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Green Faces (or How to Hack Your Metabolism)

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Re: Green Faces (or How to Hack Your Metabolism)

#31

Post by jc4p »

llimllib wrote: post #27
jc4p wrote: post #15

First off: congratulations on the weight loss and actually sticking to a diet, that's a really hard step. Anyway, I recently started working at Fitocracy, a fitness website, and decided to make a similar decision to yours. In fact, one of the main reasons I took my job offer was because during my initial interview the CEO looked at my workout history on the site and said "Whoa, nothing logged since March? We'll chang…

> 2. You'll get much better results if you combine diet and exercise, you'll get faster results, and you won't have to be on such a strict diet because the exercise will make up for it. For many people, this is not true. Exercise uses up surprisingly few calories, and people justify all kinds of crappy foods for themselves based on this reasoning. The classic example is "oh, I've jogged for a half hour, so now I can…

You'll note that I did not mention cardio at all but instead mentioned strength training, but yes what you're saying is very correct for someone on a low-cardio only exercise plan. It's very important for someone starting out to always be keeping track of what they're doing so that they can re-evaluate their diet and exercise plans at the end of every week or other time period.

Re: Green Faces (or How to Hack Your Metabolism)

#32

Post by hunvreus »

filiwickers wrote: post #7

The initial feeling of being tired, groggy, achy, etc. is called the "low carb flu."[1] Usually it takes a week or three for the symptoms to pass before you get over it. The more you relied on carbs as energy before, the longer it will take. The first time I switched to a paleo diet it took about 2 weeks before I felt normal. After that passed energy levels will skyrocket. I no longer rely on coffee and have high ene…

Me and 3 other friends went through the same phase when switching over to the paleo diet; pretty regular thing, you just need to churn through and eat plenty of good fats. Nuts are a helpful snack too.

I would also highly recommend that you work out on a fairly regular basis; eating properly is one side of the equation. I've personally recommended Nerd Fitness (http://nerdfitness.com) to quite a few persons. It's very easy to start with and you can build it up to a fairly serious work out if you're motivated.

Re: Green Faces (or How to Hack Your Metabolism)

#33

Post by edkennedy »

Zimahl wrote: post #26

I’ve dropped 19 lbs in just under three weeks! This is a ridiculous loss of weight. It might even be unhealthy, I’m not really sure. Oh, it's very unhealthy. That 19 lbs was probably mostly muscle you burned because you essentially went into starvation mode, Christopher McCandless style. There aren't enough calories in meat and (most) vegetables to survive on. Safe weight loss is pretty simple and there's no other wa…

I would not be so quick to jump to conclusions. You can see his target weight is 250lbs, and the more weight you have the faster you can lose lbs.

Re: Green Faces (or How to Hack Your Metabolism)

#34

Post by Flemlord »

Apocryphon wrote: post #12
mattlong wrote: post #8

I don't think I would consider this hacking your metabolism. In fact, as the author mentions, his metabolism actually seems to have "slowed down" since he feels fatigued more often than before. For a completely no-carb diet, this should be expected. Cutting out carbohydrates forces your body to primarily convert stored fat for its fuel instead, which is a slower and less efficient source of energy. IMHO, practice mod…

Not having any fruits is quite puzzling indeed.

Fruits have sugar. Sugar turns into carbs.

Re: Green Faces (or How to Hack Your Metabolism)

#35

Post by ap22213 »

I'm wondering if it's just because those foods happen to also be foods with low glycemic index [0].

Based on an NPR story I heard yesterday [1] (if correct), I'd guess that you'd get similar results eating any of those types of foods [2].

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index

[1] http://www.wbur.org/npr/160757730/low-and-slow-may-be-the-wa...

[2] http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/76/1/5/T1.expansion.html

Re: Green Faces (or How to Hack Your Metabolism)

#36

Post by xur17 »

jakejake wrote: post #21

I've been trying to get into shape myself and I've found that any kind of novelty diet like this may get rid of some pounds but doesn't ultimately stick. Because you can lose 19 pounds in 3 weeks and then gain it all right back in the same amount of time. You have to make a change that you can live with for the rest of your life, as depressing as that sounds. But what has been working for me is: 1) not eating late ni…

I lost 40-50 pounds (and have kept it off for ~4 years) by:

1. Cutting pop out of my diet. I used to drink it every day for lunch, and now I drink it ~once a month max.

2. Eating smaller portions of snacks - I used to sit down in front of the TV or computer with a bag of snacks that I would devour. Now I either take a handful from the bag, or I put some in a bowl for me to eat.

And overall I just try to eat until I am full, which I used to have trouble with.

Re: Green Faces (or How to Hack Your Metabolism)

#37

Post by awj »

jc4p wrote: post #28
Zimahl wrote: post #26

I’ve dropped 19 lbs in just under three weeks! This is a ridiculous loss of weight. It might even be unhealthy, I’m not really sure. Oh, it's very unhealthy. That 19 lbs was probably mostly muscle you burned because you essentially went into starvation mode, Christopher McCandless style. There aren't enough calories in meat and (most) vegetables to survive on. Safe weight loss is pretty simple and there's no other wa…

6lb a week can easily be a large loss of water weight for someone who's overweight, it's not maintainable but if it happens for more than a few weeks in a row is the time to be worried, not now. Also, cutting 500 calories per day is a weight loss of 1 pound per week (a pound is 3500 calories) :) Oh, and it's very possible for someone who's untrained to lose more than a pound or two a week (by being on a bigger than 1…

Even if this is 1/2 to 3/4 water weight loss, that still likely isn't healthy.

You're right though, without more information to supply context it's hard to judge what is "too much".

Re: Green Faces (or How to Hack Your Metabolism)

#38

Post by StavrosK »

llimllib wrote: post #27
jc4p wrote: post #15

First off: congratulations on the weight loss and actually sticking to a diet, that's a really hard step. Anyway, I recently started working at Fitocracy, a fitness website, and decided to make a similar decision to yours. In fact, one of the main reasons I took my job offer was because during my initial interview the CEO looked at my workout history on the site and said "Whoa, nothing logged since March? We'll chang…

> 2. You'll get much better results if you combine diet and exercise, you'll get faster results, and you won't have to be on such a strict diet because the exercise will make up for it. For many people, this is not true. Exercise uses up surprisingly few calories, and people justify all kinds of crappy foods for themselves based on this reasoning. The classic example is "oh, I've jogged for a half hour, so now I can…

While I agree with what you say, it had the opposite effect with me. "Drinking this grande mocha frappa doppa lattechino will make that hour-long run for nothing, and I didn't endure being bored out of my wits for an hour for a lousy coffee".

This lead to quite the weight loss.

Re: Green Faces (or How to Hack Your Metabolism)

#39

Post by jc4p »

ap22213 wrote: post #35

I'm wondering if it's just because those foods happen to also be foods with low glycemic index [0]. Based on an NPR story I heard yesterday [1] (if correct), I'd guess that you'd get similar results eating any of those types of foods [2]. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index [1] http://www.wbur.org/npr/160757730/low-and-slow-may-be-the-wa... [2] http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/76/1/5/T1.expansion.html

Some other reading on the factuality of the importance some people/diets are putting on the glycemic index: http://alanaragon.com/glycemic-index

The conclusions part is pretty great.

Re: Green Faces (or How to Hack Your Metabolism)

#40

Post by awj »

Jemaclus wrote: post #20

My pet theory is that most diets aren't really that effective, but what _is_ effective is thinking about what you eat. It's not about how many carbs you consume or whether this food item would have a face or not. What's important is that you're consciously thinking about what you're eating. "Do I really need to eat this snack, or can I wait another hour til meal time? Is this junk food or is it healthy?" I've found t…

I agree. Most fad diets seem to be an elaborate trick to get you counting calories. They typically start out by dismissing calorie counting as difficult/boring/depressing (it is), then forbidding/strictly limiting/making less exciting extremely calorie-dense foods, then using some other metric (typically, portion size + preparation) to effectively limit calories.

It works up until a large enough mass of people subscribe to the fad, then someone finds a way to pack more enjoyment (also, calories) into the fad's rules. From there the fad stops "working" and another one rises to the top.

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