Anybody on a diet?

I’m down 39 lbs since Sept 18th. My wife and I started the Keto diet that day. I was 252 lbs. She is down 25. At my heaviest I was about 255 in the first pic a little over a year ago and the 2nd pic was New Years Eve and I was 215. I’m 213 today. About 10 lbs from my goal weight. Just turned 46. I’m 6’ 3”
C98451BA-D88E-4A20-AA30-7FBA69419C9E.jpeg
 
I'm 6'2" and went from 225 lbs to 180 lbs by cutting back on carbs and trying to eat only whole foods. I was on blood pressure and cholesterol drugs, and my sugar level was close to being too high, not to mention upper and lower GI problems. After changing my diet all those problems went away.

Now I am trying to put some muscle on, so I'm eating more good carbs, getting lots and lots of protein, and am back up to 190.

My health is great, very rarely sick, and I used to get sick all the time. About the only bad thing I can say is I don't sleep for $hit. I'm 52 and I think it's just part of getting old.
 
I'm 6' 2" and have been between 175 and 180 pounds since I graduated high school in 1976. So weight has never really been an issue for me. (Other than the time I lost 20 pounds in 2 weeks after I broke my back. The Demerol diet is effective, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.)

That said, I really need to start eating healthier, and this thread has given me a lot of things to research. (Thanks for starting it, Shredsquatch.) I eat way too much processed food and sugars, and I'm definitely feeling the effects of decades of eating junk. Chronic aches and pains, no energy, and declining strength have started to rear their ugly heads over the past few years. I'm also paying a steep price for 40 years of smoking cigarettes, and although I quit 5 or 6 years ago, the damage from that is likely irreversible.

Thanks again for this thread and all the info in it.
 
Do you have any links on IF that you found particularly helpful? Would love to see them.

I've been doing the 12 hour fast which is simply not eating for 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. Really it's a simple way of tricking my mind into not snacking around 8-9pm, which has always been my worst weight loss pitfall. Seeing good results since I've started that.

I am not familiar with the concept of delaying carb intake until post workout. I've always learned that carbs fuel your workout, so I'm curious about that.

I've read a number of things as well as watched a number of videos. The following I think is a good summary of some of the things that I mentioned:



Particularly, starting at 5:45 in the video, gets into the metabolism aspect.

With regard to carbs and workouts, a number of sources say that carbs aren't necessary to fuel a workout. Certainly people who follow a Ketogenic nutrition plan and stay in Ketosis don't have carbs as an energy source. The idea with Ketosis is that your body will produce Ketone bodies as fat gets metabolized that are then used as an energy source. Also, note that the big thing with Ketosis is that it's common to see people consume too much protein, and their macro ratios aren't right to produce Ketosis, and therefore protein will end up as glucose via the gluconeogenesis process.

For me, I'm not doing a full Ketogenic plan, but again, just pushing my carbs to post workout. The idea being that keeping the insulin low by not eating carbs or excessive protein keeps one in fat burning mode, and then post workout, spiking the insulin (not excessively so) by eating some fruit (bananas are good for this) and then getting more protein in.

That stuff comes from the Carb-Backloading Protocol. CBL incorporates Ketogenic aspects coupled with Intermittent Fasting. That's essentially what I'm doing. I consider the IF part the most important for the results I've gotten, but honestly I think nutritional timing may play more of an important role than I realize. I'm not sure.

Personally, I've worked out fasted, and have also done 5 mile runs fasted. Running I actually find that I have consistently better runs while fasted (even if I have been fasted for 16+ hours). With workouts, I don't know if I notice a quality change while fasted or not fasted. I've had stellar workouts fasted, but it does take some getting used to.

Having said that, most of my workouts are not fasted, but are also not carb-fueled. My first meal of the day consists of eggs and sauteed greens and slivered almonds (in olive oil). This is usually around noon. Calorically, this meal isn't that high, even though it's higher in fat. My big meal of the day is definitely my post workout meal.

I workout around 2 or 3 pm usually, then come home and eat carbs and protein. With the carbs, in the CBL protocol, the carbs are supposed to be simple carbs, not complex carbs, so as to get an insulin response quickly, and also so that the carbs are processed quickly, and therefore insulin levels return to a lower state earlier in the evening, allowing the fasting/fat burning process to pick up again.

On non workout days, I tend to eat less, and sometimes do only a single meal for the day.

At minimum, I think IF helps people zero in on the right amount of food to consume. Again, we're all different, so the proper amount of food for me is different for you. But again, I think IF is a good way to figure out that right amount, and get one off of the regular food intake train that we're taught we need to be on. And of course, some people do need to eat that often.

So, ultimately, I'd say check out the video, and also read some stuff on Carb Backloading.

There's a youtube channel, called Kinobody - run by Greg O'Gallager. He does IF, and has a couple videos on his channel showing what he eats for the day. He's been doing IF for over 6 years. And while he's genetically gifted, he also works out hard. He's got a strong personality, which I like, but some people might be put off by him. For what it's worth.

Hope this helps :)

EDIT:

I wanted to add - ease into the IF thing. I started out by just pushing my first meal until 10am. If I got hungry, I drank (decaf) coffee, with a little bit of milk. Some people say don't even have milk, to not consume anything that will result in an insulin response, but I've found personally that a tiny bit of milk doesn't break my fast - and I can feel when I'm fasting. After a week, I pushed to 11am. Another week, pushed til noon.

I've been doing IF for a good 9 months now, and I am completely used to it. I don't get hungry in the morning any more, even when I can feel that I'm in the fasted state. And, hunger if/when it comes (sometimes at night) does NOT produce low blood sugar effects for me. It all feels very natural and good to me. Again, I think of the low blood sugar effect that we get between meals almost as a withdrawal symptom to the eating habits most of us know, because the insulin levels stay at a certain average level, and we've become accustomed to that.

Also, if you're working out in the morning, CBL and IF is still feasible. It just means that the eating window should be adjusted to suit your needs.

And finally, both Terry Crews and Hugh Jackman do IF (HJ uses IF when getting ready for movies). I don't know if that holds any weight (no pun intended), but it's interesting none-the-less.
 
Last edited:
^ just started doing IF from around 7-8 pm at night to around 12-1pm the next day. I’ve been doing keto for 5 months now and about 10 lbs from my goal weight. I stalled for the last few weeks so tried IF and it seems to have helped kick start the weight loss again. I usually workout around 12-1 and didn’t think I could work out while on a fast but I’ve been doing it.
 
I'm all for keto, intermittent, etc., and dig that you're talking about it. But here's some input.

I've read a number of things as well as watched a number of videos. The following I think is a good summary of some of the things that I mentioned:



Particularly, starting at 5:45 in the video, gets into the metabolism aspect.


The video groups up the benefits of keto, intermittent, fasting, etc. and talks about it as if it's all one thing. Not a fan. Makes it way too easy for people to mistakenly think, "if I'm doing intermittent fasting, I'm getting all the benefits from ketosis, fasting, etc." Nope.

With regard to carbs and workouts, a number of sources say that carbs aren't necessary to fuel a workout. Certainly people who follow a Ketogenic nutrition plan and stay in Ketosis don't have carbs as an energy source. The idea with Ketosis is that your body will produce Ketone bodies as fat gets metabolized that are then used as an energy source.
Being in ketosis will negatively impact high intensity performance (i.e. weightlifting). But this doesn't really matter for most people who are training for health, not performance.

For me, I'm not doing a full Ketogenic plan, but again, just pushing my carbs to post workout...

CBL incorporates Ketogenic aspects coupled with Intermittent Fasting.
There's no such thing as part-ketogenic. This is something I read/hear all the time that drives me kind of nuts :p You're either in nutritional ketosis or you're not. If you're not, your body is still functioning off of glycogen, and ketones don't play a role.

And carb back-loading is not considered significant even by its proponents. Daily macro-nutrient intake is the primary concern, and CBL just happens to impact macros for a lot of people. Not much research to support CBL IMHO, inconclusive at best. If it works for you, it works for you. But I have trouble biting my tongue when it's so heartily recommended.

There's a youtube channel, called Kinobody - run by Greg O'Gallager. He does IF, and has a couple videos on his channel showing what he eats for the day. He's been doing IF for over 6 years. And while he's genetically gifted, he also works out hard. He's got a strong personality, which I like, but some people might be put off by him. For what it's worth.
I would urge people looking into this to be a bit more wary of health/fitness personalities/brands. Their ultimate aim is to market themselves and sell you their products, not necessarily to give you the best unbiased advice. (i.e. Tony Horton didn't get his body by doing P90 lol)

Especially something like the ketogenic diet, it can be detrimental to your health (even while losing weight) if not done correctly. So educate yourselves well! It used to be easier to find good resources a few years ago, but it's harder now with so much noise from marketing/brands around it... :(
 
Last edited:
@yeky83:

All great points. Thanks for the information.

I agree about the video and how it lumps things together. And also about the partial Ketosis thing. And the fitness personality stuff. Actually, like I said - all great points - I don't disagree with any of what you wrote.

In my original post in this thread, I did say that people should do their own research and to be careful (stay hydrated, for one).

I have seen (another fitness personality, mind you) who is jacked (Brandon Carter) and he follows a ketogenic diet, and he doesn't look like he's lacking when it comes to high performance. So for him, perhaps Ketosis doesn't impact him negatively.

With the CBL stuff, and nutritional timing, the thought is that there's metabolic advantages to the timing aspect. But I don't know if there's proper scientific studies to prove/disprove this. And as I said, I think that the IF portion of CBL likely has a higher component of effectiveness.

The partial ketosis thing - right, I should have said that the idea is more about entering Ketosis for a short amount of time, but actually I think that the delay of carbs is likely not long enough to induce Ketosis anyway, at least not the schedule that I'm employing, which basically works out to carbs once a day, meaning that they end up 24 hours apart.

All I can go on is what I've read (while trying to avoid confirmation bias and so on) and personally experienced. And for me, IF (and the delayed carbs) is working well, and I've gotten results that alluded me in my teens/twenties/thirties, namely, being leaner while maintaining/gaining muscle.

Thanks again for the reply - the information you wrote is good, and also strengthens the idea that we have to do our own research and choose what's right for us, and most importantly, that safety and health comes first.
 
I was diagnosed with Diabetes last June. I said enough is enough. I lost 84 pounds since last June. I have kept it off since making weight in oct. I’m no longer diabetic, and I’m no longer taking cholesterol medication. I no longer have back or knee pain. Live is much different these days for me.

Maybe I missed it, but what did you do to turn things around?
 
I would urge people looking into this to be a bit more wary of health/fitness personalities/brands. Their ultimate aim is to market themselves and sell you their products, not necessarily to give you the best unbiased advice. (i.e. Tony Horton didn't get his body by doing P90 lol)
This. People looking into any diet should keep their eyes open. There is a wealth of bogus information out there, most of it propagated by people trying to make a dollar. There are no requirements for the title of "nutritionist." All you have to do is print up business cards.

The mathematics of dieting are simple. If you consume fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. If you consume more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. There is no diet that can avoid this fact. The trick is finding a diet and exercise combination that you can live with.
 
I would urge people looking into this to be a bit more wary of health/fitness personalities/brands. Their ultimate aim is to market themselves and sell you their products, not necessarily to give you the best unbiased advice. (i.e. Tony Horton didn't get his body by doing P90 lol)

I'm not going to disagree with any of the points made here, because you all have researched the dietary impacts to the body, much more than I have....but I am going to throw a plug out for programs like P90X.

If you need guidance and direction, a program like this can work wonders for you. If you don't know how to create a work out plan, if you don't know how to separate body parts into different work outs, if you don't know how/when to work which body parts, etc...these vids are great.

I've been an avid weight lifter for the past 25 years, so I consider myself workout savvy. But like anyone, I get bored...workouts are monotonous, so I'm always open to trying new things.
I grabbed the P90X DVDs, just to do something different. Didn't know what to expect as I've never done a work out program/video like that.
I was pleasantly surprised. Tony is a bit of a geek...but he knows how to work out hard.
My summary of P90X is - good-hard-workouts. It's not a fad, it's not giving people false hope that they can loose crazy weight with little to no hard work. You put the DVD in, you work out as hard as you can and try to keep up with the 'actors', and you get into great shape.

I think these types of videos can be excellent guidance and motivation for people that need it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mwd
@yeky83:

All great points. Thanks for the information.

I agree about the video and how it lumps things together. And also about the partial Ketosis thing. And the fitness personality stuff. Actually, like I said - all great points - I don't disagree with any of what you wrote.

In my original post in this thread, I did say that people should do their own research and to be careful (stay hydrated, for one).
Thank you for starting a dialog about it. It's hard to get everything across in a short forum post, so I realize you've had to boil it down to a few points for the gist of it, sorry if I came across picky. Hopefully people take away that they need to do their own research, find nutritionists they can trust if needed, etc.

I have seen (another fitness personality, mind you) who is jacked (Brandon Carter) and he follows a ketogenic diet, and he doesn't look like he's lacking when it comes to high performance. So for him, perhaps Ketosis doesn't impact him negatively.
Looking jacked doesn't equate to him being able to perform at his highest. Again, it doesn't quite matter for us who train for health, but strictly speaking, ketosis diet negatively affects high intensity performance. Studies confirm this, and our understanding of bodily energy delivery process confirms this.

Some expert, high performance ketosis people do carb loading before high intensity training, something like 50g carb 30 minutes before you train. But again, doesn't really apply to any of us.

I think that the delay of carbs is likely not long enough to induce Ketosis anyway, at least not the schedule that I'm employing, which basically works out to carbs once a day, meaning that they end up 24 hours apart.
Right. It usually takes 2~3 days to enter nutritional ketosis. And this is with strict macro-nutrient control. So no talk of ketosis should enter with daily intermittent fasting.
This is also a big issue with a lot of the "bulletproof coffee" folks, they don't recognize this and just buy into the butter/MCT-oil coffee in the mornings. They just end up dumping a lot of fat into a regular diet, which hurts blood lipid levels (cholesterol, etc.). Opinion: Creator Dave Aspery doesn't bother to make this clear to his readers, just gets his buyers hooked on caffeine, "it feels great!" - duh, it's about money, money, money, look at how smart I am, buy my stuff, bleh.

All I can go on is what I've read (while trying to avoid confirmation bias and so on) and personally experienced. And for me, IF (and the delayed carbs) is working well, and I've gotten results that alluded me in my teens/twenties/thirties, namely, being leaner while maintaining/gaining muscle.

Thanks again for the reply - the information you wrote is good, and also strengthens the idea that we have to do our own research and choose what's right for us, and most importantly, that safety and health comes first.
Agreed, thanks for the great discussion! And awesome to hear you've found stuff that works well for you! :)



I'm not going to disagree with any of the points made here, because you all have researched the dietary impacts to the body, much more than I have....but I am going to throw a plug out for programs like P90X.

If you need guidance and direction, a program like this can work wonders for you. If you don't know how to create a work out plan, if you don't know how to separate body parts into different work outs, if you don't know how/when to work which body parts, etc...these vids are great.

I've been an avid weight lifter for the past 25 years, so I consider myself workout savvy. But like anyone, I get bored...workouts are monotonous, so I'm always open to trying new things.
I grabbed the P90X DVDs, just to do something different. Didn't know what to expect as I've never done a work out program/video like that.
I was pleasantly surprised. Tony is a bit of a geek...but he knows how to work out hard.
My summary of P90X is - good-hard-workouts. It's not a fad, it's not giving people false hope that they can loose crazy weight with little to no hard work. You put the DVD in, you work out as hard as you can and try to keep up with the 'actors', and you get into great shape.

I think these types of videos can be excellent guidance and motivation for people that need it.
Agreed, I wasn't trying to downplay P90X, sorry. It's a great plyometrics workout.
(I was just playing off a running joke I've noticed within fitness folks about P90. Tony Horton talks about the "gun show" and such, but his body is obviously made by weightlifting, not exercises like P90. So you might say he doesn't really practice what he preaches, he does other stuff in his personal life.)
 
Last edited:
Looking jacked doesn't equate to him being able to perform at his highest. Again, it doesn't quite matter for us who train for health, but strictly speaking, ketosis diet negatively affects high intensity performance. Studies confirm this, and our understanding of bodily energy delivery process confirms this.

Some expert, high performance ketosis people do carb loading before high intensity training, something like 50g carb 30 minutes before you train. But again, doesn't really apply to any of us.

Good point. Plus, I'm sure there's cases where jacked/fit people then tried something new to them and maybe got some good results, but were already jacked, and so it's easy for other people (myself included) to see that person and think "oh, Ketogenic/IF/whatever" must work, look at them!"

Agreed, thanks for the great discussion! And awesome to hear you've found stuff that works well for you! :)

Thanks, and thank you for all of your good points and opening my mind up a bit more to things. Cheers for the great discussion! :)
 
I'm on a beer diet right now. IPA mostly. Without beer life is not worth living.
giphy.gif
 
I've read a number of things as well as watched a number of videos. The following I think is a good summary of some of the things that I mentioned:



Particularly, starting at 5:45 in the video, gets into the metabolism aspect.

With regard to carbs and workouts, a number of sources say that carbs aren't necessary to fuel a workout. Certainly people who follow a Ketogenic nutrition plan and stay in Ketosis don't have carbs as an energy source. The idea with Ketosis is that your body will produce Ketone bodies as fat gets metabolized that are then used as an energy source. Also, note that the big thing with Ketosis is that it's common to see people consume too much protein, and their macro ratios aren't right to produce Ketosis, and therefore protein will end up as glucose via the gluconeogenesis process.

For me, I'm not doing a full Ketogenic plan, but again, just pushing my carbs to post workout. The idea being that keeping the insulin low by not eating carbs or excessive protein keeps one in fat burning mode, and then post workout, spiking the insulin (not excessively so) by eating some fruit (bananas are good for this) and then getting more protein in.

That stuff comes from the Carb-Backloading Protocol. CBL incorporates Ketogenic aspects coupled with Intermittent Fasting. That's essentially what I'm doing. I consider the IF part the most important for the results I've gotten, but honestly I think nutritional timing may play more of an important role than I realize. I'm not sure.

Personally, I've worked out fasted, and have also done 5 mile runs fasted. Running I actually find that I have consistently better runs while fasted (even if I have been fasted for 16+ hours). With workouts, I don't know if I notice a quality change while fasted or not fasted. I've had stellar workouts fasted, but it does take some getting used to.

Having said that, most of my workouts are not fasted, but are also not carb-fueled. My first meal of the day consists of eggs and sauteed greens and slivered almonds (in olive oil). This is usually around noon. Calorically, this meal isn't that high, even though it's higher in fat. My big meal of the day is definitely my post workout meal.

I workout around 2 or 3 pm usually, then come home and eat carbs and protein. With the carbs, in the CBL protocol, the carbs are supposed to be simple carbs, not complex carbs, so as to get an insulin response quickly, and also so that the carbs are processed quickly, and therefore insulin levels return to a lower state earlier in the evening, allowing the fasting/fat burning process to pick up again.

On non workout days, I tend to eat less, and sometimes do only a single meal for the day.

At minimum, I think IF helps people zero in on the right amount of food to consume. Again, we're all different, so the proper amount of food for me is different for you. But again, I think IF is a good way to figure out that right amount, and get one off of the regular food intake train that we're taught we need to be on. And of course, some people do need to eat that often.

So, ultimately, I'd say check out the video, and also read some stuff on Carb Backloading.

There's a youtube channel, called Kinobody - run by Greg O'Gallager. He does IF, and has a couple videos on his channel showing what he eats for the day. He's been doing IF for over 6 years. And while he's genetically gifted, he also works out hard. He's got a strong personality, which I like, but some people might be put off by him. For what it's worth.

Hope this helps :)

EDIT:

I wanted to add - ease into the IF thing. I started out by just pushing my first meal until 10am. If I got hungry, I drank (decaf) coffee, with a little bit of milk. Some people say don't even have milk, to not consume anything that will result in an insulin response, but I've found personally that a tiny bit of milk doesn't break my fast - and I can feel when I'm fasting. After a week, I pushed to 11am. Another week, pushed til noon.

I've been doing IF for a good 9 months now, and I am completely used to it. I don't get hungry in the morning any more, even when I can feel that I'm in the fasted state. And, hunger if/when it comes (sometimes at night) does NOT produce low blood sugar effects for me. It all feels very natural and good to me. Again, I think of the low blood sugar effect that we get between meals almost as a withdrawal symptom to the eating habits most of us know, because the insulin levels stay at a certain average level, and we've become accustomed to that.

Also, if you're working out in the morning, CBL and IF is still feasible. It just means that the eating window should be adjusted to suit your needs.

And finally, both Terry Crews and Hugh Jackman do IF (HJ uses IF when getting ready for movies). I don't know if that holds any weight (no pun intended), but it's interesting none-the-less.


Fascinating. I'll look into this. Thank you!
 
Fascinating. I'll look into this. Thank you!

Cool, yw :) Also, if you haven't done so, check out the reply from yeky83 regarding that video - he brings up some good points, and the one I'll reiterate here is that the video sort of lumps stuff together - Keto, IF, etc.

But again, I really like the stuff that starts around 5:45, regarding metabolism, Lipase, and so on. That stuff makes sense to me, but I'll admit that I didn't do any searching/research to cross-reference this specific information (the metabolism part) or seek contrary information, so take it for what it's worth to you.

I admit that I'm still learning things, and still figuring out what works for me. My first go with intermittent fasting I was not consuming enough water, and couple this with the fact that I was playing around with Jeet Kune Do (doing basic JKD punches with a heavy bag), I developed some joint pain in my hands, and lost some flexibility.

I'm not sure how much had to do with IF and not being properly hydrated, and the JKD. I stopped the JKD, I drink more water now, and have been doing stretches. The joint pain is gone, and I've regained 70% of my flexibility.

It was an eye opener for me - that changing routines can bring about both good and bad things, and I had to adjust to right my course.
 
All of the diets presented in this thread are effective for weight loss only to the extent that they reduce calorie consumption.

Maintaining a healthy body weight, regardless of how you do it, is the chief source of reduced health risks.

Respectfully have to disagree with the first statement... at least in my case. I take in far more calories now than my previous lifestyle .
The reason it works for me is when and what type of calories I take in. And weight loss is just a nice side effect, the real benefits are far greater.

Agree completely, with the relation to health risk though.
 
Respectfully have to disagree with the first statement... at least in my case. I take in far more calories now than my previous lifestyle .
The reason it works for me is when and what type of calories I take in. And weight loss is just a nice side effect, the real benefits are far greater.

Agree completely, with the relation to health risk though.
My brother, your regimen includes an entire week of zero calorie consumption. You'd have to really gorge yourself to offset that.

The calorie math is inescapable. If you keep a strict, detailed journal of everything you eat, you'll see that.
 
This. People looking into any diet should keep their eyes open. There is a wealth of bogus information out there, most of it propagated by people trying to make a dollar. There are no requirements for the title of "nutritionist." All you have to do is print up business cards.
Spot on!


The mathematics of dieting are simple. If you consume fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. If you consume more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. There is no diet that can avoid this fact.

Well, I think is not that easy, our human body is a complex marvel and can't be defined by a simple formula. You consume more or less but your body absorbs what he "senses" that you need and needs may vary widely under the circumstances.
When you begin a diet your body does not know it, he only knows that you make him go hungry and he supposes that it is because the available food has decreased. This causes stress and your system enters in survival mode. Abrupt physical activity will make the situation worse, your system will interpret that you need to hunt and the energy demands will raise, your system is preparing for the worst.
In the following meals he will absorb at the highest possible rate even if you eat little amount to accumulate supplies because he senses that difficult times will come (when is not really the case).
Lipids has bad press this days but are an excelent source of energy that can be stored and requested as we need them. Problem here is that we don't really need them!
This causes the dreaded rebound effect and it's not good or bad, is an evolutionary mechanism that has kept us alive for millennia. We have a 21th century brain but our inner circadian clock hasn't evolved at that pace.

This is why I don't believe in miracle diets: is not only intakes or weight loss, is a new firmware: you have to analyze and redefine your whole lifestyle for success.

I would recommend to anyone who wants to start a diet: plan it well, do it in a gradual way and looking at the long term, our body does not like brusqueness...and watch this video first:
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom