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Fat loss confusion

Woohoo! Still going

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I see so many conflicting sources of info out there. I have been trying to live by what I see on the JREF so often as: losing weight means calories out>calories in, but it doesn't seem to be that simple.

I was 125 pounds most of my life and 13 years ago a bad medical prescription jumped me to 340 pounds in just a few months. I got pretty serious about seeing critters out herping the desert southwest and before I knew it, as a side effect, I went down to 250 a few years ago.

At 250, I returned to my previous life of freestyle bmx and got down to about 225 pounds, size 48 waist

On the weeks that I could afford it, I was eating a LOT more, up to around 3500-4000 calories per day, and those weeks my waist size was going down but my weight staying the same or going up a bit.

I'm down to a size 32 waist now, but still have a big stomach and still weigh the same 225

I started trying to do the far less calories thing, but, though the weight doesn't go up, my waist gets bigger. I'm trying to stay at 1000 calories a day. I find myself riding as long, but not doing as much.

I read that I should replace my "bad" calories with protein so I got some of that protein powder stuff. According to those, I'm only supposed to get 150 calories worth a day from it, so I'm not sure what to do. I can't afford expensive food, especially not here in Hawaii, so I need smart, cheap stuff to eat and to know how much I can replace with the protein powder.

As fat as my stomach is and as heavy as I am, I've never been anywhere NEAR this strong in my life. I quit smoking and have more endurance than ever and my muscles are gigantic compared to what I'm used to and I can fling my bike around like it was made out of balsa wood. I don't want to lose this muscle, just the fat. In freestyle BMX, your knees don't care how big your waist is, only how much you weigh, and I don't like this disgusting giant stomach either.

What can/should I do?


The Good News: I've got the answer, and it doesn't entail any special dieting on your part, not does it require to starve yourself or undergo the least bit of discomfort. And it's FREE! I don't promise you instant success, I promise you a lifetime of success.

The Bad News: You must learn about the cycle of how foods are digested and turned into sugars, and how insulin regulates sugar levels. It's going to take some study on your part.

Afterwards. you will easily be able to tell the difference between good carbs and bad carbs. You will know why sugar can be so bad. You will understand why bananas and other sweet fruits are stupid if you are trying to lose weight. You will know that eating like a rabbit and expecting to keep weight off is a fools game. You will learn that exercise will not make you thin.

Now...go read.
 
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The Good News: I've got the answer, and it doesn't entail any special dieting on your part, not does it require to starve yourself or undergo the least bit of discomfort. And it's FREE! I don't promise you instant success, I promise you a lifetime of success.

The Bad News: You must learn about the cycle of how foods are digested and turned into sugars, and how insulin regulates sugar levels. It's going to take some study on your part.

Afterwards. you will easily be able to tell the difference between good carbs and bad carbs. You will know why sugar can be so bad. You will understand why bananas and other sweet fruits are stupid if you are trying to lose weight. You will know that eating like a rabbit and expecting to keep weight off is a fools game. You will learn that exercise will not make you thin.

Now...go read.
I'm certainly not afraid of some serious studying, but I'm not sure if what I just read was some sort of infomercial. What trusted sources should I be reading about this?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
 
I'm certainly not afraid of some serious studying, but I'm not sure if what I just read was some sort of infomercial. What trusted sources should I be reading about this?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Beats me...there's a lot of junk science out there. And its been so many years since I've read about it myself - and permanantly lost weight - that I've forgotten exactly where I go the info. As a remember, I had to read a lot of sources until I can across one that was an anchor - it had enough fact in it that I could build the rest of my knowledge around.

If you give me some time, I'll get together an anchor source or two and post it on this thread.

Hope this helps.
 
The Good News: I've got the answer, and it doesn't entail any special dieting on your part, not does it require to starve yourself or undergo the least bit of discomfort. And it's FREE! I don't promise you instant success, I promise you a lifetime of success.

The Bad News: You must learn about the cycle of how foods are digested and turned into sugars, and how insulin regulates sugar levels. It's going to take some study on your part.

Afterwards. you will easily be able to tell the difference between good carbs and bad carbs. You will know why sugar can be so bad. You will understand why bananas and other sweet fruits are stupid if you are trying to lose weight. You will know that eating like a rabbit and expecting to keep weight off is a fools game. You will learn that exercise will not make you thin.

Now...go read.

I like that this entire post can basically be boiled down to "I've got the answer - google it!"
 
pipelineaudio,

Here's a write-up that roughly explains the Sugar-Insulin-Craving cycle and I think it does a pretty good job and can act as a skeleton to build the rest of your knowledge about.

http://www.lauranaturopath.com/sugar-insulin-101/

I'll try to find some more...

Hope this helps.

Just thinking...Remember Jared Fogle - that guy who used to pitch for Subway Sandwiches? I used to think that was the biggest bunch of dreck I'd ever seen until I learned a bit about Sugar-Insulin-Craving cycle.

Anyways, I figured that if you did the Subway diet and put everything on whole-grain breads (so-called good carbs), then you could probably eat as much as you wanted and still lose weight and be healthy provided you stayed away from caloried drinks, sugary snacks and the like. So, I bought some fixin's and tried it at home and it worked really well for me - and I ate as much as I wanted whenever I needed. Used plenty of Olive oil and butter, too - along with bacon...lots of bacon.

First thing I noticed was that my energy levels were more consistent throughout the day and that needed to eat less and less. Then, I started losing weight steadily.

Now...I'm not saying that you got to go on a Subway Diet to lose weight - but I am saying that it does embody the principals of good eating that will help you lose weight consitently without all the needless suffering. And I think this is what we are trying to achieve - the breaking of the endless cycles of calorie counting, starvation dieting and all that other stuff that makes fat people suffer.

BTW - until just a few years ago, I suffered with weight problems my entire life. I was hooked on the "Binge-Starve" cycle - ran thousands of miles in an effort to melt that fat. Felt guilty every time I failed - and I failed every freakin' time. Yeah, I might have some success for a year or two, and then it would all come back.

Anyways...if it seems like I'm getting a bit "Evangelical" about all this....well, I probably am.

And Also...No Starvation:

As I was thinking about my previous diets the ones that never worked, it occurred to me to say some more. Now...I basically blew it on these diets when i started starving myself. When I starved myself, I was in a state where my blood sugars were low and fat was not being turned into energy - and all of this because my insulin levels were a bit high die to eating the wrong things (I was a calorie counter and didn't distinguish between food types).

Anyways...sometimes I just had to carry on and in order to get some quick, convenient energy I grabbed a soft drink, or some chips - something that gave me that quick energy. And...then the whole Sugar-Insulin-Craving cycle started anew - and sometimes even more ferociously.

Point is this: starving yourself is not the way to take off weight and keep it off. Starvation always leads to binging.
 
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Strafing Runs at the Chinese Buffet

Here's a story that I have seen repeated at a lot of "All you can Eat" Buffets and which I think serves as a good illustration of why some people are morbidly obesity (bless their souls). Anyways, periodically I like to go to the Chinese Buffet down the street which is not only chocked full of Chinese food, but about every other type of food, too. They even have Mexican food and Italian food, too - they got it all. It's really a deal for $10. God bless these people.

Well, one of the things I like to do at the Buffet is watch people, and I especially like to compare and contrast what fat people eat as compared to the thinner set. As a result, I particularly watch the first strafing run that each diner makes on the Buffet. Without fail, the Obese typically load with refined carbs and sugars (pasta, noodles, etc..) while the thinner set stars out with mainly meat and vegetables. I swear, just show me the first plate and I can probably guess whether or not the person is morbidly obese, or not. And it's not volume I'm looking at - it's choice.

Try it and see.
 
50+ Years of Diet-Fad Fail:

Just buy my proprietary Insert X and you will lose weight!

Insert X

Book which explains my diet System.
Pre-packaged Meal System.
Set of DVDs which explain my weight-loss secrets.
My Diet-Book of Secret Recipes.
My surgery where we are going to staple your stomach shut (forced starvation works, I guess)
My Calorie-Counter Guide

Just Buy some Stuff from me!!!!!!!!!!
 
All Carbs ain't the Devil

Contrary to Atkins and others, all carbs ain't bad for ya'. Really - the Carbs you have got to worry about are the ones that are quickly turned to Sugar and cause your bloodstream sugar levels - and insulin levels - to spike.

However, there is a class of carbs referred to as "Complex Carbs" that are a lot better for you than the typical refined carbs for they don't break down as fast and cause sugar and insulin spikes. Although not a comprehensive list, examples of these carbs are included on a list at the following source: http://commonsensehealth.com/complex-carbohydrates-list-of-healthy-carbs/

But some Carbs really are Satan's Children:

Yeah....some sources of Carbs are just bad fer' ya'. They spike Blood Sugar and Insulin levels and drive you to the evil Land of Binge - where ya' eat too much. Although not comprehensive, here's a list of such carbs: http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/refined-carbohydrate-list/
 
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Woohoo! Still going

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Phew! I misread the scale the first time through. I read it as 149.8, 75 pounds down in two months. 25 is plenty, 75 would probably mean brain damage from the speed.

Though in 2011 I lost 60 in three months. Low carb, high protein, probably 3,000 cal/day, and burning 5,000. ( Half of weight gain/loss is water. ) I was pumping iron, restoring a tuck like in my avatar. I called it Power Wagon Yoga, bending, stooping lifting, pumping jacks, use all the muscles in my body, in random rotation. Then I stopped. And started cheating on my carbs. About 100 excess calories per day. It's all back now, from an adult low of 235 on 11-11-11. I had some personal problems. Now that I have my mind right, my knee is bad. Death spiral if I don't handle something.
 
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Well, hell...I'm way smaller now, but the weight won't seem to go below 190 pounds. I think I look skinny and healthy-ish. Eating less food just seems to make me ride for a shorter time, painfully hungry, and a week of it doesnt really drop any weight, just results in less exercise :( I think its time to just watch the tape measure instead of the scale maybe


https://www.instagram.com/p/_V2ChKjVLG/

ok, so no idea how to embed instagram video on the JREF...

Code:
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Congrats dude, you look great!

I wouldn't worry about trying to lose more weight if I were you. Just keep doing what you're doing. Muscle is heavy. If you don't have a lot of excess flab around the middle then you are where you want to be.
 
Congrats, pipelineaudio! You've done well! :thumbsup:

Also, nice work avoiding the crank "carbs are evil" pushers. :)

Low-carb is to the teenies what low-fat was to the eighties.

CI<CO remains a constant.
 
On the 1000 calorie days I really don't think I ride as hard and the inches start coming back.

I guess my main question is, how do I lose fat without losing muscle? I can fast ok psychologically, I spent my adult life as a professional audio engineer, so a dollar a day food budget was a bit high. If its as simple as not eating till I like my fat content I can do that, I just don't want to lose the muscles I grew

The amazing thing is how stable most people's weight is since they do not closely monitor what they eat, or what they do.

Unfortunately physiology dictates that in a starving state the body tends to consume protein (muscle) rather than fat. So losing weight (physiologically starving) without losing muscle is difficult. To lose weight you need to eat fewer carries than you need so you 'eat yourself'. To preserve muscle you need to exercise (exercise is a poor way of burning calories, but does preserve muscle). Some parts of your fat are utilised earlier than others (my perception is on a diet my breasts shrink more than my bum, so that is my excuse for not dieting). Abdominal fat - particularly in men is predominantly intra abdominal and very slow to shift. High protein low carbohydrate diet may help preserve muscle. Remember fat is very high calories, but some fat is needed for health (vitamins essential fatty acids), and some vitamins e.g. C are associated with carbohydrates - e.g. fruits.
 
Unfortunately physiology dictates that in a starving state the body tends to consume protein (muscle) rather than fat. So losing weight (physiologically starving) without losing muscle is difficult.

Is that correct? I thought muscle protein was the final energy source:

"After prolonged periods of starvation the body has depleted its body fat and begins to burn lean tissue and muscle as a fuel source." Starvation responseWP
 
Is that correct? I thought muscle protein was the final energy source:

"After prolonged periods of starvation the body has depleted its body fat and begins to burn lean tissue and muscle as a fuel source." Starvation responseWP

Yes, muscle tissue is the last resort during starvation. But you will still typically lose muscle tissue along with fat during dieting. One reason is that the body needs to use protein for maintenance activities, not just calories, and muscle tissue is the body's repository of protein. In addition, muscle tissue increases baseline metabolism rate, and if you're at a calorie deficit (which the body doesn't want to be in), then reducing muscle tissue will reduce calorie requirements. So the body's typical response to calorie deficit is to lose both fat and muscle.

It's hard to lose fat without losing muscle at the same time, and it's also hard to gain muscle without gaining fat at the same time. That's why a lot of bodybuilders go through cycles: they bulk up gaining both muscle and fat, but trying to tilt towards more muscle gain than fat gain, then cut weight trying to tilt towards more fat loss than muscle loss. That can produce a net muscle gain and fat loss from a completed cycle, rather than try to gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously.
 
To preserve muscle you need to exercise (exercise is a poor way of burning calories, but does preserve muscle).

The kind of exercise matters as well. Long-distance running, for example, is not very good at preserving muscle tissue. It's a lot better than inactivity, but any running short of full-on sprinting is not a strength-limited exercise. So the stress it creates doesn't tell your body that it needs to maintain your strength. To get that kind of stress, you need to do weight training with heavy (for you) weights at low reps.

And actually, that kind of exercise can burn a lot of calories. It doesn't take a lot of calories to lift the weight in the moment (you're at a very high burn rate but only for a short period), but subsequent recovery and adaptation requires protein synthesis, and that's calorie-intensive. You burn a lot more calories in recovery from weight training than you do during the training itself.
 
Less BMX and more endurance cycling, I´d suggest. Whenever I´ve done long distance cyclotourism (travelling with a bike, paniers and cycling everyday around 80 miles) I´ve eaten all I wanted and still lost weight...
 

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