Fat-loss for a teenage girl

[emtropy]

Hi all,

I'm a sixteen-year-old girl; 5'5", and around 165-170 pounds. I've always been pretty heavy - I have a large frame and a fair bit of muscle - so the number isn't important to me; however, as a fair estimate, I'd like to drop 10-15 pounds, as I don't know my body-fat percentage.

A little background: I've always been chubby, despite being a cyclist and so completing strenuous training on a regular basis. I never felt like my weight impacted my performance; rather, aesthetics and my self-esteem. (girls gonna girl) only when I tried to restrict calories when I was thirteen did my problems with eating begin. I do wish I hadn't, because I was only a kid and barely even fat at all, but I did. 1300 -1500 calories per day for an active girl made me lose about five pounds, but it all went back on when I began to binge; I had to replace the calories from somewhere. What made it worse was the fact that as I got lighter, my performance got worse. After months of fatigue and general dis-contentedness, I was considering quitting - the enjoyment just wasn't there any more - and I finally did after a few comments from others on my weight pushed me over the edge. I did, however, make a deal with my parents: I'd try a new diet - a wondrous, magical diet that would make me a 'fat-burning machine' (sound familiar?) - and when I got to my goal weight, I'd increase carbs so I could cycle. It was fair enough, to them.

So I did. I cut carbs way down, increased fat - I was 14 years old. After the first week of feeling horrific, I actually dropped some weight! A wonder diet, I thought. But the thing is, my cravings were no better. So I scheduled 'cheat meals' once a week, where I'd go to town on everything I'd been craving. Apparently this worked, for some! No. I binged ridiculous amounts, and gained weight. I felt shame, and disgust, and I started to get depressed. All I had was ruined by my uncontrollable urges; I felt like a pathetic child. I was worthless, disgusting, and there was no future for me. The binges became unscheduled, and I hid wrappers and ate in public - so yeah, got BED. Not blaming this on paleo, or primal, but it happened. I got rid of it, but I developed a dependence on foods and dark chocolate, causing me to never drop weight. Only recently did I say **** it to high fat and embraced carbs - sadly, it took me that long.

I feel so much better. My temperature has increased, brain-fog has disappeared, enjoyment of life has returned, no anxiety, no desire to binge. It's great. Except i'm still fat :P and I'd like it to go. I *think* I'm on the right track - I'll post my menu and exercise regime, and y'all can see where I need to improve:

Breakfast: 3 eggs in a bit of butter, a piece of fruit, coffee with semi-skimmed milk
Lunch: 8oz non-fat cottage cheese, two bananas, pear/orange/pineapple
Dinner: lamb or beef, usually, with potatoes/rice. Dessert: fruit salad with non-fat yoghurt and honey
Various coffees through the day - some with sugar, some without. If I go to the gym I usually have OJ or ice cream afterwards. i do have dark chocolate sometimes, but not everyday.

Exercise: gym 3x per week. Weightlifting: squats, deadlifts, bench press (all 5x5) bicep curls, pullups (3x8)
I cycle about 30 miles per week.

- I've wanted to get gelatin for ages, but I can't get my hands on it for some reason.

It's odd. Some days I feel leaner, some I feel horrible. I feel really fat today because it was my birthday yesterday and so I had tonnes of cake and junk; today, I had more food because of increased appetite (period probs - my water-weight retention is probably period-related too)

Any advice for me? I'm new to Peat, so, go easy on me :)

I'm also sorry for the long-winded post. Congrats if you're still here

 

[j.]

Main thing: No PUFA. Use coconut oil, butter as you are doing.

Starches are more fattening than simple sugars. So instead of eating bananas, potatoes, and rice, you could consume more orange juice, watermelons, or grapes. Once you have the weight you desire, maybe you can experiment with adding starches back.

 

[emtropy]

Keep protein the same, though? And fat and overall calories are OK?

 

[j.]

Keep protein the same, though? And fat and overall calories are OK?

You should try to get at least 80g of protein. I wouldn't focus on calories. Starches make you hungrier. If you don't eat starches, you'll probably eat less and thus consume fewer calories.

 

[emtropy]

Keep protein the same, though? And fat and overall calories are OK?

You should try to get at least 80g of protein. I wouldn't focus on calories. Starches make you hungrier. If you don't eat starches, you'll probably eat less and thus consume fewer calories.

Alright. Cheers :)

 

[cbar09]

Hi emtropy!

Apologies in advance for the long post, but I hope you glean something from it. Good luck with your goals, and I think you'll find this forum to be very supportive/stimulating.

Just a disclaimer, this protocol has helped me lose weight and stabilize my 'lowered' weight after going from low-carb paleo to switching to a fully Peat diet. I'm a 26yo, 190lb 6'0'' male with ~ 15% BF and have been peating in some form for almost 3 years. I do not think my experience will resonate with everyone, but hopefully there is some useful information here for most.

The TLDR; - my protocol to lose fat/weight while keeping up a good metabolism is to keep fruit/sugar high (50%-75% total cals), focus on whole animal protein, eat a bit of saturated fat throughout the day, avoid most starch, use complementary supplements, and not be afraid to lay off any and all stressors to speed the healing process (this includes weight training/excess protein/boring work/poor lighting etc.). Ok, now you can read the detailed version

Although I'm male and a bit older than you, I think we have some similarities that may make my experience of use/interest to you. For one, I was always a bit chubby growing up but also extremely active. Lots of sports and running. I was pescatarian until I was 23, had estrogen dominance, and consumed lots of PUFA. As I got older and started providing for myself, I started to get more serious about losing weight and tried various things including calorie restriction, carb restriction, high intensity interval training, various weight training, intermittent fasting, and all kinds of PUFA/Inflammatory laden foods - all this while probably completely missing key nutrients in my diet (fat soluble vitamins, magnesium, and zinc to name a few). So like a lot of people here, I damaged my body pretty darn good!

After wrecking my already stressed metabolism with a paleo/primal/what-have-you-inspired life, I had to take about a full year to recover and get my metabolism back to where it was before all the dieting. During this year (and more) of experimentation, I learned a few valuable things.

1) When the body is in a very stressed state, adding any minor stresses (e.g. heavy lifting, slight excess of protein to carbs, excess PUFA to SFA, not enough sleep etc.) only hinders the recovery process and ultimately leads to needing more rest to combat the added stress.

2) Nutrient deficiencies (or PUFA/toxin excess) develop over time and, in turn, take some time to correct. It wasn't until I started routinely eating liver/shellfish/eggs/dairy along with a lot of fruits and certain supplements (Asprin, Niacinamide, Red Light Therapy) that I found regeneration/healing to really go in the right direction.

3) Nutrition and exercise are only two ways to help your body heal. Work stress, social anxiety, poor sleep, bad digestion, excessive use of electronics/blue screens, not enough natural lighting, and even not having enough fun/creativity/variety in your day can all be powerful stressors. Pretty obvious, but insufficient total calories can also be a big stress.

Nutrition/Supplement Protocol

Essentially I would boil my "weight-loss protocol" down to eating easily digestible/nutrient dense foods (ones with the fewest additives and toxins), getting 50%+ calories from fruits and simple sugars like lactose in milk or cane sugar/honey, and keeping fat and protein considerably lower, with a focus on saturated fats (especially as you start to lose fat, you need more sat fat to blunt pufa detox) and a focus on whole animal proteins (eggs/dairy, shellfish, gelatin+muscle, liver).

For me, I can do fine on 100g of quality protein in a day. If I get too high, 150+ then the excess protein can be just another stress for the body to handle (and I'm a 190lb 6'0 male with 15% BF).

Healing the digestive system is also of paramount importance because without good digestion, valuable nutrients won't get absorbed. This means having a bit of each macros in a meal/snack, avoiding trouble foods (gluten/HFCS/processed food junk etc.), and using digestive aids like raw carrots, coffee, epsom salts, cascara etc.

For me supplements like niacinamide, aspirin, caffeine, red light, and fat soluble vitamins seem to help quite a bit. Combined with all the nutritious food, they promote a vigorous metabolism and aid in PUFA/estrogen/other-bad-stuff detox.

Exercise Protocol

Since you seem like a serious athlete/trainer, I also have some experience with regards to exercising.

I've found it very difficult to lose weight while training with heavy weights, so I've switched most of my weight training to bodyweight exercises and incorporated more workouts like yoga, walking, easy cycling etc.

Building muscle will help you with body recomposition, but fixing the metabolism is far more important, especially at this stage. I think it's much easier to lay off the training a bit until you feel the need to lift something heavy.

I find bodyweight training to confer nearly all the benefits of barbell training, and helps me be more creative with workouts (plus w.o.'s can be done almost anywhere).

Other Protocol

Finally, I would just reiterate that not all health issues can be solved with food, exercise and supplements. Health is tied to so many things.

I find taking enough time to "play" (i.e. do things you genuinely enjoy as opposed to work) and doing consistent mentally stimulating activities are really important for healthy weight loss. This could be art, music, games, sports, a hobby or otherwise. Peat has always placed as much importance on his painting as on his research, so I think it's pretty evident how important this aspect is.

As an example, two weeks ago I played in a chess tournament that lasted 3 days. I probably spent about 8 hours each day playing chess, studying chess, and in general using my mind and not my body at all. I probably had to eat 1.5 times as many calories as I normally do just to feel satisfied! - way more than when I'm doing heavy exercise, long work hours, etc. And to top it off, I lost weight! There's no way I lost muscle in just a few days, so it leads me to think it's very important be mentally stimulated. A fit body and fit mind are truly one in the same.

Good luck and hopefully some of that makes sense...

 

[Mittir]

I only looked at your daily food intake. Here are few suggestions.
Avoiding tryptophan rich food after sunset is helpful in reducing
stress during sleep. RP recommends most of the protein be eaten
during day time as digestion slows down after sunset. After sunset
carb and fat are suitable. A glass of milk or some cottage cheese
with some extra sugar helps with sleep quality and keeping stress hormones
in check through out the night. Lactose, fructose, sucrose are very good
at repleting liver glycogen to provide energy during sleep.
Always eat good amount of sugar with protein. Egg always should be eaten
with good amount of sugar as egg protein can cause low blood sugar.
After 80 grams of protein and some saturated fat with each meal you
can eat rest of your calories from sugar ( Sweet fruits, Milk, honey, sucrose etc).
Sugar increases thyroid hormone conversion.
If digestion is not a problem, gelatin is a great protein source.
Calcium plays a big role in weight loss. Make sure you are getting 1200-2000 mg
of calcium daily with phosphorus intake equal to or less than calcium.
Cottage cheese and greek yogurt are usually low in calcium.
Eggs shell powder, oyster shell powder are good source.
Salt also increases metabolism. Craving for salt is a good guide.
Also adequate intake of all alkaline minerals ( Sodium, calcium
potassium, magnesium) are essential.
It takes for body to replace PUFA about 4 years.
Strict avoidance of PUFA is the core of RP's recommendations
and Keeping daily PUFA intake less than 4 grams daily is protective
against cancer. You will see improvement in health as soon as you restrict
PUFA and you will continue to see improvement over time.
Coconut oil increases metabolism more than butter and other saturated fats.

 

[superhuman]

cbar09: did you feel that macros matters? like going lower in fat made a difference etc? did you have to count calories?

 

[aquaman]

The TLDR; - my protocol to lose fat/weight while keeping up a good metabolism is to keep fruit/sugar high (50%-75% total cals), focus on whole animal protein, eat a bit of saturated fat throughout the day, avoid most starch, use complementary supplements, and not be afraid to lay off any and all stressors to speed the healing process (this includes weight training/excess protein/boring work/poor lighting etc.). Ok, now you can read the detailed version

I think this is good advice. emtropy, your diet looks low in carbs, both for someone your age and with your activity level.

I'm a 32 year old male, 198 pounds around 14-15% body fat.

I knew many girls and guys who were chubby in their teens (including me), right up to 19/20/21, and things changed as their body's hormones changed. I played every sport imaginable but always was a bit chubby

Don't do yourself damage. You're 16 and growing, also leading a very active life. You need tons of carbs. And tons of calories. You should be able to eat 2500 calories + and not put on fat. It may take some time and experimentation to get there.

Also read some of Haidut's comments elsewhere about calorie density. Liquid is not your friend, I'd aim for whole fruits, cooked fruits. Juices if drunk too quickly will spike insulin. You can sip them slowly over 10-20 mins though for a big glass. I like Matt Stone's advice to go calorie heavy and carb-heavy

Scale weight should definitely NOT be used as a measure of success. You're still growing, you should be putting on weight. Having more muscle will mean more weight, but muscle helps to shape your body.

Don't diet for god's sake, you're 16... practice enjoying life. Otherwise you'll still be going in 10 years and not happy with your body. If you're depressed, worried and tired, but a little skinnier, it's not going to make you happier or your life better.

Focus on quality of sleep, athletic performance, mood, digestion, period regularity and absence of pain etc as markers of health, not your weight.

Once your body is matured then you can look at things more accurately with weight, measurements etc. But you're growing still, you need to eat.

50% carbs, mainly from fruit, 25% protein, 25% fat would be good. But eat a lot - I'd say ramp up to 2500-3000. That would be around 300-400 grams of carbohydrates per day, mainly from sugars, but eaten evenly with meals. 4 main meals per day with 2 snacks would be good. So you're looking at breakfast of 600 calories, lunch 600, dinner 600, and 2 or 3 smaller meals/ snacks between up to 300-500 cals.

 

[Filip1993]

More carbs=lean in my experience. Just don't go too heavy on the fat. Also, I think aquamans tips are great, eat enough and don't think so much about your weight. Your weight will come down when your metabolism is healed.

 

[Filip1993]

Aquaman, does fruit juices really spike insulin? I can drink fruit juices on their own without experiencing hypoglycemia.

 

[Blossom]

More carbs=lean in my experience. Just don't go too heavy on the fat. Also, I think aquamans tips are great, eat enough and don't think so much about your weight. Your weight will come down when your metabolism is healed.

Above all practice self love and acceptance over numbers on the scale or body measurements. I promise you that if your focus is heath everything else will fall into place. I know this is true because it has happened to me within 6 month of following a Peat inspired approach and I am much older than you. Congratulations on your efforts.

 

[aquaman]

Aquaman, does fruit juices really spike insulin? I can drink fruit juices on their own without experiencing hypoglycemia.

AFAIK -- if you dump a lot of quickly absorbed sugars into your stomach then your blood sugar is more likely to rise quickly and require more insulin, which can affect fat deposits. Sipping juices, eating with protein and fat, or eating whole fruits can help spread this.

 

[Filip1993]

Alright, thanks!

 

[j.]

Aquaman, does fruit juices really spike insulin? I can drink fruit juices on their own without experiencing hypoglycemia.

AFAIK -- if you dump a lot of quickly absorbed sugars into your stomach then your blood sugar is more likely to rise quickly and require more insulin, which can affect fat deposits. Sipping juices, eating with protein and fat, or eating whole fruits can help spread this.

It depends what you dump with the sugars. If you consume equivalent amounts of sugar from orange juice, and at another time, from coca cola, I think you'll need a lot less insulin to process the orange juice. Ray mentioned that potassium plays a similar role to insulin, so the body doesn't need to secrete as much insulin.

 

[emtropy]

Thanks guys!

aquaman, how am I going to get that many calories per day if no juices? My mum knows I'm trying to lose weight, and probably wouldn't let me eat that much food...at least, she'd say something. I'm sorry, I know this sounds like what an obsessive dieter would say, but it's a bit complicated. How many pieces of fruit per day?

 

[j.]

I lost a lot of weight drinking 2 liters of OJ with added sugar daily.

To review, in order of how much insulin the body requires to process a carb:

1. Starches require the most amount of insulin.
2. Sucrose, such as in coca cola.
3. Sucrose, or glucose and fructose, taken with potassium, such as in fruits or fruit juices, require less insulin.

The less insulin a carb needs, the less fattening it is.

 

[aquaman]

Thanks guys!

aquaman, how am I going to get that many calories per day if no juices? My mum knows I'm trying to lose weight, and probably wouldn't let me eat that much food...at least, she'd say something. I'm sorry, I know this sounds like what an obsessive dieter would say, but it's a bit complicated. How many pieces of fruit per day?

I'm not saying no juices, just be careful that's all. especially try to mix them with solid foods including protein and some fat.

Your mum actively wants you to diet and lose weight?

 

[aquaman]

More carbs=lean in my experience. Just don't go too heavy on the fat. Also, I think aquamans tips are great, eat enough and don't think so much about your weight. Your weight will come down when your metabolism is healed.

Above all practice self love and acceptance over numbers on the scale or body measurements. I promise you that if your focus is heath everything else will fall into place. I know this is true because it has happened to me within 6 month of following a Peat inspired approach and I am much older than you. Congratulations on your efforts.

+1

 

[emtropy]

Thanks guys!

aquaman, how am I going to get that many calories per day if no juices? My mum knows I'm trying to lose weight, and probably wouldn't let me eat that much food...at least, she'd say something. I'm sorry, I know this sounds like what an obsessive dieter would say, but it's a bit complicated. How many pieces of fruit per day?

I'm not saying no juices, just be careful that's all. especially try to mix them with solid foods including protein and some fat.

Your mum actively wants you to diet and lose weight?

Ah, fair enough. I've been having it with breakfast while it was in the house, and after a gym session with some vanilla yoghurt.

And she wants me to "cut back" but her view of cutting back is rather SAD (indeed) and low-nutrient. I "cut back" when I was only a slightly chubby thirteen-year-old, and it worked, but yeah. We've had clashes in the past; one time she compared me to our obese neighbour in hopes that it'd shock me and make me lose weight. Thankfully we're past it now - I don't think she understands how hard it is for me to lose weight, though. For some it is indeed just cutting back; not for me.