Getting less fat in 2017... With technology!

Everything else
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Thanks!

Yep, I’m on the magnesium tip. I’m also taking 0-1 electrolyte drink powders a day, which as you would imagine are a bunch of sodium/potassium/magnesium and some stevia, when I feel like I need it.

A huge change this time has been to be really disciplined about “drink a bunch of water” being my first response to the hunger sensation. That seems to be really helping with the dehydration (and omg peeing constantly) situation.

Condiments aren’t much of a thing for me – haven’t drank many calories outside of alcohol for years and years, and forgoing bbq sauce and glazes and such that love to hide sugar content isn’t much hardship – but the point is well taken.

I’m doing my best to lean way harder into veggies & fats and limit protein this time around. Maaaaaaaan it is really easy to eat way too much meat in the American Midwest! And I’ve always been an enthusiastic carnivore. My gout, let me tell you about it!

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You can find sugar free BBQ sauce and ketchup on Amazon. They’re not great, but they’re pretty good!

My dental hygienist was giving me crap about my gums pre-Covid, so after dinner I use a water pick. It’s a small pain in the ass, but it’s enough to ensure I don’t eat a thing for the rest of the night. Helps me sick to 18/6 IF. Instead I treat myself with decaf coffees flavored with sugar free syrups. I also chew a ton of gum as another treat, like nearly ten pieces a day. If you chew it for ~30 minutes it’s free.

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Oh that’s an interesting thought. I haven’t really been able to brush my teeth at bedtime since the radiation (you know what sucks? Everything about radiation being blasted at your mouth and throat) because of how it desiccates my mouth overnight, but if I brushed like shortly after dinner and drank a bunch of water after, that might do it.

I have grand plans for IF, but I’m already making huge changes and the last thing I want is to go a bridge too far and have my entire empire crumble.

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I’d be careful about too much fat. As they say, once you calculate your macros, protein is a goal you should try to hit, carbs is a limit you should try to stay under, and fats are for satiety, so if you’re not hungry there’s no need to load up on fats.

Speaking of delicious fats I love pork rinds! Since they’re really the only “chippy” type of substance you can have on keto I have them every day.

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Do you get any bloodwork done for HDL/LDL levels when you’re on Keto?

My wife was a big fan of keto diets, but came back with some borderline worrying LDL levels, so she’s cutting back on saturated fats. That sort of problem may vary quite a bit from individual to individual - I’ve seen studies where LDL levels did look good during keto diets.

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I get blood work done annually as part of a physical and it’s about time to have that done again, but I don’t get any special blood work done related to the diet. I vaguely recall my levels were a bit high a year ago and I will be interested in seeing what the changes now.

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Yup, my mom’s hdl/ldl ratio improved considerably (though totals were higher).

@inactive_user anything at all that you need, please ask. I agree with you that it’s really easy to eat too much protein. I definitely think there were stages of doing keto for me where that was an issue. However, I wouldn’t be super concerned with that while you are getting started if you have a lot to lose. What is important in the early stages is sticking with it. (The irony for me is that while I have cut my meat intake to a third of what it used to be, I am now supplementing with protein powder because of my workout regimen.)

The hydration really helps. I make up a gallon of tazo passion tea every night and add in some other flavorings for the following day.

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First off, thank you – sincerely, thank you! – and others here who offer their support and advice. Changing habits is hard!

On protein, I would totally agree except for the gout. I can’t be messing around with gout triggers, and that’s a pretty big one. (Also spinach, annoyingly, but I can easily make do with other leafy greens.)

Would love to hear more about your gallon o’ tea approach. I don’t particularly mind drinking plain-jane water, but mixing it up might be a good thing.

On hydration, I’m just super leaning into “water first, water next, water last” – I’m over a half-gallon in already today (plus some La Croix) and it’s noon. Probably get something like another .75-1.0 gallon in before bedtime. Seems to be working out okay for me.

I just got my blood drawn the other day, haven’t actually looked at it yet (not letting that into my brain until after work, I have a super busy day that I need to be focused for here). My plan is to absolutely keep an eye on cholesterol, BP, and whatever other levels are important.

BP right now is a bastard. It’s too high – no surprise, I’m 70+ pounds overweight and stressed out and have been sedentary for way too long – but I need to exercise and lose weight to get it under control, which means mineral supplements b/c the keto electrolyte situation. So I’m just monitoring to make sure it doesn’t spike or anything, but I definitely need to supplement some sodium.

On the plus side, I’m not really consuming much sodium through food other than the occasional frozen chicken-mozz-garlic-artichoke sausage (thanks Costco!) so I’m probably okay there.

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Best of luck @inactive_user ! On the exercise front, I can recommend that you find something you can enjoy, at least a little. I settled on jogging, myself, since I can do it in nice outdoor locations and listen to podcasts or music. I know other folks who play games while on their elliptical machine, or swim laps so they can be in the water. If you hate everything about your exercise it’s impossible to keep going, so put at least a little something fun in there!

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I’ve been doing some form of low carb off and on (all on in recent years) since the 90s, so I’ve been where you are (including being that overweight on more than one occasion).

As for the tea, it’s just a large filter bag of tazo passion iced tea with some extra flavors added (Mio, etc). You are drinking a LOT. Maybe too much. I definitely wouldn’t force yourself to drink more than you can handle (and too much water is definitely a thing you can do)

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Thanks @ineffablebob !

On the exercise front, I’m really just going with “get up off the couch and do something” past the baseline stretching and light (like, really light) bodyweight stuff every day. If I get ambitious in a few months, I can burn that bridge when I get to it.

On water, yeah, I know it’s a lot. But not much more than I was doing before the new regime, really - I’ve been on a gallon+ on and off for a couple years. I’m not like forcing it down, but I am taking a swallow and seeing if that’s what my body seems to be asking for when I get that low-intensity hunger sensation. So far, that’s been true more often than not. I’m also peeing friggin constantly (though that’s seems to slowly be tapering off) so it seems unlikely I’m over hydrated for the moment at least.

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Lol, yeah, been there too. There is so much you can do with just bodyweight exercise. It may be light, but starting somewhere, anywhere, is a great thing.

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Okay, so thanks to technology and Internets I not only lost 42 pounds so far since January, but I’m also $530 richer.

My ex turned me on to Healthywage.com, a site where you can bet on your weight loss goal. If you find their investment page, they’re apparently quite profitable, so like casinos, the overall success rate must be less than the loss rate. But, I set a goal that would push me but would be achievable.

So over the course of the past six months they’ve taken $50 a month from me, $300 total. My weigh-in period started Saturday and I had through July 3 to make my 42 pound goal. We had a family get-together, first time since Covid, Saturday night, so I was hoping my weigh-in might make it Saturday morning. It did! (More on that below!) So I won $862. Less PayPal fees and my initial investment, that’s a $530 profit.

How have I done it? Mostly through cutting carbs. Not full-on keto, just only having beers one night a week, avoiding eating much bread and other carbs, focusing on meet and the veggies that I like. Avoiding processed snacks like chips and sweets.

That did the first 25 pounds or so. Then the loss slowed, and I did too, so it was time to add exercise. Here’s where the technology comes in.

  • Primary exercise: I’m doing “Couch to 5K.” The program that has your start with short runs interspersed with long walks and eventually has you ready for a 5K. I’m into the start of week 5 or 6 now.

    • Using the Watch to 5K program on my Apple Watch to track the runs and drive the program
    • Listening to Audiobooks on Audible to incentivize myself to actually go run. Project Hail Mary was great for getting me out to run because the Audible version is fantastic.

  • Secondary exercise: SuperNatural on Oculus Quest 2. Really fun, gameplay is a total rip of Beat Saber, but the song selection is great, the coaches are surprisingly good, and I’ve been really enjoying it.

Technology came into effect in helping me make my final weigh-in so I could enjoy the tacos and margaritas. I weighed in Saturday morning and I was 0.5 pounds away from the goal. DAMNIT! Then I thought about how much I sweated the last night. I drank a ton of water after the workout. Could I really lose a half-pound of water weight instantly? So I did a workout (“L” setting, my usual) for 25 minutes. Down 0.3! Could I do this? Did another one, inadvertently picked a high (“H”) workout, lost another 0.3 pounds via sweat! Made the weigh-in by 0.1 pounds!

I also have a Renpho smart bike I picked up during the “can’t run outside” weather phase I’ve been using. I tried Zwift, but honestly, I find audiobook listening and podcasts are better motivation for me, so I’m just using the included software and using Audible and OverCast while I bike. Using this less while the weather is nice, though.

Technology kept me on track. I’ve had a REALLY stressful 2021 due to some family health crisis stuff, my kid finishing high school, and deciding to make a career change, and if it hadn’t been for the money riding on HealthyWage I’d probably have done one of my “I’m just going to treat myself for a week” stress eating things that would have ended up with me going off-program and losing progress right in the middle. But with the $$ riding on it, and I had various streaks to keep up in Apple Health, Watch to 5K, and SuperNatural, so I did a couple of shots of superb rum and got back on the program. :)

At this point, I have my payout, but I’ve lost so much of my final goal that I’m not going to slip now. I ate and drank at the family get together, and had a nice brunch with my dad and pizza with my kid for Father’s Day, but this morning I got up and did my Watch to 5K run and ate a healthy lunch and got back on program. I want to lose another 25 pounds – the last bit I’m going to do more gradually and aim for end-of-year – and then keep healthy enough eating and exercise habits to keep the weight off.

Here’s my “before” pic that HealthyWage posted (had no idea when I set up the account this chubby cheek pic would end up public):

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And here’s my “after” pic Saturday morning:

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You can do this, sir! If I can given my absolute love of food and beer, anyone can.

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Congrats!

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Awesome! Great work.

As you already know, to keep it off it does mean a lifestyle change. I pretty much have given up beer at home and only drink it rarely on social occasions but I don’t really miss it now.

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Yep. While losing I’ve gotten into the habit of eating lighter and healthier at home, and saving the beer and higher-calorie/higher carb stuff for social occasions. I feel like I can maintain that.

Of course, with COVID, there were fewer social occasions. :) But I should be able to moderate things – I feel so much better overall between this and the CPAP I don’t want to go back to the general tiredness of last year.

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No reason why not as you have the right mindset IMO.

I do still eat “sh*t”, just smaller quantities of it. For instance I have a thing for chocolate chip cookies - big ones from the local baker, not from a supermarket packaged product (which I now l no longer buy). Difference is now I eat one over a minimum of 2 days, usually 3 and sometimes 4 and I eat at most 2 a week but normally only one. That seems to work for me in terms of “not missing out”.

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Congrats man! 42 pounds is a lot, well done!

Yesterday was the first day I felt like I started reaping the benefits of the program. Had a very long and intense day at work, but stayed focused and energized throughout without resorting to more coffee than usual, and finished the day in a way better mental state than I would have on my old “drink too much, eat crap, and never exercise” plan.

Yesterday was also the first day I really felt the keto hunger adjustment kick in. I’d gotten there before in both previous attempts, if briefly, so I’ve been looking forward to it! Ate three square healthy meals with one tiny snack and was pretty much content all day. Good stuff.

Muscle fatigue was almost entirely gone as well. Huzzah!

I’m also at or slightly past where I’d made it before, keto-wise, and not suffering the cramps! Super hopeful I’ve sorted that one.

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Grats to Denny. Wish I had been able to bet on me losing weight!!

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Congrats Denny! Sounds like you’ve been pretty dedicated to sticking to the plan for the last six months.

I haven’t used this particular system, but I heartily endorse the general idea. Getting to the point where you’re accomplishing a milestone like a 5k can be a real encouragement. It’s fun to do some local events, too, once you’re at that point. I’m never going to win any races, but getting out by a lake or an orchard or on a forest trail and jogging 5k or 10k with a few hundred other runners is a lot of fun!