Ton – how does your diet affect your cholesterol levels?

George, had a blood test a month or so ago after i came off the warfarin.
cholesterol is fine as is my bp.

today i signed up to MFP and logged my food(a fairly typical day i might add , nothing special) and exercise….how ever i dont believe i have that deficit – im fairly sure i still have some of my overly efficient body left over from endurance racing 😉

dont know what im having for evening meal yet so left it blank but ill bet if ton did the same his deficit would be huge and keeping his energy sapped.

Ime if you train hard below 10% you seem to pick up every illness going

I have heard people say this anecdotally before although I’m sure it can’t be true as most pro athletes must be under 10% surely? Is there any link between fat mass and immune function? I would have thought as long as you get enough vitamins/minerals/calories you would be OK?

According to the reading I’ve done. High quantities of high intensity Cardio work can suppress immune system function. I have also seen reports of people on high-ish levels of cardio exercise, contracting infections and having to rely on A/Bs to recover.
Draw your own conclusions, but anecdotal remarks such as Trail rat’s seem to fall in (for me) with the suggestion that high quantities of cardio exercise may down regulate immune response and so leave the subject more prone to contracting colds, etc.

EDIT:
had a blood test a month or so ago after i came off the warfarin.
cholesterol is fine as is my bp.
8)
Way to go, Ton.

trail rat, what is the website? i am gonna do it to see what it tells me.
just to let you know, my energy is not sapped, i am just struggling to lose my last stone in weight.
breakfast this morning was 1 slice of flax bread toast with 2 poached eggs.

Trail Rat.

How on earth is your daily caloric allocation, 3500 calories ?.
😯

I note that the low fat yoghurt is 16g sugar, 2g fat. If you’re running such a cal deicit, then surely a full fat yoghurt would be ok ?.
Just saying like.
🙂

mrs did the shopping i just take from the fridge ….

MFP tells me its 3500 by me telling it i cycle to and from work and my height and weight – which is why i dont believe i have such a deficit – but i thought it was interesting anyhoo….

how ever – if im honest , now ive seen that im likely to up my calorie intake a fair bit.

also shows how much of a pikey i am with all my aldi shopping :d – my evening meal is huge though – easily double a normal sized meal so that will counteract alot of it.

500 cal in just snacks!!!

all day grazing – tis the way forward keep the metabolism firing

all day grazing – tis the way forward keep the metabolism firing

Theres certainly those for whom that seems to work.
Not for me though.

depends what your grazing on surely and what your level of activity is – of course grazing wont work if your sedentary and the snacking takes you out of deficit.

i mean i have colleagues here who wonder why they are fat when they see me eating the amount i eat.

their method of all day grazing is on cakes and digestive biscuits.

followed by a stogey overcooked MSG infested lunch from the canteen that leaves you hungry again about 30 minutes later.

depends what your grazing on surely and what your level of activity is – of course grazing wont work if your sedentary and the snacking takes you out of deficit.

i mean i have colleagues here who wonder why they are fat when they see me eating the amount i eat.

their method of all day grazing is on cakes and digestive biscuits.

followed by a stogey overcooked MSG infested lunch from the canteen that leaves you hungry again about 30 minutes later.

Bingo !. I couldn’t agree more with the first line of that post.
I am chained to a desk, hourly paid. So the incentive is to stay here and work a solid 10-12 hours. Very little physical movement.

As for the What to snack on or even to eat at your main meals.
Thats something I have given considerable thought to. However, I don’t really get hungry between meals, anymore. So the whole grazing thing is passing me by.
I’m not knocking it. If it works for you, carry on.
🙂

Yes, I see it in many offices, when snack / treats are offered around the office. Its usually mini flapjacks, cakes, sweets, etc.
And theres no shortage of chubbers.

i may be repeating stuff, but…

although active i was a big kid and all my adult life was around 15 1/2 (sumer weight) to just below 17st. i too said i was big boned, that it was metabolism etc etc.

long and short, and this will be stating the obviuos, realised a few years back that there is no excuse. its diet, booze and excercise that affects me. get at least two right and i’m ok’ish. finding one day that i was out of breath putting on new wesuit boots i weighed myself and found i was 16st10. shocker that! my weight for the last 3 years since learning this has been around 13st, 12.4 lowest 13.10 highest. last weight in on sat 12st10.

no diet, but i have changed the way i eat quite a bit – and i did’nt really eat badly to begin with. idave diet is the base but i’m not religious with it. i find i cannot eat that much at all without piling on weight, no bread at all in the week.

47 in a few weeks, determined to get under 12st because i’ve never managed it yet and ideally aiming for 11.4st. can’t see any reason why i can’t do it.

myfitnesspal – had a disaster with that last night.
I logged my day and was a little shocked to discover at 10pm that i was over 400cals short. So i raided the fridge and put together a pitta with sausages and blue cheese, mmmmm.
then i realise that while ive got my weight/height right, ive put myself in as a woman, changing that and i required a further 300cals, then i notice that the afternoons banana and peanut butter snack had apparently 100g of peanut butter – adjusting that back down and i finish my first day 770cals down. grrr

I’ve been using myfitnesspal, and it’s been quite usefull to show that in general my meals are quiet healty, ballanced and well with in correct calorie bounds. BUT wine and post wine snacking has horrible consiquences………..!!

I’m 4 weeks in and 4 kilos down 🙂

Same situation here as for michaelbowden.

Been using MFP for 4 weeks, and have dropped from 197 to 187lbs. I also find my normal diet is very healthy for the main part, and the things that bump it up are crisps and alcohol on the weekends. Although by very nature of logging what you eat, you tend to eat slightly less than you would normally!

Don’t have much problem meeting (but not exceeding) the daily target it sets, but I do halve the calorie estimates it gives for exercise as they seem quite high sometimes. eg: 130 calories for walking at 2.5mph for 30min..

trail rat……this is my page off MFP
have a look and see what you think…………i reckon i can afford a huge mahoosive tea. 😆

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/20ston

cant see it – added you as a friend , wonder if that’ll help.

im not by any means staying go crazy but there are limits as to what the body can take and if you dont feed it it will start being reluctant to give up its stored energy.

im not by any means staying go crazy but there are limits as to what the body can take and if you dont feed it it will start being reluctant to give up its stored energy.

The MFP site gives you a warning that if you eat too few calories you risk your body going into ‘starvation mode’ where it will try to store everything as fat to protect itself

Hi Ton, Thanks for the friend accept – but your profile is still coming up as private. Have a look under “My Home – Settings – Profile Privacy Settings” on the MFP webpage.
DA

dave_aber, is it showing now?

a few questions, if i do not eat the amount shown, then i go into calorie deficit?
and this can have a adverse effect on my weightloss by making my body hold on to excess weight?

Still showing as private.

Can you view my profile?

As for the “starvation mode” thing – I’ve read that on the MFP site, but I’ve honestly no idea if that’s bad science or not.

So far my weight loss has been stop-start, seeming to stall at various points. Maybe this is me over-ding the under-eating (!) and starvation mode setting in. I’ve not really analysed it too closely TBH. Seems to start off again when I make a good effort on the extra exercise for a few days in a row.

I don’t think one or two days of a slight calorie deficit will kick start your body into panicking and firing up the starvation mode.
imo.

Hence why the odd day or two a week of low caloric intake, the Horizon TV fasting thing, seems to be working for some folk on here.

Caveat: I do know how much the fasting bods have to lose, in the first place.

yes one of two days will be fine – but a lifestyle based around fasting with a huge deficit is not good for you and is more the starvation thing that me and MFP are on about.

the intermittant fasting thing has ground in purely dropping weight. For me performance during the loss is more important than the loss.

For me performance during the loss is more important than the loss.

Ah !, right. With you then. I’m not so race/performance focused.
I just want to stay in shape. Different goals with paths to those goals which have some things in common.
Good to chat with folk though who have different experiences and results via various methods.

🙂

the intermittant fasting thing has ground in purely dropping weight. For me performance during the loss is more important than the loss.

intermittent fasting doesn’t have to mean any calorie reduction at all nor does it have to mean going 24hrs+ without eating. One popular method (which I stick to most days) is just to restrict your “eating window” each day (but still have the same number of calories). So I will eat between 12noon and 8pm and fast the rest of the time. The Leangains website is a good source of info on this.

I don’t need to loose fat but am trying to build some upper body muscle and general core strength up. I decided to put my average day into MFP yesterday and was shocked to discover I normally eat over 4000 calories a day 😮 And I didnt include the recovery shake after training last night. Even after training calories were deducted I was still 1600 calories over what I should be eating?

I’ve been doing this since June(ish) last year and loosing weight fat, I’m about 12%

Cut back on my riding recently as well and substituted with more resistance training had made little difference to fat retention.

One very useful thing I have noticed is that according to MFT im 200 down on the Carb intake.

I have read and this makes me think that it really is what your eating and when (read glycogenic response to food) and not just calories in V’s calories out, but I’m interesed to hear what you guys think.

Here’s yesterdays page;

Link

i started on the MFP thing yesterday. when i went to bed last night, i had 901 calories left to use, but my fat intake (fron 2 tins of mackeral and 1 scotch egg) was over by 17 and my protein was over by 15.

how does that work?

i started on the MFP thing yesterday. when i went to bed last night, i had 901 calories left to use, but my fat intake (fron 2 tins of mackeral and 1 scotch egg) was over by 17 and my protein was over by 15.

how does that work?

MFP system based on needing more carbs that iDiet.

Each weight loss system will have different parameters for intake of carbs, fats and protein. I reckon that you need to pick one method (that has a credible record of success) and stick with it. Mix and match will often lead to dilemmas such as this.

i think you are right mate.
idiet it is then….. 😀

It is possible to have a custom ratio in MFP for fat/protein/carbs. IMO you need a bit of experimentation to find what is right for you personally, also it depends on your activity level.

Thought I would update; it’s only been two months but things are going really well.

I’m now down to 97.5 kg as of this morning. The rate of weight loss is slowing down, but it’s actually getting easier to achieve for the most part.

I can now easily imagine being just under 90kg; there is no longer a mental block. I can also imagine being 85kg although I am not specifically ‘aiming’ for that just yet.

To get to 90kg I have 95kg as an interim goal before I start again for sub 90kg.

The calorie intake is steady at between 1500 and 1700; mostly I’m taking in the lower limit with the upper limit being the days I am exercising.

I do occasionally get cravings, either to just eat a whole other portion of something yummy when it’s there or otherwise to go crazy and have a curry or something. And in truth, every now and then I’ve done just that, but it’s been maybe three times since Jan.

The thing that has really helped with motivation is weighing myself religiously every morning and getting excited about the weigh in prospect, seeing the weight come off. I know they say you shouldn’t do it every day, but I’ve been able to see the change between each day and that’s been exciting.

I’ve also really noticed the difference on the bike. I’ve always chased having a light bike and have always felt the benefit of that, but lordy it’s nothing compared to the benefit of having lost weight.

I’ve been on the 5/2 diet for a month, and lost 7 lbs. I am also trying to reshape my upper body, as cycling has been my main form of exercise for many years. An exercise routine called Shred I got from my wife is looking good, and by god I can feel it!!

So on the other five days, about how many calories are you consuming?

I’ve no idea, really. I try not to gorge all day on cream cakes, but I’ve had full roast dinner, curry,pizza – whatever I fancy really.

It says eat “normally”.

It says eat “normally”.

I read that also (hadn’t heard of it before) but I wondered what normal meant. For me at least, normal was likely around 2500-2700 calories a day, which is quite a bit more than the 2000 I think is recommended.

I’m consuming between 10,500 and 11,700 calories a week. The 5/2 assumed total would be 11,200, based on 2000 a day five times a week and 600 a day for the remaining two days.

It’s hardly surprising then that your rate of weight loss is about the same as mine (3kg a month)

I guess it just goes to show that there’s nothing more complicated about it than calories in, calories out.

I’ve posted before, but will do again. The 5:2 works for me because of my lifestyle, business travel, client meals, etc. I did mfp calories counting for 2 months after Christmas trying to maintain 1500 cals / day and no doubt it was working – but damned difficult to calorie count when in a restaurant in Holland and sitting with your smartphone out trying to guess portion size and how much butter went in the sauce.

So I’m about 6 weeks into the 5:2 plan. Weights still coming off at a rate of 1-2 lbs per week (total 2 stone off in total approx now). Mfp was very useful for teaching me in 2 months which foods are really calories rich and which are filling but calories lean, etc. So my non-fast days are much closer to the 2000-2500 they should be, the odd day / meal out will certainly be more and some will be less, and the 600 cal fast days are easy.

I don’t know if the supposed health benefits of intermittent fasting work or not, but as a lifestyle change that’s easy to manage and works for me, I’m more than happy with how its working.

PS; looking at the sample pics of men and women at different body fat levels from earlier in the thread – I’d like to be a woman ‘cos at 25% body fat I’d look well curvy and fit.

I guess it just goes to show that there’s nothing more complicated about it than calories in, calories out.

Calories in/calories out MAY work, but it has a lot of problems, because it IS a lot more complicated than that 🙂

OP, glad you’re feeling good about getting the weight off. I’ve re-read the thread and a few points come to mind.

From your original post:
I’ve actually done this all once before, up at 110kg, then down to 99kg. That was three years ago and the weight came back on

Both times success has come through reducing intake to between 1500 and 1800 calories per day.

I’m managing to limit intake to 1500 but it’s really hard and I never feel satisfied after meals. I’m hoping it gets easier!

That looks to me to indicate yoyoing and that caloric restriction is a) not sustainable. b) not satiating.

So it confuses me that you believe:
I guess it just goes to show that there’s nothing more complicated about it than calories in, calories out.

As has been discussed on this forum, many times before. There is some merit to being selective with regard to which foods you source your calories from. However, for balance I will acknowledge that there are folk of these ere parts who swear by caloric restriction, albeit that they may be in the earlier stages of employing such a strategy.
To me, the prospect of living a whole life time, in caloric restriction would be a recipe for constant misery and is kind of hinted at here:
I’m managing to limit intake to 1500 but it’s really hard and I never feel satisfied after meals.

But, for now, you seem to be achieving the weight loss you desire, so just see how you get along.
🙂

I guess the point I am making today, versus two months ago, is that the restricted calorie intake is actually getting easier and easier to sustain.

I see this process as not being wholly unlike admitting you’re an alcoholic. That’s not to trivialise that condition at all; actually far from it. I guess I am a calorie addict and I always will be.

But I’m sat here now, having had three slices of toast for breakfast, a single chicken sandwich with just butter, no mayo for lunch, a very small bowl of pasta and Bolognese sauce and some strawberries and I feel just fine. I’m not hungry; far from it I feel perfectly satiated.