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Weight Loss Before/After Thread! (with pics)

LFG

Neophyte
SuperÑ said:
Believe me when i say i don't have a small head :lol Must be a perspective thing..

i don't think it's your head that looks small in the first couple of pics, but your arm looks almost too big for your body in the first photo. just perspective i guess.
 

hsukardi

Member
SuperÑ said:
Believe me when i say i don't have a small head :lol Must be a perspective thing..

@Masta_Killah: I know, it's time to get my arms back ;_; Anyway, as i said, i'm not that slim, it has to be a photo issue. I'll take proper photos when i can.


Your large horizontal frame helps everything though, even at your heaviest you look chunky but not really that fat. It helps that the fat doesn't really accumulate too much on your face as well. Even after your cold at 95kg you look more buff than fat.

Anyway, if you're happy with your current weight then grats'!
 

SuperÑ

OptionN, ShiftN
"Better" photos taken... now i'll stop spamming this thread :lol

iCtAS.jpg
Ua4Js.jpg
lOZ8n.jpg
 

Brashnir

Member
I'm not really one to post pictures of myself on the internet, but as of May 30, 2009 I was 307lbs. Today I'm 185. I've been around that weight since February. I'm working up the motivation to lose the remainder of it, but I haven't got there yet.
 

xelios

Universal Access can be found under System Preferences
I think you look a lot better in the new pics Super. Much leaner. Bigger is not better if it's just body fat, so you're doing great.

*checks title of thread to make sure*

Yup.
 

Messi

Member
Really tough week so far. Weight seems to be fluctuating up and down randomly but gotta keep pushing it.

I also strained my left leg badly so running is much harder.
 
Evenin', GAF.

Just introducing myself. Max weight a month or so ago was 204 or 205lbs. Since then I've moved to a warmer climate and have changed my habits in the last few weeks. I just started biking to work 5 days a week (starting last monday), and pack my own healthy lunches (and proper quantities). I'm around 195lbs now and have my eyes on 190. My ultimate goal is in the 170s, maybe 175. I am 5'9" BTW.

It's sort of eye-opening how simple it can be when it all works. All I'm really doing is finding some exercise most days of the week, and eating healthy food in appropriate proportions.

A couple years ago I actually did just this. I was in the 190s, and dropped to around 170lbs during one summer. However, the weight came back because I wasn't careful about it. This time I am attempting to make a permanent change in my lifestyle. At only 26 it seems stupid to let myself be overweight (and let my interests suffer because of it--e.g. mountain biking), when all I really need is willpower. Here's to change!
 

SuperÑ

OptionN, ShiftN
Jay Sosa said:
What the fuck is you wearing? Did you take those pics during your ballet lessons?

Just my running outfit, dude. If you want to see me wearing a ballet tutu just send a PM.

@xelios: Thank you ;)
 

Carlisle

Member
I'm still working hard at my weight loss. I have a couple posts somewhere in this thread from late last year. I was doing great from August till November. But then it got too cold to run and all that holiday food was everywhere... so I gained back about 15 of the 30 lbs I had lost. In Feb I started running again, lost the weight I had gained, but now as I get closer to my normal range, the weight loss has slowed down dramatically. It takes a lot more to lose a pound these days.

Currently at 35 lbs lost since I started this diet/exercise last autumn. And yesterday I bought a new summer wardrobe, all my shirts are now medium (from large) and my shorts are now a 34 waist (from 36-38). I'm feeling pretty good.

Still not to my goal yet so I'll keep holding on to the before/afters. Only about 10 lbs to go though. I'm aiming for the end of July.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
I still think the atkins shit of 20-30g of carbs a day is retarded, but I did not realize 150g of carbs a day is considered low carb. granted I am on a calorie restricted diet right now and my normal intake (2000 calories) is closer to somewhere between 150-200 (30g fat, 160g protein, rest carbs)... but I am guessing then "low carb" is actually attacking diets with like 300g carbs a day or something which IMHO is insane to begin with.... hmm.. guess you learn something everyday.

anyway, weighed myself this morning.. WILL put pics up this week. I know I keep saying that but I have to keep talking myself into it. :p not very photogenic.. but I weighed myself this morning and I'm at 159.. I'm 35 and this is the first time I've been under 160 since 1996. basically growing up I was ALWAYS way too skinny.. I think when I left high school I was around 130-135. I started weight lifting when I was 19 and got up to around 150 being pretty solid before I got a hernia at work.. recovered from the surgery but never went back to weight lifting. two years later I started doing networking/programming full time (did machining before that) and the weight just started piling on.

so basically yeah.. the last time I weighed under 160 would be sometime between my hernia and '98 when I started the desk jobs. To be 35 and basically be in better shape than the entirety of my 20s (which actually started out in pretty decent shape) is awesome.

also getting my long runs going again for the marathon this fall.. pounded out 8 miles this morning already, and looking to hit 14 this weekend (with short runs between now and then).

anyway, I'll post pictures hopefully today, but definitely sometime this week.

and despite some of our arguments in this thread, still congratulations to everyone and keep it up. :) Opinions may differ but pretty sure we all still have the same goal in common!
 

LaneDS

Member
Lots of really good progress in the last few posts, good going everyone.

borghe - what were you weighing at your worst? And congrats on now being your best!
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
doh, sorry. worst was 205/206 last year. I am only 5'9" (or 5'8" depending on the day it seems) so all of the BMI sites were saying "obese" and I was like "Ok, I need to lose a few pounds, but I'm not freaking obese guys." At the time (and I'm not ashamed to admit this now) I refused to move up to the correct size pants from a 34" waist because that would be the final nail in the "obese" coffin. So I was literally popping buttons off of work pants because they were stretched to the max and then some.. :( but I still never went higher than 34" in pants size :p (realistically I was probably 36")

anyway, this weekend I went shopping for a couple of pairs of new shorts. I have a couple of pants I bought since losing my weight (all of it during the first half of this year) that I bought at 32", but I noticed that those were even still a tiny bit big.. so these shorts I actually went into the dressing room (haven't been into a dressing room since I was a kid) and tried on a couple pairs of 30" waists.. and they fit perfectly. Funny part about it is, like I said earlier, I still have some noticeable fat around my stomach.. not much anywhere else but very minor love handles still.. and yet these 30" waists fit perfectly. so yeah.. I may have not liked being labeled by some arbitrary website with the term obese.. but as of now I'm not so sure it was wrong. 6" lost in the waist is pretty compelling evidence.

last funny thing is that like most overweight/slightly-obese males, my legs were always fairly normal sized. all of my weight was carried above my waist (I know in females most of the weight is carried below their waist). So buying 34" pants and shorts all these years I have always had TONS of room in the legs, and crotch/butt area. so these 30" shorts I bought now fit much snugger than anything I've worn in years. They're still baggy (cargos), but even baggy shorts fit snugger than a pair of 34" linen shorts of mine I tried on originally that caused me to buy these ones. I do have to switch between medium and large shirts though. It really depends on the style of shirt. With weight lifting I have a fairly decent v-shape going on now.. so if I get a medium it is pretty much guaranteed to be snug in the shoulders and chest. sucks when you are supposed to have a loose fitting shirt draped over. So I bought a reasonably nice snap-up shirt this weekend and now feel I have to return it because it is pretty tight in the shoulders with the short sleeves going above halfway up my bicep.. :( but yeah, buying pants is easy (and fun now).
 

FLEABttn

Banned
Nobody's getting pictures of me but I thought I'd drop in my story.

Last November I weighed 235 pounds and felt really, really fat (6'1" btw). It was the second time I've ever weighed that much, and the time before I was not happy with life and didn't have the motivation to do anything. This time, though, everything was going great but I hardly moved and I ate/drank a lot.

I didn't do too much originally about because 6 months prior to that I tried 2 months of Tai-bo with my GF. I lost nothing I stopped.

Eventually I got sick of the weight and bought an elliptical crosstrainer and started using that 3 times a week. I reduced my caloric drink intake by probably half. I started drinking only water at work, and a lot of it (40-80oz at work alone).

I had to go to the doctor in January for an unrelated issue and I figured I was going to weigh the same. However, I was 227. I was mildy impressed but didn't think much of it.

February and March I hardly did anything because I had some foot surgery and bought a house and had to deal with all the crap with that. However, once settled, I started using the crosstrainer for 30 minutes a day, 4 times a week. I reduced my caloric drink intake again by about half.

Still feeling frustratingly fat in early May (but not having weighed myself since January), I decided to cut my caloric drink intake again to probably a mere 10% of what I was drinking last November. I started eating breakfast again and was doing a cup of special K and a cup of 2% milk. Despite all this, it still wasn't feeling effective enough (still felt huge) so I reduced the caloric drink intake to virtually zero, started monitoring my calories and fat to try to keep it little under the daily recommended amounts (but without obsessing over eggs white and protein or anything quite like that), and started jogging because the "zero-impact" of the elliptical made me feel like I wasn't really getting the amount of exercise I needed.

So, last Thursday, I bought a scale, figuring I needed some actual way to track my progress because I certainly didn't feel like I was getting anywhere.

It arrived on Saturday and...203. Blew my mind, and I feel like despite being frustrated with myself over the past few months, it wasn't really all that hard. So my original goal for the end of the year was 200, but since I already hit that, I'll see if 190 or lower is doable.
 

pubba

Member
Way to go Brashnir and Borghe! That's some serious change right there. Looking forward to seeing some pics.

Day 3 and I was feeling despondent this morning. My ketostick (to show if your body is in Ketosis or not) was hardly showing any colour. After a huge walk today (shopping) I came home and tried again. Holy shit! It went dark purple almost straight away.

So I'm definitely in ketosis now which really cheered me up.

Today was tough.. My friends were eating KFC and eating ice cream and stuff. I was creative though and ordered a kebab (I think they are 'Giros' in US) and asked for it without the bread, onion, tomato or pineapple. Got extra olives and sour cream for the dressing. That was a very satisfying lunch, and very low carbs.

Afterwards I bought a block of 85% Dark chocolate. There are 19g of carbs in the whole block. I broke off a piece and let it melt in my mouth. Man.. it tasted amazing!

I haven't weighed myself yet, but my sister said that my face and gut look less enormous. That's a good start.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
FLEABttn said:
So, last Thursday, I bought a scale, figuring I needed some actual way to track my progress because I certainly didn't feel like I was getting anywhere.

It arrived on Saturday and...203. Blew my mind, and I feel like despite being frustrated with myself over the past few months, it wasn't really all that hard. So my original goal for the end of the year was 200, but since I already hit that, I'll see if 190 or lower is doable.
your metabolism is probably night and day different than it was at the higher weight. I have that now a lot.. where I won't stick to any good diet (aka just quality of food I eat, not quantity) on a particular weekend.. Hell, I'll even weigh myself on Sunday night and see myself up 3-4 pounds from a week or two ago, and then by Monday night or Tuesday morning I'll weigh myself again (back on a better diet) and be back down to where I was or maybe even a pound less.

seriously sounds like you are on the right track. keep it up. but I think one thing all of us diet-arguers in this thread can agree on.. don't worry so much about calories or quantities. eat high quality foods (not a ton of sugar, lots of protein and good fats) and eat til your satiated (i.e. before you feel stuffed), get some exercise a few times a week, and your body will take care of the rest.
 

Crisco

Banned
I may post pictures later (don't really have a good before), but I finally hit my goal this morning! From ~215 pounds to 160 pounds. Took nearly 2 years, although the final push started at ~180 pounds about 2 months ago. I'm 5'9".
 

Yaweee

Member
There's not really any point in posting pictures since it hasn't really been that much weight, but I can tell just looking at myself in the mirror how much weight I've lost. Smaller moobs, MUCH thinner face.

5'9", was ~195-200 4-6 weeks ago, down to 182 when I weighed myself this morning. Some of the fat loss is probably offset by muscle; I haven't done much genuine weight lifting (just some ~20 lb dumbbells at home), but I've done so much biking and long-distance walking recently that it must have done something, right?

I've lost weight over the last week despite eating chicken kiev for breakfast the last five days (one of my favorite foods). I'm taking in 1200-1400 calories per day, which hasn't been that rough of a transition for me aside from more meticulous portion control since I only ever really drank water and coffee black. The BIG loss is no more baked goods; I'm such an awesome baker that ceasing to make cookies is a tragic loss for the world. It had to be done =(
 

bobbytkc

ADD New Gen Gamer
SuperÑ said:
"Better" photos taken... now i'll stop spamming this thread :lol



You must really run long distances if you needed those tights for your runs.

I use to wear one underneath my uniform for long route marches when I was in the army. They are great for preventing abrasions.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
ok, last post for today in this thread :p

yaweee - the only true "before" pic I have to post is around where you are at now (185 or so). Pretty much in the same boat as you in terms of starting weight, height, etc. I have a before pic from over a year ago (probably around my max weight give or take 3-5 pounds). anyway, point is when I look at the pic from a year+ ago and look at that pic when I Was around 185lb... oh yeah, MASSIVE difference in the face and especially the gut (probably lost around 3-4" just from that 20lb alone).

congrats. only replied because that's pretty much exactly my story and weights.
 

Yaweee

Member
borghe said:
ok, last post for today in this thread :p

yaweee - the only true "before" pic I have to post is around where you are at now (185 or so). Pretty much in the same boat as you in terms of starting weight, height, etc. I have a before pic from over a year ago (probably around my max weight give or take 3-5 pounds). anyway, point is when I look at the pic from a year+ ago and look at that pic when I Was around 185lb... oh yeah, MASSIVE difference in the face and especially the gut (probably lost around 3-4" just from that 20lb alone).

congrats. only replied because that's pretty much exactly my story and weights.

The belt I bought ~3 months ago is now on its tightest notch. I'm still wearing fatty 38" pants, but that's in part because I genuinely like looser fits.
 

Entropia

No One Remembers
I moved into a new apartment at the beginning of the month and I've started to walk to work, it's about 4KM(about 40 minutes). Sometimes I walk home, sometimes I don't (my boss usually gives me a ride home). So I'm looking forward to dropping a few lbs just from that.

I'm unfortunately going to have to give up my Gym membership. I just don't have the time to actually go. I play sports 3 nights a week and without a car in my city, the transit is awful so it's a pain to get to my gym. I've looked at some nearby options they would cost 25%+ more per month. I do play to get some free weights though just to use at some for a few exercises - better than nothing and I know I'll do them regularly.

Right now I'm at 225'ish lbs (I don't own a weight but I've been that weight since grade 11, and I'm 24 now...) and my current goal is 200 lbs.

My typical daily meals:
Breakfast: Cereal of some sort - usually Cheerios or Raisin Bran
Mid-morning snack: All bran bar
Lunch: This dish I make with ground chicken or turkey mixed with brown rice and frozen veggies (peas, corn and carrots) and a small Del Monte fruit salad cup
Mid-afternoon snack: Usually a banana
Dinner: Chicken Breast with 2 of the following: Spinach, Aspargus or Broccoli.

Sometimes though, I get a craving for a bag of chips and gorge myself and eat an entire bag in one go. :\
 

Al-ibn Kermit

Junior Member
Sorry for the late response but this with regards to a post you made about a week ago. This is the original post:
http://neogaf.net/forum/showpost.php?p=21709160&postcount=1132

teh_pwn said:
So you think that sometime in the 1970s people suddenly decided to willfully eat more calories than they needed, or exercise less? If this were the case, the little data we have would show that people exercise less and/or eat more.
However what the data shows is that:
1. We exercise more than the late 1980s.
2. We do eat more calories, almost entirely from carbohydrates.
3. We eat more carbohydrates, particularly sugar, corn syrup, wheat, and other grains.
4. We eat less animal fat, and more polyunsaturated fats from vegetable oils.
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/12/us-weight-lifestyle-and-diet-trends.html
So as you can see, the American diet changed between 1977-2007. People did adapt. More insulin = higher body fat % setpoint. People got fatter.
So what is your theory to the cause of the increase of obesity? Do you think it's just a conscious decision to overeat? Do you think that human biology would have been naturally selected over millennia to constantly be in a state of rabid hunger such that the person would eat themselves into sickness and death?
So you're assuming that people on carb-centric diets naturally develop hyperinsulimia and then become type 2 diabetics which causes them to store too much fat? That doesn't make sense, modern Japan has the lowest obesity rate in the developed world and yet has a very low fat diet. That source shows that the caloric intake is going up and when you absorb the calories, you will do something with them. Why absorb fat energy when it can only be stored as fat?

The more probable reason for the increase in obesity in the west is that food is just getting cheaper. It's becoming more about want than need, so people naturally gravitate towards what tastes good and they eat more of it.




Do children grow taller because they overeat? Why not then, but with fat accumulation? Why is growth regulated by growth hormone, but fat not driven by a hormone - insulin?

Animals on their natural diet are fit and healthy. They don't count calories, and in many habitats they have over abundance of food.

Yes of course insulin will eventually cause monosaccharides to be stored as fat. How does that make you crave more calories? Leptin itself is like I mentioned a much more likely cause of chronic obesity, because of how you produce more leptin as you gain more fat and whenever you lose fat, your body has cravings for leptin which in turn cause you to be hungry.


To support your "calories in, calories out, the body is a combustion engine" theory, you have to explain why tribes eating grains with less calories than needed are obese. You also have to explain why their kids are starving. This is part 2 of Taube's presentation:

You're talking about a tribe that subsisted on a very low carb diet? That's something I have never done so my body wouldn't be adapted to their particular diet. That's why I mentioned Japan, they are an example of a modern carb-centric society that obviously has a diet that works well for them.

Do you have any evidence that saturated fat is bad?

You're mad that I'm recommending that people consume less fructose based on the evidence that we have? Sure, I'd agree that it's premature for the government to ban fructose. But they've already done quite a bit of work pushing grains and demonizing saturated fat (previously ALL fats were demonized until the late 1980s). Someone personally advocating the pritikins diet doesn't bother me, but having the government tell everyone to eat pritikins does.
So you're agreeing that nobody has enough scientific evidence to say one way or the other right? Okay, I can agree with you on this I guess.



I'd agree, but to equate fructose with glucose is an oversimplification. Potatoes have a higher glycemic index than glucose - ie it raises glucose in the blood faster than glucose as a food. At least glucose can be metabolized by cells around the body. Fructose can *only* be metabolized by the liver, and it byproducts of it are uric acid (raises blood pressure).
And fat can only be absorbed after your liver bile emulsifies it, what's your point about the liver exactly? The problem with high GI foods is that they cause an insulin spike and can then cause type 2 diabetes. Their is a theory, that if you were eating an enormous number of calories just from fructose, then you could have liver cirrhosis. What is that number? Is there any reason to be afraid of that happening to a human on a modern diet (as in the amount of HFCS we get from a western diet).

Insulin and glycerol-3-phosphate are necessary to store and maintain body fat. Insulin is secreted in the body in response to blood glucose. The more blood glucose, the more insulin. Carbohydrates increase blood glucose the most. Glycerol-3-phosphate is created from glucose metabolism.

Carbohydrates drive insulin, insulin drives fat accumulation. Carbohydrates are literally fattening.
The purpose of insulin is to store calories as glycogen, which are easier to metabolize into ATP, and of course glycogen can only come from carbs. After your glycogen stores are filled up, the calories just go into the only other energy reserves, fat. What is the advantage of trying to get calories from fat?

http://health.howstuffworks.com/fat-cell2.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiEtsVPUXmo&feature=related#t=4m40s

With that said, that doesn't mean everyone gets fat on the same amount of carbohydrate. It depends on the individual's insulin sensitivity, and the glucose load.

I'm saying that obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, and that the best way to reverse this disorder is to minimize the hormone largely responsible for fat accumulation.
Your own link says what I've been saying, that your body will store the fat as fat but will highly prefer to store carbs as glycogen. As far as insulin sensitivity goes, yes that varies wildly from person to person but it's fair to say that if somebody is on a reasonable number of calories, exercises regularly, and is on a carb-centric diet than this is not something that they should worry about.



You may think that's true, but do you have any examples of cultures eating wheat, sugar, corn syrup, potatoes and staying healthy?

I can give you examples of tribes that ate over 50% of their diet as fat - the Inuit, Eskimos, and New Zealand tribes (coconuts oil = saturated fat).
Not a fair question really, those come from different parts of the world and only relatively recently could we have all of them being grown in one country. The Native Americans that subsisted on maize were extremely healthy though, I can tell you that.


It's a scientifically absurd claim to say that saturated fats are bad without any controlled data to prove it.

Here are some studies showing fructose causing health issues:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18703413
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17158419
http://www.nature.com/ki/journal/v74/n4/abs/ki2008184a.html

http://www.slideshare.net/nephron/uric-acid-fructose-and-hypertension


Stephan has a pHD in neurobiology and specializes in obesity research. His blog has some good stuff about leptin & hunger.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/search/label/leptin

Here's a recent interview of Stephan, sort of a light summary for people that don't like reading:

http://thehealthyskeptic.org/podcasts/THSpodcast_episode1.mp3


And I found a study on saturated fats, but it basically says there's no correlation either way with heart disease and saturated fat:

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/short/ajcn.2009.27725v1

Well I'm willing to believe you on the saturated fats claim but I still don't know a lot about the metabolism of them. That's a lot of information to check up on though so thank you for linking it.
 
WOOOOOOOOHOO Im finally 205. I'm 6ft female, and have lost 35 lbs to date. Goal is 180 by Sept.

I had some pics taken of me last night, of me actually standing up this time, and I'll post one when I get them. I had answered a question in a PM, and I thought it might be good to post it here for any fella ladies that might be wanting to loose weight too :D

So, here's how I did it. I decided the only way I could really do this and make it a lifestyle, is if I had some way of calculating food consumed vs energy expelled. I found a AMAZING website called sparkpeople.com that helped me realize what I am putting into my body. I enter my food into there even now, every day. I do not let myself have an opportunity to say no. I keep my house and lunch bag stacked with healthy sustaining foods (protiens, nuts, fiberous foods). Oddly enough it actually costs less than my previous "regular food" and my husband and I make cooking a sweet kind of romantic thing we do together every few days, and that meal is usually lunch for a few days too.

I made a list of all the activities that I actually enjoy doing, and I do at least 2 of them a day, depending on my mood and energy etc. Its good to have a choice, because if you feel like you HAVE to do something, your not going to do it for long. Another thing, I eat a half cup of semi sweet chocolate chips (dark cocao? its over 62%) a night. I swear to god this has helped me more than anything. It's helped me, because I keep away from the ice cream and cookies. It's become an addiction though, if I dont have any I will drive and get some. But, I figure its a "healthy alternative" and I've still lost weight.

Also, note, that I have a 18 month old. One of the best things I have done so far was getting a pedometer/heart rate monitor. It keeps you motivated to reach your daily goal, that way you know how much to burn to loose a pound. I have a body bugg and its AMAZING. I also drink at LEAST 64 oz of water a day. This has greatly improved my skin and keeps my hunger levels even thru out the day as well.
 

Aesius

Member
I'm looking to lose about 10 lbs (from 180-170 lbs) and have started eating low(er) carb.

I'll say this - eating a high fat, high protein breakfast truly eliminates hunger for most of the day. I'm either eating 4 round sausages or, on days when I have more time, 5 pieces of bacon and a couple eggs, and I rarely get hungry throughout the day.

Meals completely satiate me, whereas before I would get hungry again within an hour. Good stuff!
 

NomarTyme

Member
Aesius said:
I'm looking to lose about 10 lbs (from 180-170 lbs) and have started eating low(er) carb.

I'll say this - eating a high fat, high protein breakfast truly eliminates hunger for most of the day. I'm either eating 4 round sausages or, on days when I have more time, 5 pieces of bacon and a couple eggs, and I rarely get hungry throughout the day.

Meals completely satiate me, whereas before I would get hungry again within an hour. Good stuff!
Yup. I've been eating two meals a day.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
First, a disclaimer: Most of the links are from Stephan Guyenet's Whole Health Source. Even the studies. I've had a glass of wine (cabernet - low carb!) and I'm lazy, and his blog is just too damn easy to use.

Al-ibn Kermit said:
Sorry for the late response but this with regards to a post you made about a week ago. This is the original post:
http://neogaf.net/forum/showpost.php?p=21709160&postcount=1132


So you're assuming that people on carb-centric diets naturally develop hyperinsulimia and then become type 2 diabetics which causes them to store too much fat? That doesn't make sense, modern Japan has the lowest obesity rate in the developed world and yet has a very low fat diet. That source shows that the caloric intake is going up and when you absorb the calories, you will do something with them. Why absorb fat energy when it can only be stored as fat?

I'm not saying everyone on a high carbohydrate diet is going to develop hyperinsulinemia. But probably about 1/3 of the population as my best guess. People's sensitivity to insulin varies with genetics it seems.

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on the Japanese diet. Any Japanese gaffers reading this? I'm under the impression they eat a lot of vegetables (land and sea based), fish, brown rice, fermented soy, eggs, and meat.

Brown rice is better than white (it infuriates me that one doctor somehow recommends low fat from this data):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/10307790.stm

It's not just as simple as the glycemic index. Minerals also play a role, and anti-minerals like phytic acid from wheat and soy. Phytic acid is especially high without fermentation, which we don't do.

Brown rice also has more minerals:

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/02/dietary-fiber-and-mineral-availability.html

Particularly magnesium:

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/02/magnesium-and-insulin-sensitivity.html

The japanese get several times the iodine than Americans:

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/05/iodine.html

which counters the toxic nature of soy on the thyroid (probably, need more studies):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18281260
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20463299
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17472472


The more probable reason for the increase in obesity in the west is that food is just getting cheaper. It's becoming more about want than need, so people naturally gravitate towards what tastes good and they eat more of it.

Do you have any data to support this?

Because basically this infers that the human body's hunger and fat metabolism are inherently broken and always have been. That people always will overeat. Pretty bold claim. Are there any accounts of high rates of obesity in any country before 1970?

And to counter this, refer to the link I gave to Taubes lecture, later part of part 1/7, and beginning of part 2/7. There are tribes that were reported to have an over-abundance of food in the early 1800s - meat, fish, berries, some grains, vegetables, that were reported remarkably fit and healthy. This same tribe then became impoverished and was provided government rations of which were 50% grains. This tribe is now studied because it has the highest rate of diabetes in the world. There are mothers > 40% body fat with 2000 calorie diets with skinny as a rail children. This tribe is the Pima.



Yes of course insulin will eventually cause monosaccharides to be stored as fat. How does that make you crave more calories? Leptin itself is like I mentioned a much more likely cause of chronic obesity, because of how you produce more leptin as you gain more fat and whenever you lose fat, your body has cravings for leptin which in turn cause you to be hungry.

Honestly it could be either leptin or insulin that causes obesity. Sort of a chicken and egg scenario.

One thing is certain: not all fat people respond to leptin (the study below they injected people with leptin, some didn't respond at all):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15743109

" Whereas leptin has been successfully used in the treatment of leptin-deficient obese patients, trials in hyperleptinemic obese patients have yielded variable results. Long-acting leptins have been tried but with no greater success. Other strategies including the use of leptin analogs and other factors that bypass normal leptin delivery systems are being developed. Identifying the mechanisms at the molecular level by which leptin functions will create new avenues for pharmaceutical targeting to simulate the intracellular effects of leptin."

There are a few theories on this, to which I'm not too familiar.

1. High carb diet causes high triglycercies, and high triglycercides reduces the amount of leptin that can cross the blood brain barrier to reach the hypothalamus. Here carbs/insulin are the cause.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15111494

2. Hyperinsulinemia creates scar tissue on the hypothalamus, making it less responsive to leptin. Here carbs/insulin are the cause.

(taubes refers to this, too lazy to look up right now)

3. Lectins from wheat somehow play a role (here leptin is the cause, but it just so happens insulin/carbs are by chance also around):

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/04/leptin-and-lectins-part-iii.html


You're talking about a tribe that subsisted on a very low carb diet? That's something I have never done so my body wouldn't be adapted to their particular diet. That's why I mentioned Japan, they are an example of a modern carb-centric society that obviously has a diet that works well for them.

Again, not too sure about the Japanese diet. Would love some data to prove me wrong so I can rethink it. But as I posted above, not all carbs are equal. Wheat and sugar are particularly nasty.



So you're agreeing that nobody has enough scientific evidence to say one way or the other right? Okay, I can agree with you on this I guess.

To make public dietary nutritional advice, yes I agree.

The implication of having low fat be government approved is that even doctors that agree with the insulin/leptin theory cannot recommend their patients without fear of getting sued for malpractice if the patient has heart problems for another reason.

It also redirects funding for studies under the assumption that Ancel Key's diet-heart/lipid hypothesis is correct. It totally breaks the scientific method and basically halts scientific research in human health.



The purpose of insulin is to store calories as glycogen, which are easier to metabolize into ATP, and of course glycogen can only come from carbs. After your glycogen stores are filled up, the calories just go into the only other energy reserves, fat. What is the advantage of trying to get calories from fat?

The advantage is avoiding the chronic and degenerative diseases that kill most people today. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes... admittedly only relevant for those that don't have high insulin sensitivity.



As far as insulin sensitivity goes, yes that varies wildly from person to person but it's fair to say that if somebody is on a reasonable number of calories, exercises regularly, and is on a carb-centric diet than this is not something that they should worry about.

I don't agree with this because if you have an insulin sensitivity problem, the solution is to reduce insulin and tag team glucose metabolism with fat metabolism. The answer isn't to run on a wheel like a hamster while ignoring hunger in hopes that you'll balance an energy equation that's regulation by hormones. That would be like a man injecting himself with estrogen and then doing 200 pushups to spot reduce fat on the chest.

Or a more medical example a gigantism patient eating less to avoid vertical growth instead of inhibiting growth hormone.



Not a fair question really, those come from different parts of the world and only relatively recently could we have all of them being grown in one country. The Native Americans that subsisted on maize were extremely healthy though, I can tell you that.

Do you have any data showing that native americans ate maize as a major part of their diet? They didn't have groceries, that stuff was seasonal. They hunted bison and other wild game and ate vegetables too.




Well I'm willing to believe you on the saturated fats claim but I still don't know a lot about the metabolism of them. That's a lot of information to check up on though so thank you for linking it.

More:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8SSCNaaDcE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPYaVcXo1I

I mean this is pretty damning to the diet-heart hypothesis. If you have data that refutes a hypothesis this much, it's just wrong. That's how science works.
 

ch0mp

Member
Al-ibn Kermit said:
Yes of course insulin will eventually cause monosaccharides to be stored as fat. How does that make you crave more calories? Leptin itself is like I mentioned a much more likely cause of chronic obesity, because of how you produce more leptin as you gain more fat and whenever you lose fat, your body has cravings for leptin which in turn cause you to be hungry.

Something called 'internal starvation' might have something to do with it. All energy is sent straight to fat storage in individuals who have a highish insulin response. Meaning cells in the body aren't receiving the energy they need and trigger the hunger reflex, becoming a vicious cycle. I'd say I have experienced this personally. I can (or did; I don't any more) smash down a 250g bag of lollies without a second thought, then a tub of ice cream, potato chips etc. Try doing it with steak and you won't get very far.


Al-ibn Kermit said:
You're talking about a tribe that subsisted on a very low carb diet? That's something I have never done so my body wouldn't be adapted to their particular diet. That's why I mentioned Japan, they are an example of a modern carb-centric society that obviously has a diet that works well for them.

You will find one thing with Japan's diet though - serious calorie restrictions. Or it used to be like that anyway. The Japanese are getting fatter just like the rest of us. Their diet started changing after WW2 to a more western diet. No doubt McDonalds and co have a hand in that.

There was a time when hungry Japanese would pause to remind themselves of the old adage, "Hara hachi bunme" or "Stop eating when you're 80% full". Now the advice is being routinely ignored as the country faces record obesity levels.

2006 said:
According to the latest health ministry figures, however, 29% of Japanese men aged 20 to 60 are overweight - an increase of 5% in only five years and a long way off its 2010 target of below 15%.

The filling out of the national waistline has been blamed on the time pressures of modern life, with members of many families - who once sat together to eat meals of fish, vegetables, rice, tofu and pickles - now tending to dine separately, often consuming convenient, high-calorie food.

teh_pwn said:
Do you have any data showing that native americans ate maize as a major part of their diet? They didn't have groceries, that stuff was seasonal. They hunted bison and other wild game and ate vegetables too.

Probably the most important thing you said. Significant carbohydrates were only around for say a quarter of the year before agriculture, grains, sugars and preservatives etc became common in the diet. The rest of the time it's meat/fish.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
Aesius said:
I'm looking to lose about 10 lbs (from 180-170 lbs) and have started eating low(er) carb.

I'll say this - eating a high fat, high protein breakfast truly eliminates hunger for most of the day. I'm either eating 4 round sausages or, on days when I have more time, 5 pieces of bacon and a couple eggs, and I rarely get hungry throughout the day.

Meals completely satiate me, whereas before I would get hungry again within an hour. Good stuff!

Yep, same here. I eat about 250 calories worth of eggs/cheese for breakfast, a 500 calories salad with avacado/bacon/dressing/chicken, and after being away for nearly 12 hours I get home barely hungry.

This is another reason why I believe excessive hunger is the cause of obesity, whether it be caused by insulin/carbs or leptin resistance.

One of the big pillars to the belief that obesity is a simple energy balance equation and that people simply are prone to overeat when excess food is around is based on the idea that people always tend to overeat. It's very possible that the foods cause people to overeat by making them want more food. Just like smokers are more likely to smoke more cigarettes because they have a physical addiction. Sugar has shown to affect the prefrontal cortex and dopamine as well...maybe not as strong as nicotine, but there is a drug like effect.
 

Shaneus

Member
Well, after coming off a week of doing almost zero-carb/day dieting, I can definitely say that I'm glad I'm not doing it any more. Sure, was a good way to lose weight while I wasn't going to the gym (still suffering a flu hangover) but it was great today to wake up to a low-sugar cereal of Weet-Bix (Australian wheat "biscuits") with milk and not having to cut carbs. I'm still going to keep them as low as possible (learned a SHITLOAD about high protein, high fat, low carb diets) but cutting them out completely completely sapped me of energy.

Does anyone have any good (rough) percentages for a HP/HF/LC diet now that I'm feeling better and will start going to the gym again soon? I have protein shakes, but they're more for workout days. Still have a bit of fat to cut too, but I'm hoping that it'll all pretty much go once I exercise again.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
Shaneus said:
Well, after coming off a week of doing almost zero-carb/day dieting, I can definitely say that I'm glad I'm not doing it any more. Sure, was a good way to lose weight while I wasn't going to the gym (still suffering a flu hangover) but it was great today to wake up to a low-sugar cereal of Weet-Bix (Australian wheat "biscuits") with milk and not having to cut carbs. I'm still going to keep them as low as possible (learned a SHITLOAD about high protein, high fat, low carb diets) but cutting them out completely completely sapped me of energy.

Does anyone have any good (rough) percentages for a HP/HF/LC diet now that I'm feeling better and will start going to the gym again soon? I have protein shakes, but they're more for workout days. Still have a bit of fat to cut too, but I'm hoping that it'll all pretty much go once I exercise again.

You don't have to go ketogenic to reduce carbohydrate.

But I would focus on the type of carbohydrate:
1. Eliminate all fructose - sugar, corn syrup, juice, soda.
2. Eliminate all wheat.
3. Anything white. White rice, white flour, cocaine.

Carbohydrates that probably are okay for some people:
1. High GI fruits (bananas, apples, oranges).
2. Sweet Potatoes.
3. Fermented/soaked grains.
4. Brown rice.
 
I think it's very naive to think that doing exercise and not eating is in any way sustainable over long periods of time.

An example of how this DOES NOT work is this week in my life.

Monday - Gym + Flag Football training
Tuesday - Flag Football Game + Gym
Wednesday (today) - Gym + Soccer game
Thursday - Flag Football Training + Gym
Friday - Football Game + Gym

Now you tell me how I could stand this schedule without eating a whole fucking lot of food.

I couldn't even sleep one day if I didn't eat right.

Now this might seem like an extreme. I am somewhat of a casual athlete after all, but it really is reductio ad absurdum in the sense that something like that happens to regular people doing regular cardio in not as acute ways but over time. The body compensates tremendously for lack of calorie intake.

The quality of the food is what really gives the edge on what moves the weight
 
BronzeWolf said:
The quality of the food is what really gives the edge on what moves the weight

THIS. Sooo very important!!! Im not a vegan by any means, but the quality of food in a vegan diet fits what I need and the quality of food that I intake directly effects me. If I try to eat a slice of [greasy chicken alfredo...] pizza, my body now goes into WTF DID YOU JUST FEED ME mode. It much prefers tofu and dark greens and chia seeds.
 

Messi

Member
Wow, had my first negative experience with someone today about my weight loss. It suprised me becuase the person is my best friend.

Heard from another friend that he wished I would gain weight again so I would shut up about it and he would not have to listen to people complimenting me about my loss on the street. How messed up is that.

I was quite hurt by this.
 

Guileless

Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
BronzeWolf said:
Monday - Gym + Flag Football training
Tuesday - Flag Football Game + Gym
Wednesday (today) - Gym + Soccer game
Thursday - Flag Football Training + Gym
Friday - Football Game + Gym

You train harder for flag football than Jamarcus Russell does for the NFL.
 
Messi said:
Wow, had my first negative experience with someone today about my weight loss. It suprised me becuase the person is my best friend.

Heard from another friend that he wished I would gain weight again so I would shut up about it and he would not have to listen to people complimenting me about my loss on the street. How messed up is that.

I was quite hurt by this.

Yeah some people just can't handle other people bettering themselves or being happy. They're pretty shitty people, imo. Get in better shape than he is and kick sand in his face.
 

grumble

Member
Messi said:
Wow, had my first negative experience with someone today about my weight loss. It suprised me becuase the person is my best friend.

Heard from another friend that he wished I would gain weight again so I would shut up about it and he would not have to listen to people complimenting me about my loss on the street. How messed up is that.

I was quite hurt by this.

Non-awesome people are jealous of awesome people. Sure you may get annoying talk, but it's better to be on the awesome side of things.

That being said, I guess if you make weight loss a constant topic of conversation it could get very annoying for the people around you.
 
Guileless said:
You train harder for flag football than Jamarcus Russell does for the NFL.

Football league is off now, so we play flag football instead


Messi said:
Wow, had my first negative experience with someone today about my weight loss. It suprised me becuase the person is my best friend.

Heard from another friend that he wished I would gain weight again so I would shut up about it and he would not have to listen to people complimenting me about my loss on the street. How messed up is that.

I was quite hurt by this.

I had the exact same reaction about my strength training from one of my best friends. Sadly, he wouldn't budge from the position that strength training was useless for common people and we somehow drifted apart. Sucks because he is very fat now and I am having a very good time, but some people are just insecure like that.

LunaClover said:
THIS. Sooo very important!!! Im not a vegan by any means, but the quality of food in a vegan diet fits what I need and the quality of food that I intake directly effects me. If I try to eat a slice of [greasy chicken alfredo...] pizza, my body now goes into WTF DID YOU JUST FEED ME mode. It much prefers tofu and dark greens and chia seeds.

Your body is crazy, nothing wrong with greasy chicken and there is plenty wrong with seeds and tofu
 

pubba

Member
I started a low carb lifestyle change this time last week. I was 121 kgs then and will go buy some scales later today to see if there is any difference.

I've gone down one belt hole on my belt, which is about an inch. This is the first time in 2 years that I have been able to fasten my belt to that point. It was a very happy moment for this chubster.

The first few days were tough. I had gone cold turkey and I was cranky, a bit miserable and listless. I have some 'ketostix' that you pee on to see if there are any ketones in your body. The ketostix started showing ketones on the afternoon of day 3 (hooray! Another happy moment) and have been showing ++ since then.

For snacks, I have a tiny bit of 80% dark chocolate or some pork skins. Other times I munch on a 'twiggy' which are salami sticks.

My meals have been pretty good actually. I'm eating better now than I was before. Breakfast is bacon and scrambled Tofu (no eggs - my nephew is really allergic to them) along with some green sprouts with Japanese egg mayo (0 carbs - and delicious!).

Lunch is usually some kind of protein with more salad greens. For dinner I have been trying out new stuff. Made an awesome curry tonight with coconut cream, green peppers, chicken breast, shrimp and zucchini. Great stuff!

Dessert is diet jelly, whipped cream and frozen berries.

After day 3 my energy levels have actually increased a lot. I'm a teacher at the moment and I used to really get exhausted after 4 or 5 lessons. On Thursday I did 8 lessons and didn't lose any enthusiasm at all.

Some people have already commented that my face looks slimmer, and that belt hole revelation was another highlight of this week.

Again - thanks to all of the inspirational folks in here. I figure I will have no problem keeping this up for a long time.
 

LFG

Neophyte
so today is day 9 without anymore sodas. as i had posted earlier, i've been a heavy soda drinker for many many years, consuming anywhere from 4-6 cans a day. i switched to flavored water initially for the first week. now i'm just going pure water. a couple times i've been tempted to go back, but for the most part, just water has been satisfying.

for breakfast, a glass of orange juice should be okay, yes? i only ask because i was looking at the ingredients and it seems to have a lot of sugar in it.

anyway, for me, it's all about baby steps. gonna add some exercise to my daily routine pretty soon. couple weeks ago i was 215lbs. my ultimate goal would probably be 170ish.
 
metamonk said:
so today is day 9 without anymore sodas. as i had posted earlier, i've been a heavy soda drinker for many many years, consuming anywhere from 4-6 cans a day. i switched to flavored water initially for the first week. now i'm just going pure water. a couple times i've been tempted to go back, but for the most part, just water has been satisfying.

for breakfast, a glass of orange juice should be okay, yes? i only ask because i was looking at the ingredients and it seems to have a lot of sugar in it.

anyway, for me, it's all about baby steps. gonna add some exercise to my daily routine pretty soon. couple weeks ago i was 215lbs. my ultimate goal would probably be 170ish.

You are right, OJ is full of fructose, but if you are going to drink OJ, breakfast is the best time, as long as you are having a complete breakfast.
 

jenov4

Member
metamonk said:
so today is day 9 without anymore sodas. as i had posted earlier, i've been a heavy soda drinker for many many years, consuming anywhere from 4-6 cans a day. i switched to flavored water initially for the first week. now i'm just going pure water. a couple times i've been tempted to go back, but for the most part, just water has been satisfying.

for breakfast, a glass of orange juice should be okay, yes? i only ask because i was looking at the ingredients and it seems to have a lot of sugar in it.

anyway, for me, it's all about baby steps. gonna add some exercise to my daily routine pretty soon. couple weeks ago i was 215lbs. my ultimate goal would probably be 170ish.

Baby steps, that's what it's all about!

OJ is full of sugar (natural or not, it's still a lot).. water it down, or eat the actual fruit itself. Congrats on deciding to change your life around!
 
Just to clarify, I dont stay away from "bad foods" like the plague. I've just found with my food intake change (to healthier, more sustaining foods) my desire to ingest unhealthy foods has dramatically declined. Its almost like...I know what my body needs, certain nutrients etc, and when I eat things that contain a lot of grease or sugar or (worst one for me ->) empty carbs I can feel the ill effects even hours afterwards. Headaches, sluggish feeling, bloating. Its just not worth it, and I'll find an alternative.

Its funny how people think you are "Starving yourself!" and "oh you should treat yourself with this giant slice of cake for loosing that much!" Funny, because my mindset has completly changed. My rewards are hiking, and swiming somewhere new, and maybe buying better fitting clothes at goodwill. Not food.
 

LFG

Neophyte
jenov4 said:
Baby steps, that's what it's all about!

OJ is full of sugar (natural or not, it's still a lot).. water it down, or eat the actual fruit itself. Congrats on deciding to change your life around!

yes! thanks for posting this. very encouraging. change is very hard to do. especially something drastic. everyone who is wanting to start a better lifestyle should start with baby steps. a complete 180 may cause you to go back to your old ways. take your time and just keep making little changes here and there. it adds up after a while! that's my view on it anyway. i've done the 180 several times and revert back to my old habits fairly quick.
 

Guileless

Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
BronzeWolf said:
Yes

And what the hell does that have to do with the thread? Fuck off

Just curious. I did not know it existed. Some guy at a wedding reception was telling me about some sort of "semi-contact" flag football league he was in but I thought he was full of shit.
 
I'm down to 180 from 210 back in January. I started off doing the healthy diet thing, but plateaued at 195 after 2 months. Stuck to the diet for a few more months but the weight didn't go down(bf did go down though). Did some reading over at the BB forums and found that the guys there believe in just keeping the calorie intake down. I ended up giving it a try and I've started to lose weight at about 2 lbs a week. My diet is still dirty, eating fried chicken, pizza, and Chinese food, but the weight continues to drop. The great thing is that my lifts have either maintained or increased in weight. On top of that, I can still eat whatever I want, just making sure I don't exceed my calorie intake for the day.
 
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