bruce19

First some basics....I'm 72 and have that ex-college football player body. 5' 9" (down from 5' 10 1/2") , 44" chest, 38" waist. I am not a cyclist type body. I struggle with weight. In mid-November I decided to explore a Keto diet. At the time I weighed 194.5 lbs. After about a week of routinely failing to eat only 50g or less of carbs, I realized this was never going to happen. But, I thought, what if I did my best to give up processed foods and especially refined carbs like breads. Basically my goal is to eat whole foods, avoid refined carbs and stay at 2,000 or less carbs a day. (I also go to the gym every other day to lift) An additional goal was to reduce calories from alcohol. Not easy because I am a very social guy and, frankly, I just like having a bourbon or two (3-4 oz) every night. Here's what I've been able to do: stay at 2,000 or less calories, eat lots of good food including veggies and grass fed meat, keep to 300-400 cals of alcohol and keep carbs to 100g a day. My scale weight bounces around of course but I have hit 189.7 lbs and am consistently around 190 lbs. BTW, I have two scales at home and one at my gym. They are all digital and show the same weights/trend. Here's the really interesting part...and, I'm hoping someone can shed light on it. I have had an issue with high BP and have been keeping it in line with organic beet juice. It's been working nicely. But, at the start of this new regimen I decided to take my BP before the beet juice. I was consistently around 155/95. About 5 weeks into my hew diet I started showing around 125/82. It's been consistently there ever since. Here are my questions....is that normal? Is losing 4-5 lbs over 2 months reasonable? Just hoping someone here may have had similar experiences and can share. TIA.

HerrKaLeun

I'm doing Keto and came up with really yummy meals and don't miss the carby stuff at all. I may be under 50 g net-carbs. Eat lot of vegetables (made into a salad with cheese, nuts, seeds), meat, egg, bacon etc. I'm also able to fast 16/8 easily without being hungry. My last meal was yesterday at 1 pm and i rode over an hour with fatbike last night and an hour this morning and still haven't eaten anything (9 am now) and am not really hungry.

Hate to tell you, but the alcohol adds calories (and other damage) without getting any nutritional value. If you ate the same calories in oranges, kiwis etc, you would be out of Keto as well, but at least you would have gotten fiber,minerals, vitamins and not the toxic alcohol metabolism products. 1 pound of fat are 3,500 kcal, so if you skip the 400 kcal alcohol every day you can do the math that you lose almost a pound every week.

bruce19

I've come up with some interesting recipes too. I take a box grater and grate broccoli or cauliflower along with carrots or beets or even a yam. Saute it all with onions, garlic, mushrooms, etc. and spice it up with adobo or blackened seasoning. I've added chicken, sea food and beef as well. Great stuff. I'm aware of the downside of alcohol. And, I am trying to greatly reduce my total intake. I know that I'm never going to become a teetotaler. FWIW, when I got out of US Army Basic Training I was 23 yr. old and weighed 180 lbs. So, I'm not that far away. The typical 10 lbs. Part of my pattern has also been to not eat later than 8 PM and wait until somewhere around noon to have a meal. I never ate breakfast until I was in my 40's and every magazine article said it was "the most important meal of the day."

Oh, I'm counting total carbs not net carbs.

Carbonfiberboy 

There just happens to be a study that's all about your question: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...ticle/2673150?

Turn out all one needs to do is to eat healthy and not too much. Vegetables seem to be the key, organic please. Athletes would to well to pay more attention to macronutrient balance than did folks in this study, but there's wide latitude there.

I think your rate of loss is perfect. It has to be a forever lifestyle thing, not a diet, or it doesn't work (for long).

bruce19

Thanks. It has become a lifestyle change and not just a diet for me, just as you suggest. I also talked to a friend who is an ND and she opined that it (lower BP) may be the result of less inflammation.

HerrKaLeun

+1 on the lifestyle

I've subscribed to Dr. Berg's videos. Very informative

canklecat

It can be done. It demands a drastic diet change and some sacrifice.

I lost 10 lbs over the summer, mostly forced by health issues. I had to switch to a mostly liquid diet and to stop drinking alcohol due to a thyroid tumor that was crushing my esophagus and trachea. I couldn't swallow solid food for awhile. And I wasn't able to metabolize alcohol -- a single beer made me feel sick within an hour or two.

And my diet wasn't really even a keto diet. I drank lots of smoothies with whole fruit, protein powder, etc. Lots of sugar in most natural fruit nowadays -- it's been genetically modified to be sweet as candy.

When I was able to eat some semi-solid food like seasoned ground beef in soup or stew I didn't bother with low fat ground sirloin.

I dropped from just over 160 to 150. Since thyroid surgery in November I'm back up to 155 but I'm eating whatever I want. Still can't handle alcohol -- the couple of times I've had beer it still felt like a hangover within a couple of hours.

Offhand I'd say the biggest single change anyone can make to their diet to reduce fat is to eliminate alcohol. That's a big challenge for folks who enjoy socializing. I've had to stop participating in a weekly casual group ride with friends because it's mostly a pub crawl. I don't mind not drinking but the ride seems pointless. There's another weekly ride with the same folks that's more of a workout so I still tag along on those.

And instead of sacrificing all carbs and sweets, consider them as fuel. Eat them only on workout days, just before, during or immediately after a hard workout ride. I love chocolate donuts, but the only time I eat them is during a rest stop at a convenience store. I can have my cake, and eat it too -- as long as I'm riding enough to burn off the calories.

But I don't plan to get involved in the current keto fad. The only thing that might motivate me to diet is if I get back into good enough shape to ride a time trial. I could stand to lose 5 lbs to get into peak condition.

Seattle Forrest

There are people who will lose that much weight in two weeks. What you're doing is much healthier, and should be doable without any great sacrifice.

It's still important to get veggies and fiber. Cauliflower has no (?) carbs but has some nutrients.

bruce19

According to the site I'm using (https://www.fatsecret.com/Default.aspx?pa=m), a cup of broccoli has 30 calories and 6 carbs. My weight has been fixed at 190 lbs for the past week. I think that there are several factors involved.....I'm taking creatine in my 100% carrot juice. I'm told you will retain water with creatine. And, when I was in college playing football I got on the weights and went from 180 to 190 lbs as a result of lifting. I have that mesomorph body. I've been lifting every other day for about 3 months so that may be a contributing factor. I measured my bicep the other day and it was 14" so I know I'm bulking a bit. My goal is to start the new cycling season at around 185 but I'm not sure that's doable.

Seattle Forrest

Creatine is good stuff.

OBoile

You don't gain weight from lifting weights. Mass doesn't just magically appear on your body.

You gain weight from eating more calories than you burn.

Lifting weights simply signals your body to store more of that excess weight as muscle rather than as fat. Or, if you have a caloric deficit, they signal your body to try to retain as much muscle as possible.

Cyclist0108

My 20 y.o. kid lost 20 lbs after jaw surgery in two weeks. Fortunately, he was probably 15 lbs overweight, and now he is at an ideal weight and in prime physical shape.

I wouldn't recommend that dieting technique* to anyone, but it worked.

*liquid protein drink delivered via tube/syrringe

bruce19

https://www.livestrong.com/article/4...fting-weights/

OBoile

That article pretty much confirmed what I said.

bruce19

I guess my question is this.....if someone who is eating 2,000 calories a day and is sedentary begins lifting weights while continuing to eat 2,000 calories a day, will they gain weight?

OBoile

No. They won't.

rumrunn6

fwiw ~ a low carb diet helped me jump start a body transformation which took several years

Hondo Gravel

Teabike

I think a common problem for low carbs intakes are that they instead consume a lot of unhealthy fats from red meat

Bonzo Banana

Your body is setup to use sugar as fuel, you can re-adjust your body to use fat as fuel including your own stored fat but it means gradually lowering your sugar intake especially processed/refined sugars which you pretty much need to eliminate but increase your fat intake of sensible fats like olive oil, butter etc. I love sugary foods myself but I have trained my body to use its own fat reserves so have lots of energy without carbs but still have an emotional addiction to sugar and love sugary foods. It's a question of will power which sadly I lack.

Also remember if exercising your body will create muscle from fat and water and you can gain weight due to increased muscle mass despite lowering calorie intake because you are retaining more water in your muscles. The muscles you build increase your required calories per day.

The best way to reset your body so it consumes its own fat is intermittent fasting.

wolfchild

I don't think so....No, your body can't make new muscle when it is in caloric deficit especially when on Keto or very low-carb diet...and adding exercise while being in caloric deficit is only going to make you use more energy and make it even more difficult to gain or maintain muscle. To gain muscle you need caloric surplus and carbs.

Seattle Forrest

Also, you can build a house using no materials whatsoever as long as you don't eat many carbs.

Bonzo Banana

I'm pretty sure its accepted that you can make new muscle mass on a very low carb diet without issues the body can convert existing fat to muscle so can create muscle with a calorie deficit so you can actually get heavier despite the same or reduced calorie intake as you retain more water in muscles. Not sure if you can't gain muscle while on ketosis I would think you still could by burning your own fat but at a much reduced level but that is possibly wrong. Once you get into ketosis though your energy levels become much more stable and you feel fitter despite not eating. It's very weird until you have actually experienced it. Your mind becomes clearer, you feel stronger and younger, it's like the body is cleansing itself. It's a good feeling but the urge to eat for me is still there and I struggle to maintain the fast despite feeling great.

Bonzo Banana

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make but the body stores fat which is the perfect fuel for the body for times when no normal food is available. When the body is powered by its own stored fat not only is it the perfect fuel but your body is also not having to process food in the stomach. It's like running an engine on high octane fuel rather than low octane fuel plus making the vehicle considerably lighter with it.

High concentrations of sugar in natural food is rare and when the body encounters a source of such food like a fruit tree where the fruit may soon drop and spoil animals naturally go into a binge mentality to consume as much as possible for the short window when it is available to eat. Unfortunately that sugar binging is operating pretty much all the time with our modern diet.

https://www.youtube.com/user/drericberg123

wolfchild

Fat is a good survival fuel and not a muscle building or performance enhancing fuel...Fat burns too slow to be called a high octane fuel. Fat is actually a low octane fuel...I think it's good to be fat adapted but you don't need to stop eating carbs to become fat adapted..