Doubled my calories = doubled my fat loss

(George) #1

So I’ve been mainly carnivore for practically a month now and didn’t really see any major changes the first couple weeks. The weight was coming off at around 1.5.lbs/week, which is a bit of a slow down from my average of 2.2 lbs/week I was having before.

I’ve been OMAD for months, with weekly 60-72 hour fasts. Last week I decided to experiment with eating more and fasting less, so Sunday through Wednesday I ate 2x/day, Thursday I had 1 big dinner, and fasted from there till Saturday morning. The scale showed a 4 lb. fat loss! I’m not sure if it was the calorie increase or adding an extra 20 minutes to my workout regimen, but I’m happy with the results.

Anyone experience something similar with seeing a huge jump in progress from eating more?

#2

Not really, and I don’t track my food well enough to say for sure, but in some stretches that I’m fasting more I haven’t been thrilled with the measuring tape… (or I am for a bit but then not over time!).

It might be the combination of eating more and working out more gave a nice jump to your metabolism. In any case, congratulations!

(George) #3

I noticed that with my fasts too. I usually only see a difference on the scale after hitting the 60 hour mark of a fast, so my 2nd to last fast I went up to 96 hours expecting a big weight drop, but the the result was disappointing, maybe 1.5 lbs., so I’m surprised that my changes last week caused such a huge drop in fat.

and thanks! Hopefully I can keep it up lol.

(hottie turned hag) #4

Me. I have experienced this counterintuitive phenomenon.

My intake varies widely; I’ve never cal restricted but when I too recently dropped cheese and veg and was on all meat, my cals had to (I never count) have gone way up as I’ve been having for ex: a BIG -like could serve two people, big- steak, pound o’bacon, entire 8z stick pepperoni, and some salmon in ONE SITTING and this has been prob 5/7 days per week since March and yet I broke my stall.

Contrast that to when I was eating mainly cheese and veg, I’d have 16oz mozz/day and a head of cabbage, several bell peppers, tomatoes. I did lose on that, then stalled, as you may recall from my posts.

I haven’t weighed since April and am weighing TODAY (was supposed to be May 30 but was visiting a daughter in another state and I must weigh on same scale -at grocer’s- or, yanno, anxiety :crazy_face: #ocd) and am excited to see what I weigh as I am visibly smaller.

Am SO SICK of meat though! If I am at goal weight today (110) I shall go back to cheese and veg just because all the meat I’ve been having has me so over it, though at first it was nomnomnom.

I think on just meat we can consume more cals and still lose.

(George) #5

Oh wow since April? I’m excited for you :slight_smile: share the results!

Yeah it’s definitely interesting, my appetite has increased as well. I’m planning on bringing back dairy this week in the form of mini cheesecakes I made yesterday just to see if I have bad results LOL.

I have to admit that I do worry a bit about any negative long term effects of having such a meat-heavy diet. I work in the medical consulting and analysis field, and I always have to hear some sort of remark from coworkers about damage to my kidneys, cholesterol, etc. I’m an editor for the company not a clinician, so I don’t know all the nitty gritty science behind things, but I feel good.

(Anne Brodie) #6

Yes! For the first 6-8 months of keto I ended up watching and restricting calories because if I didn’t I gained even with very low carbs. I was also walking a lot. I did lose weight but as I approached maintenance it got where I could hardly eat without gaining. I started increasing very low carb standards (a whole egg or two rather than half, four pieces bacon rather than one, adding more butter and coconut oil) and started slowly losing as I kept increasing quantity. I heard of this on podcasts but had to overcome the psychological struggles of applying it. Getting on the scale and seeing it go up two days in row and I would be urged to fast. Instead I would moderate and keep working on it. Over time I have added more variety and it is still working. A few months later I’m maintaining my weight on 2-3 times the amount of food I was having before and really enjoying this balance.

(George) #7

That’s awesome!! I’m a long way from maintenance and still trying to lose another 48 lbs. I’m crossing my fingers that I can keep shedding the fat, build muscle, and reach goal weight.

(hottie turned hag) #8

Yeah I was weighing weekly then stopped as I got so close to goal.
I will edit my above post later with weight; if not at goal I shall be pissed :japanese_goblin:

As to the neg effects: if you run into my posts you’ll see my recurring theme of “case by case” and me citing my 27yr experience in (not clinical, though I work with MDs on their cases and PhDs in research; my field is medical genetics) medicine wherein everything should be case by case.
My belief is individual biochem idiosyncrasies are oft underconsidered as they aren’t quantifiable with hard data. Anecdotal data abounds; I have decades of experience of anecdotal data.

That to say, for some individuals a heavy meat diet may be excellent; but for others, it may be detrimental. I get really irked when folk -esp laypersons- tout a diet or anything, really, as a panacea for ALL.

Some folks (one of my children as an example) thrive on vegan diet; I fared poorly on a vegetarian diet for 8 years, and do beautifully on meat. I have a post on here about my freak o’nature buddy, who is in excellent health on a diet of entirely processed, high sugar food. In my work I’ve seen pts (too many times to count) respond/present in ways that are at complete odds with what protocol and hard data (labs) would cause one to expect; the best docs adjust tx accordingly.

How to know what method/regimen is best for a given individual? Results over time. No other way to know in the case of long term meat diet. Stats will be useless as the only groups we can look to are Inuits and Masai. Individual responses shall always vary, I cannot emphasize this enough.

Girl you crazy; who eats just four pieces of :bacon:
I always down an entire package myself
#gluttony4lyf

(Full Metal KETO AF) #9

“Don’t believe the hype” Chuck D :cowboy_hat_face:

(Carl Keller) #10

I will take my chances with real food. The naysayers can continue with their processed self-destruction if they like.

(George) #11

Amen!

This is the only sustainable WOE that has actually worked for me so I’m not stopping.

My local store had a ridiculously good sale on ribeyes this past weekend so I naturally stocked up (I’m talking two HUGE ribeyes per package well over 12 ounces each, beautiful marbling for around 13 bucks per package) I’m just sitting here at my desk, salivating, thinking of cooking up my first one today. I shared this with the coworker nearest to me and her response was “well I guess just enjoy it now while you’re young, when you’re my age and your arteries are blocked from all that red meat you won’t be able to enjoy those steaks anymore”

(hottie turned hag) #12

FML
Am still 116 :neutral_face:
But I am smaller. No question. Not dramatically so, but I donned the same pair of pants I wore when I weighed in April and was 116 and they are no question looser in waistband. Ribs are also more visible.

Mad as hell.

So my 2+ mos of almost only meat/eggs got me from 122 to 116 and now I’ve been stalled at 116 since April.

Ack don’t want to hijack.
*shuffling off muttering angry epithets *

(Marianne) #13

Oh, isn’t this just wonderful and supportive.

:laughing:

(George) #14

Oh wow!

well if you’re visibly smaller then I guess you did something right then, right?

maybe experiment with food a bit more and weigh yourself weekly, there’s got to be something that’ll trigger a bit more loss.

(George) #15

Right???

This is why I’d rather just keep my mouth shut at work lol

(hottie turned hag) #16

That upped cals -subject of the thread- at first caused a quick loss then no more, makes me think it was water that was lost. I retain fluid badly on carbs. I am now thinking the 6lb quick loss after dropping cheese/veg and upping cals on just meat may’ve been fluid. Thus no more loss after initial diuresing. That I am smaller since April though same weight may go to lean body mass accrual/further fluid elimination.

More to the point of the thread: I most def consumed WAY MORE cals per day in meat X2.5/mo than ever before yet lost 6lb then maintained. This is interesting in itself.

(George) #17

Very interesting indeed!

The human body and it’s mechanisms are truly a fascinating thing.

I hope I dont fall into any sort of maintenance soon. I have a lot more to lose!

Although if I am being honest, I’ve been more on the keto-carnivore side of things than just straight out carnivore. So, I eat half an avocado per day along with my mountains of meat. Plus I’ve had some spinach (cooked/wilted) in my ground beef maybe 2x/week (note-the use of spinach only happened last week, coincidentally the first week I noticed a drastic change on the scale) But everything else has been meat and eggs

I have noticed though, that after eating the occasional leafy green, I have a BM a few hours later.

#18

We often recommended to newbies that they try eating more. If you’re not eating much (which is what OMAD combined with fasting sounds like to me), your body is going to hang on to everything it can get and probably slow your metabolism to meet intake. A few days of increased consumption and things start to change.