Weight Loss is not Easy Anymore (It's Stuck)

[Deborah]

Fifth week update:  Things are finally moving steadily in the right direction.  My seven day average loss was 2.6 lbs from 170.5 to 167.9 lbs.  My ending weight this morning was down from last Sat by 0.8 lbs to 168.1 (BMI 23.5). My total calorie deficit for the week was 6795 cal which would indicate a 1.9 lbs loss so the actual loss is more or less tracking.

My blood pressure is consistently good.  The highest of 21 measurements during the week was 116/80.  With the exception of Thursday evening I haven't had any problems at all with lightheadedness.  My morning resting heart rate is dropping to the low that it has been in the past at 39 bpm this morning.

I am seeing the beginning of a defined waistline which is my primary goal for this whole weight loss thing.  I reduced a definite .5 inch this week to 32.5" and soon I will need to buy a size smaller pants.  And I still have 13 lbs left until I reach my goal.

Unfortunately, everything else is shrinking too.  :-(.   My theory though is that if I can get rid of all the fat around my waist then later things will come back more in the correct proportions that I want.  I hope it works, but we'll see.

So my stats for the past seven days.
Seven day average loss: 2.6 lbs
Average weight: 167.9 lbs
Average calories in:  1925 (increase of 122 cal)
Average calories out: 2895 (increase of 31 cal)
Average daily walking & running: 13.4 mi (increase of 0.9 mi)
Average sleep: 6:41 hrs. (Increase of 3 min)

Diet notes:
My daily potassium is at 60% RDA.
Protein 127g average daily, 26% (down)
Carbs 206g, 42% (up by 4% because I had rice with two suppers)
Fat 68g, 32% (no change)
Fiber 43g (up)
Sugar 49g (no change)
Sodium 3649mg (up)

My opening post in this thread stated that my weight loss was stuck, and it really was.  As shown in the chart below that covers the past four weeks the loss didn't really start to consistently move until about the past 10 days.  Before that it was mostly stuck and even showed gaining trends despite a consistent, and fairly large, daily calorie deficit.  My body was acting pretty weird.




Sapere Aude

[schwarzwalderkirschtort]

Maybe you gained some lean mass? I mean, it's definitely possible, especially if your measurements went down but not your weight.

[Deborah]

I think it's glycogen and water.  In the past when restarting a running program I have gained up to nearly six pounds the first week or so.  This time, since I was restricting carbs I may have just extended the duration of that initial gain.  So it lasted for nearly three weeks instead of the usual seven to ten days.


Sapere Aude

[Deborah]

Sixth week update:  This week was hugely successful for weight loss. My seven day average loss was 2.5 lbs from 167.9 lbs to 165.4.  My ending weight this morning was down from last Sat by 5 lbs to 163.1 (BMI 22.. I had a loss every single day of the week and am now at my lowest weight since I was 16 years old.  I didn't do anything differently this week but just kept at what I have been doing all along.  I am drinking around 20 cups of water each day to keep from getting dehydrated.  Only eight more pounds to go.

My total calorie deficit for the week was 6999 cal which would indicate a 2 lbs loss so the actual loss is greater that expected.  My waistline at its smallest point was down another .5 inch to 32. 

Fitness has been a big part of this effort from the beginning and that has increased drastically as well.  As long as that remains on an upward curve I'm taking it as a sign that I am feeding myself adequately and not hurting myself.

So my stats for the past seven days.
Seven day average loss: 2.5 lbs
Average weight: 165.4 lbs
Average calories in:  1837 (decrease of 88 cal)
Average calories out: 2836 (decrease of 59 cal)
Average daily walking & running: 12.8 mi (decrease of 0.6 mi)
Average sleep: My sleep tracker is hiding somewhere.  I need to find it. :-)

Diet notes:
My daily potassium is at 49% RDA.
Protein 128g average daily, 27% (up)
Carbs 159g, 34% (down)
Fat 80g, 39% (up)
Fiber 31g (down)
Sugar 52g (up)
Sodium 3168mg (down)

I've been having a really good streak since about Feb 22nd.  I hope it keeps up for another month.





Sapere Aude

[Deborah]

Seventh week update: My seven day average loss was 1  lbs from 165.4 lbs to 164.4.  My ending weight this morning was up from last Sat by 2.3 lbs to 165.4 (BMI 23.1).  My total calorie deficit for the week was 6666 cal  which would indicate a 1.9  lbs loss so the actual loss is less that expected.  This is explainable.

Last week my Sat weight was down 5 pounds and this week back up by 2.3 pounds.  I had been drinking lots of water so didn't think that was an issue.  However, last weekend it got warm and while I was outside running I felt impending heat exhaustion the whole time.  So despite all the water I drank I don't think I was retaining enough due to my low salt intake.  So this week I increased my sodium by a lot.

According to my scale my body fat dropped 6.2% this week.  Now it's not possible to lose that much fat, 10 lbs, in one week.  However, the reading is dependent on hydration level.  So I'm taking that, along with feeling better, to mean my sodium and hydration levels are much better now than 7 days ago.  I'm watching my blood pressure closely and so far this is not causing it to rise.  It remains consistently below 120/80.

I also allowed my carbs to drift upwards this week because I started feeling like they were not supporting my workouts.  My running is up to about 24 miles per week now and while that's still a moderate amount it's a lot more than the 0 miles I was running when I started this diet.  Last weekend I started feeling "dead legs" which is often a sign of low glycogen.  It can also be a sign of dehydration.  So the increased hydration and possibly increased glycogen storage accounts for the weight stats this week.  I'm not really sure glycogen stores are increasing much though since I'm still eating at a rather extreme deficit.  Depending upon how my legs feel this week I might increase my daily eating by another 200 cal.  I'm one of the few people who actually like to run so not feeling burnt out while I'm doing it is important to me.

So my stats for the past seven days.
Seven day average loss: 1 lbs
Average weight: 164.4 lbs
Average calories in:  1983 (increase of 146 cal)
Average calories out: 2935 (increase of 99 cal)
Average daily walking & running:  14.5 mi (increase of 1.7 mi)
Average sleep:  6 hrs 18 min

Diet notes:
My daily potassium is at 63% RDA.
Protein 126g average daily, 25% (down)
Carbs 218g, 44% (up)
Fat 68g, 31% (down)
Fiber 41g (up)
Sugar 77g (up)
Sodium 4677mg (up from 3168mg)

[Deborah]

Eighth week update: My seven day average loss was 1.8 lbs from 164.4 lbs to 162.6. My ending weight this morning was down from last Sat by 3.2 lbs to 162.3 (BMI 22.6). This was despite a massive diet failure last night where I ate nearly a whole jar of peanuts.  Overall though my body seems to have adjusted to higher carbs and sodium and losses are moving on as they should. Only seven pounds left to my goal.

My total calorie deficit for the week was 4409 cal which would indicate a 1.25 lbs loss so the actual loss is generally tracking.

I changed the setting on my body fat scale this week to female athlete setting and that is giving me measurements more in line with what I think is the truth based on the mirror test. I also have some accumeasure calipers I check with. The scale is varying between 16% and 18% and the calipers measure around 18% on the female chart or about 14% on the male chart. So, there is not much more to lose. My goal, 155 lbs, seems like it's going to be about the limit without dropping to excessively low levels of body fat. A waist much smaller than 32" does not seem possible because there is a fair amount of muscle around my abdomen that doesn't seem to atrophy at all. Plus it probably doesn't help that I've been doing lots of sit ups and other abdominal work the past month. That's ok, strong is better than weak for both fitness and overall health.

So my stats for the past seven days.
Seven day average loss: 1.8 lbs
Average weight: 162.6 lbs
Average calories in: 2359 (increase of 376 cal, This is skewed a little because of Friday "eat too much." Otherwise the weekly average would have been around 2100.)
Average calories out: 2988 (increase of 53 cal,)
Average daily walking & running: 14.3 mi (decrease of .2 mi)
Average sleep: 6 hrs 18 min (No change)

Diet notes:
My daily potassium is at 79% RDA (I need to watch that. The increase is mostly from a few baked potatoes I ate during the week)
Protein 145g average daily, 24% (down)
Carbs 286g, 46% (up)
Fat 83g, 30% (down)
Fiber 58g (up)
Sugar 127g (This is way up. However, it's all due to increased fruit <apples, pears, and strawberries> which is also the source of my increased carbs. None of it is from processed sugar)
Sodium 5426mg (up from 4677mg)

[Deborah]

Ninth week update:
My seven day average loss was 1.8 lbs from 162.6 to 160.8.  My ending weight Sat morning was down from last Sat by 2.3 lbs to 160 (BMI 22.3).  Body fat by caliper measurement was 14.34% for 22.95 lbs fat remaining.

My total calorie deficit for the week was 5686 cal which would indicate a 1.6 lbs loss so the actual loss is tracking closely.  Calories in versus calories out is working.

I posted a long post yesterday on my total progress so this one will be shorter.  I have tried lately to eat a little bit more but am finding that hard without junk food.  I'll probably drop the 0 fat yogurt and 2% cottage cheese and start eating the ones with higher fat.  That will add a hundred calories or more.

So my stats for the past seven days.
Seven day average loss: 1.8 lbs
Average weight: 160.8 lbs
Average calories in: 2185 (decrease of 174 cal, This is due solely to not cheating massively on Fri like last week.)
Average calories out: 2997 (increase of 9 cal)
Average daily walking & running: 15.1 mi (increase of .8 mi)
Average sleep: 5 hrs 54 min (decrease of 24 min)

Diet notes:
My daily potassium is at 55% RDA
Protein 124g average daily, 23% (down)
Carbs 267g, 47% (up)
Fat 76g, 30% (no change)
Fiber 51g (down)
Sugar 112g (down)
Sodium 4135mg (down)



Sapere Aude

[Deborah]

Tenth week diet update:
My seven day average loss was 1.8 lbs from 160.8 to 159.  My ending weight Sat morning was down from last Sat by 2.3 lbs to  157.7 (BMI 22).   Less than three pounds to go until I reach my goal.

My total calorie deficit for the week was 4067 cal which would indicate a 1.2 lbs loss so the actual loss is greater than expected.

Since I started HRT last year I have lost 47 pounds and am feeling much better and healthier.  That's a whole different than the first time I did HRT (DIY) and with a wrong mindset gained weight.  From that all time high I am now down 60 pounds. 

So my stats for the past seven days.
Seven day average loss: 1.8 lbs
Average weight: 159 lbs
Average calories in: 2353 (I did succumb to one day of weakness but overall I'm beginning to increase my intake.  Hunger was becoming an issue and the weight is still falling off.)
Average calories out: 2934 (decrease of 63 cal)
Average daily walking & running: 14.8 mi (decrease of .3 mi)
Average sleep: Not tracked this week

Diet notes:
My daily potassium is at 97% RDA
Protein 132g average daily, 22% (down)
Carbs 322g, 52% (up)
Fat 71g, 26% (down)
Fiber 56g (up)
Sugar 135g (up)
Sodium 5012mg (up)

My increased carbs was from fruit, baked white and sweet potato, and steel cut oatmeal.  My processed carbs are limited to one multi-grain sandwich thin at breakfast.

Physical fitness is progressing very well.  I'm exercising in pieces throughout the day for a total of about three hours.  Most of that is pretty low intensity so I'm recovering pretty well as long as I eat and sleep enough.  I ran 28 miles and walked 76 miles this week.  I do a headstand most days and have gotten to holding that position for five minutes.  My comfortable running pace is dropping and while I've got a ways to go to get back where I once was its a whole lot better than not being able to run for even a minute like I was in January.  I also started adding some yoga into the mix to see what that does.



Sapere Aude

[Brooke]

Hey Deborah, how has the past month gone for your weight loss? What is your end goal weight?


~Brooke~

[Deborah]

Hey Deborah, how has the past month gone for your weight loss? What is your end goal weight?


~Brooke~

I started with a goal of 165 and right now I'm at about 158.  I don't really have an end goal weight but rather a goal of losing all my abdominal fat and particularly the love handles.  I'm getting pretty close there and  I actually have a visible six pack.  It's visible but could use a bit more definition.  My guess is that I'll end up around 155.  My scale is reading around 13 to 14% bodyfat now every morning so there's not much more to lose.

I'm still doing the low carb/ borderline keto and it's still working great.  I have had a couple of big cheat days though.  Earlier this week I was getting stomach pains late every afternoon that was only relieved by my regular diet plus a bag of Oreos, LOL.  I actually lost some weight the next day.  I think I may be periodically overwhelming my body's ability to make enough glucose to support my activity level which includes a six day a week six mile run, a lot of walking, and three gym sessions a week with barbell squats, deadlifts, and abs work.  All of that usually feels good on the diet but once in a while my body screams for some glucose.

I've also started incorporating fermented foods for gut health and a really rich bone broth for general health.  I eat only twice a day with no snacking and feel little hunger until just before supper.  Even then my mind is in control of the hunger rather than the reverse which was the norm before. 

Overall I feel physically great.  Nothing hurts, my BP is below 120/80, my heart rate at night is regularly in the mid 40s, I recover from exercise pretty quickly, there is usually no lack of energy, my waistline is smaller than it's been since sometime before puberty, and I think my head hair is even losing what grey it had and is recovering its color, It's like discovering the secret of aging in reverse!  And it's all with a T level of effectively 0.  The common knowledge would say it's not possible.

I actually cannot even imagine going back to the old way of eating with all the problems that it leads to.


Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

[Brooke]

Wow! Such impressive results! I definitely get the improvements on low carb/keto.

Have you ever watched any of dr. Peter Attia's talks on YouTube?

Most of his talks are about very low carb high performance.

One of his talks (longer presentation) goes over his self experimentation and when your body actually needs to use glucose. In his testing the threshold of when his body needs glucose for fuel were at a much higher threshold than expected.

YouTube playlist


Congrats and keep it up!


~Brooke~

[Deborah]

I've been watching tons of YouTube videos but not those yet.  I have them on my list for tonight.  I have noticed a huge difference in energy usage during endurance exercise and look forward to that getting even better.  I think the nature of what I'm doing with the weight requires some glycogen though.  So it's just a matter of continued experimentation to find the right balance.

Maybe the videos will give me some hints. :-)


Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

[Brooke]

I should also mention that I've used longer IF (19:5/daily) and occasional multi day 2-3 day water only or fat (bulletproof coffee) fasts to break plateaus.

Jason Fung has an interesting article series on what causes weight gain. I.e. He attempts (fairly successfully in my opinion) to debunk CICO as the proven way to lose weight.

https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/how-do-we-gain-weight-calories-part-1/


~Brooke~

[Deborah]

After having done this now for three months I am more than convinced that calories in - calories out is a gross oversimplification that simply sets people up to fail.  That and the American Medical Association's recommendations to eat lots of grains and low fat.   How do you fatten cattle or birds for the market?  You feed them lots of grains o.O!

The proof is all around us.

Eating meals swimming in fat tastes so much better anyway.  And it sets a body up for health success.


Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

[Dena]

I don't know if you have thought about this much, but when this metabolism evolved, we were hunter/gathers and we lived in two different worlds. Durning the summer plants with carbohydrates were plentiful and our sweet tooth drew us to them whenever possible. During this time we would convert this into fat reserves to be used during the winter.

When winter came, food options were far more limited so we existed on what animals we could kill and sometimes depend on the fat we had stored during the summer.

Fat is about 3 times as calorie dense as sugar but the body is unable to store sugar without a bunch of water to hold it in suspension. This make fat the ideal material to hold calories during the winter however I suspect the conversion from fat to glucose is somewhat inefficient making fat calories less usable than sugar calories.

Because of this, there really isn't anything unnatural about a high fat diet as long as the correct food selection is maintained. For many people however, missing out on sweets is something they prefer not to do.

[Deborah]

I don't know if you have thought about this much, but when this metabolism evolved, we were hunter/gathers and we lived in two different worlds.

Yes. :-). That's exactly the philosophy of what I'm trying to do.  Ironically though, without the grains or processed sugar I end up eating more vegetables now than I used to eat even when my calories were higher than now.

There are a couple of interesting facts about the wheat that forms a major part of the American diet.
1. The genetically modified wheat we have been eating for the past 20 years is unlike what humans ate for the previous 10,000 years.  It doesn't even have the same number of chromosomes.  There is more genetic similarity between a human and a chimpanzee than there is between what we now call wheat and what humans used to call wheat.
2.  Even the older wheat had a deleterious effect on people.  Immediately after the agricultural revolution, human size, health and lifespan declined.  Many new diseases became prevalent.  Some were caused by concentrating populations but many had their root in a diet foreign to what the human body evolved to eat.
3. Wheat has an effect on the brain similar to opiates in that it stimulates hunger and keeps people grazing on wheat products all day long.  In addition, even the so called healthy whole wheats cause a bigger insulin spike than even sugar.  Wheat is the number one cause of obesity.
4. A number of health problems that are very prevalent today respond favorably to the elimination of wheat from the diet. 

Getting off wheat, and sugar, was hard.  There were withdrawal symptoms.  But the payoff is big.  With the removal of the opiate like effect driving one to eat continuously, control of the diet is returned to a willful act rather than a compulsion to eat.  Sugar cravings fade away and normal real human food begins to taste a lot better.  Without the continuous insulin spikes and sugar crashes energy levels stay constantly high, even along side real hunger.

The other thing I have eliminated is processed vegetable and seed oils.  The process used to make those results in a distorted fat molecule that causes us many problems including cell mutations.  Real butter and other fats taste a whole lot better anyway.

There actually has been a lot of medical research on these things in recent years.  It's not just a bunch of internet lore and fad diets.



Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

[Brooke]

But but, I thought wheat is supposed to help us lose weight and become skinny.... it's right there on the label "Wheat Thins!"


~Brooke~

[Deborah]

This article was in my news feed this morning.  More people are starting to see the light.

https://hive.am/1c3hq
Want to Lose Weight? You Should Stop Counting Calories

"No more meal math: Eating high-quality foods—including plenty of fat—is the new golden rule of weight loss. . . .

The problem with foods that make people fat isn't that they have too many calories, says Dr. Ludwig. It's that they cause a cascade of reactions in the body that promote fat storage and make people overeat. Processed carbohydrates—foods like chips, soda, crackers, and even white rice—digest quickly into sugar and increase levels of the hormone insulin.

"Insulin is like Miracle-Gro for your fat cells," explains Dr. Ludwig. It directs cells to snap up calories in the blood and store them as fat, leaving the body feeling hungry in a hurry."


Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

[Deborah]

I've had a minor diet disaster over the past couple of weeks.  The bad news is some major weight fluctuation.  From 155 lbs on 29 May to 168 lbs on 14 June and back to 164 lbs today.  A 13 pound gain that fast has to be some kind of record!  LOL. 

The good news is that my bodyfat hasn't gone up and is actually lower now than the last time I used calipers to check.  On Apr 30th I was 160 lbs with 15.86% bodyfat.  Today I was 164 lbs with 14.67% bodyfat.  That's a loss of a little over a pound of fat and a gain of five pounds of lean body mass.  I thought that was supposed to be impossible on HRT with zero testosterone?  I guess not!

[That brings up a point about bodyfat measurement that I wonder about.  Whether it's by caliper or electrical impedance, the calculation is based upon generic male or female formulas.  I'm using the female formula but I'm not convinced they really apply.  I'm not sure the male ones do either after a while on HRT.  I'm not terribly concerned since as long as I use the same ones it tells me if I'm losing or gaining but does anyone know the answer to this?]

Several things have contributed to this gain I think.  First it has gotten a lot hotter and more humid here and since I am still running outside I may have added some weight in water with increased blood volume.  Second, I have been squatting and deadlifting again for a month and those lifts are steadily improving even without T.  Third, I let my diet slide a little and while it's still high quality low carb, it's a little higher carb than before.  The reason is that I'm focusing on gut health and eat a fair amount of fermented and prebiotic fibrous vegetables.  (I have also eaten to excess a few times, still pretty low carb though)

The last thing is kind of funny.  I tried eating raw potato smoothies for a few days this week for their resistant starch.  That added some nearly instant bloat and greatly slowed down the movement of food through and out of the body.  I think I'm still recovering from that experiment. :-(

So, to get this back under control I have added a daily 16 hour fast, from around sundown each day.  Since I am very well fat adapted now this is turning out to be surprisingly easy, even with daily exercise.  I'll also have to quit doing those occasional 4000 calorie days and keep to around 2400.  (One day this week was 67g net carbs, 204g protein, and 308g fat for 3874 cal). I think the fasting will help with that.

Health wise I still feel great, as if I'm aging backwards.  I'm looking forward to my blood tests in Aug and expecting great things.


Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

[Brooke]

Hey Deborah!
I imagine that lean mass gain may be due to the counter regulatory hormones. Laying down lean mass after a fast is a known effect.

You mentioned in another thread that the closer you get to the 16 hour mark the more uncomfortable going without food is. I would encourage you to try a 24-36 hour fast just so you can experience how hunger works during a fasted state. Hunger is not this feeling that continues to get worse and worse with no upper ceiling. In fact the longer the fast the less hungry you'll become. Also hunger isn't constant, it comes in waves, usually lasting around 30-45 min. Try riding that wave. If you're having troubles with a hunger wave, try drinking some coffee or black tea to blunt the hunger as well as give your mouth something. By the time you finish your cup of coffee you might just find your no longer hungry and ready to keep going.

PS. Have you experienced any changes with breast growth since starting your diet/lots of weight loss?

Also you might enjoy this blog series by Jason Fung on debunking the CICO model, the blog series right after dives into the hormonal changes that occur.

https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/how-do-we-gain-weight-calories-part-1/

If you ever come across anything in regards to fasting effects on estridiol let me know       

Keep up the hard work!


~Brooke~