Yes, it has remained stable. But I think, Jane, I am may be a bit atypical since I probably exercise more than most. To give you an example, I weighed 186.8 last Thursday when I woke up in the morning, which was higher than usual. So, to compensate I cut back a bit, not a lot but a bit, and worked out a little longer and didn’t have a late night snack. Two days later AFTER working out I was 176.2. It’s funny because I will tell friends that I can swing 10 lbs in a 36-48 hour period and they don’t believe me. But it is real. I think some people don’t get how much a body can fluctuate based on just a couple of variables. One, how hydrated/dehydrated your body is and, two, literally how full your intestines are, how much food you have in your body. Those two variable can easily swing your weight by 10 lbs for someone my height and weight (6’4", 180-185). I can only imagine how much a person who is considerably larger can swing. Probably 20-25 lbs in a couple of days. So, weight is really not a great indicator of progress. I think real progress, as many have stated here, is what is your waistline while maintaining a healthy energy level.
The 3 variables to weight loss/gain
Agreed, Muhammad. Calories going “out” to fat storage, with the metabolism potentially slowing down, is a huge and bad difference from calories being burned for energy, if weight loss or maintenance are concerns.
I wholehearted agree the scale is not the best way to measure progress because of all the variables you mentioned. With women you have to add in menstrual cycles and water retention also if still cycling.
Glad you are able to maintain a stable weight!
The reason I asked about stable weight is you are maintaining it with less exercise and more calories (if I read your post right) because you have found a setpoint around which the body wants to maintain and will increase/decrease your metabolism to stay there. Eat more? Increase. Eat less? Burn fat or lower metabolism to maintain. Your body is a PID controller (chemical plant and refinery people know I mean)
I think that’s right. I’ll try and set the point lower to see if that is possible. It may be that I can’t go any lower, and maintain it. What I don’t want to do is reduce my weight and then have it gradually move back up. When I traveled to Japan in July for a month I was not able to work out as frequently, although I must say it was pretty cool that I was able to find several 50m pools. But since I didn’t want to minimize the experience I decided I would eat everything to try it and not worry about weight impact. When I returned I was 10 lbs heavier than when I had left, but was able to get it back down pretty quickly.
*if any of you are ever in Tokyo have dinner at The Edgemont! They have several restaurants. You want the one that has the authentic, traditional Japanese cuisine. You won’t find a better meal.
Never pass up an opportunity to try foreign cuisine - good for you! That is what I love the most about keto - I can experience life and I also have the tools to reset my weight back to where I want it. Never had that much control before… but I was completely ignorant about insulin and its effects.
Incredible how the body fluctuates. Decided to do a 3 day fast and went from 186 (post-Thanksgiving) to 174.2. Funny, I don’t really consider it a legitimate 174.2 because as soon as I start eating again I will pop up to 177, 178 immediately. But what the heck. I mention it here because the fast allowed me to hit my original target objective of 175.
It’s not clear from context here - did you drop 12 pounds in 3 days? Or is that cumulative since Thanksgiving and some of that loss was prior to the fast?
‘Fibre is not a necessity for a healthy diet’.
# Dr. Paul Mason - ‘From fibre to the microbiome: low carb gut health’
12 pounds “lost” in 3 days. We all know you can’t lose 12 pounds in 3 days because your body simply can’t do that. What happens is your body purges everything that is in the intestinal tract coupled with fluids lost if you are working out, which I was. But that weight comes right back on, minus whatever your calorie deficit was for this period of time.
Got it, that makes sense. Thanks for the reply. Congrats on the great job you’ve done managing your weight.
I haven’t been doing this near as long as many others. I find extended fasting too anguishing. IF, no problem, but with IF I find I tend to binge and end up putting away roughly the same amount of calories typically spread out over a day and condense it down to a shorter time frame. So at this point I am trying to determine if one way is more effective than another to eat less. I have tried a lot of different things and it doesn’t seem to matter. My body (mind) is going to tell me it is hangry until its caloric needs are met.
I have not tried to do any kind of fasting myself. I have done a couple of unplanned 24-30 hour fasts out of convenience / necessity, though.
It is nice to be able to just suppress / ignore / manage hunger signals so that if you find yourself in a position of not having anything suitable to eat, you can just not eat. To be honest, that is the primary benefit I get from a ketogenic diet. It is like a natural diet pill.
In general I try to eat 2 - 3 meals a day with no snacking in between. On those occasions when I have had to skip meals and am truly fasted, when I do eat, I don’t seem to need to eat a bigger meal to make up for the deficit. However, unlike you, I still have significant fat reserves (I still need to lose 95 - 100 pounds) so my body may be able to pull what it needs from those stores.
I read that your body is able to pull only a certain amount of energy per unit of time per pound of fat, so if you don’t have as much fat, your body can’t handle as large of an intake deficit without having to burn muscle. Here’s a link to the scientific abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15615615, but I originally read it in a more easily digestible form, I just can’t remember hwere.
My main goal with a relatively normal frequency of eating is to maintain an adequate resting metabolic rate and provide most of the nutrients I need through my food intake. Beyond that, I do aim for eating the least actual amount of food that achieves those goals.
Yeah, I’ve definitely burned some muscle but that’s ok. I’ll just put the muscle back on.