You can't expect your body to let go of fat that it still needs

(Sarah Bruhn) #64

I have no idea how this got so heated, disagree agree who cares? It’s just a little theory, it’s based on my experience and i’m not trying to force anything down anyone’s throat, there is a proportion of people who will understand. Very odd reaction.

I guess this may be more of a female problem, a lot of women just need to wait it out, they strive and strive and strive upping/lowering calories, lowering/upping fat, ditto protein and exercise and then when they finally relax and just wait for a bit they start to loose (my experience exactly). Female hormones are complex and also women are taught to hate their bodies when they are not perfect. So this message is to those select few who are punishing themselves by eating less and less and working harder and harder to stop, let themselves heal physically and psychologically.
For me Keto has been very healing emotionally as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and domestic violence and I just wanted to share that. I would happily delete the whole damn thread but people seem interested even if opposing so… i bow out for i have nothing to add. Peace

(TJ Borden) #65

You’re correct, but that actually doesn’t disagree at all. Shaking things up is a great way to break a plateau, but the reason the plateau started to begin with was the metabolism doing what it thought was best, it was just misguided by derangement.

I used to have a neighbor that was a speed freak. After running up and down the street naked, she would sweep the street with her broom. Now to anyone looking at it objectively, she was nuts, and it made no sense to sweep the street with a kitchen broom at 3 am, but in her deranged state, she though she was helping to keep the neighborhood clean… okay, I know it’s obscure analogy but bear with me.

It’s so easy to vilify insulin since it’s the hormone that stores energy as fat, and ultimately causes obesity, but the insulin is doing what it’s wired to do, and is necessary for survival. It’s the metabolic derangement that’s allowing insulin to go full bore all the time, unchecked, that is really the problem.

Out of a protective survival instinct, our bodies don’t want to give up stored fat. Even after significant weight loss, we all reach levels where our metabolisms will say “that’s it, no more, I need this for later”.

That’s where fasting can really. It’s one of the best ways to get your body to release more stored energy, and once it’s gone AND you’re providing your body the energy it needs (feasting, which is just as important), your body will realize it doesn’t need to store as much as it had been and the “set point” it’s trying to defend will be lower.

(Edith) #66

Maybe you are eating a food that causes you to bloat. Bloating is just one of the many signs of food intolerance.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #67

Let’s see - I would say about two months in I started noticing my belly getting flatter? It still ebbs and flows, so to speak, and I realized that I was taking in twice the salt even recommended on keto, so I cut some of that out, and it flattened further. It will happen, but my arms and legs and butt went first. I have just started checking blood levels of ketones, because everything I have read points to the fact that optimal nutritional ketosis (1.5 to 3) is especially good at targeting belly fat. (Last two days nothing but meat, it has gotten even flatter). And many on here say cheese and nuts can be to blame. I can go without either for a few days, then I’m hooked again. It’s a work in progress! (With crunches!)

(Marcia T) #68

Is there any evidence that toxins are stored in body fat (white? brown?)? And if that’s so, could that be a reason for the body maintaining its fat stores because to release them quickly would create a bigger physical problem - i.e., a kind of poisoning that some other part of the body like the liver isn’t ready to handle? Just asking. . . .

#69

Bwahahaha…

(Edith) #72

Well, maybe food intolerance causes stress and stress causes weight gain/inability to lose?

#73

This is incredible. Do you attribute it to “slow and steady?” Or the fasting? I have a large hanging belly.

#74

Hi misshannah, I attribute it to two things…fasting and hydration. I drink lots of water with a bit of pink Himalayan salt in it for the minerals. Also prevents headaches.

And, yes, the weight loss has been slow and steady. But, as a senior citizen, my skin lacks a lot of natural elasticity…so it is more than that.

When the body is in a fasting state, it changes from glucose burning to fat burning for fuel. Then it looks for other stuff to clean up…like loose skin. This is called autophagy. Dr. Ohsumi won a Nobel prize in medicine in 2016 for his work on autophagy. Interesting stuff to research.

So my excess fat and excess loose skin have been disappearing roughly together.

When I am not fasting, I eat lots…high fat, low carbs, moderate protein. I don’t count calories, or even figure out proper proportions, I just eat until I am full.

Fasting and Keto are the perfect pairing. Ketosis and autophagy!

Wish I had discovered this years ago.

Fasting, keto and water…who knew it could be that simple…no meetings, no expensive products, no expensive ‘experts’ coaching me. My grocery bill is actually less…I only eat whole organic foods, but with the fasting and no snacking, I am saving money. Quality over quantity.

I feel great, am healthy, never get as much as a cold, and have lots of energy.

BTW, I never used to wear shorts because they would ride up in the middle. Fat thigh issue. This summer you could hardly get me out of shorts…my thighs no longer rub together. Yipppeee. I feel so…normal. Don’t have to hide my legs. Amazing, really.

Haven’t worn shorts for decades.

Good luck with your journey. I would recommend reading about Dr. Ohsumi’s thesis, and read Dr. Mercola’s information on fasting (he does a 4 dater water fast every month for health). And he explains the whole process a little more scientifically and eloquently than me!

#75

I have done a four-day coffee/water fast not too long ago. I am currently experimenting with OMAD (basically fasting dinner to dinner) 3-4x/wk. I find that I feel better this way. I just am in the habit of derailing myself on weekends and feel like i’m “starting over” every week. I’m going to be 50 soon and I would like to get to feeling better as I approach my fab 50s! You are inspiring!

#76

@Cato that’s great information, and testimony.

Thanks for sharing! :star:

#79 

Count veggies? NOOOOO! Don't be hungry. Hungry sucks.
I "roughly" count...an apple is 30 carbs...but I see that as a guideline, an awareness.
I am just about 67, and despite being active...skiing, riding my horse several times a week, etc,etc...I have been fat FOREVER. Have yo-yoed on ever diet, spent more money than I could afford on different clinics. Was sick all the time. Felt deprived. Was obsessed with food. I could go on, but all us fatties know the drill.
My life changed in March 2017 when I got the results of 220 food sensitivity testing. OMG. Stopped eating all dairy, wheat, barley, rye. Dropped a bunch of weight and felt amazing. No more joint pain, no more chronic cough, no more bloating, no more gas (shhhh...did I admit that :-o ?) Replaced beer with vodka cranberry juice. Replaced potatoes with cauliflower (MOST of the time...mashed spuds with turkey at a family dinner...well...)
Then I watched an amazing podcast on the brain. Our brain needs FATS. Healthy fats are best...So I started finding 101 ways to eat an avocado a day. Turned out that ketogenic eating was pretty similar. I don't eat keto all the time. But I am 100% faithful to avoiding the foods I am sensitive to, or I feel like crap...literally. But if I want to eat something, I do. No more feeling deprived. The key is fasting. I eat 2 meals within a 6 hour window (usually...being social can stretch that to 8 hrs...and I basically eat til I am full. No counting, no guilt, no snacking.
I make a killer chocolate mousse with avocados, almond milk, raw cacao powder, maple syrup that is to die for...I joke that it serves 4, or in my case 1. Served it to my book club...they could not tell what was in it, but raved about how delicious it was. I eat it at least twice a week, being a chocoholic.
Now I am down 62 pounds. Slow and steady since my initial drop. I am enjoying life. Politely say no thank you to a muffin with my coffee. My friends are so impressed by my appearance that they have stopped telling me...but you should eat breakfast. My double chin is GONE.
Sometimes when I am folding laundry, I say...who's shorts are these? On the weekend I put on my old size 24 jeans that I kept to remind myself, or show the doubters...and it was hilarious. Now I am a size 14.
I don't know at what weight that I will end out at, don't care. I am so happy at this weight...but I know I will never return to my old ways...this feels just too damn good!
Sorry for being so long winded...but I wish someone had talked to me without wanting to sign me up for something. Or sell me something.
We have the tools already...for me it is keto, fasting, water.
Sincere best wishes for your journey.
#80 

You are doing great. 50? 0h to be 50 and know what I know now! You are not starting over...
Every small step...(not that YOU are taking small steps...3-4x /week is amazing)...is powerful and life changing.
I bet one day you will say...that food that I ate on Saturday did not have a lasting effect on making me feel good. You don't have to be perfect...just check in with yourself on how it made you feel. I am done with guilt and "shoulding" on myself.
We are so lucky to have choices about how, when and what we eat.
I am just trying to make good choices.
#81

You are welcome.

Thanks for your feedback.

I think we have been sold a bill of goods on what is healthy. The Food Guide Pyramid has made us fat and unhealthy.

I decided to take back my life (that might be an exaggeration…was I EVER in control?)…and look at all information and think things through.

I love that I found this forum…

Yours in health.

#82

Thanks for saying this, Sarah! One big change I noticed when I went from thin into my late teens to fat in my 20’s was that I became suddenly invisible to catcallers on the street - and I LOVED that. I was an anxious kid and I just didn’t have a thick enough skin to shrug off sexual comments; they freaked me out. Do I make eye contact? Turn away? Speed up? What if they get mad??
50 pounds later…this body makes me feel safe in a crowd. But it doesn’t make me feel /healthy/ and I want that back.

#83

I interpret this as correlating stress to weight retention if that’s what you mean by coping mechanism. And it doesnt have to be negative mental stress(bills, deaths, etc)- it can be constantly over training and/or eating too much( you have to constantly re evaluate your macros as you lose weight), or prepraing for a huge event.

(Running from stupidity) #84

Yup, as Jason Fung says, Cortisol drives weight gain.

(Carl Keller) #85

QFT!

(Joanna Parszyk ) #86

Yet another aspect of the observation.
Sometimes we establish our weight loss goals not based on healt or wellbeing but by chasing the body images of VS models which is not a typical (healthy and fertile) body fat percentage.
That’s why it is so difficult for shed “vanity weight”.

(Running from stupidity) #87

Fortunately I’m just trying to shed “massive fatarse weight” so that’s not a real issue…