More Weighty Update

I posted an update on my current decision to try to lose weight, and how I've been tired and more recently really hungry.  Lynda from Living the Life asked me what I've been eating, so I decided it would be interesting to write it out.

Food varies from day to day, but it's pretty similar generally.  So as an example, here's what I ate a couple days ago.

Breakfast:
2 eggs fried in butter
2 slices bacon
Coffee with heavy cream

Lunch:
Generous slice of cheese (1.5 oz)
Left over beef loin cubes (4 to 5 oz)
Small handful pecans
Handful baby carrots with sour cream dip
1/3 cup blueberries

Dinner:
1 can (6 oz) can light tuna in water.... mixed with
About 2 tbsp homemade olive oil mayo....  plus
About 2 tbsp sour cream
Three or four romaine lettuce leaves
3 cherry tomatoes
Slice sage derby cheese (1 oz)
Slice watermelon
(I usually have more veggies than this for dinner)

I plugged those foods into my SparkPeople food tracker just to see what it all came to.

Calories: 1711
Fat: 132g
Protein: 98g
Carbs: 36g
Fiber: 8g

I can't really figure out why I'm tired and hungry eating this way.  It's not like I'm starving myself....  well, I guess I AM eating about 400 fewer calories than I'm used to, and fewer carbs.  When I'm eating to my fill, I would eat about 2000-2200 calories and about 50-60 net carbs a day.  I don't think you can get keto-flu when you go from low carb to lower carb... can you?

Chad said something to me today.  He said, "I know it means a lot to you, but don't get all OCD about the number on the scale".  He's right of course.  It's not about the number on the scale.  Find health first, and then your body will find the weight it's supposed to be at.  Tom Naughton said the same thing to me when I sent him a thank you email, and he's a pretty smart guy.

I think I'll continue eating only at meals, but I'm going to let up a little on portion size so I can stay full and fueled and maybe kick this tiredness.  1700 calories may seem like a lot to some of you, but I'm a big, active girl (I worked for two hours in my garden every day this week).  When I went low calorie a few years back, I actually lost 30 pounds eating about 1700 calories a day. 

I'll keep you posted on how it's going!

Calorie Restriction

I have thoughts about calorie restriction.  I have no scientific basis for this.  I could probably scour the internet and find studies that back up my ideas, of course, but I'm not really interested in that.  I also don't believe this is true for everyone, but I'm certain it's true for me.

I don't think calorie restriction is safe or healthy, for me at the very least.  Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know.  It's mostly an intuitive thing.  I mean, I know I could probably drop some weight by restricting calories again.  I bet it would be really easy to stick to 1300 calories on a low carb diet.  But I fear what that would do to my health.

I'm 28 years old, 5'7, and 185 pounds.  I don't track my calories every day, but once in a while I do, and on those days, they're about 2000 calories.  If I was older, maybe post menopausal, I probably would have to be lower calorie simply because my hormones and metabolism wouldn't be the same as they are now.

I have a long history of malnutrition (eating a high carb, vegetarian diet, and making myself really sick with it).  I know my body is still recovering from that, and I feel like calorie restriction would only hold my body back from healing itself.  A healing body needs more nutrients and calories.  Mine needs more protein.  You wouldn't believe the muscle I've put on without lifting weights.

I'm also trying to conceive a baby right now.  A woman's reproductive system needs to know that her body is well fed, that the baby will be well fed, or it's not going to cooperate. Chad and I have been trying for 13 months, with the only glimmer of hope being a possible early miscarriage (a chemical pregnancy) six months ago.  I don't think we're going to conceive until my body has finished healing itself, and it's not going to get any better if I restrict calories.  I also think Chad's body needs to continue to heal, too.  He was pretty unhealthy before we started, and his body has changed dramatically since going low carb.  He's leaner, more muscular, happier, and more energetic than he used to be, but I'm sure he still has a ways to go.

And besides, what do calories have to do with it?  I think if you have a very deranged metabolism, yes, calories matter.  But I lost weight as soon as I switched from a high-carb, 1600 calorie, vegetarian diet to a low-carb, 2000 calorie, meaty diet.  And so did Chad.

So for now, I'm going to continue eating a lot of calories.  I'm not concerned about losing more weight.  Yes, at 185 pounds, that makes me overweight.  As a matter of fact, my BMI is 29 or so, which makes me almost obese.  But you know what?  I managed to lose 90 pounds (I used to be 275).  I have so much loose skin that I wouldn't be surprised that about 15-20 of those "overweight" pounds are actually extra skin.  Not to mention the fact that I come from a family of big-boned women, with big feet, wide hips, broad shoulders, and large hands.  Of course I'm going to weigh more than someone with naturally petite bones (such as my husband).  And despite the fact I've been gaining lots of muscle (I can actually see the difference), I haven't gained any weight.  So that tells me I'm trading in fat for muscle. 

And I'm healthy, much healthier than I was as a low-calorie, high-carb vegetarian.  Isn't that more important than weight?

Calorie Silliness

After reading Good Calorie, Bad Calorie by Gary Taubes, I couldn't understand why people were still convinced that the calories in-calories out idea was important.  It's especially surprising when I hear low-carb folks urging us that calories still count.

I have personal experience that says calories aren't really that important.  When I was a low calorie vegetarian, I was eating about 1700 calories a day, and gaining weight.  Once I switched over to being a low carb meat eater, my calories went up to 2300 or so a day, and I lost weight!

The same is true for Chad.  He used to eat about 2100 calories a day, and was slowly gaining weight.  But after switching to about 2500 low carb calories, he's lost about 20 pounds while also putting on muscle.  Are you sure calories count?

A new and really fun example of how silly the calories in-calories out idea is, is Sam Feltham, from Smash the Fat.  He's in the middle of a 21 day experiment where he's purposely eating 5000 calories a day (a 2000 calorie a day surplus for him) to see exactly what it will do to his body. It's important to note that the food he's eating is low-carb, paleo fare.

Since I'm on vacation, gallivanting across the countryside with Chad and his family, I'm writing this about a week before it posts.  But so far (day 9), Sam has actually lost two centimeters around his waist, and hasn't gained a thing.  This might change by the time he's finished, but something tells me he won't come even close to the weight CICA says he should gain.  A quick calculation shows me that CICA says he should gain about 12 pounds by the end of the experiment.  But he's half way through, and he hasn't gained anything! 

Maybe it's true that some people need to cut their calories in order to lose weight.  After all, everyone is different.  But to say that everyone needs to cut calories is, I believe, harmful to most people.  You shouldn't feel hungry, even if you're trying to lose weight.  A little hunger before a meal is alright, but constant hunger is a sign of problems.  And unfortunately, for most people, cutting calories makes you pretty hungry.  So then your body, being smarter than you, turns your metabolism down a notch, and it becomes harder to lose the weight.  I've been there.  I also know what it's like to be exhausted all the time while cutting calories. 

If you want to watch Sam Feltham's experiment, he has daily youtube videos, and also posts updates on twitter frequently.