isn't going to really do much for me without it.
A few of you guys asked for details on what I've been eating so here it is:
Breakfast: 2 eggwhites and 1 whole egg omelet with spinach and a bit of tomato
Lunch: Lentils / Meatballs / Chipotle burrito bowl with no rice, cheese, or sour cream, but with guacamole, black beans, chicken, and vegetables.
Dinner: Baked chicken with stir fry vegetables (carrots, broccoli, and other stuff I don't know what it is exactly, but it may have cauliflower which I try not to eat)
Cheat days:
1st cheat day- Breakfast as usual with omelet. Chicken and rice for lunch. Frozen pizza for dinner. Had a mini twix. Did squats and wall pushes (not sure if that's what they're called)
2nd cheat day- Breakfast as usual with omelet. Can't remember what I had for lunch. Had 2 funfetti cupcakes. 4 slices of veggie lover pizza from Pizza Hut for dinner. Was out so just did leg contractions and no squats.
3rd cheat day - Okay I started early for a birthday dinner Friday night and had Chicken Pad Thai. Late breakfast on Saturday was chicken strips with BBQ sauce. 2 cheeseburgers and a coke from McDonald's. Dinner was chicken and rice from nyc cart. I had a few mixed drinks as I went out later at night for the celebration. After this cheat day I was up to 170 from 165, but now am back down to 165 four days later.
During the week I refrain from low-calorie drinks and diet sodas and only have cold water. I've had one diet snapple and a couple diet cokes throughout the four weeks.
That's about everything I can remember. If I missed anything, please let me know!
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At your height and weight, I would honestly consider focusing on gaining muscle. Would consider Occam's or Geek to Freak, pack on some lean tissue, then focus on the fat burning again with slow carb.
Think about it... at 165 and 27% fat that means you have about 44.55 lbs of fat on you.
Say you lost half your fat with no corresponding muscle loss at all... you would probably be waaaaaaaaaay underweight for your height.
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Ok, so if your goal is fat loss it looks like the 2 biggest problems are:
1) Way under protein requirement for breakfast and also make sure you are having it within 30 minutes of waking.
2) Not nearly enough water. Start small and shoot for 3 litres per day. When initially increasing my h2o consumption I found it easiest with a 1.5l bottle and filling it up twice throughout the day. That paired with a couple of 8 ounce glasses in the morning should make enough of an impact for now.
A couple of other things you may want to try are axing that guac and make sure you get lentils at breakfast AND dinner as well. It looks to me like (in addition to 2 tips above) that you are not getting enough food in a day 
As mentioned by others you may want to put on some muscle mass as well because the more LMM we have the more fat we burn. We all know that burning fat AND gaining muscle simultaneously is really hard (almost impossible, especially for a novice) so it would seem that you are choosing to lean out before building which is a sound decision but not the route that everyone would take. If you feel that you have made the right choice for you have fun with it!
Oh and any reason why you try not to eat cauliflower?
Best & hope that helps!
Hey TeaLove,
Thank you for the awesome feedback this is really helpful. I'll up my water and protein intake and yeah I don't feel like I'm eating enough either. Hmm I thought we were supposed to have a lot of guacamole. Oh I was staying away from cauliflower because I thought we were supposed to stay away from white vegetables.
Hey no problem!
Yup, having too little food can be just as detrimental to progress as too much...it's a fine balance and I trust that with some tweaking here and there you will see results. Adding the protein and lentils to breakfast and lentils to dinner should help for sure Just watch that you don't go overboard on the legumes.
hang on...got cut off...
Next...
Cauliflower is awesome and totally approved (I was unsure at first too because of the 'white food' thing but cauliflower is exempt from that rule because it is a cruciferous veg) but the guacamole is one of the ones that are in the in moderation column and honestly I try to avoid the 'moderation' ones because I am simply not willing to sacrifice a week of clean eating for a couple of tablespoons of the stuff. Up to you though, I am sure that if you kept it to a tbsp 2-3 times per week it will be okay!
Good luck and keep us posted 
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What are you eating ? Try to be specific in what you are eating through the day and include your cheat day for good reference.
did you do the damage control exercises during cheat days ?
Also be sure to measure circumference as well as bodyfat and weight. Myself i see s small drop in weight but i can notice that my pants require belts now though i dont feel it nor see it visually myself.
Yep, what this person said. We really need to see an exact list of your meals, how much, when and everything you put on or in your meals (sauces, condiments etc), beverages, water consumption etc. If you re edit your initial post to include this information I am sure that you will have tonnes of people jump to your aid
Thanks for your comments, just updated my post with my meals
K! Working on a reply.
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27% body fat is considered overweight, not obese; obese means 30% or greater.
Regarding the diet, see the FAQs I posted here.
Thanks for the FAQ. You say to eat less than 1.5 cups of legumes a day? I thought legumes were fine in any quantity. I don't think I'm over eating them though.
Only thing I may not be doing is getting enough protein for breakfast with 3 eggs and not enough water..approx 4-5 glasses a day only.
You're definitely not getting enough protein at breakfast. Also be careful that there are no breadcrumbs in the meatballs.
Regarding quantities, they're a little more restrictive than the book leads us to believe, but the point is to find something that works for you.
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Yep, I agree, not nearly enough protein at breakfast. You say you're kind of sick of eggs. It helps to ditch the idea that breakfast must be "breakfast foods". Have whatever you might have for a lunch or dinner, but make sure it is at least 30g protein. I often have tilapia or salmon for breakfast, with veggies and lentils, and I love it! I stay full for hours.
Many have said that the 30 + 20 + 20 protein minimum is not nearly enough, and recommend eating 1 g protein per lb of lean body weight per day. So at say, 165 lbs, minus the approx 45 lbs fat, that would be 120 lbs, so 120g protein per day instead of just 70.
Steak is good for breakfast, too.
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Maybe you need to be focusing more on the exercise than the diet!? Y"our height and weight are a dream IMO (I'm 6'0 and 272lbs).
Also, you really can't just "try" to get 3 meals a day in, it's really a requirement. If your body isn't getting fuel it will shut down and hold on to it's reserve. It has to have SOMETHING to burn.
Also, eat within the first 30 minutes of waking (I think that's what TF says).
But really, I think you might be approaching it from the wrong direction (think being the operative word). My guess is that if you implemented some sort of work out you would see a difference. Why not try switching to G2F?
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Hey thanks for your comment. I agree with you I think I may just need exercise to get rid of that belly at my height and weight. I know I'm not so bad, but just that little bit of extra fat has gotten to annoy me throughout my youth and I'm like if I don't get rid of it now, I never will.
I definitely get in at least 3 meals a day otherwise I get bad headaches. I don't go to sleep hungry.
Yeah I definitely will need to get back to eating within 30 minutes of waking up. I am just so tired of eggs, the whole idea of breakfast is completely unappealing.
I'm going to pick up some kettlebells and see if that makes a difference this week.
I forgot to ask... what is G2F?
Geek to Freak
And, did the changes have any effect so far?
Some have said that 3 eggs isn't enough for breakfast, but the eggs alone are 30 g of proteines, plus the legumes, should be enough?
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Yeah I think you're definitely right. I just figured with my 16 hour days on the computer, simply changing my diet would get rid of that fat. It seems like it's all just collaborated there in my belly.
According to the height-weight chart I should be at 167, so yeah you're right losing more would put me way underweight. Time to add some muscle.