Summary: We've already been given a great guide recently on weight lifting. Well, I have something I can contribute too. The easiest, healthiest, and fastest guide to weight loss. Sorry for the length, but I have a lot to say.
As a short background on me, I have health problems that I need medications for. These meds have serious side effects, among them significant weight gain. Because of this, I had to become an expert to lose weight. In 2013, I lost 80 pounds in 10 months, dropping from 268 to 188. And although everyone fashions themselves a nutrition/wellness expert, I think I know more than most. Nearly all my weight loss came from eating perfectly.
Alkalinity
Central to the science of wellness is the concept of alkalinity. Dr. Robert Young's pH Miracle provides much of what you would need to learn the details, but in essence what you're aiming to accomplish is:
1) improving the alkalinity of your body (making it less acidic)
2) the removal of toxins from your system
Some foods have an acidic effect, others an alkalizing effect on your body. However, your blood must maintain a 7.4 pH balance or your organs will fail. So with the homeostatic nature of your body, your body will remove minerals and nutrients from your organs/muscles/tissues to offset an excess of acidic food in your body. However, if you eat properly, you can store an excess of minerals + nutrients in your system and achieve health you haven't experienced before.
Toxins are easy enough to understand. Anything from yeast infections to athlete's foot to warts are unwanted things on/in our bodies. They all produce various negative effects on us and eating a certain way can get rid of them. Taking your body's focus away from digesting nasty toxic food and more onto self-healing goes a long way.
The "Diet"
I hate the word diet, but there is no better word for "deliberate food selection" so we'll have it at that. Diet implies a restriction of calories, a poor experience, and in general a highly restrictive hurdle to overcome. What I recommend is none of those, save for the restrictions.
I will go in order of calories consumed because it helps to conceptualize better:
1) Healthy Fats, 70-80% of calories: these are the most important for fat loss. Consuming grass fed butter (Kerrygold or irish/european butter good options), coconut oil, avocados, and bacon (from the healthiest grown pigs you can find) will be your best bets. Coconut oil is a great anti-fungal, avocados are loaded with nutrients, and grass fed butter has a fair amount of good things for you.
2) Protein, 20% of calories: I hate to use a macro-nutrient "protein" for this category but it should be mostly meat. Aggressive weight lifters will perhaps encourage a higher percentage than 20, but don't go above 30%. You probably don't need it. You guys know how to eat meat/what meats to eat, but I'll give you my 2 cents. Grass fed beef (never ground meat), omega 3-dense fish (tuna preferably not in a can, salmon, halibut), and pasture raised/uncaged chickens or goat. Avoid crustaceans, bottom feeding fish, and traditionally American raised animals. Don't overcook your meat - the rarer the better (I eat raw beef if from the right cow/farmer).
3) "Carbs", 10% of calories: This isn't really carbs as you know them. This is vegetables, and that's it. Leafy greens are a must (top are kale, dandelion greens, swiss chard, rapini, mustard greens, and arugula). As for diversity, focus on getting tomatoes, bell peppers, radishes, beets, broccoli, and eggplant. None of these are calorie dense and you should eat as much of them as you can.
Putting it Into Practice
Timing is huge. All your fats should be consumed by, say, 4 PM. Load up in the morning. The way I get half of my fats is Bulletproof Coffee - a simple method of putting grass fed butter and coconut oil in my coffee every morning. The Bulletproof beans are the best coffee I've ever had, but any coffee can work. With it I will have bacon on the side. That's breakfast.
Lunch is an avocado with a salad. Simple, effective.
Dinner is mostly vegetables, sometimes a salad thrown in, but perhaps a prepared veggie dish. This is also when I eat the bulk of my meat. Fish, beef, goat, or eggs.
If I get hungry late night I eat as much as I want, it just has to be vegetables. Carrots aren't satisfying, but a large salad is. Find what works for you.
The Anti-Diet: What to Avoid
Sugar is your enemy. You are addicted to it, even if you think you aren't. No bread, grains of any kind, potatoes, fruit, alcohol, or processed food (anything coming in a box). Go one day without sugar or sugar equivalents and you will feel it. It provides no nutritional benefit, and unless you're a professional athlete, there's little reason to be consuming it. Replace your gatorade with water + mineral salts. Same thing, cheaper, no sugar.
Although I mentioned it already, avoid alcohol. At all costs. Don't think I need to go into detail here, but yes even one beer is a small nuke on your system. Cigarettes equally so.
Mushrooms throw off a fair amount of fungal spores + other nasty side effects. While yes they have macro nutrients, they are not good for you. Avoid anything with mushrooms in the dish. Cooking doesn't help.
Outside of grass fed butter, dairy is a no-no. It is what a cow produces to get its offspring to grow quickly. Some of that might be helpful to humans, but there are a lot of unwanted things in there. Plus grass fed milk is hard to come by. Better to avoid. Human milk is far healthier but that's gross by societal standards so just avoid dairy.
Avoid restricting yourself to being hungry. Eating like this, you can eat as much as you want. I'll say it again, eat as much as you want.
Any mass-produced crops should be avoided. Soy, corn, wheat comprise something like 75% of calories in the US. None of them are good for you.
Nuts and seeds aren't good for you either. Yes they have protein, but they are also not good for you. Put simply, a plant doesn't want you chewing up its seeds and in many cases there are various toxins to prevent animals from doing so. A few exceptions, such as flax seed oil apply, but in general no peanuts/cashews/etc. Brazil nuts and macadamia's aren't bad but they're also expensive.
Some Final Notes
Although it says 10% of calories from vegetables, on a volume basis they should be half of your total food consumption, maybe more. I even go so far as to walk around with a tomato or a bell pepper if I'm going somewhere.
I'm a believer in exercise but I think proper eating > proper exercise. It takes far less time to see the results you want and also makes you somewhat of an interesting person for knowing how to eat like this. I started back on this regimen 3 days ago and I've already lost 6 pounds. It's not hard. I plan on losing another 70 pounds, won't take long.
Cooking food removes nutrients. The less you cook it, the better. Meat, when sourced properly, can be eaten (nearly) raw without any significant problems. Been doing it for awhile, and actually think it tastes better.
Learn to cook. Don't use recipes, ever. It's better to learn trial-and-error, you'll be a far better cook AND thinker in the long run. Plus you can impress people more that way. Show some initiative.
Juicing vegetables is even healthier than eating them, because you can pack 5 salads into one meal. Get a masticating vegetable juicer if you're interested (Omega does a nice job) and start juicing once/day. You will see immediate benefits.
For most produce, "organic" is not worth the money. If you're wealthy, buy organic, but otherwise don't bother. The only thing I might get organic (or the equivalent) is my meat. That's far more important to be grown properly than your produce.
Salt is important. You won't get enough in the diet I've described here. You need to be pretty liberal with it: put mineral salt in your water, himalayan/kosher/sea salt in your food.
Hydration is equally important. Drink a lot of water, avoid any drinks but water. Sugar in water is like a soda, even if it's orange juice.
Go to the farmer's market. It's cheaper, better produce, and you can ask the farmer directly about their wares. Not only is it good on the wallet and quality, but it's fun and good for mental health. Get out and do something a little different, you'll thank me later.
Lastly, don't have "cheat days". You're not having a "zero" day, but a "negative" day, which can offset 3-4 days of healthy eating because of the alkalinity thing I discuss above. It's far easier to make your body acidic than alkaline.
Best of luck. Please critique me or share your experiences. Thanks all. PM for questions.
RendezvousWithDrew 8y ago
I am rather new at weight loss and learning with everything I read. However, I have a really big question to "caloric excess/deficit". If you are in the gym, how do you measure calories burning as to what you are consuming throughout the day? I tend to stay between 2-3k calories a day and everyday is pretty different in what I eat, but I stay in the realm of that. I've lost 40 lbs of fat and gained 15lbs of muscle the last 4 months. But I'm also 6'6 and still holding 320 strong. I want more clarity on what I'm actually burning calorie wise in the gym. If there is a scale I can reference. Thx for any comments, truly appreciated.
[deleted] 8y ago
I don't know any scales, but then again I don't count calories consumed or burned. Your best bet is to just google it for awhile and try to figure out the types of exercises you're doing in terms of calories burned at your size. But do realize your size is going to increase the number of calories you're burning vs. what somebody smaller would.
Congrats on the progress by the way.
L33TPWNERS 8y ago
Im still gonna hold to my go to meals. Eggs for breakfast, salad for lunch, and Turkey burger for dinner, apples for annals and only water, with a 30 minute run every day. Lost 100 lbs this way over 1 1/2 years.
augizzz999 8y ago
OP definitely doesn't even lift.
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prodigyx 8y ago
I'm glad you mentioned "wellness" and "toxins" at the beginning of the post. Told me enough to know the rest of it wasn't worth reading.
Kalidane 8y ago
"Alkalinity" and "bullet-proof" did it for me.
OP has no regard for science.
throwaway-chemist 8y ago
The first third of this post is hokum. The final two thirds are pretty good. Most of what you say is accurate, though I believe you've arrived at the right conclusions by flawed means.
Any mention of alkalinity in diet should be met with heavy skepticism; the "pH Diet" has been debunked on numerous occasions. I am happy to see that the ketogenic diet is gaining traction in this community. I recommend higher amounts of protein to those trying to lose weight, as its thermogenic effect is greater by far than fat's, as well as for other myriad reasons.
Eat more meat, no sugar, and some veggies. I'm a graduate chemist and med student, so I'm happy to expound if people wish me to do so.
EDIT: Other problematic (or simply untrue) bits include references to nutrient timing, which has very little to anyone not in the elite levels, "toxins," especially in nuts (though I will grant that some fungi and nuts can be poisonous, it's also true that we tend not to eat those), and several potentially harmful or destructive bits, such as: the implications that most meats can safely be consumed (near) raw, that "organic" or "grass fed" actually mean anything, or that nutrients are actually lost when cooking. The last of these is only true if you drain fats, to which any self-respecting caveman would respond with a hearty spear-chucking.
Fixed grammar.
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CrackityDiggity 8y ago
80% of calories from fat? This is definitely an extreme diet if I've ever heard one. Highly restrictive, but curiously you allow things like butter and bacon in copious amounts. As someone who lost 120 pounds and kept it off for 3.5 years now, I say keep it simple. Eat less, move more. Burn more calories than you take in. Focus on veggies, fruits, lean meats and whole grains and avoid refined, processed junk food. It isn't rocket science.
rpscrote 8y ago
Bad advice.
http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/diets-fail-eat-less-move-bad-advice/
Better advice is: eat more, move more. Improve the QUALITY of what you eat and keep quantity the same or increase it. This means more unprocessed foods that are high in protein and fiber. There is absolutely no reason to fight hunger with willpower when you can be satiated by eating right
abdada 8y ago
Lean meats and whole grains will leave most people hungry.
Men need cholesterol and saturated fats to keep their T levels in check.
Low fat is a good way to kill the boner.
CrackityDiggity 8y ago
I don't advocate low fat per se, but the thing about fat is it's really easy to get too much. 1 g of fat = 9 calories, 1 g of protein or carbs = 4 calories.
80% of calories from fat? Get the fuck outta here, that's nonsense.
[deleted] 8y ago
Sorry to reply so late, just wanted to point out something with those calorie / gram stats.
Even though fat has a very high calorie to grams, you cannot ingest as much as you can with carbs. You can't even come close. Just think how easy it is to eat 100grams of carbs, it's half a packet of biscuits, it's a snack for most people. Try eating that snack worth of calories in fat and it becomes fucking tough to do.
If you mix carbs and fat you can ingest MUCH more fat than if you mix it with protein and green veg (eg high fat/ low carb) The carbs makes it easier to eat more fat for some reason. <- this is my experience when I tried a low carb diet.
Once you reach ketosis on low carb/ high fat, it's really really tough to over eat. If you don't cheat with carbs I'd probably even go as far to say that it's impossible. You feel freaken super though.
With the 80% thing. I never went that high every day, but my fat intake was definitely >65% of my calorie intake.
abdada 8y ago
I went from skinny to obese in my late 20s in about 3 years. Cut from obese to skinny because of 75% fat cals. Then got ripped doing something similar to r/ketogains.
Now I'm in my 40s and close to 70% of my cals come from saturated fat. 20-25% proteins and 5-10% carbs.
And I never gain weight because protein+fat is satiating and keeps ghrelin and leptin in check.
I fluctuate between 9% and 11% body fat year round -- fatter in fall as I consume some season fruit (carbs) and add a layer of brown fat for cold winter months.
SW9876 8y ago
I'd love to see before after pictures if you have them
abdada 8y ago
I have literally zero photos of me from my fat years. The last time I was over 13% BF was in 2002. 13+ years ago. Before smart phone cameras were the norm. Before there was an easy way to sync them online.
Sad, too, because no one today believes I was a fat fsck obeast hamplanet.
CrackityDiggity 8y ago
Well I'm glad that works for you. I encourage people to experiment with different macronutrient ratios, and I also agree with you that saturated fat and cholesterol is necessary for men.
However, I do not think the reason you lost weight was eating primarily fats. The reason you, or anyone loses weight, is because you were on a caloric deficit. If you weren't, you wouldn't lose weight. People have this idea that if you simply eat the right foods and avoid the wrong foods, you can eat in unlimited quantity. That's bullshit. If you consume less calories than you burn, it doesn't matter if it's broccoli, donuts, chicken or grass fed butter, you're gonna lose weight.
I'm not saying what you eat doesn't matter, obviously it does, but not as much as people think.
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ChowkingKRool 8y ago
Not gonna through the whole video. In the first study the study volunteers were given free nuts (about 500 calories worth) per day. They were otherwise not given any diet advice and their calories were not tracked in any manner. They weren't even told they had to have all the nuts (or that's what I gather). The narrator failed to point this out, went on about how mysterious it was that these study volunteers seemed to gain less weight than expected, and noted that thousands of calories seem to vanish into nowhere (despite calories not being monitored), I can imagine that there's probably more of that in the video.
With that in mind, the video doesn't throw much doubt at all. It also doesn't make the case for calories any stronger. From what I saw, the video is just an example of either a dishonest or incompetent use of scientific studies for a specific view point.
abdada 8y ago
Duh, re: caloric deficit.
But you will have issues keeping ghrelin and leptin in check on higher carb diets. This isn't broscience, this is early science. Leptin and ghrelin weren't discovered until 1999, and most dietitians and trainers are still unfamiliar with these important hormones.
Protein is satisfying. I aim for 0.8g - 1g per LBM#. That's #1 for me calorie wise. I fill in the rest with fat because it's what the body burns during weight loss and helps mee hunger in check.
If I'm bulking, I raise my carbs so my caloric deficit is now in excess. I have been at my goal weight for almost a decade and only try to add 2-4# a year in LBM nice and slow.
For a 40-something dude who spends only 45 minutes a week maximum in the gym, I'm pretty cut. My diet makes it super easy to stick to.
When I try higher carb diets, I have trouble turning off hunger. Like clockwork, I exceed about 50g of carbs in a day and I start getting mad hunger dawn to dark. Under 50g and I have no artificial hunger signals.
CrackityDiggity 8y ago
Different strokes for different folks I guess. For me, I have a big appetite, and would strongly prefer a large dinner of chicken breast, brown rice and steamed broccoli with a little olive oil to a bowl of butter or whatever keto maniacs preach. Besides, since protein and carbs are less than half the caloric density, I get to eat way more than you do for the same number of calories, and THAT keeps me fuller longer. But everyone is different.
abdada 8y ago
What's your BF%? I meet a lot of hungry dudes who have screwed up ghrelin because of their diet. Getting ghrelin levels in check is a big money saver for me.
CrackityDiggity 8y ago
I hit a low of around 8% in summer and then top off around 13 in the winter. I'm not familiar with ghrelin, but I have a hard time believing that trading in my sweet potatoes for bacon fat will be any kind of improvement to my diet whatsoever. Although I'm hardly on a low fat diet, I eat around 75-100 g fat per day depending on if bulking or cutting. Mostly animal fats, nuts, seeds, olive or coconut oil, avocados, almond butter etc.
Primemale 8y ago
''If you consume less calories than you burn, it doesn't matter if it's broccoli, donuts, chicken or grass fed butter, you're gonna lose weight.''
The robotic method of calculating calories by burning the food, (they use a different method more often now I believe,but it doesn't change my point) does not account for the myriad of responses that different foods have on the bodies hormones, such as ghrelin, (the hunger hormone) and leptin (regulator of fat storage) amongst many others.
There is ample evidence and reason to suggest that two equally measured diets of calories one with say the majority of the calories coming from high sugar/carbs, and another mostly from fat, that one would see vastly different results within the same time span In most cases. No one ever used to measure calories back in the day,there was no need to, people swapped their bacon and eggs for breakfast, for cereal because of the massive propaganda campaign on all things fat. This is not to say that calories have no reliability but I do think they can be (in certain instances) highly innacurate, and I would postulate that this measurement for foods and fat gain/loss will be replaced within the next 10 years or so.
rpscrote 8y ago
Calories in, calories out is an immutable, unavoidable, non-negotiable wall. You can't get around it, period. This is as it pertains to WEIGHT alone.
What you eat, e.g. protein vs carbs vs fat and hormonal stuff matters as far as it concerns BODY COMPOSITION, e.g. percent fat vs percent lean body mass.
Mucking with body composition has a shitload of variables including how you train, what your macros and micros are, whether you take anabolics, etc.
But calories in calories out is the fundamental baseline, you must ensure the calories are right as the first step no matter what else you do afterwards
Primemale 8y ago
> What you eat, e.g. protein vs carbs vs fat and hormonal stuff matters as far as it concerns BODY COMPOSITION, e.g. percent fat vs percent lean body mass.
This is really my point and I concur. the difference in the macronutrients %'s and THE TYPES OF FOOD do have a large impact the the amount of fat gained and lost, even with the same amount of calories, therfore it is not something to disregard lightly.
But calories in calories out is the fundamental baseline, you must ensure the calories are right as the first step no matter what else you do afterwards
Counting calories shouldn't even have to be done if people ate normal, natural, unprocessed foods, I've never counted a calorie in my life and consistently (lean) gain. Naturally, the way most people eat, they will have down regulated receptors to hunger hormones etc and they won't be able to know, like they should naturally be able to. when I'm hungry I eat, when I'm not, I don't. I also don't believe in this idea that one has to gain fat in order to gain muscle, again, this is just an idea adopted in modern day to explain a general observation, clueless to the fact that most people eat in a way that is not (necessarily) suited towards optimal performance and aesthetics and that they eat a very different diet compared to most of human history.
rpscrote 8y ago
Don't confuse "calorie counting" with the fact that food has calories, and you can't beat calories in, calories out.
You can elect to not count the calories, but you must still have less calories than your total daily energy expenditure to lose weight.
Primemale 8y ago
Great to see some information on high fat diets, not enough people know about them, I personally get about 70-80% of my calories from animal fats,and the rest protein, very few carbs in all honesty and I am around 10% BF, although one doesn't need to eat that much fat, the rest can be substituted for protein, but make no mistake gentleman, carbs are the predominant factor in what makes you fat, no debate. It is nigh on impossible to get fat eating protein and fat in ANY amount, you simply won't be able to over eat on it. also good emphasis on eating grassfed varieties instead of feedlot/intensely farmed food.
rpscrote 8y ago
No. There is substantial debate on this, because its mostly crap. Calorie surplus is the overwhelmingly predominant factor in what makes you fat.
edit: whoever downvotes that a calorie surplus drives weight gain is a fucking retard
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Primemale 8y ago
I disagree, strongly. their are too many outliers of for this to be the ''overwhelmingly predominant factor'' completely dependant on circumstances, i.e. what foods are being eaten, in what % of the total diet, and previous history for example, down regulation of certain hormones, in much the same way that people become de-sensitised to insulin, this would make it harder or easier for them to lose weight eating a certain way even if the calories were the same in each diet. FACT.
Soitgoes48 8y ago
http://wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/the-dirt-on-clean-eating/ 54% of diet coming from table sugar having a positive impact on short term body composition seems to disagree
Hormones are far less important than total macronutrient intake
http://alanaragon.com/glycemic-index Glycemic index and insulinogenic response are mostly irrelevant when it comes to health and bodybuilding unless you are diabetic.
http://alanaragon.com/carbs-fat-friends-after-all.html Carbs and fat are OK in amount well above 10%. In fact, protein should be monitored closely because inadequate protein intake can result in poor body composition despite weight loss. More important than macronutrient intake however, is rate of loss.
rpscrote 8y ago
Doesn't matter. Objectively, there is a great deal of debate as to what makes you fat. You can not deny this. There is no consensus that it's carbs. There is a huge portion of scientists, bodybuilders, trainers, nutritionists who disagree. There are plenty that agree with that premise too. Thus, it is debated.
You can eat literally nothing but twinkies, a multivitamin and a single protein shake while maintaining a calorie deficit and lose weight. Around 1600 calories JUST from sugary carbs. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/
How does your theory account for that?
ChowkingKRool 8y ago
How does this statement apply if you consume nothing but 800 calories of pure sugar every day? How about if you consume 10,000 calories a day with no carbs? Would expect fat gain/retention with the former and little to no fat gain with the latter?
Primemale 8y ago
Well my point is that, fat and protein won't stimulate fat storage in the way that carbs does, in that extreme example one wouldn't be able to eat that much, with fat and protein. and yes I still think MOST people would lose weight on only 800 calories a day but not everyone, some people with highly fucked metabolisms are different, I have known men that literally eat one small meal a day and stay overweight. Again, there are many other factors, not just this basic calorie measurement. Try it out and see for yourself, there are some great lectures from scientists on youtube. I'm not anti carb completely, but there is no doubt that low(ish) carbs is the way to go, for optimal health and optimum body fat %.
http://caloriesproper.com/about-me/
kinklianekoff 8y ago
Most of your prescriptive advice is good. Your reasoning is mostly flawed though. I won't go through point by point and provide sources, seeing as you didn't either.
Another post on the RP front page is very relevant here, "take advice with a grain of salt". Anytime someone raves about whatever ONE doctor wrote about in a book then preaches about his prophet, you just know it's bs.
rTkM 8y ago
Agree with some of your advice on veg and sugar, but I don't agree with the rest of your advice.
Why not just a typical keto diet (65% fat/30% protein/5%carbs). The key to any diet after all is ENERGY IN < ENERGY OUT and the purpose of high fat is to feel more sated for fewer calories.
Ketosis has a documented minor effect in increasing weight loss, but the alkalinity/toxins stuff sounds like wishy washy mumbo jumbo. Have any sources for that besides the book?
bigcitytruth 8y ago
You need to put some links to reputable medical sources. Coconut oil is one of the worst oils for your heart. It has mostly unhealthy fats. Only use it in moderation, only occasionally. Don't believe me, believe doctors from Harvard, the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/coconut-oil
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/in-depth/trans-fat/art-20046114?pg=2
http://health.clevelandclinic.org/2013/10/olive-oil-vs-coconut-oil-which-is-heart-healthier/
You're off about the cooking/raw thing as well:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/vegetables-nutritional-value-often-rises-when-they-are-cooked-properly/2015/03/02/6851623c-9b3a-11e4-96cc-e858eba91ced_story.html
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/11/why-cooking-counts/
Too much bro science and bad info can literally be harmful to others. I think anyone putting together a diet guide should at least cite real legit sources (not a source like NatureHippyHealth.com), or the poster should at least be someone with a background as a nutritionist or a medical professional.
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Ill_be_The_KING 8y ago
20% calories from protein? Averaging 2000 kcal a day diet gives you only 400 kcal fom protein. Assuming everything is "textbook" that will leave you with 100 gr. of protein alone which is below the minimum requirements for all kinds of bodyweights during a cut.
.... you stupid?