What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?

[Resjudicata]

Well, I ran across this thread last week. I read up on the links you folks put in the thread. So, I cut out carbs and sugar last Wednesday. I actually upped my overall food intake at the same time. I also started walking in the morning. The first couple days I walked for about 1/2 an hour and now I'm up to a full hour in the morning. So far I like this. I'm dropping weight like crazy and I have more energy through the day. In fact I almost feel amped up during the day. This weekend I'm going to be starting to lift weights again. I haven't done that much in years.

Back 15-20 years ago I used to eat anything/everything and stayed around 225 or so. Which for my height, 6'4" is about right for my frame. During law school in the mid/late '90s I went up to 255 and have been around there ever since without much luck of getting rid of it. This past winter I started reducing food portions and got down to around 245'ish but was stuck and had no energy to do anything. I also am very sedentary as I sit at a desk most of the day everyday. I am currently 41 years old.

As of today I'm at 234 and have dropped over 10 pounds since last Wednesday. I've been dropping about a pound a day this week. After I reach the 225 area I'm going to reevaluate my diet and may mix some natural carbs back in if I need to in order to maintain weight. We'll see.

Thanks for the info guys. It's been a big help.

Chris

[lugnut]

"Limit sugar and flour-based foods strictly.

Reduce potato, rice, and pasta intake to times when you need carbs for energy (pre-match, pre-workout)."

This is my vice for sure.. I love bread/pastas. I try to avoid soda but it's tough...

[XRe]

I actually upped my overall food intake at the same time. I also started walking in the morning.

I bet if you ran the numbers, though, you might find that you're actually consuming fewer calories, even though you're eating higher volume of protein, etc. Without refined carbs, it becomes amazingly hard to eat high calorie diets without consuming a ton of dairy (ask Jake... he's been trying... )

This past winter I started reducing food portions and got down to around 245'ish but was stuck and had no energy to do anything.

Super common symptom of calorie restricted diets, especially those that are "low fat" (which means "high carb"). When the body doesn't have the fuel, it lowers the metabolic rate to adjust for it... so you feel lower energy, you act more sedentary, and you burn less energy... Meanwhile, the refined/starchy carb intake is telling the body to "store me as fat" instead of "use me now", so remain where you're at or even get fatter, even if you're eating what amounts to a starvation diet... It's crazy stuff how the hormones work out like that!

I also am very sedentary as I sit at a desk most of the day everyday. I am currently 41 years old.

Eating is the biggest part of it, but it's good that you're getting in some exercise, too

As of today I'm at 234 and have dropped over 10 pounds since last Wednesday. I've been dropping about a pound a day this week. After I reach the 225 area I'm going to reevaluate my diet and may mix some natural carbs back in if I need to in order to maintain weight. We'll see.

By "natural carbs", keep in mind that as long as you're still working on leaning out, you probably want to avoid fruits (I mean the kind you find in the produce section, not the two legged variety they grow in San Francisco ). If you have a need for some, hit the berries as your first choice (very low in fructose, for starters, but also in glucose relative to other fruits). Once you get to where you want to be in terms of leanness, you can add a little more fruit back in without being in danger of it retarding your fat loss...

There's a whole world of fresh veggies out there to be eaten, and for the most part, they're super good

You might be surprised, too, in how lean you can get - past your 225 mark, possibly, unless you start a strength training program along with it

That's wicked progress, man. Keep at it, and keep us posted!

[kcult]

I struggle with my weight but everyone insists I'm not fat. I feel they are just being nice.

My biggest problems were, and sometimes are, how the food was prepared and the amounts I ate. I generally eat everything on my plate and since I finish before everyone else, I'll ease back to the stove top and grab a little more of this and another piece of that. Then, because I have most likely finished that before the family has finished their meals, I'll sit like a buzzard waiting to see what they leave behind. My BP has always been "borderline", according to every nurse that's ever checked it since I was 18. I'm 41 now and it's still borderline even on meds. Not to mention my cholesterol numbers are hideous.

We have made a few changes, but I'm not sure how effective or even healthy they are. Everything we now fry (that's not deep fried) is in olive oil. We do tend to do more grilling and baking, but will still fry. We have also tried to buy more whole foods instead of processed. We eat a ton of deer meat and the wife now uses ground turkey instead of ground beef. Again, I don't know how effective or healthy the changes are, but we wanted to do something. It probably wouldn't hurt if I got my lard butt off the couch once in a while.

BTW, I'm 5'7" and 175 when I feel I should be around 155.

I wanted to update without starting a new thread.

I haven't been on as much as before. I participated a bit in the "Top Shot" threads, but mainly lurked. In May, I decided to give this a go and it has been very successful in my opinion. I started with the PaNu site and migrated to MDA. I pretty much have done the things advised as far as eating, but I'm yet to lift a finger with any kind of exercise. That's more because I've always been a tad lazy and I find it hard to break my routine of work, eat, plop on the couch.

Anyhoo, I weighed in this past Sunday at 150 lbs. That's a 25 lb drop since May. I feel great and I feel great about it. I wouldn't have thought eliminating certain food items (not necessarily quantities) would have had such a pronounced effect. I literally was dropping a pound every two to three days in the beginning. My bathroom activity became routine, my skin feels like butter, I'm even seeing the outlines of an ab or two.

I've read plenty and realize there are people out there that this just isn't working for, but for me it has been a real blessing.

[XRe]

I've read plenty and realize there are people out there that this just isn't working for, but for me it has been a real blessing.

Amazing what eating in a way that takes advantage of your hormonal system will do for you, isn't it? If you'd have hit the gym without adapting your diet, you'd likely be heavier (not necessarily fatter), and probably still have about the same amount of fat on you... Now that you've dumped some weight, hit the gym and feel even better!!

BTW - new Paleo book on the market, by Robb Wolf - I have it, but haven't started really reading it, yet (finishing something else, first). A quick flip through confirms the reviews I've read - it seems very complete, but written conversationally, so it's easily understood and... dare I say... digested? http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Solution-Original-Human-Diet/dp/0982565844/ref=sr_1_1?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285248014&sr=8-1

Edited September 23, 2010 by XRe

[Sam]

The arrogance of "science" as always amused me. As a kid, we learned that the "advanced" Roman Empire chose lead pipes to distribute their domestic water, posssible leading to mass brain damage in the population. George Washington was probably bled to death by the some of the finest physicans of the day who were attempting to let the bad blood out of his system. Establishment science is always under pressure to explain to the rest of us how stuff happened. They are wise and all knowing. And if we fail to live their way , doom will surely ensue. (control)

Now, we have the brilliant Dr. Steven Hawking, hawking his theory that all of this happened by chance. I will counter that, if it all happended by chance, brilliant minds like Dr. H would have wiped us all out by now.

Always Question Authority.

[entropic]

One more person here to confirm this way of eating. <<<That's water in those mugs

I've cut out grain, legumes, yeast, sugar and processed stuff for the past couple months and have seen the benefits. I have seen benefits in body composition, strength, and how well I feel and think. I've managed to add about 50lbs to my deadlift and 50 to my squat while on it, so I'm certainly not starving. I still eat dairy because, despite eating as much as I wanted(including seemingly ludicrous amounts of fats from meat, eggs, olive oil and nuts), I kept loosing weight without it (which is scary when trying to gain strength). A couple gallons of whole milk every week has been keeping me where I want to be.

I still need to read a book by Cordain, but for now Robb Wolf's blog will have to do....and the fact that he's a powerlifter only makes him more convincing to me.

[Chills1994]

slight thread drift ahead...

I had an epiphany recently when I opened the girlfriend's refrigerator. A'yup, another GF who, in my opinion, has been tricked into thinking that "fat=bad!" has the fat free milk in her fridge.

So the epiphany part comes in when I realize how the marketing of diets or nutrition affects males and females differently. All of the GF's I have had for like the past 10 years have bought either the 1% (aka the pink cap) or the fat free milk.

I have read about half way through Dr. Atkins's book. It was/is an eye opener. Talk about shifting your paradigm.

There is also a documentary floating around out there called "King Corn" that I would like to see as well.

[Jake Di Vita]

Dave,

I just finished Robb's book. It was definitely a good read. I think I got a decent bead on the whole cortisol issue now.

[XRe]

I just finished Robb's book. It was definitely a good read. I think I got a decent bead on the whole cortisol issue now.

Expect a little blog post on Robb's site re: Adrenal Fatigue in the future, too... based on the stuff in the book and my case... Don't know when it'll come out... you know how behind he is on blogging and all that...

[kcult]

Happy Bumpday, Erybody!

I'm still doing this because it's easy and it's working.

I've gotten as low as 146 lbs., but I seem to fluctuate between 149 and 152. This is good and all, but what I'm most stoked about are my numbers; BP and cholesterol.

My BP still runs around 12X/8X, but it was no better on meds and I've been off the meds for almost a year now.

My cholesterol:

Nov. 9, 2009 LDL 155 HDL 39 TGL 154

Nov. 9, 2010 LDL 176 HDL 66 TGL 77

Jun.17, 2011 LDL 139 HDL 95 TGL 49

[Aglifter]

I had a lot of biochemistry in grad school and don't understand how they come up with some of this stuff.

I don't either man, but it certainly isn't through science.

It came out of feed lot ratios - which is how to use the least amount of feed to obtain the most weight gain. It got applied to people when they were designing nuclear shelters. (How to support the most amount of people, for the longest period of time, on the least amount of food - may still be beneficial where your only real concern is avoiding short-term starvation.)

[Aglifter]

The arrogance of "science" as always amused me. As a kid, we learned that the "advanced" Roman Empire chose lead pipes to distribute their domestic water, posssible leading to mass brain damage in the population.

A) Its usually politicians who hear what they want to hear, or are committed to a certain agenda.

Lead pipes contaminate "STILL" water - the Roman system didn't ever stop flowing.

C) Perfect is always the enemy of improvement - aquaducts, and sewers were still a massive improvement in controlling disease, etc.

[Aglifter]

I find myself doing better weight wise now that I have gone over to buffalo (bison)for most of the red meat I eat.

David C

As far as most people's health concerns (anyone can be more or less susceptible to various things), its the diet which matters more than the species. Farm-raised fish has just as poor an Omega 3/Omega 6 ratio as grain-fed beef - and grass-fed beef has the same ratio as venison and wild fish.

[benos]

The arrogance of "science" as always amused me. As a kid, we learned that the "advanced" Roman Empire chose lead pipes to distribute their domestic water, posssible leading to mass brain damage in the population. George Washington was probably bled to death by the some of the finest physicans of the day who were attempting to let the bad blood out of his system. Establishment science is always under pressure to explain to the rest of us how stuff happened. They are wise and all knowing. And if we fail to live their way , doom will surely ensue. (control)

Now, we have the brilliant Dr. Steven Hawking, hawking his theory that all of this happened by chance.

Chance: no; mystery: yes.

Pertaining to chance and mystery, and no and yes - they are not the same and they are not different.

be