If you're tracking calories...PLEASE buy/use a food scale

(traci simpson) #163

I think I did!!! LOL

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #164

How does one track RMR at home? I thought it required a metabolic chamber.

(Karim Wassef) #165

Actually Nick @Don_Q has his own machine… we can’t all be so fortunate :smiley:

I do go for RMR every two weeks or so to gauge the effect of my dietary choice and activity level on my metabolic rate.

It’s all on my extended fast thread. Everything from bf and muscle composition to RMR. I’ve run three phases of fasting experiments over 55 days (ending this Saturday):

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/karims-extended-fast-tracker-come-along-for-the-ride/78183/10000

Next I move on to my no-fasted carnivore muscle building experiment (starting Sunday):

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/karims-muscle-gain-carnivore-adventure/84959/10000

I’m what you call “data-driven”

(Jennibc) #166

It cost me $85 dollars to have my RMR tested the other morning. I can’t imagine the money you have had to spend! (why do dollar signs not show up on this website?) ETA, it is now showing up, weird!

(Karim Wassef) #167

DEXA is $75 and RMR is $75 too. So it’s $150 ,x 4 so far.

My glucose and ketone strips probably cost me. 2x that…

Why? Because I was on medication that cost $1500 a month & my portion was $300. The cost of disease is much higher than the cost of learning to understand and then how to care for my body. The degenerative effects are sometimes irreversible.

Now, when I run an experiment, I collect the data so I know what’s going on.

I respect those who can just listen to heir bodies. I’m just not a good listener… I need to see data and trends and make sense of things so I can do better.

I’m a scientist and engineer by training… just not biology or chemistry … so self taught

I also share with as many as will listen. If I can help just one person, then my investment was worth it.

#168

Right there with ya. Weighing and measuring, at least periodically to keep me honest, is useful in preventing carb creep.

(Jennibc) #169

I did DXA back in October and it was $90. Once I hit goal, I am going back in for a follow up.

#170

As someone who’s been maintaining a large weight loss for 6 years now, making me a statistical freak of nature, and doing so while counting/tracking calories…and now transitioning to a LCHF woe just for the heck of it, I totally agree with your post here :slight_smile:

I’ve lived at breathed ‘CICO’ for years now and it’s exactly as you described. By finding the correct energy balance I could maintain my weight where I wanted it to be at, but I was using a low dietary fat approach, without realizing it. Because in order to stay within my calorie targets I had to be very intentional about what I was eating, because it was very easy to eat more calories than I needed. I learned that I can fit in an awful lot of low calorie rice cakes, Lean Cuisines and yes, fruit and veggies. The game became ‘find the lowest calorie foods I can, so I could eat a heck of a lot of them’. Because I was always hungry-it lingered in the background and followed me around all day. So low fat ‘diet’ foods freed up calories so I could eat more volume. And for around 6 years I was able to do this.

But, I have 40+ more years of maintenance ahead of me and earlier this year I realized it wasn’t working anymore. That nagging hunger had gone from the background to being in my face all the time. And without even realizing it extra calories were creeping in and the weight started ticking up again. After years of successfully maintaining I found myself at my highest weight in 7 years, this past January. And I freaked out, to put it mildly :crazy_face:

Went hard core ‘healthy’ eating, started using my food scale faithfully, was tracking everything on cronometer etc. Lost a few pounds, then stalled and started seeing an uptick again. Freaked out even more and decided to try something completely new and jumped into this whole LCHF thing. A month later I’ve lost the extra few pounds, plus more. I’ve had significant appetite reduction, I never feel hungry anymore and I don’t feel as frantic about food anymore. The whole transition has been very surreal. I’ve been spot checking my calories still and I’m definitely eating less calories now on LCHF, but I’m just not hungry like before. Still tweaking to try and get my weight to stabilize, but I’m adding more and more fat so I anticipate it leveling out over the next few weeks.

I’ve realized that a HF/LC way of eating completely changes the game, and while I do still believe in CICO, there’s other factors at play that are way beyond my understanding :slight_smile:

#171

I find my scale is very useful. I am not paying attention to calories, but the scale lets me see just how much a couple ounces of broccoli or meat is. Very helpful with macros as I start to learn how to “see” portions.

(Steve) #172

My wife and I weighed and built our own carb/fat/protein library in the ‘Lose it’ app and ‘Cronometer’. I micromanaged weight and macros for two months to understand exactly what we can eat to keep on track for our bodies. It is amazing how wrong recipes are when it comes to nutrition counts. We never trust them and always break them down into our own numbers. Two months of tracking everything that you consume and learning about portion sizes was nothing when it comes to this new lifestyle, especially when you are new to LCHF…
I’m a Banter for life!