Post: #551

(08-12-2016 12:53 AM)N°6 Wrote:  Has any post in this thread worked out for anyone?

I'm just finishing a very stressful period at work and this coincided partly with drinking during Euro2016 and phases of depression.

Now the measurement of my belly past the belly button is 36" which is the most it has ever been. Traditionally I measure 33-34" but that still gave me some flab over the lower abs.

Will cut out the beer to stop things getting worse.

You seem to be kind of in the early stages, and maybe not really motivated.

Sure, if you belly has grown by 2-3 inches, then that could be motivation, but do your really think that only cutting out beer will help, and if you cut out beer are you going to end up substituting some other carb?

Don't get me wrong, cutting out beer could be a good start, if you can really stick to it and not substitute some other carb for it.

Since carbs are so addictive, and it is not just beer, I personally think that in order to get a fairly decent foundation in your plan, then you have consider the matter more systematically about what it is that you are cutting out and if you do end up cutting something out to monitor that you are not substituting something equally bad or worse into its place.

How much beer do you drink? Are you going cold turkey or just setting a kind of weekly or monthly limit? I personally prefer to think in terms of weeks rather than thinking in terms of days or even months... weeks seem a bit more manageable, but biweekly could work too... to say to yourself, here is my plan for this upcoming two week period, and then to verify at the end of the period if you were able to achieve the goals and if achieving the goals seems to have been helpful at all, even though it could take a few months to measure meaningful progress.

Post: #552

I have a few extra inches on my waist, even though I have no bodyfat anywhere on my body.

I just bought this book, has anyone else tried it?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MZW...nav-subnav

I have always had this fat, and have never had a six pack. Being in my early 40's, this is a bucket list type of goal for me, that I have never achieved. I am setting out to achieve this by the end of the year. I think if I lose 3-5 inches off my waist, I will see visible abs.

Here is my plan;

-As little drinking as possible, one a day if I am social. I dont drink by myself, unless I treat myself to a nice dinner.
-Read the book above and try the diet
-Fall back to the Slow Carb diet, which I know works, and is easy to follow.
-Exercise 5-7x per week. Lifting plus jump rope work. Surfing, hiking, swimming, as extras on the weekend.
-Optimize sleep, with a sleep apnea mask

Post: #553

(08-12-2016 07:40 AM)Vaun Wrote:  I have a few extra inches on my waist, even though I have no bodyfat anywhere on my body.

I just bought this book, has anyone else tried it?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MZW...nav-subnav

I have always had this fat, and have never had a six pack. Being in my early 40's, this is a bucket list type of goal for me, that I have never achieved. I am setting out to achieve this by the end of the year. I think if I lose 3-5 inches off my waist, I will see visible abs.

Here is my plan;

-As little drinking as possible, one a day if I am social. I dont drink by myself, unless I treat myself to a nice dinner.
-Read the book above and try the diet
-Fall back to the Slow Carb diet, which I know works, and is easy to follow.
-Exercise 5-7x per week. Lifting plus jump rope work. Surfing, hiking, swimming, as extras on the weekend.
-Optimize sleep, with a sleep apnea mask

Let us know how it goes, and what it is that the book is recommending to eat and what not to eat and whether it seems practical to attempt to apply to regular living.

Post: #554

I had a belly until I ate less.

Post: #555

(08-13-2016 01:35 PM)Pride male Wrote:  I had a belly until I ate less.

Ate less of what?

Are you suggesting the solution to having a belly is just to eat less, without any further specifics?

Will this solution work for everyone, or just you? And, how did you do it exactly and how long did it take?

Did you measure portions of food before and after in order to be able to determine with some kinds of specifics that you were actually eating less than previously?

Post: #556

^I just stopped binge eating. Probably wont work for everyone but I used to quickly eat a lot of everything. Eating slower helped me fill up quickly.

Post: #557

It was hard for me to accept that simply eating less would eliminate my belly, since the rest of my body was already so lean. Some people just literally have their entire last 5 pounds of excess weight in their belly, so despite the rest of their body looking completely normal and lean, they still have a belly. So I just ate less too. You don't want to cut protein, so cut carbs or fats, whichever is easier for you. Also, try not to eat alot at night. The simple truth, barring some kind of one-off medical condition, is if you have any kind of belly you are overweight, and simply need to eat less. Also, working out and developing a big chest will minimize the negative impact of having a bit of a belly. As long as your chest sticks out more than your belly, the vast majority of women won't care.

Post: #558

(08-13-2016 04:11 PM)Pride male Wrote:  ^I just stopped binge eating. Probably wont work for everyone but I used to quickly eat a lot of everything. Eating slower helped me fill up quickly.

I agree that if you have a pretty decent idea regarding what you tend to do, then it is much easier to isolate that one thing and to verify whether changing that one thing has a meaningful and significant effect (while possibly keeping other factors constant).

One of the problems that a lot guys have (including yours truly) is that we have both difficulties monitoring what we are doing exactly (because it tends to change on different days of the week and we just are not very consistent), and when we attempt a kind of systematic change, we will have a tendency to change more than one thing at a time (making it somewhat difficult to determine what we did that caused the change).

So, good for you that you were able to accomplish such, and hopefully your strategy remains somewhat sustainable.

Post: #559

(08-13-2016 04:14 PM)Repo Wrote:  It was hard for me to accept that simply eating less would eliminate my belly, since the rest of my body was already so lean. Some people just literally have their entire last 5 pounds of excess weight in their belly, so despite the rest of their body looking completely normal and lean, they still have a belly.

I think that many of us agree with the explanation that guys tend to begin to accumulate fat in the belly first... but sometimes, there can be considerable variances, and some guys will be very skinny but still have a belly... Surely it does help a lot if a guy is otherwise muscular or at least his chest and shoulders are broader, then the belly will not look as bad.

(08-13-2016 04:14 PM)Repo Wrote:  So I just ate less too. You don't want to cut protein, so cut carbs or fats, whichever is easier for you.

What you are saying sounds a little bit old school because when you are talking about macro ingredients, I think that the better of the current wisdom is that cutting a lot of the carbs is good, even though you may want to have enough carbs to be able to feed gut flora, and maybe keeping just small amounts in order to just fit in socially and to keep expenses more manageable and practical.

Regarding protein, sometimes you may need to cut some of it, and I think that the main idea with protein is to get adequate amounts of protein, which would me more when you are more physically active or attempting to build muscle.. but you do have to be careful about excess protein for at least a couple of reasons: First, excess protein converts to glucose.. so becomes a similar phenomenon as excess carbs once you get to the excess levels, and second there are some schools of thought that excess proteins have more detrimental impact on aging (and I am not sure if that is merely because of the gluconeogenesis affect).

Regarding fat. There is nothing wrong with eating a lot of fat and even excess fat, so long as it is good fats.. animal fats, butter, raw cream, coconut oil and avocado eggs, fish oil. On the other hand, we don't want to mix up our understanding of fats because there are a lot of various kinds of processed fats that we should cut from our diets including anything hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated which are going to be used in boxed foods and restaurants etc.

(08-13-2016 04:14 PM)Repo Wrote:  Also, try not to eat alot at night. The simple truth, barring some kind of one-off medical condition, is if you have any kind of belly you are overweight, and simply need to eat less. Also, working out and developing a big chest will minimize the negative impact of having a bit of a belly. As long as your chest sticks out more than your belly, the vast majority of women won't care.

I mostly agree with this including the assertion that fat will not seem as bad if you have decent muscle tone underneath. Most of us recognize that there are some kinds of fatness that are more out of shape than others...

Post: #560

Yes personally I eat lots of fats and minimal carbs, but sustaining a low carb diet for me seems to result in having periods of low energy and hormone imbalances, so I have cheat days now and then. Not knowing what people's diets already are, I left it broad as cut either or.

Right now I weight 190, and eat about 220-250+ grams of protien a day, and haven't seen any bad side effects. Carbs I limit to 100 a day, and fat I dont measure.

Post: #561

(08-13-2016 04:49 PM)Repo Wrote:  Yes personally I eat lots of fats and minimal carbs, but sustaining a low carb diet for me seems to result in having periods of low energy and hormone imbalances, so I have cheat days now and then.

I have read about some of these concepts of cheat days, and I believe that I understand the point of such "cheating", but I personally don't really agree with the concept of thinking about it as a "cheat" day. On the other hand, I definitely agree with the concept of flexibility and just occasions in which you may want to indulge a bit, whether that is because of some special occasion, or just that you are in a social setting in which either it is better to just eat what everyone else is eating or your regular diet food is not available.

I guess that I am trying to say that I don't disagree with the concept of having sufficient flexibility that you can go off course - but I have some difficulties calling that cheating.. because you can easily the next days go back on course.

(08-13-2016 04:49 PM)Repo Wrote:  Not knowing what people's diets already are, I left it broad as cut either or.

I thought that the way that you wrote it, originally, kind of diverted into either a misunderstanding of the difference between carbs and fat territory, or just sloppy language... You hear these kinds of concepts frequently in which some people will say, "oh, I don't mind eating a bit of fat as long as I don't eat them with carbs" or "I eat some carbs, but as long as I don't mix them with fat, then I am o.k."

Maybe we should have a different word for fat, because there is no meaningful evidence that eating good dietary fat actually leads people to become fat. The only studies that tend to show that are ones that do not sufficiently distinguish between fats and carbohydrates or do not figure out the differences between good and bad fats.... bad fats tending to be processed - artificial fats such as various forms of hydrogenated oils.

(08-13-2016 04:49 PM)Repo Wrote:  Right now I weight 190, and eat about 220-250+ grams of protien a day, and haven't seen any bad side effects.

I think that the standard suggestions is that it is about 1/3 of a gram of dietary protein for every pound of weight for a relatively sedentary person, and I suppose that you could double that or so if you are really actively engaged in attempting to build muscle. So,yeah it seems that you are going quite overboard in the "adequacy" territory.

Regarding seeing bad side effects, I don't know whether you would necessarily see bad side effects - except to realize that you are getting too much sugar effect from protein.. Whether that is a problem, it is up to you to consider whether you want to or need to adjust it downwards.

(08-13-2016 04:49 PM)Repo Wrote:  Carbs I limit to 100 a day,

I don't really measure any of my food, except to kind of attempt a general idea of the percentage of my food that is in each of the macros. So maybe carbs for me would tend to be in the 10 to 25% category, protein 20% to 40% and the remainder fat maybe 40% to 70%.

so less than 100 grams of carbs a day seems mostly reasonable, and likely keeps you below 25%. No?

(08-13-2016 04:49 PM)Repo Wrote:  and fat I dont measure.

Maybe we agree here? No real need to measure fat.. and can eat as much of it as you like... but I would like to note that if anyone could be sometimes gravitating towards some of the low fat dogma, and look at some foods in the super market and start to believe that it could be better to get the "low fat" version of the food.

Usually those low fat versions should be avoided, and really part of the solution, in my thinking, to having had some binge eating episodes (of carbs and processed foods) would be to engage in some binge eating of good fats (in order to potentially off-set some of the negative repercussions of the bad foods that had been ingested and to also satiate oneself and to potential lessen the carb cravings that could come in the days following the binge eating.

Post: #562

@Jay

Yeah I think we are in agreement on most points, its mainly just semantics like whether to call a cheat day a cheat day, or if its planned call it a carb loading day instead etc.

Post: #563

(08-14-2016 10:51 AM)Repo Wrote:  @Jay

Yeah I think we are in agreement on most points, its mainly just semantics like whether to call a cheat day a cheat day, or if its planned call it a carb loading day instead etc.

Surely, it is not my intention to get caught up in some meaningless dispute about technicals or semantics, and I attempted to make my point, maybe in part, due to my thoughts that there is some difference in perception that we have regarding how to consider carbs.


Surely, in the end, if you are keeping your carbs below 100 grams, which may likely be fairly consistently below 30% of your total intake, then relatively speaking that is pretty decent compared to what a lot of folks are able to put into practice.

In a lot of these nutrition related threads, I frequently repeat my conception that overall the human body is designed in such a way that we can really tolerate and live on a pretty vast amounts of food, and surely when we are younger, our body can recover from even broader amounts of abuse.. surely some guys are more sensitive than others, and also each of us are going to be in different places on such a spectrum... So in that regard, each of us is tasks to find his own decent balance - with some folks being more sensitive to carbs than others.

You introduced a new term too... "carb loading."

I personally do believe that this whole concept of carb loading in athletics is erroneous and probably even destructive in various ways, even though some bodies are going to be able to process the carb loading better than others... for example, if you are very muscular and/or athletic, your body is likely to be very efficient at burning extra carbs, even though you may do well on a diet that attempts to keep those carbs down to less extreme levels.

Post: #564

I want to continue to participate in this thread because my 6 pack is very important me.

Getting it took years of trial and error.

Keeping it requires much diligence and focus.

I grew up on a typical, shitty, working class American diet of processed foods. I remember eating a lot sugary cereal, frozen pizza and burritos, fast food, hot bogs, cookies, cupcakes, take out chinese,, etc.

My body looked like shit.

I thought it was genetic. It was not genetic.

It was diet.

As I got older, my diet improved. As my diet improved, my body improved.

I want to respond to a few questions, then I'll share my latest 6 pack developments:

(07-22-2016 08:55 PM)Brown Pride Wrote:  eating less and exercising.

Like Tail Gunner said..

You DON'T NECESSARILY HAVE TO EAT LESS.

The crucial key is EATING BETTER!

Higher quality food, more nutrient dense and still SATIATING.

(07-26-2016 06:25 PM)Tail Gunner Wrote:  You can shrink your stomach just by shrinking the size of your dinner plate:

Yes, of course.. Eating less at night works well for many people to reduce belly size..

The tricky part there is that you often have to compensate for the small dinner by having a bigger lunch + breakfast + snacks..

It's properly managing breakfast, lunch, and snacks so that you CAN have a small dinner that is the hard part.

I guess what I'm saying is that you have to learn to manage your own hunger.. I'm not saying you have to be hungry, I'm saying you have to "manage hunger" -- This means allowing yourself to get hungry early in the day because you can eat a big breakfast and lunch BUT NOT allowing yourself to get to hungry at night because that would hurt your ability/need to have, enjoy and be satisfied with -- a small dinner.

It's really a lifestyle based on healthy eating habits.

(08-12-2016 12:53 AM)N°6 Wrote:  Has any post in this thread worked out for anyone?

My posts have worked out for me:

[attachment=33128]

I'm almost 41.

(08-12-2016 07:40 AM)Vaun Wrote:  Here is my plan;

-As little drinking as possible, one a day if I am social. I dont drink by myself, unless I treat myself to a nice dinner.
-Read the book above and try the diet
-Fall back to the Slow Carb diet, which I know works, and is easy to follow.
-Exercise 5-7x per week. Lifting plus jump rope work. Surfing, hiking, swimming, as extras on the weekend.
-Optimize sleep, with a sleep apnea mask

I highlighted 3 things:

1) "I know works" -- If you know it works, do it aggressively and make it work better!. The things that we know and feel and see to be working.. Those are the things to focus on and improve. I call it "body intuition". You know your body better than anyone else.

2) "Exercise 5-7x per week" -- For a man in his 40s, this might actually be too much.. I know that sounds crazy but give it some thought. For me, working out less and focusing more on HIGH QUALITY MEALS and REST actually has a BETTER RETURN ON INVESTMENT versus working out more and resting less + not eating as good.

I literally look and feel better when I exercise less AND focus more on quality food and quality sleep.

Quality rest and food builds your body from the "inside out" versus exercise which builds your body from the "outside in".

1 hour spend preparing large amounts of high quality food is SOMETIMES SUPERIOR to one hour of exercise!

I'm just throwing that out there for you guys to ponder... it is something that I believe in and live by.

3) "Sleep" -- This is the "x-factor" for many older men. Quality sleep is priceless! Hours BEFORE midnight have the greatest return on investment!

--

I want to add two suggestion to your plan.

1) -- Reduce your consumption of red meat and reduce your overall meat consumption.(Except, maybe for fish)

Meat, takes a long time for our body to process. It often lingers in the digestive tract.

Reducing meat almost certainly reduce belly size.

The hard part is finding other foods to use in the place of meat.

Honestly, the first weeks are hard but once you learn to use eggs, garbanzos, quinoa, avocados, legumes, tofu, nuts, etc. -- IT BECOMES ENJOYABLE TO WATCH YOUR BELLY FAT MELT AWAY AND YOU REALIZE THAT LARGE AMOUNTS OF MEAT ARE NOT ALWAYS NECESSARY TO FEEL GREAT AND LOOK GREAT.

I eat chicken maybe once or twice a week.

Fish whenever I want.

Red meat, occasionally.

I beautiful steak, whenever I feel I need one.

2) Follow the Shit! -- If a food seems to be flushing your system and making you shit, Study it, learn from it.. Develop a better and more consistent shitting routine.

When we lose out belly, we literally SHIT IT AWAY!

Remember that.

Stimulate shitting!

--

Beyond that..

I would just say that, for me, the exercise is the easy part but the eating is the hard part.

I live in a fast paced, big,major, international city but I try to eat like a Gourmet Caveman

Again, one hour spend preparing LARGE AMOUNTS of quality food is sometimes superior to one hour of exercise!

--

My diet so far today..

Oatmeal and strawberries

Egg, turkey bacon. potato, avocado sandwich on high quality seed/grain bread. 2 of them.

Going to the gym now!

I hope I can eat well the rest of the day!!

Post: #565

I have lost 34 pounds on a Ketogenic diet. I was really fat in my childhood and now I am working like a motherfucker to get the weight off. I go 60 more to go then I will be happy.

I just cut my calories last month down to roughly a 1250 kcal deficit, paired with hitting the heavy bag for 5 rounds in the morning, lifting, and other cardio, the weight is starting to come off faster yet.

Its a win win, I get to eat meat(which I love), and trigger vegans at the same time! Brilliant!

Post: #566

(08-17-2016 01:17 PM)Ivanis Wrote:  I have lost 34 pounds on a Ketogenic diet. I was really fat in my childhood and now I am working like a motherfucker to get the weight off. I go 60 more to go then I will be happy.

I just cut my calories last month down to roughly a 1250 kcal deficit, paired with hitting the heavy bag for 5 rounds in the morning, lifting, and other cardio, the weight is starting to come off faster yet.

Its a win win, I get to eat meat(which I love), and trigger vegans at the same time! Brilliant!

What have you changed in your diet, besides just cutting calories? Do you have a kind of outline of what kinds of food that you might eat during a week? maybe what kinds of foods that you have added versus what you have taken out?

I personally don't think calories matter as much, but possibly, you can describe what you mean by what you are cutting?

Post: #567

(08-17-2016 02:13 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  

(08-17-2016 01:17 PM)Ivanis Wrote:  I have lost 34 pounds on a Ketogenic diet. I was really fat in my childhood and now I am working like a motherfucker to get the weight off. I go 60 more to go then I will be happy.

I just cut my calories last month down to roughly a 1250 kcal deficit, paired with hitting the heavy bag for 5 rounds in the morning, lifting, and other cardio, the weight is starting to come off faster yet.

Its a win win, I get to eat meat(which I love), and trigger vegans at the same time! Brilliant!

What have you changed in your diet, besides just cutting calories? Do you have a kind of outline of what kinds of food that you might eat during a week? maybe what kinds of foods that you have added versus what you have taken out?

I personally don't think calories matter as much, but possibly, you can describe what you mean by what you are cutting?

I completly overhauled my diet. No sweets or anything bad like I used to eat.

I cut all sugar. I am keeping it to healthy fats(Avocado, almonds, salmon, etc.). I am eating healthy. A normal day looks like this:

Breakfast: About 7:00
2 egg American cheese omelette(cooked in coconut oil)
Protein shake(If I am lifting or just lifted)


Snack(instead of lunch)
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Dinner
1/4-1/2 pound of ground beef or equivalent with avocado on the side.

I mix in some vegetables as well, asparagus, green beans, etc. I also supplement with daily vitamins and fiber tablets.

Obviously it is subject to change on some days but that is roughly what I normally eat. I have hyperinsulinemia, and my doctor recommended a ketosis diet and I have taken a liking to it. Hey, at least I am loosing weight, right?

Post: #568

(08-17-2016 01:17 PM)Ivanis Wrote:  I have lost 34 pounds on a Ketogenic diet. I was really fat in my childhood and now I am working like a motherfucker to get the weight off. I go 60 more to go then I will be happy.

I just cut my calories last month down to roughly a 1250 kcal deficit, paired with hitting the heavy bag for 5 rounds in the morning, lifting, and other cardio, the weight is starting to come off faster yet.

Its a win win, I get to eat meat(which I love), and trigger vegans at the same time! Brilliant!

I am doing an 800 kcal a day deficit with free weight lifting and some cardio (bike). I got myself fully keto adapted late last month. I found though, with the calorie cutting, taking branch chain amino acids (BCAA) really helped with the speed of recovery between workouts. I also started taking creatine. The latter though, increased my water retention, which actually caused me to regain 3 lbs on the scale.

My first DXA scan had me at 37% body fat. My goal is to get under 18%, which I think I can obtain by the end of January. I have a followup scan next month that will help me gauge my progress. With the lifting, I am not sure what my current lean body mass is.

Edit: My dinners would make a vegetarian cry and a vegan break down into a hissy fit of tears complete with the rendering of garments.

Post: #569

(08-18-2016 08:48 AM)Hell_Is_Like_Newark Wrote:  

(08-17-2016 01:17 PM)Ivanis Wrote:  I have lost 34 pounds on a Ketogenic diet. I was really fat in my childhood and now I am working like a motherfucker to get the weight off. I go 60 more to go then I will be happy.

I just cut my calories last month down to roughly a 1250 kcal deficit, paired with hitting the heavy bag for 5 rounds in the morning, lifting, and other cardio, the weight is starting to come off faster yet.

Its a win win, I get to eat meat(which I love), and trigger vegans at the same time! Brilliant!

I am doing an 800 kcal a day deficit with free weight lifting and some cardio (bike). I got myself fully keto adapted late last month. I found though, with the calorie cutting, taking branch chain amino acids (BCAA) really helped with the speed of recovery between workouts. I also started taking creatine. The latter though, increased my water retention, which actually caused me to regain 3 lbs on the scale.

My first DXA scan had me at 37% body fat. My goal is to get under 18%, which I think I can obtain by the end of January. I have a followup scan next month that will help me gauge my progress. With the lifting, I am not sure what my current lean body mass is.

Edit: My dinners would make a vegetarian cry and a vegan break down into a hissy fit of tears complete with the rendering of garments.

Great to hear man! I was scanned 9 months back at about 37%, and my goal is under 18% as well.

I have my long term goal of an end weight of 235lbs. I am at 285 right now, and my short term goal is 275lbs, once I reach that, I bump it down another ten and so on.

I will definitely look into the BCAA's and I think I am going to start slamming back creatine again. Thanks for the tips and encouragement man!

Post: #570

(08-18-2016 08:29 AM)Ivanis Wrote:  

(08-17-2016 02:13 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  

(08-17-2016 01:17 PM)Ivanis Wrote:  I have lost 34 pounds on a Ketogenic diet. I was really fat in my childhood and now I am working like a motherfucker to get the weight off. I go 60 more to go then I will be happy.

I just cut my calories last month down to roughly a 1250 kcal deficit, paired with hitting the heavy bag for 5 rounds in the morning, lifting, and other cardio, the weight is starting to come off faster yet.

Its a win win, I get to eat meat(which I love), and trigger vegans at the same time! Brilliant!

What have you changed in your diet, besides just cutting calories? Do you have a kind of outline of what kinds of food that you might eat during a week? maybe what kinds of foods that you have added versus what you have taken out?

I personally don't think calories matter as much, but possibly, you can describe what you mean by what you are cutting?

I completly overhauled my diet. No sweets or anything bad like I used to eat.

I cut all sugar. I am keeping it to healthy fats(Avocado, almonds, salmon, etc.). I am eating healthy. A normal day looks like this:

Breakfast: About 7:00
2 egg American cheese omelette(cooked in coconut oil)
Protein shake(If I am lifting or just lifted)


Snack(instead of lunch)
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Dinner
1/4-1/2 pound of ground beef or equivalent with avocado on the side.

I mix in some vegetables as well, asparagus, green beans, etc. I also supplement with daily vitamins and fiber tablets.

Obviously it is subject to change on some days but that is roughly what I normally eat. I have hyperinsulinemia, and my doctor recommended a ketosis diet and I have taken a liking to it. Hey, at least I am loosing weight, right?

Actually all of that sounds pretty good, and maybe you are going to make some progress on your insulin situation.

Do you measure your own blood sugars, and if so, can you determine from that whether what you are doing seems to be causing some beneficial effects, such as less spiking?

How about measuring ketones? I had heard that the urine strips are not a very accurate measurement, but maybe breath or blood.. but maybe the blood testing of ketones is not really available to laypersons?

Post: #571

(08-18-2016 02:24 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  

(08-18-2016 08:29 AM)Ivanis Wrote:  

(08-17-2016 02:13 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  

(08-17-2016 01:17 PM)Ivanis Wrote:  I have lost 34 pounds on a Ketogenic diet. I was really fat in my childhood and now I am working like a motherfucker to get the weight off. I go 60 more to go then I will be happy.

I just cut my calories last month down to roughly a 1250 kcal deficit, paired with hitting the heavy bag for 5 rounds in the morning, lifting, and other cardio, the weight is starting to come off faster yet.

Its a win win, I get to eat meat(which I love), and trigger vegans at the same time! Brilliant!

What have you changed in your diet, besides just cutting calories? Do you have a kind of outline of what kinds of food that you might eat during a week? maybe what kinds of foods that you have added versus what you have taken out?

I personally don't think calories matter as much, but possibly, you can describe what you mean by what you are cutting?

I completly overhauled my diet. No sweets or anything bad like I used to eat.

I cut all sugar. I am keeping it to healthy fats(Avocado, almonds, salmon, etc.). I am eating healthy. A normal day looks like this:

Breakfast: About 7:00
2 egg American cheese omelette(cooked in coconut oil)
Protein shake(If I am lifting or just lifted)


Snack(instead of lunch)
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Dinner
1/4-1/2 pound of ground beef or equivalent with avocado on the side.

I mix in some vegetables as well, asparagus, green beans, etc. I also supplement with daily vitamins and fiber tablets.

Obviously it is subject to change on some days but that is roughly what I normally eat. I have hyperinsulinemia, and my doctor recommended a ketosis diet and I have taken a liking to it. Hey, at least I am loosing weight, right?

Actually all of that sounds pretty good, and maybe you are going to make some progress on your insulin situation.

Do you measure your own blood sugars, and if so, can you determine from that whether what you are doing seems to be causing some beneficial effects, such as less spiking?

How about measuring ketones? I had heard that the urine strips are not a very accurate measurement, but maybe breath or blood.. but maybe the blood testing of ketones is not really available to laypersons?

The blood tests are way too expensive! Like $10 per strip... But I do use urine strips. I currently take Metformin(Glucofauge) to help keep insulin spikes to a minimum. It seems to be working well for the most part...

Thanks for the suggestions guys. The camaraderie here is unlike any forum. Men gotta stick together!

Post: #572

(08-18-2016 02:32 PM)Ivanis Wrote:  

(08-18-2016 02:24 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  [edited out]

The blood tests are way too expensive! Like $10 per strip... But I do use urine strips. I currently take Metformin(Glucofauge) to help keep insulin spikes to a minimum. It seems to be working well for the most part...

Thanks for the suggestions guys. The camaraderie here is unlike any forum. Men gotta stick together!

Would it be somewhat realistic (or at least plausible) to consider attempting to eliminate the Metformin at some time in the future, that is if you are able to get your spikes into some kind of decent control with lifestyle changes (diet, exercise and rest)?

Post: #573

(08-18-2016 02:32 PM)Ivanis Wrote:  The blood tests are way too expensive! Like $10 per strip... But I do use urine strips.

I stopped using the urine strips. Once I kicked up the workouts, they stopped showing ketones. My body was metabolizing them and they weren't showing up in my urine in concentrations enough to trigger the strips. Googling I found out this is not an uncommon occurrence.

Post: #574

(08-18-2016 02:43 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  

(08-18-2016 02:32 PM)Ivanis Wrote:  

(08-18-2016 02:24 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  [edited out]

The blood tests are way too expensive! Like $10 per strip... But I do use urine strips. I currently take Metformin(Glucofauge) to help keep insulin spikes to a minimum. It seems to be working well for the most part...

Thanks for the suggestions guys. The camaraderie here is unlike any forum. Men gotta stick together!

Would it be somewhat realistic (or at least plausible) to consider attempting to eliminate the Metformin at some time in the future, that is if you are able to get your spikes into some kind of decent control with lifestyle changes (diet, exercise and rest)?

Yes, that is what I am working towards. If my levels get under a certain point then my doc can give the green light to get off of it. I am getting closer to that point but now they are still too high.

Post: #575

(08-18-2016 02:49 PM)Hell_Is_Like_Newark Wrote:  

(08-18-2016 02:32 PM)Ivanis Wrote:  The blood tests are way too expensive! Like $10 per strip... But I do use urine strips.

I stopped using the urine strips. Once I kicked up the workouts, they stopped showing ketones. My body was metabolizing them and they weren't showing up in my urine in concentrations enough to trigger the strips. Googling I found out this is not an uncommon occurrence.

That explains why I have been only seeing trace levels lately! Thanks for the heads up, I was starting to worry..