Weight loss for someone who isn’t over weig... - Healthy Eating

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Weight loss for someone who isn’t over weight...

Kate345 profile image
20 Replies

Hi :)

So I’m 5FT 4, 8 st 11 which is a ‘healthy weight’ however my size ten jeans are tight and I’d really like to lose some to fit in to a size 8.

I have endometriosis and have just had surgery so have started a gluten free diet as advised to help symptoms but also started healthy eating...

Finding it hard on knowing what is best when you want to slim down but you aren’t over weight as most advice online is for people who want to lose a lot. I’d like to get down to 8st 4 from 8st 11 ideally

Anyone have any advice?

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Kate345 profile image
Kate345
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20 Replies
Kate345 profile image
Kate345

It’s difficult as I have a fat stomach and my size tens are too tight but my BMI is healthy and I’m not over weight but I don’t look good.. so it is confusing!

Kate345 profile image
Kate345

I have no idea on average how much you need to lose to lose a Dress size. I thought half a stone might be ok as if I go any lower then 7.10 I’ll be underweight that way...

TheAwfulToad profile image
TheAwfulToad

Low-carb high-fat will work for you. The problem with caloric restriction is that it tends to 'bottom out' at a relatively high bodyfat ratio, which is why people get frustrated with it and start blaming themselves or their genetics. I've been eating LCHF for ten years or so and I'm maintaining at around 13%BF.

LCHF is inherently gluten-free because it contains no (or few) grain-based foods.

As a bonus, there is mounting evidence that endometriosis is either caused by, or exacerbated by, the government standard ultra-high-carb diet. LCHF won't cure existing cysts that have already established a blood supply, but for many women it prevents them getting bigger and may prevent the development of new ones.

So there you have it Kate. Two totally contradictory pieces of advice! No solutions Kate but do remember that fibre is essential for a healthy gut.

I'm slightly concerned when you say you don't look well. Are your expectations realistic if e a healthy weight?

Maybe it's exercise and toning up you need rather than restricting foods? Just a thought.

Kate345 profile image
Kate345 in reply to

Well for me I don’t, I have put on around 4 pounds due to hormone injections from my endometriosis treatment so losing that would be a good start. My diet beforehand wasn’t great, lots of chocolate and snacks so changing that will only be a benefit not just for weight but for everything else. Trying to adapt a lifestyle change espesicakky with my endometriosis they advice a no gluten no diary, no soy no red meat and healthy diet.

My size ten jeans have never been tight before so would love to drop down to a 8 ideally I’m not asking for huge weight loss. I had 8st in mind from 8.10 so a ten pound loss / or just body changes to stop looking bloated

Lulububs profile image
Lulububs in reply to Kate345

Hey kate 345.

I have seen a pic of u on endo showing ur scar and im flummoxed that u feel u need to lose weight?

Mayb u have not been so active and you have had alot goin on lately u feel abit unhealthy once u start moving about again the weight will just come of u..

I am 5ft 7 and 8st 6 but that is due to having bad ibs d to c. So my stomach always all over place at mo. I am gluten dairy yeast intolerant so mainly live on chicken and rice.

My advice to u kate is eat, enjoy ur life when u feel better and dont worry about ur weight believe me u do not need to and as someone that can hardly eat anything embrace being

Able to....

My husband said he prefered my a size 12 and he misses my boobs and bum and i miss them to.

I would just suggest clean eating and build ur body up make it stronger but please dont lose weight

Kate345 profile image
Kate345 in reply to Lulububs

Thank you, I think it’s more of a lifestyle change really, was eating horrendous lost days, bags of chocolate most nights, not healthy.

With my endo the drs and nurses advice I do change my diet to healthier and non gluten non soy non red meat..one so I’ve done that.

In an ideal world I’d like to fit in to a size 8 dress and have a flatter stomach, I don’t want to lose a million pounds but just to fit in a size 8 and feel healthier. My size ten jeans are too small reslly I should be wearing a 12 but I’m kidding myself lol!

Hopefully my healthier eating will mean verging happens more naturally. I’m not going to starve myself just eat better instead of living off costa shortbread!

Lulububs profile image
Lulububs in reply to Kate345

I was same before all this happened and i ended up in hosp so underweight and ill. I would just binge on all bad food and i knew my body was telling Me something as i was just ill

And in pain all the time in my stomach.

Obviously first thought was endo and was given emergency lap but nothing.

I was sent home 7st and ill and then my gp said i think ur allergic to something and ur getting severe ibs symtoms..

Gluten dairy yeast free now and i just eat clean!! All

Chicken and turkey veg and rice and no crap basically i have put on a stone in year and i doubt il get much fatter coz how clean i eat.

What i will say is when i was eating all that bad food it

Not only made me ill it made me weak and fatigued and couldnt sleep but now i feel

Healthy.

I go to fitness classes at my local park which is all Circuit training but it to build me up not lose weight my muscles are so weak! Through being so ill.

So please dont lose weight i think u just will just get back to urself and lose weight naturally when ur back to normal and moving more and u can strengthen them

Muscles up which will

Look leaner anyway but i hate all this losing weight malarky just eat healthy and it will show and also ur make ur insides as healthy as ur outsides!

Way i see it is i would kill for a burger lol!!!

Kate345 profile image
Kate345 in reply to Lulububs

I’m always tired always but would never eat healthy and wonder why I was so tired.... it does all make sense it’s all linked.

Now I’m gluten free for the endo porridge in a morning with fruit, salads at lunch with turkey and all the veg.. from stopping gluten I feel so different less bloated I did it for the endometriosis but didn’t expect such a big thing on my health when you look what we are suppose to eat it’s like oh wow I never have eaten that way always just chocolate bars and crisps all the time...

Lulububs profile image
Lulububs in reply to Kate345

I mean i not gona lie i dont know what all these other people are talking about on here really as i would say there all into there fitness and know what there talking about whereas im just a women that is underweight trying to make myself fitter and stronger and trying to eat clean.

I have learnt we are what we eat ! As in our insides are, so if we eat alot of fatty food or high in sugar ur organs are gona b surrounded by that fat, thats when u get heart desease and cholesterol and diabetes but if we eat well were be well...

It not rocket science.

As my friend who is a personal trainer says “ eat well,move more” that it simple as that.

As soon as u get back to health ur start doin stuff and the weight will come of and ur get fitter mayb take a class or two to get stronger and step away from the chocolate and crisps ha ha there not gona help the inflammation endo diet. I follow that diet for my ibs

Do you guys on Keto diet end up with a large amount of Ketone (seen in your urine)? How detrimental could this be if it's okay to ask?

I think the thing is that some people have the genetic markers for the fit bodies and some don't. If you look at your parents, you may find that that's where you would be heading unless you modify your eating and lifestyle behaviour. But it's bound to be hard work. Professional athletes got special DNAs - they didn't get to be so fit just by working hard at it. It's a gift (DNA).

TheAwfulToad profile image
TheAwfulToad in reply to

No. Theory says that you will excrete ketones during the first few days because your body is still adjusting; then it levels out and stops (because your body is using those ketones for energy). I was curious if this really does happen and confirmed with test strips that yes, it does. Roundabout week two there are no detectable urine ketones. And no, your breath doesn't smell either (or so I'm reliably informed...).

It's true that some people are genetically fit and some aren't, but the classic female response to excessive carbs is to deposit fat around the hips. LCHF gives your body no other option except to burn fat for energy, and it will take a significant fraction from your bodyfat.

in reply to TheAwfulToad

People are welcome to try your method, but I have seen a number of posts/replies, that fat is fat. If you overeat it, it will stay as fat. Fat won't evaporate like a mist. Your case is quite different. You carry out a lot of physical exercises. You can burn fat. For others, it simply stays.

TheAwfulToad profile image
TheAwfulToad in reply to

The naysayers are invariably people who simply haven't tried it and/or don't really understand how it works.

I agree it's superficially counterintuitive, but the biochemistry is sound and there are hundreds of experiments backing up the theory. The underlying principle is that your body has two independent energy systems which can (and do) operate in parallel, but the one for burning fat is simply never used by people eating carb-heavy diets. If you give it a chance to operate, it will. Of course fat doesn't simply "evaporate", but a sedentary adult still needs 1500-odd calories a day to do whatever sedentary adults do, and if that energy doesn't come from chocolate and crisps then it WILL be taken from bodyfat.

As dieticians are fond of pointing out, glucose is "the body's preferred fuel", ie., it will use carbs if carbs are available and save the fat for a rainy day. What tips the scales is that most people eat far more carbs than they need (principally because carbs drive you to overeat) and the body is just as good at converting carbs into fat as it is at burning them.

As for overeating fat - well, in my experience it simply isn't physically possible. Fat enhances food in small amounts, but it becomes disgusting in even moderate amounts. The same is not true of, say, rice pudding.

in reply to TheAwfulToad

It's an interesting topic, I admit. It's ok to have your own method. It's your body and it's your choice. But recommending on a hub like this is entirely something else if you are not a qualified dietician/Drs. That's basically my point. You take your own risk and you know your body/health history/health condition etc.

I did speak to my Drs, including a functional dr about your "method" as I was curious. None of them thought they would ever consider recommending it. It can be quite dangerous to take up an unproven diet without consulting your physician first. A balanced diet seems to be the key, but when people are "desperate" to shrink their waist, any common sense tends to go out of the window. Just saying.

I prefer not to go over the same old ground again as this has already been mentioned by other posters as well. It's getting old.

TheAwfulToad profile image
TheAwfulToad in reply to

So why did your doctor not consider recommending it? Did he/she have a specific reason, or is it possible he/she is just following the party line? In other words, does he/she GENUINELY believe that eating a diet of all-natural vegetables, meat and dairy is somehow dangerous?

I have degrees in relevant subjects and I've probably read more scientific research about diet than your doctor ever has. I have the scientific background to understand and critique those papers. I could probably reduce a "qualified nutritionist" to a blubbering wreck if I felt so inclined. So no, I'm not an MD, but I'm pretty confident about my understanding of the subject.

In any case, doctors are schooled in pathology - what to do when stuff goes drastically wrong. Unless they specialise in bariatrics, they mostly know next-to-nothing about weight loss (and you'll find that a growing number of bariatric consultants are putting their patients on LCHF diets). Oddly, every doctor DOES know the basic physiology that makes LCHF work, and AFAIK an A-level in chemistry is mandatory so they should understand why the calorie-balance idea is wrong. Why they continue to trash the idea is just beyond me.

People throw around words like 'balanced' and 'healthy' without defining them, or with circular definitions. The LCHF diet has been around for at least 100 years and in all that time has never been shown to be harmful. The high-carb diet (it is in no sense "balanced"), on the other hand, was technologically impossible prior to about 1950, and is strongly linked to a whole slew of diseases.

>> when people are "desperate" to shrink their waist, any common sense tends to go out of the window

I know two women who are extremely active - far more so than I am - and both of them are, um, carrying a wide load. They both subscribe to the diet orthodoxy of massive doses of carbs and low fat. So "common sense" suggests that that method doesn't work. My recommendation is not based on 'unproven' ideas but on well-established dietary protocols that have been documented as effective, easy to follow, and safe.

While pondering this reply, it occurred to me that LCHF isn't even a diet. It's a meta-diet. It's a way of eating that modifies your way of eating. That is, if you can stick with it for a few weeks, your body naturally starts to ask for the right things again. It fixes itself. I don't consciously count either fat or carbs; I just eat whatever I feel like. Because I made that initial effort, "what I feel like" is always correct.

Cooper27 profile image
Cooper27Administrator

The advice you're finding online for overweight people is still relevant - you just have a lower start weight. It's about finding what works best for you.

Gluten free isn't a weight loss method in and of itself, GF alternatives are often higher in fat and sugar, so your best bet is to eat foods that are naturally GF. Increasing your fruit and veg intake to 7 portions a day (no more than 2-3 portions of fruit), and making sure you eat a good variety of colours and types of vegetables will help gut bacteria, which in turn will help with weight loss.

Michalbaner profile image
Michalbaner

Hi Kate,

I would definitely advice you a resistance exercise. 3 times a week of weight lifting exercises and you will see your body switching miraculously. What you describe is a common pain of women who are slim but do not feel fit.

Lifting weights will fix all that for you and you will start seeing results fairly quickly. btw do not worry about excess muscle as many ladies do, that will not happen without anabolic steroids :)

Penel profile image
Penel

Hi Kate

I hope the new way of eating works for you. There are some good gluten free recipes in the pinned posts. As Cooper has said, try not to eat too many ready made gluten-free foods as they can be full of sugar and other additives.

Perhaps it might be a good idea to give your body a chance to get used to the new foods and the effects of your treatment? You may find that your body shape and weight will change with a healthier diet.

andyswarbs profile image
andyswarbs

If you follow a whole food plant based & no-refined oils diet then weight can easily be controlled by the proportions of starches in your diet. Most people seem to find they can lose weight simply by eating until full at each and every meal. But, if you want fine tuning a great thing is you can do is swap out some starchy foods for non-starchy ones to suit your body & lifestyle.

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