Another milestone crossed, another lesson learned (week 38)

Hello dear readers and followers of my journey. I have been following LCHF diet guidelines for the past 9 months. That's by far the longest I have been on any diet, but the best thing is that I still have absolutely no intentions to end it, nor any regrets to have started it. For those of you who don't follow this blog so regularly, a small summary of what's been going on.

I started on September 20th. Back then, I had 112kg and 126cm waistline. My BMI was 34.2, which means I was obese (anything above BMI = 30 is obese). Furthemore, I had elevated blood pressure, very high cholesterol and triglycerides, meaning that I was at high risk to develop cardiovascular problems in the next ten years (and I'm 33 years old!).

Today, 9 months later, I am 23kg lighter and have 20cm less waistline. My BMI is 27, which means I am standing in the middle of the "overweight" group. My blood pressure is normal and my blood markers have improved. My final goal is to decrease BMI to 24 - 25 and get my waistline below 104cm, so my journey isn't finished quite yet, but I think that the numbers speak for themselves.

If you are new to this blog and are wondering, how did I do it, there's plenty of information in my previous posts, feel free to read them. Today, I'd like to share with you a new insight.

It starts with this picture.

My weight and waistline in the past 38 weeks of LCHF. Click to enlarge.

So, what's the big deal?
If you look at the blue line, showing my weight loss in the past 38 weeks, you will see a sudden change of trend at around February 7th. In December 2013 and January 2014, I was loosing up to 4kg per month and after that, it's between 1 and 2 kg per month. Back then I thought that high weight loss in January was due to a stomach flu that I had, but I don't think anymore that was the case. So, what was it?

Such food pyramid is often shown as an LCHF recommendation.
Personally, I disagree. I think that salad and vegetables group
should be right above fats and oil, while meat, chesses and
eggs should be one step higher.

In short: too much meat, to little vegetables

LCHF stands for "low carb, high fat". It says that you should eat no more than 80 grams of carbs per

day and that 80% of daily calories should come from fat. It doesn't specifically say anything about protein. There are other versions of LCHF which say that daily carb limit should be 20 grams (which I was strictly doing in the first few months) and that protein intake should be below 150 grams per day.

I was looking at my notes recently and discovered that in February, I started eating more meat and less vegetables, than I did in the first few months. My protein intake went up and at the same time, my fat intake went down. My carb intake was still low and I believe this is the reason why my weight was still slowly creeping down. But comparing to my experience from December and January, I think I would be loosing weight much faster if I ate more vegetables and less meat. Why?

Proteins interrupt ketosis

Chart showing optimal levels of ketones. Eating plenty of
carbohydrates results in zero ketones. Eating little carbs,
but plenty of protein result in slighlty elevated ketones
(around 0.5), while eating plenty of fat will put you
into optimal ketone zone. Anything above is difficult
to achieve by a healthy individual and the risk of
ketoacidosis is high only for diabetics. 

If you want to lose weight quickly and efficiently, ketosis is the key. It is a metabolic state which occurs when there is a lack of carbohydrates (namely: glucose) and the body is forced to use other nutrients for energy. Most body cells run pretty good on fat, but brain cells don't. In order to prevent brain cells from starving out, we transform some of the fat into different chemical compounds called ketones, which can be used by our brain cells. A ketone body meter allows measurements of ketone levels in our blood and if ketones are elevated, it is a sure sign that we are doing things right.
When there is lack of carbohydrates, but abundance of protein, our body first focuses on using protein for energy. Proteins as such can not be used for energy, so our body transforms them into - you've guessed it - glucose (and some other stuff which is a little bit harmful for us, but that's not the issue here). Even though we are not consuming carbohydrates, our body makes them from protein, and the final effect is the same: when there is glucose, there is no need for ketosis.

But why the vegetables?
If you still have the shivers remembering your childhood, when your parents forced you to eat vegetables, don't worry. I am not going to tell you to eat vegetables because you must, to be healthy (without any reasonable argument), to have regular bowel movement (as Sheldon Cooper would have put it) or any of that. For me, there are two reasons why eat more vegetables:

• they make you feel satiated (because, who wants to be hungry all the time?)
• you can mix in A LOT of fat (because that's what you really want on LCHF)

Another reason is to gain essential vitamins and minerals, but hard hearted nay sayers to vegetables like me know that there supplements and have no objections to take them.
But the two above mentioned reasons are important. You can put plenty of oil into salads. You can pan fry your zucchini and eggplants. You can put lots of heavy cream into green beans and so forth. From fats and vegetables, you can make highly nutritious meals consisting mainly of fat - exactly what you want. The decreased amounts of protein and the lack of carbohydrates will leave your body no other choice but go into ketosis. Aaaaand... the weight will go down quicker!

C'mon, there must be meat, right?

Sauted kale is a delicious dinner. Use plenty of butter
and add a few pieces of bacon for flavour.

I know that this is a personal preference and a very subjective subject. Personally, I like meat. In the past few months, I have noticed that I like meat especially because it tastes really good. I'm definitively still going to eat meat, but I in smaller amounts, kind of as a spice. There will still be bacon in my eggs and vegetables, fatty steaks with on salads and whatnot, but I will keep the amounts below 150 grams of raw weight per day. One meal, I will fully replace with vegetables and fats.



I'll let you know the results. Until then, I wish you all the best, lots of good times and good food. You know you can do it, because loosing weight is really easy.

Instead of a regular report (week 33)

After a two month long pause from blogging (has it really been that long???), it's hard to title this as a "regular" report on my LCHF lifestyle progress. Although it certainly didn't seem so, 2 months is quite a long time. Many people were asking me if I have quit or anything, and the answer to that is: most certainly no. I am still eating mainly fats and proteins and staying away from carbs, but I have to admit that I haven't been so strict lately on the ratio between fats and proteins. I am doing a very good job avoiding carbs, but I tend to eat a bit more protein than I should to maintain optimum weight loss conditions.

My weight and waistline in the past 33 weeks of being on LCHF diet.

I suppose this is the reason why my weight has stabilized at 91 - 92 kg and waistline is at around 108cm. I am still a bit chubby, but there is a huge difference from the time when I started. Even though for the past 3 months I have been pretty much stable, the total result of losing 20kg and 18cm of waistline in 8 months and being able to maintain this is still mind blowing in my opinion. So instead of bare numbers, here's a summary of a few interesting things that happened to me in the past two months.

New things on the "LCHF scene"

All the time of me writing this blog, the global as well as the local LCHF scene is growing. I think that never before there have been so many good references, new books, articles, blogposts and whatnot published. At the same time, I am glad to not have noticed any opportunists who want to overemphasize LCHF for their own financial benefits. Every now and then, I see a new product on the market being advertised as "low carb", but us true LCHF-ers know very well that the best ingredients for our meals are those who haven't been touched by marker researchers or accountants.

The most important thing on our local Slovene scene is publishing of two books in Slovene language. The first book is translation of Robert Lustig's The Big Fat Lie. Slovene title is "Mastna laž" and in February, it was on the list of top 10 selling books. The second one is translation of Anita Šupe's "Istine i laži o hrani" from Croatian to Slovene. Slovene title is "Resnice in laži o hrani". Both Robert Lustig and Anita Šupe contributed to my change of paradigm and to my new lifestyle and I sincerely recommend reading these two books, especially if you want to lose weight, have diabetes or have any other diabetes issues.

Anyway, these first 200 days of my LCHF lifestyle have certainly been exciting and I am looking forward to what the future will bring. Sooner or later, a new blog post also.

Occasional steps to the other side

I admit, in the past 2 months I did try a couple of high carb foods a couple of times. I distinctly remember eating a few slices of "potica" cake (traditional Slovene desert which is consumed in enormous amounts at around easter), a portion of mashed potatos, one and a half portion of risotto a few slices of bread and a few pieces of pie. That didn't happen in a day, but, as I said, occasionally in the period of two months. To put it all together, I think it is still less carbs than an average person eats in a week.

The most interesting thing about it was my body's response to all these carbs. After eating it, I felt a huge rush all over my body. My heartbeat went up (often to the point of being uncomfortable). At the same time, I felt tired and full of energy. And, if this happened at night, I couldn't fall asleep and even when I did, I slept poorly. I could be wrong, but I may have regained sensitivity to a hormone called leptin, which regulates our sense of being satiated and makes us burn the energy we have consumed. Since most people eat plenty of carbs, which stimulates insulin, which causes leptin insensitivity, they don't feel this way after eating their lunches and dinners, but I surely did.

The result was that not just I found carbs to be unnecessary, they also starting to feel uncomfortable in any dose larger than 80 grams per day. I honestly have absolutely no desire of eating a meal mainly consisting of carbohydrates and the only time when I am eating a high carb dish is just when I want to sample something new. And even that just to sample, only a bite or two.

Microchanges

So far, LCHF lifestyle brought me plenty of changes. Most of them came in rather rapidly and were clearly visible or otherwise sensed. I was losing between 2 and 4 kilograms per week. Every two weeks, I needed to punch a new hole in my belt. Pants started looking strange and putting on a sweater stopped feeling like mounting a spinaker on a sailing boat.

As it seems my weight is stabilizing, there are still changes, which may not be so obvious, but are actually even more appreciated. The main change is the increased amount of mental focus and concentration. I was never terrible at this, but now I can easily and without any preparations in advance keep myself in focus for hours, without any noticeable side effects. I have also noticed that I remember things better. In general, I am more calm.

Surely, some of it is coming from the fact that I am more satisfied with the way I look now, and this makes it a lot easier to be self confident. But I am certain that some of it also comes from better hormonal stability, at least concerning insulin and leptin. Also, I often picture how my blood is full of lipoprotein packages carrying little molecules of fat, and how the cells of my body only need to say "hey, I'll just take some of that for my current needs" (of course, they do it in their own biochemically complicated way). With insulin out of the picture, energy is always available and there is no force pushing my body to either burn or store what I have just eaten. Things are stable on the cellular level and with a bit of imagination, this stability can be used to maintain inner peace.

It is also A LOT easier to cross my legs.

Cheers!