I've been eating mostly according to the Almost Hungry? plan for about a month now.
I know that no specific number has more meaning than another, and 0 and 1 and 9 are all just digits. But, psychologically, the decade numbers take on increased significance when you are aiming for some target that is far away. So this morning when I weighed in at home at 270.5 pounds it was exciting. I knew that when I went to the gym I would weigh less after working out, since I sweat, and then I would weigh still less if I use the sauna for any significant time. After work out, (on a different scale, at the health club) I was 269.3, and after the sauna 268,8. I can't remember the last time my body weight has been in this range.
I just got back from a week in Quebec (Quebec City and Montreal) where it felt as though I was eating huge volumes of food. But the difference is I was making choices, not just eating like a madman. The marketplaces were full of fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and fish, and the restaurants offered alluring varieties of food. Today's weight is three pounds less than before I left.
I am quite happy with this plan, and am confident it is a lifestyle choice I'll be able to keep up with for a long time to come, as my weight comes down to a healthier level for my body. My one concern is that my body fat percentage, as measured by bio-impedance, seems to have crept up a bit over the week. I'll take measurements for a few more days before I get overly worried.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Friday, July 22, 2016
Always Hungry? Not Now.
A few weeks ago, a chance conversation with my sister, Lori, led to my reading about the nutrition ideas of David Ludwig (MD, PhD). He's spoken and written extensively, and has published a book detailing his recommendations called Always Hungry?
I do not consider myself an expert in this by any means, but some of the key concepts, as I understand them, are that the endocrine system of the body reacts to glucose by producing insulin, which then sends that glucose to fat cells. So, eating a diet rich in easily digested sugars and starches results in a short-term blood glucose spike, followed by a crash. After the crash, we get a feeling of hunger, because our glucose is down.
It's basically a futile cycle. Once our body is used to this pattern, we eat (because we're hungry), the body sends much of that food energy to our fat cells, we're hungry again, and we eat more. As over-simplification you can say rather than being overweight because we eat too much, we eat too much because we are overweight.
In the short term, you can control this with will-power. But eventually the feelings of hunger almost always win, and any weight loss experienced from self-control and exercise is cancelled by a later weight gain.
Calories are not all the same. Turns out that fat calories don't trigger the insulin response, and so we maintain a "not hungry" feeling for much longer. If you can get your body used to this, you can wind up eating less, feeling hungry less, and actually reducing your body fat stores. The book goes into considerable detail, with references, on the research foundation for this concept. It also contains a detailed plan, in three phases, to change the way you eat in order to change the way your body reacts to food.
Those five paragraphs are preface to my comment that I've begun trying to eat according to the Always Hungry? plan. From the very first day's breakfast (I'm currently on my day 12) I was astonished at how filling the food was, but also that I wasn't hungry at all for over four hours after breakfast. That's the most astonishing thing for me. I've always been a grazer, nibbling on this and that throughout the day. But on this plan, it isn't even a matter of self-control or will-power when I don't nibble or eat. I'm just not hungry for long periods of time throughout the day.
Body weight fluctuates too much to make a day-by-day analysis meaningful, but the so-far trend on my consumer grade bathroom scale is that I've lost eight pounds since starting this plan. I'm still significantly overweight, but can already see a visible difference in my face, and in my body profile. I will move on to phase 2 Monday, and intend to continue this plan, as it is almost effortless to follow. I am experiencing no feelings of sacrifice. Rather, I eat delicious food until I am full (not stuffed) and otherwise do what I have always done in my life. Honestly, this feeling of not being hungry is quite enjoyable.
I do not consider myself an expert in this by any means, but some of the key concepts, as I understand them, are that the endocrine system of the body reacts to glucose by producing insulin, which then sends that glucose to fat cells. So, eating a diet rich in easily digested sugars and starches results in a short-term blood glucose spike, followed by a crash. After the crash, we get a feeling of hunger, because our glucose is down.
It's basically a futile cycle. Once our body is used to this pattern, we eat (because we're hungry), the body sends much of that food energy to our fat cells, we're hungry again, and we eat more. As over-simplification you can say rather than being overweight because we eat too much, we eat too much because we are overweight.
In the short term, you can control this with will-power. But eventually the feelings of hunger almost always win, and any weight loss experienced from self-control and exercise is cancelled by a later weight gain.
Calories are not all the same. Turns out that fat calories don't trigger the insulin response, and so we maintain a "not hungry" feeling for much longer. If you can get your body used to this, you can wind up eating less, feeling hungry less, and actually reducing your body fat stores. The book goes into considerable detail, with references, on the research foundation for this concept. It also contains a detailed plan, in three phases, to change the way you eat in order to change the way your body reacts to food.
Those five paragraphs are preface to my comment that I've begun trying to eat according to the Always Hungry? plan. From the very first day's breakfast (I'm currently on my day 12) I was astonished at how filling the food was, but also that I wasn't hungry at all for over four hours after breakfast. That's the most astonishing thing for me. I've always been a grazer, nibbling on this and that throughout the day. But on this plan, it isn't even a matter of self-control or will-power when I don't nibble or eat. I'm just not hungry for long periods of time throughout the day.
Body weight fluctuates too much to make a day-by-day analysis meaningful, but the so-far trend on my consumer grade bathroom scale is that I've lost eight pounds since starting this plan. I'm still significantly overweight, but can already see a visible difference in my face, and in my body profile. I will move on to phase 2 Monday, and intend to continue this plan, as it is almost effortless to follow. I am experiencing no feelings of sacrifice. Rather, I eat delicious food until I am full (not stuffed) and otherwise do what I have always done in my life. Honestly, this feeling of not being hungry is quite enjoyable.
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