History of my Weight Loss, December 2019
This summary will be about December 2019, as well as the entire year 2019.
Because it's longish, I'll put a summary here: What to do? Here's my list:
How to lose fat? Start by accepting the fact that I've spent a goodly part of my life acquiring it. That fact built the habits of a lifetime, and those need to change. Realizing that any process that has taken decades ("a very long time") will take a long time to reverse.
I've seen references to "where" fat is stored in the human body. The answer is "Everywhere". Subcutaneous. Visceral. Inside cells next to mitochondria. Inside the spongy bone. Inside vital organs, like the liver and pancreas. Everywhere. And, I need to remove a significant amount of all that. Measures of that later, but for now: How to do that? Why, diet and exercise.
How to manage what goes in my mouth? There is a weight loss industry, and the value thereof is subject to heated debate. Here's the big secret: Take in fewer calories than you use. Your weight will go down. Here's the second big secret: Don't eat all the time, for extended hours per day. Time Restricted Feeding (TRF) works well. Even if it's culturally in opposition to your life.
For me, what to eat is complicated by the need to both lose fat, and maintain blood glucose (BG) control, without mainlining industrial quantities of Lantus (time release insulin). Been there, done that, and am Not Going Back. I avoid: sugar; carbs in quantity per meal and per day; seed oils. I embrace high protein food (like cod !!). I know what my macros need to be, and do try to get them. All of which sounds simple, and it is not. I'm up to my gunwales in discipline, and am no longer amused by the topic.
How to exercise? My Big 4 styles: weight lifting, distance at pace on a water row machine, distance on my road and trail bikes, and HIIT/Tabata drill on the water row machine. If I had to prioritize them, to be anti-T2D, it'd be distance water row (usually 3 x 2500 meters), bikes (weather permitting), weights, and HIIT on the rower. Only took me a year to figure that out. Those are progressively more demanding on my high mileage body. And, they all want me to do more per week than I'm capable of. I could use an improved pattern of activities. Sucks, but I embrace the suck. Most times.
How to measure progress? I measure BG morning (always) , noon (sometimes), pre-dinner (sometimes), before bed (always). I use a body composition scale (almost) every morning. All of the numbers go into Excel. If you read these, or my FB feeds, you've seen some of the charts I keep.
The numbers I REALLY care about:
all day average BG, translated into an HbA1c estimate;
BG drop overnight per unit of Lantus;
units of Lantus per shot;
weight and % weight body composition (full, fat free, fat);
30 day range for body fat;
I beat the hell out of all these numbers for a few simple reasons: measure progress, keep me motivated, and provide feedback about what I do. Discipline is everything. And, whenever I get tired of it, I think about the alternatives. That works.
On to the charts and commentary.
all day average BG, translated into an HbA1c estimate. The past year I've has 2 sets of lab blood work. First set of lab work, I adjusted the "hours after TOD measure" to match the lab work. The data set is sparse, so that required me to be clever, and write code ...
Second set of lab work, I adjusted the duration of the chart moving average (black line) to match the lab work. And, repeated the "hours after ..." work, back and forth, until I was satisfied.
BG drop overnight per unit of Lantus. This is my measure of "insulin sensitivity". Which is a terrible name, but I'm not a clinician. I want this number to be over 5. Understated, this does not make me happy. I need my muscle cells defatted, and more muscle cells built, and my pancreas back on line.
At this rate, it'll take forever. That won't do.
units of Lantus per shot. Every evening, one more injection into me. I want this number to be 0 (zero). Prior to this chart time, it was 80, every single day. The current 14 day average is 32.9.
Progress, sure. Too slow, for certain. That won't do.
weight and % weight body composition (full, fat free, fat). Let's start with numbers. Some months, I lose weight (black numbers), or gain weight (red numbers).
I always weigh 100%. These measures are relative ones, and the slopes of the black lines are trivially small. The ratio of fat loss to fat free loss is getting smaller over time. That's not good. There's only so much fat free weight I'm willing to lose in order to lose more fat. Probably 160 pounds weight is my lower bound. 7 more lost pounds would be 2+ to 3 fat free loss, and 3 to 4+ pounds fat. 36.4 - 4 = 32.4 pounds fat, at 160 pounds total, which is just above 20% body fat.
I want 17% or lower. I need a different process.
These are the same measures, but in pounds. The regression line slopes are weight loss per day. Top line, I lose 0.0501 pounds per day, or about 1 pound every 20 days (19.96 days). Of that 0.0501 pounds, 0.0183 is fat free weight, 0.0319 is body fat. So, losing 4 pounds of fat will take 4/0.0319 (125.39 days). Hard to know that another 4 months will do it.
30 day range for body fat. Flat spots happen. Up channel runs are bad, down, good. This reality is why normal people (i.e. not me) should measure less frequently. My goal needs to be to have the 9 day moving average (black line) under the regression line (dark gray line).
Think of it as a discipline versus feasting plot.
And, it gives me a chance to show off my Excel and logic skills :-)
So, I need to lose body fat faster, and fat free mass slower. Which makes me like EVERY other body recomposition person on earth. Except that I get to be T2D, and 66 years old, along the way. My body loves to add back fat mass faster than fat free mass. And, it hates like hell to add skeletal muscle mass (about 4 % added and 6 pounds lost in 2019).
I do feel better, muchly. And, I look very, very different. Loose / extra skin is a good problem to have.
What to do? Here's my list:
Last, and by no means least, much gratitude, thanks, and love to Maripat, for her support, willingness to help me do this, and her awesome cooking skills. And, for the look on her face as she watches me swallow animal proteins by the pound, at speed :-)
Happy New Year. Wish me luck !!
Peace out ...
Because it's longish, I'll put a summary here: What to do? Here's my list:
- Ingest fewer carbs. What is currently 60-70 grams per day to under 30. Not only should that put me in ketosis continually, but it'll leave damn few carbs for my liver to convert to fructose. That's where (I think) a lot of the fat to storage comes from.
- Change my exercise pattern to emphasize long distance rows and bike rides, and toggle between weights and HIIT/Tabata stuff. So, 3-4 long distance versus 1 weight/HIIT. And, don't injure myself when I do what will be the now infrequent weight lifting.
- Get to at least 1, maybe 2, 40 hour fasts per week. Volleyball evening work makes 1 easier. Dunno where 1 more will come from. Push harder on TRF.
How to lose fat? Start by accepting the fact that I've spent a goodly part of my life acquiring it. That fact built the habits of a lifetime, and those need to change. Realizing that any process that has taken decades ("a very long time") will take a long time to reverse.
I've seen references to "where" fat is stored in the human body. The answer is "Everywhere". Subcutaneous. Visceral. Inside cells next to mitochondria. Inside the spongy bone. Inside vital organs, like the liver and pancreas. Everywhere. And, I need to remove a significant amount of all that. Measures of that later, but for now: How to do that? Why, diet and exercise.
How to manage what goes in my mouth? There is a weight loss industry, and the value thereof is subject to heated debate. Here's the big secret: Take in fewer calories than you use. Your weight will go down. Here's the second big secret: Don't eat all the time, for extended hours per day. Time Restricted Feeding (TRF) works well. Even if it's culturally in opposition to your life.
For me, what to eat is complicated by the need to both lose fat, and maintain blood glucose (BG) control, without mainlining industrial quantities of Lantus (time release insulin). Been there, done that, and am Not Going Back. I avoid: sugar; carbs in quantity per meal and per day; seed oils. I embrace high protein food (like cod !!). I know what my macros need to be, and do try to get them. All of which sounds simple, and it is not. I'm up to my gunwales in discipline, and am no longer amused by the topic.
How to exercise? My Big 4 styles: weight lifting, distance at pace on a water row machine, distance on my road and trail bikes, and HIIT/Tabata drill on the water row machine. If I had to prioritize them, to be anti-T2D, it'd be distance water row (usually 3 x 2500 meters), bikes (weather permitting), weights, and HIIT on the rower. Only took me a year to figure that out. Those are progressively more demanding on my high mileage body. And, they all want me to do more per week than I'm capable of. I could use an improved pattern of activities. Sucks, but I embrace the suck. Most times.
How to measure progress? I measure BG morning (always) , noon (sometimes), pre-dinner (sometimes), before bed (always). I use a body composition scale (almost) every morning. All of the numbers go into Excel. If you read these, or my FB feeds, you've seen some of the charts I keep.
The numbers I REALLY care about:
all day average BG, translated into an HbA1c estimate;
BG drop overnight per unit of Lantus;
units of Lantus per shot;
weight and % weight body composition (full, fat free, fat);
30 day range for body fat;
I beat the hell out of all these numbers for a few simple reasons: measure progress, keep me motivated, and provide feedback about what I do. Discipline is everything. And, whenever I get tired of it, I think about the alternatives. That works.
On to the charts and commentary.
Second set of lab work, I adjusted the duration of the chart moving average (black line) to match the lab work. And, repeated the "hours after ..." work, back and forth, until I was satisfied.
At this rate, it'll take forever. That won't do.
Progress, sure. Too slow, for certain. That won't do.
I want 17% or lower. I need a different process.
Think of it as a discipline versus feasting plot.
And, it gives me a chance to show off my Excel and logic skills :-)
So, I need to lose body fat faster, and fat free mass slower. Which makes me like EVERY other body recomposition person on earth. Except that I get to be T2D, and 66 years old, along the way. My body loves to add back fat mass faster than fat free mass. And, it hates like hell to add skeletal muscle mass (about 4 % added and 6 pounds lost in 2019).
I do feel better, muchly. And, I look very, very different. Loose / extra skin is a good problem to have.
What to do? Here's my list:
- Ingest fewer carbs. What is currently 60-70 grams per day to under 30. Not only should that put me in ketosis continually, but it'll leave damn few carbs for my liver to convert to fructose. That's where (I think) a lot of the fat to storage comes from.
- Change my exercise pattern to emphasize long distance rows and bike rides, and toggle between weights and HIIT/Tabata stuff. So, 3-4 long distance versus 1 weight/HIIT. And, don't injure myself when I do the now infrequent weight lifting.
- Get to at least 1, maybe 2, 40 hour fasts per week. Volleyball work makes 1 easier. Dunno where 1 more will come from. Push harder on TRF.
Last, and by no means least, much gratitude, thanks, and love to Maripat, for her support, willingness to help me do this, and her awesome cooking skills. And, for the look on her face as she watches me swallow animal proteins by the pound, at speed :-)
Happy New Year. Wish me luck !!
Peace out ...
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