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Did about 8k on the bike and got back on a rowing machine, but somehow ended the year still overweight. So in terms of health my year will hopefully be 2017, I

by smnplk 10y ago

Did about 8k on the bike and got back on a rowing machine, but somehow ended the year still overweight. So in terms of health my year will hopefully be 2017, I will get on a LCHF diet. Because I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis, I did a little experiment 5 months ago, I stayed gluten free for 3 months (because I read somewhere that gluten could be the culprit) and my digestion and overall being improved. So I need to get back on diet and also cut out all the sugars. The biggest impact on my health has been impulsive overeating of candy. I even got a little worried about possible diabetes and bought a glucose meter, had an elevated blood sugar only two times in the morning, from 10 day tests. So I might not have diabetes...yet. But if I keep this up, I'm on a good path. I look unfit now, I weigh 110kg, I almost came to 100kg this year, but now I bounced back, especially in December, go figure why :P But I am not out of shape in terms of performance, I did a lot of weight lifting this year also, I can squat 150kg and deadlift 210kg with np, I did some really heavy climbs on my bike with 400 avg watts for 30 mins, so I am a lot better than average overweight guy. 12 years of rowing in the past, also helps. I just need to figure out why I constantly crave for short term satisfactions.

dyjakan 10y ago
> I just need to figure out why I constantly crave for short term satisfactions It's dopamine. I see it as malware that infected my brainOS and it's more of a stuxnet rather than your typical lame click-n-infect-me. As for diets, I prefer to set lifestyle goals. For example it doesn't matter on which particular diet I'm on at the moment (I cycle through couple of them every 8-12-16 weeks), what does matter is that I very rarely eat processed food or sugary snacks (once a month at best) and when I do it's _always_ after hard training session and it still _fits my macros_.
- smnplk 10y ago
  I see it as a mechanical failure. http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/how-addiction-hijacks-the-brain.htm http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/how-addiction-hijacks-the-b... These last words are optimistic: " It is not enough to “just say no”—as the 1980s slogan suggested. Instead, you can protect (and heal) yourself from addiction by saying “yes” to other things. Cultivate diverse interests that provide meaning to your life. Understand that your problems usually are transient, and perhaps most importantly, acknowledge that life is not always supposed to be pleasurable."
rmetzler 10y ago
After becoming a dad and having to change my baby girls diapers regularly, I recognized the effect bananas and potatoes had on her digestion system. My hypothesis is that these foods are too "new" for my European stomach. Now I mostly cut these from my diet and eat more rice and I feel better. Since she was born 4 years ago, I cut smoking, soda, potatoes and took a new job for which I bike 20min one way every day, except when it rains heavily.
- smnplk 10y ago
  I have the same gut feeling about dairy. I think we humans are the only specie that drink milk from other animals (not 100% sure about that) and you don't have to be lactose intolerant, you can also be allergic to milk protein(s). And we might be the only specie that drinks milk in adulthood too.
snovv_crash 10y ago
Was in the same boat. I cut out sugar (except for a banana in a protein shake each day) and made sure that I get enough protein. After a few weeks the sugar cravings stopped and I also lost a bunch of water weight. I also seem to have a smaller appetite, and when I eat I stop when I feel satisfied, which never seemed to happen before, instead I would stop when my stomach felt uncomfortably full because I never felt satisfied. I'm really happy with the changes, and it is making it easier to stick with my lifting program because I feel like I am making progress again.
- smnplk 10y ago
  Well done. I hope I can do the same. Do you think I can ease off sugar in small steps, like substituting candy with sweetened tea (agave syrup) ? I also heard that lemon juice helps when you get a sugar craving.
  - dingaling 10y ago
    The sugar-reduction approach that I found manageable was to consume added-sugar only in cakes and biscuits that we make at home from raw ingredients. We still enjoy sweet-ish foods but have hugely reduced our sugar intake. An additional advantage is that as a result our toddler finds most commercial confectionaries which he encounters to be unpaltably sweet, and throws them in the bin after trying them for a few seconds.
  - smashd 10y ago
    I personally eased off sugar in iterations, by making short "pushes" where I cut out ALL added sugars and answered any cravings with fruit like bananas, apples or grapes. Each iteration wouldn't last forever, but every time I "cheated" it was with a little less sugar than before. And every time I tried again I lasted a little longer before cheating. Something that really helped me was getting angry at the companies producing all these foods with added sugar. Seriously, look at the labels, it is EVERYWHERE (at least in the USA). I resolved to not buy these products--why give your money to these companies that can't make a product taste good without resorting to cheap tricks? Why am I paying them to hurt me? I do still buy dark chocolate for dessert a few times a week--I am not opposed to dessert, but that's the only place I think sugar should be. Ultimately I think everyone has a unique approach (mentally and physically) that works for them, and it's probably an ensemble of smaller strategies accumulated over time that create success in the end. Be willing to experiment (safely), accept temporary failures, learn what works and then repeat all over again.

by smnplk 10y ago

dyjakan 10y ago

> I just need to figure out why I constantly crave for short term satisfactions It's dopamine. I see it as malware that infected my brainOS and it's more of a stuxnet rather than your typical lame click-n-infect-me. As for diets, I prefer to set lifestyle goals. For example it doesn't matter on which particular diet I'm on at the moment (I cycle through couple of them every 8-12-16 weeks), what does matter is that I very rarely eat processed food or sugary snacks (once a month at best) and when I do it's _always_ after hard training session and it still _fits my macros_.

smnplk 10y ago
I see it as a mechanical failure. http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/how-addiction-hijacks-the-brain.htm http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/how-addiction-hijacks-the-b... These last words are optimistic: " It is not enough to “just say no”—as the 1980s slogan suggested. Instead, you can protect (and heal) yourself from addiction by saying “yes” to other things. Cultivate diverse interests that provide meaning to your life. Understand that your problems usually are transient, and perhaps most importantly, acknowledge that life is not always supposed to be pleasurable."

rmetzler 10y ago

After becoming a dad and having to change my baby girls diapers regularly, I recognized the effect bananas and potatoes had on her digestion system. My hypothesis is that these foods are too "new" for my European stomach. Now I mostly cut these from my diet and eat more rice and I feel better. Since she was born 4 years ago, I cut smoking, soda, potatoes and took a new job for which I bike 20min one way every day, except when it rains heavily.

smnplk 10y ago
I have the same gut feeling about dairy. I think we humans are the only specie that drink milk from other animals (not 100% sure about that) and you don't have to be lactose intolerant, you can also be allergic to milk protein(s). And we might be the only specie that drinks milk in adulthood too.

snovv_crash 10y ago

Was in the same boat. I cut out sugar (except for a banana in a protein shake each day) and made sure that I get enough protein. After a few weeks the sugar cravings stopped and I also lost a bunch of water weight. I also seem to have a smaller appetite, and when I eat I stop when I feel satisfied, which never seemed to happen before, instead I would stop when my stomach felt uncomfortably full because I never felt satisfied. I'm really happy with the changes, and it is making it easier to stick with my lifting program because I feel like I am making progress again.

smnplk 10y ago
Well done. I hope I can do the same. Do you think I can ease off sugar in small steps, like substituting candy with sweetened tea (agave syrup) ? I also heard that lemon juice helps when you get a sugar craving.
- dingaling 10y ago
  The sugar-reduction approach that I found manageable was to consume added-sugar only in cakes and biscuits that we make at home from raw ingredients. We still enjoy sweet-ish foods but have hugely reduced our sugar intake. An additional advantage is that as a result our toddler finds most commercial confectionaries which he encounters to be unpaltably sweet, and throws them in the bin after trying them for a few seconds.
- smashd 10y ago
  I personally eased off sugar in iterations, by making short "pushes" where I cut out ALL added sugars and answered any cravings with fruit like bananas, apples or grapes. Each iteration wouldn't last forever, but every time I "cheated" it was with a little less sugar than before. And every time I tried again I lasted a little longer before cheating. Something that really helped me was getting angry at the companies producing all these foods with added sugar. Seriously, look at the labels, it is EVERYWHERE (at least in the USA). I resolved to not buy these products--why give your money to these companies that can't make a product taste good without resorting to cheap tricks? Why am I paying them to hurt me? I do still buy dark chocolate for dessert a few times a week--I am not opposed to dessert, but that's the only place I think sugar should be. Ultimately I think everyone has a unique approach (mentally and physically) that works for them, and it's probably an ensemble of smaller strategies accumulated over time that create success in the end. Be willing to experiment (safely), accept temporary failures, learn what works and then repeat all over again.