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[Korey]

Can anyone recommend a good no/low carb frozen dinner line?

in the uk? not that i know off. try your local diet shops. to be frank, no carb meals require planning and unless you keep it simple then you're probably going to be making most meals.

seems a bit of a turn off, but once you get into it its really satisfying and boosts your confidence in your cooking skills.

In the US. Problem is I can't cook I know this is a good time/situation to maybe learn how so I'll look into it but I'm lazy. Can I just get a George Foreman grill and do it that way?

I basically get take out 85% of the time now. Was hoping there were some good low/no carb frozen dinners out there, that way I can just eat that every day and lose fat that way. Seems like an easy, non-invasive way to passively lose some of this gut.

 

[funkmastergeneral]

In the US. Problem is I can't cook I know this is a good time/situation to maybe learn how so I'll look into it but I'm lazy. Can I just get a George Foreman grill and do it that way?

I basically get take out 85% of the time now. Was hoping there were some good low/no carb frozen dinners out there, that way I can just eat that every day and lose fat that way. Seems like an easy, non-invasive way to passively lose some of this gut.

Bake a chicken breast. It's pretty much the easiest thing possible.

 

[Chinner]

the recipes arnt hard to make, and you they're generally explained at each step:
http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/recipes.html

check it out.

still, if you want to start simple, here are your new best friends:
chicken
meat
bacon
eggs
cheese

add some vegetables as a side dish. go hog wild.

 

[Korey]

the recipes arnt hard to make, and you they're generally explained at each step:
http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/recipes.html

check it out.

still, if you want to start simple, here are your new best friends:
chicken
meat
bacon
eggs
cheese

add some vegetables as a side dish. go hog wild.

Thanks! Can I get a similar cheat sheet for what to avoid? Like I hear fruits have carbs but some say those are considered good carbs, it's confusing.

 

[infiniteloop]

Thanks! Can I get a similar cheat sheet for what to avoid? Like I hear fruits have carbs but some say those are considered good carbs, it's confusing.

Pages 10 and 11:

http://liveprimal.com/LPrecipes.pdf

 

[Korey]

Pages 10 and 11:

http://liveprimal.com/LPrecipes.pdf

Thanks! Looks like bacon/cheese aren't good?

 

[infiniteloop]

That list is more primal stuff than low carb. I think bacon is fine as long as it's not the super shitty salty kind.

 

[Chinner]

Thanks! Looks like bacon/cheese aren't good?

bacon and cheese are good. then again, if you're on a low fat diet then you'll probably want to avoid them, but theres nothing wrong with bacon or cheese.

 

[Jay Sosa]

In the US. Problem is I can't cook I know this is a good time/situation to maybe learn how so I'll look into it but I'm lazy. Can I just get a George Foreman grill and do it that way?

I basically get take out 85% of the time now. Was hoping there were some good low/no carb frozen dinners out there, that way I can just eat that every day and lose fat that way. Seems like an easy, non-invasive way to passively lose some of this gut.

Cooking low carb meals is piss easy. Get a pan put a little oil in it, throw some meat/fish in there, buy frozen veggies put them in a pot and tadaaaa you have a meal.

 

[Yaweee]

Cooking low carb meals is piss easy. Get a pan put a little oil in it, throw some meat/fish in there, buy frozen veggies put them in a pot and tadaaaa you have a meal.

This. Meats are easy as fuck to cook, and if you're going for semi-low carb rather than zero carb, you could even get a lot of brands of breaded fish or chicken. Just toss them on a baking tray at 425 degrees for 15 minutes (or so) and you have yourself a surprisingly low carb and low calorie meal.

 

[Zoe]

What's considered to be the threshold for "low" carb?

 

[StoOgE]

This. Meats are easy as fuck to cook, and if you're going for semi-low carb rather than zero carb, you could even get a lot of brands of breaded fish or chicken. Just toss them on a baking tray at 425 degrees for 15 minutes (or so) and you have yourself a surprisingly low carb and low calorie meal.

I would bread them yourself if you are going that route. The frozen battered/breaded stuff is typically disgusting. You can buy a can of bread crumbs that will last you a year for like 2 dollars.

 

[Laguna X]

I'd skip the breading altogether.

 

[Chinner]

What's considered to be the threshold for "low" carb?

generally 50g or 10% of your calories.

 

[LFG]

are veggies with oxalates supposed to be eaten in moderation? spinach and green beans have become a staple in my diet over the last few weeks. do i need to mix it up some more?

 

[Einbroch]

This summer: 275 lbs to 260 lbs. (15 lbs)

Since last summer: 304 to 260. (44 lbs)

Low carb diet + weight lifting + cardio = win.

 

[grumble]

You posted about ASP before. I'm having trouble finding information about it. But if I recall correctly it's like a weaker hormone that insulin that secreted by fat tissue that weakly stores fat? Something that would keep the body clinging on 20 lbs of fat or so?

So what would the strategy be to lower ASP? Reduce dietary fat intake? Would combining this concept with insulin & leptin infer something like 40 Protein/30 Fat/30 Carb, with the carbs primarily from vegetables, sweet potatoes, nuts and some fruits?

It's called Acylation Stimulation Protein.

Read this link: it explains fairly clearly what it is.
http://adipocyte.co.uk/ASP.htm

Also check this out:
http://journals.lww.com/co-lipidolo..._energy_homeostasis_and_insulin_action.8.aspx

Basically, when fat is taken from the intestine it's packaged in chylomicrons, which are kind of like bubbles. These bubbles float around in the blood until they get attacked by lipoprotein lipase and release their goodies into organ, muscle, fat, etc.

The presence of the chylomicrons dramatically increases ASP, which is a powerful signal to fat cells to store. It's a very strong known fat-storing signal.

The point of this is that there are a suite of powerful fat-storing hormones which are triggered by fat intake, metabolically distinct from carb/protein triggers. I guess to lower ASP levels you just eat less fat.

My view on all this is that there is a range of healthy diets that you can have, from zero carb up to 50%+. None of these diets involve a lot of sugar or absurd amounts of carbohydrates (though there are cultures who eat a ton of carbs and moderate calories and they are very healthy, like traditional East Asian diets). In the end, it's caloric restriction that matters by far the most to losing weight.

 

[Tashi]

This summer: 275 lbs to 260 lbs. (15 lbs)

Since last summer: 304 to 260. (44 lbs)

Low carb diet + weight lifting + cardio = win.

I've got 2/3 of those. Considering kicking in the Low Carb Diet

 

[Price Dalton]

are veggies with oxalates supposed to be eaten in moderation? spinach and green beans have become a staple in my diet over the last few weeks. do i need to mix it up some more?

I've heard anecdotal reports of stones forming from overconsumption of green veggies. Just increase the variety and you should be good.

My view on all this is that there is a range of healthy diets that you can have, from zero carb up to 50%+. None of these diets involve a lot of sugar or absurd amounts of carbohydrates (though there are cultures who eat a ton of carbs and moderate calories and they are very healthy, like traditional East Asian diets). In the end, it's caloric restriction that matters by far the most to losing weight.

I'd agree with this, but I'd also add that in addition to sugar and white flour, very few traditional cultures obtain a lot of linoleic acid. It's just hard to get from natural sources, unless you're eating untold amounts of nuts (and nuts are categorically different from seed oils, having built-in antioxidants to protect the fat from rancidity). That's changing, though - East Asia/India use a ton of cheap, industrially-extracted seed oils now instead of traditional animal fats/ghee/coconut - and obesity/disease/diabetes is increasing.

 

[Jay Sosa]

One more question: According to the internet it's best to jog in the morning before eating anything, but after that should I eat "normal" breakfast (ham&eggs, proteinshake, fruits) or just a shake and some juice (I'm talking bout real juice) if aiming for fatloss while keeping my muscles. Like I said before I'm skinny and only want to get rid of that lovehandles, lose some bodyfat.

Thanks!

Oh and what are some good meat free high protein meals? Beans or Chili con carne without the carne? Nothing against meat but it gets a bit boring after a while.

 

[teh_pwn]

It's called Acylation Stimulation Protein.

Read this link: it explains fairly clearly what it is.
http://adipocyte.co.uk/ASP.htm

Also check this out:
http://journals.lww.com/co-lipidolo..._energy_homeostasis_and_insulin_action.8.aspx

Basically, when fat is taken from the intestine it's packaged in chylomicrons, which are kind of like bubbles. These bubbles float around in the blood until they get attacked by lipoprotein lipase and release their goodies into organ, muscle, fat, etc.

The presence of the chylomicrons dramatically increases ASP, which is a powerful signal to fat cells to store. It's a very strong known fat-storing signal.

The point of this is that there are a suite of powerful fat-storing hormones which are triggered by fat intake, metabolically distinct from carb/protein triggers. I guess to lower ASP levels you just eat less fat.

My view on all this is that there is a range of healthy diets that you can have, from zero carb up to 50%+. None of these diets involve a lot of sugar or absurd amounts of carbohydrates (though there are cultures who eat a ton of carbs and moderate calories and they are very healthy, like traditional East Asian diets). In the end, it's caloric restriction that matters by far the most to losing weight.

Thanks for the links. It does seem that ASP is yet another dynamic to metabolism. But it just leaves me with more questions, and maybe they haven't been found yet through research.

This study referenced in the first link infers that poor insulin sensitivity is correlated with elevated and prolonged ASP levels. That it took a very long fast for ASP levels to go down to normal in obese people.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11397716?dopt=Abstract

The first link says that ASP is increased by 150x by chylomicrons, and 3x by insulin. So all other things equal, type 2 diabetics have 3x the output of ASP? If someone were insulin resistant and chronically had elevated levels of insulin, would the insulin cause ~3x the ASP levels compared to insulin sensitive people?

Or is the cause of a bad ASP response completely independent of the cause of insulin resistance?


The second link infers that the role of ASP is to very quickly get dietary fat into fat cells. What is the typical duration of an ASP response? If it's short, wouldn't the absence of insulin quickly allow glucagon and other anabolic hormones to reverse the fat storage and burn off fat? Or is the ASP response long and cause internal starvation much like insulin?

It would make more sense to me that ASP would store fat quickly and allow anabolic hormones to burn off body fat as energy is needed, much link insulin in healthy people stores glucose into lean tissue, glycogen in the liver and then quickly stores the rest as fat and then insulin levels drop off. I guess the question is what causes a bad ASP response? It could be completely different than the causes of insulin resistance, but I think it would be critical to understand if your goal is to lose body fat.

 

[filipe]

Just noticed this topic, and it reminded me I had taken a picture of myself back when I started getting serious about losing weight.

I had a very big problem with eating out a lot. This put me at my worst, 210, but usually around 205 lbs. I'm not a tall guy, only at 5'6". This resulted in...

I stopped eating a lot, exercised a little bit, cut my portions and just started eating healthier. I used to hate, hate, hate salad. Now it occupies the most space on my plate, and not just because of habit, but because it actually tastes delicious to me, and I only eat it with vinegar/oil! Baby Spinach is even better!

This resulted in...

I'm at 150-155 lbs now. I also don't want to drop any lower than this, as it might put me into the unhealthy area.

It's not a giant difference, but it makes me feel better about myself. Next on my agenda is to start building muscle. I'm not really into the heavy muscle look, but a little definition goes a long way.

 

[BertramCooper]

I have now lost 50 pounds since starting my workout regimen in March.

Such a great feeling.

 

[tass0]

I'm at 150-155 lbs now. I also don't want to drop any lower than this, as it might put me into the unhealthy area.

It's not a giant difference, but it makes me feel better about myself. Next on my agenda is to start building muscle. I'm not really into the heavy muscle look, but a little definition goes a long way.

you sure got better looking.

 

[industrian]

It's not a giant difference, but it makes me feel better about myself. Next on my agenda is to start building muscle. I'm not really into the heavy muscle look, but a little definition goes a long way.

Unless eating 3500+ calories a day is on the agenda, you don't have to worry about turning into Brock Lesnar any time soon.

But good work on the weight loss. You look a hell of a lot better.

 

[Gilby]

Next on my agenda is to start building muscle. I'm not really into the heavy muscle look, but a little definition goes a long way.

:lol
Every single person says this before they start lifting. Don't worry, you won't get big accidentally.

 

[phie]

This. Meats are easy as fuck to cook, and if you're going for semi-low carb rather than zero carb, you could even get a lot of brands of breaded fish or chicken.

Better yet, buy stuff like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds and use it instead of the breadcrumbs on fish, chicken et.c. It's a great way to cutting the carbs even more.

 

[industrian]

:lol
Every single person says this before they start lifting.

If GAF had a penny for every time people said it... we'd never have lost the search function.

 

[BobsRevenge]

Unless eating 3500+ calories a day is on the agenda, you don't have to worry about turning into Brock Lesnar any time soon.

But good work on the weight loss. You look a hell of a lot better.

I have a hard time finding that balance between eating and lifting. It seems like there's always this slow fat gain or I feel like I'm not eating enough to gain muscle.

I suppose that's what cutting is for. :|

 

[industrian]

I have a hard time finding that balance between eating and lifting. It seems like there's always this slow fat gain or I feel like I'm not eating enough to gain muscle.

I suppose that's what cutting is for. :|

Cutting is always fun. :/ When I restart my training (hopefully in October, I'll see what the doctor says next month) I'll try my best to get a good balance of food so I don't put on that much fat. Either that or I buy a bicycle and let my daily commute take care of that pesky cardio.

I've lost at least 30lbs since leaving hospital in March. Right now I'm sitting at around 90KG (198lbs) and around 200cm tall. I've still got a pretty hefty gut (all my current body fat is pretty much centralised) but that's nothing losing another 10lbs or so won't handle. I think it's possible for me to lose another 10-20lbs between now and October anyways. If I lose another 10KG and drop to 80KG (176lbs) I'll have an absolutely massive window for weight gain before I have to start worrying about looking fat. I just wish I could be working out now and cut out the cutting.

 

[trudderham]

You look a lot better, well done. I'd say drop another 15 pounds or so to tone up.

Also, have you shaved your stomach?

 

[Jay Sosa]

Cutting is always fun. :/ When I restart my training (hopefully in October, I'll see what the doctor says next month) I'll try my best to get a good balance of food so I don't put on that much fat. Either that or I buy a bicycle and let my daily commute take care of that pesky cardio.

I've lost at least 30lbs since leaving hospital in March. Right now I'm sitting at around 90KG (198lbs) and around 200cm tall. I've still got a pretty hefty gut (all my current body fat is pretty much centralised) but that's nothing losing another 10lbs or so won't handle. I think it's possible for me to lose another 10-20lbs between now and October anyways. If I lose another 10KG and drop to 80KG (176lbs) I'll have an absolutely massive window for weight gain before I have to start worrying about looking fat. I just wish I could be working out now and cut out the cutting.

Wait a minute...lbs aren't just the double of kg?

Thats why poeple said I'm super skinny when I said I weigh 170 lbs when it really is 187, and my max weights are a lot more impressive now too..damn I'm stupid :lol

But 80 kg when you're 2m tall is really a bit extreme..Like I said I'm at 190 and 194cm tall and I feel super skinny..

 

[crisdecuba]

So here's a question - when you lose weight, how difficult is it (or is it impossible) to eliminate the flabbiness of your stomach? I mean the loose-ish skin? I ask because I've begun losing weight and would like to have realistic expectations for what the end result should look like.

Some info:

- I'm in my late 20's
- I'm going from 242 lbs to what I believe my idea weight is, 185 lbs.
- I have experienced some (minor) stretch marks on my stomach area
- I've always had a little "pooch," even when I was skinny in high school, but I never built up muscle

So what should I expect? Does it get better with time? Anything I should do to help the process along?

Thanks in advance.

 

[industrian]

Wait a minute...lbs aren't just the double of kg?

1KG = 2.2lbs.

Thats why poeple said I'm super skinny when I said I weigh 170 lbs when it really is 187, and my max weights are a lot more impressive now too..damn I'm stupid :lol

But 80 kg when you're 2m tall is really a bit extreme..Like I said I'm at 190 and 194cm tall and I feel super skinny..

I'm around 90KG now and whilst I don't look fat, I've still got a decent gut and pretty much all my excess weight is centralised around my waist.

I figure I only have to lose another 5KG (11lbs) or so before I'm at the point where I get skinny enough to be an underwear model, but we'll weight and see.

 

[ShinNL]

So here's a question - when you lose weight, how difficult is it (or is it impossible) to eliminate the flabbiness of your stomach? I mean the loose-ish skin? I ask because I've begun losing weight and would like to have realistic expectations for what the end result should look like.

Some info:

- I'm in my late 20's
- I'm going from 242 lbs to what I believe my idea weight is, 185 lbs.
- I have experienced some (minor) stretch marks on my stomach area
- I've always had a little "pooch," even when I was skinny in high school, but I never built up muscle

So what should I expect? Does it get better with time? Anything I should do to help the process along?

Thanks in advance.

I've read about that and I was quite worried myself since most extreme examples are double the weight loss I've done (so I thought I would get at least half that effect). However, after searching a bit I found out about the "loose skin myth".

If you have time to read then this provides a nice perceptive on that:
http://www.bodyfatguide.com/LooseSkin.htm

And this link is what gave me hope:
http://www.clutchfitness.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5393

One poster used an image from Google Search to provide a loose skin example and then afterwards it turned out that the one who made that photo is from that forum and posted results of 2 months after.

Long story short: loose skin isn't really skin, it's still mostly fat. Most people ending up with loose skin have not only rapidly lost fat but also muscle which causes the flabbiness. Unless you're really old, the skin should have plenty of elasticity to recover from most cases.

 

[teh_pwn]

Now this is interesting:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304142232.htm

Increased appetite and insulin resistance can be transferred from one mouse to another via intestinal bacteria, according to research being published online by Science magazine.

Could the rise of sugar consumption in the 1970s and the overuse of anti-biotics be a cause of obesity? I mean this study is pretty compelling because simply moving the bad bacteria from an obese rat to a sterile intestine of a lean rat caused the lean rat to overeat and get insulin resistance. Sugar favors bad bacteria, and anti-biotics kill both good and bad bacteria.

Regardless of your dietary beliefs, I think most of us can agree that sugar is toxic.

I initially dismissed the gut flora hypothesis because I recall someone hypothesizing that more bacteria = less calories or some nonsense. But here we have a partially understood mechanism in which good bacteria stimulates satiety. It could be we co-evolved with symbiotic bacteria, and that the replacement of vegetables, unpasteurized dairy, and regular yogurt with sugar, sugar, and more sugar has tipped the scales in favor of other bacteria cultures.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Wait a minute...lbs aren't just the double of kg?

Thats why poeple said I'm super skinny when I said I weigh 170 lbs when it really is 187, and my max weights are a lot more impressive now too..damn I'm stupid :lol

But 80 kg when you're 2m tall is really a bit extreme..Like I said I'm at 190 and 194cm tall and I feel super skinny..

Use iGoogle and get a Metric Converter

 

[StoOgE]

Now this is interesting:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304142232.htm



Could the rise of sugar consumption in the 1970s and the overuse of anti-biotics be a cause of obesity? I mean this study is pretty compelling because simply moving the bad bacteria from an obese rat to a sterile intestine of a lean rat caused the lean rat to overeat and get insulin resistance. Sugar favors bad bacteria, and anti-biotics kill both good and bad bacteria.

Regardless of your dietary beliefs, I think most of us can agree that sugar is toxic.

I initially dismissed the gut flora hypothesis because I recall someone hypothesizing that more bacteria = less calories or some nonsense. But here we have a partially understood mechanism in which good bacteria stimulates satiety. It could be we co-evolved with symbiotic bacteria, and that the replacement of vegetables, unpasteurized dairy, and regular yogurt with sugar, sugar, and more sugar has tipped the scales in favor of other bacteria cultures.

So, I should keep eating yogurt?

 

[teh_pwn]

So, I should keep eating yogurt?

Yes, but not most of the "yogurt" in supermarkets that is mostly sugar, because this favors the bad bacteria. The bacteria in yogurt is some of the good stuff that seems to work with the intestines to get more nutrition and more satiety out of less food.

Buying sweetened yogurt for the purposes of improving your gut flora would be like buying grass seed that has fertilizer mixed in that only fertilizes weeds.

They also sell pro-biotic supplements for like $8-15 at most pharmacies. If you want to go the lazy route, I'd get that and be sure to eat vegetables/nuts to feed the good bacteria with soluble fiber.

 

[Blackface]

You look a lot better, well done. I'd say drop another 15 pounds or so to tone up.

Also, have you shaved your stomach?

If he is 150 he should not drop another 15 pounds. That is the worse advice on the planet. Toning up is done by building muscle. Not getting so skinny you see what LITTLE muscle you do have. Most people that small are not in shape and generally not healthy.

 

[Price Dalton]

So, I should keep eating yogurt?

Hell yes! Just make sure it's whole yogurt.

Sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, and other fermentables are also good. A variety is always best.

Also, if you can get them, eat fresh unwashed raw vegetables from the garden or farmers markets, which is another way to introduce bacteria. The flora in your gut can actually pick up new digestive enzymes from foreign flora; that's why the Japanese have an innately superior ability to digest certain seaweeds - they've been eating it for millenia and their gut flora has "learned" how to utilize it from bacteria borne on seaweed.

Soluble fiber, like pectin and inulin, act as food for your gut flora. Once you've established a healthy population in your gut, eat soluble
fiber to improve and increase it.

 

[Blackface]

So here's a question - when you lose weight, how difficult is it (or is it impossible) to eliminate the flabbiness of your stomach? I mean the loose-ish skin? I ask because I've begun losing weight and would like to have realistic expectations for what the end result should look like.

Some info:

- I'm in my late 20's
- I'm going from 242 lbs to what I believe my idea weight is, 185 lbs.
- I have experienced some (minor) stretch marks on my stomach area
- I've always had a little "pooch," even when I was skinny in high school, but I never built up muscle

So what should I expect? Does it get better with time? Anything I should do to help the process along?

Thanks in advance.

I know people who have gone through it and here is what the deal is.

When you are extremely obese and lose a lot of weight you get excess skin. inside the skin is water and fat that will never break down as it's part of the flab. What also happens is it completely spreads your abdominal muscles. Meaning even if you lose a metric tonne of weight, and bust your ass lifting 3 times a week and doing cardio 3 times a weak (6 days total) you will never have a proper stomach area.

What needs to be done is contacting your family doctor who will put you in contact with a plastic surgeon. Generally what they do is four operation. One for your mid-section, one for your arms, one for your chest and one for your legs.

The major operation is the one for the mid-section. In Canada it's about a 6 hour operation at $2500 an hour.

What they do is cut a ring right around your entire mid-section. Remove all the extra skin and fat all around your body, re-set and tighten all of your abdominal muscles that have been misplaced by the extra weight, then lift the skin that was under your gut all the way up to your chest. They then put drains into you to drain the excess fluids while you heal and sometimes give you a body suit. In about 6 weeks you should be on your feet again moving around as normal.

With the arms they cut along the lower part of your arm and right before the armpit they make a straight incision and branch it off into a V so you have enough skin to move your arm up and down. They cut all the extra off, suck away the fat and then pull the incision tightly together under your arm and sew it up.

On the chest it depends if the person has Gynecomastia or not. General they make small cuts under your man tits, suck all the fat away, remove excess skin then lift the nipple back to where it should normally be.

Arms, chest and legs are hour long operations each. The mid-section is a 6 hour operation.

There are other ways of doing the mid-section but they do NOT work as well and do nothing for your sides or back. It does work fine for people who were around 250, but anything more than that, especially 300+ you need the full 6 hour operation.

Now in your case you were about 250 pounds. So your arms and legs, perhaps even your chest may not need an operation. Which is fantastic. In some cases even the stomach may go back to normal and no surgery will be required.

Keep working out, keep losing weight and see how it goes. If you get to your goal weight and you still have a big flap of skin. Then you may need surgery to remove it. The surgery you will need however isn't the 6 hour operation. It would be more like a simple tummy lift which takes about an hour. Without a picture I can't tell you if you they will need to re-set your abdominal muscles though.

 

[Guts Of Thor]

I don't have any pics but just wanted to share my story:

-I started at 195 last August but lost 10lbs by Nov.
-Went from 185 in Nov. to 180 in late May
-I changed my eating habits and and also started jogging for an hour every day starting in June and am now down to 168lbs with my goal being 155lbs.

It feels pretty damn good!

 

[BobsRevenge]

Hell yes! Just make sure it's whole yogurt.

Sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, and other fermentables are also good. A variety is always best.

Also, if you can get them, eat fresh unwashed raw vegetables from the garden or farmers markets, which is another way to introduce bacteria. The flora in your gut can actually pick up new digestive enzymes from foreign flora; that's why the Japanese have an innately superior ability to digest certain seaweeds - they've been eating it for millenia and their gut flora has "learned" how to utilize it from bacteria borne on seaweed.

Soluble fiber, like pectin and inulin, act as food for your gut flora. Once you've established a healthy population in your gut, eat soluble
fiber to improve and increase it.

Hey, I read marksdailyapple.com too! :lol :lol

Good website.

Anyways, as far as yogurt recommondations go: Stonyfield Farm is the brand you'll most likely find that you want. Grass fed cow milk in that. Get it whole if you can, and unsweetened. You can sweeten it yourself later (with something like raw honey or stevia depending on if you are okay with sugar or not), and I recommend putting in some vanilla extract as well.

If you can get to a whole foods buy the most intense yogurt you can find. Look for words like "Biodynamic" on the packaging. Look for something that has the strands of bacteria it uses explicitly listed on the top. And for the love of God, buy a tub and not those dumb little cups.

 

[Price Dalton]

Hey, I read marksdailyapple.com too! :lol :lol

Good website.

Anyways, as far as yogurt recommondations go: Stonyfield Farm is the brand you'll most likely find that you want. Grass fed cow milk in that. Get it whole if you can, and unsweetened. You can sweeten it yourself later (with something like raw honey or stevia depending on if you are okay with sugar or not), and I recommend putting in some vanilla extract as well.

If you can get to a whole foods buy the most intense yogurt you can find. Look for words like "Biodynamic" on the packaging. Look for something that has the strands of bacteria it uses explicitly listed on the top. And for the love of God, buy a tub and not those dumb little cups.

Heh, yeah. I actually work with Mark. He's a good guy doing good work. Small world!

 

[InaudibleWhispa]

I'm looking to lose weight and end up about what filipe is now. I'm a bit thinner than when he started. No matter what, I can never stick to a specific diet, so I'm just generally trying to eat healthier meals and smaller portions, replacing chips (fries) with, say, a jacket potato and salad for example. But one thing I don't do really is exercise. How effective is cycling? I have a dodgy knee, and running for long can be uncomfortable but I'm fine on a bike. What would be a decent amount of cycling a week, how many days and how long for? And any other general advice would be handy.

 

[teh_pwn]

I'm looking to lose weight and end up about what filipe is now. I'm a bit thinner than when he started. No matter what, I can never stick to a specific diet, so I'm just generally trying to eat healthier meals and smaller portions, replacing chips (fries) with, say, a jacket potato and salad for example. But one thing I don't do really is exercise. How effective is cycling? I have a dodgy knee, and running for long can be uncomfortable but I'm fine on a bike. What would be a decent amount of cycling a week, how many days and how long for? And any other general advice would be handy.

As far as exercise goes as a method of fat loss, the amount really depends on who you talk to. I see exercise as a tool only in that it can increase the amount of hormones that tend to free up body fat to burn as fuel. I think the # of calories that you burn while exercising is nearly irrelevant (unless you're doing hours) because the amount of calories burned while exercise is a tiny percentage of your daily resting metabolism. The calories burned while exercising also don't necessarily come from body fat, and may increase your hunger.

You've got a tweaky knee, so I would recommend slowly building up. Long duration of low intensity, and then if possible do short bursts of high intensity after you've built up tissue (sprints, cycling, elliptical).

But I really think it comes down to using diet to control hunger and lower you're body's desired body fat % setpoint. Create a food log, eat until you feel 80% full during meals, and see how many calories you're eating. If you're overeating, you then need to figure out what's elevating your hunger.

Some general dietary tips:
1. Eliminate all fructose (sugar, sucrose, honey, HFCS, corn syrup).
2. Eliminate wheat, gluten, and MSG.
3. Eat unsweetened yogurt or fermented foods.
4. Find some high protein/moderate fat foods that work for you.
5. Replace starches & sweets with meat & vegetables.

 

[friskykillface]

with about 2-3 weeks to go in my all liquid diet, i'm at around 135, was at 130 a couple weeks back. That's been the lowest since i think i was about 13-14

i'll no doubt get back to my original weight before my jaw surgery of 160-165
but lately friends have been telling me i might likely gain about 10-20 more pounds or even more since i will be able to eat solid foods again :lol

i think that might happen, can't wait to "eat" again :lol

 

[teh_pwn]

with about 2-3 weeks to go in my all liquid diet, i'm at around 135, was at 130 a couple weeks back. That's been the lowest since i think i was about 13-14

i'll no doubt get back to my original weight before my jaw surgery of 160-165
but lately friends have been telling me i might likely gain about 10-20 more pounds or even more since i will be able to eat solid foods again :lol

i think that might happen, can't wait to "eat" again :lol

Yeah, without changing you're eating habits, you probably will. It's something that's been studied loosely since the 1950s - that the human body has a "setpoint" weight it tries to get to. When they starved subjects for a period of time, when they returned to their old diet they gained it back very quickly. Likewise, naturally lean people forcing themselves to overeat on trails very quickly go back down to their previous weight.

This "setpoint" is probably a combination of several factors. Seems that insulin sensitivity, leptin sensitivity, possibly ASP response to dietary fat, and the health of your intestinal flora all play a role. There's probably other factors that I'm not aware of and that research has never seen before. I mean they just discovered leptin 1994.

But I guess my question is do you want to go back to that weight? Is that heavier than you want? If it is, this is probably a good opportunity to prevent some of the weight gain by adjusting your setpoint.

 

[teh_pwn]

I'm really starting to buy into the gut flora theory.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/01/body-fat-setpoint-part-iii-dietary.html

Basically the theory goes, and this is extremely dumbed down:
-A combination of use of antibiotics in both food & medicine, and an increased consumption of sugar & grains kills bacteria that we symbiotically evolved with and feeds the bad.
-The overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut causes inflammation that damages the intestinal lining causing "leaky gut" or increased intestinal permeability
-Whole proteins and toxic substances go directly into the blood
-The body's immune system sees the whole proteins and starts training to attack proteins
-The body's immune system then starts attacking other tissue in the body that resembles protein (joints, skin, organs), including the hypothalamus
-The damaged tissue becomes inflamed, including the hypothalamus.
-The damaged hypothalamus becomes less responsive to leptin
-Hunger increases


In one study they directly injected rats with one of the many substances that leaks into the bloodstream with leaky gut, and it caused the rats to become leptin/insulin resistant and get fat:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17456850

Giving obese rats a form of fiber (oligofructose) that good intestinal bacteria love caused them to get thinner
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16644709

You combine this evidence with the study I posted earlier about transplanting bacteria from an obese rat into the intestines of a thin rat and it causing the thin rat to get fat, and I'm nearly sold. They need to fund more studies in this area. Very interesting.