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Old 20th August 2016, 21:26   #1531
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Congrats, @bblost!

Guys, I've been making dosa, upma, lemon rice, chicken etc with zero calorie cooking spray (just a small spray) instead of oil. Tastes 99% as good, cuts out a ton of calories. I'm able to eat string cheese or butter later in the day to get my fat, so I end up eating more to get the same calories/macros (more filled up). Just thought I'd share, the cooking spray seems to be a nice hack to use once in a while.
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Old 20th August 2016, 21:51   #1532
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by rajushank84 View Post
...I've been making dosa, upma, lemon rice, chicken etc with zero calorie cooking spray (just a small spray) instead of oil. Tastes 99% as good, cuts out a ton of calories.
In the dosa, upma and lemon rice, oil is the least of your worries - the carbs are
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Old 20th August 2016, 22:29   #1533
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by graaja View Post
In the dosa, upma and lemon rice, oil is the least of your worries - the carbs are
+1


Quote:
Originally Posted by rajushank84 View Post
Congrats, @bblost!

Guys, I've been making dosa, upma, lemon rice, chicken etc with zero calorie cooking spray (just a small spray) instead of oil. Tastes 99% as good, cuts out a ton of calories. I'm able to eat string cheese or butter later in the day to get my fat, so I end up eating more to get the same calories/macros (more filled up). Just thought I'd share, the cooking spray seems to be a nice hack to use once in a while.
A good non-stick dosa pan will let you make a dosa without any oil.
Use a tissue paper to wipe it clean once its hot.
Then pour the dosa batter and smoothen it.

It will come out even if you don't use any oil.

If you current non-stick is not able to do it. Time to buy a new one.
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Old 20th August 2016, 23:45   #1534
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

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Originally Posted by rajushank84 View Post
Guys, I've been making dosa, upma, lemon rice, chicken etc with zero calorie cooking spray (just a small spray) instead of oil.
Calories are not the problem, carbs are. You are eating so much carbs, what happened to the weight loss plan?

I use ghee for everything, it is good for you, just like butter, cheese and coconut oil. I lost 5kgs in the last 45 days by reducing carbs and increasing proteins in my diet.

Last edited by Samurai : 20th August 2016 at 23:48.
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Old 21st August 2016, 09:04   #1535
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The Weight Loss Thread

I disagree guys. Primarily, A calorie deficit / excess is what causes weight loss/gain, not carb deficit/excess.

Try being in a calorie deficit while doing high carb, calorie excess with low carb (I've tried both over several months).

I agree, carbs are what cause hormone changes and an optimal macro balance is ideal. All calories aren't equal. Having said that- it's still the calorie balance that causes weight loss/gain. Where that "weight" comes from is a different mater .

In my case, I am doing 120 carb 120 protein (could go a little higher protein and lower carb for optimal results, but I'm taking it easy right now). In weekdays I eat an all-protein lunch and breakfast, so at the end of the day I have calories (and carbs) left. Cutting out oil gives me a lot more room to eat more and snack late night. A tablespoon of oil is 120 calories!

Last edited by rajushank84 : 21st August 2016 at 09:05.
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Old 21st August 2016, 13:22   #1536
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

Always good to read this thread for motivation.

Been cheating a lot last 6 weeks with food but thankfully exercise has been regular. Hence, no weight gain but then no loss either.

Hope to get back to normal from tomorrow onwards! That's the weekend resolution
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Old 22nd August 2016, 08:11   #1537
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

Just noticed that the 42 year old Indian Batminton Coach was on low carb diet in order to train with his silver winning protege.

Quote:
The ride so far has not been easy for Gopichand as he has made numerous sacrifices and taken tough risks to reach this position. According to the Indian Express, Gopichand went on a Ketogenic diet (a high-fat, average protein and low-carb diet) in 2012 for a whole year just to check if his proteges would be able to take it. He had restricted his own intake to just 8-10 things permitted by the diet chart and looked as fit as ever.
Read more at http://www.ibtimes.co.in/who-pullela...BefcFuAObL6.99

Last edited by Samurai : 22nd August 2016 at 08:14.
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Old 22nd August 2016, 10:37   #1538
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

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Originally Posted by rajushank84 View Post
I disagree guys. Primarily, A calorie deficit / excess is what causes weight loss/gain, not carb deficit/excess.
It is not that calorie in-out method does not work, it is just that it does not work for all.

In an ideal body, yes, calorie in-out method should work. But when you bring in various factors like age, your body's insulin resistance, your genetic makeup etc., calorie in-out will not work. Here is an excerpt from the "Why we get fat" book.
Insulin is also called storage harmone. Apart from making cells to use sugar from the blood as energy source (expenditure), insulin also stores sugar in fat cells (savings). The percentage of expenditure vs. savings again depends on various factors like age, genetic makeup, insulin resistance etc. When you were a child you would have consumed lot of carbs without putting on weight, but as you age you will see that for the same food habit you put on weight. This is the age factor. There are some individuals who eat as much carbs as they want and still stay lean, but some individuals get fat on carb rich diet even when they restrict the calories. This is due to genetic makeup.
Because of these various parameters, calorie in-out method does not work for all.

But low carb diet has a more scientific approach. Of the three macros (carb, fat and protein), only carbs get converted into sugar in blood stream. And only sugar from blood stream gets easily converted to fat. Protein has to go through a complex process in the liver to get converted to fat and hence the conversion rate is very low.

So, if you control carbs and hence the sugar levels in blood and hence the insulin levels, you can directly cut down the accumulated fat. This is the reason why low carb diet has a higher success rate than calorie in-out method.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rajushank84 View Post
Try being in a calorie deficit while doing high carb, calorie excess with low carb (I've tried both over several months)...
Here is a link to an experiment a guy conducted.

http://live.smashthefat.com/5000-cal...llenge-day-21/

He consumed excess calories (5800 calories a day for 3 weeks) under LCHF and high carb junk food. In LCHF though he consumed excess calories that should have theoretically resulted in a gain of 7.3kg, he only gained 1.3kg, while losing 1.25" off the waist. He also did the same with junk food with high carbs and he gained 7.1kg and 3.5" increase in waist size.

Having said that, I believe diet is very personal and a diet that works for one may not work for another. I have tried the calorie deficit high carb and it did not work for me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Samurai View Post
Just noticed that the 42 year old Indian Batminton Coach was on low carb diet in order to train with his silver winning protege.
Wow. Seeing more and more success stories of low carb diet these days (even in this thread).

Last edited by graaja : 22nd August 2016 at 10:45.
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Old 22nd August 2016, 10:54   #1539
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

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In an ideal body, yes, calorie in-out method should work. But when you bring in various factors like age, your body's insulin resistance, your genetic makeup etc., calorie in-out will not work. Here is an excerpt from the "Why we get fat" book.
Beautiful post by you. Loved it.

Last year or so I decided to really try hard with the calorie in-out method.
Used an android app that let me enter everything I was eating. At end of the day I would check the calories consumed. Was very careful for over a month maintaining no more than 1800 calories. Most days keeping it at 1500 or so.

I lost nothing after a month.

This new diet of mine, which I started off as no wheat but is soon transitioning into LCHF with special ban on wheat is letting me reduce on an average 200 gms every 2 days.

I am eating some of my favorite meals and enjoying myself.

Yes, I miss sugary sweets and would love to eat some bread with butter and jam. But this diet plan is working and I will not jeopardize it.

My dinner from last night:

The Weight Loss Thread-14047106_1675815632709828_2445187877882333884_o.jpg
Quote:
Chicken and Amaranth Leaves.
You might find the chicken pieces used in this recipe a little surprising. I buy whole chickens from the shop and then cut it myself.
This way I don't have to deal with badly smashed bones and uneven sizes.
Each chicken gets divided into three portions.
1. Whole Legs
2. Boneless Breasts.
3. Everything left over.
This recipe uses the "everything left over".
Heat butter and oil. Saute onions, shallots (if available), garlic and green chilies. Add some turmeric and coriander powder. A pinch of nutmeg powder is optional.
Drop in the chicken pieces and add a little water. Some salt.
Pressure cook for one whistle.
When safe, open and add Amaranth leaves, tomatoes and (optional) radish along with its leaves
As soon as the leaves are wilted. Close the pressure cooker without the whistle and switch off the heat.
Let it stay in its own steam for some time. It also helps retain the heat for a longer time.
Serve in a bowl so you can get the best of everything and the lovely soup as well.
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Old 22nd August 2016, 11:12   #1540
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

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Originally Posted by Samurai View Post
Just noticed that the 42 year old Indian Batminton Coach was on low carb diet
Quote:
Originally Posted by graaja View Post

Wow. Seeing more and more success stories of low carb diet these days (even in this thread).
There are many top level athletes following this. IIRC, Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal are into either paleo or other low carb diets. Our wrestling team was on Paleo for the last few months before Olympics (even vegetarians survived on paneer and vegetables!)

The main advantage I find is that I can eat as much as I want without contributing to my midsection. I've been off the diet for the past almost on year due and had put on a 'tyre' on my midsection and my lipid profile went for a toss. Back in the diet now and enjoying it!! Only problem - if I do not do any weight training, I cant control my weight loss.

The rule I follow - if the food cannot be digested without cooking, then I should think whether I need to have that
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Old 23rd August 2016, 01:49   #1541
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Following is my understanding after reading this book, pardon any mistakes.

Low-carb or no-carb diet works by limiting insulin secretion. Insulin is secreted from the pancreas in response to the glucose in the blood. It's job is to encourage the cells to accept glucose from the blood, there by reducing the blood sugar levels. Those destination cells could be muscle cells, liver or fat cells.

As graaja already mentioned, we eat 3 kinds of food:
  1. Carbs - These convert quickly into glucose and go directly into blood. That is why carbs satiate your hunger very fast.
  2. Proteins - These take long time to convert into glucose and need the liver to do that.
  3. Fat - Don't confuse edible fat (cheese/butter/oil) with physical fat. Edible fats are required to digest vitamins and protein. If you starve yourself of edible fat, your body can't break down the proteins and vitamins you are eating. Many foods containing these vitamins also come with the fat required to digest them. For example, the fat in egg yolks allows the body to access the vitamins A and D it’s so abundant in. So all the egg whites in the world won’t help you out if you’re not eating them with the fats in the yolk to access that protein properly. Read more here.

When you eat carbs, it quickly turns into blood sugar, and insulin is secreted to supply the glucose to the cells. If the person is doing physical labour or workout, the muscle cells will demand a big share of the glucose. The left over glucose will be supplied to the liver to store it as glycogen for future usage. However, the liver can only store up to around 5% of its mass as glycogen. So all the remaining glucose will be sent to the fat cells. If you eat further carbs, it results in more blood sugar, and further insulin will be secreted and it will all end up in fat cells. This storage in fat cells is what makes you fat. Inside the fat cells they form triglycerides.

Sugar and starch also cause insulin to secret much faster, because these too become blood sugar very fast.

When you eat proteins only, the glucose is generated at a low rate from the liver, so the rate of insulin secretion will also be low. Then even a low activity person's muscle cells and liver will accept most of the glucose and nothing much is left for the fat cells. This is why protein diet doesn't make you fat.

Coming back to carbs/sugar/starch, let us see what other harm it can cause.

1) The insulin secretion in high quantity will eventually make the cells resistant to insulin. Thus it requires more insulin to encourage those cells to accept the glucose from the blood stream. So the pancreas will produce even more insulin. And the cells will become even more resistant. This vicious circle will continue until the insulin production is no more able to meet the demand. That is when the person is diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes.

2) LDL is the protein that carries the cholesterol. LDL particles exist in different sizes. On one hand there are the large, fluffy, cotton-ball like molecules, and on the other hand the small dense molecules. Studies show that people whose LDL particles are predominantly small and dense, have a threefold greater risk of coronary heart disease. Furthermore, the large and fluffy type of LDL may be protective. There is an inverse correlation between blood levels of triglycerides and LDL particle size. Thus, the higher your triglycerides, the higher the number of small LDL particles. Conversely, the lower your triglycerides, the higher the number of large, fluffy LDL particles. Read more here. Now remember triglycerides, they are formed in fat cells because muscles and liver cells couldn't deal with the deluge of glucose. In other words, carbs/sugar increase the chance of triglycerides creation, which increases small LDL particles, and hence higher chance of heart disease.

Thus, low-carb or no-carb diet decreases the chance of diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

The most dangerous drug most of us are addicted to is sugar, it is nothing but slow poison to our body. Even if you avoid using white sugar, it is also present in natural form in most fruit. I know we are conditioned to think that all fruits are good, but you need to remember that most fruits have abundant sugar. In fact, it is the result of thousands of years of selective breeding to maximize sugar. So replace fruits with vegetables, that will cut down sugar drastically.

Check this site for details on the carb/sugar content of fruits and vegetables.

We humans in the current form have been around for 2.5 million years. But agriculture was invented only 10,000 years ago, and it took another 5000 years to spread to rest of the civilized world. Most tribal communities stuck with hunting and foraging until the 20th century. So what were humans eating in the first 99.6% of the time? Meat/Fish and wild berries/plants, whose carb content was less than 10%. They got meat and fat from hunting, and berries/plants from foraging. Our carb intake increased only with the invention of agriculture, that is in the last 0.4% of human history. Finally, processed sugar and flour became widely available only after the industrial revolution, that is the last 200 years. That is not enough time for humans evolve into carb/sugar tolerating species.

It is been shown through many studies that tribal communities in 20th century who switched from hunting/foraging to modern processed food started having instances of diabetes, BP, and heart disease, which was unknown in their communities until then. We survived as species at least 99.6% of the time eating meat and fat. Yet we blame these modern diseases on meat and fat. Real culprit is sugar, followed by starch and carbs.

Fat Loss

Now let's see how low-carb diet helps fat loss. Most of the following content is contributed by moderator ampere who has been following this diet since few years.

Body's energy production cycle is called the Tri Carboxylic Acid or TCA cycle. Whenever one does any activity, the first source of TCA is always Glucose. And the easiest source of glucose is carbs, getting it from fat is more complex. Therefore body will always preserve fat, whenever it sees carb coming into the system.

People who eat carbs and exercise don't lose fat, because the body uses the glucose from the carbs and leaves the accumulated fat alone. So if you eat and workout until hunger strikes you, and then eat carbs again, your fat will be left alone. There will be no weight loss.

In other words, if you eat proteins/fat instead of carbs, the glucose supply comes in a long trickle instead of a sudden flood. So if you workout or spend energy under these conditions, the body will desperately look for alternative source and finds the fat storage in fat cells and starts using that. That results in fat loss.

If you have heard the term runner's high, its basically glucose in your muscles getting consumed first and then body turning to fat for energy. That's why during the second session of workouts or run, one does not feel panting for breath that much. Its the fat mode of energy conversion kicking in.

Last edited by Samurai : 14th January 2019 at 08:30. Reason: typo
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Old 23rd August 2016, 08:56   #1542
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

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Following is my understanding after reading the book, pardon any mistakes.

----------

Thus, low-carb or no-carb diet decreases the chance of diabetes, heart disease and obesity.
Thank you Samurai, bblost and others. I had been silently following this thread and some of the topics were going right over my head. The past couple of pages and the explanation of why carbs are bad, made tremendous sense though.

As someone living on the edge, I am looking forward to start my fitness journey asap.
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Old 23rd August 2016, 10:00   #1543
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

I merged the latest post on fat loss with the earlier one to keep it in one place.
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Old 23rd August 2016, 10:19   #1544
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

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Originally Posted by bblost View Post
Beautiful post by you. Loved it.
...
My dinner from last night:
Thanks for the kind words!

That chicken stew looks yummy. Will try it soon.

One main challenge I see faced by people who start on LCHF diet is adapting to the new eating style of having the protein as the main course without rice or roti. Now that the LCHF diet is gaining popularity in the forum, how about a thread dedicated to LCHF diet and recipes? I would love to share some of the recipes I use regularly, but don't want them to get buried in a huge thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Samurai View Post
Low-carb or no-carb diet works by limiting insulin secretion. Insulin is secreted from the pancreas in response to the glucose in the blood. It's job is to encourage the cells to accept glucose from the blood, there by reducing the blood sugar levels. Those destination cells could be muscle cells, liver or fat cells...
Perfectly and precisely summarized. I always struggle while trying to explain the important aspects of LCHF diet without writing a very long post. Yout nailed it!

Quote:
Originally Posted by mallumowgli View Post
There are many top level athletes following this. IIRC, Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal are into either paleo or other low carb diets. Our wrestling team was on Paleo for the last few months before Olympics (even vegetarians survived on paneer and vegetables!)
Yes. These days I come across many articles about top athletes switching over to LCHF. This is one place where I am struggling. I do regular high intensity cardio workouts including running, cycling, swimming and HIIT workouts. When I totally restrict carbs, I find lacking in energy during the workouts. So, for now, I am including carbs just before and after the workouts and am limiting carbs in the other meals. Need to do some more reading on how to maintain performance levels while cutting carbs.

Last edited by graaja : 23rd August 2016 at 10:24.
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Old 23rd August 2016, 13:38   #1545
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Re: The Weight Loss Thread

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Wow. Seeing more and more success stories of low carb diet these days (even in this thread).
I am one of the followers of LCHF. Have lost around 10 kgs in past 2.5 months with a bit of cheating. I have seen folks who have reversed diabetes and lost weight like from 130 kgs to 92kgs. I have heard a person in Bangalore who is an heart attack survivor, following Paleo based on his cardiologist advice.
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