Hi Puddy, that’s a really good question.
I think there are two elements to the answer. – First of all really its not weight but body composition that is the key issue. – Stronger bones and muscles both weigh more than the alternative. I don’t know if you have looked at Dr Fungs work but he has an assistant who was one of his first cases and now works alongside him. Megan Ramos. She is very open with people that when she got down to her target weight she realised she still looked overweight. She continued fasting and working out and dropped another 2 dress sizes but gained 15kg in the process. She also talks about women coming into the clinic who look like scarecrows with belts used to hold up the trousers that used to be too small for them, who have discarded inches from their waists between appointments but burst into tears when the scales do not show a discard.
High insulin levels block your body from producing growth hormone. Its that hormone which controls how strong your bones are, which would you prefer, a lower reading on the scales and worrying about breaking bones as you get older and at risk of falls. – Or a higher reading of the scales that has no impact on your dimensions?
Therefore, rather than using weight I would suggest you use a tape measure to monitor the effect of calories.
I will get off my soap box now and say about the other issue. – a lb of fat contains 3500 calories. – Its easy when we discard a lot of weight at the start because of discarding water weight to forget this data.
I follow a few facebook pages, where lots of useful data pops up from time to time. – One of those is for people on a keto WoE. – I have seen a number of examples on there of people who stay under 20g of carbs and loose weight while eating calories in the range above their basic metabolic rate but less than the calories burned by adding up the BMR and exercise.
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There is a third point I want to make, the above two may make it sound easy to enter maintenance. – Some people do find it easy. but I also put my hand up and say I am not one of them. – It isn’t a case of do what I say not what I do. – I worked hard over 2 years sticking with this WoE to get down to my initial target weight. When I got there I realised that I wasn’t at my target body shape and I had another couple of dress sizes to discard. – But after 2 years of focusing so much on food and staying on 800 calories I wanted to spend some time maintaining my achievements and enjoying life at that level before getting back on the wagon. – Its been a struggle to maintain and I think the reason is that I am still IR. – I suspect that I need to heal that to make it easier to maintain. So that will be my next focus.
One of the great advantages of this WoE is the opportunity to learn how our bodies work, and from that learn what we need to do for our own health. Don’t worry about maintenance, you now have a greater knowledge of how to fuel your body for your health. You have a chorus of people who will cheer you on, and put a helping hand out to help you back onto the wagon when you need it.
But there is one thing to bear in mind. you can’t expect to go back to your old way of eating.
