Weight Gain. BUT Inches Lost! FINALLY!

MichelleLE

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Feb 10, 2013
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I wanted to share my experiences over the last few months of successfully losing the thickness(and huge belly) I gained while eating Ray Peat Protocol. As an FYI... I was the veggie, meat, salad, "health food" eater before Ray Peat eats.

Basically within a few months of RP eats, I could no longer fit into my clothes and lost the normal slim body I had my whole life. I gained 20 pounds! But never being a weigher, what was disconcerting was completely losing my entire wardrobe and becoming a chubber! My friends laughed “Hahaha, yeah, that Ray Peat diet is really workin’ for ya! They named it the Roly Poly diet.” In a year of trying all sorts of ratios, (not even eating much fat besides coco oil) within RP protocol…. I just could not figure out how to be slim while on Ray Peat protocol.

I have finally lost it (swelling, inflammation, poor digestion, leaky gut??? - one or all of these). I am now almost into my pre-RP clothes. Even though the scale still says 20 pounds more!!!! No joke! Yes, I gained muscle. I wanted to sincerely share here what seemed to work for me in just a few months.

First, I have to thank Clint Mongan for his intuitive and knowledgeable help and coaching, as well as the thyroid capsules he makes (this is not a sales pitch, just a humble shout out). These factors below were mainly his ideas that totally worked for me. He listened to what I was doing and then offered these suggestions.

These are the factors that seemed to help me get thin again…

1. Thyroid capsules containing: 30 mg Dessicated Thyroid, 350 mg Fructose, 40 mg B1, 75 mg niacinamide. I take 2x per day each with a mag glyconate. I am sure you can email him, great price. I had tried each cynomel and cynoplus over the year, adjusting the dosage with some success. These new capsules are working for me. I buy from Clint, I am sure you can email him, great price.

2. Fresh orange juice I squeeze at home(not even organic) but ripe, sweet local oranges. I was drinking organic fresh squeezed from WF in a bottle. The difference to my gut was dramatic between the two. Someone here also suggested the Breville steel citrus juicer, AMAZING!

3. Less liquids overall. For most of the first year I was trying to down 100+ grams of protein through milk, OJ, gelatin, coffee…. I was liquid logged, it was too much to process, digest. Clint suggested lower it a lot. Even if it lowers protein and carbs under RP recommendations, for now. That helped a lot! It was just too much.

4. Raw egg yolks rather than cooked egg yolks or full eggs. Cooked was just too hard to digest for me. I take "eggnog" drinks 2 or 3 times per day. 2 yolks(grass fed eggs), 1.5 cups nonfat milk, 1 tbsp maple syrup or table sugar, 1 tbsp granulated fructose.

5. Fructose/glucose ratios(I bought fructose from Clint’s pure fructose supply)…. This is a quote from Clint that has also worked for me…. “I feel a little off if I take too big of an amount of pure fructose, so when adding it to a drink (away from meals, or with meals that don't include starch) I'll use at least an equal amount of regular table sugar with the fructose. If I'm adding it to a drink while eating potatoes, then I'll just add plain fructose to the drink. I feel much better after eating starch the closer the fructose:glucose ratio is to around 55:45, in favor of fructose. The closer the ratio is towards favoring starch/glucose, the drowsier I feel after eating starch. I really only try to "balance" potatoes and masa, and consider them pure glucose.”

6. Added more solid foods, small amounts of cheese, greek yogurt, corn tortillas heated in coco oil with salt/sugar. Listened to my body. Switching them all around within the liguids, changing things up helped!

7. Epsom salt/baking soda bathes everyday. 2 cups of Epsom, one box baking soda per bath. For 30-45 mins. It sounds expensive, but really not when you add it up and see it truly as a powerful supplement. It worked!

8. Pregnenolone, Progest-e daily (I have actually taken these all year since the beginning.)

9. STRESS reduction…making a conscious effort to try to relax, de-clench my stomach and lowering adrenaline responses… trying to. All of the above also helped with this one.

10. Salt and sugar. Wherever I add sweet, I add salt. Including in eggnog.

11. Stopped eating the bone broth I was making. Actually Ray also suggested I stop it too. That there may be something in it that was irritating my gut. Now just stick with Great Lakes gelatin.

My main eating consists of…. Strained home OJ, nonfat grassfed milk, raw egg yolks, raw oysters or shrimp, a little greek yogurt strained, coco oil, corn tortillas, gelatin gummies and in coffee. White rice, potatoes or other tiny off RP eats maybe once a week, nothing major. I am going to slowly build up to higher protein/calcium levels as my gut keeps healing.

I ran into two friends I had not seen in a couple of months and they were both shocked at my “weight loss” (actually de-swelling, de-thickening). Sorry for the long post. I hope this info may help one of you here. : )
 
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MichelleLE

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Feb 10, 2013
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I left out another major factor... HCL Betaine with each meal! Large amounts. I did not have enough stomach acid. Baking soda in my OJ was actually making it worse rather than better.... I now only take the HCL every few days with a meal if I feel I need the digestion help.
 

Dean

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Jan 28, 2013
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Congrats on your progress and sticking it out...

Are the starches you are consuming something you did throughout or something you added later? I'm just wondering if you think the starches with the fructose "corrections" were integral to your ultimate success or you needed/wanted the starches for whatever reason and the fructose "corrections" helped mitigate any difficulties they may have been causing.

Have you included liver at all? What about the cooked potato juice?
 

SheilaHelm1

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Thanks MichelleLE, just ordered some Betaine HCL on the strength of your interesting post.... Let you know how I get on... I have baths with Bicarbonate of soda... (anyone know whats the difference with Bicarbonate of Soda and Baking Soda??)
 
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MichelleLE

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Hi Dean, thanks. No the starches were not new. I had been eating them, also, yes, juicing potatoes for protein. That was fine. But what was different this time is lowering the liquid food and really listening to my body. Sort of saying okay need a solid now. I guess also yes, what is different with the starches is the balancing with fructose/glucose. Getting that right, as in Clint's quote in my post. I can tell when I need a solid, like potatoes with cheese or a piece of cheese and OJ. Or when I can just have the eggnog.
 
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MichelleLE

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Oh and yes, I was doing raw liver 2 times a week. I took that out. Dont know if I will try that again. Right now seems fine with what I am doing. I may add Asorb supplement, I think that is the name of it.
 
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MichelleLE

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Thanks Sheila! : ) I think that is the same thing as Baking Soda. But I would add the epsom salt, magnesium. The baking soda is used to make the magnesium absorb/work better. Plus it is just so relaxing. I get a buzz taking those baths. De-stressor!
 

John Eels

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Dec 26, 2012
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@MichelleLE
That's a very thorough master plan you got there. Impressed!
7. Epsom salt/baking soda bathes everyday. 2 cups of Epsom, one box baking soda per bath. For 30-45 mins. It sounds expensive, but really not when you add it up and see it truly as a powerful supplement. It worked!
What's the benefits of doing salt/baking soda bathes?
 
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MichelleLE

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Thanks John! It is a really good way to absorb sodium and magnesium which are really important to overall functioning. I read from Ray Peat, but cannot repeat it back as well. You can search salt sodium magnesium in his articles. It absorbs better than just taking it internally. Which I do also.
 
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MichelleLE

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I must add I also drink a mexican coke every other day. Sometimes everyday.
 

Bones

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I don't understand how a person can put on 20lbs of muscle with no weight training by simply going from one version of peat's diet to another in a few months. I have been going to the gym since I was a teenager and just putting on five solid lbs of muscle from where I was, during an intensive and dedicated weigh training cycle after already having a fit body altered my body and was an impressive gain. My jeans were actually tighter b/c of the muscles on my legs even though my weight was the same. I used calipers and and used one of those digital body fats gadgets that reflected the percentages when you put in the info like height and weight and age etc. Perhaps I am misunderstanding something here. Did you measure anything?
 

jaketthomas

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I agree with Bones. It's impossible to gain 20 lbs of muscle without engaging in some sort of vigorous training routine. You can't just put on muscle through diet. It's impossible. I've been training with weights for almost 20 years. I smell a rat here.
 

Dean

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MichelleLE said:
Thanks John! It is a really good way to absorb sodium and magnesium which are really important to overall functioning. I read from Ray Peat, but cannot repeat it back as well. You can search salt sodium magnesium in his articles. It absorbs better than just taking it internally. Which I do also.


Did you use any kind of special or deluxe kind of baking soda or is Arm and Hammer ok? I noticed that Bob's Red Mill took the aluminum-free claim off their baking soda; so especially in terms of bathing, is there any difference really?
 

Birdie

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jaa said:
Arm and hammer is aluminium free.
I was relieved to read that Bob's has taken the "aluminum free" off their label. Baking soda does not contain aluminum. Baking Powder contains aluminum. It's like putting "cholesterol free" on peppermints. Egads!!
 

cliff

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You can definitely gain muscle just by eating the right foods, I went from 140 to around 160 just switching my diet from 80/10/10 to a normal diet. I assume most of it was lean mass because my pants size didn't really change.

It sounds like maybe Michelle had some sort of edema that was maybe corrected by eating more salt and less liquid.
 
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MichelleLE

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Feb 10, 2013
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Hahaha... So sorry to cause confusion. No rat here! : ) That was a guess about the muscle gain. I have no clue where the "thickness" went, but the weight is still high. Except to say that I gained 22 pounds on Ray Peat eats. I went up 2 sizes, at least. In the last 2-3 months, this new way of eating Ray Peat, I lost the inches back down fitting into my old clothes, but the scale still says the same 22 pounds over my normal pre-RP weight. I am definitely not a fitness expert. My friends were shocked at my "weightloss". They had gotten used to the chubby me. People have reported muscle gain eating Ray Peat without working out more. But to be honest I am not qualified to say what it is. I lost thickness, inches. It is unknown to me, why the scale still says the same 22 pound weight gain. Really, really weird. Density. I am just happy I finally have my body back, only healthier, toner. It has been painfully frustrating!

Yes, I use Arm and Hammer baking soda.
 

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