shlevon Member

Fluctuations in water weight (particularly for a woman) can swing you a few lbs in either direction (gains or loss) quite easily. Stated differently, the weight you "gained" is meaningless, as it's almost certainly not fat.

You can customize the macro settings in myfitnesspal, and the default guidelines for protein are not what I'd recommend to the typical person attempting to lose fat. The thing to remember is that weight is just a number - when we say we want to lose WEIGHT, what we actually mean is that we want to lose FAT. Protein intake…

Maybe, but you can probably logic this out further and ask what, particularly, about vegetarian diets seem to confer this benefit. For example white meat and fish intake has actually been linked to DECREASED mortality (versus something like red meat). This makes it a much harder argument that poultry and fish are a…

Don't quote me on that, it's just one of the ideas tossed out to explain a potential discrepancy between cardiovascular mortality and all-cause mortality that's been seen in some of the research. I think all that can be said for sure is that you're less likely to die of cardiovascular disease, but benefits to dying from…

It's great that vegetarianism/veganism is working for you, but the idea that your n=1 anecdote is somehow a compelling argument in and of itself is fairly preposterous. The vegetarianism/vegan thing is interesting, from a research standpoint. What seems to consistently show up is a benefit to cardiovascular disease risk.…

Imo sugar is only a useful thing to track in the sense that it's often a proxy for refined/junk food intake. My sugar intake can actually be fairly high, for example, but that's because I tend to make a good percentage of my carbohydrate intake fresh fruit. My body composition doing this is good, as are my health metrics…

You're citing an opinion piece on livestrong that alludes to some guru's opinion and is largely devoid of any actual research. Alan's article is based on the preponderance of current research on the subject, and is properly cited. This is a not so subtle difference.

Assuming you're eating an amount of calories appropriate for your goals (i.e. eating under maintenance in order to lose fat), the odds of you eating too much protein are very low. Eating a lot of protein is good, both in terms of satiety (protein fills you up more than either carbs or protein, as a rule) and in terms of…

I understand the frustration with low carb advocates and their sometimes-not-so-awesome use of science, but I don't think threads like these help anybody. To me, this just contributes to the very real problem of holier-than-thou mean-spiritedness that's so rampant in the field and on message boards.

As a person that's been IFing on and off since 2007, I would say do IF if it seems like it'd be easier for you to stick with it. The advantage of IF isn't the 8 hour magical eating window (with the common form of 16/8 fasting to feeding ratio), it's the point that there is no need to eat X amount of times a day to stoke…

In a positive way, yes. With a given amount of calories daily (1500 or whatever the specific value is), all else constant and within reason, higher protein diets are more satiating and tend to lead to better composition of weight lost (i.e. more fat, less muscle). These are good things. The values in mfp are way too low,…

Depends on the source of the sugar. Sugar can be found in abundance in crappy, refined products. In that case, the solution would be to limit consumption of such things. However, it's also the main caloric constituent of fruit. I tend to get a lot of sugar daily because my fruit intake is very high, but this is obviously…

The idea that a "high protein" diet (in the context of still being hypocaloric) would not be conducive to fat loss could only be stated by people that have never achieved significant fat loss, imo. The research is pretty unambiguous - higher protein intakes are more satiating and tend to see better composition with respect…

I would tend to agree, but she could always eat stuff like chicken, turkey, and fish.

You certainly don't have to eat red meat. Leaner cuts are preferable from a protein-to-calories perspective, i.e. for a given amount of protein, leaner cuts of meat = fewer calories. That said, there is nothing inherently wrong with (lean) red meat, so its inclusion is also fine. Either way, having enough protein as you…

Taking a look at your journal, I agree that nothing really stands out. Some people do hyper-respond a bit to eggs (in terms of increases in LDL), but I'm not sure 3 eggs a day would be enough to jack up your LDL so high. I would be curious to see your saturated fat and cholesterol daily totals (you can change your custom…

Insofar as it has no calories, diet pop will have no negative effect on fat/weight loss if you wind up eating the same otherwise. The "problem" with artificially sweetened stuff like pop and the like is that they can affect your hunger, such that you DON'T end up eating the same otherwise. Stated differently, if you…

First, a disclaimer: The nature of the questions you're asking would best be answered by a medical professional. Relying on internet people to give you (reliable) medical advice is probably not the path of wisdom. This includes me. That said, I would be curious to see the specifics of your diet (it's not publically…

Your diary isn't publically viewable, so it would be difficult to make practical suggestions based on what you're already eating. Given your request, i.e. being a Celiac, and wanting a comparatively high intake of protein while avoiding the grains you need to avoid, you seem to be in a pretty good position to do something…

I'm looking at your totals for the day... 1,608 kcals, 211 grams of carbohydrate, 61 grams of fat, 59 grams of protein. You're also not weight training. Imo, your results are fairly typical with this sort of approach, which is relatively high carb, relatively low fat, and relatively low protein. I.e. you will be able to…

What you're seeing is almost certainly fluctuations in water weight. Changes in diet and exercise habits can definitely cause some shifts in fluid balance due to a variety of hormonal reasons. Seriously, don't worry about it, and start tracking weight once your weight seems to have "stabilized" after this adjustment period…

Good post. The other thing I'd offer is that the desire to over-indulge (probably a better term than binging, as per the graphic above) frequently can have something to do with how you're going about dieting. I.e. if you're eating in a way that leaves you consistently somewhat hungry, it's probably only a matter of time…

I doubt you'll notice much of a difference either way, honestly, assuming calories are otherwise equal. I say this because the proposed changes aren't all that different. The more important thing is to eat in a way that you feel comfortable with, leaves you full, and that you feel like you can stick to indefinitely.

Maybe you were just really hungry? I'm not sure painting yourself as an out of control addict is necessarily the path of wisdom insofar is it places the locus of control outside of yourself, empowering these foods to have an almost magical power over you. You're a guy that got really hungry so wanted to eat highly…

Protein has a higher TEF (thermic effect of food - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermic_effect_of_food) than carbs or fat, so in that sense is less likely to lead to fat storage when overeaten. That said, anything which represents a legitimate surplus in calories will "lead" to fat storage, even if the thing being stored…

My current go-to: coffee + 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa + 1 serving stevia (any artificial sweetener would do). This comes in at a whopping 6-7 kcals, and tastes quite good.

My personal opinion is that low carb diets can work well for certain people (example, many "paleo" diet iterations). Low fat diets can also work well for certain people (example, Body for Life / Eating for Life type eating, how bodybuilders often eat). The common element of getting either to "work" is 1) including adequate…

For every vegan bodybuilder who suggests that protein intake is relatively unimportant, you can probably find literally 100 times that number of non-vegan bodybuilders who would suggest the opposite. Everyone is speaking from their experience, of course, but this is what makes anecdotal evidence difficult to analyze - we…

This is true, but that's why I put calories at #1 and mentioned the importance of resistance training in my post. The idea with protein is simply that you want "enough," as, calories aside, it can have an impact on the composition of your weight loss (i.e. losing fat vs. fat + muscle). How much is enough? This is a subject…

In order of importance... 1) Achieving calorie goal (this will dictate weight gained or lost) 2) Maintaining sufficiently high protein intake (this will do most of what's possible on the dietary side to insure that "weight loss" is actually "fat loss" and not "muscle and fat loss") 3) Eating a balance of carbs/fat that…