How To Lose Fat (and What Not To Do)

[Nova]

Do you all know of anyone who has gone from obese to normal weight following Peat eating principles?

I hope to be one of the first known cases of an individual who goes from obese to normal by following Peatist principles.

I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

I agree wholeheartedly with your advice.

For people who need to lose weight who've never dieted before, I think things are easier. Switch to Peatier versions of what you're currently doing. Start with eliminating PUFA, add in some weekly liver and shellfish, drink some OJ and some milk.

But for many people who turn to Peat, I suspect we've all gone down at least one rabbit whole of orthorexia... er, I mean "dieting".

Some people who've been fat their whole lives have been dieting off and on since maybe they were teens, or even younger.

So for those of us in that situation, it can be hard to find that equilibrium. That's where I'm at right now.

So I'm learning to eat what I like but to do it in a more Peat friendly fashion. Was the spaghetti and corn I had for lunch Peaty? Not really. But I added a little MCT oil to the spaghetti noodles when I cooked them, used salt liberally, and drank coffee with skim milk and collagen with it.

By the way, I love spaghetti and corn. Potatoes and corn, too.

I think a big part of it is getting proper nutrition, maybe for the first time in your life, lowering estrogen, and not running off of cortisol/adrenalin. Fatty liver is a big concern for people in my boat, too.

It's quite a puzzle. And something that I don't think Ray Peat has a lot of experience with. He doesn't really speak about obesity much. And if you're obese and start drinking a ton of Coke, OJ, and whole milk, you're gonna get fatter. Even on 3+ grains of NDT. Ask me how I know. :)

Thank goodness for Haidut and other forum members for sharing their experiences and ideas with weight loss in a Ray Peat template. Otherwise I'd be screwed.

Amen to all of the above. I've been dieting since I was 8 or 9 years old. I've tried just about anything and everything, stopping short of gastric bypass. Finding the ever elusive equilibrium is like hunting for leprechauns on unicorn-back for me.

Peat principles are really the only diet-type thing I've ever had real success with that hasn't required me to make massive changes and slog through a bunch of food or supplements that I hated. I eat pasta 2-4 times a week, mostly ramen. I have an addiction and I've just begun to wean myself off of my favorite pre-packaged noodle treat in favor of a healthier rice noodle-based version.

I eat a lot of jasmine and Japanese short grain rices too. I drink a lot of Pepsi with real sugar and overly sweetened iced tea. So far, I've lost almost 60lbs with my lax, starchy version of Peat diet. Yet I know there are gaps and I'm slowly taking steps to address them. I'm eating more fruit and eating more low fat dairy products. And I'm averaging 1-2 quarts of Peat-friendly ice cream per week, so I guess that's progress.

There isn't a manual for how to "do" Peat diet. That's what makes it unique, I think. Most diets have dogma attached to them and a bunch of shiny, happy people offering up amazing testimonials and pics of transformed bodies. Peat diet (insomuch as there is such a thing) doesn't have any of that. There isn't any one "right" way to follow Peat's dietary suggestions or to implement Peat inspired principles in one's life. This way of doing things is much more free-flowing, imo. Metaphysical, even, if you dare go there.

It's a way of doing things and a way of being in your own body. So it's more than just a diet or a dogma or a story about a generic ancestor named Grok. It's less than the near militant religion of certain sects of veganism or the overly complex regimens cooked up for/by the rich pop stars. The Peatian way is somewhere in the middle, I suppose.

It's a lot to take in, which is way it has taken me nearly 2 years to even begin the process...

 

[Philomath]

Damn it! A serving has 100% US RDA of Iron. And I eat a huge bowl at a time. Damn it damn it damn it!!!!

EDIT: Whole Foods organic only has 10% iron and it isn't fortified. Looks like I'll be switching to this. Time to start looking much more closely at the iron in the foods I'm consuming.

Thanks for the hint @natedawggh

Trader Joe's has Frosted Flakes with no added iron. FYI

 

[Philomath]

you've hit the nail right on the head, yes I'm a newbie

@Maretch If no one has said welcome & glad you're here, let me be the first!

 

[Beehelp]

I stick to the rule "eat a half"

 

[ilpmusic]

Well I lost 50 lbs. is that enough to convince you? :) that's what that article was I included with my last post.

Yes zinc can help, just don't overdo it. Zinc isn't a specific weight loss tool. Incidentally shrimp is great for weight loss. Just cook it in butter and drink coffee with it to the bind iron.

High-butter isn't a passive "detox" technique. It's actually very active. I lost 50 lbs in 8 months, and it would have been faster if I'd taken more. It's active because the fats in butter stimulate the metabolism and stabilize local thyroid function, and in turn incorporate those fats into cellular structure as the increased metabolic rate increases cell turnover rate, healing damage faster and faster. It will be exactly as effective as you keep butter/dairy/coconut oil higher in ratio to sources of PUFA.

This is also not an Atkins type strategy. Fruits, veggies and sugar should still be an important part of the diet. Just avoid grains and PUFAS.

Natedawggh can you post the link of your article about losing 50 pounds?thanks!

 

[LUH 3417]

Losing weight can occur through different channels. Low-fat techniques can work by avoiding fat's tendency to slow the metabolism. But weight loss can also happen by shifting the body's fat composition to saturated. In my opinion the later is better for overall health and long-term weight management, as well as conferring other health benefits and being easier/more satisfying. Low-fat can be stressful and is unnecessary for weight loss, but some people prefer to do it so my article is more of a guide for doing it right, rather than an endorsement. Doing low-fat wrong can cause lots of problems, whereas it's hard to do high-dairy wrong.

When you say dairy do you mean skim or full fat? I am lucky enough to have a source of raw dairy products and eat mostly raw goat milk Greek style yogurt and raw cow milk. I would like to lose 20lbs that I've gained from drinking so much coke and eating lots of ice cream and being very sedentary.

 

[Ideonaut]

Protips for fat loss and general well-being while following a restrictive dietary template. Keep protein intake quite high, certainly above 100 g a day. Milk , if well tolerated is your friend and should be consumed frequently and liberally as It will ensure you obtain adequate protein as well as a host of vitamins and minerals. Your main energy source however should be jasmine rice, 3 bowls a day, a half cup or so at a time. Eat to approximate satiation, but so as not to stuff yourself. To your rice add a few cap fulls of maple syrup, as it provides zinc, and manganese. Top it off with a a dusting of Ceylon cinnamon. Salt to taste with canning salt. forget the fancy spring water and drink RO. Pulp free OJ is crucial, probably best to taper down through the course of the day though. A few cups should be fine. Drink strong coffee with milk and honey, or maple syrup, take your pick. Try nicotine if you can reap if benefits while not succumbing to its addictive properties. Supplement some molybdenum as your diet will invariably be deficient in this trace element. Begin strength training, heavy compound, multi-joint lifts like the squat, the dead-lift, the bench Press, Rows, pullovers, dips, , pull-ups, pull downs, the overhead press. This will drastically increase your natural production of testosterone, permitting you sustain more muscle while reducing bodyfat. Concurrently, the reduction in body fat, will lessen the opportunities for aromatase to covert that T into estrogen. So try it out, it has worked wonders for me.

Why jasmine? I've lost a lot of wt before eating mainly rice, but it was Japanese style calrose--so much tastier.

 

[LUH 3417]

Why jasmine? I've lost a lot of wt before eating mainly rice, but it was Japanese style calrose--so much tastier.

What else did you eat besides rice?

 

[inurendotoxin]

So I've tried this Peat thing a few times. I've lost lots of weight on a low carb diet and on a PSMF. I realized that I royally screwed my metabolism.

And because of stress and insulin resistance, (and Matt Stone's eat for heat), I'm back to weighing more than I did when I began.

After listening to @haidut's interview about fat loss with Danny Roddy, I realized that I needed to fix fatty liver first and foremost. So I did some potato hacking and then moved to a McDougal-ish high starch diet for about a month total (with a weekly cheat day).

During that time I had some SEVERE cold feelings. I actually woke up shivering one night and could barely move my jaw.

Anyway, I feel like my metabolism has healed somewhat from this and I'm ready to try peating again. But with a very low fat diet.

Here's my plan:

Food:
skim milk
OJ (+ a little pineapple + a little cherry juices, I know that pineapple can be an issue, I'm only drinking a few ounces of it for the enzymes).
Fat free cottage cheese
1 real sugar soda a day (today is Pepsi 1893 with Kola nut)
Shredded carrots and/or bamboo shoots
San pellegrino carbonated mineral water
Occasional potatoes and bowl of bran flakes (not optimal I know, but I like it as an occasional treat)
instant coffee (made with skim milk + collagen + honey)

Supplements:
methylene blue (oxidal)
coenzyme B complex caps
l-carnitine
choline
vitamin K2

I'm avoiding aspirin and niacinamide for now.

I've read so much about all different kinds of anti estrogen substances and about anti seratonin substances. It's honestly pretty overwhelming.

So what should I add? What should I avoid?

I'm thinking about taking Clindamycin for a week to clean up potential gut issues. What do you all think about that?

I love that podcast, and also took a lot from @haidut's insight on the subject.

I've had issues with metabolism and weight gain for years; also correlating strongly with my balding and stress-heavy years, incidentally (or...not incidentally).

Been gradually working on getting PUFA-deficient for a few months now and definitely feel better for it.

The bran flakes thing is funny - not just me who eats these as a "treat" then! But I'm wondering are they that bad for metabolism, as grains go?

Per meal you're likely getting way less starch than say, boiled rice or legumes, and the high concentration of fiber in bran (and tendency for keeping you 'regular') surely suggests it's metabolized and excreted quickly?

 

[livesimply]

I agree wholeheartedly with your advice.

For people who need to lose weight who've never dieted before, I think things are easier. Switch to Peatier versions of what you're currently doing. Start with eliminating PUFA, add in some weekly liver and shellfish, drink some OJ and some milk.

But for many people who turn to Peat, I suspect we've all gone down at least one rabbit whole of orthorexia... er, I mean "dieting".

Some people who've been fat their whole lives have been dieting off and on since maybe they were teens, or even younger.

So for those of us in that situation, it can be hard to find that equilibrium. That's where I'm at right now.

So I'm learning to eat what I like but to do it in a more Peat friendly fashion. Was the spaghetti and corn I had for lunch Peaty? Not really. But I added a little MCT oil to the spaghetti noodles when I cooked them, used salt liberally, and drank coffee with skim milk and collagen with it.

By the way, I love spaghetti and corn. Potatoes and corn, too.

I think a big part of it is getting proper nutrition, maybe for the first time in your life, lowering estrogen, and not running off of cortisol/adrenalin. Fatty liver is a big concern for people in my boat, too.

It's quite a puzzle. And something that I don't think Ray Peat has a lot of experience with. He doesn't really speak about obesity much. And if you're obese and start drinking a ton of Coke, OJ, and whole milk, you're gonna get fatter. Even on 3+ grains of NDT. Ask me how I know. :)

Thank goodness for Haidut and other forum members for sharing their experiences and ideas with weight loss in a Ray Peat template. Otherwise I'd be screwed.

I know this is an old post but I TOTALLY agree. Re-reading posts on weight loss as I have 50 lbs. I'd feel much better without--anyone need some?

 

[fitbeebee]

Hello all!
I’m new here and coming from many years of low carb, sometimes carnivore.

My question, will starches such as white rice, well boiled potatoes, and rice cakes make you gain fat?

i’ve recently started and have been having low fat goat milk with honey, OJ and eggs for breakfast... carrots, zucchini, fruit, some yogurt and meat etc.. 1600-1800cals approximate.
I’m worried that if I also add starch to the mix I’m going to get fat?

Context:
female, 37yrs.
weight, 126-129lb
Height, 5’ 5”
Workout almost every day usually strength training 45- 1 hr (rarely do cardio)

Feel amazing on peat already lost 1lb..goal is 120lb

Thank you