Getting Fat Help!

[Locutus]

Been Peating for 2 solid months and I gained 10 pounds. I was not at an ideal weight before that
I'm 5 11.5 and tipped the scales at 203 pounds. The most I ever weighed I can barely fit into my pants! 38 inch waist now
I just started exercising more but with longer breaks in between...
I'll do some dips (in my house)... until my form very slightly is not perfect, then I'll do something else and then I'll do a couple of pullups, then I'll do something else... etc... like that. I don't max out on anything...
I'll do cardio for 20 min max and try not to breath too hard...
I eat every 4-5 hours...
I eat starch, potatoes and ice cream and chocolate. Maybe just do fruit?
My vitals are always 120/80, 100 BPM and body temp is often low...
See my T3 and T4 numbers... Should I take desiccated thyroid. I can't get any prescriptions for thyroid meds...

Thought On My Labs Please?

 

[Kunstruct]

No Cortisol bloodwork at 8AM? There are so many in that picture, maybe I missed it
Generally if the waist especially gets fatter can be high coritsol also

 

[GreekDemiGod]

Wish I would have this 'problem'. Ever since peating, I can barely hold off to my weight, and my goal is to gain weight / muscle. Probably my metabolic rate has gone up.

 

[Locutus]

Wish I would have this 'problem'. Ever since peating, I can barely hold off to my weight, and my goal is to gain weight / muscle. Probably my metabolic rate has gone up.

I can put on muscle but I always get fat at the same time. Not a problem so long as the waistline is reasonable... I put on weight in my trunk - belly legs butt, hence the pants are tight. I have a wide muscular back so it kind of offsets the poor aesthetics...
Should I trust the plan and don't quit before the magic happens?
3 months should be long enough to give it a reasonable shot?
Will I start losing weight and feeling amazing all of a sudden?

 

[Locutus]

No Cortisol bloodwork at 8AM? There are so many in that picture, maybe I missed it
Generally if the waist especially gets fatter can be high coritsol also

Cortisol is low in the morning, then it shoots up in normal range but at the higher side, then drops off as the day winds down in the normal range...

 

[PTP]

I eat starch, potatoes and ice cream and chocolate. Maybe just do fruit?

It sounds like you might be too low on protein. In this thread it's suggested that a very high protein diet helped to build muscle and lose fat without any exercise: High Protein Intake Increases Muscle Mass Even W/o Training

A high amount of starch may help to cause fat gain also. Ice cream has a lot of calories, I don't know how much you eat, but you might want to lower ice cream consumption and replace the calories with a high protein source such as lean beef with gelatin or something.

 

[milkboi]

Cut out most if not all major fat sources.

 

[YamnayaMommy]

Either limit calories by measuring food or do some form of time restricted eating (easy way to limit calories). Stop eating at 5pm, for example. If that doesn’t work after a week, stop eating at 3pm.

I would limit ice cream and high fat foods for special occasions if I were trying to lean out.

In lieu of ice cream, I’ve been having a spoonful or two of frozen oj concentrate, straight from the can, after lunch. Is that gross? I find it delicious and saves me the time and trouble of mixing up and drinking tons of oj.

 

[ExCarniv]

Ice cream and chocolate mixed with high starch is making you gaining weight because your are probably consuming too much calories

I'd cut the chocolate and the ice cream and increase protein to 120-130g per day.

 

[Locutus]

It sounds like you might be too low on protein. In this thread it's suggested that a very high protein diet helped to build muscle and lose fat without any exercise: High Protein Intake Increases Muscle Mass Even W/o Training

A high amount of starch may help to cause fat gain also. Ice cream has a lot of calories, I don't know how much you eat, but you might want to lower ice cream consumption and replace the calories with a high protein source such as lean beef with gelatin or something.

Ice cream and chocolate mixed with high starch is making you gaining weight because your are probably consuming too much calories

I'd cut the chocolate and the ice cream and increase protein to 120-130g per day.

​

macro ratios... calorie counting

Cut out most if not all major fat sources.

low fat

Either limit calories by measuring food or do some form of time restricted eating (easy way to limit calories). Stop eating at 5pm, for example. If that doesn’t work after a week, stop eating at 3pm.

I would limit ice cream and high fat foods for special occasions if I were trying to lean out.

In lieu of ice cream, I’ve been having a spoonful or two of frozen oj concentrate, straight from the can, after lunch. Is that gross? I find it delicious and saves me the time and trouble of mixing up and drinking tons of oj.

Intermittent fasting for caloric restriction.

-----------------

I thought Peating was supposed to be different There was time I ate whatever I wanted and I was ripped! Isn't this what a magnificent metabolism is supposed to do for us?
Ray ate a quart of ice cream a day!

At least no one said, cut your carbs to 0 lol Low carb dieting brought me here BTW

I'm leaning to more lean protein with fruit as the primary sugar source... I guess. Ice cream was too good to be true ragerage

 

[Locutus]

Free T4 = 1.15
Free T3 = 3.16

These are decent numbers no?

 

[YamnayaMommy]

macro ratios... calorie counting



low fat



Intermittent fasting for caloric restriction.

-----------------

I thought Peating was supposed to be different There was time I ate whatever I wanted and I was ripped! Isn't this what a magnificent metabolism is supposed to do for us?
Ray ate a quart of ice cream a day!

At least no one said, cut your carbs to 0 lol Low carb dieting brought me here BTW

I'm leaning to more lean protein with fruit as the primary sugar source... I guess. Ice cream was too good to be true ragerage

I was reading an old thread, from 2012, that had a really good discussion of how to lose weight Peating. And they claimed that RP says muscle meals can lower the metabolism, and that dairy, fruit, eggs were the foods to focus on for weight loss. With shellfish, liver, etc thrown in on a weekly basis.

 

[CLASH]

This scenario occurs over and over with almost everyone who first starts a "peat diet", so I think its the diet not you.

Heres what helped me:
1) dropping dairy. All forms, except butter and even that you have to be careful with

2) making my main protein sources meat, eggs, seafood. .6-.8g/lb of bodyweight depending on activity

3) dropping all refined sugar. Carbs came only from fruit, 100% juice (orange, pineapple, grape, pomegranate, are some of my favorite varieties that cause no digestive issues), white potatoes and yams/ sweet potatoes. White rice that isnt fortified is safe and easy on digestion but it has a poor nutritional profile compared to the above so I stuck to the above for my main carb sources. If you want to lean out I'd avoid starch altogether and focus only on 100% fruit juice and fruits, dont lower carb content tho. I Eat at the minimum 2:1 carbs:protein

4) super low fat was a nightmare for me. Most people seem to settle around low fat, to moderate fat with some at higher fat. Anywhere from 20-35% of calories seems to work especially if focusing on saturated sources. I personally find between 20-30g per to be ideal, anymore and I'm very full for a long time, any less and I dont last between meals and wind up hungry again. Best sources in my experience are chocolate, beef tallow, coconut oil (some people have issues with it becuase of the MCT's which can irritate the intestine) and butter (some people have issues with it because of the hormone content [issues include acne, hairloss and dandruff])

5) eating enough fiber with my meals from whole fruits and carrots helped a lot as well. I eat one carrot with every meal as well as a bunch of whole fruit; I generally have a bowel movement almost everytime after I eat.

6) to determine baseline calories overall, I used the katch-mccardle formula with activity multipliers. I think the eating disorder institute stuff that floats around here is bull sh*t

7) cronometer is a great way to track your macros and micros. I personally make a 3 day meal plan and just rotate following that. Initially creating the habit takes a little time and energy but eventually everything runs on autopilot and is easy to mantain

8) The idea that you can eat as much as you want of whatever foods you want and not gain weight is purely false in my experinece and opinion unless you dope up on certain drugs. Again some of the eating institute stuff promoted on this forum recently is pure B.S. in my experience and opinion and a great way to get fat. Certain foods cause weight gain in certain people period. Dairy, refined sugar, and starches are know weight gainers. Fruit, meat, fruit juice, seafood, eggs, and vegetables are not weight gainers. Eating all day long, every hour seems to cause more issues than not. Some of he advice given on these forums from certain members is not only wrong but straight up dangerous. Some people on this forum are still sick and overweight yet they give out advice, so I'd keep a skeptical disposition, including of the stuff I've posted here. It all comes down to your experimentation in my experience, but keep in mind when not going in the right direction, usually something is off and doing more of what your doing often isnt the answer. Some people have reached obesity status on this forum with similar thought processes to what you describe; things often dont magically get better after you gain 50lbs, often times they only get worse. Regardless of the theory, or logical rationals that you or me or other people come up with, at the end of the day your experience will tell you whats reality and whats just a theory.

Overall i think a solid baseline diet of meat, seafood, fruit, 100% juice, white potatoes and yams/ sweet potatoes is a strong base. If a gut issue is present I'd even avoid the tubers. Then add in foods one at time like eggs, then maybe tubers if they are in and the try dairy to see how it feels. I think going all in on diary and refined sugar wrecks alot of people.

 

[Lone Bunman]

People always start a "peat diet" operating on half truths they heard third hand and taken out of context. Ignoring primary principles and trying to rigidly adhere to someone elses plan. Its more of a manual of guidelines and suggestions. Biochemical individuality makes it difficult to give universal prescriptions.
Many people here push starch because it suits them well, but for some it doesn't. Ray has said that if you have any digestion issue starch should be zero, also starch is more likely to cause fat gain compared to sugars.


"Overall i think a solid baseline diet of meat, seafood, fruit, 100% juice, white potatoes and yams/ sweet potatoes is a strong base. If a gut issue is present I'd even avoid the tubers. Then add in foods one at time like eggs, then maybe tubers if they are in and the try dairy to see how it feels. I think going all in on diary and refined sugar wrecks alot of people."
Pretty good baseline suggestions.

If reading everything on Ray's website is too dry you could listen to his KMud lectures. I started with "Nervous System Protect and Restore" and went down the rabbit hole from there.

There are no messiahs, but Ray is earnest, honest and has a depth of knowledge because of his age that is hard to beat

 

[ExCarniv]

Overall i think a solid baseline diet of meat, seafood, fruit, 100% juice, white potatoes and yams/ sweet potatoes is a strong base. If a gut issue is present I'd even avoid the tubers. Then add in foods one at time like eggs, then maybe tubers if they are in and the try dairy to see how it feels. I think going all in on diary and refined sugar wrecks alot of people.

Good advice. And agreed with the whole message.

All this "eat what you want, even junk food gain 100lbs then magically you'll lose all your fat later" is bs and even dangerous.


Too lose weight you need a calorie deficit, no matter what quacks says, if you want to eat more and enjoy more foods, you need to build muscle and elevate your BMR.

I lost 25kg restricting calories, now I'm more conscious of what I eat and can enjoy ice cream if I want (no everyday) and my eating is balanced, but the foods that I crave right now are steaks, potatoes, some seasonal fruit, eggs, milk with coffee or alkaline cocoa powder and pancakes with honey, this is my Peating approach, liters of milk and OJ is not natural by any means.

 

[PTP]

macro ratios... calorie counting

No-one's saying you have to get obsessive about it, but it sounded like you eat very low amounts of protein. I think you asked about eating all fruit at one point in this thread (unless I misunderstood you). Ray Peat has recommended a minimum of 80 grams a day of protein for adults, along with a recommendation that a large chunk of it comes from gelatin.

"Milk and cheese are the best foods for getting enough calcium, and they will help to keep your protein intake up; an active person needs at least 100 grams daily for efficiency. ...80 grams of protein daily is probably enough for a medium sized person who isn't very active. I have known people whose thyroid function improved noticeably when they increased their protein from 20 grams to 40 grams daily. (A quart of milk has 32 grams of protein, an egg about 6 grams.) If you depend on chicken for your major protein, it will contribute to suppressing your thyroid and progesterone. Increased salt helps to increase your metabolic rate. Low thyroid makes you lose salt too easily, and temporarily just eating more salt helps to make up for low thyroid-adrenals-progesterone." - Ray Peat (bolded sections done by me)

 

[RWilly]

I eat starch, potatoes and ice cream and chocolate. Maybe just do fruit?

There's not much protein in that diet.

 

[Locutus]

I eat pastured meats, soy free pastured eggs, raw cheese and drink A2 raw milk. The highest quality. In addition to these staples, when I started Peating I added ice cream, chocolate, white potatoes, sugar in my coffee, chocolate milk, some fruit (I was having issues digesting fruit) and orange or apple juice. Took out fermented sour dough bread and other grains. Maybe cut these out and just do fruit and juice? My digestion did go bad... Clay stools and constipation. It's better now but not as good as it was before. I'm so tired of dieting. I can restrict my food choices so long as I can just eat as much as I want. I do apple cider vinegar, fermented beet kvass and baking soda most days. Take a bunch of supplements... What are good free T3 and T4 numbers? Also have acne which I'm totally demoralized over. And it didn't get worse with dairy...

 

[mbachiu]

What are your temperature & pulse readings like?

 

[ExCarniv]

I eat pastured meats, soy free pastured eggs, raw cheese and drink A2 raw milk. The highest quality. In addition to these staples, when I started Peating I added ice cream, chocolate, white potatoes, sugar in my coffee, chocolate milk, some fruit (I was having issues digesting fruit) and orange or apple juice. Took out fermented sour dough bread and other grains. Maybe cut these out and just do fruit and juice? My digestion did go bad... Clay stools and constipation. It's better now but not as good as it was before. I'm so tired of dieting. I can restrict my food choices so long as I can just eat as much as I want. I do apple cider vinegar, fermented beet kvass and baking soda most days. Take a bunch of supplements... What are good free T3 and T4 numbers? Also have acne which I'm totally demoralized over. And it didn't get worse with dairy...

Dont diet, just eat meat, eggs, potatoes, milk and fruit till satiation most days, seems like you tolerate those foods well. Liver once per week as supplement.

You don't need icecream or chocolate as staples, and cut out cheese as staple too, you're getting plenty of calcium from milk and protein from meat and eggs, cheese is only bulking your calories up. You can eat ice cream as an indulgence, you don't need it everyday for some magical metabolism boosting fairly tale.