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canetoad

(17,088 posts)
Wed May 20, 2020, 02:58 AM May 2020

How I lost a LOT of weight

I was skinny during my childhood, youth and prime adult years. I worked mostly as a chef although I had a fine arts degree - hard to make a living as an artist. My height was 167 cm (5'5 1/2)

Mid to late 90s, as I hit mid-40s, a serious back injury meant I had to give up cooking in commercial kitchens. That was OK - I took to computers and graphics like a fish to water and worked for architects doing presentations etc. My weight ballooned from sitting down most of the day despite regular excercise.

The exact date escapes me, but around 2010 the Paleo Diet became a fad. Protein, no grains or dairy. Bone broth fer gawdsake.....

Being a lover of history and archaeology I asked myself, 'how authentic is the paleo diet". My conclusion was Not At All. The Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, covered a period of roughly 3.3m to 12,000 years ago. People had not yet adopted permanent settlements and agriculture, instead living as hunter/gatherers. This can be a tenous, uncertain way of living.

Unlike Paleo Pete, they probably didn't have meat every day. I'd imagine that some days were very lean as far as food supplies went. The gathers would have been able to graze as they gathered but less so for the hunters. In a co-operative small group, I think they would have eaten once a day - after they returned from the day's work, regulated by the sun.

Breakfast wasn't popularised until medieval times. The main meal for peasants and working folk was in the middle of the day. Three meals a day is a modern convention.

Ten years ago, long before the OMAD diet becam a thing, I decided to eat one meal a day in the late afternoon. The morning coffee is a ritual, so gave up sugar for sweeteners. Like the old stone age people, I didn't eat meat every day, but luckily I love vegetables and more importantly, pulses and beans. It's really important to be attuned to your body and what it needs or craves, unless that is fat or sugar.

In a nutshell, at my heaviest I was 100kg and like an apple, which was the shape of my grandparents. Today, I can't even imagine a lifestyle with breakfast, lunch and dinner, although once in a while I'll have a snack earlier in the day.

I relapsed a couple of years ago - ran out of sweeteners and went back to a spoon of sugar in my three coffees a morning. Soon I was eating dessert every night. Sugar is an addiction that makes you 'normalise' sugar consumption. Beware of hidden sugar in the foods you eat.

Processed food and takeaway too. Try to cook from scratch with simple ingredients. In winter, make a 'wet' dish that you can reheat for a couple of days.

I know - TLDR! Sorry, I'll wind up now. The outcome is, over ten years, with a couple of humps I have lost 25kg (55lbs), am still slowly but steadily losing 0.5 or a kg every month and the best thing is, this is manageable. I am so ingrained in the habits that the odd deviation makes no difference to my weight or my psyche. This way of eating isn't for everyone, but it's definitely helped me.

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How I lost a LOT of weight (Original Post) canetoad May 2020 OP
Your post is very interesting. madaboutharry May 2020 #1
From memory canetoad May 2020 #3
The original paleo diet, eh? nt mitch96 May 2020 #2
We could never, ever reproduce canetoad May 2020 #4
Better I think...Our body has not caught up to the way we eat now. mitch96 May 2020 #5
You are so right canetoad May 2020 #6
Congrats on losing babylonsister May 2020 #7
and do you put that on toast? donkeypoofed May 2020 #10
What does babylonsister May 2020 #12
OMAD one meal a day, IF intermittant fasting. phylny May 2020 #13
Pulses are beans and lentils... Lots of magic in them beans..!! nt mitch96 May 2020 #14
Pulses - lentils, peas, beans canetoad May 2020 #15
Definitely NOT tldr! Can you give some examples of what your one meal might consist of? Squinch May 2020 #8
Sorry I'm slow to get back to ya canetoad May 2020 #16
I've been trying this since I read your post. So far so good. Thank you for the idea! Squinch May 2020 #18
Great post! I do IF and OMAD too, and never felt better! donkeypoofed May 2020 #9
Truth in what you say canetoad May 2020 #17
The best diet I've done is similar. greymattermom May 2020 #11
Well done! Marthe48 Jun 2020 #19
Post removed Post removed Sep 2020 #20

madaboutharry

(40,150 posts)
1. Your post is very interesting.
Wed May 20, 2020, 03:18 AM
May 2020

Food history and learning about the foods eaten in different cultures and times is an interesting topic. I never eat fast foods and have always avoided processed foods because they make me feel unwell. I don’t understand the way Americans eat.

canetoad

(17,088 posts)
3. From memory
Wed May 20, 2020, 03:36 AM
May 2020

You're not in the US are you?

People do a lot of things without questioning because of habit and convention. I've also come to believe that sugar and fat are more addictive than nicotine and much more insiduous in certain diets.

I lived in the UK until I was 11. My parents were teens during the war and rationing, but I grew up within the rationing culture (born 1954). I think the 'more is MORE' culture stems from the idea of American exceptionalism.

canetoad

(17,088 posts)
4. We could never, ever reproduce
Wed May 20, 2020, 03:38 AM
May 2020

The diets of Old Stone age people, but I think my interpretation has as much validity as Pete Evans' version.

mitch96

(13,817 posts)
5. Better I think...Our body has not caught up to the way we eat now.
Wed May 20, 2020, 03:47 AM
May 2020

Last edited Wed May 20, 2020, 05:23 PM - Edit history (1)

If you look at some of the current nutritional studies, intermittent fasting (one meal a day) and a whole food plant based diet works out very good for the human body. 24/7 meat and processed foods don't fair well for a healthy body and mind. YMMV works for me..
m

canetoad

(17,088 posts)
6. You are so right
Wed May 20, 2020, 03:58 AM
May 2020

Feeding oneself involves a huge interconnected web of earthly dependencies. I've never spoken of my eating habits as "intermittent fasting" because the term doesn't make sense to me. It's admitting that three or more meals a day is the norm.

What I've discovered, with persistence, is that your body adapts very happily to less frequent meals and with patience you will reap the results.

babylonsister

(170,962 posts)
7. Congrats on losing
Wed May 20, 2020, 07:14 AM
May 2020

all that weight! And what are pulses?

Also, where does peanut butter and honey fit in, b/c that's my ritual along with coffee.

donkeypoofed

(2,187 posts)
10. and do you put that on toast?
Wed May 20, 2020, 07:33 AM
May 2020

OMAD and IF would be almost impossible on a carb-based diet, or at least next-to-impossible. The hunger pains 3 hrs after eating bread is not conducive to it. You'd have to eat a high fat/medium protein diet to really stick to it.

babylonsister

(170,962 posts)
12. What does
Wed May 20, 2020, 08:05 AM
May 2020

OMAD and IF mean? Yes, on toast, usually ww. I think it does a body good but you're right, a few hours only before I'm hungry again. I did not know eating bread doesn't sustain. I should have; anything that tastes good seems not so good for you. Sigh. And I love bread; it's a staple around here due to its versatility.

canetoad

(17,088 posts)
15. Pulses - lentils, peas, beans
Fri May 22, 2020, 03:43 AM
May 2020

Ya know, little hard things that need soaking.

Sis, I once bought a jar of 'American Style' peanut butter. I couldn't believe how sweet it was. Ours is a lot less sweet, more salty.

canetoad

(17,088 posts)
16. Sorry I'm slow to get back to ya
Fri May 22, 2020, 03:54 AM
May 2020

Following along the lines of bucking tradition in the number of meals I eat, I also question what the 'traditional' breakfast, lunch and dinner meals should be. Who made it a law that bacon and eggs must be for breakfast or sandwiches are limited to lunch?

So, an evening meal may be a couple of hot roast chicken breast sandwiches with greens from the garden. Maybe an omlette with toast.

Asian food is a big thing in Australia, so a stir-fry, with or without rice and/or meat. Sometimes a lasagne, a chilli, or other casserole-type dish. I usually make enough for three days - not fussed about microwaving leftovers.

In summer, bowl of raw salad vegies with a couple of anchovies, some parmesan and avocado and a nice dressing. Eat till it comes out your ears!

There's no hard and fast rule; much depends on what's cheap or in season. I have a vegie garden. Ask me about my 1,001 ways to cook zucchini.

donkeypoofed

(2,187 posts)
9. Great post! I do IF and OMAD too, and never felt better!
Wed May 20, 2020, 07:30 AM
May 2020

Only been doing this for 4 months and have lost 27 lbs and lots of inches. It's easy and it's free, in fact it saves me money. I am now convinced that most of society's health problems are related to the fact we eat too often and we eat too much. When you think about ancient man, they would go days without food and they had to be better on the 2nd day and the 3rd day; they had to have focus and concentration to hunt successfully, or we would've died out a long time ago. We didn't evolve to have 3 meals a day; we evolved to eat food when we found it. OMAD and IF are our natural ways of eating.

canetoad

(17,088 posts)
17. Truth in what you say
Fri May 22, 2020, 04:27 AM
May 2020

There's also another aspect: seasonality.

People are told that to be healthy they need X number of serves of fruit/veg a day. I'm not arguing with that at all but it's unrealistic to expect people to catalogue and monitor their vitamin intake. I've seen nutrient obsessives online; they're weird.

Instead, when say, peas are cheap and in season, eat them every day. Same with spinach, tomatoes, peppers....
I've been doing this for nearly ten years, which was probably long before it became a *thing. I don't call it a diet, because it's my normal eating pattern. Stick with it, permanently if you can; it will take a few years but eventually it becomes a pattern that you can't break.

I really hate the term 'intermittent fasting'. Going twelve or fourteen hours without feeding your face is nothing like the good old forty days and forty nights in the desert. And the connotation of suffering/fasting, but of course it's only intermittent. Not something that will negatively impact your shallow, self-indulgent life.

(Not YOU, 'them')

Keep it up mate, it becomes really easy and natural.

greymattermom

(5,751 posts)
11. The best diet I've done is similar.
Wed May 20, 2020, 07:52 AM
May 2020

Only eat when you're hungry. Eat slowly, take breaks. Stop when you're satisfied. Remember it takes time for your brain to know that you've eaten enough. Walk at least 2 miles every day. No sugar, very little alcohol. No snacking unless you're going to a scheduled event and reach the hungry stage before. Then, and only then, eat a few peanuts.

Response to canetoad (Original post)

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