So confused by all the different weight loss methods and trends.

[Bleaney]

I'm a middle age man of slim build, apart from a bulging belly, undoubtedly made worse by a hernia. I'm on the waiting list for surgery.

But I guess there's also probably about a stone or two of fat (6-12kg for non Brits) on there too.

I was just browsing some of all the info on youtube last night, and there's mention of insulin resistance being the number one cause for this kind of thing.

I'm trying to wrap my head around what that means, and what to do about it, but in the meantime I'm finding all the different diet options so bewildering.

The Keto diet sounds amazing, especially in combination with fasting, as I'm currently going through a cancer scare, and even if I get the all clear I'd like to adopt something like that, not only to lose the belly, but apparently it can also help with reducing cancer risk. By a process of Autophagy which clears up damaged cells after 16 hours of fasting? And prior to that the excess any excess glucose is metabolised, and so that can also help prevent growth of cancer, as cancer thrives on glucose. And then after 16-24 hours the body starts breaking down fat stores to use them for energy. Sounds amazing right?

What really makes no sense though is that the keto diet advises to consume the massively calorific and fat laden full fat greek yogurt in preference to no fat or low fat. As the full fat has about half the carbs. But tons more calories and fats.

I just dont understand how that can possibly aid weight or fat loss. I guess I don't understand ketosis yet.

Apart from that, everything else makes sense, limit carbs to the bare minimum, and just mainly eat meat, fish, eggs, and fresh non carby veggies.

Anyone been in any kind of similar situation, and navigated their way through all the different options?

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

This may sound counter-intuitive, but I'd avoid foods that are like the diet version like low-fat, sugar-free, low-calorie...anything with a diet company brand like "Weight Watchers" or "Slim Fast". Only fat people eat that shit. It also usually less satisfying and less filling.

At the end of the day, it's all about calories in v calories out.
Regarding insulin resistance...is it JUST that symptom or do you also find yourself constantly thirty and peeing all the time? Or feeling very lethargic for seemingly no real reason?

A big tip is WATER. 80% of the time when you think you're thirsty, you're actually dehydrated, so any time you feel hungry or wanna eat, have a large glass of water first and wait twenty minutes and then see if you're till hungry.

LOTS of vegetables and fruit. Protein and fibre are very important.

 

[Bleaney]

It does sound so counter-intuitive that I have trouble believing that anything that has tonnes more fat and calories can help with fat loss more than the no fat low calorie versions.

I think I've lost at least a couple of kilos since switching to low fat yogurt, although my weight also fluctuates so much according to how much walking I do over any day or 2. That makes a huge difference.

I mean I am fat, but its bizzarely localised to one spot! And apparently this can also be a 'marker' for cancer.

It's just the belly, and i saw some Dr on youtube saying that the instant he sees someone who fits my description he knows its a problem of insulin resistance. Not sure how true or verified that is.

It is just that symptom, I'm not thirsty and peeing all the time, or tired for no reason.

Thats a good tip about the water!

Thanks for your help!

 

[kiely]

Weight Watchers is no longer called Weight Watchers because
in September 2018, it rebranded to WW to shift its focus from weight loss to overall health and wellness.
The company changed its name and adopted the tagline "Wellness that Works" to reflect a broader appeal,
aiming to inspire healthy habits for overall well-being rather than just focusing on shedding pounds.

WW shows you how to baseline healthy living and eating and monitoring calorie intake.
Part of the Program includes reading material on a daily basis and also group support.
Joining the program also includes a calorie calculator that helps keep track of food and drink intake
for daily allowances to follow with the weight loss and healthy lifestyle focus.

Also, all vegetables and fruit are encouraged, drinks not included. Because of the hidden added sugars
and mixes.
Fruit and vegetables do not count as points with the daily calculator limit. It helps to see how much
you are actually consuming with specific foods on a daily basis as well. You can look online for
WW membership as well. It will even calculate alcohol included in the daily limit.

It is well worth the efforts to learn the basic habits and focus on personal fitness. Once you learn how to work the Program
the calorie counter calculator will just use this to format calories, carbs, protein, and sugar to convert to a specific point everytime that you will record what you are eating. And then all the points
add up until you reach the limit for the day. It is very helpful and allows for scientifically safe weight loss and if followed
correctly the pounds drop off immediately in just a week and months.

Basically it is just counting calories and eating properly to maintain a healthy lifestyle and is recorded on a personal calculator to see where and how weight loss is
actually happening. They do encourage exercise by promoting personal workouts and or a healthy routine. Or just being active and not being sedative by
getting up and moving around as well. I recommend it for healthy lifestyle and focus on accurate intake of consuming the most healthiest calorie intake choices without compromising safety from extreme food deprivation. It is healthy way to learn weight loss by specific calorie intake for the healthiest way to lose weight as possible. Its good. Thumbs up.

And a very nice focus and interest to post about. And something that helps to focus on feeling healthy all around to help energy
levels and to stay in good shape all around. It helps to maintain a healthy lifestyle because everything is connected so it is a great support also to help function optimally all around to stay healthy in all choices of our intake and consumption. To help focus and feel the best as possible without being harmful for functioning with food and substance. It works great and really changed my eating patterns and Endurance. Lol. It has great benefits if worked properly and appropriate ! It does feel good.

It is a lot of detail but such a good focus. It was a good impression and I just enjoyed sharing it with everyone. When I met my goals
I am just at a specific baseline and stayed with it. I still have my calculator somewhere if I ever need to go back to cutting calories again.
I like to just promote what feels good and is a help for staying as healthy as possible. But I am sure you will do great whatever your choices are. Awesome. Again Nice Posting !!!

Edit : They do encourage pure water intake everyday instead of other types of liquid drinks. Yes they encourage that water IS very important.

 

[kiely]

So yes it does promote eating from the basic food groups called power foods.

Some food has less points than other foods and milk is part of the basic food pyramid called dairy.

Different types of milk also have specific points as well. Examples are chocolate, whole milk, reduced fat and nonfat.

However be aware that non fat milk has added sugar content to make it taste better.

And natural fruit and vegetables are encouraged. Processed food includes hidden sugar as well.

Too much sugar is poison and toxic and it is best to eat as pure and natural as possible and WW

has guidelines to encourage all of the intake for everything listed. And is all very good.

 

[KurtAurelius]

I'm a middle age man of slim build, apart from a bulging belly, undoubtedly made worse by a hernia. I'm on the waiting list for surgery.

But I guess there's also probably about a stone or two of fat (6-12kg for non Brits) on there too.

I was just browsing some of all the info on youtube last night, and there's mention of insulin resistance being the number one cause for this kind of thing.

I'm trying to wrap my head around what that means, and what to do about it, but in the meantime I'm finding all the different diet options so bewildering.

The Keto diet sounds amazing, especially in combination with fasting, as I'm currently going through a cancer scare, and even if I get the all clear I'd like to adopt something like that, not only to lose the belly, but apparently it can also help with reducing cancer risk. By a process of Autophagy which clears up damaged cells after 16 hours of fasting? And prior to that the excess any excess glucose is metabolised, and so that can also help prevent growth of cancer, as cancer thrives on glucose. And then after 16-24 hours the body starts breaking down fat stores to use them for energy. Sounds amazing right?

What really makes no sense though is that the keto diet advises to consume the massively calorific and fat laden full fat greek yogurt in preference to no fat or low fat. As the full fat has about half the carbs. But tons more calories and fats.

I just dont understand how that can possibly aid weight or fat loss. I guess I don't understand ketosis yet.

Apart from that, everything else makes sense, limit carbs to the bare minimum, and just mainly eat meat, fish, eggs, and fresh non carby veggies.

Anyone been in any kind of similar situation, and navigated their way through all the different options?

Online is lots of bullshit- ways to sell programs and guides.

Medical research outlines the usual whole food med diet etc.

Without personal bias - keto forces the body to burn fat and use it, great but this is not optimal, the body adapts but why make it adapt when it prefers glucose.

Glucose can be obtained reasonably and carbohydrates make life so much better deployed better: they will make you feel calmer, sleep deeper, perform better.

I’ve read the romans caught legionaries trading their wheat ration for white bread, and they knew something was up with that even then.

I don’t like to go schizo with the whole naturism thing, but I do wish to add the question that it seems unlikely nutrient deficient food, laden with extra fats and sugar beyond what is needed will have a negative effect.

A free market has its consequences and that could be why so many people suffer with their nutrition. It’s good to be accountable to say it’s on them but theirs a reason why it still happens.

(Paranoid rant over)

Practical experience- always suffered with bad composition either skinny fat or fat plus autstic so issues with food on a sensory level and also with integrating into routine,

What consistently works for me, as a Northen European man is the following..

A whole food diet priotising at each meal.

A sensible amount of complex carbohydrates (45-50 grams is a usual slice of bread, so either 100-125g of bread, whole pasta, or pre boiled starches like potato)

Sensible amount of protein- (I make sure to have a serving of dairy, 500ml of milk, 250g or so yoghurt, or 50-100 gram cheese, OR 100-125g amount of chicken or beef)

A serving of either Veg, Fruit or Nuts
(50-100 grams of either leafy greens or root vegetables, the same fruit, or 250ml orange juice, a great easy way to get micronutrients)

And then if using fat, cook the meal using animal fat (if I cook mince I get fatty no need for cooking oil, else if I have a lot of animal fat elsewhere I sparingly use avocado oil it seems to be the safest to cook with and has a amazing profile of fats)

Else, have a meal containing healthy fats- this will lead to a argument with someone I suspect but animal fat in moderation if coming from a good source (free range) is entirely appropriate especially if you are male.

The amounts are only specifics for a 3 square meal estimate, I usually double as I eat two meals most of the time.

This is extremely self regulating, eating whole foods will fill you. From what I can discern empty calories are a thing in a way, that high carb and high fat food with little nutrients will disregulate hunger signalling by virtue of the body then still seeking additional nutrients, and then if re feeding poor food, blood sugar and fat comes with it.

All this needs pairing with is a moderate amount of physical activity. Start slow with a 5km walk every other day, and I’d then suggest resistance training.

I’ll write anyone a program if they want it-

you can train the body adequately at home with just a barbell or dumbell, you don’t need to use tons of weight, and you can reliably gain lean muscle and strengthen your tendons and connective tissue.

I’ve trained for coming up 3 years, and I have trained many friends, and with my experience I can tell you- most people over complicate it and information spirals online. I’m not a master but can provide evidence (show physique lol) that what im saying works and will work for anyone in a Indvidual context.

Unless your majorly physically disabled etc you can easily benefit and gain healthy tissue (not just to become big, but to make your body healthy!)

If you want to mid max it, a 40 minute full body every 3-4 days will get you almost all benefits of exercise- better metabolism, better hunger signalling, better physical health and sleep etc etc etc.

I honestly believe this has been over complicated purposely, due to emotional content with food from society and then charlatans looking to profit off society’s illness.

Food is a product, liable for naught. Food education and health is appalling.

There is whole food that everyone will like, and can be integrated without the need to spend hours cooking or prepping. There’s nothing fancy to it or tricks.

I could go on about calorie defecit this, and tracking this:

But honestly- if you eat a whole food diet which will self regulate except in extreme eating disorders, and then start being as active as your body really should be (the world makes it seem normal to be sedentary) it will adjust.

Of course, it’s not always simple with health, but if you give it time, and give the body what it needs, something reliably repricable, your body will reach a more natural composition.

The composition of the body comes from what from comes in, and then is further determined from its output.

 

[vlzinspace]

here's a cheat sheet

eat only meat/animal products, low or no carb/sugar intake
increase water
increase salt
walk around

check back in 6 months

 

[Bleaney]

here's a cheat sheet

eat only meat/animal products, low or no carb/sugar intake

No vegetables or fruits at all?

That can't be right surely.

I know some are better than others for the various methods of weight loss. But surely we still need the vitamins and minerals and balance that fruit and veg provides.

Milk is meant to be bad for keto, but cheese is OK?

I think I'm just going to make up my own fucking diet method, restricting carbs and calories and fats to a greater extent. That just seems like common sense.

And maybe on certain days when I'm at home all day try keto. It's easy at home just to make omelettes with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, bacon, and cheese etc, (all fine for keto) and then have chicken and peas or something like that for dinner (again fine for keto). I did that the other day and I actually enjoyed it, and felt full all day, without eating very much. But more messy and impractical to try to do that at work, especially with the type of job I have.

 

[KurtAurelius]

No vegetables or fruits at all?

That can't be right surely.

I know some are better than others for the various methods of weight loss. But surely we still need the vitamins and minerals and balance that fruit and veg provides.

Milk is meant to be bad for keto, but cheese is OK?

I think I'm just going to make up my own fucking diet method, restricting carbs and calories and fats to a greater extent. That just seems like common sense.

And maybe on certain days when I'm at home all day try keto. It's easy at home just to make omelettes with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, bacon, and cheese etc, (all fine for keto) and then have chicken and peas or something like that for dinner (again fine for keto). But more messy and impractical to try to do that at work, especially with the type of job I have.

People argue to near death about Veg and Fruits, the defense chemicals this and that yeah yeah, at the end of the day I could list so many vitamins and minerals that are a pain in the arse to get from animal products,

Fuck it why not- Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Magnesium, Copper, Vitamin B1, Molybdenum, Mangenese, Potassium (unless you want to always drink 1 litre of milk) Vitamin B9,

And then fibre, my god, not giving myself an irritable bowel syndrome with just having some soluble and insoluble fibre is heaven.

I’m a lover of counter culture and conspiracy but there can’t be so much research on fibre for it to be bullshit.

I think you’ve came to a reasonable conclusion, just be careful with the fat as to low is miserable, 50 grams a day is fair on a defecit to ensure hormonal function and mood.

Good on you dude, you’re making a positive change keep it up.

 

[vlzinspace]

No vegetables or fruits at all?

That can't be right surely.

I know some are better than others for the various methods of weight loss. But surely we still need the vitamins and minerals and balance that fruit and veg provides.

Milk is meant to be bad for keto, but cheese is OK?

I think I'm just going to make up my own fucking diet method, restricting carbs and calories and fats to a greater extent. That just seems like common sense.

And maybe on certain days when I'm at home all day try keto. It's easy at home just to make omelettes with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, bacon, and cheese etc, (all fine for keto) and then have chicken and peas or something like that for dinner (again fine for keto). I did that the other day and I actually enjoyed it, and felt full all day, without eating very much. But more messy and impractical to try to do that at work, especially with the type of job I have.

no you don't need fruits or veggies. i'm sure they help but you get a dense enough amount of nutrition from animal products

personally i'll eat an orange or a banana time and again, oranges cus i like em, bananas whenever my muscles are feeling cramped. i've eaten a new york strip or ribeye once or twice a day for the last 3 years and my health couldn't be better. my issue right now is forcing myself to eat eggs in the morning lol, i pretty much just eat steak but variety is needed

 

[Bleaney]

no you don't need fruits or veggies. i'm sure they help but you get a dense enough amount of nutrition from animal products

personally i'll eat an orange or a banana time and again, oranges cus i like em, bananas whenever my muscles are feeling cramped. i've eaten a new york strip or ribeye once or twice a day for the last 3 years and my health couldn't be better. my issue right now is forcing myself to eat eggs in the morning lol, i pretty much just eat steak but variety is needed

The obvious thought that occurs immediately to me, is what about all those sailors that went down with Scurvy, before it was discovered how vital vitamin C is in our diet?

AFAIK, you cant get that from meat or animal products alone.

 

[vlzinspace]

The obvious thought that occurs immediately to me, is what about all those sailors that went down with Scurvy, before it was discovered how vital vitamin C is in our diet?

AFAIK, you cant get that from meat or animal products alone.

you do, even though google etc says there's no vitamin c in meat, there is along with everything else you need

i'm also not too sure the sailor scenario is a good one to go off of, since people everywhere who are kept close together for a long period of time get sick eventually (jail is a good example of this). although vit c is easy anyway, atleast for me lol i love oranges, i'll snack on 3 or 4 at once.

my experience is i haven't gotten sick the past few years, and i would be impressed if there was another diet other than eating meat that mirrored or surpassed the level of health i get from beef

 

[NY2soFlo]

This may sound counter-intuitive, but I'd avoid foods that are like the diet version like low-fat, sugar-free, low-calorie...anything with a diet company brand like "Weight Watchers" or "Slim Fast". Only fat people eat that shit. It also usually less satisfying and less filling.

At the end of the day, it's all about calories in v calories out.
Regarding insulin resistance...is it JUST that symptom or do you also find yourself constantly thirty and peeing all the time? Or feeling very lethargic for seemingly no real reason?

A big tip is WATER. 80% of the time when you think you're thirsty, you're actually dehydrated, so any time you feel hungry or wanna eat, have a large glass of water first and wait twenty minutes and then see if you're till hungry.

LOTS of vegetables and fruit. Protein and fibre are very important.

Those low calorie "health foods" are also full of crap that's really not healthy. If they're removing all types of carbs and fats and jacking up the protein, they have to use weird non food type ingredients to make the food taste decent and really exist at all lol.

All the different plans and routines out there are essentially different forms of calorie in vs calorie out. They dress them up in different ways to make them seem easier, or easier to understand at least.

I've always found smaller changes in diet and lifestyle are superior to jumping into some intense big change. Big changes will work faster but they run only on your motivation to keep them going. Doing a big change brings you further away from your "normal", and your body and mind dont like that. The minute your motivation lessens, or you have a few days where your routine is different and you can't keep that routine up- you usually just fall back to square one. If you focus on small realistic changes, they don't take you so far from what your currently used to, and require less motivation to continue. Make the change, continue with it for a few weeks, and then tighten it up (shave off another 100 cals a day, add in 10 more mins of cardio, etc). Use a few weeks to make the changes your "new normal", then make more, and more, etc. That way you slowly introduce a stricter diet and workout regimen. and if you have a lapse in motivation or are out of routine for a few days, you dont fall back to square one, you fall back to what your last "normal" was- which would be whatever you were doing before the last change.

 

[Bleaney]

i'm also not too sure the sailor scenario is a good one to go off of, since people everywhere who are kept close together for a long period of time get sick eventually (jail is a good example of this). although vit c is easy anyway, atleast for me lol i love oranges, i'll snack on 3 or 4 at once.

It really is, because as soon as they started sending barrels of lemons with the sailors on their voyages, from which the sailors were ordered suck on them daily, the lemon quarters I mean, (like it or not) Scurvy was no longer an issue.

Close confinement made no difference in that scenario, like it would have done for contagious illnesses, or if there was some infection in the water or food supply.

When you say you eat a meat or animal product only diet, you really don't as you refer to eating loads of oranges several times. That'll be your body signalling to you what it needs, and you subconsciously picking up on that. As in "I'd love an orange right now," and then finding it delicious. I'm not sure of the science behind food cravings, since many of them are not healthy, obviously like when we crave junk food, but sometimes we crave good things too.

 

[jasperkent]

Move more.
Eat less.

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

Those low calorie "health foods" are also full of crap that's really not healthy. If they're removing all types of carbs and fats and jacking up the protein, they have to use weird non food type ingredients to make the food taste decent and really exist at all lol.

All the different plans and routines out there are essentially different forms of calorie in vs calorie out. They dress them up in different ways to make them seem easier, or easier to understand at least.

I've always found smaller changes in diet and lifestyle are superior to jumping into some intense big change. Big changes will work faster but they run only on your motivation to keep them going. Doing a big change brings you further away from your "normal", and your body and mind dont like that. The minute your motivation lessens, or you have a few days where your routine is different and you can't keep that routine up- you usually just fall back to square one. If you focus on small realistic changes, they don't take you so far from what your currently used to, and require less motivation to continue. Make the change, continue with it for a few weeks, and then tighten it up (shave off another 100 cals a day, add in 10 more mins of cardio, etc). Use a few weeks to make the changes your "new normal", then make more, and more, etc. That way you slowly introduce a stricter diet and workout regimen. and if you have a lapse in motivation or are out of routine for a few days, you dont fall back to square one, you fall back to what your last "normal" was- which would be whatever you were doing before the last change.

Yeah, reducing calories slowly definitely makes it easy. I reached my lowest weight (which I would not advise) by starting on 1800 cal a day and reducing by 100cal/day once a week until I was at 900 and then reducing by 50cal/day once a week.
I'm not suggesting THAT obviously, just showing an example of how lowering calories is way easier is you do it gradually, in small increments, so your body notices less of a difference.

 

[TuRBO_RaINBOW]

A Registered Dietitian is the go to for actual nutrition/diet advice or information. Note, look for registered Dieticians. This is important. It means they are registered with a governing health association/board. Consider health professionals in Canada.

A nutritionist is not the same thing, usually the types to hawk "detox cleans" ect on the web. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, no licencing body like Diatians (at least my way).

There is A LOT of misinformation and scary rabbit holes you can fall down looking for nutrition information online. A good chunk of it is dressed up disordered eating that looks like "wellness" advice. Tread carefully, especially if you already have any body dismorphia.

 

[vlzinspace]

It really is, because as soon as they started sending barrels of lemons with the sailors on their voyages, from which the sailors were ordered suck on them daily, the lemon quarters I mean, (like it or not) Scurvy was no longer an issue.

Close confinement made no difference in that scenario, like it would have done for contagious illnesses, or if there was some infection in the water or food supply.

When you say you eat a meat or animal product only diet, you really don't as you refer to eating loads of oranges several times. That'll be your body signalling to you what it needs, and you subconsciously picking up on that. As in "I'd love an orange right now," and then finding it delicious. I'm not sure of the science behind food cravings, since many of them are not healthy, obviously like when we crave junk food, but sometimes we crave good things too.

the oranges are very sporadic and spread out though, i mean i'll eat steak 2x a day for a month, then i might dabble. but i do think your body will crave things based off of what it needs

the principle thing beyond eating animal products is maintaining your body in a ketogenic state, which is to say your fat becomes your primary fuel source, but this won't happen if you ingest sugar

when i'm eating a whatever (american) diet it seems as though my energy has a "health bar" as in i can only do a certain load of labor before i hunger again. if i'm in ketosis eating meat, i won't get hungry until 6-8 hours later, regardless if i sit around or run like usain bolt the whole time, the same energy level is maintained. fat is the best energy

 

[LakeGuyNE]

I'm a middle age man of slim build, apart from a bulging belly, undoubtedly made worse by a hernia. I'm on the waiting list for surgery.

But I guess there's also probably about a stone or two of fat (6-12kg for non Brits) on there too.

I was just browsing some of all the info on youtube last night, and there's mention of insulin resistance being the number one cause for this kind of thing.

I'm trying to wrap my head around what that means, and what to do about it, but in the meantime I'm finding all the different diet options so bewildering.

The Keto diet sounds amazing, especially in combination with fasting, as I'm currently going through a cancer scare, and even if I get the all clear I'd like to adopt something like that, not only to lose the belly, but apparently it can also help with reducing cancer risk. By a process of Autophagy which clears up damaged cells after 16 hours of fasting? And prior to that the excess any excess glucose is metabolised, and so that can also help prevent growth of cancer, as cancer thrives on glucose. And then after 16-24 hours the body starts breaking down fat stores to use them for energy. Sounds amazing right?

What really makes no sense though is that the keto diet advises to consume the massively calorific and fat laden full fat greek yogurt in preference to no fat or low fat. As the full fat has about half the carbs. But tons more calories and fats.

I just dont understand how that can possibly aid weight or fat loss. I guess I don't understand ketosis yet.

Apart from that, everything else makes sense, limit carbs to the bare minimum, and just mainly eat meat, fish, eggs, and fresh non carby veggies.

Anyone been in any kind of similar situation, and navigated their way through all the different options?

keto sounds nice in theory, yeah, but it’s not as clean as those videos make it. the yogurt thing is just lower carbs so it fits ketosis, calories still matter though. i went a different route first, tried Ozempic for a while thinking it’s easier, dropped some weight but man… food lost all taste, constant nausea, just felt off day to day.

that pushed me to dig deeper and i ran into Ozempic lawsuits, kinda made things click why so many people complain. if you’re already dealing with a hernia, i wouldn’t jump into extreme stuff, keep it basic first.