Losing Fat (and improving health) is Easy... we have been misled :) My Story

Matutu · 18 Jul 2012 at 09:38

iCe-BLaZeD said:
yes it is true that it's easier to lose weight when you have a lot more to lose.. I am currently focusing on putting on muscle and hope that I can get down to fairly lean levels in due time and effort. It's happening slowly.. just my mid-section is by far the worst area and the slowest to progress I want a reliable way of measuring body-fat since I am "near" normal weights now and the scale doesn't really mean anything.. doesn't seem to be one that doesn't cost a fortune (except maybe calipers)

Get yourself to a real good gym (not a posers one...) and get a trainer there to do it on the calipers, that will give you a good indication on where you are at.

Have you got any loose skin at all on the lower stomach?

iCe-BLaZeD · 18 Jul 2012 at 11:42

R.O.S.S.I said:
Congratulations, I myself have been dieting recently (Cutting out all junk food, fizzy drinks, artificial sweeteners, processed food etc) and have lost 3st 1lb to date... Started mid April, so not a bad loss in 3 months, I also started to hit the gym at least 3 times a week to aid with weight loss so its going well on that side.

I've had to throw away about 60% of my regular clothes because they are simply too big, and i'm going to have to rebuy new work clothes as they are the same! It feels great but also a pain at the same time as I'm going to have to shell out for even more new clobber haha!

Everyone has noticed though and it does wonders for your self-esteem when people compliment you on it, and the GF loves it as well so winners all round really. Been meaning to lose weight since I've left school, nearly 10 years on and finally getting round to it is a massive relief for me as I thought I'd never be able to do it!

Not sure how much further I want to go but I'll continue going to the gym and trying to eat healthily and see where it takes me. I think in the long run I want to get below 13st as I'm sure that is supposed to be around the 'average' weight for my height, but then BMI is a load of tosh anyway so it'll just be what i'm most comfortable at!

haha, yes BMI is a load of ****... you will put on weight anyway when you have lost a lot of fat and are doing proper weight training.. clothes thing was annoying but good at the same time.. but what's the alternative, become a nudist?

Brilliant job m8 sounds like you are doing well

Matutu said:
Get yourself to a real good gym (not a posers one...) and get a trainer there to do it on the calipers, that will give you a good indication on where you are at.

Have you got any loose skin at all on the lower stomach?

At the moment I am just using kettlebells/body weight stuff at home (and started doing some deadlifts at a friends where he has a squating rack).. I will be finding a proper gym when I return to uni. I can't tell whether I'll have loose skin yet there, I have a lot of stubborn subcutaneous fat to lose in that area still, by far the worst area slowly improving

Matutu · 18 Jul 2012 at 11:57

iCe-BLaZeD said:
At the moment I am just using kettlebells/body weight stuff at home (and started doing some deadlifts at a friends where he has a squating rack).. I will be finding a proper gym when I return to uni. I can't tell whether I'll have loose skin yet there, I have a lot of stubborn subcutaneous fat to lose in that area still, by far the worst area slowly improving

Yer it will normally be right on the lower stomach, you can tell sometimes by your belly button if you look at it and it looks abit droopy, then your most likely have some on your lower stomach.

Watch the kettlebells as well, as these tend to be very cardio based exercises and not too much resistant. Great for strength/endurance not the best for building.

iCe-BLaZeD · 18 Jul 2012 at 12:16

Matutu said:
Yer it will normally be right on the lower stomach, you can tell sometimes by your belly button if you look at it and it looks abit droopy, then your most likely have some on your lower stomach.

Watch the kettlebells as well, as these tend to be very cardio based exercises and not too much resistant. Great for strength/endurance not the best for building.

aye, i just want regular access to a barbell , no money nor room where I am at (my friend has a spare).. so I'll find a gym when I go back uni and have a pt job; am not doing cardio "type" stuff with the kettlebells.. but I know what you mean... I don't work out much or for long and try to make it resistance,

Rikki · 20 Nov 2012 at 16:45

Thread bump ....

Almost 6 months down the line since the last post how are things going?

iCe-BLaZeD · 20 Nov 2012 at 17:33

Rikki said:
Thread bump ....

Almost 6 months down the line since the last post how are things going?

great man, thanks for asking... still enjoying feeling awesome and leaning out though VERY slowly in the stomach region until very recently [I reckon because of personal issues]... have also put on a bit of muscle as far as I can tell but haven't been keeping such a tight tracking on it and the leaning out of certain areas has definitely made arms/legs seem more defined so can't claim that with certainty...

I have signed up to and am attending the uni gym but did something to my shoulder/knee through going too heavy on dead-lifts and not focusing on form after a huge break from any barbell handling (silly thing to do I know) so have been basically just recovering from that the last month or two... they feel fine now so will perhaps get back onto some training soon, just started using kettle-bells again albeit very briefly each time

have been doing a semi-"carb-back-loading" style thing with regards to timing larger amounts of carbs/sugars to the evening (preferably after working out but not recently due to lack of said activity), in order to maximize potential of insulin resistant fat and insulin sensitive muscle time-frames. It seems to be working but there has also been a huge decrease in personal-life stress very recently (not sure if I wrote about that before) and it seems to be helping in terms of leaning out the stomach.

One thing I have also started recently is yohimbine HCL, typically before the walk to uni and in the fasting part of the day but it's too early to say if that is beneficial..

Rikki · 20 Nov 2012 at 22:03

Great stuff.

My own diet and stuff has settled out too. I'd only wanted to drop a few stone and did (12.5 to 10.5 and sticking at that just now). Though I have a cheat day on a Tuesday when I get a Dominos but that leaves my system in less than an hour LOL.

Im still avoiding all sugary drinks, normal milk (Lactose free only), sweets, crisps etc. Bar the Dominos and sometimes something at the weekend.

iCe-BLaZeD · 20 Nov 2012 at 22:54

nice one man

, I'm considering a "dominos" cheat day once a month or two IF they bring the gluten-free bases to the UK as I've heard they will be

re the milk... milk is one of those things I really want back in my diet just because of how amazingly tasty it is but found that it's one thing that causes GERD/skin issues... I am still waiting to be able to afford to do a raw-milk test as I've read/heard of people tolerating raw milk much more

fluffmct · 20 Nov 2012 at 23:22

Great stuff mate. As someone who's suffered from a lot of autoimmune problems (check out my log at http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18453773 ) I can relate to a fair bit of what you're saying.

Keep it up because as everyone here knows, consistency is key ;-)

iCe-BLaZeD · 20 Nov 2012 at 23:57

fluffmct said:
Great stuff mate. As someone who's suffered from a lot of autoimmune problems (check out my log at http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18453773 ) I can relate to a fair bit of what you're saying.

Keep it up because as everyone here knows, consistency is key

wow, interesting story

, well done especially considering the auto-immune condition... just curious as I could not see any mention... have you looked into eliminating grains and in addition since it's not usually covered that well nightshades/possibly eggs? this is known as the "auto-immune" paleo protocol... this and/or GAPs are pretty much what seem to be used to manage/cure auto-immune diseases in the paleo/ancestral health blogisphere.

Andybtsn · 21 Nov 2012 at 00:06

Can you share your food plan/diet iCe, please? I'm interested to know what/when you ate when you lost the weight and what you eat now?

fluffmct · 21 Nov 2012 at 00:09

iCe-BLaZeD said:
wow, interesting story , well done especially considering the auto-immune condition... just curious as I could not see any mention... have you looked into eliminating grains and in addition since it's not usually covered that well nightshades/possibly eggs? this is known as the "auto-immune" paleo protocol... this and/or GAPs are pretty much what seem to be used to manage/cure auto-immune diseases in the paleo/ancestral health blogisphere.

Yep I've tried it but it hasn't quite worked out for me.

I managed to keep Crohn's disease at bay whilst eating less processed foods, however I also had surgery to remove damaged bowels which would be a more obvious factor and I was able to keep grains in my diet with no problem. I developed Enteropathic arthritis more recently and a diet sans grains doesn't have any impact; same goes for eggs. I'm still on a grain free diet just because I'm leaning out but I've found it hasn't done much to rectify the arthritis and I'm relying on medication to sort me out.

Rikki · 21 Nov 2012 at 00:45

Have you tried http://www.lactofree.co.uk/

minister · 21 Nov 2012 at 04:12

I try and stick to a seasonal diet summer foods, winter foods.

iCe-BLaZeD · 22 Nov 2012 at 00:18

Andybtsn said:
Can you share your food plan/diet iCe, please? I'm interested to know what/when you ate when you lost the weight and what you eat now?

sorry I never kept a food journal or planned out any meals. I pretty much most of the time if not all of the time ate to satiety, kept it to meal times more than snacking...

example of what I'm eating now;- for breakfast I had 4 eggs fried in ghee, with a coffee containing a few table spoons of blended un-salted butter (tastes like cream in coffee really), for dinner I ate 2 lamb chops with some fried haloumi cheese, a giant sweet potato and a couple of parsnips par-boiled and deep fried in beef dripping, some 85% lindt dark chocolate and quite a bit of milk (yes I buy it, full cream gold top type milk, from time to time though as said before will be trying raw milk at some point since that has the lactase enzyme and good bacterium still in tact as well as being non-homogenised)

My diet is mostly lamb/beef + veggies these days with dark (85+%) chocolate thrown in... on days where I do work out (not much recently) I will indulge in more sugary options post-workout like lindt's white chocolate or extra root veggies deep fried in beef dripping

iCe-BLaZeD · 22 Nov 2012 at 00:20

Rikki said:
Have you tried http://www.lactofree.co.uk/

no I think when I looked at that it wasn't proper full-fat (gold top milk is 5.0+g fat per 100ml whereas asda/tesco full milk is 3.9/4g per 100ml)... it may be worth trying it purely to confirm that it is the lactose causing the issue but that's why I'd rather mostly avoid milk for now until I can try raw (full fat / non-homogenised / full enzyme [lactase] and bacterium activity)

iCe-BLaZeD · 22 Nov 2012 at 00:25

fluffmct said:
Yep I've tried it but it hasn't quite worked out for me.

I managed to keep Crohn's disease at bay whilst eating less processed foods, however I also had surgery to remove damaged bowels which would be a more obvious factor and I was able to keep grains in my diet with no problem. I developed Enteropathic arthritis more recently and a diet sans grains doesn't have any impact; same goes for eggs. I'm still on a grain free diet just because I'm leaning out but I've found it hasn't done much to rectify the arthritis and I'm relying on medication to sort me out.

Damn, well, from what I've seen regarding removing nightshades or trying GAPS it can take a very long time to fully resolve or just noticeably resolve, did you give it enough time? Definitely seems like one of the harder things to do, full elimination diet I mean but a lot of people see resolution, robb wolf himself had ulcerative colitis and the doctors were ready to remove sections of his bowels but his fully resolved... my sister has had similar issues but LOVES her chillis/tomatoes.. she notices after a few weeks (very early imo) that she has significantly less digestive and skin issues like eczema

Hope you can find some more info to help you with it, I'd say keeping the grains/nightshades out might be beneficial because usually don't notice the damage until it's too late with those things

Mason- · 22 Nov 2012 at 02:23

iCe-BLaZeD said:
sorry I never kept a food journal or planned out any meals. I pretty much most of the time if not all of the time ate to satiety, kept it to meal times more than snacking...

example of what I'm eating now;- for breakfast I had 4 eggs fried in ghee, with a coffee containing a few table spoons of blended un-salted butter (tastes like cream in coffee really), for dinner I ate 2 lamb chops with some fried haloumi cheese, a giant sweet potato and a couple of parsnips par-boiled and deep fried in beef dripping, some 85% lindt dark chocolate and quite a bit of milk (yes I buy it, full cream gold top type milk, from time to time though as said before will be trying raw milk at some point since that has the lactase enzyme and good bacterium still in tact as well as being non-homogenised)

My diet is mostly lamb/beef + veggies these days with dark (85+%) chocolate thrown in... on days where I do work out (not much recently) I will indulge in more sugary options post-workout like lindt's white chocolate or extra root veggies deep fried in beef dripping

This is my problem I tried paleo but I struggle with breakfast. Dinner is easy meat + veg done. Just I don't really like eggs. So I've been eating porridge with a small spoon of nutella in it but it's milk + oats haha which aren't exactly paleo. Getting a blender for xmas, what's your opinion on smoothies for breakfast.

I'm like you in a way. After my first year of uni reached my max weight. 16 and a half stone at 5 10. Started eating better and I go to the gym 4 or more times a week. But you know what uni is like, everyone has pizza or whatever and it's so easy to get sucked in. MUST TRY HARDER

.

MoNkeE · 22 Nov 2012 at 07:28

It's okay, I don't think cavemen could pop in to their local Lindt store for some dark chocolate either, so nutella and oats must be okay

iCe-BLaZeD · 22 Nov 2012 at 10:48

Mason- said:
This is my problem I tried paleo but I struggle with breakfast. Dinner is easy meat + veg done. Just I don't really like eggs. So I've been eating porridge with a small spoon of nutella in it but it's milk + oats haha which aren't exactly paleo. Getting a blender for xmas, what's your opinion on smoothies for breakfast.

I'm like you in a way. After my first year of uni reached my max weight. 16 and a half stone at 5 10. Started eating better and I go to the gym 4 or more times a week. But you know what uni is like, everyone has pizza or whatever and it's so easy to get sucked in. MUST TRY HARDER .

I never eat in the morning... I usually eat from 12-3pm onwards sometimes later depending on my schedule. My breakfast meal is just treated as "another meal" and though I do sometimes eat eggs/bacon eggs/sausage that isn't a regular thing, I just eat whatever I have in the fridge/around.

Though; since I am trying a similar approach to "carb-backloading" at the moment I am usually ketogenic during the day (low-med protein / high fat / very low carb) so won't be eating huge amounts of carbs until evening + post workout.. so personally probably wouldn't do a smoothie/green juice early in the day but if it works for you and you're getting the majority of your carbs post-work out I'd say go for it

MoNkeE said:
It's okay, I don't think cavemen could pop in to their local Lindt store for some dark chocolate either, so nutella and oats must be okay

it's not about replicating what cavemen would eat, that's impossible, it's about minimizing toxicity and maximizing nutrient density... though oat's aren't as bad as say something wheat based, it has it's issues [similar problematic proteins].. I would however eat oats that are gluten-free but I wouldn't make them a regular meal personally (many oats are contaminated with gluten due to factory sharing/methods).