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.