Question on Nutrients

foolforcarbos

mmapags - no, no-one on any video stated anything about this. I went to several sites and look at my height, weight, age and those sites, along with MFP, said 1,450 calories. I decided, just like when I was in Alaska, to just try to hit that per day, and go ahead and log the exercising per day, and then just look at the net calories and see what's up.

For all of February, I didn't log any exercising. Didn't know to do that. Started March 03 logging exercise.

So here is my latest, as of today and closing down the logs. The 1,100+ calorie net days are just when I walk. The other days, usually under 400 net calories, are when I kayak and hike. Yesterday, was a rain day. So I didn't do anything really. And made up for that today. The 630 net calorie day was a quick kayak in the evening, not that far and not to my island where I hike.

In Alaska, I could take 78 days of food at a time. And eat everything that day. Then in time, I would notice I could skip a meal and if I got laid over in some storm, could eat that extra meal that day. I was kayaking ten hour days, plus 4 hours hiking and photography, and 2 hours to set camp or take down camp, and be constantly moving.

I haven't been hungry really, and yesterday was my first day to go over 1,400 calories. Usually, I am looking for what can I add to my food today to hit 1,400 calories. I am 5 ft 5.5 inches. Small frame. And now 155-156 lbs. There are charts that say I should be at 114-144 lbs for my size. I am not going back to 125 lbs. I was that throughout high school. But I wouldn't mind somewhere between 138-142. I would love that. Sure would beat the 177 I was at last year, or 25 days ago.

foolforcarbos

Also, remember, I started at higher calories when I weighed more, and have been lowering them, three times thus far, and do not plan on going under 1,450. I started at 1875, then went down after 8 lbs, and then went down, and so on.

I have probably been on 1,450 for 8-10 days.

mmapags

foolforcarbos wrote: »

Also, remember, I started at higher calories when I weighed more, and have been lowering them, three times thus far, and do not plan on going under 1,450. I started at 1875, then went down after 8 lbs, and then went down, and so on.

Doesn't matter. The nutritional floor is there for a reason. Eating below it will result in malnutrition over time. Soft nails, fatigue, hair falling out. Good luck with that.

foolforcarbos

I don't plan on doing this forever. Just for now. Then when I hit my weight, can start a maintenance program. I did this for 5 years in Alaska. For 6-7 months at a time. Then came home and starting eating and would gain some weight. But at the end of each season, I was usually 118-120 lbs. Had room to gain weight.

Never experienced any of those side effects. No fatigue. No hair loss. No soft nails. No cavities. No muscle loss. No shallow breathing. No loss of stamina. Felt fine. Sure, missed carbs and sugars out there. I quit the last year when I was suppose to, and didn't go a day longer, because I was craving a cheeseburger and packed up and packed out, to town. Boy, was that a great burger. Prior, I usually stayed out a few weeks more. But that last year, nope.

AnnPT77

I am 5'5", not large framed, and weigh mid-130s, and am not devoid of muscle. I'm quite active, but a rower rather than a kayaker (mostly). I started at 183, joined MFP at around 155, and lost to where I am now back in 2015, and have stayed there since. I think you are undereating, at risk to your health.

I accidentally underate soon after joining MFP (netting much higher than you are now, at the time), because MFP underestimates my calorie needs. I felt fine, wasn't hungry . . . until suddenly, I didn't feel good at all. I got weak and fatigued. Even though I corrected as soon as I realized I was losing too fast for my own good, it took several weeks to recover normal strength and energy. A few months later, I experienced some hair thinning, quite possibly related.

Will this happen to you? I don't know. It's not guaranteed, either way. I hope not. Some people experience no obvious long-term consequences from losing weight too fast. I hope you're one of them. Some people experience very dire consequences, even in the range where you're eating now. (https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10761904/under-1200-for-weight-loss/p1) I hope you're not one of those.

I would give you nutritional advice if I could, but I can't. The strategies I use wouldn't fit with your lower carb goals.

I put hemp and flax seeds, plus walnuts, in my daily oatmeal. I get a nice jolt of potassium from the blackstrap molasses (carefully chosen brand) that I put in my oatmeal, too - but that's not just carbs, it's added sugar, and processed (though many people consider it a health food/supplement). I like fruits and veggies, so I eat them. Lots of them. (I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian, and have been for 45+ years, but I think it's fine for people to eat meat if that works for them. That part of my eating is completely irrelevant to weight management or health, IMO. It's just a personal preference, for my own reasons.)

As long as I get enough protein and healthy fats, I don't really care how many carbs I eat. Now, in maintenance, I eat around 200g or more carbs daily; while losing, it was 150g or so most days. I don't have any particular strong feelings about processed foods, but have found via long experience that I personally prefer eating mostly what most people would consider lower-processed or unprocessed foods, and the majority of processed foods I do eat tend to be things that humans have been eating for centuries or millennia, so they're pretty natural-selection-tested (I'm talking about things like plain yogurt, tofu, miso, etc.). I do eat the few and occasionally highly-processed foods, which doesn't seem to have dire consequences for my weight management or health. I don't believe I've ever eaten - as a pattern - in the way that your refrigerator photo represents (though I've certainly eaten individually highly processed foods on some occasions). (As an aside, I think you're factually wrong in some respects about the role of carbs and insulin, admittedly. Neither my reading nor my experience agree with your beliefs about those, but I won't try to talk you out of them here.)

So, I'm about your size, and I've found solutions for myself for some of the things you're concerned about, but they're solutions that won't work within your chosen approach. I'd like to help, but I don't know how. I'm sorry.

The one thing I could say, that I haven't seen (apologies if I missed it), is that some people like psyllium husk as a fiber supplement. It's a somewhat processed product, but fairly lightly processed - the husk of a plant seed. Perhaps you might want to look into that, if you haven't tried it, and see whether it's something you would consider.

Best wishes!

mmapags

mmapags wrote: »

foolforcarbos wrote: »

Also, remember, I started at higher calories when I weighed more, and have been lowering them, three times thus far, and do not plan on going under 1,450. I started at 1875, then went down after 8 lbs, and then went down, and so on.

Doesn't matter. The nutritional floor is there for a reason. Eating below it will result in malnutrition over time. Soft nails, fatigue, hair falling out. Good luck with that.

Did I mention losing muscle mass??

mmapags

foolforcarbos wrote: »

I don't plan on doing this forever. Just for now. Then when I hit my weight, can start a maintenance program. I did this for 5 years in Alaska. For 6-7 months at a time. Then came home and starting eating and would gain some weight. But at the end of each season, I was usually 118-120 lbs. Had room to gain weight.

Never experienced any of those side effects. No fatigue. No hair loss. No soft nails. No cavities. No muscle loss. No shallow breathing. No loss of stamina. Felt fine. Sure, missed carbs and sugars out there. I quit the last year when I was suppose to, and didn't go a day longer, because I was craving a cheeseburger and packed up and packed out, to town. Boy, was that a great burger. Prior, I usually stayed out a few weeks more. But that last year, nope.

Of course. Everybody does.
Until they don't.

As I said, good luck with all this. You are sure you have it all figured out. So, knock yourself out.

I've seen lots come and go around here in the last 10 years. It never works out well in the long term for those who take an overly aggressive approach. There are many posts from people who took this approach. It never turns out well.

But hey, I'm sure you'll be the exception...

psychod787

Yup... I'm done with this... op... best of luck... careful the road you travel....

foolforcarbos

Thanks Ann. I'll look you up and talk more when I get into the maintenance end of it. Till then, I will look into the psyllium husk supplement you mentioned, for fiber. I miss Alaska and the ability to go year after year and circumnavigate a new area each year. But I can't right now. So, I kayak on the lake near by, and use an island out there that really no one goes to. It's large enough to hike around on, and when windy, it can be a good workout to pop over there and back. But when you exercise enough, or kayak, as many days as I seem to be doing right now, its pretty easy to feel when you may be off. That signal to eat more carbs and put in a bit of weight. I surely get enough proteins. But in Alaska, or when I was working on the boats out in the Bering Sea, or the tuna boats 700 miles north of Hawaii, it was just go go go. I'm cool with that. Keep moving.

Today's menu looked a bit thin, lots of protein, but not much of anything else besides romaine lettuce. Usually, there is more veggies, like bell peppers and mushrooms or green beans. Today was lean. But you saw what was in my refrig vs what I kicked out of the freezer, all those frozen dinners, and I have plenty of whole foods around. The flax seeds you mentioned, I like. I use to buy flax seed tortilla chips. Loved them. I don't miss the high processed foods, at all.

I also want to thank you for respecting what I am researching and believing in, from my time looking into foods. So thank you for not trying to convert me to your line of thoughts. I am looking at more than youtube videos, or websites that have articles, and am reading research papers, usually linked somewhere in there, to the actual studies, but I guess some here will call me the video guy. That's fine. I still struggle to understand why one can't watch a video, decide if they agree to any of it, and then follow that up with research. I keep being told I am pushing my beliefs and yet have stated I don't believe in everything on any site or in any video. I do that with our mainstream media every day. I don't take what they say as honest till I find their sources. LOL

But thanks Ann. Sometimes helping is accepting - and still planting seeds you hope to grow in another person, while not judging. That way they can maybe, if necessary, look back one day and say Hey, that person tried to tellme that. That's cool. But sometimes those days never come and that seed never grows. And that, too, is cool.

mmapags, I am chalking our discussions up to the fact that you are concerned, genuinely, about my health or anyone else's health who is eating and exercising the way I am. I don't mean to look defensive, but I am comfortable with my process. If I were to feel tingly or light headed, I would stop and go eat. But I feel energy and satiated. So I push on. I can imagine you have seen a lot come and go in ten years. And yet, I am not boasting to be the exception. I simple know, after years of caloric deficits, what to expect. This is what years of my life were like. Again, you can only take so much food (78 days) at a time. I would go 45 days no human contact in remote areas. Just normal for me.

I am starting now, while I have the opportunity, to try - in moderation, new foods that I hope to include long term. I don't want a repeat like in Alaska where one day I just quit this and go start slamming the foods I am now mainly avoiding. So to do that, I need to learn what I enjoy - so it's not just a diet, but a lifestyle of good foods. I hope if I ask other questions, you will continue to give me your thoughts. I appreciate them always.

We can't always agree, but we can always listen.

foolforcarbos

I'll throw these up. In Alaska, standing by the boat, at a 27/28 inch waist and maybe 124 lbs. That's a small men's shirt. I ended up buying a few kids shirts later that summer, because they fit. And I was down to 118 lbs. Too small.

Then 11 years later, and that photo of me walking my dog, was when I decided - enough. Saw that photo and came here, to MFP. That was a 34 inch waist and 177 lbs. (by waist I, here, I mean pants size).

When there is nicer weather, will post after 1 full month where I am at. But at least you can see what I am trying to accomplish. Back to 130 would be a dream. 135-138 would be so acceptable. I would love it.

foolforcarbos

Final update on this thread. Can't end with that last picture, on the bottom of me wearing that black shirt. So a before and after picture which covers the first month of this diet. Just got access from a trail camera to the photo from March 20. So about a month.