Weight Loss Thread

The first guy has love handles.

The second doesn't.

Which do you want to be? Fat faggot up top, or the skinny pussy below?

Better to be a top than a bottom imo.

Itlan_sl said:

Also, do you guys have a diet plan you followed? Or a list of items valuable within the keto diet? Cause aside from avocados, I don't really enjoy most fatty foods. Maybe some dairy?

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Depends on how you are going to tackle meals. I currently do a fat bomb (coffee, butter, coconut oil) in a thermos M - F. This takes care of my breakfast and lunch. Just have to worry about dinner past that point.

If you want to do a more normal breakfast / lunch / dinner scenario I would run with with the standard way to make meals, just drop the carbs. Pick a protein and vegetable and run with it.

From my weekly dinners etc, here are some of the things I eat regularly. You will find that butter gets added to most vegetables to up the fat count in a day. Crock pots are great. I end up having some go to sides most of the week and add protein to it.

Sides
Asparagus
Broccoli
Zucchini
Eggplant
Peppers
Onion

Protein
Buffalo Chicken w/ Blue Cheese crumbles (just make sure it doesn't have sugar)
Tacos minus the taco. Hamburger, peppers, onions, avacado, sour cream, cheese, lettuce
Sausage, peppers, onions, zuchinni sauteed in butter
Crock pot ribs
Baked Salmon / Halibut
Scrambled eggs and carnitas
Eggs, eggs and more eggs (hope you like them, they are a go to for this diet)

I am on the grass fed bandwagon. I try and get all of my meat either grass fed, free range, or wild caught. Noticeable difference? Only in price so far.

I end up turning to pickles, nuts, and cheese for snacks. Just be careful as some of that adds up quickly for calories.

If you need a treat, extremely dark chocolate is a good source of sweet. I am trying out sugar free jello today because I saw it at the store and it looked good.

I did start working out more intensely which has me modifying my diet slightly. I am taking in more carbs before my workouts (sweet potato). If you work through the carbs in your meal it doesn't seem to disrupt ketosis and helps the energy levels. However, you don't have to work out very hard to lose weight with this type of diet. I never had an energy problem with normal working out like yoga or running. Just high intensity was where I performed poorly.

Before you start this type of diet, I would recommend you visit your doctor and get your blood work done for cholesterol, etc. In theory, the diet is supposed to help that sort of thing. But it would be good to get a baseline to work from.

Itlan_sl said:

Is this how you know you're in ketosis? Or is it blood sugar levels?

Also, do you guys have a diet plan you followed? Or a list of items valuable within the keto diet? Cause aside from avocados, I don't really enjoy most fatty foods. Maybe some dairy?

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Lots of good books and plans out there on the web. I always recommend Atkins because I have personal experience with it. Most ketogenic diets are very similar. All the information you need as far as acceptable foods and suggested amounts is on the Atkins website. But reading the book is the best way to understand it and do it appropriately.

My last check-up was probably a year ago and all my vitals were absolutely perfect. I mean, I'm relatively young - 24.

And no, I fucking hate eggs, and I love alcohol. So I'm still debating attempting this lol.

Cholesterol's not a huge concern at your age, but things like thyroid and testosterone levels could be worth it to look into. Of course if your problem is just that you eat a lot of junk and don't exercise then they're unlikely to be the problem.

Anyone use kettlebells a lot? I've always done barbell/dumbbell stuff, but my new gym is pretty small and the benches and single power rack are often occupied. However, they have a wonderful collection of kettlebells that it seems like no one ever touches. I'm considering switching largely to those.

Ambiturner_sl said:

Cholesterol's not a huge concern at your age, but things like thyroid and testosterone levels could be worth it to look into. Of course if your problem is just that you eat a lot of junk and don't exercise then they're unlikely to be the problem.

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I'm not obese or anything lmao, 6'1 197 pounds, 16% body fat. I'm just trying to shed a little extra weight I've packed on the past few months from not going to the gym after starting full-time bullshit work.

My squat dropped more than 100 pounds, so this'll be fun.

McCheese_sl said:

Anyone use kettlebells a lot? I've always done barbell/dumbbell stuff, but my new gym is pretty small and the benches and single power rack are often occupied. However, they have a wonderful collection of kettlebells that it seems like no one ever touches. I'm considering switching largely to those.

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I added kettlebell swings and a few other kettlebell exercises to my workout a few months ago and I have enjoyed them. They are great for switching things up and they kick my ass. You can google/youtube kettlebell exercises to see you can hit just about every muscle group with them. But I am not sure if kettlebells are right for every goal, but if you want to get a mix of cardio and lifting then this is the way to go imo.

Hrmm, lots of people talking about keto in the last few pages. I've been eating fairly paleo, which seems to have some similar concepts. We eat a lot of meat and veg and have mostly cut out bread/wheat/pasta. We end up cooking a lot more, but have been feeling ridiculously healthy as a result.

Started 5 Jan at 6'4" and 253. Goal weight: 225, stretch goal 215. I'm at 230 now, and feel pretty comfortable that I'm on my way to hitting the weight goals. I think my favorite thing about eating this way is not giving a shit about portion size or calorie counting or any of that stuff or even thought about going to the gym. I'll still walk and will play tennis again once the weather gets nice but I've never enjoyed working out at the gym.

Pros of eating this way:
I have WAY more energy. This was true even when I was still around 250. It is pretty amazing how much better the body does when it gets the right fuel.
I feel healthier
I'm gradually losing weight without any other changes
I love the way we eat. Now that I've weaned myself off of excess sugar, regular food tastes really good. The roasted carrots we had for dinner were better than most candy I've ever had.

Downsides:
It can be more work, as we find we need to cook more
Total food bill is a bit higher due to the higher cost of meat/fish/fresh vegetables vs prepared foods

Not sure how close it is to keto (keto sounds like it tries to be high fat), but I'd definitely recommend giving it a look. I never had much success with calorie counting or forcing myself to stop eating sooner or any of that but it feels like eating this way has kicked my metabolism into high gear and I'm losing weight and have crazy amounts of energy as a result.

Did you cut out legumes?

Alright gentlemen, I just got the word back from my doctor and he is not amused. My cholesterol took a large jump in the wrong direction. Go figure, eating butter all the time etc can have a negative side effect. Anyway, before I freak out and get on some meds / change diet, various internet people seem to think that rapid weight loss mobilizes your bodies' stored fat. Because of this, you will have higher cholesterol, etc.

Now, is that just what I want to hear or is that legit? Internet is divided and I wanted to read a bit more before going to the doc. Some were recommending plateauing weight for 4 weeks before getting blood work done like this so results are not skewed.

I was going to get my blood work done in around 3 months once I had hit my initial goal. However, I was in the doctor's office for an unrelated item and he asked if I wanted to some blood work and I said sure.

So this might be a stupid question but... did you get a health check BEFORE you started dieting?

Dietary cholesterol doesn't increase your blood cholesterol. Pretty sure that one was figured out a long time ago. That's not 100% true, but in the people that dietary cholesteroldoesincrease it, it doesn't correlate to a higher incidence of heart disease.

Eliminate trans fats completely from your diet, and continue to lose weight. That should hopefully take care of it. It's up to you whether you want to believe me or not though. I'm obviously just some stranger on the interwebs.

Edit: And really, I agree with Khane. You probably should have had blood work done prior to that drastic of a change in your diet. It's entirely possible you had worse cholesterol before the change and you don't know it. You don't have a baseline, so "high" doesn't mean shit, outside of high compared to the entire population.

I had blood work done, not directly before, but about 6 months before I started to lose weight. Cholesterol was all 'normal' at that point. LDL was getting up a little, but within range. HDL was a bit low (like 41 instead of over 50). This time around HDL was up 20% but LDL was up around 80%. Overall cholesterol was up over 100%.

I gave my wife the final say because I don't think I can make rational decisions about this. Going to try the meds, modify the diet slightly to see if I can boost my HDL more while dropping LDL, exercise like I have been, and recheck in 3 months. If there is no improvement...I don't even know what I would do at that point. I have been eating like this for so long I don't know how to eat normal anymore.

I will check into trans fats. I don't think I am eating too many? Or by drop all, you mean natural sources like red meat? I haven't eaten the more common things on the trans fat list since I started the diet. Though, after looking around more I do eat ground beef / hot dogs / non dairy creamer from time to time.

Trans fats in natural foods is absolutely fine. We're talking about ordering a triple whopper from Burger King with 6g of trans fat.

And yeah, hot dogs and non-dairy creamer do not sound like good ideas to be ingesting regularly.

Ubiquitrips_sl said:

I had blood work done, not directly before, but about 6 months before I started to lose weight. Cholesterol was all 'normal' at that point. LDL was getting up a little, but within range. HDL was a bit low (like 41 instead of over 50). This time around HDL was up 20% but LDL was up around 80%. Overall cholesterol was up over 100%.

I gave my wife the final say because I don't think I can make rational decisions about this. Going to try the meds, modify the diet slightly to see if I can boost my HDL more while dropping LDL, exercise like I have been, and recheck in 3 months. If there is no improvement...I don't even know what I would do at that point. I have been eating like this for so long I don't know how to eat normal anymore.

I will check into trans fats. I don't think I am eating too many? Or by drop all, you mean natural sources like red meat? I haven't eaten the more common things on the trans fat list since I started the diet. Though, after looking around more I do eat ground beef / hot dogs / non dairy creamer from time to time.

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What were your HDL and LDL this last time and what's your age?

Ubiquitrips_sl said:

I had blood work done, not directly before, but about 6 months before I started to lose weight. Cholesterol was all 'normal' at that point. LDL was getting up a little, but within range. HDL was a bit low (like 41 instead of over 50). This time around HDL was up 20% but LDL was up around 80%. Overall cholesterol was up over 100%.

I gave my wife the final say because I don't think I can make rational decisions about this. Going to try the meds, modify the diet slightly to see if I can boost my HDL more while dropping LDL, exercise like I have been, and recheck in 3 months. If there is no improvement...I don't even know what I would do at that point. I have been eating like this for so long I don't know how to eat normal anymore.

I will check into trans fats. I don't think I am eating too many? Or by drop all, you mean natural sources like red meat? I haven't eaten the more common things on the trans fat list since I started the diet. Though, after looking around more I do eat ground beef / hot dogs / non dairy creamer from time to time.

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I don't know if you've mentioned this before but what does a typical day (honestly) look like for you as far as food intake? Not just "from time to time". Including what you cook your foods in. You mentioned butter earlier. Butter isn't necessarily the devil but if you cook everything in it every single time you cook instead of using a healthier fat like olive oil and eat 12 strips of bacon a day you aren't doing a low carb diet correctly.

Hey Keto folks, are there any "a la carte" Keto diet/workout plans out there, preferably from some sort of professional like a dr/dietician who has used it on a large(y) group of people? I surprisingly did not find any - maybe I'm not using the right keywords. One thing about the traditional plans is that you can go through it and learn the basics behind it and then afterwords tailor it to your needs.