Weight Loss

 

Photo by Public Domain Pictures on Pexels.com Weight Loss: What all the “experts” are ignoring. My ongoing web log of my own weight loss and current issues in weight loss. Summary: Nothing I’ve been taught about weight has held up for me, either in the medical literature or in a now one year long experimentation on weight. I am both frustrated and angry that the information I have come across does not appear in any of the weight loss programs I have seen. When I was taught physiology, I was taught that: calories in = calories out. Unfortunately, so was every other doctor, despite clear evidence to the contrary:”The walnut-supplemented diet resulted in greater daily energy intake (557 kJ (133 kcal)), which should theoretically have led to a weight gain of 3.1 kg over the 6-month period. For all participants, walnut supplementation increased weight (about 0.4 kg)”(Br J Nutr. 2005 Nov;94(5):859-64) My comment: straight calories in does not necessarily equal calories put on. “In spite of the increased energy intake, the group on the vegan diet lost 9% of their body weight during the intervention period, indicating a low availability of energy from the vegan diet.” (Eur J Clin Nutr. 1993 Oct;47(10):747-9) My comment: more calories in equals weight loss? Goodbye simplistic and wrong: calories in = calories out. Calories in have never equaled calories out for a lower range of calorie intake. If you are starving yourself, your thyroid decreases your body temperature and the rate you burn calories. Since most doctors do only a non-accurate thyroid screen, they will not catch the decrease in your thyroid levels. Other doctors will place you on thyroid support but not support other hormonal systems like the adrenal system, which will be overburdened by a sudden increase in thyroid function. In order to really treat your weight gain, you need someone who will treat you as a whole system. I began my own weight record as a direct response to a patient that was doing everything right, 1000 calories a day, four mile walk every day, and no weight loss over five years. I have included by own weight loss record to show that none of it has anything to do with fat, and that the weight that I struggle with has very little to do with calories. I also offer it to those of you who continually starve yourselves-it doesn’t work. Over the past year I have “cheated” perhaps one month, and “been good” the other eleven months. But only by understanding the complexities of my own body have I been able to come to terms with weight. Summary of my personal weight loss diet after a year of experimenting. Your weight loss diet is an individualized creation. What does not matter: calories. What does matter: sleep, stress, sugar, salt. What matters most: whether your body can process the calories you have taken in. What does not work: starvation. Caloric intake: between 1500-3000 calories a day. It is the quality of the food, not the quantity, that matters. Sleep long and well: average weight loss 2 lbs overnight. Avoid straight sugar and salt: they both hold water in the gut and cause extraordinary weight gain. Avoid all preservatives: they do the same. Avoid all dairy products: I gain an average of 2 lbs after a single serving. They also constipate me. I tried all of these supplements, and none were effective for consistent weight loss. Supplements: phosphatidyl choline, Sho-saito-to (this is the most helpful at restarting the liver: I feel great on it and I notice consistent weight loss when I do everything else right), Multi, vitamin D, Chlorophyll, Network marketed drink, lemon, lime, apple cider vinegar. None of these diets work, because I couldn’t lose weight quickly enough and because the confounding factors in my lifestyle disrupted any benefit: Diets flirted with: starvation, Atkins, raw food, starvation and exercise. Current diet: whatever I want, whenever I want it. In large quantities. Current diet, truly: No salt, no sugar=both cause osmotic water retention Exercise=more hunger=same weight (I exercise some, but I don’t expect it to lead to weight loss) Bad food=constipation=fermentation=toxic build up=fat cell deposition Starvation=getting cold=thyroid shut down=eventual weight gain when I regain my senses and eat Up late=up weight (I average 2 pounds of weight loss overnight) Warm at night=weight loss (if my feet are cold I can’t sleep) Milk (all milk)=constipation=less weight loss=eventual weight gain Citrus=more BM=more weight loss Calories absolutely no effect if I eat between 1500-3000 calories. Points to consider: if you treat the scale as one body measure of health rather than a dark and evil god who squats in the bathroom waiting to dispense misery, it is a very cheap way to keep track of your body function. If you have spent your life avoiding calories, you owe it to yourself to monitor your weight last thing at night and first thing in the morning. If watching calories drops weight for you, great. If not, start monitoring what does. At one point I checked my weight before and after every meal, and did not see the expected rise in weight. If I had put the sandwich in my pocket, I would weigh more, but in eating it, more complex issues are brought into play. Only follow a diet that the words “for the rest of your life” added to the end does not make you weep. Otherwise you are fooling yourself, and need to find another path. Thank you for listening, and best of luck. If you need help on your journey, please call me and set up an appointment.