How Can I Eat 5000 Calories A Day And Lose Weight?

[ExCarniv]

I will be a little vague about these answers because specific numbers tend to "trigger" the competitive nature of those who typically have eating disorders, and cause them to relapse. But, I think my answers can give many hope that you can recover, no matter what. I am middle-aged and was middle-aged when I began recovery. I am 5'3". I am in the range of weight considered ideal for my age and height. I do necessary daily chores and activities and only what I consider fun, like a game of tennis, occasionally. When I was recovering, I did only necessary daily chores, no discretionary activity. I gained all my muscle back that I had lost while restricting. I achieved my natural, female, gynoid shape after losing the abdominal fat which accumulated at the beginning of recovery. Many signs of aging that had been accumulating too early completely reversed themselves. No more arthritis, rosacea, wrinkles, dry skin and lipofuscin.

Can you share what you eat on a daily basis? I want my wife to embrace this way of life but she thinks is weird to gorge on orange juice and milk.

 

[Kunstruct]

I want my wife to embrace this way of life but she thinks is weird to gorge on orange juice and milk.

Gorging on those two daily on those isn't giving you daily diarrhea?

 

[mbachiu]

@Kelj

I hope this isn't too personal to ask but what is your age, height, and current weight/average activity level?

Thanks.

5000 calories and not gain weight is impressive for a woman at any age or height but just curious. Would be super impressive if you were like 30-40+ and short, but I'd still be impressed even if in your 20s and like 6 foot.

As you know from PM's, I'm now more or less sold on your approaches and off to also prove that one can indeed eat their way to health.

Everyone else can have fun with their calorie deficits and excess exercise. I'm over that life.

I am also taking on this approach. It’s kind of like Ray’s work. It makes some inherent sense to me. Years ago, I read Matt Stone’s work (which like many, is how I found Ray Peat). But, I was too scared to do it back then. And, as @Kelj has shared from many articles, recovery is tough. If I hadn’t really made up my mind, I would’ve back pedalled by now. The symptoms I’m experiencing as a result of recovering are almost worse that what brought me to this in the first place. I also had a doctor’s appointment yesterday, where she basically gave me ***t for the entire appointment. I had some moments where I wanted to throw all this out the window & go back to what I was doing. My doctor is much more educated & smarter than I am-why not listen to her? Well, because I think I know my body better.

I commend you for your courage in taking this on, Cirion. It’s not easy, but I truly believe there can be health on the other side of this. You got this!

 

[rob]

Can you share what you eat on a daily basis? I want my wife to embrace this way of life but she thinks is weird to gorge on orange juice and milk.

Would be interested also @Kelj. To what extent do you apply Ray's principles in consuming 5000+ calories?

 

[Cirion]

I commend you for your courage in taking this on, Cirion. It’s not easy, but I truly believe there can be health on the other side of this. You got this!

Thanks. I was finally sold after I plotted up a couple of recent plots from my database of over 7 months of collected personal data now.

I am holding off on creating a thread on what I've found, until I am 100% sure though. Stay tuned for that. It's gonna be a doozy and probably rile up most of even this forum lol. For this reason I want to be 100-110% sure because what I will have to say flies against even the strategies of most here, let alone the mainstream.

Thanks for the reply Kelj. Color me definitely even more impressed with 5000 caloric intake, middle aged and relatively short. Good deal!

 

[Ingenol]

Counterpoint: tried the "all-in" approach. Gained a ton of weight, felt awful, developed many additional health symptoms and resolved none. It may work for some but if it doesn't work, you may seriously regret trying it.

 

[Cirion]

Counterpoint: tried the "all-in" approach. Gained a ton of weight, felt awful, developed many additional health symptoms and resolved none. It may work for some but if it doesn't work, you may seriously regret trying it.

I have the answer to this and plan to address it in my thread once I'm ready to make it (ie, once I've fully or at least mostly cured myself). I am willing to discuss over PM if you want though, just not ready to go public with my findings yet.

Your concerns are very normal and warranted. I had the exact same doubts and literally wrote off this approach for precisely the same reasons... until I made some interesting discoveries that I am now exploring further as we speak.

You can also read some of Kelj's posts, she has written some good explanations as well.

 

[ExCarniv]

Gorging on those two daily on those isn't giving you daily diarrhea?

I don't really gorge lol, I just drink half liter of milk and half of OJ thru the day, but for her that's seems like a lot.

 

[Kunstruct]

I don't really gorge lol, I just drink half liter of milk and half of OJ thru the day, but for her that's seems like a lot.

LOL

 

[Ingenol]

I have the answer to this and plan to address it in my thread once I'm ready to make it (ie, once I've fully or at least mostly cured myself). I am willing to discuss over PM if you want though, just not ready to go public with my findings yet.

Your concerns are very normal and warranted. I had the exact same doubts and literally wrote off this approach for precisely the same reasons... until I made some interesting discoveries that I am now exploring further as we speak.

You can also read some of Kelj's posts, she has written some good explanations as well.

Cool would be very interested in your approach, PM away please!

My actual experience though was that going "all-in" made things much worse, so it was beyond just a concern; more like the concerns one would have about such an approach proved to be true in my case and I really regret undertaking it.

 

[Cirion]

Sent you a PM man!

 

[Kelj]

Can you share what you eat on a daily basis? I want my wife to embrace this way of life but she thinks is weird to gorge on orange juice and milk.

I do drink plenty of milk and orange juice. Thanks to Doctor Peat, I rediscovered these nutritious foods, but they are not all I eat. The goal for me, was to put every food back on the table. I eventually accomplished that. I now eat anything that sounds good. A notion which Ray supports when he says, "Eat anything that appeals to you". He explains that our bodies tell us what we need by giving us a craving. When someone is starting out from restriction, they need to count calories. A woman under 25 needs 3000 calories. A woman over 25 needs 2500. A person who has been eating under those amounts must eat well over those minimums. Eating over those amounts every day will ensure you become and stay well. Always eat what sounds good to you, without denying yourself. A typical day for me might be pancakes with cream, butter and maple syrup with orange juice and coffee with cream. Today, I had a mid-morning snack of crepes with sauteed apples and caramel with coffee and for lunch, breaded chicken fingers, homemade biscuits with homemade apricot jam ( this is especially for @Cirion who thinks I have a fast food diet, Lol), and deviled eggs and grapefruit with some limeade mixed with club soda. I think dinner will be tacos with all the toppings and some homemade cake with whipped cream topping. Everything is highly variable from day to day and you can definitely eat a lot more from fast food places. Some days I do. At 9:30 last night, I had a slice of pepperoni and sausage pizza from Little Caesars with some raspberry ginger ale.

 

[rob]

I do drink plenty of milk and orange juice. Thanks to Doctor Peat, I rediscovered these nutritious foods, but they are not all I eat. The goal for me, was to put every food back on the table. I eventually accomplished that. I now eat anything that sounds good. A notion which Ray supports when he says, "Eat anything that appeals to you". He explains that our bodies tell us what we need by giving us a craving. When someone is starting out from restriction, they need to count calories. A woman under 25 needs 3000 calories. A woman over 25 needs 2500. A person who has been eating under those amounts must eat well over those minimums. Eating over those amounts every day will ensure you become and stay well. Always eat what sounds good to you, without denying yourself. A typical day for me might be pancakes with cream, butter and maple syrup with orange juice and coffee with cream. Today, I had a mid-morning snack of crepes with sauteed apples and caramel with coffee and for lunch, breaded chicken fingers, homemade biscuits with homemade apricot jam ( this is especially for @Cirion who thinks I have a fast food diet, Lol), and deviled eggs and grapefruit with some limeade mixed with club soda. I think dinner will be tacos with all the toppings and some homemade cake with whipped cream topping. Everything is highly variable from day to day and you can definitely eat a lot more from fast food places. Some days I do. At 9:30 last night, I had a slice of pepperoni and sausage pizza from Little Caesars with some raspberry ginger ale.

+1 Going to make feel hungry with that post :)

 

[ExCarniv]

I do drink plenty of milk and orange juice. Thanks to Doctor Peat, I rediscovered these nutritious foods, but they are not all I eat. The goal for me, was to put every food back on the table. I eventually accomplished that. I now eat anything that sounds good. A notion which Ray supports when he says, "Eat anything that appeals to you". He explains that our bodies tell us what we need by giving us a craving. When someone is starting out from restriction, they need to count calories. A woman under 25 needs 3000 calories. A woman over 25 needs 2500. A person who has been eating under those amounts must eat well over those minimums. Eating over those amounts every day will ensure you become and stay well. Always eat what sounds good to you, without denying yourself. A typical day for me might be pancakes with cream, butter and maple syrup with orange juice and coffee with cream. Today, I had a mid-morning snack of crepes with sauteed apples and caramel with coffee and for lunch, breaded chicken fingers, homemade biscuits with homemade apricot jam ( this is especially for @Cirion who thinks I have a fast food diet, Lol), and deviled eggs and grapefruit with some limeade mixed with club soda. I think dinner will be tacos with all the toppings and some homemade cake with whipped cream topping. Everything is highly variable from day to day and you can definitely eat a lot more from fast food places. Some days I do. At 9:30 last night, I had a slice of pepperoni and sausage pizza from Little Caesars with some raspberry ginger ale.

Thanks for sharing, sounds good but intuitive eating is not for everyone, that's how I gained 25kg eating whatever I wanted in the first place.

 

[Cirion]

Today, I had a mid-morning snack of crepes with sauteed apples and caramel with coffee and for lunch, breaded chicken fingers, homemade biscuits with homemade apricot jam ( this is especially for @Cirion who thinks I have a fast food diet, Lol),

haha. Well we're pretty much on the same page now actually after lengthy analysis on my part. If you can convince me there is hope. Trust me I don't change my mind easily =P

 

[Kelj]

Thanks for sharing, sounds good but intuitive eating is not for everyone, that's how I gained 25kg eating whatever I wanted in the first place.

That weight gain just shows you were on your way to recovery. If you had persisted, you would have eventually stopped gaining, then you would have lost the weight, achieved your inherited set-point weight and would have been able to continue eating any high calorie amount without gaining weight. It's a great place to be.

 

[YamnayaMommy]

I will be a little vague about these answers because specific numbers tend to "trigger" the competitive nature of those who typically have eating disorders, and cause them to relapse. But, I think my answers can give many hope that you can recover, no matter what. I am middle-aged and was middle-aged when I began recovery. I am 5'3". I am in the range of weight considered ideal for my age and height. I do necessary daily chores and activities and only what I consider fun, like a game of tennis, occasionally. When I was recovering, I did only necessary daily chores, no discretionary activity. I gained all my muscle back that I had lost while restricting. I achieved my natural, female, gynoid shape after losing the abdominal fat which accumulated at the beginning of recovery. Many signs of aging that had been accumulating too early completely reversed themselves. No more arthritis, rosacea, wrinkles, dry skin and lipofuscin.

If you have written a detailed account of this, can you provide a link to it ?

 

[sweetpeat]

I am in the range of weight considered ideal for my age and height.

I think this may be sticking point for some. A lot of people think their ideal weight is (or should be) lower than what is natural for their body. This is probably what gets people started on calorie restriction in the first place: dissatisfaction with natural set point. As has been mentioned, our culture equates thinness with health. Personally, I don't mind being a little heavier as long as I'm healthy, but it can be a hard sell for a lot of people.

 

[Kelj]

Agreed. Someone has to hold down the high end of any average and most people are somewhere in the middle....where average resides. We are rational when it comes to averages when they are not about us. We all think we are exceptional drivers. Statistically impossible. Where all things body is concerned, we need to make looking healthy the prime concern. The only people who are going to look healthy at the low end of weight spectrum are those who are supposed to be there. Healthy is beautiful on everyone. And when consistently eating enough for long enough people will be slim enough.

 

[Cirion]

Agreed. Someone has to hold down the high end of any average and most people are somewhere in the middle....where average resides. We are rational when it comes to averages when they are not about us. We all think we are exceptional drivers. Statistically impossible. Where all things body is concerned, we need to make looking healthy the prime concern. The only people who are going to look healthy at the low end of weight spectrum are those who are supposed to be there. Healthy is beautiful on everyone. And when consistently eating enough for long enough people will be slim enough.

Being healthy is more important than anything else.

I'll take the following any day:

-- Slightly "overweight" according to BMI but: endless energy, no brain fog, rock solid libido and confidence both in work and in dating, can eat anything I want in the quantities I want without further weight gain, perfect sleep each evening, euphoric moods most of the time...

over the following

-- Ripped six pack but constant brain fog, low energy, low libido, easily irritable, non-restful sleep, only able to function with cortisol/fasting/energy drinks, always restricting various food groups / macros, excess exercise, no motivation

I've been in the latter category. It is not a fun place to be. Being ripped is not fun at all if everything else sucks. So I no longer care about it. If I happen to get there as I lift the restrictions off eating and slowly begin to introduce some weightlifting again, then that's awesome but I ain't gonna stress it. Honestly, I probably will get rather huge muscles with massive caloric intakes and weightlifting anyways!