I’ve made no secret about bring on on the bike and running. I credit exactly zero of the weight lost to those activities, zero! If anything, the bike and running have increased my overall weight. So, how is the above number happening?
Support! That’s how. Claire’s been so damn supporting while I’ve been struggling in this slump. The plateau from hell, a small increase here and there and bang! Back in the gaining category. That simply don’t do! But through all my whining she’s been there telling me to stay the course, stay on the wagon and not go and eat bacon and eggs with a couple of tortillas so I feel better about failing, and thereby fail some more. If I had to make this happen alone failure would likely be the outcome.
Yesterday I made sure to eat as little fat as possible. No nuts or seeds! I don’t like avocado so no trouble there, but there are tortillas in my house. And if you know me, you know a warm buttered tortilla is comfort food beyond the normal or rational. It’s also way off the plan, for now. Why? Because it’s processed flour and hits your blood like a brick through a plate glass window! Couple that with 9 grams of fat, or 30% of calories from fat and it makes a perfect recipe for gaining weight! How? Let’s look at that. We know from Dr. Gregor that fat in your blood blocks insulin receptors in you muscles. So, 9 grams of fat in a 230 calorie tortilla makes a pretty good barrier to insulin. Couple that with a zero fiber, highly processed 30+ grams of carbohydrate, and butter (like I used to do) and your blood sugar has to spike way up high, and cause a big insulin release to compensate, because the fat is blocking the receptors. This is precisely why a very low fat diet results in weight loss or good weight maintenance. It has to do, apparently, with the insulin resistance caused by the fat in our blood. If you’re obese, like I am, then the fat cells in your body tend to release fat they cannot store and keeps the receptors blocked, which causes insulin spikes and eventually type II diabetes. I don’t have type II, or even close, likely only because of the running and riding I’ve almost always enjoyed since being over 300 lbs and coming down. It seems once I’ve decoded certain things for myself, then I can find the combination. But damn! I wanted to have a tortilla yesterday, or some nuts,.. but I didn’t! And that is the second major contributor to the number above.
Until I reach a goal weight, to be determined by a DEXA scan after another 20 lbs, I’ll need to refrain from overt fats. No nuts, seeds or other overt fats. What is an overt fat? Anything where the calories from fat eclipses 10%. So for every 100 calories no more than 10 can be from fat, or better stated, 1 gram of fat per 100 calories of the food. If I eat 1500 calories in a day, and I eat the right things, then I’ll end up lower than 15g of fat for the day, easily. Because I want my body burning it’s fat stores for fatty acids! One oz of walnuts is 180 calories of fat (20g), so it’s pretty easy to see how that one thing could derail my efforts.
BobLosesWeight 