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Tag Archives for " weight loss "

Ketogenic diet for weight loss

My weight loss while on a ketogenic diet[/caption]

In this episode, I discuss how I used the ketogenic diet for weight loss.  Ketosis is a physical phenomenon, where your body adapts to using fat for energy instead of sugar. Susan, who you met on episode 142, joined me on this conversation so she can ask questions as I went.  I switched my eating to allow me to go into ketosis so I could drop some weight I'd gained over the past few months.

To get into ketosis, you lower your carbohydrates (carbs) to 20 grams or less and you increase your fat to make up the calories. You'll keep your protein moderate to ensure it doesn't spike your blood sugar.

In ketosis, your body burns the fat and produces ketones.  These ketones can be used by the brain as fuel.  In fact, most of the science on ketosis shows that the brain favors ketones.   I know I feel better when I'm in ketosis.

Concerns with Ketosis

  • Ketoacidosis – This is a dangerous condition that is typically limited to type I diabetics. In this condition, your ketone level gets dangerously high and the blood sugar is also high.  This is a very rare condition and not something you'll
  • Compliance – The ketogenic diet is difficult.  It is not easy to go from being a sugar burner to a fat burner.  Staying at 20 grams of carbs per day is very limiting.  Fortunately, once you're in ketosis, you may be able to ratchet up your carb intake.
  • Carb withdrawal/Keto flu – During the transition, you'll likely have some fatigue, effectively feeling like you have the flu.
  • Medications – If you're a diabetic and take meds to help manage your blood sugar, you should talk to your doctor.  You'll have to monitor yourself very closely.  The ketogenic diet can be an effective way to reverse diabetes.

Ketogenic Diet Tools

You should be able to feel that you're in ketosis, but there are tools to measure ketones.  To be in nutritional ketosis you will have a ketone reading of 0.5 – 7:0.  You can measure ketones three ways:

  • Keto-sticks are a cost effective way to measure the ketone bodies in your urine.  However, once you get fat adapted, you won't be excreting ketones, and they will stop working.  This makes them great for showing that you're in ketosis when you first start.
  • The Precision Plus with ketone strips can measure the ketones in your blood.  This is the most accurate way to determine when you're in ketosis.
  • The Ketonix is a tool you can use to measure ketones in your breath.  This is a pain and mess free way to do the measurement.  I haven't seen any science to prove this tool is as accurate as the blood.

Other Considerations for the Ketogenic Diet

  • Tweak your protein intake based on your exercise intensity.
  • Make sure you're getting enough sodium and potassium.  With a ketogenic diet, you'll lose water weight and with that some electrolytes.
  • You'll likely lose some water weight early in the ketogenic diet.
  • There are extraneous sources of ketones that you can take to increase the ketones.  These can help when you need more energy.
  • Medium-Chain Triglycerides (MCT), which is processed from coconut oil.  Because of the nature of this oil, it increased your ketone level quickly.  Just make sure you ease into using it as it can cause diarrhea.

Whether you choose to use ketosis as a way to lose weight, now you understand what it is when you hear someone talking about it.  More and more people are trying ketosis.

If you have any questions about the ketogenic diet, feel free to comment on this post.

Have a happy and healthy day!

Allan

Below are the links I mentioned in the podcast.

Keto-stix

Precision Plus with Keto Strips

Ketonix

Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore

The scoop on ketosis with Jimmy Moore

 

Why didn’t I lose weight with crossfit?

Today we’re discussing a listener question from Kelley. Kelley has done Crossfit for four years, but didn’t experience much weight loss. She finally decided to stop once her back started hurting. Today, she is swimming and walking every day. She wants to get back into weight lifting but needs guidance on what types of lifting to incorporate and how much to do.

Some important notes about Kelley include that she has metabolic syndrome. This means she is insensitive to insulin, and this overproduction can cause her body to store the excess as fat. Kelley is also maintaining a low carb, high protein diet.

Crossfit is a metabolically challenging program. It includes metabolic conditioning, where one will be moving significantly—running, jumping, lifting. It’s a very dynamic that puts a strong demand on the body to have the endurance to get through. Because of this, one may experience much hunger after a workout, which can lead to eating more. Once again, the body fat loss will typically plateau. This may explain why Kelley did not lose much weight with Crossfit.

Kelley should consider lifting again, as lifting does slightly increase your metabolism over time and can lead to weight loss. However, she should also continue walking and swimming. Also, she may not need as much protein as she’s taking in. If she consumes too much, that excess will be stored as fat. This may be why she is seeing spikes in her blood sugar. If Kelley reduces her protein intake and adds in healthy fats such as fish, grass fed beef, and nuts, this will also help with regulating her hormone cycle.

When Kelley lifts weights again, she should incorporate one full body lifting session in place of one of her other exercises. She should work in the low to moderate rep range and use moderate to heavy weights. Taking these steps will be a great alternative to Crossfit and will assist in attaining the weight loss Kelley is trying to achieve.

You can get the guide on how to manage your hormones at older.fitness/glands.

If you’d like your questions answered, you can contact me on speakpipe and I may include your question on the show.

 

Nelson finds crossfit

Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free Music

February 29, 2016

Fat 101

I received a request on Facebook to discuss body fat in more detail. Consider this Body Fat 101. Body fat can be complex, as there are different types of fat and various reasons for it to be stored. Specifically, there are two types of body fat. The first is white adipose tissue, where energy is stored as fat. The second type of fat is brown adipose tissue, which generates heat. Brown adipose tissue is something you will want to have.

It’s also important to consider where the body fat is stored. Visceral or abdominal fat is packed between the organs. This is a bad fat. Abdominal fat is linked to insulin resistance, heart disease, and inflammatory disease. It is more common in men, but as women get older, their bodies may shift toward a tendency to store more body fat in the abdomen. Subcutaneous fat is located under the skin and muscles. This type is not as dangerous as the abdominal fat. If you are in good shape, simply try to keep your body fat in a reasonable, healthy range.

It’s important to note that eating dietary fat does not give you body fat. In fact, it is the insulin response to blood sugar that causes fat storage. When you eat simple carbohydrates and processed foods loaded with sugar, your blood sugar and insulin will spike and lead to a gain in body fat. This is why it is important to eat sensible, real food and avoid processed foods.

Contrary to popular belief, the scale is not an accurate way to measure body fat. Great ways to get an accurate body fat measurement include being evaluated by a professional or using a DEXA scan. The DEXA scan will not only measure body fat, but also indicate your bone density.

To better understand your personal Body Fat 101, be sure to take measurements of your body and use tools at your disposal to estimate your body fat. For more information on health and fitness measures, visit http://older.fitness/measures to obtain a helpful guide.

How to of strength and mass

 

Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free Music

January 11, 2016

Dealing with weight loss plateaus

In a health and fitness journey, there is one certainty. At one point or another, progress will slow and a weight loss plateau may occur. You may be doing all the right things, but the weight has simply stopped coming off. Perhaps the number on the scale is ebbing and flowing. This can last for days, weeks, or even months in a weight loss plateau.

Do a self-evaluation. Evaluate the quality and quantity of your food. Did you stop eating well? Start doing your food logs again. Are you stressed? A cortisol response with stress could be causing your body to store fat. If you’re having trouble being objective, you may consider bringing in a coach for ideas on how to improve.

Don’t overlook the importance of progression and patience. Over time, you will see great progression. At first, you may see drastic improvements—big losses of body fat and advances in strength. But over time, your body will level out in this plateau. You may come out of a plateau, only to end up in another plateau yet again. This is normal. Your body is trying to find balance.

Make sure you’re looking at several different measurements, not just the number on the scale. Check out this free infographic, 7 Health and Fitness Measures That Matter, to consider some other measurements. If you’re not seeing progress in one area, chances are you will see progress in other areas.

The key is to focus on health first. Stay on the plan. Don’t panic and don’t quit. Continue to work on what is showing results, keep progressing, and tweak the plan as you go. Have the patience to stay the course and you will overcome this temporary weight loss plateau.

 

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

December 25, 2015

Todd loses over 300lbs

Todd loses over 300 lbsTodd is a 46-year-old married, father of two from Illinois. He also has an inspiring story to share. Now in the fifth year of his weight loss journey, Todd was able to lose over 300 pounds.

Todd’s wake up call began in September 2011 when he found himself in the hospital. At that time, he weighed in at 589 pounds. The doctors told him if he didn’t do something about his health, he’d only have about five years to live. He looked at his daughters from his hospital bed and thought about how he would not be around for them. He knew he needed to make a change.

But it would be difficult for Todd. Because of his physical limitations, he was unable to exercise. After doing some research and finding that at least 80% of weight loss was due to adopting an appropriate diet, he knew what he needed to do. He adjusted his diet and was able to lose 323 pounds.

Todd had a few tips for those who want to make a change:

Don't give up

There will be good and bad days. Some may even start questioning themselves. Is all of this worth it? Know that it is worth it. The good days will last longer than the bad days.

Lower your carbs

Cut back on your carb intake. Eat 4 to 5 smaller meals with snacks. Eat lean proteins, raw vegetables, and drink plenty of water. This will also help with getting your body into ketosis faster.

Todd has had an amazing journey in losing over 300 pounds. Want to connect with Todd directly? You can find him on My Fitness Pal as stogie40 or via his profile on www.realbodiesrealresults.com. Be sure to comment on transformation page. Don’t forget to check out the six-month program at which will give you access to a registered dietician, food plans, recipes, and much more.

Patterns of success in weight loss

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

December 18, 2015

3 keys to successful weight loss

In this episode, we cover the three keys to successful weight loss – patience, persistence, and progression.

Patience

You need to understand that nothing significant can be achieved overnight. So, you shouldn’t expect to lose 20/30/40 pounds in a week or a month. You'll have to have patience.
When you want to lose weight, you need to be practical and set an achievable goal, for example, 1 – 2 pounds in the first week. It’s also important for you to set small, specific milestones like 5 – 10 pounds in next month Most people find they lose weight rather quickly at first and then level out.  This is the body's normal state.  Persistence will keep you on track.  Just keep working and it will happen.

Persistence

The whole weight-loss thing is something that happens gradually. You can’t expect to achieve your milestone when you don’t do anything about it.  As we learned in episode 9, you can use weight training as a part of your weight loss program.  Starting small and progressing by slowly adding resistance will

Progression

At any stage of the process, you can’t afford to quit. It’s never going to be easy to get what you want. So, you need to be very persistent. Just after you make the commitment, you need to stick to your commitment and keep doing all that makes your goal achievement easier and a step forward.

Use these three keys, stick to your commitment, keep moving forward, and focus on the end goal. You can do this.

Todd loses over 300lbs

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

December 17, 2015

Weight training for fat loss

When we decide it’s time to lose weight, we usually think it needs to involve lots of time on the treadmill, or long hours running or some other type of cardiovascular workout. This tends to be the go to option for many of us as we often shy away from weight training.   We tend to think of weight training as something that will make us big and bulky where aerobic training burns fat and helps you lose weight. However, weight training for fat loss can be a powerful tool in your weight loss toolbox.

There are changes we undergo throughout our lifecycle that often lead to weight gain.   Injury, illness, aging, lack of energy, changes in hormones all contribute to the adding of pounds and inches that often go unnoticed for years. The body also undergoes a process called sarcopenia, which is the natural loss of musical mass associated with age.   When we are in this process we burn fewer calories and store more fat.

But our muscles play many important roles, one being that they give the body shape. Fat tissue, on the other hand, is a sort of formless mass.   When we lose muscle, we lose shape and form, but we also lose the metabolism boosting functionality of that muscle.

So how can we apply weight training to our goals of becoming healthier and more fit? Incorporate weight training for fat loss as part of a balanced fitness program. Working your muscles creates active muscle fibers that burn up huge amounts of calories, even when you are sleeping.   And while weight training for fat loss can be a powerful way to lose weight and prevent weight gain in the future, be sure to balance it with aerobic training to improve overall strength and efficiency of your cardiovascular system as well.

Obesity and exercise

Weight machines versus free weights

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

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