So, today is 90 days into the process of getting my act together and starting the process of sorting myself out.
In the past I was insanely fit - I was competing in a very athletic sport at a high level and I was eating 5,000 calories a day just to stay at the same weight. I got injured and stopped but just kept on eating, and swapped to a sedentary office job. God damn I like eating. For me it was never a stress response or a guilty thing - I love going to a nice restaurant and eating with friends, or consciously relaxing on the sofa with junk food. I just flat out enjoyed eating unhealthy food.
I never got insanely big, but I do need to drop around 60lb to get back to an average BMI range.
I’ve dropped 10lbs plenty of times on diets, but then I think “hey... I’ve been good and lost some weight - I’ll treat myself to a doughnut”. At that point it’s just game over.
So... this time I decided to do it properly. There was no massive “moment” I just woke up feeling crappy and decided I needed to change things.
Rather than jump on the first diet that came along I decided to do a whole bunch of proper research first and work out what was best for me. I spent a week researching what is and Isn’t real in the weigh lose world. Listening to Chris Kessler on Joe Rogan was my jumping off point - that guy is a very solid scientist and medical professional. I then spent a couple of weeks looking at properly backed and researched journal papers. I’m a professional hard core data geek so i only focused on things with a LOT of good and very significant data behind them. Anything marginal or where there was a debate about it I just ignored completely.
Then I put it into action and got on with it.
Here’s what I found and what seems to be working for me.
1) the weight loss world is insane. Just in the UK it’s worth £1billion. Therefore the amount of marketing hype is insane and so are the amount of lies. This is why I went looking at papers and studies rather than blog posts.
2) CICO is the base of everything. No diet works without CICO.
3) CICO works differently for different people. So does things like KETO and Paleo. Different people will react different to different types of diets - eating the same calories. Unless you pay for a full Functional Health screening ( which in the UK is around £2000) there’s no way to tell - it seems you just try the different methods and measure the response.
4) the next most important factors in weight loss seem to be sleep, keeping hydrated and gut health.
4a). Sleep seems to be the single biggest factor in weight loss after diet is taken into account - at least as much as exercise.
4b) gut health is a nebulous term and is still under active research. However it’s clear that it’s far harder to lose weight with an unbalanced gut, and also that it has a whole range of secondary benefits as well - although the specific values of them aren’t clear yet.
5) Intermittent fasting helps with weight loss and has loads of secondary benefits as
What I’ve done.
I hate feeling hungry so I’ve been doing CICO based Paleo. I haven’t felt hungry once in 90 days, seriously, not once even for a moment - and often feel too full. I think I might also be in ketosis most days but haven’t tested that and it’s not a specific aim. Reason for the Paleo is because it’s high in protein to keep me feeling full, and the fat means that I can make tasty food. Tasty food was my number one criteria for this diet - if I’m going to give up junk food then I want nice tasting food - and fats mean currys and chilis and stews and proper taste.
If the food was bland I would have cheated months ago.
The Paleo community seems odd - it can be quite cult like - lots of die hard evangelists and, in my opinion, lots of snobbery. Personally I find this really off-putting, but I like the basics of the diet itself, it’s based on really solid science and they work for me - I just wish the community was a bit more grounded or there was another “practical Paleo” community I could find. Seriously - I don’t care that the cow had 4% of its diet as barley - just eat the bloody food and be glad of the privilege you have in being able to be picky - just get back in your box and calm down.
I cook everything now - I don’t eat any pre-made or processed food at all. This lets me track calories, and also I forgot how much I enjoy cooking. Cooking food is as satisfying as eating food now.
I went and got a mini-freezer. It’s like the size of two beer fridges and lives in the garage. Sunday has turned into my mates coming around, Spotify on loud, me doing a massive batch cook for the week and feeding them at the same time. I freeZe it all up and then just microwave it and cook some veg at meal times . I eat quicker now than waiting for a pizza in the past.
For the first 30 days I cut out booze totally, but found I missed the social side of it, so I now have a couple of vodka and diet cokes. Each Vodka and Diet Coke has the same number of calories as a mars bar - I just keep that in mind, but if it’s a good night out I just go for it and account for the calories over the next week.
I tried drinking vodka and tonic because diet drinks send weird hormonal signals in your body and can mess around with ketosis and a bunch of other pathways that help diet. But Jesus Christ that stuff is rank. I come from a rough arsed bit of the country and I’d never tried tonic water before- I think posh people who drink Tonic water must have different taste buds. So.... I’m sticking to the Diet Coke and my body will just have to deal with it.
I drink 2.5l lifers of water a day. I drink from a 500ml bottle rather than a big bottle - it seems easier some how. I used to struggle to drink 2x 1 litre bottles, but 5x500ml goes down really easily. God knows why. Weirdly, I’m drinking WAY more water than I was, but I’m also way more conscious of being thirsty than I used to be.
I get water from the wholesaler, meat from a butcher and veg from a veg shop. Eggs I get at a farm shop. I’m not eating anything that doesn’t come from these shops.
My food bill has fallen by about 35%. I’m keeping the cash saved to one side as a way of tracking the diet.
At the same time, it’s interesting that the VOLUME of food I buy has dramatically increased. I use a lot less stuff from the cupboards, but my fridge is at least twice as full as it used to be. By weight I’m definely eating a lot more weight of food each day. Totally not complaining about that.
I do something every day. I joined a gym and do weights three times a week - muscle mass burns calories. I have been doing 5x5 - it’s fine but dull. However, it’s doing its job
All the other days I either walk a lot, swim or cycle or go on the cross trainer at the gym. It can be very dull - but good headphones and Spotify help a lot. Podcasts are also something I’ve begun to listen to a lot when I’m doing cardio and they also make it less dull. I know a load of people absolutely adore cardio but at the moment it’s just a slog, and a sweaty one at that. I do it because it’s good for me, but I’m happy to be distrActed from it.
After it got over the initial shock of its routine being messed about the dog fucking LOVES all the extra walking and going out.
I sleep better now. It was a hard couple of weeks making myself go to bed earlier and not just browse the internet. This has been probably the hardest change I’ve made in terms of effort and will power as I’ve progressed through.
I take a pre-biotic, a pro-biotic and I do the thing with repeatedly heating and cooling a potato and eating a bit of that each day. (Gotta say - I feel like an idiot doing the potato thing, but the science behind it is very solid so what the hell).
Without testing it’s not possible to measure the improvement, but my insides FEEL a lot better, and if we’re being really frank, I break wind a lot less.
I have a 3 egg omelette for breakfast - usually with a tin of tuna and shove some onions in there was well. no lunch and then protein and veg for dinner.
Occasionally I’ll do a fast, but it leaves me feeling washed out. I need to get better at this going forwards.
For what ever reason I wake up with a lot more energy now. It takes more to annoy me and my tolerance for people has also risen.
I used to get asked out on dates kind of regularly - the rate that that’s happened seems to have increased. That’s never upsetting. I’m not sure whether the reason is purely about looks or whether because of an attitude change. Maybe both?
People notice my weight loss and sometimes it’s a big ego boost when they do and sometimes it seriously makes me cringe. I’m not sure why to be honest.
Over-all the specific changes I’ve made for in with my specific life very easily, and so they’re easy FOR ME to stick to. I think if I was doing things that were a big hurdle or a massive chore than I would have started cheating weeks ago. I feel that I’m much more likely to stick to a lifestyle which fits in with the rest of my life easily.
Anyway - apologies for the wall of text. This is as much about me clarifying my own thoughts after 90 days as it is for any one else.
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