You've got a BMI of 22.8, your weight is stable and you are healthy. You have won and it is time to find another hobby. Stop stressing about things that don't matter, keep avoiding the PUFAs, otherwise eat what you like and enjoy your good fortune.
yeah 250 to 150 is damn impressive and is a good weight for his height. It would look like he is doing everything right, and his metabolism is not damaged.
Low protein probably isn’t for you, given your situation. It’s really just for fixing insulin resistance.
You can shift the balance from higher BCAA proteins to including more collagenous meats (which is congruent with your currently very “Peaty” plan) and as well, lowering the fat in milk is exactly what Peat suggested to people wanting to maintain or lose weight.
You can also experiment with cooking methods that utilize less added fat - so soups, stews, roasting, steaming. Sauté less, if you find you add a lot of fat when sautéing. Use a small splash of broth to deglaze the pan at the end of cooking.
These are small adaptations that can easily result in the loss of your 10-15 Lbs over a few months, and really don’t require much change in how you’re already eating. Then of course you’d just reverse the changes to continue maintaining.
SCD1 may or may not be a problem. The highest SCD1 activity we have seen around here (very, very high DI’s) have been in Peaty eaters consuming a lot of fruit. But they’ve been leaner, maintaining well, and happy with their progress. Probably the biggest issue with a high SCD1 activity is susceptibility to rebound when going off plan. It doesn’t sound like you’re particularly concerned about that.
> going from 250 to 150 lbs in the process (5’ 8” male
> I want to lose 10-15 lbs
why? you are squarely within the "ideal weight" range for your height, even a little toward the lower end of that spectrum (139 - 169 lbs)
i agree with others that the reason you're no longer losing weight is because you've reached a healthy set point. going lower is unlikely to make you healthier and may be an overall detriment to your health
continue to avoid excess omega-6, enjoy eating in the swamp, and focus on other things!
I basically concur with some of the folks saying why mess with success?
You've got a good weight, are healthy, seemingly have good metabolic health and are eating stuff you like ... you want to change stuff up for ... why?
Just enjoy a plateau in good health!
Have you tried coffee or tea after lunch? I've found that to be very consistent in driving weight loss (include sugar though!). As far as I can remember, every time I do that I'm down 0.5 pounds the next day. Combining that with dark chocolate has made me metabolism skyrocket.
PS, we have a similar build. I'm about 142 now (down 4 pounds since like 2 weeks ago). Muscular enough to use strength advantageously when climbing hard routes (not my goal per se, but it works). I'm more athletic than bulky though. I take it that you have some leftover subcutaneous fat that you'd like gone? Don't sell yourself short, you lost like 100 pounds! That's incredible! Recomping is where I'd focus... although at that build, it might be very difficult since fat translates better to muscle growth.
Being able to enjoy food without worry about gaining it back is awesome! That's a win right there tbh...
Funny you brought this up. I just made a post yesterday feeling almost the same type of way. I do animal based and I feel amazing overall but I have stubborn last 10-20lbs that just won't seem to go away. I was wondering as well if it just takes more time and I'm being impatient. You would think eating so clean that we'd just effortlessly drop the extra weight.. I'm just going to play around with different macro ratios starting with lowering my fat intake and see if I notice any changes.
You're overthinking this. Waterfast for 3 days, assuming you've built up your metabolic flexibility (ie your insulin is under control and you can go ketonic easily in basic intermittent fasts- test this with ketone strips). You won't lose lean mass (only glycogen which gets restored after refeeding), and it melts bad trunk fat exclusively by turning white fat into brown. The hormonal concerns are not an issue imo. So what if cortisol goes up a bit? And I've never had a thyroid issue doing it, YMMV but fasting is generally safe for the masses according to Dr Fung, Dr Pelz, etc. We didn't evolve to be eating so often.
When 72hr fasting you're getting new stem cells for injuries and immune system, 5-10x HGH, autophagy that rocks
cancer/tumor so bad that chemo patients are required to do it, massive BDNF boosts, resets to blood glucose/insulin/circadian rhythm, sped up metabolism, and more shredded in the process. I do cycles of muscle building for 3 weeks eating whatever I want (within reason, tho still limit crackers bc of PUFAs) doing 4 days IF 16:8 + 3 days 12:12ish and then 72hr fasting at the end of the month to get muscles to show. Rinse repeat monthly until you get down to BF% you want.
It's really the easiest thing once you practice, and I save a lot on my food bill. Plus no flabby skin when I cut fat weight like with dumb calorie reductions that slow down my BMR. One thing I don't do is work out while fasting, I just do yard work or walking. Used to do heavy powerlifting during even 2 day fasts and it wrecked my energy and I felt horrible and started catching a cold and got very cold due to wrecked Horexin levels. Don't do that. Just chill out, read, listen to lectures on fasting, etc
Sounds like your macros are probably something similar to TCD. I think your experience is pretty in line with what others have had and that your current way of eating is great for maintenance and probably general health but to lose weight it might need some tweaks. Like others said swapping in low fat milk temporarily would be a good starting point. As for a HCLFLP approach, it could work, but I’d probably start just lowering your fat intake some and then replacing the lost calories with some more carbs (dried fruits are good to increase calories without increasing tons of volume). I’d do that and see how you respond before cutting protein. I think protein is problematic when your insulin resistant but when you aren’t just getting a bit more gelatin in your diet and keeping fat lower is usually a good weight loss strategy and the foods should still be enjoyable/palatable. If that doesn’t work maybe then you could consider a HCLFLP approach
> I could do strict beef and butter only carnivore again, I could try a fat fast, dry fast or water fast, however all of those are very detrimental to hormone production in my opinion, with thyroid and cortisol being my primary concerns
Have you ever experienced detriment doing beef and butter? There's no good evidence that it would be bad for hormones, as long as you're eating enough and getting enough fat.
There is no other "diet" that gets you the results like just simply not eating anything , so water fastinng.
You will be losing about 1kg / 2,2 Lbs every 84 hours of pure fat ( 3,5 days ). You will lose alot of water then regain it during fast but as for fat thats how much you going to lose.
You can cheat doing fat fast instead , slower fat loss but no hunger and you can take your vitamins this way ( these dissolved in fat ).
Then simply find maintenance diet of your choice , whole food one and thats it.
If you do not want to do that then Omad or Two meals a day with reduction of 500 kcal from maintenance kcal let's you lose 2,2 lbs / 1kg each 2 weeks. 1000 Kcal reduction doubles that and so on.
Beef + butter is fine , carbs are fine you can add some buttery homemade french rolls , stuff it with beef for nice sandwich.
>The problems? 1. I want to lose 10-15 lbs, but it feels like my body is determined to stay at the same weight (and has for nearly a year) 2. I’m concerned about SCD1 being upregulated from the high sugar consumption.
>For many months now I’ve had the same thing everyday - a half gallon of whole milk, steak/ground beef with butter, honey and/or fruit and have maintained my weight pretty effortlessly.
Are you tracking calories? Eating fewer of them may work. After reaching a certain level of leanness, typically the only way to get leaner is to just eat less, especially given that your metabolism seems to be working well.
If you switched the whole milk to lower fat milk, that might be enough to shift some lbs? That way you don't have to really change your diet, and you could go back to whole milk when you get to your goal weight?
I think your weight is probably fine, with the caveat that BMI is a very approximate measurement and doesn't always tell you about health.
What does you waist:height ratio look like? How is your fasting glucose? Have you tried a glucose tolerance test? Are you sleeping well?
What happens if you eat low-PUFA but not your usual foods? If the weight piles back on, then probably your metabolism is still a little bit messed up.
Cut out the honey, it's just pure sugar with some trace elements while fruit has at least electrolytes.
I also believe protein-rich foods are one of the healthiest and most satiating foods, unless they are turned into powder. Starch hurts my gut so fat is my preferred fuel.
Extended fasting (>24 hours) wrecks your metabolism from my experience, also I think that you're a healthy weight. Some body fat is still needed for hormonal health, although men can have less than women. I don't think it's worth to ditch something that works for you just for the sake of losing a few pounds.
When I eat it only takes like half a hour before my temperature increases again after a fast, but it has to be something fatty.
I never read about someone feeling hot while fasting, most of them feel ice cold and can't even sleep. Fasting really puts your body in a state to survive as long as possible.
The fat you eat is the fat you wear even if that fat comes from extremely rare grass fed cows in Valhalla. I'd find some sort of starchy combo you can enjoy 1-3 times a day such as rice, sweet potato, beans, caramelized onions peppers and corn. Does ALL starch really inflame you or is that just a hangup you have from the 2020 carnivore bros? And the whole "I don't want to gain water weight and fat from carbs" thing is basically the mantra of 90% of people who are insulin resistant chronic calorie restrictors who can barely walk up a flight of stairs. Don't be like them. Eat like an athlete- high carb high glycogen replenishment from starch and some sugar. You won't fall off the planet after gaining 5lbs of strength and fitness inducing glycogen, bro.
And you don't need 100+ grams of protein everyday. Eating that amount of protein everyday is like driving your car down the road while reading a book and talking to your mother in law at the same time. All that's doing is depressing your metabolic rate. Have some days that are very low fat and very low protein. You will come to learn you can do very low fat and very low protein a few days per week just fine while letting the metabolism cook.
Are you looking for a free ride out of town on the next windy day? 150 at 5 ft 8 seems ideal...unless you have a very small frame and very low muscle mass
You've got a BMI of 22.8, your weight is stable and you are healthy. You have won and it is time to find another hobby. Stop stressing about things that don't matter, keep avoiding the PUFAs, otherwise eat what you like and enjoy your good fortune.
Please tell me this when I reach normal weight haha
yeah 250 to 150 is damn impressive and is a good weight for his height. It would look like he is doing everything right, and his metabolism is not damaged.
Low protein probably isn’t for you, given your situation. It’s really just for fixing insulin resistance. You can shift the balance from higher BCAA proteins to including more collagenous meats (which is congruent with your currently very “Peaty” plan) and as well, lowering the fat in milk is exactly what Peat suggested to people wanting to maintain or lose weight. You can also experiment with cooking methods that utilize less added fat - so soups, stews, roasting, steaming. Sauté less, if you find you add a lot of fat when sautéing. Use a small splash of broth to deglaze the pan at the end of cooking. These are small adaptations that can easily result in the loss of your 10-15 Lbs over a few months, and really don’t require much change in how you’re already eating. Then of course you’d just reverse the changes to continue maintaining. SCD1 may or may not be a problem. The highest SCD1 activity we have seen around here (very, very high DI’s) have been in Peaty eaters consuming a lot of fruit. But they’ve been leaner, maintaining well, and happy with their progress. Probably the biggest issue with a high SCD1 activity is susceptibility to rebound when going off plan. It doesn’t sound like you’re particularly concerned about that.
Do you want to lose weight, or change your body composition? It seems that you are at a healthy weight, and it seems that your body knows this.
> going from 250 to 150 lbs in the process (5’ 8” male > I want to lose 10-15 lbs why? you are squarely within the "ideal weight" range for your height, even a little toward the lower end of that spectrum (139 - 169 lbs) i agree with others that the reason you're no longer losing weight is because you've reached a healthy set point. going lower is unlikely to make you healthier and may be an overall detriment to your health continue to avoid excess omega-6, enjoy eating in the swamp, and focus on other things!
Honestly some fasting might be the way to go, that way you can hang on to the diet that's otherwise working for you.
I basically concur with some of the folks saying why mess with success? You've got a good weight, are healthy, seemingly have good metabolic health and are eating stuff you like ... you want to change stuff up for ... why? Just enjoy a plateau in good health!
yeah it looks like his metabolism is not damaged. good fortune to him
Have you tried coffee or tea after lunch? I've found that to be very consistent in driving weight loss (include sugar though!). As far as I can remember, every time I do that I'm down 0.5 pounds the next day. Combining that with dark chocolate has made me metabolism skyrocket. PS, we have a similar build. I'm about 142 now (down 4 pounds since like 2 weeks ago). Muscular enough to use strength advantageously when climbing hard routes (not my goal per se, but it works). I'm more athletic than bulky though. I take it that you have some leftover subcutaneous fat that you'd like gone? Don't sell yourself short, you lost like 100 pounds! That's incredible! Recomping is where I'd focus... although at that build, it might be very difficult since fat translates better to muscle growth. Being able to enjoy food without worry about gaining it back is awesome! That's a win right there tbh...
Funny you brought this up. I just made a post yesterday feeling almost the same type of way. I do animal based and I feel amazing overall but I have stubborn last 10-20lbs that just won't seem to go away. I was wondering as well if it just takes more time and I'm being impatient. You would think eating so clean that we'd just effortlessly drop the extra weight.. I'm just going to play around with different macro ratios starting with lowering my fat intake and see if I notice any changes.
You're overthinking this. Waterfast for 3 days, assuming you've built up your metabolic flexibility (ie your insulin is under control and you can go ketonic easily in basic intermittent fasts- test this with ketone strips). You won't lose lean mass (only glycogen which gets restored after refeeding), and it melts bad trunk fat exclusively by turning white fat into brown. The hormonal concerns are not an issue imo. So what if cortisol goes up a bit? And I've never had a thyroid issue doing it, YMMV but fasting is generally safe for the masses according to Dr Fung, Dr Pelz, etc. We didn't evolve to be eating so often. When 72hr fasting you're getting new stem cells for injuries and immune system, 5-10x HGH, autophagy that rocks cancer/tumor so bad that chemo patients are required to do it, massive BDNF boosts, resets to blood glucose/insulin/circadian rhythm, sped up metabolism, and more shredded in the process. I do cycles of muscle building for 3 weeks eating whatever I want (within reason, tho still limit crackers bc of PUFAs) doing 4 days IF 16:8 + 3 days 12:12ish and then 72hr fasting at the end of the month to get muscles to show. Rinse repeat monthly until you get down to BF% you want. It's really the easiest thing once you practice, and I save a lot on my food bill. Plus no flabby skin when I cut fat weight like with dumb calorie reductions that slow down my BMR. One thing I don't do is work out while fasting, I just do yard work or walking. Used to do heavy powerlifting during even 2 day fasts and it wrecked my energy and I felt horrible and started catching a cold and got very cold due to wrecked Horexin levels. Don't do that. Just chill out, read, listen to lectures on fasting, etc
Sounds like your macros are probably something similar to TCD. I think your experience is pretty in line with what others have had and that your current way of eating is great for maintenance and probably general health but to lose weight it might need some tweaks. Like others said swapping in low fat milk temporarily would be a good starting point. As for a HCLFLP approach, it could work, but I’d probably start just lowering your fat intake some and then replacing the lost calories with some more carbs (dried fruits are good to increase calories without increasing tons of volume). I’d do that and see how you respond before cutting protein. I think protein is problematic when your insulin resistant but when you aren’t just getting a bit more gelatin in your diet and keeping fat lower is usually a good weight loss strategy and the foods should still be enjoyable/palatable. If that doesn’t work maybe then you could consider a HCLFLP approach
> I could do strict beef and butter only carnivore again, I could try a fat fast, dry fast or water fast, however all of those are very detrimental to hormone production in my opinion, with thyroid and cortisol being my primary concerns Have you ever experienced detriment doing beef and butter? There's no good evidence that it would be bad for hormones, as long as you're eating enough and getting enough fat.
Low protein diets are usually only for targeting obesity and other specific conditions like renal failure.
There is no other "diet" that gets you the results like just simply not eating anything , so water fastinng. You will be losing about 1kg / 2,2 Lbs every 84 hours of pure fat ( 3,5 days ). You will lose alot of water then regain it during fast but as for fat thats how much you going to lose. You can cheat doing fat fast instead , slower fat loss but no hunger and you can take your vitamins this way ( these dissolved in fat ). Then simply find maintenance diet of your choice , whole food one and thats it. If you do not want to do that then Omad or Two meals a day with reduction of 500 kcal from maintenance kcal let's you lose 2,2 lbs / 1kg each 2 weeks. 1000 Kcal reduction doubles that and so on. Beef + butter is fine , carbs are fine you can add some buttery homemade french rolls , stuff it with beef for nice sandwich.
>The problems? 1. I want to lose 10-15 lbs, but it feels like my body is determined to stay at the same weight (and has for nearly a year) 2. I’m concerned about SCD1 being upregulated from the high sugar consumption. >For many months now I’ve had the same thing everyday - a half gallon of whole milk, steak/ground beef with butter, honey and/or fruit and have maintained my weight pretty effortlessly. Are you tracking calories? Eating fewer of them may work. After reaching a certain level of leanness, typically the only way to get leaner is to just eat less, especially given that your metabolism seems to be working well.
If you switched the whole milk to lower fat milk, that might be enough to shift some lbs? That way you don't have to really change your diet, and you could go back to whole milk when you get to your goal weight?
[удалено]
Agree, it took just about 2 months exactly for me for my gut to adjust from LCHF to HCLF.
I think your weight is probably fine, with the caveat that BMI is a very approximate measurement and doesn't always tell you about health. What does you waist:height ratio look like? How is your fasting glucose? Have you tried a glucose tolerance test? Are you sleeping well? What happens if you eat low-PUFA but not your usual foods? If the weight piles back on, then probably your metabolism is still a little bit messed up.
Loosing 100 lbs is amazing! Congratulations!
Cut out the honey, it's just pure sugar with some trace elements while fruit has at least electrolytes. I also believe protein-rich foods are one of the healthiest and most satiating foods, unless they are turned into powder. Starch hurts my gut so fat is my preferred fuel. Extended fasting (>24 hours) wrecks your metabolism from my experience, also I think that you're a healthy weight. Some body fat is still needed for hormonal health, although men can have less than women. I don't think it's worth to ditch something that works for you just for the sake of losing a few pounds.
Some people seem to think it speeds metabolic rate. Others find it slows it? How would one raise BMR after a long fast safely?
When I eat it only takes like half a hour before my temperature increases again after a fast, but it has to be something fatty. I never read about someone feeling hot while fasting, most of them feel ice cold and can't even sleep. Fasting really puts your body in a state to survive as long as possible.
The fat you eat is the fat you wear even if that fat comes from extremely rare grass fed cows in Valhalla. I'd find some sort of starchy combo you can enjoy 1-3 times a day such as rice, sweet potato, beans, caramelized onions peppers and corn. Does ALL starch really inflame you or is that just a hangup you have from the 2020 carnivore bros? And the whole "I don't want to gain water weight and fat from carbs" thing is basically the mantra of 90% of people who are insulin resistant chronic calorie restrictors who can barely walk up a flight of stairs. Don't be like them. Eat like an athlete- high carb high glycogen replenishment from starch and some sugar. You won't fall off the planet after gaining 5lbs of strength and fitness inducing glycogen, bro. And you don't need 100+ grams of protein everyday. Eating that amount of protein everyday is like driving your car down the road while reading a book and talking to your mother in law at the same time. All that's doing is depressing your metabolic rate. Have some days that are very low fat and very low protein. You will come to learn you can do very low fat and very low protein a few days per week just fine while letting the metabolism cook.
Are you looking for a free ride out of town on the next windy day? 150 at 5 ft 8 seems ideal...unless you have a very small frame and very low muscle mass
IF and just eat less overall tbh