Saturday, September 16, 2017

Long Term Weight Maintenance 5 years, 7 months check-in, finally trending lower

May 2011 to Sept 2017

May 2011 to Sept 2017






















Starting weight 187.4 lbs
Goal Range 113-125  lbs 
2017 best Goal Weight Range 113 to 116
Current Weight  113.6 lbs
Keeping off    73.8  lbs

Time in maintenance 5 years, 7 months

Age 51
Menopause 4+years
Height 5'1"
BMI 21.5
BMI ave this month 21.5
BMI ave last month 21.9
Glucose (fasting & 2hr post this month range 80-99 mg/dL)
Ketone blood= 1.1 mmol/L

Food Template:  Paleo, LCHF,  Keto-( due to fasting ), 
Total Carb ave =41 grams per day
Net Carb ave = 26 grams per day
Abstain from all grains, most sugars*, dairy. Nut free, artificial sweetener free **
* 85% chocolate 1X per day, weekends 1-2 squares of 70% chocolate instead
** Tiny bit of stevia in my Natural Calm, magnesium supplement

Food Timing or Time Restricted Eating Window or Intermittent Fasting 17:7 or 18:6
OR  12:12.  I'm alternating short TRE with the 12:12

17: 7 example:
17 hours fasting (water only)
7 hours eating, 3 meals
Eat 6am Stop eating at 1 pm

Or 18:6, I change it up a bit

12:12 Example
12 hrs fasting (water only)
12 hours eating, 3 meals, one small meal (no protein)
Eat 6am, Stop eating at 6pm

Auto-Immune Hashimoto's Disease 1997, 100 ug Synthroid daily
Food Addict in Recovery: 6+ years
High Risk, but never diagnosed Type 2 diabetes

Walking 13,219 ave steps per day,  August

Weight lifting : 1-2X per week, 

Sprints  4 days per week stair sprints 

Stair Ave/day for the month 15 stairs (Apple Health Kit)

Flexibility and stretching: 2-3X per week at home or gym- sit to stand to sit. 
_____________________________________________________-
August and early Sept 2017 key take aways, What's working for me

1. Incorporating 12:12 fasting in with 17:7 fasting. Time will tell on this. Not sure if my lowest adult weight is a fluke or a usable tool. I had a flu vaccine and that may have impacted my weight to be lower than usual. Time will tell.

2. Having higher calorie intake days interspersed with lower calorie intake days. Higher on the 12:12 days. Lower intake on the 17:7 days. Not by much, I'm telling you 100-150 of variation can make or break weight maintenance. Again, time will tell on this tool. 

3. Daily weighing, stopping the upward trend lead to a downward trend. Data is king. I recorded, I moved on to my goals and not away 

4. Fat grams closer to protein grams when I need to reverse a trend. Fat grams a little higher during long stretches of maintenance. Too much protein makes me bloated and my joints hurt. Too much fat (more than adequate) will give me a muffin top.  My body speaks, I've learned to listen. Because I like my skinny jeans, YO! 

Because Aug 2017 was so hot in So.Cal
5. Drank more water
6. Consumed more salt. I have to maintain my blood pressure, too low otherwise. (no it does not impact my positional vertigo- that's positional, not salt related. )

Truth! 

What didn't work for me in the past

1. Eating 2-3 hours (excluding my packaged very low calorie weight loss plan). Really, my body was telling me STOP this, too much, too often. Goodness, I wish I had listened. My body had no choice but to protect itself my eyes, my kidneys, my liver- so lay down visceral fat it did. No other choice. I gave my body no options. 

2. Eating high calorie, low fat all the time. I never gave my body the chance to run on ketones and it's own fat stores. I had lots of energy in stored fat, I just never set up the biochemistry to access it. I was too busy eating those points friendly chicken enchiladas and low fat ice creams.




3. Low fat, no fat, by GOD fat was going to make me fat, Doesn't everyone have bloat, joint pain, obesity as they age?  I thought that common was normal. I didn't give myself a chance to do low carb because I was afraid fat would give me a heart attack. I wanted to follow the guidelines so bad, I couldn't see that I was closer to a heart attack eating low fat (hs-CRP =6.8) than higher fat hs-CRP <2.0 most of the blood draws.

Here's to giving ourselves the chance to see what works and the wisdom to get support from those who can help y fine tune your food template when your body sends the message, loud and clear.

4. I did not look at macros at all. So total calorie intake matters for me, but so does eating lower carb (not too low) and then messing with my protein and fat grams. The body builders knew all along. LOL.  I do need to mind the types of foods I eat for stable weight management. 

5. I drank water, too much and felt horrible. Water logged for sure. 

6. I ate salt, but with fast food and poor oil sources and super high carb. It was a problem weight and blood pressure wise. I felt terrible and binge urges. Not good.

Onward.  More Low Carb USA stories, got my Keto Mojo meter, but wisely, I'm not chasing ketones. Just taking data and moving on with my day. 

Graphs, I have them, no apologies. My best tool is hopping on that scale everyday.















8 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thank you, Carol. I know that things could change, so I'm enjoying my successes. I expect to have a good outcome, overall.

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  2. I think you have a typo in your 12:12 example. I think you meant to say 6am.

    Sodium is no longer impacting my vertigo. Knock on wood. I have not been having any issues. Knock again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep! I fixed the typo, thanks Vickie. Knocking on wood. and again.

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  3. I really appreciate your sharing your experiment with changing up your fasting and your food intake. I gained a few pounds over the summer from some bingeing (health challenges led me to do this so I'm still susceptible to this). I am reversing this tren (even though the challenges have not resolved) and I realized I don't need to add extra weight to all my problems. I'm experimenting with lower carb than I have ever been. I have dropped all fruit except for berries, which is a big change for me. I also vary my eating and have a snack for dinner some days. I like seeing that you're slightly varying things because I suspect this might be what is helping me. Only time will tell. Thanks for sharing. I still get a lot of value out of these posts. A lot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for sharing your experience, Ali. I know that I have to make changes when I'm getting treatment (like for Shingles) earlier this year.

      Also, I know that Weight Maintenance is truly an Art and Science. The Art and Science of Weight Maintenance. Truth!

      I'm glad my posts help, Ali. Most of all they help me stay on the straight and narrow with keeping the door shut on food addiction. The frosting on the cupcake that I won't be eating now that I'm food sober.. LOL. And that helps my weight maintenance, but it's not the whole story. There's the biochemistry, the chronic disease remission.

      Onward!!!

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  4. Hi Karen,

    How much protein and fat (in grams if possible) is your typical daily intake? I wonder if you strive to hit 100g per day for protein.

    Thanks!

    PS You are very inspiring!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Josie, my protein/fat varies based on my activity level over time. Last weeks ave was 85 grams protein, 106 grams fat per day. Carbs were 47 grams ave, but net carbs were 34 grams/ ave per day. That's pretty typical. Ave macros are 13% carbs/64% fat/23% protein.

      I would say some weeks, protein is higher. Most of the time it's not lower protein wise. Too much protein and I feel terrible. Too much fat and I'll gain weight. So I go by how I'm feeling. Often I can just feel it out, day by day.

      I have a protein stash at work and home that I call the "protein junk yard"- cooked, frozen and ready to add if I'm hungry. I also have tins of oysters and sardines with me. And a beef stick or two in my backpack.

      And, I don't digest protein well past 2pm or so. So later in the day I'll have say Kale, olive oil, pumpkin seeds or avocado if I need fuel in the evening or am doing a 12:12 fast. On 17:7 days, I probably eat close to my averages. I've switched more to a 12:12 feeding window until my blood work is drawn (very soon!!)

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