[opendro]

Originally Posted by Samurai

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

It is a totally wrong forum to discuss about diet and health. But I suggest, you read the Low-Carb Fraud by T. Colin Campbell.

A healthy diet is different from a body builder diet or a diet used to treat a disease like obesity.

Forget all the theory. Check out the surroundings. Look around the world - compare among the people who had prescribed various theories. Veggies have beaten the proteins by a huge margin in terms of staying healthy. Experts say, China Study is controversial and biased. But I see how T. Colin Campbell has transformed his family's health. That is a better proof for me.

I'm an endurance cyclist, who is also capable of long distance running though not my favorite. About 80% of my diet is carb. During the endurance event, I do increase my intake of fat and protein. But as a thumb rule of staying healthy, avoid fat and too much protein. BTW, I eat a lot - usually almost twice the meal size of an average person. I'm 5'6" 58kg weight. Work out about once a week to mild or profuse sweating.

I did try the low carb diet for a brief time, cutting down carb to almost 12% and increase the fat to 70%. Weight loss was not my aim as I don't have any fat to lose. Of course I tried for too short a period (about 5 weeks) and I fell ill very badly after that. Though I didn't blame the low carb diet for the illness, I had to abandon it as my 7000 km long race was coming up too close, within a month and recovery from illness was priority.

BTW, the easiest way to check fitness is to enter into an endurance event. Easiest way to check healthiness of a family's diet is to check the medical bill and children school attendance. Trust me, my family is doing pretty good on these fronts.

Nevertheless, I don't deny that meat is the "easiest" food if one is in physically challenging sports.

Also note that most diseases related to diet will show up post 40 or 50 depending on how early one had started unhealthy diet. So, when you are looking at samples and role models, pay more attention to these age group.

This is my typical diet:
No breakfast.
12:30 pm lunch : eat as heavy as I can. Mostly grains (rice/wheat) and veggies.
8 pm dinner : eat heavy or skip altogether if I don't feel like eating or if my lunch was a late one.

Usually nothing in between. I do take some fruits or junks in between, but that is very rare. No to tea, coffee, soft drinks, sweets, smoking, biscuits or any factory produced eatables.

Day job - on the chair from 10 am till 6 pm Monday to Friday. All city commutes on bicycle no matter how long it is. Household chores for the rest of the time. About 7 hours of sleep (at least on the bed) per day.

[adimicra]

Originally Posted by opendro

This is my typical diet:
No breakfast.
12:30 pm lunch : eat as heavy as I can. Mostly grains (rice/wheat) and veggies.
8 pm dinner : eat heavy or skip altogether if I don't feel like eating or if my lunch was a late one.

Usually nothing in between. I do take some fruits or junks in between, but that is very rare. No to tea, coffee, soft drinks, sweets, smoking, biscuits or any factory produced eatables.

Day job - on the chair from 10 am till 6 pm Monday to Friday. All city commutes on bicycle no matter how long it is. Household chores for the rest of the time. About 7 hours of sleep (at least on the bed) per day.

Sir, I do not have the knowledge or fitness anywhere close to you.
But are you saying the diet you are following above is a healthy one?
Skipping breakfast, eating a very heavy lunch - I thought these were strictly no-no for a healthy diet.

I see all sorts of diet plan in this thread and some of them sound pretty scary to even try.
Is it very difficult to follow a simple healthy diet and do regular exercise? Just watching your calorie intake a bit, cutting out on deep fried food or too much sweets and doing 30-45 mins of simple exercise 4-5 days a week (brisk walk/jog) should help you achieve your goal. You can add some variety in your exercises by doing some cross-training/cycling etc in between. Yes, you won't see miracle in a day but it will happen if you stick to the plan.

I had lost 22 kgs a few years back following this simple plan over a time period of 8 months...so I know it works.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

As far as I am concerned, I have been into intense strength training for over ten years, and I have experienced a big hit in performance when ever i am low on carbs.

Well, let's not talk about elite athletes then. I have been on strength training and martial arts since 1984. The low carb diet hasn't affected my daily workouts.

Originally Posted by opendro

BTW, I eat a lot - usually almost twice the meal size of an average person. I'm 5'6" 58kg weight. Work out about once a week to mild or profuse sweating.

I am 5'8" and was 87kg in June, 82kg now.

Originally Posted by opendro

I did try the low carb diet for a brief time, cutting down carb to almost 12% and increase the fat to 70%. Weight loss was not my aim as I don't have any fat to lose.

The low carb lifestyle is for people who have fat to lose. I eat lots of proteins, not just fat.

Originally Posted by opendro

Nevertheless, I don't deny that meat is the "easiest" food if one is in physically challenging sports.

I am a heavy meat eater.

Originally Posted by opendro

Also note that most diseases related to diet will show up post 40 or 50 depending on how early one had started unhealthy diet. So, when you are looking at samples and role models, pay more attention to these age group.

I am 47 already. While I am physically fit, I want to get rid of my bulging tummy that you can see in the following video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JScOfyHkbcY

[opendro]

@adimicra
Yeah, a lot of experts say too many things. As I mentioned, try and figure out or look out for people.

You can get a small hint of what no breakfast means from the author of "No breakfast plan" :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx4tMUDJQMY

I didn't intentionally take this no-breakfast plan. Traditionally I'm from agriculture background with village upbringing. People eat lunch at mid-day break and dinner after days field work. Even today, schools and white collar jobs, govt offices, colleges in Manipur don't have lunch break. They have an early lunch, say, between 8:30 and 10 AM and go to office/school. And next meal is dinner though young children do get something after school and before dinner.

Trust me, fasting from 8pm till next day 1pm is the best thing you can do to your body. It feels light, good, ready to eat food again with good appetite.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Well, let's not talk about elite athletes then. I have been on strength training and martial arts since 1984. The low carb diet hasn't affected my daily workouts.

There is a big difference between "workout" and "training". Low intensity workouts dont suffer while on low carbs, as much as high intensity training does. Since you are into MMA, your strength training will be focussed more into endurance rather than explosive power. In my case, it is the other way round.

Or your body has accustomed to low carb diet and training. We train a lot of young bodybuilders and powerlifters, who progress much better with carbs rather than without.

But one thing to be said, when bodybuilders need to cut down for a contest, we first reduce carbs from 40%, gradually to 5% over 12-16 weeks for fat loss. The guys start looking awesome with well defined musculature but while training, they can't match 70% of the loads they used to do when they are at 40% carb diet.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

There is a big difference between "workout" and "training". Since you are into MMA, your strength training will be focussed more into endurance rather than explosive power. In my case, it is the other way round.

Martial arts requires loads of explosive power, apart from endurance. I get it from body weight workout rather than free weights. We just have to lift opponents our size, not much more.

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

But one thing to be said, when our bodybuilders need to cut down for a contest, we first reduce carbs from 40%, gradually to 5% over 12-16 weeks for fat loss. The guys start looking awesome with well defined musculature but while training, they can't match 70% of the loads they used to do when they are at 40% carb diet.

This doesn't disagree with what I am saying. Carbs are very useful if you are expending energy rapidly via intense physical activity. If you don't, then they end up as fat. Therefore, office workers who sit in one place most of the day, don't need much carbs. They should rely more on protein and fat.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Samurai

This doesn't disagree with what I am saying. Carbs are very useful if you are expending energy rapidly via intense physical activity. If you don't, then they end up as fat. Therefore, office workers who sit in one place most of the day, don't need much carbs. They should rely more on protein and fat.

True!

I agree with you at certain parts and disagree with certain other.

As my coach used to say "There is not a single diet/training method that does not work. Every method works, but for a certain period of time. There is no single method/plan that can be called the best or effective forever. Our body is very intelligent and it can adapt to change rather quickly."

So be it fat loss or strength gain or muscle gain, the key is variety. I just disagree with the statement that low carb/no carb is the best way to lose weight. It definitely is one of the many effective methods of weight loss.

Once a plateau is hit, we need to change diet inorder to progress over the plateau. Even while on almost zero carb dieting, I used to have one big cheat meal with lots of carb, sugar and transfat to shock the body into confusion, thus avoiding plateau.

Again, variety is the key.

Originally Posted by opendro

This is my typical diet:
No breakfast.
12:30 pm lunch : eat as heavy as I can. Mostly grains (rice/wheat) and veggies.
8 pm dinner : eat heavy or skip altogether if I don't feel like eating or if my lunch was a late one.

Conventionally weight loss relies much on metabolism(metabolic rate), i.e how well our body burns it's fuel.

To be simple, consider this- our body is a furnace, food is the firewood and the fire is our metabolic rate.

For the fire(metabolism) to be up and active, firewood(food) is necessary.

Absence of firewood(food) puts off the fire(metabolism)

Similarly, too much firewood will also kill the fire.

What you follow is dangerous. Breakfast is called "Break-fast" for a reason. All night you are devoid of food. The breakfast needs to be the biggest meal of the day.

There is a saying, Eat like a king in the morning, like a normal man during lunch and like a pauper at dinner.

Best way to keep hunger at bay is to have 6-8 small balanced meals through out the day spaced 2-3 hours between each.

[apachelongbow]

Ok. I am doing this. Intense gym for about 1.30 hours each day, lifting heavy weights unaided. Start of with a pre workout supplement 30 mins before workout and whey protein shakes post work out. Twice a week, cycling for about 15 kms @20 kmph, split with outdoor pushups, parallel bar work and pull-ups. Following the same for the past 2 years. My body fat percent has reduced from about 17% to about 12% today, body weight is @77kgs/6 feet height. PS: I eat and drink all what I feel like, however I restrict myself to lunch by 1130am and dinner by 830pm strictly. Also I have ensured that I eat only upto 80% of my feel full capacity, no matter what.

[jalajprakash]

I've been following Anabolic Fasting by Cory Gregory for the past few months and it's a pretty awesome diet which has led to good results (powerlifting) in the gym as well as reducing my waistline. It is essentially a LCHF diet as well but some things are different, such as a carb spike night before you go to bed, because with your insulin, your testosterone and other important hormones also spike which can help with your recovery when you're sleeping. A carb spike is also very sleep inducing (eg mid-afternoon slump after a heavy lunch) so it's great to do right before going to bed.

[avdhesh15]

Originally Posted by Samurai

...

Excellent post! The entire way carbs / sugar / fat etc was described was just way too simple and hence awesome.

I have a question - of late, some folks have been talking about consuming foods with low glycemic index (GI). They say it avoids spikes in sugar consumption which aids in keeping you full for longer and hence contributes to weight loss. Would you have any views on this?

[opendro]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

True!
What you follow is dangerous. Breakfast is called "Break-fast" for a reason. All night you are devoid of food. The breakfast needs to be the biggest meal of the day.

Again, I suggest, you look for people who have followed this habit rather than just trying to decode the science behind it. Also note that I'm not devoid of food all night. I eat proper, full dinner and that is good for a 90 minute half marathon next morning.

There is a saying, Eat like a king in the morning, like a normal man during lunch and like a pauper at dinner.

I know too many people who have failed with this advice. I have followed a small part of my life with this advice. This is bad. I feel heavy and lethargic. However, during my hectic training days, I do eat breakfast. I agree with you there that the metabolic rate goes high and it demands more than just two meals.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by opendro

This is my typical diet

My meal timings also follow a similar pattern to that written in your posts, though I don't always skip "breakfast".

I eat when I am actually hungry, and not just because it's time to eat. I am of the opinion (not based on any data at all) that these days people have forgotten how to recognize hunger pangs, and have meals just because it's 8 AM/1 PM/8 PM etc.

What this means is that my 1st meal of the day can be from any time between 6 AM - 10 AM (or not at all), the one after that can be from any time between 12 PM - 4 PM (or not at all) and the last one before sleeping can be from any time from 7 PM onward (or not at all).

Diet is typically a little bit of everything (not too fond of snacks like namkeen, biscuits, chips etc.), though thankfully I don't have a sweet tooth.

I have no idea if this is "healthy" or not, but the above, accompanied by gym for 4 days/week, seems to have helped me maintain a decent weight till now (41 years old, height 175 cm, 70 kgs)

Cheers,
Vikram

[opendro]

Ditto. I too follow the principle of eating when hungry. There is a slight deviation from your method. I don't eat at odd times. I eat at fixed times, i.e. around 1pm and 8pm. If I'm not hungry (which can happen only for dinner in my case), I skip it altogether. I don't shift it to some other time. There is a reason behind this. I don't have maid servant or cook at home. My wife has day job too. I cannot cook at odd hours. I don't eat old food. I don't store cooked food in refrigerator. I don't eat factory produced food. So, I rather stick to timings. This sometimes creates problem with my in laws who also look after my children. They believe that kids should not remain hungry. They do have breakfast. My elder daughter eats early dinner after school (and no other snacks). My principle is that it is not a crime to keep them hungry until next meal. Worst case, give them some fruits. No cooking in between. No snacking junks/biscuits/etc.

BTW, one has to differentiate between real hunger (body needing food) vs appetite (taste bud asking for food). Many people seem to have this false hunger pangs (appetite). They will overcome this once they settle down with no breakfast. They will know what hunger/emptiness is.

[PrasannaDhana]

Most people make the mistake of being dehydrated/thirsty for being hungry. It amazes us how many times we do that mistake, and when we drink enough water, we don't feel half as hungry as we are, when we are dehydrated.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by opendro

BTW, one has to differentiate between real hunger (body needing food) vs appetite (taste bud asking for food). Many people seem to have this false hunger pangs (appetite). They will overcome this once they settle down with no breakfast. They will know what hunger/emptiness is.

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Most people make the mistake of being dehydrated/thirsty for being hungry. It amazes us how many times we do that mistake, and when we drink enough water, we don't feel half as hungry as we are, when we are dehydrated.

Two very very good points.

If one realizes these aspects, it goes a long way. No breakfast aids in micro fasting as well. In that mode, if once in while you also cheat with junk/heavy food, body will regulate easily. During these small fasting periods, water levels help maintain the steady state very well. Most people who have sedentary lifestyles restricted to chair and table, forget this important aspect of hydration.