"Biggest Loser" Contestants Regained Weight. Peat Perspective

narouz

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Jul 22, 2012
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I used to have a g-friend with the kind of shape some of you are talking about.
She told me how she suffered as a teen, not being able to fit into the kind of jeans
that were fashionable in L.A. at the time...I can't remember the name of those jeans..."Dittos"....?
When she got older she found jeans that fit her somewhat unusual shape
and they looked really good on her.
Still...jeans were not her best look.
I loved her body though.
But...many men would not.
Just have to find a guy with that kind of taste.

I was standing in line at the Bi-Lo the other day
and was catching up on the most urgent Kim Kardashian news.
She's got that kind of figure!
Well...at least she does currently.
She's ditching Kanye, ya know.
 

Revo

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So I am new to the forum. I have read some of Peats stuff. And some of Broda Barnes stuff. It seems that there are a few common denomiators to reducing stubborn n belly fat. But eliminating PUFA's seems to be a big one.

Problem is PUFAs are in just about everything. How do you guys do it? I live a relatively active life with lots of travel for work. And cannot always eat an egg and a carrot. I take the supplements but eventually I have to eat at restaurants. Sometimes fast food restaurants even. When I am going to appointments and dont want to just not eat that day.

It seems like almost an impossible task to avoid PUFAs. What do you guys do?
 

Giraffe

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Problem is PUFAs are in just about everything. How do you guys do it? I live a relatively active life with lots of travel for work. And cannot always eat an egg and a carrot. I take the supplements but eventually I have to eat at restaurants. Sometimes fast food restaurants even. When I am going to appointments and dont want to just not eat that day.

It seems like almost an impossible task to avoid PUFAs. What do you guys do?
Check the suggestions here: Eating Out, On The Run, Restaurants, Grocery Store
 

tankasnowgod

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Hi there

I'm new to the forum though I've been reading it for a few months. I am pretty new to my Peat journey. I am assembling some questions as I am needing some help to understand some issues. But in the meantime I am really trying to understand from a Peat perspective how to lose belly fat. I have a sedentary 'sit at desk' job/life. I am overweight and it is front belly and sides, some moobs. I want to lose it. Anyway, I read this article today: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?_r=0 and I'm even more confused. What is the Peatatarian view on how a 40 year old with a fat belly and a fairly sedentary job loses that weight and keeps it off. Especially when we seem encouraged to eat more calories on a Peat style pro-thyroid diet.

Getting back a bit to the original topic, there was an interesting study comparing Biggest Loser contestants to Gastric Bypass patients. Full text here- Metabolic adaptation following massive weight loss is related to the degree of energy imbalance and changes in circulating leptin - Knuth - 2014 - Obesity - Wiley Online Library

On the face of it, it seems to make sense. Both are massively overweight, and both are pretty extreme protocols for losing weight. But when you dig deeper, you realize that the Biggest Loser contests are even heavier than the Bypass patients, younger, and lose more weight in a shorter amount of time, looking at Table 1.

If you scroll down to Table 2, and looking at it from a Peatish perspective, some things really jump out at you. Like T3 is Lower and TSH is higher in the Biggest Loser group at BASELINE than it is for the gastric bypass patients after 12 months of forced caloric restriction! In other words, the contestants on The Biggest Loser are worse off metabolically to begin with, and are then put on an even more dangerous and extreme protocol than gastric bypass (which I would say is still too dangerous and extreme).

Remember too that Biggest Loser contestants employ caloric deficits of 4,000 to 7,000 calories A DAY, will sometimes use extreme dehyration techniques that fighters use to drop 20 or so pounds of water in a week to make a lower weight, and there are now some accusations of trainers supplying Adderall to contestants. A lot of the problems that the Biggest Loser contestants face would probably be eliminated with a more moderate and intelligently designed program. One of the biggest problems with weight loss is that dieters go at it haphazardly and foolishly.
 

Revo

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That is interesting. And I see you implied there is a more intelligently designed program. Which I would love to hear about. I understand Peat system and it makes a lot of sense. And indeed should make me healthier. But does it really allow you to lose weight?

So far I have seen only small weight gain. Or am I being too impatient? Is this an extremely long term process?

Or is it like another poster said you need to combine ultra low fat with the Peat recommendations to get the weight loss?
 

whodathunkit

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Just to be clear, I don't necessarily believe everyone has to combine ultra low fat for weight loss. I don't believe I ever said that.

Ultra low fat can be very good for people who have problems with liver function, because the lack of fat gives the liver a "rest" and allows it to clean out PUFA load, iron, other toxins it may be storing. This has been my experience with it and one of the reasons I'm so thrilled with it and am banging on about it all the time. I suspect but can't prove that many of the people who come to Peat but have problems implementing his strategies likely have compromised liver function like I did. But I can now tolerate and am getting a lot of good from high sugar, progesterone, gelatin, and daily coffee, all the Peat strategies, which I've never been able to handle any of those for any length of time without getting almost intolerable side effects. The only thing that changed that would allow me to tolerate them all of a sudden like this is I went very low fat for a while. Only plausible explanation is that it helped with my liver function. Very low fat diets are known for that.

Ultra low fat can also be very good for people who are tired of frakking around with long slow weight loss, and want to speed up the weight loss process. This is me and some of the other women on this forum. :) But you guys...you may not need to go that route, and you'll *still* get it done faster than us. :banghead: ;)

From what I've read it seems weight loss and favorably changing body composition from adipose to lean tissue can accomplished effectively with higher fat content in the diet even if it is a longer process. Very low fat will probably speed up the weight loss process while also benefiting the liver. And by very low fat I mean no more than about 15% of calories. Preferably less.

Whatever you decide to do is based on your own particular needs and how you feel doing any given strategy. If it feels bad for more than a few days or at most a week, you should probably change or tweak strategies.
 
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tankasnowgod

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That is interesting. And I see you implied there is a more intelligently designed program. Which I would love to hear about. I understand Peat system and it makes a lot of sense. And indeed should make me healthier. But does it really allow you to lose weight?

So far I have seen only small weight gain. Or am I being too impatient? Is this an extremely long term process?

Or is it like another poster said you need to combine ultra low fat with the Peat recommendations to get the weight loss?

The thing that has worked great for me over the past year is Anthony Colpo's Fat Loss Bible plan, which you can find through his site or on Amazon. I combined that with a fitbit, some of Ray Peat's ideas and some suggestions on this forum. Colpo's plan works really well with Peat's ideas, although you'll have to make some minor, and obvious, tweaks. The basics of the plan is figuring out your daily calorie burn, creating a caloric deficit of 400-1000 calories a day through diet and exercise, matching activity to fitness level, figuring out macros, and relying mostly on nutrient dense foods, and taking occasional diet breaks. Since everything is an estimate, you adjust according to your results and feedback from your body.

One of the interesting things was that, initially, even though I was eating less calories, I was eating a lot more food. This came from cutting back some on fat while upping the carbs.

It's funny to me (now) how ignorance of calories can lead to all sorts of problems, from not losing weight, to those that are much more serious, and downright scary. A male friend of mine recently told me how he ended up in the hospital with blurred vision after trying to lose weight on 800 calories a day, mainly consisting of lean cuisine and vodka. It did work for weight loss (though prolly chewed up a decent amount of lean mass), but clearly wasn't the healthiest plan I'd heard of.
 

PeatThemAll

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I will throw this out there...a lot of people get in trouble trying to lose that last 10-15 pounds...the whole sacrificing the good for the perfect thing...if they just got comfortable instead of trying to be skinny they probably wouldn't rebound as hard.

Edit: I will also say I totally disagree with the whole trying to lose weight thing, I think it is insane, but it matters in our society so I understand it.

Unfortunately, image is just that. I'm currently more 'padded' (by 10-15 pounds / 1 belt notch), probably around 25 on the BMI scale compared to my 18-20 range in the last year and overall everything is more stable. Interstitial cystitis gone, continuous sleep at time with no need to nap during daytime, no colds, fewer out-of-the-blue energy crashes and mood swings. F*** image. Live by your natural setpoint. Everybody wins, you first.
 

tomisonbottom

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Yes, I have done this (two years ago) and lost 38 pounds of body fat, gained back only 3 pounds since:

ZERO starch, high fructose, very low fat, high protein in a caloric deficit for six weeks at a time....cheat meals when cravings get unbearable and a two week break between rounds....took me two rounds to lose the 38 pounds.

Additional things to do: take thyroid medication and lots of caffeine, keep liver very clean, gut irritation to a minimum, stress to an absolute minimum, lots of sunshine and gentle walking....I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

How did you eat on the 2 week breaks?
Did you have to eat a ton to be able to take caffeine while doing low fat?
How much caffeine and t3 did you do?
Did you have any bloating or fatigue before you started this, or during?
 
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How did you eat on the 2 week breaks?
Did you have to eat a ton to be able to take caffeine while doing low fat?
How much caffeine and t3 did you do?
Did you have any bloating or fatigue before you started this, or during?

I ate normal Peatish foods on the two week breaks, just much higher fat and higher calories overall....oh, and alcohol too. I didn't drink at all while dieting, only drank alcohol during a cheat meal and on break.

I drank and still drink lots of coffee, back in 2014 I was adding in extra caffeine/theanine caps on top of my normal coffee consumption. I was getting at least 600 mg of caffeine a day....maybe more on some days. I wasn't eating a ton, I was eating in a calorie deficit....some days the deficit was deeper than other days.

I'd prefer not to talk about my particular thyroid dose because it has changed over the years AND I think people need to find the dose that works for them specifically. Start low and add in small incremental doses.

Yes I had terrible bloating and fatigue before I started this, that was part of my reason for doing it. My liver hurt and I had gained a lot of fat after I began Peating. I probably added (too many) carbs back in to my diet and waaaay too quickly. Who knew? I felt half-starved after two years of zero carb high fat Paleo and I was NOT handling sugars well at all.

Bloating went away with the Raw Garlic Shock & Awe.
 

Revo

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Well I am on this stuff for a few weeks now and I am still gaining weight. I am a little worried. But really do not know what else I can do other than ultra low fat.

And I really do not want to do that because I travel a lot. And I dont think starving myself is helpful.
 

tomisonbottom

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I ate normal Peatish foods on the two week breaks, just much higher fat and higher calories overall....oh, and alcohol too. I didn't drink at all while dieting, only drank alcohol during a cheat meal and on break.

I drank and still drink lots of coffee, back in 2014 I was adding in extra caffeine/theanine caps on top of my normal coffee consumption. I was getting at least 600 mg of caffeine a day....maybe more on some days. I wasn't eating a ton, I was eating in a calorie deficit....some days the deficit was deeper than other days.

I'd prefer not to talk about my particular thyroid dose because it has changed over the years AND I think people need to find the dose that works for them specifically. Start low and add in small incremental doses.

Yes I had terrible bloating and fatigue before I started this, that was part of my reason for doing it. My liver hurt and I had gained a lot of fat after I began Peating. I probably added (too many) carbs back in to my diet and waaaay too quickly. Who knew? I felt half-starved after two years of zero carb high fat Paleo and I was NOT handling sugars well at all.

Bloating went away with the Raw Garlic Shock & Awe.

Thanks! That's helpful.
 

whodathunkit

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And I really do not want to do that because I travel a lot.
Do you not want to do lowfat while you travel because of convenience, or do you not want to do it because you'll have to limit yourself by not dining out?

Because if it's convenience I can offer some suggestions. I used to travel a bit with while doing this or that non-mainstream eating style, and I really think very low fat is one of the easiest ones there is to do.

If it's not convenience and instead the fact that you want to dine out or take full advantage of the continental breakfast I don't know what to tell you, though. :lol:
 
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Thanks! That's helpful.

You're quite welcome....speaking from my own experience, eating super low fat works very well for fat loss especially in a calorie deficit (even just a small deficit) unless you're taking T3, then the deficit might not be so important.

However, I would eat ONE fatty cheat meal per week or perhaps one every two weeks (depending on how much excess body fat you have) in order to keep your gallbladder happy....especially if you are a woman. And especially if you are a woman that has a history of using birth control pills and super-duper especially if you are a woman approaching middle age AND been on birth control.
 

Revo

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@whodathunkit good points. I travel a lot at least once a week. Sometimes long days. Where I either eat whats in front of me or skip a meal. Sometimes that can be low fat and sometimes not. Continental breakfast I usually do not do because it is full of PUFAs right? lol

And I would love to hear your thoughts on eating low fat. I am gaining weight steadidly and I have added an inch to my waist and 2 inches to my belly. And I am not a fat person never have been. Just have that American male belly fat. I am about .5 lbs from my peak weight. I feel good health wise just dont know how to deal with this weight. I have done the Paleo thing and it worked well. Trying to do the Peat thing and its making me fatter and fatter.

@thebigpeatowski I like your thoughts on this issue also. What specific steps did you take? Ultra low fat, peat foods, and one cheat meal a day? Were you eating a lot of carbs? How about sugar? What about protein? Also what does the theanine do?

Thanks
 

zooma

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He had a friend who's liver was destroy from heroin and alcohol and told him to take t3 50 micrograms morning and night. When he went to his doctor a year and a half later and his liver shrunk. He has also told the story of giving a women high dose desiccated thyroid and I think she was obese.
Do you know where he said these things?
 

Momado965

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In your opinion @haidut whats a good dose of bromocriptine/gabergoline for fat loss if I were to restrict calories albiet in a peaty way?
 

Momado965

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TOTALLY agree.....even after I stopped using the Cynomel, I've maintained not only my 35 pound fat loss, but I have a VASTLY improved metabolism.

*smiles lovingly at my last bottle of Cynomel* considering cracking it open to lose The Last Dreaded Ten....

How much did you eat and what was your t3 dose for weight loss?
 
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