bikebreak

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/he...tml?ref=health

Some interesting tidbits:
"Eating refined carbohydrates tends to raise the overall number of LDL particles and shift them toward the small, dense variety, which contributes to atherosclerosis. Saturated fat tends to make LDL particles larger, more buoyant and less likely to clog arteries, at least when carbohydrate intake is not high, said Dr. Ronald M. Krauss, the former chairman of the American Heart Association’s dietary guidelines committee."

akohekohe

Ok, I tried the low Carb thing for six months. I've stayed in ketosis (I know, I've done the blood test every single morning for six months, today it was 3.1 mmo/L). I was 200 lbs. I'm now 140 lbs. I had before and after iDXA BMI scans done and all the lost weight was fat. All of it. I can now knock off a century without being particularly tired the next day. And contrary to a lot of people's experiences my sprinting has improved (I'm not a great sprinter but I never was). I think that once you stay in ketosis long enough your muscles just learn to burn the ketones efficiently so they don't miss the glycogen. Here is what I now look like:


I'm going to stick with it and stay in ketosis. It is actually not that hard to do, you just have to pay attention to what you eat and avoid eating too many carbs. Thanks for this thread, helped inspire me to give it a try.

Slackerprince

HEY EVERYBODY!

Glad I found this informative thread. Hope we can get past the tedious debate.
I started Paleo on Oct, 1st, 2014. As of today, I'm down 8 REAL (not water weight) pounds.
I'm doing cheese, but no liquid dairy.

Meals consist of:
Eggs.
Organic salad greens.
Walnuts and almonds.
Salad dressings without veg oils or HFCS.
Pork chops
Steak
Chicken
Bacon
Broccoli, asparagus, onions, etc
Sweet potatoes
Coffee
Craft beer (splurge)
Red wine
Ice water
Butter

I will post some meal photos and will do a progress body photo on Nov, 1st.
I am 6'2 and an ectomorph (skinny skeleton). I was up to 239 pounds and my goal weight is 190, but my dream weight is 180.

I HIGHLY recommend this book:

The Paleo Manifesto: Ancient Wisdom for Lifelong Health: John Durant: 9780307889188: Amazon.com: Books

I've been following the leaders in the movement, Robb Wolf and Mark Sisson, via their websites.
I also have Wolf's book, The Paleo Solution, but haven't started it yet.
Durant's book is well reasearched and very easy to read. Some good humor, as well.

I'm learning a lot and doing my due diligence with research.
I'm sure that I could be tweaking for better results, but I'm happy with my progress and don't crave sugar or carbs.

Here are my cheats:

Non-dairy creamer-Convenient and easy to store. Ingredient list is, basically, the Anti-Christ of Paleo, but I like it and the portions are small. I tried and hated black coffee, and haven't tried coconut oil. Although we are buying fresh food all the time, I hate running out of fresh dairy, hence the fake stuff. I think any adverse effects are minimal.

Everything bagel with industrial (Jif creamy) peanut butter and industrial honey-I ONLY eat this for rides and it quickly cured any bonking for me. I crushed it yesterday with this food and will continue using it, for now. I will experiment, of course, with more Paleo stuff later.

Craft beer-Sierra Nevada Pale Ale-Nice treat, and I only need one.

It's only been 2 weeks, but I look different in the mirror and the scale indicates 8 pounds down.
My hunger is different, and I'm able to go without food pretty easliy. I don't like to eat for a while after I wake up, so that leaves 2 healthy meals left in the day with some nuts or salad for snacks.

Thanks for reading.


S

Slackerprince

Excellent! Do you have a "before" photo?


S

Spld cyclist

How do you know it's not partly water weight? If you cut carbs and enough calories to create a deficit, you're going to burn through some glycogen, resulting in a water dump.

Slackerprince

Consistent numbers.

Can always count on you for the negative spin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ_R-G_i4Xk


S

Spld cyclist

??? This is just basic physiology. I suggest you google the terms: starting diet glycogen depletion

Please note that if all the weight were fat, your calorie deficit would be: 8 pounds * 3,500 calories/15 days = 1,867 calories per day. That's a lot. Your body would kick into major glycogen depletion at a far lower calorie deficit than that, especially if you're limiting carbs. I recently started a diet too. I've been aiming for a 600-ish calorie/day deficit, and I am eating a substantial quantity of carbs. I lost 5 pounds in the first 5 days. I didn't do any hard bike rides in that time or anything else that would force a large glycogen depletion, just normal activities (including my bike commute, which is done at a very moderate pace). Did I lose 5 pounds of fat in 5 days? Totally not possible. I'm guessing less than 0.5 lb of fat.

I'm not raining on the paleo parade here. Just letting you know that you should be realistic about what is really happening. Maybe if you had been limiting carbs for an extended period of time and were already well-adapted to utilizing fat preferentially, you wouldn't have much glycogen to start with and this would seem more possible. You indicated you just started this on 10/1, so that doesn't seem to be the case.

P.S. I didn't look are the video you posted because I'm at work, where we have a policy against youtube. I'll look at it later. Update: Looked at it, expecting it would provide some evidence for your opinion. Guess I expected too way much.

bobthib

Been on low carb, high fat since May '12. Best thing I ever did! Got off BP meds, statins, ect. Did Ironman August 70.3 two weeks ago, came in 3rd in my AG. Fueled on MCT and coconut oil, beet root juice, diluted Ultrafuel, and water. No cramps, no bonk.

Slackerprince

Way to go.

S

Sixty Fiver

I have been hearing this so much of late... and more and more news sources are citing a lower carb diet as one that is truly effective and healthy.

The Ironman results are truly impressive.

akohekohe

Well, I couldn't have possibly lost 60lbs. of water weight ... I'm sure a little at the beginning was perhaps water so maybe it wasn't all water, I just know the DXA scan showed 60lbs. of fat lost.

Spld cyclist

A typical male might start with 500 grams of glycogen stored (this can vary, but close enough for illustration). If in the first few days of a diet you burned through that before fat burning kicked in significantly, that would be 500 g lost. If we assumed that there is 3 grams of water bonded to each gram of glycogen, you would end up losing 2000 grams of water plus glycogen, which is 4.4 pounds. If 500 g glycogen = 2,000 calories, you could easily go through that in 4 days with a modest caloric restriction of 500 per day. Not realizing this, many people think they're doing just awesome with their diet in the first few days, but they haven't burned any significant amount of fat in that time. Once glycogen is largely depleted, then the body has to burn fat to make up for calorie deficits (or protein at times of extreme energy demands, or if one is literally starving).

In practice, we're all burning carbs, fat, and amino acids at varying rates all the time (except if we're completely avoiding carbs, of course). Our bodies also usually won't let us burn glycogen down to zero under typical circumstances. So in the first days of a diet, a little bit of the weight loss will be fat. Another thing to consider is that endurance athletes may store more glycogen as an adaptation to training, or through deliberate carb loading, so you could start with more than my assumption of 500 g (or less for that matter).

So long story short, yes your 60 lb loss of fat was in fact fat, subject to any error in the tests. Typically there would also be some muscle mass loss with that level of fat loss, so your scale probably told you the total loss was more than 60 lb.

AlpDuWheeze

I wanted to quickly share my weight loss game plan, which has low carb and paleo elements to it but is shaped to fit my currently busy lifestyle.

breakfast: McDonalds oatmeal (yes, I realize it has some brown sugar in it)
lunch: a large salad with fatty, non-sugary salad dressing (blue cheese, ranch, etc.) with protein added
snacks: mixed nuts, some dried fruits
immediately before evening ride: a Vitamix smoothie of fruit and veggies (mostly fruit), 12-16 oz.
after ride dinner: my appetite is really low, so just a small protein with a small vegetable side

I have dropped 20 pounds in six weeks with this "on the go" friendly game plan. My daily ride is 45 to 60 minutes. I rarely feel hungry, and have found that the Vitamix smoothie really makes a difference in my energy while riding. I am now 15 pounds away from my target weight of 185 (6'3" height).

My wife has been amazed at my progress. YMMV.

AlpDuWheeze

garage sale GT

Do you mind if I ask how it's been for your mind?