Health & Family My low carb weight loss journal (LCHF)

Discussion in 'Living Room' started by Simon Hampel, 5th Jun, 2017.

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  1. Redwing

    Redwing Well-Known Member

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    What do Jesus, The Prophet Mohammed, and Buddha have in common? They all practiced fasting.

    No Cost Diet

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  2. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Given winter has been over for nearly 6 weeks already and only a couple of people have continued reporting their progress in the Biggest Loser thread, I thought I might continue to document my progress here.

    09/10/2017 - weight: 108.8kg - waist: 114.0cm

    Not a bad week - was down at 108.5kg earlier in the week, but I think Friday night's Chinese takeaway (which became Saturday and Sunday's leftovers) held me back a bit on the weekend.

    Still making progress though, so not unhappy.

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  3. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    16/10/2017 - weight: 108.2kg - waist: 113.0cm

    Little bit of a mixed week - was actually down around 107.6kg earlier in the week, but the weekend was a bit all over the place and there may or may not have been icecream mid-week (which my guts complained about for several days afterwards).

    Yet I'm still making progress - just not as quickly as I would like. Waist is still shrinking - skin is getting a bit saggy so I'm feeling a little "squishy" around the middle. Trying to hold out on getting new clothes for as long as possible while I'm still making progress - which means I'm now entering the "baggy zone".

    I did buy a couple of new tops the other day (at only $5 from Target - who cares if I only wear them for a few months!). It's great being able to shop in the regular sizes - no more Mr Big clothes for me.

    I had originally bought a 3XL in something a few months back, this time I bought the same top (in a different colour) and the 2XL felt like the better fit. Manufacturing tolerances notwithstanding - it is nice to be dropping sizes!

    At some point my large chest (as defined by my rib cage rather than the fat around it!) is going to be the limiting factor for clothing sizes. I'm pretty sure in recent weeks my waist size has become smaller than my chest size, so that's a good step in the right direction!

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  4. luckyone

    luckyone Well-Known Member

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    Well done on your weight loss Simon! I'm hoping to follow in your footsteps. I've been easing into it over the past couple of weeks. Today was my first full day of following the plan. I had ham, salad and brie cheese for lunch and then bacon and eggs for dinner. My worry is that I feel quite sick in the stomach. Is that normal?

    Also, how do you make your butter cocoa drink? I love hot chocolate, so maybe that will curb my cravings for it.
     
  5. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    If you're not used to the amount of fat, you may have to ease into it more - give yourself time to adapt. You could also simply be eating too much - try eating smaller serves. Only eat if you're actually hungry.

    Quite often I'll just have a small snack (a slice or two of cheese and/or salami) instead of a full meal - typically at lunchtime. For dinner I will often just eat the vegetables (usually a small amount of broccoli and cauliflower) and skip the meat - simply because I'm not that hungry.

    Recipe for butter cocoa here: Bulletproof or butter coffee / tea / cocoa
     
  6. luckyone

    luckyone Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Simon. I'm surprised if my body isn't used to that amount of fat, it's been badly abused for many, many years. Anyway, I'll cut down a bit today and see if it helps.

    Yep, I made sure I only ate when I was hungry, which was really hard for me to do as it's become such a bad habit to sit down in front of the telly and munch on some chips or chocolate. So many bad habits to break!

    The frustrating thing for me was I stopped all these bad habits many years ago when my gastric band was working. But as soon as it was discovered that it was causing my breathing problems, I had to get all of my fill removed. The hunger came back and all my bad habits very quickly reappeared. I've stacked back on 25kg of the 50kg I lost. Feels like I'm starting all over again! Hopefully this time I'll make habits that will stick with me forever.
     
  7. Graeme

    Graeme Well-Known Member

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    If you're struggling to keep weight off, which is often the hard part, there's evidence from an Australian study that a two weeks on / two weeks off diet might be more effective. Here's a link, the results have been pretty widely reported in recent weeks.

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170918222235.htm
     
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  8. luckyone

    luckyone Well-Known Member

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    That’s very interesting, but honestly I think if I took a two week break from a diet, I’d never go back on it. It would be so hard breaking bad habits again
     
  9. Gockie

    Gockie Life is good ☺️ Premium Member

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    A thought.
    How about engaging in some outdoor exercise or regular muscle building activities instead of sitting in front of the telly?
    I've got friends who would go to the beach to play beach volleyball after work.
    I was doing aerial tissue classes (and still intend to do more).
    Exercise can be fun. :)
     
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  10. Ace in the Hole

    Ace in the Hole Well-Known Member

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    Yep, physically activity, especially high intensity even if only in short bursts creates positive hormonal changes in your body.
    Without it your body will probably just be in sleep/hibernation mode.
     
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  11. luckyone

    luckyone Well-Known Member

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    Exercise is something I keep trying to start but always end up injuring myself and am then out of the game for weeks/months recovering.

    I do walk everyday, do at least 10,000 steps a day. One session at the gym is all it seems to take to end up with an injury and i'm out. And yes, I've tried a personal trainer and I still managed to injure myself. He said my technique was really good, so couldn't understand why my back gave out. Obviously need to build up my core strength, but not sure how without ending up injured.
     
  12. hobartchic

    hobartchic Well-Known Member

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    Low impact options could include swimming, small weights that still build up core (e.g. 1.3 kg), pilates (but learn correct technique) and stretches from a physio
     
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  13. Ace in the Hole

    Ace in the Hole Well-Known Member

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    The most likely reason for the injuries is - Too Much Too Soon.
    Even if you did use good form and your body was engaging and activating the targeted muscles, you will still get injured if your body is loaded with more than it can handle, at the time.
     
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  14. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    This is exactly why I am not a fan of the "you simply have to move more to lose weight" school of thinking - that implies that you CAN move more, and if you happen to get sick or injured, then it's impossible to maintain any momentum and thus your progress stalls or you go backwards because you aren't able to move as much as you need to.

    I have found in my own situation that there is an inflection point where everything simply becomes easier and it is possible to move more - now that I've changed the way I eat and lost significant amounts of weight, I can move more, walking to the shops, choosing the stairs over the escalator or lift, any kind of exercise - it's all so much easier now than when I was significantly more overweight.

    When you are so large (and consuming as much as you need to keep your energy levels up), the amount you need to move to make any progress with weight loss is very significant - and much much harder to do than someone who is not really obese. The risk of injury is much much higher, and the effort involved often makes you so hungry you end up consuming more in food afterwards than you burned off from the exercise - thus negating the benefit.

    There was a study done last year which demonstrates this problem - in approximately 30% of subjects, the total energy expenditure plateaued as physical activity increased.

    It's called Constrained Total Energy Expenditure and investigates metabolic adaptation to physical activity.

    [​IMG]

    The conclusion was that as physical activity increased, corresponding "resting" activity decreased to compensate - ie there is a limit to the amount of total physical plus non-physical activity that can be achieved.

    This of course would mean that if the total activity levels are not able to be increased to the level required to achieve sustainable weight loss - it's never going to happen without other factors (ie diet) changing.

    Read more: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(15)01577-8

    Exercise alone won't cause weight loss, study shows

    Here is another article (behind a paywall unfortunately) about the "exercise paradox" - The Exercise Paradox

    Basically:

    Simply put, [exercise] doesn’t work because our bodies adjust to more ‘calories out’ by making us hungrier. Plus, according to a recent study, people who are very physically active don’t necessarily burn more calories than others.​

    Now that I've lost weight, exercise has largely become trivial for me - I can do it whenever I feel like it, I can do more of it, and I can sustain much higher intensities for much longer periods of time - and I never feel cardiac distress, even when doing high intensity exercise for very long periods of time. Exercise no longer scares me because it no longer causes me distress, nor does it make me so hungry or take me hours (or days!) to recover from.

    I take issue with those who are already fit telling overweight people "you just have to move more", because it simply doesn't work that way and because they don't seem to comprehend what actually happens physiologically when you weigh that much. It's not about making excuses - we're talking fundamental physiological reasons why exercise simply doesn't work when you are so overweight.

    To continue to claim that exercise is "the answer" to weight loss (and the corresponding assertion or implication that if you aren't losing weight, it's because you aren't exercising enough or doing it right) basically has the effect of "shaming" those who have tried and failed.

    Yes, exercise will help you lose weight - yes, exercise is very important for your health. But it's not the main factor and exercise only becomes a useful tool if you aren't very overweight. Changing the way they eat is much more important for the very overweight people. The exercise can come later because trying to rely on it when you are very overweight is not going to work.

    "Going on a diet" is not the answer - because that implies "coming off a diet" ... it has to be a complete lifestyle change to make it sustainable. Changing bad habits, introducing new good habits, reducing metabolic stress on the body and letting the body heal itself.

    I have to believe that exercise is secondary to the way you eat because otherwise, it becomes impossible to lose weight if you are unable to exercise. What happens if you are seriously injured and wheelchair bound for an extended period (or for life?) - does that mean that you are without hope and cannot ever lose weight? What happens if you are bedridden for an extended period? Do you have to starve yourself because you aren't able to exercise? Relying on exercise only works if you CAN exercise.

    Not everyone can exercise. But everyone can change the way they eat.

    Fix the way you eat first and reduce the burden on your body - then exercise becomes a possibility and a tool you can use to help with your progress and to improve your health.

    I'm doing stuff now (both with my eating and with my exercise) I would not have even dreamed possible 2 years ago. I'm enjoying my exercise and it no longer scares me - and I no longer stress about my eating, because I know I can maintain momentum regardless of what I'm doing.
     
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  15. legallyblonde

    legallyblonde Well-Known Member

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    Half price Philly! So only $8 a kilo. Expiry in May 2018.

    LCHF cheesecake for Christmas lunch tomorrow.

    Still cannot believe how amazing I feel only eating 9 meals a week.
     

    Attached Files:

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  16. Pier1

    Pier1 Well-Known Member

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    9 meals a week?
    Wow
    How many snacks?
     
  17. legallyblonde

    legallyblonde Well-Known Member

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    Snacking breaks a fast ;) So no snacks! More than 50 calories breaks a fast. Although if I wake up feel that I need a boost I will have half a square of 85% dark choc (Coles brand is my fav). Two of those meals are my weekend lunches which are only a half meal/snack which I eat for satisfaction/enjoyment.
     
  18. Pier1

    Pier1 Well-Known Member

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    Would love to see a meal plan for this if you have time, mind you at just 9 meals a week wouldn't take too long
     
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  19. Terry_w

    Terry_w Lawyer, Tax Adviser and Mortgage broker in Sydney Business Member

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    If it was me they would be huge meals eaten over 4 hours.
     
  20. legallyblonde

    legallyblonde Well-Known Member

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    Took a while to get to this stage... Dinner is just red meat with boiled egg, mayo and veggies fried in butter (cauli, cabbage, asparagus, spring onion ect). Then for dessert I have cream cheese mixed with cocoa and sweetener or some 85% dark choc.

    Just remember your body takes a while to get far adapted. When I started I was eating three meals a day.... Took a few weeks to get to two meals a day.After two months I realised my lunch portions were so tiny that weren't even worth eating!
     
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