5 ms·

I've had serious weight issues for my whole life, primarily due to my love of chocolate. As I approached 400 pounds, I took a hard look at myself and decided to

by kaslai 8y ago

I've had serious weight issues for my whole life, primarily due to my love of chocolate. As I approached 400 pounds, I took a hard look at myself and decided to make a change. For the past month (29 days now) I've been doing alternate-day fasting* where I eat about 2000-2500kcal on eat days and cap myself at about 100kcal of half-and-half with coffee on fast days (gotta get that joe). While a lot of it is no doubt non-lipid mass (glycogen and such), I just passed 30 pounds of mass lost yesterday. After the initial drop from glycogen loss, I've been averaging 0.4-ish pounds a day of mass loss. A few things I've noticed: What I eat doesn't really affect long-term weight loss. Carbs will cause my weight to rise, but it's definitely just due to the storage and retention of glycogen and water, as I get right back on track with my projections 2-3 days later. However, if I eat carbs and fast the next day, I will get serious hunger pangs. If I eat a mostly keto diet, then I can pass between eat days and fast days with no trouble at all. My biggest take-away though is that fasting has helped me practice self-denial to the point where I can handle my sweet tooth very easily now. The difference in apparent willpower is so immense that I can hardly believe it myself. I definitely suggest that anyone who has self-control issues with regards to food go on a week of alternate day fasting. Additionally, a fast day is a great way to counter out a day of eating to excess. When I lose my weight, I'll still keep fasting as an option, because it's a remarkably powerful tool. * It's actually 3 days of fasting, 4 days of eating a week. I do social eating on Fridays and Sundays, so I keep those as fixed eat days, so I just fast on Sat/Mon/Wed, eat on Fri/Sun/Tue/Thu.

rhapsodic 8y ago
kcal is 1000 calories.
- mhluongo 8y ago
  Yep. When people say calories in nutrition, they usually mean "kcal".
  - pmccarren 8y ago
    Kinda like Mb != MB, cal != Cal, cal != kcal
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- sleavey 8y ago
  Yes, but the body needs 2000-2500 kcal per day, not cal.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - Tharkun 8y ago
    For all intents and purposes, when someone says cal they mean kcal. A single actual cal is so ridiculously small it might as well be irrelevant.
    - kaslai 8y ago
      Yep. 2000 calories is 2.32 watt hours. 2000 Calories (kcal) is 2.32 kWh. That alone should be enough to clarify the difference, especially if you've ever manually turned a dynamo. Even after energy losses, a person can push a few watt hours into a battery with a hand crank in 10-15 minutes, drastically exceeding the energy output of 2000 calories.
eloff 8y ago
Thank you for sharing your story, keep up the impressive results!
sleavey 8y ago
I've had a similar experience when fasting. It also helped to realise that the "hunger" feeling in my stomach is just my body increasing its acidity in preparation for food at its _expected_ meal time. It goes away after a few hours, especially with less carbs in your diet (as you say, bulking on carbs leads to really bad hunger pangs the next day that are hard to ignore).
martin-adams 8y ago
I just listened to The Obesity Code by Jason Fung and my mind is kinda blown. Everyone you've said matches what the book covers. The takeaway points are: - Raised insulin is the key driver in weight by preventing the burning of fat and triggers the storage to fat. Insulin is the hormone that tells allows cells to absorb glucose - Type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance, which happens over years of prolonged periods of raised insulin without periods of lowered insulin. Carbohydrates and sugar convert to glucose, insulin resistance prevents it being used by cells, triggering the ask for more glucose by those cells to be available, by way of asking for more insulin. Raised insulin and glucose contribute to more fat being stored. - The western lifestyle is based around eating evenly throughout the day reducing our fasted state. This means our insulin levels don't have a chance to lower. - Fasting is a way to give your body a break from raised insulin, use up the glucose energy first, then switch to fat burning (Ketosis). - Sugars and carbohydrates do not trigger the hormone that says we're full when compared. If this is of interest to you, I highly recommend the book. I'm still learning all the specifics so some of the above may be incorrect. I very much plan to start reducing my sugar and carbohydrate intake and introduce intermittent fasting.
- pmccarren 8y ago
  > Sugars and carbohydrates do not trigger the hormone that says we're full when compared It's important to note the difference between refined sugars (candy) and natural sugars (fruits). Refined sugars are basically fructose (hello High Fructose Corn Syrup). Refined sugars -- super hella bad. When you eat the refined sugars, your liver actually traps the ATP, blocking the pathway to the brain, making you still feel hungry. Great 10 min clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ve6XQH68mg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ve6XQH68mg
  - Isamu 8y ago
    > Refined sugars are basically fructose sucrose (white refined sugar) is half fructose, half glucose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose High Fructose Corn Syrup has a variable amount of fructose, but is usually similar to cane sugar because it is used as a substitute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup
AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
Intermittent fasting was a big part of the early stages of my own climb down from 320+lbs. One thing I will warn about is that, in my case, my body eventually caught up with me and my appetite became uncontrollable again, leading to compulsive eating that I was powerless against until I started taking ephedrine as an appetite suppressant. Don't underestimate the power of a ghrelin/dopamine feedback loop. Also worth noting: according to my caloric intake log, I now need to eat well under the average to maintain my weight. My understanding is that there is no known way to avoid this kind of metabolic damage when losing large amounts of weight, so you just have to get used to it.
- atupis 8y ago
  Have you tought starting going a gym. Getting more muscle definitely helps.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
    I took up rock climbing early on, and in fact that hobby became motivation for losing weight instead of the other way around. I sped a good 6+ hours at the rock climbing gym every week. It was not sufficient to fight the compulsion and I still have to average around 1600kcal/day to maintain.
    - triviatise 8y ago
      have you tried low or zero carb diets? I have found that I can much more easily go without eating on a high fat high protein diet.
      - DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
        This matches my experience. I've found that when I'm unable to resist the compulsion to eat, I can at least save on the calories and be better satiated by eating something high-protein rather than the carbs I'm craving. Not a perfect solution, but it beats the heck out of losing control and bingeing on carbs.
jcousins 8y ago
Congratulations on what you have achieved. I have had very similar experiences going from 450lbs+ to 250lbs and counting as a disordered eater. The low carb change had a marked impact on my willpower, among a plethora of benefits, but introducing long term and intermittent fasting took it to another level where I was finally comfortable stating that I am in control after 20 years of battling disordered eating. I am thrilled to read of others getting the same results.
modbait 8y ago
Good on you, buddy! One trick you might try wrt chocolate in particular: Try darker and darker chocolates. If you can get up to 90% or even 99%, you can get your chocolate hit with little in the way of sugar or calories.
- tasuki 8y ago
  Came here to say this! Dark chocolate satiates, contains very little sugar, and lots of healthy flavonoids. I've brought lots of the Lindt 99% from my recent visit to Austria :)
philsnow 8y ago
> My biggest take-away though is that fasting has helped me practice self-denial to the point where I can handle my sweet tooth very easily now. The difference in apparent willpower is so immense that I can hardly believe it myself. I also found this to be the case; once you have done it once or twice, subsequent times become easier. To anybody who has tried and given up early: it gets (much) easier. I have given up all caffeine for Lent twice (three years ago and this last year) and while the first time was misery, the second time was dead easy. Ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting both give me really good short-term motivation to not snack, too: my most susceptible snacking hours are between dinner and bedtime, but I know that if I'm on a ketogenic diet that eating carbs will erase the "free" 7-8 hours of my body converting lipids to ketones (while I sleep). Similarly if I'm fasting but s/carbs/anything with calories/.
- DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
  I've found that brushing and flossing my teeth right after dinner to be very helpful. It makes me think twice before snacking because I don't want to have to re-brush and re-floss. It also seems to improve the outcomes of my dental checkups.
DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
> My biggest take-away though is that fasting has helped me practice self-denial to the point where I can handle my sweet tooth very easily now. Interesting. One of the benefits I've found from occasional food-abstinence is that I start remembering the distinction between (a) true hunger and (b) craving. IME (as a male), cravings are almost always for carbs. It takes days of limiting my carb intake for the cravings to subside.
rsync 8y ago
"When I lose my weight, I'll still keep fasting as an option, because it's a remarkably powerful tool." I strongly encourage you to do this because it will remain helpful to your non-overweight body to not incur all of the extra "mileage" of your ramped up metabolic system, day after day, for the rest of your life. I would also encourage you to attempt to remove the calories from your coffee on your fasting days - it seems picky since it is just 50 calories but your metabolic processes have to turn themselves all the way on in order to process that energy input. I feel that there is a big difference between all-the-way-off and all-the-way-on in terms of your fasted state. Best of luck to you!
sizzle 8y ago
Would you be up for cutting out sugar for a while? It made a huge difference in my life, no longer crave sweets (chocolate).

by kaslai 8y ago

rhapsodic 8y ago

kcal is 1000 calories.

mhluongo 8y ago
Yep. When people say calories in nutrition, they usually mean "kcal".
- pmccarren 8y ago
  Kinda like Mb != MB, cal != Cal, cal != kcal
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
sleavey 8y ago
Yes, but the body needs 2000-2500 kcal per day, not cal.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- Tharkun 8y ago
  For all intents and purposes, when someone says cal they mean kcal. A single actual cal is so ridiculously small it might as well be irrelevant.
  - kaslai 8y ago
    Yep. 2000 calories is 2.32 watt hours. 2000 Calories (kcal) is 2.32 kWh. That alone should be enough to clarify the difference, especially if you've ever manually turned a dynamo. Even after energy losses, a person can push a few watt hours into a battery with a hand crank in 10-15 minutes, drastically exceeding the energy output of 2000 calories.

eloff 8y ago

Thank you for sharing your story, keep up the impressive results!

sleavey 8y ago

I've had a similar experience when fasting. It also helped to realise that the "hunger" feeling in my stomach is just my body increasing its acidity in preparation for food at its _expected_ meal time. It goes away after a few hours, especially with less carbs in your diet (as you say, bulking on carbs leads to really bad hunger pangs the next day that are hard to ignore).

martin-adams 8y ago

I just listened to The Obesity Code by Jason Fung and my mind is kinda blown. Everyone you've said matches what the book covers. The takeaway points are: - Raised insulin is the key driver in weight by preventing the burning of fat and triggers the storage to fat. Insulin is the hormone that tells allows cells to absorb glucose - Type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance, which happens over years of prolonged periods of raised insulin without periods of lowered insulin. Carbohydrates and sugar convert to glucose, insulin resistance prevents it being used by cells, triggering the ask for more glucose by those cells to be available, by way of asking for more insulin. Raised insulin and glucose contribute to more fat being stored. - The western lifestyle is based around eating evenly throughout the day reducing our fasted state. This means our insulin levels don't have a chance to lower. - Fasting is a way to give your body a break from raised insulin, use up the glucose energy first, then switch to fat burning (Ketosis). - Sugars and carbohydrates do not trigger the hormone that says we're full when compared. If this is of interest to you, I highly recommend the book. I'm still learning all the specifics so some of the above may be incorrect. I very much plan to start reducing my sugar and carbohydrate intake and introduce intermittent fasting.

pmccarren 8y ago
> Sugars and carbohydrates do not trigger the hormone that says we're full when compared It's important to note the difference between refined sugars (candy) and natural sugars (fruits). Refined sugars are basically fructose (hello High Fructose Corn Syrup). Refined sugars -- super hella bad. When you eat the refined sugars, your liver actually traps the ATP, blocking the pathway to the brain, making you still feel hungry. Great 10 min clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ve6XQH68mg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ve6XQH68mg
- Isamu 8y ago
  > Refined sugars are basically fructose sucrose (white refined sugar) is half fructose, half glucose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose High Fructose Corn Syrup has a variable amount of fructose, but is usually similar to cane sugar because it is used as a substitute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup

AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago

Intermittent fasting was a big part of the early stages of my own climb down from 320+lbs. One thing I will warn about is that, in my case, my body eventually caught up with me and my appetite became uncontrollable again, leading to compulsive eating that I was powerless against until I started taking ephedrine as an appetite suppressant. Don't underestimate the power of a ghrelin/dopamine feedback loop. Also worth noting: according to my caloric intake log, I now need to eat well under the average to maintain my weight. My understanding is that there is no known way to avoid this kind of metabolic damage when losing large amounts of weight, so you just have to get used to it.

atupis 8y ago
Have you tought starting going a gym. Getting more muscle definitely helps.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
  I took up rock climbing early on, and in fact that hobby became motivation for losing weight instead of the other way around. I sped a good 6+ hours at the rock climbing gym every week. It was not sufficient to fight the compulsion and I still have to average around 1600kcal/day to maintain.
  - triviatise 8y ago
    have you tried low or zero carb diets? I have found that I can much more easily go without eating on a high fat high protein diet.
    - DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
      This matches my experience. I've found that when I'm unable to resist the compulsion to eat, I can at least save on the calories and be better satiated by eating something high-protein rather than the carbs I'm craving. Not a perfect solution, but it beats the heck out of losing control and bingeing on carbs.

jcousins 8y ago

Congratulations on what you have achieved. I have had very similar experiences going from 450lbs+ to 250lbs and counting as a disordered eater. The low carb change had a marked impact on my willpower, among a plethora of benefits, but introducing long term and intermittent fasting took it to another level where I was finally comfortable stating that I am in control after 20 years of battling disordered eating. I am thrilled to read of others getting the same results.

modbait 8y ago

Good on you, buddy! One trick you might try wrt chocolate in particular: Try darker and darker chocolates. If you can get up to 90% or even 99%, you can get your chocolate hit with little in the way of sugar or calories.

tasuki 8y ago
Came here to say this! Dark chocolate satiates, contains very little sugar, and lots of healthy flavonoids. I've brought lots of the Lindt 99% from my recent visit to Austria :)

philsnow 8y ago

> My biggest take-away though is that fasting has helped me practice self-denial to the point where I can handle my sweet tooth very easily now. The difference in apparent willpower is so immense that I can hardly believe it myself. I also found this to be the case; once you have done it once or twice, subsequent times become easier. To anybody who has tried and given up early: it gets (much) easier. I have given up all caffeine for Lent twice (three years ago and this last year) and while the first time was misery, the second time was dead easy. Ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting both give me really good short-term motivation to not snack, too: my most susceptible snacking hours are between dinner and bedtime, but I know that if I'm on a ketogenic diet that eating carbs will erase the "free" 7-8 hours of my body converting lipids to ketones (while I sleep). Similarly if I'm fasting but s/carbs/anything with calories/.

DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
I've found that brushing and flossing my teeth right after dinner to be very helpful. It makes me think twice before snacking because I don't want to have to re-brush and re-floss. It also seems to improve the outcomes of my dental checkups.

DoofusOfDeath 8y ago

> My biggest take-away though is that fasting has helped me practice self-denial to the point where I can handle my sweet tooth very easily now. Interesting. One of the benefits I've found from occasional food-abstinence is that I start remembering the distinction between (a) true hunger and (b) craving. IME (as a male), cravings are almost always for carbs. It takes days of limiting my carb intake for the cravings to subside.

rsync 8y ago

"When I lose my weight, I'll still keep fasting as an option, because it's a remarkably powerful tool." I strongly encourage you to do this because it will remain helpful to your non-overweight body to not incur all of the extra "mileage" of your ramped up metabolic system, day after day, for the rest of your life. I would also encourage you to attempt to remove the calories from your coffee on your fasting days - it seems picky since it is just 50 calories but your metabolic processes have to turn themselves all the way on in order to process that energy input. I feel that there is a big difference between all-the-way-off and all-the-way-on in terms of your fasted state. Best of luck to you!

sizzle 8y ago

Would you be up for cutting out sugar for a while? It made a huge difference in my life, no longer crave sweets (chocolate).