Weight Loss Thread

I workout at 5 AM, when I leave the gym I'm typically shaking all over the place and I don't eat until I get to work at 9.

Sucks ass. I couldn't imagine waiting 3 more hours.

I wonder how much these fasting diets are an improvement for people who are lean and already follow a "clean" diet. Is that who they are being tested on?

Just read the 5 day fasting thing. It sounds like another fancy way to get people to pay attention to yet another diet strategy to me. I didn't read anything new or controversial about it. Restrict calories and you'll be healthier! It's couched as fasting itself is the reason, which maybe is better than straight maintenance eating, I don't know.

Warmuth_sl said:

I wonder how much these fasting diets are an improvement for people who are lean and already follow a "clean" diet. Is that who they are being tested on?

Just read the 5 day fasting thing. It sounds like another fancy way to get people to pay attention to yet another diet strategy to me. I didn't read anything new or controversial about it. Restrict calories and you'll be healthier! It's couched as fasting itself is the reason, which maybe is better than straight maintenance eating, I don't know.

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In the article, the guy says that people at 18 or less BMI or people taking insulin (read: sugar regulation issues) shouldn't do the lowered diet. It goes without saying that the harsher in a short time frame actual fast is definitely a no-no. Basically, these crash diet deals work if you have a bunch of fat to burn off, such as being overweight/obese. If you are lean already and you aren't eating shitloads of carbs to turn into fast acting sugars with ease, fasting accelerates the rate at which you reach cellular damage. Not to mention, since you are already low on carbs in the diet already, you will go to your non-existent fat stores a lot faster, and muscle mass will decline shortly thereafter.

And as far as I've read, there are almost no examples of non-obese/cancer patients people being involved in the tests from USC that have already been published. If you follow the rabbit hole a little on the head guy, one of the most recent interviews from like June says that they are in the middle of a 70 person blind random clinical test with short term fasting and trying to prove his insulin suppresant stuff isn't just in fat rats and cancer patients. For the reasons I mentioned above (the "risks" of fasting in general), multi-day super low calorie deals will put you into muscle-consumption mode much faster than a normal metered diet would, and would mostly offer risks as you aren't getting improved bloodflow to the brain such as the fatties would to give you the feeling of having a clear head.

Honestly, the 5 day fasting-lite diet is really just your average crash short term diet, with a bit tighter control on what you eat during those 5 days than some diets. It isn't even actually fasting; it's caloric restriction rebranded. Actual fasting means you aren't taking in calories at all; no eating or drinking fortified beverages. Which is why multi-day fasting is terrible in the real world, but these "skip breakfast" type fasting gimmicks, such as the diet, are literally just calorie restiction (you know, consuming less than you use in calories) with stuff to attract the yoga-hippy set.

Which, in hindsight, is what the USC testing is really working with. Many "IF" related results are attributed to fasting but are actually just timed caloric restriction over 24 hours, not a full 24 hour no-calorie block. Really looking like misleading hippy bullshit science again. =|

Rezz_sl said:

Many "IF" related results are attributed to fasting but are actually just timed caloric restriction over 24 hours, not a full 24 hour no-calorie block. Really looking like misleading hippy bullshit science again. =|

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Yup. You can't sell a new book titled "eat less move more." Ossoi won't buy that shit. Unless it comes with coconut oil.

I just find it funny that fasting in and of itself is touted as having all these miracle benefits that come from simply not being fat. Thanks for wading into all that bullshit though, I don't have the patience.

Warmuth_sl said:

I just find it funny that fasting in and of itself is touted as having all these miracle benefits that come from simply not being fat. Thanks for wading into all that bullshit though, I don't have the patience.

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Just look towards the multi-billion dollar industry that weight loss has become. A country full of drug addicts looking for a way to keep getting high without dying young.

My uncle (40+BMI) is a brilliant software engineer. Makes crazy bucks as a consultant. Super smart man. He made a comment once about how he heard nuts were good for him so he bought a bunch of Costco-sized containers. Then, weeks later, he miraculously looked at the nutrition info and realized he was eating 1k+ calories of nuts every time he went to the container.

I didn't even know what to say. I'd expect a child to know how to figure out how many calories are in a portion of nuts -- I'd expect a grown man to vaguely know he needs to eat around 2500 calories a day dependent upon physical activity. Said man should also intuitively understand that consuming %100+ of one's daily allotment in nuts is not healthy long-term. It's tough for me to reconcile high IQ + work ethic with such an event.

I'd argue that part of the problem is that a grown man, leading a sedentary lifestyle, such as what most of us live these days, does NOT need to eat 2500 or even 2000 calories a day. And people that are overweight should be eating UNDER maintenance. The government's recommendations have been shit my entire life. The food pyramid I was taught as a child was completely ass-backwards, and they drilled that "a man needs 2500 calories a day, women eat 2000" bullshit way more than it should have been.

Back when those charts were made, most men were likely doing factory work or other hard labor jobs. It made sense back then but yeah, it needs to be revised.

So this is a thing. I did a single entry so far just to play with it for one of my monthly pictures. Puts me between my scale and DEXA scans so at least it is close to other methods. Will have to keep track of it, seems neat.

Body Analytics | BodyWHAT

I've been doing intermittent fasting since May 15 and I've lost about 40 lbs. People keep talking about how it's impossible to stick to but I just don't eat before 6 PM then eat whatever I want. Seems like a pretty simple lifestyle to me. First few days were hard but now I don't even get hungry until 4 or so. Think I'm gonna do it for a year and reevaluate.

Eh, that's just normal caloric restriction if you are eating every day, just at regulated hours. Your body doesn't go "OH SHIT BURN EVERYTHING!" If you don't eat for 12 hours, or 16. It's after you burn through any sugars in your system over the first 24-36 hours of non-intake that you are actually fasting. Sounds like what you are doing is working, but I would say that the weight loss is directly related to you consuming less calories total per day than you are burning, regardless of what time each day you eat. The scheduling is just helping you mentally stay with it.

The "real" intermittent fasting is when you don't eat for 24 hours at a stretch, and then eat normally other days of the week. That is a much more difficult thing to stick to than skipping breakfast and lunch followed by a big dinner. Either way, good on you for making progress~

Gilgamel_sl said:

I've been doing intermittent fasting since May 15 and I've lost about 40 lbs. People keep talking about how it's impossible to stick to but I just don't eat before 6 PM then eat whatever I want. Seems like a pretty simple lifestyle to me. First few days were hard but now I don't even get hungry until 4 or so. Think I'm gonna do it for a year and reevaluate.

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This is similar to what I started doing. It's really the only thing that has stuck. I had some pretty severe hunger pangs/headaches the first few days, but those went away. It may not be the healthiest, or fastest way to lose weight, but it's working for me. Really just eat one meal a day now, and some days not even that, though I still eat a few handfuls of peanuts, get my coffee etc, so still getting some calories. My caloric intake is down significantly, whether it's the 'right' way or not, I'm losing real weight for the first time in years.

Ubiquitrips_sl said:

So this is a thing. I did a single entry so far just to play with it for one of my monthly pictures. Puts me between my scale and DEXA scans so at least it is close to other methods. Will have to keep track of it, seems neat.

Body Analytics | BodyWHAT

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Did not expect it to be accurate, but came within 1% of caliper test I did very recently.

I definitely over ate last week and as penance I decided to give biking to work another try. I am going to give my body some time to acclimate, but boy am I going to have to develop a different relationship with food. I think this is definitely a case for do more / eat more. It isn't terribly far, but I will bike around 20 miles per day depending on route. If Strava is within 10 - 20% for calories this will net me quite a bit more food to work with over the week. I am not going to be super hard core about biking and do all weather, but if it isn't going to rain I have at least a couple more months I would be able to bike. Hopefully at least 4 - 5 days of biking over the course of a week in addition to BJJ. The month of September is going to be the first full month for tracking. I am within 12 pounds of my goal. Hopefully I can shed that before Winter and start my first bulk.

The secondary benefit of this is it may help me to start getting up early enough for a morning workout in general in the winter. I decided I am too flaky to lift on non-BJJ days as I don't like working out every day of the week. However, I could lift mornings of BJJ days and still have my recovery days mixed in. I get excited just thinking about it.

I think the most difficult thing to do is not get all sorts of neat gadgets. I am not a bike guy and I don't need the fastest bike. I just want to get to work in decent time, have enough storage, and be comfortable doing it. If I keep this up until snow fall I would consider it a win and perhaps reward myself with a new bike next year. I have a 2008 Trek fx 7.2 right now that is getting the job done just fine for now.

I love biking 5 to 7 hours and then pigging out on pizza rolls and sugar cookies. I could ride to work but I dont want to be sweating when I get there. How do people who walk or ride to work deal with the sweat?

The sweat thing was my main concern as well. In my case, the mornings are cool enough and I am not going all out during biking to work up much of a sweat. On the way home, I am going home, and don't care as much.

McCheese_sl said:

I love biking 5 to 7 hours and then pigging out on pizza rolls and sugar cookies. I could ride to work but I dont want to be sweating when I get there. How do people who walk or ride to work deal with the sweat?

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I was at a friend's place over the weekend, and another couple showed up with these goofy looking fat bikes that have electric motors in the rear hub. There's five different assist settings. All you do is just pedal like you normally would, and the electric motor shoves you along. You could ride the damn thing 30 km/h while barely putting in any effort. No idea what kind of range they have on the highest assist setting, but it was pretty awesome actually. If I were to ever seriously consider commuting to work on a bike, I'd probably do it on one of those. I sweat like a motherfucker with any physical activity, even just a brisk walk.

McCheese_sl said:

I love biking 5 to 7 hours and then pigging out on pizza rolls and sugar cookies. I could ride to work but I dont want to be sweating when I get there. How do people who walk or ride to work deal with the sweat?

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I sweat while at work so it's a non issue for me, but the people I know who bike commute to an office will usually have a shower on site or at least a change of clothes and time to cooldown before they go to work.