FarewellBlues Member

You don't actually need to "figure out" the energy balance equation in the sense of tracking calories and expenditure, most of the time, really I'd argue for most ways of eating but especially not low-carb. That's one of the advantages of low-carb; that the appetite usually self-regulates to activity levels and you don't…

Yeah I think very few people (I have seen one or two around the internet) would contend that fruits and vegetables aren't healthy. I think many people can have issues with high-sugar fruits (mangoes, dates, etc) if they are already eating a carb-heavy diet, especially at the expense of fat and protein. Personally, things…

Depends what works well for you. When I was waking up later and doing a lot of my work (and also exercise) later in the day, I tended to consume one larger meal at night, and have just a light snack to start my day, or a few before/after the larger meal. Now that I'm waking up early and exercising first thing, I prefer a…

Kudos! 60 pounds is a great accomplishment. Glad you're in the portion of the population that this works well for. That bit where you adjusted as necessary based on results is great and really the only accurate (cheap, available) method of figuring out your expenditure. However, you had 60 pounds to lose! For those of us…

Feel the need to add - while carbs and plant matter are not strictly required, and supplementation isn't necessary either because animal products contain the necessary micronutrients, there's still an open and non-trivial question of what is optimal. I'm guessing this varies person-to-person, but I'd really have a hard…

For some people it seems that higher amounts of carbohydrate in the diet have an undesirable impact on hormone levels, which messes with the "Calories Out" side of the equation -- this is not fully understood yet, but the last 10 years especially have seen a wealth of research on the topic. In any case, people who always…

I'm totally making this tonight. Also I thought I was the only one that munched on seaweed as a snack ... I love that stuff!

More recent studies have shown that dietary cholesterol has no statistically significant impact on serum cholesterol, and in fact it's no longer even as simple as the "HDL = good" and "LDL = bad" that was thought for a while - there are much better indicators of heart disease risk. Under all but some pathological…

Agree with the above posters - all the formulas are rough estimates, figuring out your maintenance calorie level takes some trial and error. But, the most commonly used estimation (and I think the one MFP uses) is the Mifflin - St. Jeor formula. You can google it, there are some alternatives as well but they give roughly…

If it's moderation with chocolate you have problems with, try dark chocolate. It might be a hard switch because it's not very sweet (I get 90% usually), but I think it's hard for most people to overeat -- a small piece suffices and generally stops the craving for chocolate.

Your macro targets are just carbs, protein, fats. If you want to lose weight, stay under your maintenance calories (which might take a bit of trial and error to determine). If you want body recomposition also, it will help to pay attention to your macros. But sugar is just a form of carbohydrate, and MFP's sugar goal is…

If the goal is weight loss people could certainly focus their attention elsewhere. You may notice that there's a veritable epidemic of diabetes, and many of them are overweight. I also know some type I diabetics who'd love an easier way to track their food and see what affects them. So it might be worthwhile for MFP to…

Ahh, that makes sense. I feel like they should have something better in place -- a lot of people seem to end up confused over whether they should be eating apples or not. =)

You look fabulous! Great job! You should share your story in the "Success Stories" section too :smile:

Agree with the low carb high fat poster above. I can fluctuate up to 10 lbs between a high carb and low carb eating phase (I've got maybe 15 lbs of fat I'd like to lose); this is water but it still significantly alters your size, so you'd likely fit comfortably in the dress. The water loss is due to eliminating glycogen…

I prefer low-carb, I find high-carb makes me hungry all the time. But it's really up to your own personal preference and its effects on your health - I'd say start out by just logging what you'd normally eat to see how it measures up, and then make some changes from there. If you focus staying at or under your calorie goal…

Fiber doesn't go towards your carb limit for low-carb, you can eat as much of it as you want since it's metabolized by gut bacteria and not glucose metabolism. That's why I prefer to set my goals in grams rather than by percentage. I don't do CKD per se, I kinda just eat some carbs when I know I'll be doing heavy…

I'm just thinking - with anything that you're going to drink/ingest to try and get higher potassium/magnesium, would these be okay with the blood thinners if you can't take them in supplement form? Otherwise I'd say make sure you're eating enough, particularly fat, since it helps with absorption and stores many nutrients.

May I ask what "high protein" consists of? I ask because protein in excess of what's needed can be very straining on your kidneys, which are among the organs working to maintain electrolyte balances. I do low carb high fat and drink soup broth with salt to avoid muscle cramps, and also to help hold on to water a bit better…

Yeah, it's super easy to overeat on the weekends when there's a lot more unstructured time. My deficit is small to begin with, so a high weekend can really throw the whole week. I found I just needed less time hanging around at home - I get out for walks, go to the movies or something with friends, play a sport, go to…

Yeah 15 lbs sounds pretty good. I do keto on/off throughout the year, though I think I might start doing it longer-term because of the mental benefits. I don't eat high-carb when I'm not doing keto, but I keep things like sweet potatoes, rice, and apples in my diet. When I cut those things, I lose 4-6 lbs, mostly of water,…

Best of luck to you! Focusing on getting good, nutrient dense foods in your diet will no doubt help you keep up your health and energy. I have a few cancer survivors in my life, many of them substantially improved the effectiveness of their treatments and decreased side effects by paying attention to their diets. I don't…

Thanks all for the suggestions!

I think what you've got is enough to get a decent start on weight loss, but it depends. Do you like exercise? Do you want to increase your cardiovascular fitness, strength, both? If you just want to focus on weight loss but don't really enjoy exercise, stick with what you've got, and maybe add in some walks throughout the…

I'm usually a leggings fan, but I've noticed that sweatpants with the fitted cuff at the ankle have a surge in popularity right now. I'm don't care about the brand, so I picked some up at Walmart recently ($5) and it's one of the best $5 I've ever spent. If I'm cold I can wear them as pants, if I'm not I can push the cuff…

Well I own a tape measure, and also eyes. I see and measure more muscle. Or a higher volume of muscle. As I've tried to establish, I don't really care what the "bulk" effect is from - inflammation, more muscle, whatever. I know it's not fat; I have calipers and have been shown how to properly use them. It makes me slower…

Thanks all, these are good suggestions. We definitely focus on plyometric exercises for conditioning during TKD training, but perhaps I should add more to my outside routine. Ya know, "jump more if you want to be a better jumper" and all that. I'm also not sure about the carryover of powerlifting to TKD, but I'm sure it's…

@jennjune2014 I'm under no misconceptions. I've been lifting regularly for over a year. Athletic with some curve is not my goal, performance in Taekwondo is. @TresaAswegan Thanks! I haven't heard of the Texas Method but I'll look into it - hopefully it can help me change things up. I first came to weight lifting on…

@TavistockToad I didn't say it was by accident. I'm not a novice to weight lifting, and I've cycled through periods of maintenance or higher calories versus lower calorie periods where I'm trying to lose fat. There are many people who have a hard time putting on muscle despite a calorie surplus and lifting program, there…

Well 6.5 cals for the 3.5 g serving works out to 1.9 cals/g, assuming it's well-mixed. But unless you're about to cook with a whole lot of it, does it matter? There's probably at least a 100 cal margin of error every day you log. Also there's really some debate as to how the various sugar alcohols get digested, and if they…