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New Weight Loss Before/After thread! Pics ahoy!

DJwest

Member
There's an adjustment period when switching to ultra low carb. I don't think a week was long enough.

Well, as was noted, you might want to give yourself a month or two to adjust. Ultimately the best dietary change is one agreeable enough to you that you will keep at it. Maybe low carb isn't for you. I lost the majority of my weight on a diet that was often over 60% carbs since I was a vegetarian. There's a lot of different options to try out there. Just keep looking until you find something you can live with for the long haul and don't get discouraged!

There's a good chance you may not be getting enough fat.

Eggs are great, but I strongly recommend you incorporate some meat into that diet. Make beef your staple. Steak and eggs, hamburger scramble, etc. Throw in a bit of cheese and cook it all up in butter, coconut oil, or lard. You really need to be getting the majority of your calories from fat.

You also might want to try going to two meals per day. Maybe just lunch and dinner if you have time to prepare something for the next day the night before.

Thanks guys, and sorry for the late response.

I will go for grocery shopping later this week and was wondering if you could give me some recommendations. So far here is what is on my list:

-Eggs
-Sausages
-Beef
-Tuna in vegetable oil
-Corned Beef
-Lettuce, Cabbage and tomatoes
-Olives and Pickles

Any suggestions please ? Thanks
 

Horseticuffs

Full werewolf off the buckle
Thanks guys, and sorry for the late response.

I will go for grocery shopping later this week and was wondering if you could give me some recommendations. So far here is what is on my list:

-Eggs
-Sausages
-Beef
-Tuna in vegetable oil
-Corned Beef
-Lettuce, Cabbage and tomatoes
-Olives and Pickles

Any suggestions please ? Thanks

Eggs are damned near a perfect food. I also can't in good faith talk shit about lettuce (Go with a more nutritive breed like Romaine, though), cabbage, or tomatoes as they're all great options. Personally I'd go for Albacore in water since I don't want to go nuts with mercury. The amount of actual tuna that's safe to eat is surprisingly low due to mercury. Albacore is much safer from what I've read.

I don't do sausage, but I do eat beef. It's a bit calorically dense for me to eat a ton of it but it's good for fat and protein so go for it. Sounds like a fine list!
 

DJwest

Member
Eggs are damned near a perfect food. I also can't in good faith talk shit about lettuce (Go with a more nutritive breed like Romaine, though), cabbage, or tomatoes as they're all great options. Personally I'd go for Albacore in water since I don't want to go nuts with mercury. The amount of actual tuna that's safe to eat is surprisingly low due to mercury. Albacore is much safer from what I've read.

I don't do sausage, but I do eat beef. It's a bit calorically dense for me to eat a ton of it but it's good for fat and protein so go for it. Sounds like a fine list!

Thanks man, especially for the tip on tuna !
 
google drive says this was a month ago. lets go with that.

i posted that in the old thread that my staring weight was 237. i'm currently 225lbs right now. so a good month so far. 10 weeks to go (having a friendly competition with friends)

dropping a steady 2lbs/week.



oh. stats.

5'11'.
starting: 237lbs
goal: 200lbs
longterm: 160lbs.

Currently at 220. down 5 pounds since 7/02

slow progress.
 
No problem. Tuna/Albacore is an awesome low calorie protein source. Throw on some full mayo and you've got fat in there too.

Progress is progress, please don't be discouraged. The important thing is you're trending in the direction you want.

oh i'm not. lol. i knew when i started months ago that i was aiming 2lbs a week. better than trying to go too fast and have problems.
 
D

Deleted member 325805

Unconfirmed Member
I've been on a diet for around 2 weeks and its been fine up until yesterday when for some reason I started being hungry all the time. I eat and almost immediately I'm hungry again. It has got to the point where all I can think about is eating.

I don't eat much, a typical day looks like this:

30g cereal with a splash of skimmed milk
4 crackerbread with low fat butter and Marmite (very thin scrapping of both)
Apple
Dinner around 400 - 800 calories
Low fat jelly or yogurt

I don't know if I'm not eating enough or if this is just normal? Should I be hungry all the time? Any advice from fellow or former big'uns would be good.
 
Today I checked out an episode of The Fat-Burning Man podcast that featured Amy Clover. Long story short, she shared her account of how exercising and taking the steps to live a healthy life helped her feel in control and bring her back from the verge of suicide. It was a pretty interesting listen and definitely gave another incentive for me to keep going with my own weight loss/health improvement journey.

You can check it out here: http://fatburningman.com/how-amy-beat-depression-with-a-dumbbell/
 

Bowser

Member
I've been on a diet for around 2 weeks and its been fine up until yesterday when for some reason I started being hungry all the time. I eat and almost immediately I'm hungry again. It has got to the point where all I can think about is eating.

I don't eat much, a typical day looks like this:

30g cereal with a splash of skimmed milk
4 crackerbread with low fat butter and Marmite (very thin scrapping of both)
Apple
Dinner around 400 - 800 calories
Low fat jelly or yogurt

I don't know if I'm not eating enough or if this is just normal? Should I be hungry all the time? Any advice from fellow or former big'uns would be good.

At first glance, it looks like you're probably eating about 1,200-1,400 calories and those calories seem to be over-emphasizing carbs and not enough protein. Protein will blunt hunger much better than carbs or fat. Try to incorporate eggs for breakfast rather than cereal, almonds, cheese sticks, greek yogurt, or a tbsp of all-natural peanut butter with your apple as snacks, and lean meats for dinner.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
I've been on a diet for around 2 weeks and its been fine up until yesterday when for some reason I started being hungry all the time. I eat and almost immediately I'm hungry again. It has got to the point where all I can think about is eating.

I don't eat much, a typical day looks like this:

30g cereal with a splash of skimmed milk
4 crackerbread with low fat butter and Marmite (very thin scrapping of both)
Apple
Dinner around 400 - 800 calories
Low fat jelly or yogurt

I don't know if I'm not eating enough or if this is just normal? Should I be hungry all the time? Any advice from fellow or former big'uns would be good.

That is a terrible, terrible diet.

You are starving yourself while making sure you spike blood sugar and release insulin with the small amount of food that you do get by eating food that easily turns into glucose and provides little satiation. I'm surprised you've last two weeks, honestly.

The advice I'd like to offer is to stop being afraid of fat and to start being afraid of sugar if you're interested in losing body fat and leading a long and healthy life.

Today I checked out an episode of The Fat-Burning Man podcast that featured Amy Clover. Long story short, she shared her account of how exercising and taking the steps to live a healthy life helped her feel in control and bring her back from the verge of suicide. It was a pretty interesting listen and definitely gave another incentive for me to keep going with my own weight loss/health improvement journey.

You can check it out here: http://fatburningman.com/how-amy-beat-depression-with-a-dumbbell/

That's a pretty good podcast. I'll check that episode out.

Another good one I listed to a while back was this one with John Kiefer. He's a guy you should probably be paying attention to if getting to a low body fat % without starving yourself of delicious food and maintaining good health sounds like a fine proposition to you.

http://fatburningman.com/john-kiefer-carb-backloading/
 
I've been on a diet for around 2 weeks and its been fine up until yesterday when for some reason I started being hungry all the time. I eat and almost immediately I'm hungry again. It has got to the point where all I can think about is eating.

I don't eat much, a typical day looks like this:

30g cereal with a splash of skimmed milk
4 crackerbread with low fat butter and Marmite (very thin scrapping of both)
Apple
Dinner around 400 - 800 calories
Low fat jelly or yogurt

I don't know if I'm not eating enough or if this is just normal? Should I be hungry all the time? Any advice from fellow or former big'uns would be good.

An all carb diet does that to you lol.
 
D

Deleted member 325805

Unconfirmed Member
Thanks for the advice guys. I'm a very picky eater so I just started eating things I thought were healthy and low calorie that I liked, this dieting malarkey is all very foreign to me.

Edit: I had 2 scrambled eggs with 2 pieces of wholemeal toast instead of cereal, is this OK? I read you should only have eggs 3 times a week so I was thinking of having a strawberry and banana smoothie the other days. I saw a recipe which consisted of ice, Greek yoghurt, skimmed milk and frozen strawberries and banana, would this be appropriate to keep me full?
 

Fireblend

Banned
So I've lost 25 kgs / 55 lbs since January and I'm pretty damn proud about it. Got from 209 to 154 lbs. Here's me in January:

CuT3Alo.png
nBsHYHt.png

And this is this Sunday, my first bicycle race. (My dad is to the right)

 

Horseticuffs

Full werewolf off the buckle
Thanks for the advice guys. I'm a very picky eater so I just started eating things I thought were healthy and low calorie that I liked, this dieting malarkey is all very foreign to me.

Edit: I had 2 scrambled eggs with 2 pieces of wholemeal toast instead of cereal, is this OK? I read you should only have eggs 3 times a week so I was thinking of having a strawberry and banana smoothie the other days. I saw a recipe which consisted of ice, Greek yoghurt, skimmed milk and frozen strawberries and banana, would this be appropriate to keep me full?
From what I understand the links between food-based cholesterol and blood-based cholesterol are shaky at best. I know that some of the healthiest people you'll meet eat a ton of eggs every day. Eggs are pretty much entirely protein and fat which will help you feel sated.

Fruit is good, certainly, but one must also watch their sugar intake. Now, normally fruit has fiber in it which slows the conversion of fructose to glucose making it not quite like eating candy, but in the processing of turning it into a smoothie I'd be concerned that the fiber would be lost, not to mention that you might use several pieces of fruit and the sugar from the milk as well. Strawberries are great and not too high in sugar, and I love bananas but they do have quite a bit. Yogurt is good stuff but, again, has quite a bit of sugar in it.

All those things are fine but sugar is the enemy so you need to keep watch of your intake.

So I've lost 25 kgs / 55 lbs since January and I'm pretty damn proud about it. Got from 209 to 154 lbs. Here's me in January:



And this is this Sunday, my first bicycle race. (My dad is to the right)

Very awesome work! You should be very proud.
 

Bowser

Member
From what I understand the links between food-based cholesterol and blood-based cholesterol are shaky at best. I know that some of the healthiest people you'll meet eat a ton of eggs every day. Eggs are pretty much entirely protein and fat which will help you feel sated.

Fruit is good, certainly, but one must also watch their sugar intake. Now, normally fruit has fiber in it which slows the conversion of fructose to glucose making it not quite like eating candy, but in the processing of turning it into a smoothie I'd be concerned that the fiber would be lost, not to mention that you might use several pieces of fruit and the sugar from the milk as well. Strawberries are great and not too high in sugar, and I love bananas but they do have quite a bit. Yogurt is good stuff but, again, has quite a bit of sugar in it.

All those things are fine but sugar is the enemy so you need to keep watch of your intake.



Very awesome work! You should be very proud.

This is correct. Ignore all the stuff you hear about eggs being bad because of cholesterol. I literally have a 3 egg omelette every. single. day and I'm pretty healthy.

2. Eggs Improve Your Cholesterol Profile and do NOT Raise Your Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

The main reason people have been warned about eggs is that they’re loaded with cholesterol.

One large egg contains 212 mg of cholesterol, which is a LOT compared to most other foods.

However, just because a food contains cholesterol doesn’t mean that it will raise the bad cholesterol in the blood.

The liver actually produces cholesterol, every single day. If you eat cholesterol, then your liver produces less. If you don’t eat cholesterol, then your liver produces more of it.


The thing is, many studies show that eggs actually improve your cholesterol profile.

Eggs tend to raise HDL (the “good”) cholesterol and they tend to change the LDL (the “bad”) cholesterol to a large subtype which is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease (2, 3, 4).

One study discovered that 3 whole eggs per day reduced insulin resistance, raised HDL and increased the size of LDL particles in men and women with metabolic syndrome (5).

Multiple studies have examined the effects of egg consumption on the risk of cardiovascular disease and found no association between the two (6, 7, 8).

However, some studies do show an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients. This needs further research though and probably doesn’t apply on a low-carb diet, which can in many cases reverse type II diabetes (9, 10, 11).

Bottom Line: Studies show that eggs actually improve the cholesterol profile. They raise HDL (the good) cholesterol and increase the size of LDL particles, which should lower the risk of heart disease.

http://authoritynutrition.com/6-reasons-why-eggs-are-the-healthiest-food-on-the-planet/
 

Fixed1979

Member
For the guys who are losing weight, do you guys have cheat days?

During the first 3-4 months I made every effort to follow a strict calorie intake, mostly because I just wanted to get to a more comfortable weight quickly. Went from 241 down to under 200 before I started loosening up my eating habits, I'm still trending downwards (171 this morning). Occasionally I'll have a completely free day (I was nearly 2000 calories over budget on Friday).

It helps to not consider this a diet but a lifestyle change. There's no way I'm giving up having the occasional burger or pizza, so why not learn to fit these treats into your lifestyle. Ultimately if a cheat day or cheat meal helps get you through then there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, in fact, I see it recommended more often then not. The only time I can see it being an issue is if you're the type of person who feels guilty about it afterwards and looses hope because they had an off day, giving up on a weight loss plan completely.
 

paolo11

Member
During the first 3-4 months I made every effort to follow a strict calorie intake, mostly because I just wanted to get to a more comfortable weight quickly. Went from 241 down to under 200 before I started loosening up my eating habits, I'm still trending downwards (171 this morning). Occasionally I'll have a completely free day (I was nearly 2000 calories over budget on Friday).

It helps to not consider this a diet but a lifestyle change. There's no way I'm giving up having the occasional burger or pizza, so why not learn to fit these treats into your lifestyle. Ultimately if a cheat day or cheat meal helps get you through then there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, in fact, I see it recommended more often then not. The only time I can see it being an issue is if you're the type of person who feels guilty about it afterwards and looses hope because they had an off day, giving up on a weight loss plan completely.

I see. Because I have a really bad diet plan in my life.

I diet for 3 days with crossfit workouts but on weekends starting Fridy (Fri to Sun), I eat bad. I feel stupid actually.
 

Schlep

Member
For the guys who are losing weight, do you guys have cheat days?
I started out with every Saturday being a cheat day, but I got to the point where I really just wanted a cheat dinner on Saturdays, so that's what I usually do. I don't really feel deprived in what I'm eating, just eating more home cooked stuff.

Curious if anyone tracks their food intake vs. weight very closely on MFP. From the last 3.5 weeks since I've been logging, the pattern I'm noticing is that if I eat 75-100g carbs on non-lifting days, and ~150g on lifting days, I start to drop fast.

Tried a couple very low carbs days of 25 or less, and a couple high carbs days of 200+. I don't think either one works in isolation. Either you have to be very low carb all the time, or high carbs all the time. Can't mix and match days. Maybe it's just coincidence.
 
When I dieted the first time I went extreme and stuck with 20-30g of carbs a day. (I was always aiming for 20).

I lost so much weight, so fast.


It is much slower this time around, but then again I have far less weight to lose now.
 

Schlep

Member
When I dieted the first time I went extreme and stuck with 20-30g of carbs a day. (I was always aiming for 20).

I lost so much weight, so fast.

I'd definitely do that if I wasn't wanting to lift. I've tried the VLC + lifting thing before...awful (vomit).
 
When I dieted the first time I went extreme and stuck with 20-30g of carbs a day. (I was always aiming for 20).

I lost so much weight, so fast.


It is much slower this time around, but then again I have far less weight to lose now.

it's so hard to do low carb when i love rice
 
I'd definitely do that if I wasn't wanting to lift. I've tried the VLC + lifting thing before...awful (vomit).

I need to start lifting, but I decided that I want to get to my ideal weight before I start.



I am thinking about taking a cheat day and hitting fast food tomorrow. I just moved out of state and there are a ton of chains that I have never been to before like 5 Guys, Jack In The Box, etc.
 

Fixed1979

Member
I need to start lifting, but I decided that I want to get to my ideal weight before I start.



I am thinking about taking a cheat day and hitting fast food tomorrow. I just moved out of state and there are a ton of chains that I have never been to before like 5 Guys, Jack In The Box, etc.

That's the only thing I'd add about cheat days, is when you do it, make sure whatever it is you cheat with is worth it...
5 Guys is always worth it.



I've gotten so lazy over the past couple of weeks, I need to get out running again. I signed up for my first 5k in September, but at this point I barely have the motivation to get ready for it. Trying to get myself thinking about how shitty winter is going to be and to take advantage of the nice days we still have left isn't helping...
 

Bowser

Member
When I dieted the first time I went extreme and stuck with 20-30g of carbs a day. (I was always aiming for 20).

I lost so much weight, so fast.


It is much slower this time around, but then again I have far less weight to lose now.

Chances are you were in ketosis which helps drop weight pretty fast since your body ends up switching to fat as its primary fuel source in the absence of carbs: http://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq
 
I've thought about cutting down/out carbs a few times but looking at how many are in things I eat routinely in MFP, I decided against it for the time being. Maybe once I get back to university and have greater control over what I can eat!
 
I don't know if I will regret posting this in here or be flogged by the Internet as a whole, but here it goes.. As a 32 year old dude:

I'm in a similar situation that Boogie2988 was in back before he became a YouTuber as I was pretty fat all of my life. (if you want to know that, you can google how he was before YouTube) He seems to have more trouble than I do, but my weight pretty much got me fired from my job (in 2006) and no one would hire me because of it. No scale could measure me at that time and I had no health insurance.

For about 7 years, I just gave up while staying at home taking care of my elderly parents ( I was staying at home while was working from 2001-2006, waiting to hit my pay ceiling before I started to find a place of my own or with a roommate). More than ever, I used food as a comfort food while I was receiving SNAP. (because I was unemployed and I give quite a bit of the food to my parents)

In 2008, I was one of the last eligible person for a medicaid-like program in my county and began to go to a doctor on a monthly basis for the first time in my life since I was about 16. Diagnosed with high blood pressure and cholesterol, I started on a regimen to lower them. To this day, without that, I'd be worse off than I am now.

The beginning of my journey (for weight loss) really started in December of 2012.. I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. I cut off 99(.9)% of candy and 100% of all the sugary sodas at the time. I didn't know if it was working because my doctor's office's scale could only go to the mid 300's.

Fast forward to April when the medicaid expansion came and now my insurance changed for the better(Thanks Obama): I could now theoretically get bariatric surgery to fight something I was dealing with my whole life.

After a few weeks of talking to my doctor and insurance, I started the necessary paperwork to get the surgery but there was one caveat; I had to go on Weight Watchers for six months.

I am on weight watchers for 2 - 12 week sessions (6 mos) and I have to lose %5 of my weight at the end of every session to become eligible. I get drove there every Wed evening and their scales can actually measure me (THIS IS A HUGE HELP!).

I started it about 5 weeks ago (6/24/14) and lost 24.2 pounds and my beginning weight was 458 lbs. Just the diet change alone has lost me a bit of weight.

Hopefully soon I can get some decent diabetic (I am pre-diabetic but my doctor thinks I can get two pair of diabetic shoes for free) shoes at a new foot doctor I am going to, so I can get some walking in without getting blisters. (I kinda walk on my ankles and one of the shoes have their sides blown out, plus I have wide feet lol!)

I'm not trying to make an excuse to not to walk by saying my shoes suck because they literally will hurt my feet by trying to use them. Outside of that, I'm actually doing a basic set of exercises I can do at my home without any equipment. Of course, no pushups yet but that takes time.

I'll be happy to lose enough weight to start going for mile+ long walks without the front of my legs getting numb and my feet getting eaten by my shoes (if I could afford them, I'd buy Crocs if they fit me, because fuck fashion). Even my doctor is in with me for my weight loss as she bought me some meal bars to help be begin my day! (Thank You!)

I'm currently in talks to my insurance company if they will completely cover a gym membership and so far, no dice (I'd have to find a way to get daily transportation if I can get a gym membership. No license due on how my life was in high school.)

Hopefully if I post a big update like this next time, I'll be either fully eligible for bariatric surgery or I've lose so much weight that I don't need it! :)
 

Horseticuffs

Full werewolf off the buckle
I don't know if I will regret posting this in here or be flogged by the Internet as a whole, but here it goes.. As a 32 year old dude:

I'm in a similar situation that Boogie2988 was in back before he became a YouTuber as I was pretty fat all of my life. (if you want to know that, you can google how he was before YouTube) He seems to have more trouble than I do, but my weight pretty much got me fired from my job (in 2006) and no one would hire me because of it. No scale could measure me at that time and I had no health insurance.

For about 7 years, I just gave up while staying at home taking care of my elderly parents ( I was staying at home while was working from 2001-2006, waiting to hit my pay ceiling before I started to find a place of my own or with a roommate). More than ever, I used food as a comfort food while I was receiving SNAP. (because I was unemployed and I give quite a bit of the food to my parents)

In 2008, I was one of the last eligible person for a medicaid-like program in my county and began to go to a doctor on a monthly basis for the first time in my life since I was about 16. Diagnosed with high blood pressure and cholesterol, I started on a regimen to lower them. To this day, without that, I'd be worse off than I am now.

The beginning of my journey (for weight loss) really started in December of 2012.. I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. I cut off 99(.9)% of candy and 100% of all the sugary sodas at the time. I didn't know if it was working because my doctor's office's scale could only go to the mid 300's.

Fast forward to April when the medicaid expansion came and now my insurance changed for the better(Thanks Obama): I could now theoretically get bariatric surgery to fight something I was dealing with my whole life.

After a few weeks of talking to my doctor and insurance, I started the necessary paperwork to get the surgery but there was one caveat; I had to go on Weight Watchers for six months.

I am on weight watchers for 2 - 12 week sessions (6 mos) and I have to lose %5 of my weight at the end of every session to become eligible. I get drove there every Wed evening and their scales can actually measure me (THIS IS A HUGE HELP!).

I started it about 5 weeks ago (6/24/14) and lost 24.2 pounds and my beginning weight was 458 lbs. Just the diet change alone has lost me a bit of weight.

Hopefully soon I can get some decent diabetic (I am pre-diabetic but my doctor thinks I can get two pair of diabetic shoes for free) shoes at a new foot doctor I am going to, so I can get some walking in without getting blisters. (I kinda walk on my ankles and one of the shoes have their sides blown out, plus I have wide feet lol!)

I'm not trying to make an excuse to not to walk by saying my shoes suck because they literally will hurt my feet by trying to use them. Outside of that, I'm actually doing a basic set of exercises I can do at my home without any equipment. Of course, no pushups yet but that takes time.

I'll be happy to lose enough weight to start going for mile+ long walks without the front of my legs getting numb and my feet getting eaten by my shoes (if I could afford them, I'd buy Crocs if they fit me, because fuck fashion). Even my doctor is in with me for my weight loss as she bought me some meal bars to help be begin my day! (Thank You!)

I'm currently in talks to my insurance company if they will completely cover a gym membership and so far, no dice (I'd have to find a way to get daily transportation if I can get a gym membership. No license due on how my life was in high school.)

Hopefully if I post a big update like this next time, I'll be either fully eligible for bariatric surgery or I've lose so much weight that I don't need it! :)

Wow, that's quite a story, my friend. I feel a kinship because there are many similarities to my own. I, too, live with and care for my elderly folks. I, too, had not access to a scale that went high enough. The highest scale was at my doctor, which topped out at 350, and I maxed it every time. To this day I can't say how much I actually weighed. All I know is that it was at least 350. I, again too, wore my shoes out by walking on the interior heel. To this day, even though I float between 170-180 I can still wear a pair of shoes out in less than a month. When I awoke each morning I had to limp, in awful pain, for the first half our or half mile or so and sleep in a special boot, because my feet hurt so bad. Hell, I even have no license yet myself, mainly due to depression due being so unhappy in life (My life is much better now, but I'm still working on this one!)

All I can tell you is that, in my particular situation, eventually the ankle situation stopped being such an issue. Eventually my feet stopped hurting. Eventually I tried stepping on a scale again and somehow it said below 300. Looking back I don't understand how these things happened. It seems as some sort of miracle. I barely even remember trying.

It was all so subtle that I didn't realize all the changes until later on. I say all these things to you in hopes that you don't give up. See your doctors, trust their advice, try to be active and eat better so as to keep your diabetes at bay, The important thing is you try. It's okay to mess up and get frustrated, so as long as you give it another go tomorrow. I know all these obstacles seem insurmountable, but I tell you that there can be a day in your future where you won't even understand how life could have been this way.

It seems like you're making real, positive progress. I'm very glad to hear this and I do hope you'll return here to keep us all posted. I'm really very shocked at the similarity of our stories from what you've posted.

All in all when things are most difficult I hope you'll remember that what you're fighting for is perhaps the most important thing one can fight for. I'm sure Gaf won't mind my speaking for them when I say that we're all pulling for you.
 

Schlep

Member
I'm really starting to think the whole 'high protein+high fat+100g or less carb" doesn't cut it if you're going to do any kind of lifting. My most successful weight loss a few years ago was under a high protein, high carb, low fat diet where I was doing cardio only (unfortunately) five days a week.

I'd never go back to cardio only, or much at all, but I do think it's more conducive to losing weight if you're active. When I'm not doing a damn thing, low carb works amazingly well, so I'm not disparaging it in any way. Just need to figure out how to flip the switch. It's been 26 days and the lowest I've been from my starting weight is -2.6 lbs, and I'm currently sitting at -1. Obviously what I'm doing (sub 100g carb most days) isn't working.

Time to switch it up, I think.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Couple of things:

How tall are you and how much do you weigh? Once you get to a certain point, it becomes increasingly difficult for the body to give up body fat.

You said you're lifting, right? If so, you really shouldn't be paying attention to the scale very much. There's a very good chance you are going through some major body composition changes and gaining muscle while losing fat (or just not gaining fat tissue). If that's the case, you want to look at the mirror, not the scale.
 

Schlep

Member
How tall are you and how much do you weigh? Once you get to a certain point, it becomes increasingly difficult for the body to give up body fat.
5'8" and starting at ~30% BF. Nowhere close to the plateau point yet, lol.

You said you're lifting, right? If so, you really shouldn't be paying attention to the scale very much. There's a very good chance you are going through some major body composition changes and gaining muscle while losing fat (or just not gaining fat tissue). If that's the case, you want to look at the mirror, not the scale.
There are some possibilities like adding some water weight and gaining a little bit of muscle, but even assuming amazing genetics, the most muscle I could've gained by now would be 1.5-2 lbs and it's likely nowhere near that.

I'm not saying that no change is taking place, but the change that is taking place is too slow at the moment.
 

Ixian

Member
I'm really starting to think the whole 'high protein+high fat+100g or less carb" doesn't cut it if you're going to do any kind of lifting. My most successful weight loss a few years ago was under a high protein, high carb, low fat diet where I was doing cardio only (unfortunately) five days a week.

I'd never go back to cardio only, or much at all, but I do think it's more conducive to losing weight if you're active. When I'm not doing a damn thing, low carb works amazingly well, so I'm not disparaging it in any way. Just need to figure out how to flip the switch. It's been 26 days and the lowest I've been from my starting weight is -2.6 lbs, and I'm currently sitting at -1. Obviously what I'm doing (sub 100g carb most days) isn't working.

Time to switch it up, I think.
It's definitely possible to lift and do low carb (see /r/ketogains) but I love me some carbs so I don't even try. I do only eat high carb on training days though (three days a week).
 
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Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
5'8" and starting at ~30% BF. Nowhere close to the plateau point yet, lol.


There are some possibilities like adding some water weight and gaining a little bit of muscle, but even assuming amazing genetics, the most muscle I could've gained by now would be 1.5-2 lbs and it's likely nowhere near that.

I'm not saying that no change is taking place, but the change that is taking place is too slow at the moment.

It's up to you, but I don't think 26 days is nearly enough to determine whether or not you need a change in direction, especially if you made a major change like introducing weight training.
 

Schlep

Member
It's up to you, but I don't think 26 days is nearly enough to determine whether or not you need a change in direction, especially if you made a major change like introducing weight training.

I've got stuff on hand for about another week the way I've been eating, so I'll give it a bit longer. If no progress (weight/measurements), then I'll switch it up. Just hate the feeling of spinning my wheels.
 

Ixian

Member
I've got stuff on hand for about another week the way I've been eating, so I'll give it a bit longer. If no progress (weight/measurements), then I'll switch it up. Just hate the feeling of spinning my wheels.
I'd recommend taking measurements in addition to your scale weight. Here's a good article I linked about that in another thread, there's a diagram of measurements to take in #1. If you decide to switch things up, I'd recommend reading more articles on that site as it's the protocol I'm following and I love it dearly. Let me know if you have any questions.
 

Schlep

Member
I'd recommend taking measurements in addition to your scale weight.
Yep, have been. Waist has gone down .6" since the beginning, but not much other movement. Even then, I was thinking an inch or two would be more realistic given the timeframe.
 

Ixian

Member
Yep, have been. Waist has gone down .6" since the beginning, but not much other movement. Even then, I was thinking an inch or two would be more realistic given the timeframe.
I've lost a little over an inch myself in the past month, but again, different diet, too.

What do your macros look like?
 
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Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
~75-175g carbs depending on whether or not it's a training day
~75-125g fat
~150-175g protein

I'd recommend going much lower carb, a bit lower protein, and higher fat, except after a training session (preferable late-afternoon/evening) where you can go hog wild with the carbs.

This kind of cyclical carb-up allows you take advantage of a variety of things to partition nutrition where you want it to go and strategically refill muscle glycogen. It's pretty much using carbs like a drug.

I've seen a lot of people find great success doing this while lifting fairly heavy. Not going to say it's perfect for everybody, though.
 

Schlep

Member
Sounds like you're pretty much describing carb backloading. I've really thought about giving it a try and seeing what it does.
 

Ixian

Member
Is that 125g of fat on training days? If so, is it with the 175g of carbs? That seems high to me. I'm the same height as you, I eat 185g carbs / 55g fat on training days and 50g carbs / 70g fat on training days, for example.
 

Schlep

Member
Is that 125g of fat on training days? If so, is it with the 175g of carbs? That seems high to me. I'm the same height as you, I eat 185g carbs / 55g fat on training days and 50g carbs / 70g fat on training days, for example.
No, fat and carbs pretty much flip depending on the day. Protein stays consistent. That's what I'm talking about with lowering the fat, because right now it's about 33% on a training day and 55% on an off day.

That means an average training day would be something like 35% P/ 33% F/ 32% C, and off would be 35% P/ 55% F/ 10% C. I'm thinking of switching to closer to 50% P/ 20 % F/ 30% C on training days and possibly leaving off days the same for now.
 
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