437 lbs to 250 - low carb

[IgnorantBloke]

Really worried about my progress. This upcoming week and a half my dad is visiting, which means eating out a lot - and in some situations no matter what I will be eating crap. Then I am having a "Going away" party because I just got a job and am moving to Florida. I expect to bulk up quite a bit... even if I try to show discretion, probably gonna gain 20-30 lbs in a 2 week period. Most of it will be water, but will still take me like a month to get rid of. Pisses me off that skinny ectomorph/good genetics bitches can do that without consequence haha.

Congratulations on finding a job and good luck relocating.

 

[Defenz Mechanzm**]

Just pace yourself with the food intake, if you know you are going to have a big meal, eat slower while conversing. You are not obligated to eat everything on the plate. Just say you are full.
Show restraint.

 

[Nemesis48]

Just pace yourself with the food intake, if you know you are going to have a big meal, eat slower while conversing. You are not obligated to eat everything on the plate. Just say you are full.
Show restraint.

haha.

 

[Nemesis48]

Congratulations on finding a job and good luck relocating.

Haha thanks, I am so glad to have it in this economy. I feel so much empathy for those out of work and job hunting. I had education and internship experience out the wazoo and it still took me about 8.5 months of searching to find a job in a field i'm not even officially trained in but have a lot of experience in. Crazy world.

 

[BrizzoBoi]

This log is awesome, that's one hell of a transformation. I started going low carb myself on Monday, and right now I feel like shit haha. Don't be discouraged by the slowing progress, someone please correct me if i'm incorrect but I thought that when you lose weight, your metabolism will slow, even if you are only losing fat.

About 2 years ago i was 216 training for a BJJ comp and I wanted to compete at 175. In the first month i hit 190 pretty easily by drinking a shit ton of water and not eating like a fatass. But after that it got pretty hard to lose more weight so I had to kick up the exercise.

Also what's your opinion on having cheat meals when first starting? I'm not planning to have any until maybe 3 weeks in, in order to give my body time to adapt.

 

[Nemesis48]

This log is awesome, that's one hell of a transformation. I started going low carb myself on Monday, and right now I feel like shit haha. Don't be discouraged by the slowing progress, someone please correct me if i'm incorrect but I thought that when you lose weight, your metabolism will slow, even if you are only losing fat.

About 2 years ago i was 216 training for a BJJ comp and I wanted to compete at 175. In the first month i hit 190 pretty easily by drinking a shit ton of water and not eating like a fatass. But after that it got pretty hard to lose more weight so I had to kick up the exercise.

Also what's your opinion on having cheat meals when first starting? I'm not planning to have any until maybe 3 weeks in, in order to give my body time to adapt.

I think the occasional weekly or bi-weekly cheat meal is fine if you are really fat, but the smaller you get the more cheat meals will set back a keto adaption. I recently read the definitive science book on ketogenic diet:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low-Carbohydrate-Living/dp/0983490708

Volek and Phinney claim that if you have a cheat meal it'll completely reset your ketosis and it'll take 2-4 weeks for a re-adaption, essentially starting from scratch. I'm not sure I believe this... but they also are the strongest scientists in this field - so I can't ignore their claims. For this reason I only have cheat meals during major holidays now, if I can help it. There needs to be more research done ,but for now I am mostly following their advice.

Also your metabolism doesn't go down from weight loss - I just need to start consistently lifting weights and to stop being so stressed out (elevated stress hormone cortisol = elevated fat storage).

 

[Sarumyan]

Inspiring story.

 

[Nemesis48]

Food porn from a typical meal I had today.

I usually don't take pics but figured what the hell:

Whole chicken breast, seasoned with paprika, salt, pepper, dash of Montreal, baked, broiled in base, whole asparagus seasoned with salt/pepper/garlic in olive oil, broiled. Usually use butter for asparagus but was out today.

Some other good shit I eat recently:
• Asparagus, chicken sausages, onions and peppers, all cooked on the grill
• Chicken in a peppery sauce, with avocado, salt, pepper, sour cream, shredded mixed cheese and shrimp scampi on the side
• Four egg, peppers, purple onions, thyme, bacon, Munster cheese and chia seed omelet – with spicy pumpkin seeds on the side
• Broiled chicken burgers seasoned with Montreal seasoning, served with garlic and mushroom, with a cheese melt in a butter sauce
• Basa fillet “breaded” in ground flax meal, seasoned with parmesan shavings and peppercorns, cooked with onions in olive oil
• Broiled hamburgers, with a mustard green salad, feta cheese, bleu cheese dressing, with brussel sprouts cooked in a garlic and butter sauce on the side
• Whole chicken breast, buttered and covered in Montreal and chicken seasoning, baked until crispy, with seasoned avocado and sour cream on the side
• BBQ steak, seasoned in a herbal rub, served with whole steamed broccoli, whole garlic, butter and thyme

 

[Nemesis48]

Status Report

Weight chart on 1st page updated, now divided into 1st year, and 2nd year. Google doc chart data and cheat meal information updated.

History/writings and nuts and bolts of nutrition updated

In the past 2 months I have been adapting to a new job, new nutrition and new location.

My trek down here began with my current employer flying me down for an interview after the 4th of july, during which I also had a number of cheat meals. You can see from my chart, that the 4th of july related cheat meals spiked me up a bit, followed by the airplane/travel food, which took awhile to work off. Then as I got the job and prepared to move down here my dad came up for 5 days or so, during which I eat like crap (but by no means more than anyone else on vacation would eat - probably 3000 calories or less a day). You can see the astronomical weight gain noted in the chart. For some reason it took well over a month to work this off, rather than a week it normally takes - historically speaking.

This visit/family time clearly broke me out of ketosis and has taken over a month and a half to work off, much to my dismay. It seems the more weight I lose the more sensitive I become to cheat meals, so I have eliminated them completely other than holidays. Starting a weight lifting regiment would surely offset some of these effects, but I need to find a gym down here and get my ass in order, and stop procrastinating.

Overall i'm not pleased with my progress - I have only lost about 14 lbs in 4 months - which isn't much to talk about. Today I break even with my pre-move weight... having wasted over a month and a half. I firmly believe that the only way to sustained, rapid weight loss is going to be heavy lifting in the gym - otherwise even the smallest deviation in nutrition will delay me for a week or more.

Since I came down here, I can estimate that I have been consuming more calories, but not much more, and still within the same macros. This may have slowed down my progress. That being said, I am also much more active. I have been doing runs/HIIT or long hikes at least 2 times a week, plus the new job, commuting 2 hours a day, and the stresses of the move (I know I still need to add weight lifting, but my job kills most of my day). I think stress may be a factor in my slow weight loss as well. My new job is extremely stressful and only recently have I started to relax. Delayed bowel emptying has become a factor, even though my fiber, water and fat intake has only increased.

An annoying procedural factor is that I now weigh myself in at 5 AM rather than noon - and in those 6-7 hours leading to my first meal (noon) the numbers would probably be a few lbs lighter. This is why I seemingly lose weight on the weekends, because I can better control my water consumption and weigh in time.

Overall I feel better physically than I ever have. The long hikes I have been taking in Florida's state and federal parks have been really worthwhile - but I feel as if i'm spinning my wheels in regards to my weight loss. Pretty bullshit, considering I follow my plan with absolute discipline. I know that this is just a temporary thing though until I get back into the groove - yet I was hoping to keep a rapid weight loss rate and be at my target by next june.

 

[IgnorantBloke]

I just glanced at the weight chart; How in the world is it possible to gain thirty pounds in three days? Are you dehydrated? Just doesn't seem possible, unless you had unknowingly been cutting a crap ton of water. Even in Keto you should be retaining most of your water, shouldn't you?

Even when I go on week long binges I only gain 10-12 pounds; Just seems insane to me.

As far as actual fat loss I'd think you're doing better than you actually suspect. Now you're at a legitimate 265lbs when before you had just been dehydrated to that point.

I think it's a fair time to go get your body fat percentage taken and judge your progress from that from now on. Maybe monthly.

 

[Nemesis48]

I just glanced at the weight chart; How in the world is it possible to gain thirty pounds in three days? Are you dehydrated? Just doesn't seem possible, unless you had unknowingly been cutting a crap ton of water. Even in Keto you should be retaining most of your water, shouldn't you?

Even when I go on week long binges I only gain 10-12 pounds; Just seems insane to me.

It's from glycogen refeeding, poor carbohydrate sensitivity and horrible genetics.

When you're in a ketogenic state you have minimal/insignificant glycogen stores. So when you eat carbohydrates, combined with my other issues, you quickly gain weight as glycogen and water stores on the muscle tissue. It's the same reason why you lose weight so rapidly when you first start - I lost like 20 lbs in one week when I started this.

No one should gain THAT much weight, and you can tell from my previous refeeds that it's mostly water due to the fact that I typically piss it out in a week or so - but this recent refeed really fucked me up and I must have gained quite a bit of fat weight as well - a calorie doesn't equal a calorie for me when I eat carbs, the body stores it as fat overwhelmingly. It's not from dehydration, I drink A LOT of water a day, upwards of 200+ ounces.

It is insane, discouraging and very annoying - but not much I can do about it. The plus side? Once i'm at my target I can refeed like that and it won't matter because it will be maintenance, not weight loss. I could spare temporary weight gain like that because it wouldn't disrupt my overall maintenance.

 

[Nemesis48]

Broke through my plateau (finally) with the help of regular weight training. Started a log here:
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f49/transition-2248625/

More details on plateau breaking (re: weight loss/diet) soon.

 

[Nemesis48]

Food porn from past two days, typical meals:

Sausage, provolone and avocado

Catfish filet with cheddar shavings, on a bed of lettuce with olive oil/butter/bleu cheese dressing, with some chia seeds and avocado (again)

 

[Nemesis48]

Ok finally broke through about a 2 month plateau, which I attribute to stress of a new job and eating at maintenance (rather than deficit). Reverted back to a deficit diet AND started Starting Strength (redundant much?) and plateau has been crushed.

New (horrible pics) uploaded to page 1, at 258. I just woke up and the lighting was bad, so you can't see my body comp that easily - but I feel like I am getting a lot leaner and muscled, even though my weight has only gone down 3.5-4 lbs since i got here.

Weight chart updated. For reference I started lifting around October 19 and started seriously lifting just last week.

 

[rorydaboss]

Ok finally broke through about a 2 month plateau, which I attribute to stress of a new job and eating at maintenance (rather than deficit). Reverted back to a deficit diet AND started Starting Strength (redundant much?) and plateau has been crushed.

New (horrible pics) uploaded to page 1, at 258. I just woke up and the lighting was bad, so you can't see my body comp that easily - but I feel like I am getting a lot leaner and muscled, even though my weight has only gone down 3.5-4 lbs since i got here.

Weight chart updated. For reference I started lifting around October 19 and started seriously lifting just last week.

What have you been eating at for maintenance?

 

[Nemesis48]

What have you been eating at for maintenance?

No. What I mean is: I had been eating more calories and think I was at maintenance because of it. Not much more, but enough to defeat my deficit. I'd end up taking leftovers to work rather than making a simple omelete - so was essentially having ~200-400 more calories a day. I need to eat a relatively small amount of calories (and no carbs) in general otherwise I gain weight. I usually eat between 1400-2000 on a daily basis.

I still think stress was/is the biggest factor.

 

[rorydaboss]

No. What I mean is: I had been eating more calories and think I was at maintenance because of it. Not much more, but enough to defeat my deficit. I'd end up taking leftovers to work rather than making a simple omelete - so was essentially having ~200-400 more calories a day. I need to eat a relatively small amount of calories (and no carbs) in general otherwise I gain weight. I usually eat between 1400-2000 on a daily basis.

I still think stress was/is the biggest factor.

I think you should look into taking a full diet break where you up your carbs for a couple weeks to normalize your hormones.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

The weight should still be coming off at 260 pounds eating less than 2,000 calories.

 

[Nemesis48]

I think you should look into taking a full diet break where you up your carbs for a couple weeks to normalize your hormones.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

The weight should still be coming off at 260 pounds eating less than 2,000 calories.

Nah bro. I just have the worst genetics imaginable. if I did a couple weeks of carbs I would seriously gain like 40 lbs. If it's going to result in me gaining weight i'm not interested.

Let's take the week long vacation before I came down here as an example. I gained roughly 30 lbs in a week, which was often high carb meals, and that set me back a long time.

Also - the weight is coming off, but you have to remember that 300 calories extra a day translates to more than 1 lb every 2 weeks (3500 calories per lb), and somedays it was even higher. Now that i've standardized my lunch once again and eat the same thing every day, the only variable is dinner.

Although, you do raise a somewhat interesting point. I used to have a large cheat meal every week, usually taco bell or chinese food - but when my weight loss slowed down I eliminated these to keep up the pace. It's hard to say whether or not that's been effective considering the big factor of stress.

Furthermore, all the latest research I have read suggests that if you break out of ketosis it can take as long as 4 weeks to re-adapt, even if you had been adapted before. In the past, I would disagree with this anecdotally, I would have a decadent cheat meal, gain 3-4 lbs of water weight and get rid of it in 2-3 days, but now when I cheat it seems to set me back much longer - a week or more.

Truth be told i'd like a weekly cheat meal (i've been jonsesing for some taco bell for well over 2 months now - but refuse to cheat if i'm above my lowest weight) , and maybe when my lifts get really heavy I will be able to afford that again.

 

[Nemesis48]

Plateau is now completely demolished. Losing weight quickly again (fate willing) and hungry before meals (a good sign for me, for some reason if I don't feel any hunger its a surefire sign i'm not going to lose anything). So many factors - not sure why, but i'm sure it has something to do with cutting pumpkin seeds out of my dieT (as an experiment) and commencing Starting Strength, as well as reducing my stress.

 

[Nemesis48]

Tonight's food porn. This is insanely delicious:


Italian sausage, barbequed, with avocado (pepper, salt, bleu cheese, feta cheese, salsa), with sharp cheddar "wraps"