RE-FOCUS, One Week At A Time…Starting Oct. 23

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  • posted by alliecat
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    Good morning, dear BSDers!

    Prinnoi, sadly all fruits are high in sugars πŸ™‚ 1 cup of grapes is @ 16g carbs, and 20 = 24gr. I think that most of us
    limited fruit to a small handful of berries during the weight loss phase. The practical problem is what do you do
    with the remainder of the lb. of grapes you purchased so as to have “a few” in your salad???

    Natalie, are you familiar with the concept of TDEE (total daily energy expenditure)? That plays a role in determining
    how to arrive at the max. calorie load that is suitable in maintenance, and varies from individual to individual. For
    example, I think Californiagirl can tolerate @2000, where I stay @1500. The caveat however, is that we both stay
    in the “low carb” lane always. I don’t think that I agree with Fung that 1500 cal/day represents semi starvation.
    After consuming 800cal/day for 10 months, 1500/day is more than enough for me. I’m sure others will be along
    to share their thoughts on how to integrate Mosley and Fung’s theories.

    Today is the day to set up the new thread! Is anyone interested in hosting it? Who plans to continue with us?
    I’ve had it for the past 9 or 10 weeks, but am more than happy to continue….I think we have a great community
    within a community here, and the concept of a week at a time seems to work for all of us There is so much
    excellent work being done here, and I’m so proud of you all for staying with it! πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

    Allie

  • posted by Violinist
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    Morning Allie! I like your weekly thread

  • posted by wendleg
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    Nathalie I am sure JGwen will be here soon to clarify things. I admit the more I read the more confused it can seem but I am focusing on what is working. This is a week break for me as although my carbs have stayed low I am consuming more calories I am pretty sure . I had the most stupendous salad for lunch where you get to choose your own ingredients . I had spinach and rocket leaves, avocado. ..egg…almonds and pumpkin seeds with broccoli and feta cheese. It was fab and honestly I was craving that freshness after quite a bit of (fried) fish here. I will be back here as always for next week’s challenge Allie ! Love from Wendy having a coffee in Starbucks 😊

  • posted by Verano
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    Good morning! I have to report a small gain this week. I will still have an overall loss this month which means I will have stopped the speeding weight gain train in its tracks. When I look back in my journal I realise I have registered a gain every month this year but now that has come to an end. Keeping on keeping on ……….

  • posted by JGwen
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    Hi Natalie,
    I can understand your confusion. I think part of the reason for the differences in approach is down to when the two books were published, and their target audiences, and the confusion is added to by the range of aims of people who have picked up the BSD book and through that joined this forum.

    So DrMM’s book came out first and the book promotes lowish carb (without setting any targets) for 8 weeks to kick start a diet and then go on to a slower weight loss. – I would guess that it was written within the context of the NHS being pro -diabetics eating carbs.
    Dr Fung runs a clinic in Canada focusing on diabetics. Most of his recommendations are based on case histories of people within his clinic. I saw a podcast by him in which he responded to criticism of promoting fasting over low carb by describing his average patient – :- Severely obese, not physically active, living on a very limited budget, and many are from an ethnic origin where carbs are traditionally a major ingredient in a diet. – For these people replacing their current diet with grass fed beef and fresh vegetables simply isn’t an option. – But not eating is free, and means they can stretch their budget to better food on the days they do eat.

    There are other academics out there. For example Dr Bikman who focuses on publishing research. – Then there are the researchers focusing on low carb for sports people, and the fasting mimicking diet idea for autophagy. – What we have been doing on this forum is posting links to interesting articles, podcasts etc from a range of different sources on a thread called Take a Look at This. – You may find it helpful if you want to delve deeper.
    ——————–
    So why do people on this forum talk about setting targets for carbs, and even fasting when that is not in the BSD book? I think its because at any one time there are mixture of people on the forum. – There are those who are just a little overweight for whom one cycle of 8 weeks and not being strict on the number of carbs is enough to make a major dent in their fat stores. Through to people who have a lot of weight to loose, who are insulin resistant and people trying to reverse T2.

    There are no official moderators taking part on this forum, but there is a band of people who have lost a lot of weight and have been around on this forum for months or years who stay around to offer a helping hand to new comers just as “maintainers” offered us a helping hand when we started. There are some places on the internet, Dr Fungs facebook group springs to mind, where there are moderators prowling to prevent anyone making a suggestion of looking at the work published by any other expert. This forum isn’t like that.

    Since Dr MM’s book was published there has been a lot of research published in Insulin, Insulin resistance, ketosis and the optimum levels of carbs to maximise fat burning. If you want to read more about the science then I would suggest looking at a podcast by Dr Bikman that I posted a link to on the Take a look at this thread back at the beginning of the year. Basically, insulin is the gate keeper which decides if your body can access body fat as a fuel source or just the food eaten. – So keeping insulin levels low speeds up weight loss and in the long run your thyroid system doesn’t decide you are in starvation mode and reduce your metabolic rate if your body can freely access your body fat stores to make up any calorie short fall.

    From that, and the experience of members of the forum, comes the advice to build on Dr MMs work by setting the target for carbs of between 20 and 50gs a day depending on how insulin resistant you are.

    There are people on the forum who lost a lot of weight or have a lot of weight to loose, which raises the issue of loose skin, which leads on to discussions about autophagy and fasting. There are people interested in reversing insulin resistance who share discussions on time restricted eating.

    Hope that helps explain the diversity of discussions on the forum.

  • posted by Natalie
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    Thanks JGwen! There is so much information out there, much of it contradictory, and it keeps changing which gets a bit frustrating when you are trying to follow β€˜expert’ advice. I’m finding Fung’s book fascinating and I’ll look for Dr Bikram. The human body is an amazing and complicated thing.

  • posted by Violinist
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    Good morning!
    Gwen, I appreciate your summary of this website. Thank you!

  • posted by EclecticRajistani
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    Agreed Violinist!
    Gwen apt descriptions!
    Natalie, Gwen has explained beautifully. I had a very similar hang on a minute re the approaches. But I have reconciled both of the approaches to my way of thinking of food and the body. I do think that MM BSD is a good starting point it’s not enough for me in terms of depth and knowledge of the obesity crisis. The latter of which I’m part of. Whilst I’m not diabetic my father is, as are most of his siblings. So losing weight is top priority for me. Especially, as I’m getting older. My hubby is a diabetic podiatrist (feet docter) and even he is learning from me regarding this diet and definitely agrees with the low carb and fasting. I think it’s just about taking what works for you and seeing how you go. Knowledge is power and you’ll get that from the support group, books, podcasts. Always good to ask questions it means we get great Gwen summaries 😘

    Goodheart quick thing about the gym and exercise. I was so being a proper gym bunny up until a few weeks back. And I found I was getting very hungry and burnt out. I’m a bit like Allie all or nothing gal (she’s better at it though) the point is I was doing too much. And having read Fungs book I’ve parked the going full on at the gym whilst I concentrate on my eating habits. That’s not to say don’t exercise as it’s good for strength and the mind. But if you read Fung and others on this topic it makes you realise that cardio exercise doesn’t lose the fat as much as we are led to believe and it’s more about how we fuel our bodies. Hope I haven’t offended or annoyed anyone re this point. It’s just liberated me from beating myself physically and more time to do other things. I know quite a few folks who have lost weight without any cardio exercise. I recently spoke to a GP and she said very diplomatically that eating habits are the key. I have steadily been losing more weight since I stopped my intense gym sessions. I’m gonna start my first fast next week.

    Happy halloween πŸŽƒ & BSD week πŸ˜˜πŸ€—
    Ps hubby making us pumpkin soup so I don’t resort to stealing the children’s candy this evening. xx

  • posted by alliecat
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    Eclectic, I hope you navigate the candy hazards tonight, associated with Halloween! Here is a preposterous tale…
    presenting me in the most unflattering light , but worth the telling nonetheless πŸ™‚ Of course I had “conveniently”
    forgotten it, but O/H was kind enough to remind me of it today..Cringe, Cringe! We were still living in our home 15
    years ago, and used to get @ 50 trick-or-treaters every Halloween. My husband had stopped at the store on his way
    home from work to stock up on candy. He came into the bedroom with it, and I asked him to put it somewhere out
    of sight..He proceeded to go downstairs to heat up his dinner, or so I thought….At which point, I got up and immediately
    made my way to the guest room closet (his preferred hiding place). When I opened the door, I found him standing
    there in the dark, asking “Looking for something, Sweetheart?” Caught out!!! That was then, and this is now πŸ™‚
    It’s so liberating to be free at last! Resist the candy closet, and enjoy your pumpkin soup !!!

  • posted by wendleg
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    Hi Eclectic ! Hi Allie !
    Great posts and I love the positive messages coming through ! Sitting in Malaga airport waiting for our return flight to Toulouse. I am feeling SO motivated to crack this once and for all πŸ˜„πŸ˜„. I will be back in my normal routine now and Eclectic I will be doing a fast next week too. I will be holding your hand πŸ˜‰πŸ˜‰. Another great thing is I still have a few days left before I go back to school on Monday πŸ˜„πŸ˜„xx All the best everyone ! I’m back πŸ˜‰xx

  • posted by wendleg
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    Fortunately we live out in the sticks so no-one will be knocking on our door trick or treating . My boys will no doubt be revelling in the Ozzie Halloween jollies πŸ˜‰xx Resist that sugar..it’s poison πŸ˜¬πŸ‘ΊπŸ˜ˆπŸ˜¨. …xx

  • posted by alliecat
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    I agree Wendy, sugar IS poison! Can we move on over to this week’s thread, my cuties? Even I’m getting confused,
    and I don’t want miss any posts πŸ™‚

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