Reached my goal weight!

[SunsetRunner]

I have reached my goal of 70 kg ~ 154 lbs. Came down from 75 kg ~ 165 lbs which was back in March.

BMI was right on the line between overweight and normal, now I am pretty much in the middle of the healthy range for BMI.

The best part is my % body fat has dropped from 20% down to 14%. The goal now is to drop the % body fat to between 10 - 12% while keeping my overall weight around 67 - 71 kg ~ 148 - 156 lbs.

I had been on a ketogenic diet through April, May and part of June which got me the inital weight loss. I  slowly started to re-introduced more carbs and quickly noticed my weight started to fluctuate a lot more than when I was in ketosis, my average weight was still where I wanted it so it didn't bother me much and my body fat was up only 1% from 13% to 14%. Then we went on vacation and I didn't have my ARIA scale to record my weight, when I came back I had put on 4 lbs in one week, body fat was still in the 14% range so that meant lean muscle gain, "YES!" I like that . However over the next couple of weeks my weight continued to fluctuate and my % body fat was starting to flirt with 15%. Trends were definitely not going where I wanted them to go.

I decided it was time to go back to my keto diet. I have been edging into it slowly and the weight has dropped back down and it is starting to fluctuate less. I have started reading more again about keto diets and I am beginning to think that my metabolism is a bit too sensitive to carbohydrates. If I decide to go back off of the keto diet I will definitely have to monitor my carbohydrate intake more closely. For now I am going to stick to the LCHF plan. Eating a low carb high fat diet is definitely a bit more challenging since almost everything in the stores is the complete opposite, i.e. low fat high carbs, but it does seem to suite my body better.

I am also back to tracking my food intake through MyFitnessPal to make sure I keep the calories up and the carbs down. I am aiming for a macro nutrient mix of about 75% fat, 15% protein and 10% carbohydrates.

I have also started to track my b-ketone levels again as well. To stay in nutritional ketosis I need it to be between 1.5 and 3 mmol/L. My first reading tonight was 1.2 mmol/L so I am just getting back into nutritional ketosis.

We shall see how this all plays out over the next few months.

[JohnRi]

Just a FYI about body fat %, I've heard from several doctors, and friends that lift weights, a body fat % under 14 % you will be more prone to illnesses.  I have two friends that got theirs down to 10%, and both caught every single cold, the flu, pneumonia, UTI, bronchitis...  Once they got their fat % back to 14% their health issues went back to normal.  So unless you want to be a competative body builder, it's not recommended to go under 14%

Give it a try to lower your fat %, but if you start getting sick all the time, then you'll know why. 

You body for the next 5-6 years will remember what you used to weigh.  And it's going to try to get back there.

So yes, you need to log everything you eat, keep your calories in check, and watch your weight and fat %.

As far as the diet, I'm not a fan of it, the risk of heart desease alone, plus the overall slow down of metabolism is a problem for me.  I prefer a balanced diet.  And have lost 80 lbs eating a diet 18% protein, 25% fat, and 57% carbs.  With another 20 lbs to go.  And besides, I would hate eating a high fat diet.  I love meat, but not that much.

So you have two things against you.  First of all fat is hard for your body to burn.  And if you have a lot of muscle mass, and exercise a lot, fat % efficency is about 70-80%.  Compared to a carb, which is closer to 100%.  So a 1000 calories of fat is around 700-800 calories of glucose.  Compared to a 1000 calories of carbs is about 1000 calories of glucose. 

So if you substitute 500 calories of carbs for 500 calories of fat, you end up having more glucose.  And extra glucose is stored as fat. 

So all calories are not exactly equal.  If you don't exercise every day, for 1 to 2 hours, then the conversion of fat to glucose is closer to 50%.  So switching to carbs would be a huge increase to your system at that point.

Combined with your body's desire to get back to your "normal" weight you will have a tough battle getting back to a regular balanced diet without gaining weight.

Only thing you can do is monitor your eatting for the next 5-6 years.  Yes I said years.  It takes that long for your body to accept your new weight as the new normal.  So even if you maintain your current weight for 4 years, and then you slack off a little, your body will still try to get back to your old weight! 

So monitor your weight, and calories eaten.  If you notice your weight creep up a little, then you will have to cut back on your calories a little.  I suggest a lot of weight lifting.  But easy gains from weight lifting are just the first two years.  After that it gets hard to add muscle mass.  So if you've been losing weight and lifting weights for the last six months, 18 months from now you'll stop seeing gains from weight lifting. 

You can gain muscle after two years, but you have to completely change the way you train.  At that point you have to start doing rotating reps, and weights.  IE Monday Arms light weight lots of reps, Monday next week, Arms medium weight fewer reps.  Monday a week later.  Heavy weights, few reps.  ...  Each day a different set of muscles.  Each day a different rep count, and different weight size.

Good luck to you...

[Dominique]

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@JohnRi wrote:

Just a FYI about body fat %, I've heard from several doctors, and friends that lift weights, a body fat % under 14 % you will be more prone to illnesses. 

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I’ve read about the undesirable side effects of very low body fat (apathic mood, lack of libido, feeling cold etc.), but it was rather single-digit vs. double-digit BF%. 

If you look at 8-10% vs. 13-15% on this pic (source), there’s quite a big difference:

This other source has slightly different ranges (6-7%, 10-12%, 15%), but the idea is similar: the 10-12% guy doesn’t look unhealthily lean to me, while I would say the 6-7% guy does.

I wish I could provide first-hand info, but I’m not quite there yet 😉

[WendyB]

Congrats on reaching your goal weight!

[A_Lurker]

Oddly enough I'm sitting beside a friend and coworker from another plant.  He agrees, but at ~9-10% he feels he's okay.  When he goes lower than that he definitely picks up anything going around.

[Dominique]

The threshold probably varies from one person to the next, but it’s most likely a lot lower than 14%. Besides body fat is not the only factor explaining how prone someone is to catching a cold etc. 

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks for your input, I have been at or around 72 -74 kg for a number of years. About 10 - 15 years ago I was up around 88 - 90 kg ~ 194 - 200 lbs. Got down to around where I am now and then settled out at around 75 kg ~ 165 lbs for a number of years. I started to drift up in the last few years and when I got my ARIA scale back in April and saw that my % body fat had risen to 20% I decided it was time to do something about it. I do like how I have reduced my waist size from 34" down to 30", my all time high 15+ years ago was probably 36" to 38" so this is a welcome change.

I am into endurance sports, long runs and bike rides, olympic distance Triathlons and Duathlons. I came across a movie "Inspired to Ride" about the first Trans-America bike race a couple of years ago and in so doing found out about Billy Rice and his ketogenic diet. It intrigued me how he said he has virtually eliminated bonking on long rides since his body is so highly fat adapted that it uses very little glycogen for fuel. That lead me to Dr. Attia and his self experiments into ketogenic diets as well.

From the reading I have been doing I would have to disagree wit you on the risks to heart health from a ketogenic diet, plus my readings indicate that metabolism generally ramps up rather than down, and  threshold heart rate increases once fat adaptation takes hold (4-6 weeks at least). Ketosis itself is attainable in 2-3 days with sever carb restrictions but true fat adaptation takes longer.

Since I was already in relatively good health I decided to give it a try and I have to say I do prefer how I feel on the keto diet. I don't miss the carbs but it does make mealtime with the family a bit more difficult, I wasn't on the diet quite long enough the first time to get a true feel for how it suites me. This time I intend to stick with it for at least 6 months to see what happens and to find out how to best integrate this eating lifestyle along side my family's more standard diet.

As for my % body fat goal it is more of a, lets see how I feel when I get there, with now great emphasis on getting there soon. If it becomes to difficult, or I am feeling deprived in trying to reach the 10% goal then I will abandone it and settle for whatever I can tolorate long term. If that means going back to 13-14% which is where I am now then so be it. 

[A_Lurker]

@Dominique - Agreed.  When we worked in the same plant he was doing the competitions and he was always sick with something.  He actually looks great at the moment, and says he's around the 9 or 10 level and doesn't go through what he used to.

[FitBeforeFifty]

While anecdotal, I'm 50 and I've maintained a body fat percentage of 10% - 13% for about 4 years now and I never get sick. I've also trained for endurance sports during that time period (running lots of 1/2 Marathons and one full Marathon) without any reduction in immunity. Truthfully, I can't remember the last time I was sick. I know for certain it hasn't been in the last year because I've not used any sick days since starting working for my current company.

I don't know why body fat would impact immunity. Diet certainly would as would over training.  I suppose if you achieve low body fat by under eating and malnutrition then that would have an impact. If, on the other hand, you eat LOTS of healthy foods like I do but burn lots of calories to get to a low body fat percentage, I don't really think there is any degradation in immunity.

[Brad.]

This is helpful information - Thanks !