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You don't need to be hungry all the time. You can lose weight without hunger, and without feeling tired and cold either. You don't even need an exercise regimen
by david-gpu 3y ago
You don't need to be hungry all the time. You can lose weight without hunger, and without feeling tired and cold either. You don't even need an exercise regimen.
Elevated insulin levels make you store energy in the form of body fat. In order to lose body fat you need the opposite: you need your fat tissue to release its store energy back into your bloodstream. For that to happen you need your insulin to go down low enough, and for long enough.
So what makes your insulin level to be too high? There are four key factors, three of which are under your control.
First, the fatter you are, the higher your insulin level will be. That's why it is so hard for fat people to lose weight in the first place. Nothing we can do about that, but the next three factors you can improve.
Second, the amount of carbohydrates in your diet. Starchy or sugary foods, such as bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and sugar, are very rich in carbohydrates. Carbohydrates raise your insulin levels, so you want to reduce them as much as possible. In order to prevent hunger you still need to eat, so choose foods that will not raise your insulin as much. This means eating above-ground vegetables, eggs, meat, fish and full-fat dairy like butter, heavy cream, and cheese. Choose fatty cuts of meat, instead of lean cuts.
Third, eat less frequently. Insulin levels go down a few hours after each meal. The fatter you are, the longer they take to come down. Every night as you fast during your sleep, your insulin goes down. By having early dinners and/or skipping breakfast, you extend the number of hours a day in which you are in a low-insulin state. When you consume a meal do eat until you are satisfied. Skipping meals isn't about reducing your calories, it's about reducing your insulin. When you eat a low-carbohydrate diet it becomes much easier to skip breakfast because you aren't nearly as hungry.
Fourth, if you can, introduce some exercise into your daily routine. You don't need to go crazy: you can replace some or all of your commute with walking or cycling and it will help. It is not about how many calories you burn exercising in a particular day. Instead, it's about how over a long period of time exercise makes your muscles more insulin sensitive. This means they become more efficient at eliminating excess glucose from your bloodstream, which in turn makes your body release less insulin, and thus reduce the amount of time you will have excess insulin.
Sources: Dr. Benjamin Bikman, Dr. Jason Fung, Gary Taubes, and many others.
- glp1guide 3y agoThis is really solid advice -- changing the idea of losing weight to being less about "calories in calories out" and more about managing insulin is probably worth doing. The "how" of releasing fat that you've laid out here is a really excellent explanation -- a lot of trends like intermittent fasting gets these results, but there's not enough discussion about the how/why laid out like you just have. Would you mind sharing some of the resources you built this view from? You noted some sources below, but if you've got some more specific stuff you looked at, would love to read it.
- david-gpu 3y ago"Why we get sick" by Benjamin Bikman. It talks about the causes and effects of insulin resistance, including how to diagnose it. "The obesity code" by Jason Fung. It talks about the causes of obesity (spoiler: hyperinsulinemia) and provides practical advice on how how reducing carbohydrates and intermittent fasting can help. "The case for keto" by Gary Taubes. Is an enjoyable read that not only covers the extensive evidence of how excess insulin leads to gaining body fat, but also how we ended up culturally terrified of dietary fat and dietary cholesterol. If you have already managed to become lean through a low-carbohydrate diet and/or intermittent fasting, then I do recommend following the peer-reviewed research published by Nicholas Norwitz (he also has a YouTube channel for laypeople). Ultimately, what leads me to this eating pattern is my own difficulty managing my body weight when I don't. If I could stay lean, healthy and satiated with a mixed diet that included some rice, bread, potatoes and pasta, I would go for it. Many people do just fine with some carbohydrates in their diet. I used to as well, when I was younger. These days, I can either take significant steps to reduce my insulin levels or I slowly creep towards obesity and metabolic syndrome.