What's Your Struggles When It Comes To Fat Loss?

[Runenight201]

Epsom salt baths my man. Every night. I don't worry about magnesium anymore. Plus baths are a great way to unwind/destress before going to bed. Technically this is supplementation, but I treat an Epsom salt baths as a de-stressing activity more so than a supplement.

Great way to de stress but doesn’t provide the body with any energy. I noticed that all supplements make me feel better, psychologically, in that they make fix something physically in deficiency, or raise dopamine, or do who knows what else to make one feel good, but they don’t give the stomach that feeling of satiation and fullness, which is critical to feeling stable and warm in my experience. Getting the stomach happy and satisfied all day long is so crucial to avoiding negative states.

 

[Waremu]

From a pedantic standpoint the anti-nutrients don’t make the nut a net negative food after accounting for the larger amounts of positive nutrients present in the nut. I’m talking about maybe 1-2 oz worth of nuts, and looking at the cashew, which contains a a large amount of magnesium, which is a specially hard mineral to get without consuming very specific fruits or a large amount of dairy, but in my experience both quickly cause problems if overconsumed. Starch provides energy but can weigh down the body if overconsumed, and none of them have magnesium, besides beans and whole grains, which also cause problems and are not remotely tasty on their own. These problems aren’t there if the fruit/dairy intake is lessoned and replaced with other sources of nutrition. One could turn to a supplement based way of eating, to avoid PUFA in nuts and then getting the minerals, proteins, and safer fats found in nuts, but it is a rather odd way to live in my opinion.

In my experience, I noticed an increase in well-being, warmth, and satiation from a small amount of salted nut consumption in my diet. Magnesium definitely contributes to this, but my body also receiving protein and fat also provides energy and satiation as well. Nuts also taste good. Whole foods that taste good are always a sign to me that something good is going on, especially if I note a subjective increase in well-being afterwards.

Many nuts can vary widely in their mineral content, so for that reason they're not as reliable as other foods for certain minerals. For example, people often talk about eating Brazil nuts for selenium, but the selenium content varies widely. Some of the other minerals in nuts are not absorbed as well compared to other foods, due to the anti-nutrients, such as zinc. Nuts don't have anything you can't get from other foods, so I don't see it as a net positive. You're just eating extra PUFA and some minerals which are poorly absorbed, whereas you could get them from lower PUFA calorie sources. There are many other sources of magnesium equal to or better than nuts. Sweet potatoes actually have a decent source of magnesium when consumed as a major source of carbs. I am currently eating purple sweet potatoes as my main carb source and the magnesium content is 80%-100% of the RDA. With orange juice concentrate added in, from those two foods alone I get almost double the RDA in magnesium. With strong coffee, it's even higher. I am also getting a ton of B vitamins and minerals as well, which are lacking in most of those nuts. More bang for your buck nutrients-per-calorie-wise. Fruit isn't an issue for most people. Even people who don't handle fructose well only see problems when they only eat fruit as their main carb source that has a higher fructose to glucose ratio, etc. Most people can eat glucose-containing carbohydrates from starchy plant foods such as tubers and fill in some fructose to add in nutrients and because some fructose helps with glucose utilization/absorption and be fine, as long as they're not overconsuming it. Most peoples livers can store 70-100 grams of fructose easily. You can get all these nutrients from whole foods without supplementation. Salted starchy sweet potatoes are far tastier to me and more satisfying/satiating over nuts/seeds as well.

 

[Oraganic4me]

the only thing that works for me is intermittent fasting.

Me too... I can have extra cheese , marmalade etc when I time restrict my eating.

 

[Oraganic4me]

. For example, people often talk about eating Brazil nuts for selenium, but the selenium content varies widely. Some of the other minerals in nuts are not absorbed as well compared to other foods, due to the anti-nutrients, such as zinc.

What do you eat for selenium if not Brazil nuts?

 

[Waremu]

What do you eat for selenium if not Brazil nuts?

Seafood (cod, oysters), etc.

 

[Oraganic4me]

Seafood (cod, oysters), etc.

Thanks...

 

[Hairfedup]

So coffee doesn't help with fat loss?

 

[revenant]

Until my mid-20's, I could eat whatever I wanted and be super skinny. Then I got into life extension and all that jazz and started experimenting with calorie restriction, intermittent fasting, low-carb, paleo, you name it... that all worked really well as far as having a low fat percentage, until it slowly stopped working after I hit 30. Then I realized I had to cut calories even more (~1500 kcal per day or so), and that worked for a while, until eventually I couldn't do it anymore and just started eating normally, and the weight just kept on piling on.

That's when I realized it's either a lifetime of calorie restriction + exercise OR possibly fixing my metabolism, which I probably harmed during all those years of experimentation. It ain't easy being this chubby though when you're used to having a fat percentage of less than 10%.

 

[redsun]

Until my mid-20's, I could eat whatever I wanted and be super skinny. Then I got into life extension and all that jazz and started experimenting with calorie restriction, intermittent fasting, low-carb, paleo, you name it... that all worked really well as far as having a low fat percentage, until it slowly stopped working after I hit 30. Then I realized I had to cut calories even more (~1500 kcal per day or so), and that worked for a while, until eventually I couldn't do it anymore and just started eating normally, and the weight just kept on piling on.

That's when I realized it's either a lifetime of calorie restriction + exercise OR possibly fixing my metabolism, which I probably harmed during all those years of experimentation. It ain't easy being this chubby though when you're used to having a fat percentage of less than 10%.

And you have not attempted a very low fat diet to bring the weight down? Its incredibly effective and is generally a recommended approach. The carbs and protein will help heal the metabolism along with very little fat which will reduce body fat and likewise deplete PUFA stores.

 

[revenant]

I am currently attempting it, let's see.

In addition to just being fat I seem to also have a lot of water retention. Swollen feet etc. Not sure where that came from. I've tried high, medium and low salt intake.

EDIT: One good thing about all my experiments is that I've avoided PUFAs for the past 15 years.

 

[brix]

I am currently attempting it, let's see.

In addition to just being fat I seem to also have a lot of water retention. Swollen feet etc. Not sure where that came from. I've tried high, medium and low salt intake.

EDIT: One good thing about all my experiments is that I've avoided PUFAs for the past 15 years.

When I get a lot of sun exposure, I lose water weight. Are you getting enough sun?

 

[revenant]

When I get a lot of sun exposure, I lose water weight. Are you getting enough sun?

Incidentally this year, yes. Otherwise I've avoided sun like the plague all my life, but that's when I had no water weight issues.

 

[Oraganic4me]

I am currently attempting it, let's see.

In addition to just being fat I seem to also have a lot of water retention. Swollen feet etc. Not sure where that came from. I've tried high, medium and low salt intake.

EDIT: One good thing about all my experiments is that I've avoided PUFAs for the past 15 years.

Funny you should mention that about yourself avoiding PUFAs for 15 years....I was just thinking how all these popular diets ... vegan, paleo, keto and even the infamous “ blue zone diet eat like the Okinawans” all avoided PUFAs .... crazy and no one drew the connection

 

[Mauritio]

I would say everyting that crashes blood sugar makes me gain weight and it happens that almost all substances for loosing weight do that . I think I have low glycogen storage. But I really dont know whats the cause for that , maybe an infection ... I will try minocyclin next. Doxycyclin didnt help in that regard.

 

[redsun]

I would say everyting that crashes blood sugar makes me gain weight and it happens that almost all substances for loosing weight do that . I think I have low glycogen storage. But I really dont know whats the cause for that , maybe an infection ... I will try minocyclin next. Doxycyclin didnt help in that regard.

There's a few things you can do to improve glycogen storage. Improving liver function which can be done through multiple avenues. Taurine seems to be able to increase liver glycogen very well. Biotin increases also glycogen synthesis.

Biotin Promotes Glycogen Synthesis

Taurine Doubles Liver Glycogen

 

[mipp]

what you've tried in the past and why it didn't work for fat loss? (or what did work)

When I was in my 20s modest CR worked very well (low carb-ish) I lost 10 kgs reached my target weight, felt light and energetic like a 10 year old. I slowly gained it back in the following years. I guess I wasn't motivated enough dealing with other stuff in my life
I tried to lose weight again in my early 30s and it worked for a while but then I crashed. Probably restricted too much, IF, exercise all the same time. Still haven't fully recovered from it.

what is currently holding you back? (e.g. a certain belief, health concern, motivation, etc.)

Realization that I would have to do low-moderate carb again. It's either that or slow and steady weight gain on high carbs. And I'm enjoying my carbs and their opioid effects, haha. So this is holding me back. But I don't want to become obese so I'll have to do something soon.

 

[A.D.]

Increasing milk intake has helped me lose more weight. Perhaps from the calcium.

Currently at:
• 3 cups a day of grass fed organic milk. (1200mg calcium)
• 3 ounces of cheese (600 mg calcium)

This isn't even close to what Ray Peat recommends with his milk intake of 2 quarts a day. I don't know how much cheese he has.

Coffee helps for me as well. I do 1 cup of milk with a quarter cup of concentrated coffee twice a day. Comes out to about 70mg of caffeine per serving. It isn't much but I feel a little goes a long way as my tolerance builds.

 

[Mauritio]

There's a few things you can do to improve glycogen storage. Improving liver function which can be done through multiple avenues. Taurine seems to be able to increase liver glycogen very well. Biotin increases also glycogen synthesis.

Biotin Promotes Glycogen Synthesis

Taurine Doubles Liver Glycogen

Taurine, caffeine, k2 , famotidine ... I have tried them all.

 

[Hans]

I have the same experience as those who said fasting is the only thing that works.

I’ve tried many variations of the Peat approach and the only ones that work for weight loss cause manic energy and poor sleep and a very restrictive diet overall.

When I eat intuitively to hunger with no fasting, I eat around 3500 calories a day.

When I just do a 4 hr eating window I can get by with 2000 calories no problem.

And my energy is way better during the day.

So I’m back to fasting. As much as I admire Ray Peat and have learned a lot from him, I’m not going to be a martyr for the gain weight for a while and hope cause.

The caveat to all this is I can eat Peaty and be lean no problem if I can leave my sedentary lifestyle. I can feel how much more insulin resistant I am after meals just being sedentary and the Peat approach just doesn’t help here.

Yeah, IF really lowers hunger.
I find that the more nutritious my diet is, the better my energy is and the less I have to eat for energy and so on, which helps me to stay lean (not implying that I'm undereating). Being sedentary can pile on weight, but I'd say the reason is that there might be some nutritional deficiencies that prevent the body from burning the excess energy.

 

[Hans]

The biggest challenge with fat loss in my opinion is gaining/maintaining strength while supporting good moods and energy. I’ve leaned up quickly eating a rice and veggie or fruit only diet but had such bad energy and moods or felt heavy and slow.

The strength and well-being associated with high energy intakes can still be achieved while undergoing fat loss, but only with the addition of un peat approved foods, unless one wants to turn to incorporating supplements into their regimen. I’ll forever be thankful to peat for getting me to eat dairy and sugar again, but these foods have their problems in excess, and a starch free/nut/vegetable free diet is a mistake imo.

Anytime I note any type of negative physical state I always ingest something, but I’ve stopped trying to force any specific type of food, but rather what I know would be best for my body at that time. Salted mixed nuts have been a powerful addition to my diet as of late.

I’ve gone from about 210 at my heaviest to getting down to 170 but feeling like crap, and being weak, etc... where as I’m 163 right now and feeling quite strong, light, flexible, and energetic in my body. I was stuck at 170 for a while, but have finally broken through that plateau while keeping my energy and moods good. The pros of being light cannot be understated, as I feel as if I can bounce around on my feet and move freely in all planes very easily. This is a very freeing feeling. My goals from here on out are to improve my pulling strength, climbing capabilities, as well as my flipping ones.

Photos cuz people complain of not enough photo evidence here =P (and perhaps Im a bit vain, but it was my vanity that was the original impetus for going down this whole health mess) the bike pic is me floating in the low 200s, the other pic is me as of now. Still got a little bit more work to do in regards to completely shredding up the stomach but I think I’ll be getting there soon.

Good work man.