Tazaria87 wrote: »

Hi all. I'm coming in to say goodbye. The past 15 months in this group have been invaluable to me. Thank you to everyone for all the encouragement, laughs, recipes, pick me ups, and everything else. I wouldn't have made it this far without everyone here. I'm not stopping or anything, it's just time for a change. Goodbye, and good luck to everyone here.

Hate to see you go, but wishing you all the best!!

Megan_smartiepants1970 wrote: »

Here is my friendly reminder of the people's steps I need:

@Pippin20206 11/5
@amymartin555 10/31- 11/6
@Jpedno 10/31 -11/6






Please have them in by the evening of 11/9... If I do not have them by then I have no choice but to zero them out ...thanks for understanding

Please excuse me for another week - I'm going to the repairs place today for my fitbit, hopefully we'll sort it out by next Sunday Thank you!

10/31 15,455, 10/5 5,500 10/6 5,794 10/7 9,986

Got my booster shot Friday and switched to Modena after first getting J & J. No side effects other than sore arm and tired. Saturday had a lazy day and yesterday got off my butt and painted the kids bathroom with my daughter and went shopping. Back to the chiropractor this am and if I feel better will start working out again soon

rwood566 wrote: »

Good evening everyone. Hope you enjoyed your weekend and are ready to buckle down again for the week ahead.

Check in for 11/7:
Steps - 6122.
Calories - about 1535. I have got to write it down before I forget it every night.
Exercise - none. Xmas gift shopping for big ticket item. 3 stores no luck but are getting close. Washed the car as well. That is always fun.

Nice steps! I am hoping to get some Christmas gifts in the upcoming Black Friday sales. They are not as good as in the States but last year I got some good deals.

jimboden3 wrote: »

JimBoden3
Weigh-in Day: Monday (Nov 8, 2021)
PW: 212.9
CW: 212.5
SW: 240

I was pretty good all week but we went to visit my in-laws house - he just had knee replacement a week ago and they were in the mood for Mexican food. Sigh ... so much salt (I guess tortilla chips are a trigger for me), but the meal was tasty. On an unrelated note, I upgraded my Fitbit Charge 2 for a Charge 5 about a week ago and it's nice to be able to see the screen again as the older model got much darker about a year ago (and yes I checked the settings to make sure I hadn't changed it to dim view). Anyway, I got a few years out of the Charge 2 so I feel like I got my money's worth. I know I will with this new one since it was free from work as part of the company benefits to promote healthy living.

I am sure the salt is masking a bigger loss. That is great your company provides the Fitbit. More companies should do this.

rlaskey2 wrote: »

10/31 15,455, 10/5 5,500 10/6 5,794 10/7 9,986

Got my booster shot Friday and switched to Modena after first getting J & J. No side effects other than sore arm and tired. Saturday had a lazy day and yesterday got off my butt and painted the kids bathroom with my daughter and went shopping. Back to the chiropractor this am and if I feel better will start working out again soon

Hope the chiropractor helps. You must be missing your workouts.

@Megan_smartiepants1970

Steps
6,098

Swim
10 minutes moderate = 1,740 steps

Pool workout
30 minutes moderate = 3,000 steps

Total converted steps = 10,834

Name: Poobah1972
Weigh Day: Monday
Past weight: 350.6
Current weight: 353.6

---

Win some lose some? But this was expected, and in some ways may indicate the plan I hatched recently is having a good effect. (What is this crazy guy talking about you might wonder?) Well...

I can't recall if I mentioned it specifically in this thread or not... But recently I started a few new supplements with the purposes of:

• Improved quality of Sleep (Without Nyquil)
• Improved recovery and healing.

I have had a hard time getting any quality sleep of late, A big part of that obviously has been the pain and discomfort I find myself in at night. But I think an equally big part of that was my reliance on Nyquil 3 times a week. It got to the point that sleeping on "Off-Nyquil" was a struggle at best. And if I'm not sleeping well, I'm not recovering well at all.

On top of that, the pain in my left elbow (tennis elbow) has not gone away in over 2 months now, and I would love to see if there is something I can do about it. Other then wrapping it every single morning, under compression for improved heat and blood flow for half the day. (Which i have done diligently).

So I did a bunch of research and narrowed my focus down to the following...

L-Arginine (a single Amino-acid) a whopping mega dose of 30 grams every morning

L-Arginine is known to be a vasodilator opening up blood vessels, and is sometimes given to people intravenously to do just, that increase blood flow and by so doing increase healing. It also lowers blood pressure, which is fine as long as you don't have low blood pressure to begin with.

Even more interesting, there was a study that showed mega dosing 20Grams a day resulted in a 60% increase in Human Growth Hormone. More interesting, if people were given a smaller dose of half or less then that, there was no rise in human growth hormone. The mechanism that requires a Mega dose to be effect in raising Human Growth hormone is unknown. But seeing as I'm much larger then the average guy, I figure a 30 gram dose should be sufficient to illicit this rise in human Growth hormone.

Why try and increase Human Growth Hormone?

There is a very strong relation ship between Glucose, Insulin, HGH (Human Growth Hormone) and Ketones. Human growth output is already greatly effected by Ketogenic diets and fasting. The lower the Glucose level, the lower the insulin level, the inverse is also true. Which is higher HGH output and Ketone production.

Many people think that HGH helps build muscle, but that's not actually true. What HGH is good for is Mobilizing Fat, and healing the body (More so bone, organs, Connective tissue, tendons as opposed to muscles), however increases HGH does signal the production of IGF-1 which is very muscle sparing and is one main reason a Keto diet can be so effective during weight loss while maintaining muscle tissue. And as a side bonus, it can have a strong impact on your quality of sleep. (Sleeping teenagers are hard to wake in part due to there naturally high HGH output).

So what if I actually am causing a 60% increase in HGH in my body overtop what would already be fairly higher then normal levels of HGH from Keto and fasting? Well for starters based on a chart I looked at... This amount HGH could represent the difference found in someone that is 50 years old appearing to have HGH levels of someone that is 20 years old. And as a matter of reasoning it could be possible that person will now have a propensity to heal themselves as if they were now 20 years old, with better sleep and all that good ness.

The bad news, and what might explain my weight gain this week!

Supplementation of L-Arginine even in much smaller doses than I have been taking is well known for causing water retention.

And sure enough, increases in HGH is also known for causing water retention...

So the 3 pounds I gained this week was expected and it makes sense... Besides increases in water through all the tissues may well help facilitate the break down of fat for energy, as well as the repair of damaged muscles (water is the transportation system). So it's a good thing, even though my shoes might get a little tighter? lol

Evidence that the plan is actually raising my HGH levels significantly?

1. Dramatically higher Ketone Reading
2. Healing of Injuries
3. Higher percentage of Deep and REM sleep.

Ketones

Now this is all early days... However the thing about Glucose, Insulin, Ketones and HGH all being closely linked is true. So this morning for the first time in few months, I decided to test my Glucose and ketone level. My Ketone level was an amazing 4.6 where as on average on a Monday morning after fasting it would usually be about 2.2 - 2.5. (although it once was at 3.4 after I did a ridiculous amount of cardio on Sunday, so I count this as an outlier).

So for all practical calculations it's fair to say my ketone level was about double my average and definitely way higher then it has ever been. (and I haven't been doing any cardio at all). Further to that my GKI was 1.4 (1 being the best possible GKI, after just 36 hours of fasting). Usually GKI of that level take at least a few days sometimes more to achieve.

So that is a pretty astonishing number considering the amount of history and data I have on hand. So this may well indicate, that HGH is indeed circulating at higher levels, resulting in higher Fat Mobilization and once turned into my liver, a higher ketone production rate, resulting in higher Ketone levels.

Healing of Injuries

So that nagging Tennis elbow injury on my left shoulder that I have been nursing for months that I continue to aggravate every back and bicep day. That I also aggravate Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays when I do my grip exercises at work. The same elbow I literally wrap every single morning for a good 6 hours a day. for the first time in months doesn't hurt, when I fully extend my arm or when I squeeze my elbow with my other hand. I know this doesn't sound like much. And it could well be just a coincidence or a side effect of water retention, or it could indeed just the Effects of L-Arginine's vasodilating my blood vessels and the resulting boost of healing blood flow. But it is what it is, and I'm grateful.

Now I'll be doing my grip exercises later today, and back and bicep's is tonight.. So we will see if my luck continues.

Unfortunately, thus far it hasn't helped with my other leg/IT band issues. but maybe it will come.

As for faster recovery.. Definitely to early to tell. But I can tell you I did some high volume chest workout on Saturday, Working my way from 60 pounds to 95 pound DB chest presses (Yes I benched 95 pound dumbells, granted only for 1 rep. lol) to failure in all 5 sets. And I feel absolutely nothing in my chest today... Or my Triceps which I also punished. (and usually I do feel something 2 days later). Am I certain? No... But still everything seems to point in a certain direction.

Higher percentage of Deep and REM sleep.

This one is a little harder to quantify just yet. I think for one, the pain is still a stumbling block. And for two, I still might be holding onto a little dependence on Nyquil, Although I haven't had any in a week.

But on the bright side, I do have 6 or 7 months of sleep data from my fitbit. And sure enough even though my sleep still hasn't been where I want it to be. More or less only getting 5 hours and sleep scores south of 50 sometimes. My sleep has improved slightly the last 3 nights, and more interestingly my Deep and REM portion of sleep as increased by about 50%.. Where as I was getting less then an hour Deep/REM I am now getting a 1.5 hours Deep and REM sleep.

And from my research it is consistent to get a higher proportion of DEEP and REM sleep with Higher levels of HGH output. So I'll take this as further evidence that this HGH increase thing may actually be happening.

Hopefully sleep will continue to normalize and get better. 77 sleep score last night was refreshing.

In closing

I had no idea I was going to write this much. But I guess the point is I'll take the 3 pound gain if it means my plan is working to some extent, which the evidence seems to indicate.

Also... I'm taking the following as part of this stack.

1000mg of Magnesium with supper. This relaxes the body, particularly the muscles, and lowers cortisol. Again leading to better sleep and recovery.
5 grams of gaba right before bed. - suppose to very temporarily raise HGH levels by as much as 400%, but this is controversial, as it's not suppose to cross the blood brain barrier on it's own. I may drop it, as I'm not convinced. But it does make me flush for with tingly sensation which is very odd.
Melatonin - Just the 1 x 10mg capsule.

I'm also considering taking Kava Kava, but I worry perhaps that might also be habit forming? And my order got cancelled from amazon.com, and sent back. I'm assuming due to over the border issues? I may try again?

Bonus side effect... The magnesium has made me poop completely regular. Like every single day. And this was an issue for a while now. SO YAH FOR MAGNESIUM. lol

Okay... I talked enough i think? I'll continue to monitor my ketone levels from time to time to see if these elevated levels continue. If they do, than I figure that is pretty darn good proof it is actually working. Otherwise it's a pretty strange coincidence?

have a great day everyone!

Steps 11/7: 13,576