Im dumb any tips welcomed

Amiokaytolive

Goodmorning!

So I know basically nothing about nutrition, working out or just being healthy. So really any information or tips and tricks would be nice.

I weighted over 250 lbs before and I honestly have no idea how I got to 190 my new starting weight. Maybe it was my super active job? I am about 178 now haven't weighted in a few days and I've basically just been doing salads for meals.

My brain think green = healthy

I mostly just walk for exercise as I have a physically active job. Lifting or in my case moving around 200lbs items. Constantly on my feet. 10000 before I leave work kinda job.

Something to think about is that I have diabetes so it kinda affects everything I do. Yes bloodsugar is controlled by more than carb intake no im not going to do keto or carnivores diet. Science is coming out that in the long run it affects your insulin resistance the main cause/source of diabetes. As I can't do those diets forever id rather focus on achieving my goals with a normalish diet.

AnnPT77

Your job counts as a high activity level, most likely. If you started losing weight without trying to lose, and it happened more or less in parallel with getting a more active job, that's definitely a possible explanation.

(We've occasionally had people here who couldn't understand why they slowed or stopped losing while eating/exercising the same, and it turned out to be something like downsizing from a large home/lawn/garden they took care of to a small condo/apartment, or switching from a mass transit commute with walking at both ends to a door-to-door drive. Daily activity matters, not just exercise.)

I hear and respect that you think keto isn't for you. It isn't for me, either. Can it help certain medical conditions? Yeah, there's evidence for that. Do you need to do it, for your goals? Probably not. Many people who get excellent personal results from some particular approach may evangelize about it, which is understandable - they want others to get the benefits they saw personally. If you don't want to do keto, even if the reason is purely for better enjoyment of your lifestyle, it's reasonable to at least try other strategies first.

Many of us do lose weight and sustain good health/fitness eating the "normal-ish diet" you mention. Yes, it's fairly common to reduce some of the less nutrient-dense, higher calorie carb sources in order to reduce calorie intake. In many people's cases - mine, certainly - it's not necessary to cut carbs out or down severely. As a diabetic, you will probably need to manage carb intake carefully, but that's not necessarily synonymous with "cut out all carbs". Once you figure out your medical details, you might ask for a referral to a diabetic educator or a registered dietitian to help you work on nutrition.

For the time being, a few broad generalizations about nutrition:

• Protein and fats contain essential nutrients our bodies can't make out of other intake, so we need to eat some. I think it's good to think of protein and fats goals as minimums, not limits.
• Carbs are more flexible, because loosely speaking our bodies can manufacture carb-equivalents out of other food intake if necessary. As I said, you as a diabetic may need to give extra attention to amounts of carbs per meal/snack, or total carbs, or how carb-heavy foods are combined with other foods, or how to use mild exercise to manage blood sugar responses to eating, etc. I'm not diabetic, so I won't try to speak to that in detail.
• Losing weight aggressively fast is IMO a poor plan, unless severely obese and under close medical monitoring for deficiencies or complications. Adequate calorie intake is the foundation for health and energy level, a foundation other nutrition builds upon. Way too few calories make it impossible to get overall adequate nutrition. At 171 - a weight I was on the way down myself, BTW - I think a pound a week would be a reasonable goal, maybe even a touch over that for the next 10-20 pounds. With a highly active job, risking fatigue or weakness wouldn't be helpful, and those can be early symptoms with too-fast loss.
• Micronutrients and fiber are also important. Personally, I find that if I make it a point to eat plenty of varied, colorful veggies and fruits, most of the micros and fiber fall into place nicely without micromanaging. (I strive for a minimum of 400g, preference of 800g+ daily, with lots of variety within and across days.)
• When you say you're eating mostly salads, I do feel some nutritional concern. Salads are good, but so is an overall varied diet, IME. You've already mentioned that your salads have protein, which is reassuring. I hope they also have adequate fats. We need fats for a variety of reasons, one of which is to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E,K) in things like salad. For myself, I usually put seeds or nuts in my salad to help with that; dressing with a little oil is fine, but I like the seeds/nuts better enjoyment-wise, personally. I hope that your salads include a very large variety and good quantity of things beyond leafy greens, i.e., lots of other different veggies and fruits.
• I'd also point out that some micronutrients become more bioavailable when foods are cooked, so a combination of cooked and raw veggies in the overall diet may be nutritionally helpful.
• You probably already know and practice this, but many people will find their overall eating not just more filling, but also more nutrient-dense if they eat mostly so-called whole foods vs. refined or highly-processed foods. To be clear, I don't personally think "processed" foods, such as frozen meals, are bad across the board. It matters what the ingredients and nutrients are in those foods. Some have too many calories for their nutrient contents, or have too much of things we may want to limit (like saturated fats, salt/sodium, lots of added sugar). Some may over-rely on foods that have had some of the nutrients refined out of them. But that's not true of all commercial packaged foods. Reading nutrient labels and ingredient lists can help make good choices.
• I'm also not saying "never eat treat foods" that may be more calorie-dense but less nutrient-dense. For myself, I think of those as things I can fit in in reasonable portions/frequencies once my basic good overall nutrition and reasonable calories are dialed in.
• For most people - as long as they're not trying to lose too aggressively fast - I think the MFP default nutrient goals are a reasonable starting point. One approach is to start there, log your food, see how your current eating routine stacks up. While that's happening, review your diary, think about your subjective feelings (satiety, energy level, perceived strength, etc.). Also, work on learning more about general nutrition. As you move along with those areas of knowledge, you can tweak your nutritional goals to personalize in ways you think are best. If you're not starting out with some diagnosed deficiency, and are eating in a generally reasonable overall way, it's fine to spend some time refining your routine. Even in the long run, I think "pretty good on average over a small number of days" is fine for most of these goals, and that "perfect every single day" can be a bit obsessive as well as unnecessary.

I think most of my bullet points above reflect mainstream nutritional advice. I know that some people here believe the mainstream is bought off by food manufacturers, or unreliable for other reasons. In general, I don't believe that. You'll probably hear from some of those who doubt the mainstream, and I agree that not everyone will be happiest in the mainstream. Personally, I base my personal plans on the mainstream advice, and have been getting good results - weight and health markers, energy level, exercise performance, etc. - for nearly 10 years now, loss then maintenance.

You seem like a smart person: You can figure out what works best for you. Marketers, clickbait health and fitness sites, online influencers sometimes make all of this seem more arcane and complicated than I think the basics really are. If we learn that we can figure this out on our own, without paying for their diet plans, workout plans, supplements, etc., they lose business. There's good information out there, if you look for solid sources.

Best wishes!

neanderthin

Diabetes is caused by elevated blood glucose, period, if you don't eat sugar (carbs) you don't have elevated blood sugar. If it sounds simplistic, it's because it is.

Amiokaytolive

Carbs is a big part of it yes. But it's not the only thing that affects blood sugar

neanderthin

Lots of things effect blood glucose levels at any given time, like sleep and stress for example and when our cells need glucose our body will makes some glucose but chronically elevated levels of blood glucose that manifests into diabetes over time, decades for some is the body shutting down insulin or turning off receptors on all our cells from excess carbohydrate consumption which then raises our A1C.

In contrast to pretty much all the data and studies, you believing that keto and carnivore are main contributors to diabetes is suspiciously sounding like editorial opinion from sources that may be compensated for that opinion, it's done all the time and low carb has been a target for as long as I can remember. I would also rethink your diet of mostly salads, that is ketogenic, just thought I'd mention that.

Amiokaytolive

Oh that's not what I'm saying at all. Sorry English isn't my first language so maybe i worded it wrong.

I meant that after keto your body isn't used to the carbs anymore so it reacts more to them.

Does keto work for diabetics yes. But I personally dont think that it's a permanent solution. That at least for me I should focus on portion size and limiting carbs. not to the keto level. But the more I work on my body the more I find I'm able to eat carbs.

cmriverside

Amiokay, that poster above is very passionate about Keto. It has changed his life and he's just super knowledgeable. 🙂

Huge congrats on losing over 70 pounds! Now the work begins. The closer you are to a healthy weight the more nuanced the process becomes. I'd just say log your food. Try to get up to your Goals in protein, fat and fiber and the rest will fall into place. Study your FOOD diary and make the kinds of changes you can to get the remaining weight off. You can't live on salads, though. Well, you can, but watch out to get enough protein and fat!

Great work so far. Yeah, those active jobs help a lot!

neanderthin

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48618478#Comment_48618478

I would also like to congratulate you on losing all that weight, you've worked hard and you have reaped those rewards, and yeah eating a lot of greens is ok but like @cmriverside said protein and fat are essential and carbs aren't, so that's not a long term solution.

You are right as well when you say that when people on a ketogenic diet that they react more to carbs, but it's in an absolutely positive way. For example being in keto makes us more insulin sensitive which leads to better glucose uptake and keto is more glycogen sparing, we don't have as much in our muscle tissue and is more easily taken in especially for higher intensity activities like hockey, or weight lifting which in the keto world is called the a " Targeted ketogenic diet" where more carbs are consumed before said activity, also when on a keto diet people can more efficiently switch between fat and carbs for fuel so basically more metabolically flexible, which is a good thing. Basically it suggest that ketogenic diets shift metabolism, making carbohydrate utilization more efficient when reintroduced.

The bad side of ketogenic diets is mostly sustainability issues and believing this is not a normal metabolic state to be in and it's not good for health. Could people do a 30 day elimination diet and use a ketogenic diet as the intervention, for the vast majority, not a chance and the reason is people just can't remove 95% of their carbs, they just can't do it, sounds like "addicition" Humans historically which started about 3 million years ago until about 12,000 years ago during the Neolithic period thrived on primarily a low-carb, high-fat environments, modern dietary guidelines have shifted toward high-carb, low-fat recommendations, largely influenced by "nutrition science" government policies, and corporate interests. I'll leave it there.

cmriverside

Well, the beginning of the agricultural age meant fewer people dying of starvation - but like humans tend to do, we took that abundance of grains and turned that into body fat. :lol:

It's a lot easier and cheaper to feed the masses with wheat and sugars than it is to feed the masses on animal protein. Certainly doesn't make it better, just more economically feasible than mass birth control.

I'd do Keto if it wasn't 1.) such a nuisance 2.) so restrictive and 3.) $$$

For amiokay - when I was down to that last 30 pounds to lose I had to cut back on breads and wheat products and sugars. It was for me the only way to be at a deficit and still get reasonable nutrition. My fats fell in at about 40-50%, carbs at 30-40% and protein at 15-20%. I was not working and had to eat at about 1500 (PLUS exercise calories, so most days 1700-1900 total intake) to lose that last 30 pounds. But then again, I was in my mid fifties and not working.

Amiokaytolive

Thanks but I absolutely did not lose that weight on purpose and with any thought. It just sort of happened.

Humans that far back aren't the same thing as humans walking the earth now. Most of us aren't farming or whatever anymore. A lot of us have desk jobs and sit around all day. Our bodies have changed. But I agree about the over consumption.

I've made changes close to the keto diet but not to that extreme. Its just not something I think I could do on the longer term. I'd rather learn the skills or eating within my means and portion sizes. I've made the switch from buying processed food unto a more natural one. Salads and veggies cooking meals at home and the such.

I restarted my fitnesspal to see where I was lacking in my diet and plan to make changes as I see. My salads deffiently have protien. I gotta work on the fat part. Im just starting on this journey of getting my numbers in order.

If keto works for you and everyone else on it great.

I have a hard time trusting all these "keto" products especially in america where we can put undiagestiable fiber in things and then market them as keto. I just had bread earlier today marked as keto with 1 net carb and now I'm sitting at 160. Very sad. There are things out there that are as advertised but it's hard know fact from fiction especially when it will affect my numbers. That's not a shove at keto in general.

neanderthin

I'm not advocating for you or anyone to embark on a ketogenic diet I'm just making sure when information that is not correct that I add some nuance. My point through all this was about the state of ketosis and it's effect on our metabolic state. Also keto treats for anyone that knows anything about the diet is an attempt to capitalize on it's growing interest and to increase market share for these companies, it's about money and not health and certainly not about the diet, they don't care at all. A keto diet is first and foremost a diet that is a whole food diet, organic if possible and affordable with about 5% non starchy carbs. If you want to eat some factory produced bread with 1 net carb and suspect with all the correct buzz words all over the packaging, go for it, but's it's not keto, just to be clear. My keto diet is around 3000 calories and the vegetation part of my diet represents over a kilo (2.2 lbs) just getting that out there.

Pearl4686

@Amiokaytolive you haven't said if you're a T1 or T2 diabetic and if you are treating it with insulin. Not that it matters other than if you are on insulin you would need enough carbs to stay in range. Unexplained weight loss can be a symptom of untreated/poorly managed diabetes. Might be worth looking into. Good luck on your journey.

Amiokaytolive

What misinformation are you talking about?

As I said I dont know anything about diet. This whole post was asking for help in that regard.

I just feel like your a salesman trying to sell me solar for my house when I clearly live in an apartment.

Amiokaytolive

At the moment I'm on long acting insilin only. We're doing the testing to see if it's type 1 or 2 at the moment. And yes my diabetes was unmanaged for a very long time. Im here now trying to work on it.

springlering62

I’d just like to chime in that lifting large packages like you describe is essentially an all day, mobile gym workout.

Make sure you’re getting adequate protein.

neanderthin

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48618877#Comment_48618877

I already addressed them. I'm not trying to sell you anything and never said it's an appropriate diet for anyone either, and just addressed points that were not accurate, which if you read my comments you should be able to figure that out and if not, then I suggest you actually do some research and avoid people like me correcting that information. 😊