Consistent

[infiniteopacity]

I have been reading Lyle's work for some time I have much respect for his work and the community he has created. I feel it is time for me to step up and form a log to hold myself more accountable as I make more changes in life.

My goals

• Treat recent diagnosis of non alcoholic fatty liver disease
• Manage PCOS / insulin resistance
• Drop to 42kg
• Learn to be present; less self critical; say no

Background

• Female, 30 years old
• 4'11
• 48 kg

I was diagnosed in May and was advised by the liver specialist to drop weight before a fibrous scan for my liver. And what do I do? Stupidly binge like a crazed sugar maniac over a period that has now culminated in my highest weight gain of 4kg.

I am scared, I don't want to have liver fibrosis but I have to take responsibility for my own actions. The scan is now scheduled on 3rd Feb. I have 4 months and 12 days to drop the weight, which I also hope will reflect in a drop in the fatty liver.

Specialist's advice

Drop 2-3kg

5x week of vigorous exercise for 30 min - swimming or walking. He emphasised not to run due to his concern for long term joint damage.

EAT MORE
- Veggies
- Chicken
- Nuts
- 1-2 fruit
- Vitamin D
- Coffee/water

EAT LESS
- Sugar / bread / rice / pasta / noodles
- Dairy
- Red meat

How am I going to achieve my goals?

My stress levels are usually pretty high due to work, work related exams I am sitting in November (incidentally biochemistry will be one of the subjects) and family. I am also a stressed/anxious person by nature. I feel it would be unwise to undertake some sort of a short term/drastic measure when I really want to change my habits for the long term.
Reduce food intake, increase my activity levels, manage my stress levels.
I am unclear on how to approach this due to this tendency for analysis paralysis. Do I count calories or use a fist/hand approach to food portion controls? Do I eat the same things everyday to keep it simple? Am I doing that for the rest of my life? How will I deal with social engagements? Am I going to be one of the annoying patrons that waitstaff roll their eyes at?
I am ridiculous.

[semipartial]

First of all, relax. The answers to your questions depend on the way you want to approach your weight-loss. What program (of Lyle?) are you going to run or what principles are you going to use?

Tips about nutrition:
- Make sure you know exactly how much calories/macros you can and should eat (i.e. your approximate maintenance and your diet deficit).
- Measure your food intake every day. At least for the time while you're on the diet. It's about your health, so you definitely want as much control as you can.
- It doesn't matter if you'll be eating the same food each day or change it up. Having a little bit of variation may make it easier long term.
- I'm not an expert, but personally I would stop eating sugar altogether (cold turkey). Sugar is addictive, so you're going to crave it anyway. To make this 'torture' as short (i.e. few weeks) and effective as possible, don't consume it. Replace it by vegetables and lowish GI stuff.
- I'm not sure why you can't consume dairy and such. Granted, some dairy contains way too much sugar, but some protein-dense dairy can actually be a good choice.
- Sustaining your current eating habit is not a good idea, since it results in the issues you're having right now. So yes, your eating habits should at least change somewhat for the rest of your life. That doesn't mean you can NEVER have something you crave.

Tips about training:
- If you have healthy bones and joints, you can run. Long term joint damage won't occur overnight and only occurs under extreme circumstances (i.e. frequent long runs, bad shoes, bad 'technique', extreme intensity, etc.). Additionally, you can alternate between running, swimming, biking... or whatever you like to do.
- In the long run, having a more active lifestyle is a good idea. Walk more, bike more, jump more, dance more. I'm not sure about the five times a week of vigorous training though. Especially when you're incorporating weight training as well (are you?).
- Talking about weight training; if you can, incorporate some form of it. There are a lot of benefits as you may have already read in Lyle's books or on the website.

Tips about your social engagements:
- If you know upfront you're about to consume alcohol, check this article from Martin. At the bottom (last paragraph) is a good plan.
- If you know upfront you're going out and will consume food, check this article from Martin. At the bottom (paragraph 'Social events/eating') he outlines a great plan.

[infiniteopacity]

I'm so grateful for your response! Thank you for taking your time to guide me in nutting out a plan.

Diet program
I honestly am a little confused about which program I should be using. I thought perhaps a standard or targeted ketogenic approach would be more useful for my situation. I am concerned about how I will come off the ketogenic diet and go into maintenance successfully for long sustained periods. Should I perhaps use a more balanced approach from the beginning instead?

I actually didn't ask him why he advised me to cut back on dairy though I should have.

Caloric intake
Per one of Lyle's article, as my goal weight is 12.5% below my current weight I can use my goal weight to set my caloric intake. At 14-16 calories / lbs this means my daily caloric intake is 1288 (using 14 cal/lbs to start). Does this appear to be a reasonable calculation?

Aerobic exercise
Aerobic activity wise my goal is to run 5 km three to four times a week (improving my time gradually). I have always found running difficult but I believe that has to do with not persisting with the activity long enough for it to become enjoyable.

Weight training
You are right I have read on Lyle's website alone how important resistance training. However, I don't feel comfortable paying Anytime Fitness $70 for a plastic key and then $60 / month going forward. I live in a small apartment, can I adequately perform weight training exercises at home with 1-2 kettlebells?

Originally Posted by semipartial

First of all, relax. The answers to your questions depend on the way you want to approach your weight-loss. What program (of Lyle?) are you going to run or what principles are you going to use?

Tips about nutrition:
- Make sure you know exactly how much calories/macros you can and should eat (i.e. your approximate maintenance and your diet deficit).
- Measure your food intake every day. At least for the time while you're on the diet. It's about your health, so you definitely want as much control as you can.
- It doesn't matter if you'll be eating the same food each day or change it up. Having a little bit of variation may make it easier long term.
- I'm not an expert, but personally I would stop eating sugar altogether (cold turkey). Sugar is addictive, so you're going to crave it anyway. To make this 'torture' as short (i.e. few weeks) and effective as possible, don't consume it. Replace it by vegetables and lowish GI stuff.
- I'm not sure why you can't consume dairy and such. Granted, some dairy contains way too much sugar, but some protein-dense dairy can actually be a good choice.
- Sustaining your current eating habit is not a good idea, since it results in the issues you're having right now. So yes, your eating habits should at least change somewhat for the rest of your life. That doesn't mean you can NEVER have something you crave.

Tips about training:
- If you have healthy bones and joints, you can run. Long term joint damage won't occur overnight and only occurs under extreme circumstances (i.e. frequent long runs, bad shoes, bad 'technique', extreme intensity, etc.). Additionally, you can alternate between running, swimming, biking... or whatever you like to do.
- In the long run, having a more active lifestyle is a good idea. Walk more, bike more, jump more, dance more. I'm not sure about the five times a week of vigorous training though. Especially when you're incorporating weight training as well (are you?).
- Talking about weight training; if you can, incorporate some form of it. There are a lot of benefits as you may have already read in Lyle's books or on the website.

Tips about your social engagements:
- If you know upfront you're about to consume alcohol, check this article from Martin. At the bottom (last paragraph) is a good plan.
- If you know upfront you're going out and will consume food, check this article from Martin. At the bottom (paragraph 'Social events/eating') he outlines a great plan.

[infiniteopacity]

23rd September, 2016

48.8kg

Food

1. 2tbsp full fat milk in coffee
2. 91g chicken breast + veggies (spinach + asparagus)
3. 91g chicken breast + veggies (spinach + cabbage + carrot)

Activity

No formal activity to speak of today.

Stress

[infiniteopacity]

24th September, 2016

48.1kg

Food

1. 2tbsp 3.25% milk in coffee
2. 75g chicken breast + veggies (spinach + asparagus)
3. 100g chicken drumstick + veggies (spinach + cabbage + carrot)

Activity

No formal activity again. Long day at work.

Stress


I don't entirely know what how I'm approaching this or what I am doing but I am just going to start recording and figure it out as I go. Still debating joining a gym.

[infiniteopacity]

25th September, 2016

47.8kg

Food

1. 85g egg whites + spinach/tomatoes + 2tbsp 3.25% milk
2. 90g chicken thigh + 95g sweet potato + veggies (spinach/cabbage)
3. 90g chicken breast/thigh + 95g sweet potato + veggies (spinach/green beans)

Activity

• 20min running/walking (wasn't very fast 8km/h)
• 60min yoga (purchased a 10 day yoga pass)

Stress

I am marvelled at how much gratitude I can feel when practicing yoga. My self awareness of mind and body during practice is very rewarding. Even when my mind wanders and I am not as present as I should be that gentle moving and thinking time brings me a sense of calm. Some compulsion to forgive myself for being so harsh on myself otherwise.

Life will always bring stresses/challenges in one form or another. I'm 30 already I need to be much more conscious of being present. It's not easy to do but I don't want life to pass me by so quickly.

Felt quite tired today whilst trying to study my mind wasn't 100% into it. I don't know if that is because the topic was microbiology or because of general tiredness due to last few days of eating at a significant deficit. I only have two months until my exams I need to raise my productivity. I do wonder whether dieting and studying can work.

[stallion009]

I am marvelled at how much gratitude I can feel when practicing yoga. My self awareness of mind and body during practice is very rewarding.

I miss yoga. I used to do it. I was always humbled by it as a male that only ever lifted weights and didn't generally have a high opinion of it.

I don't buy into the woo woo of it, but definitely mindfulness is a real characteristic. I enjoyed being more aware of my body and how it was sitting. If I'm slouching in a chair, I was well aware.

And as someone that isn't very stretchy, I was quite impressed at how I progressed overtime. More proof that if you put in the work, over time, you really do improve.

[holly70]

Originally Posted by infiniteopacity

However, I don't feel comfortable paying Anytime Fitness $70 for a plastic key and then $60 / month going forward.

That is really high for Anytime Fitness. You don't have to have a gym membership, but I think you can probably find one for less than that if you want to.

If you happen to have BlueCross/BlueShield health insurance they have a program called HealthWays that gives you access to 9500+ gyms across the country for $25 a month.

https://www.blue365deals.com/healthw...e?planid=BCBSA

I signed up so I can be fairly sure of having access to a gym if/when I travel. Could use it locally too, but so far haven't dropped my more expensive membership at the nicer gym w/towels and extras because I really want to keep my spinning classes. If I replace those elsewhere for less though I could drop it.

[infiniteopacity]

26th September, 2016

47.4kg

Food

1. 2tbsp 3.25% milk in coffee
2. 95g chicken breast + 14g walnuts + 110g sweet potato + veggies (spinach/green beans)
3. 90g chicken breast + 14g walnuts + 110g sweet potato + veggies (spinach/broccoli)

Activity

12 hour work day. Glad it's not a desk job, I do try to stand most of the day when I can.

Stress

Registered and paid for exams so some stress to be expected. Reminder to study.
I have lost 1.4 kg since Friday but I'm aware that is not actual fat loss.
Perhaps should look into a multivitamin in addition to Vitamin D/Calcium as I seem to not have a lot of variety at all in my diet. One extreme to the other.

[infiniteopacity]

Originally Posted by holly70

That is really high for Anytime Fitness. You don't have to have a gym membership, but I think you can probably find one for less than that if you want to.

If you happen to have BlueCross/BlueShield health insurance they have a program called HealthWays that gives you access to 9500+ gyms across the country for $25 a month.

https://www.blue365deals.com/healthw...e?planid=BCBSA

I signed up so I can be fairly sure of having access to a gym if/when I travel. Could use it locally too, but so far haven't dropped my more expensive membership at the nicer gym w/towels and extras because I really want to keep my spinning classes. If I replace those elsewhere for less though I could drop it.

Hi Holly, thank you for the link but it seems available to US nationals only I'm Australian. $25/month is reasonable. I have done Crossfit (paid $200/month didn't last very long there) and fancy gyms (they are nice I must admit but not so nice when I see the debits in the bank statements!). It is nice to be active in an environment where everyone is working out, I do miss that. But exercise shouldn't cost so much I think.