Insulin & Cortisol page

[Dusty]

I am new to PB and I figured this would be the ideal place to ask a couple of questions... I have been on a low carb diet for a couple months now before discovering PB. I will outline my daily diet below:

• Breakfast - 6 whole eggs
• Lunch - 2 chicken breasts with green beans
• After work - 8oz lean beef & spinach
• 6pm meal - another 6 whole eggs
• GYM (about an hour of weight lifting, different muscle groups Mon - Fri)
• After gym/before bed - 8oz lean beef and green beans

A little about my history...
I use to be very overweight being at 265 lbs at my largest. I am 5' 10 180lbs right now and am big into weight lifting (have been for the past 1.5years). I origianlly let my weight balloon up because of depression and after overcoming that I decided to get my life in order by losing weight which I have suceeded in doing so far.

My question is... on a low carb diet when can I expect to see my small "pooch" of fat below my naval area and my "love handles" disappear? Any recommendations on what I should do with my diet that I listed above? I use to do the chronic cardio and ate what I thought was a healthy diet (which was the regular CW diet without refined sugars and junk food)... I lost a lot of weight this way but I am now trying to fine-tune my diet to the point where my abs will show... so far I've been so frustrated trying to get rid of them and was wondering what any of the experts on here would have to say about the last bit of "stubborn" fat.

Sorry for the long post... hopefully can find some good advice in here!

[lizch]

I think that, compared to typical PB, you must be high on protein and low on fat. The only time I see the words "lean beef" around here are when they're followed by "...sauted in butter"

I also seem to remember green beans weren't considered an ideal vegetable (though I could be wrong on that).

Here's what I recall from reading the PB book: Concentrate on keeping insulin low to lose weight. If you overdo either carbs OR protein, you will produce excessive insulin. Fat is the only food source that is insulin-neutral.

[Dusty]

Thanks for responding LIz.

I am awaitng the PB book right now... hopefully I'll be getting it in a few days. I have considered moving from 93/7 lean beef to 80/20... also thought about replacing my chicken breasts with chicken thighs/leg quarters. Do you think asparagus would be a good substitue for green beans? (I usually take my lunch to work and green beans are easy to put on the plate with the chicken and cover with tin-foil).

I think my problem may very well be excess protein in my diet producing insulin just like you say.

[Daemonized]

It's not so much a matter of being low car as it is to tuning your intake amount to match your activity level. You can eat very low carb, but in order for you to lose fat you will need to maintain a calorie deficit. Being a lifter, protein is very important and from your diet it looks like you're doing great in that department. The hard part about being a lifter and trying to cut is that calorie deficits and eating to make strength gains are hard to maintain simultaneously given a lack of modern pharmaceuticals.
My advice is to keep your protein high and work on keeping your carbs and fat down until you you reach your desired level of leanness. You will probably want to do carb refeeds one in a while as well, but I'd try to keep the fat down on day refeed days. Eggs for example are a food that I have cut back on somewhat. They are an amazing source of protein, but they have a lot of fat as well.

[NDF]

I think my problem may very well be excess protein in my diet producing insulin just like you say.

Protein doesn't spike protein nearly as much as carbs do. That being said, if you are extremely insulin resistant, it's a good idea to consumme fats with your proteins.

The fat under your navel could be loose skin from being overweight. It could also be a indication of high cortisol from dieting too long or going without carbs for too long.

[NDF]

It's not so much a matter of being low car as it is to tuning your intake amount to match your activity level. You can eat very low carb, but in order for you to lose fat you will need to maintain a calorie deficit.

Agreed

[Dusty]

Protein doesn't spike protein nearly as much as carbs do. That being said, if you are extremely insulin resistant, it's a good idea to consumme fats with your proteins.

The fat under your navel could be loose skin from being overweight. It could also be a indication of high cortisol from dieting too long or going without carbs for too long.

I feel pretty positive that it is not loose skin.. I've seen loose skin before and it's nothing what this looks/feels like. I do believe the cortisol issue is what you say though... I may back off and increase calories with a clean primal diet for a couple months and stop doing all cardio and see how that goes before starting my "diet" again.

[MalPaz]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20487518