Women who have become fat-adapted--give me hope... page 2

[teach2183]

Are you hungry a lot? I have found that when I'm hungry between meals, I tend to eat junkier items - nuts, ice cream, chocolate. I have been slowly losing weight, 17lbs since February. When I make a conscious effort to be sure and eat enough at meals, I lose. When I eat less, I stall or gain weight. Sounds counterintuitive, but this has been happening for months now. When I start thinking about snacking, I have started to ask myself if I'm hungry or just want the treat. If I'm not truly hungry, I find something else to distract me. I eat more now than before - 2 burgers for dinner, 3 eggs for breakfast, large chunk of protein at lunch, along with heaps of veggies. It took me about 4 months to get all this sorted out and I had a major stall for about 8 weeks where I lost nothing (4/28-6/23). I listened closely to my body and this past week lost 1.5lbs!

[sbhikes]

Serenity, not knowing anything about you it's hard to know if you are just trying to lose the last couple vanity pounds or if you have been insulin resistant and on your way to metabolic syndrome or what your situation is. Anyway, you can become fat-adapted without having to go ketogenic, for one thing. You can also become fat-adapted through a healthy primal diet combined with running, too. I highly recommend Phil Maffetone's Big Book, either the general one for Health and Fitness (that's the one I have) or his Big Book of Endurance training.

According to Phil, fat adaptation is both a function of diet AND exercise. He specifically recommends running at what is called your Maximum Aerobic Fitness. He's got a formula for determining what your maximum heart rate should be and your fitness is determined by your performance at that heart rate. It's a very low heart rate. Embarrassingly low. You train at this heart rate and slowly improve your speed until you are able to run very fast at this very low heart rate. This is true aerobic fitness. The reason why it is true aerobic fitness is because you'll be using body fat for energy. Anything faster and you turn off that body-fat pathway and turn on the anaerobic pathway and start burning sugar for energy instead. If you've been running above your MAF, you've been sabotaging both your fat-burning adaptation AND your physical endurance and fitness and probably your weight loss, too. It's all very interesting. I bought a heart rate monitor and am looking forward to seeing how out of shape I truly am. I hope it's not too horrible.

[Owly]

As sbhikes said, fat adaptation does not necessarily mean long term ketosis. Not everyone does well on vlc. You might consider moderate levels of clean, primal carbs--that might help with the cravings and may make a difference for fat loss. I'm a fairly active mid-30s woman, and I found that a little more carb helped me get past my stall and has seen me continue to lose. I still don't eat tons if carbs (in the 100-150 range), so I can stay fat adapted because I do not eat carbs in excess of what will replenish glycogen stores. This means I can still fast and don't need sugar infusions to do hikes and stuff, so I remain metabolically flexible.

At this point, doing some experimentation will hopefully help break the stall. It sounds like what you're trying isn't working for you, so it can't hurt to play around and see what might get things going again for you.

[Anjikun]

Hi there,

Fat adaptation is definitely real, and it does give great energy. When I first when Primal a few years ago it took about 3 weeks. After a year or so I slipped back into carb eating (via fruit) and gained a bunch of weight back. So, more recently, I went low-carb again. I am older now (menopausal) and it took a lot longer to adapt. You will know you are adapted when you can eat very low-carb on a given day (30-40) grams and not be hungry/tired.

[ennaejay]

Did you change anything? I just need some hope here...The Cheez-Its are calling to me.

Throw away your box of Cheez-Its.

Get a massive block of Colby Cheese.. slice up the whole thing, thin slices, like 1/8". Thin. Allow to come to room temp. If you want, dust them with some cayenne pepper or something.

Bake on parchment at 300* for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool at room temp. Place on microwave-safe plate that's lined with parchment paper and nuke the chips (about 5-6 at a time) for 45-60 seconds.

Allow to cool again.

You will never go back to Cheez-its, they are puffy, bubbly, MORE crunchy than crackers, salty, fatty, proteiny goodness.


In my personal experience, carbs (like eating an apple) isn't just that simple for me. I eat an apple with almond butter, then I want yogurt and primal nut granola and raisins, then I want almond flour baked muffins, then..... ETC. You get the point. For me, carbs is a downward spiral, I'm not very tolerant of them, they don't fill me up. However, eating half a plate of mixed fresh veggies with butter and a couple of eggs, and CO in my coffee.... I'm good for a long time, with no cravings between.

Mixing carbs with fat is a no-no for me (and others, I think). Makes me swell up like a puffer fish.

Make the chips. You'll thank me.

[Antiochia]

What a great idea for cheese chips -- Do you bake the chips both in the regular oven AND the microwave? I'm looking forward to trying this!

[ciavyn]

I am fat adapted, but dealing with some gut issues that make it hard to lose weight. Fat adaption is awesome, and so worth it -- not feeling shaky and having to eat every two seconds...well worth it. Hang in there. Many of us are doing it and you have a wonderful support group here.

And I'm with the rest: ditch the Cheez-Its. Or if you need to, eat the whole box in one sitting, and focus how awful you feel on it. That was all it took for me to get rid of diet sodas. This is about eating well -- not anything else. You'll never stick to it if it is just about losing weight.

[AuroraB]

Throw away your box of Cheez-Its.

Get a massive block of Colby Cheese.. slice up the whole thing, thin slices, like 1/8". Thin. Allow to come to room temp. If you want, dust them with some cayenne pepper or something.

Bake on parchment at 300* for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool at room temp. Place on microwave-safe plate that's lined with parchment paper and nuke the chips (about 5-6 at a time) for 45-60 seconds.

Allow to cool again.

You will never go back to Cheez-its, they are puffy, bubbly, MORE crunchy than crackers, salty, fatty, proteiny goodness.


In my personal experience, carbs (like eating an apple) isn't just that simple for me. I eat an apple with almond butter, then I want yogurt and primal nut granola and raisins, then I want almond flour baked muffins, then..... ETC. You get the point. For me, carbs is a downward spiral, I'm not very tolerant of them, they don't fill me up. However, eating half a plate of mixed fresh veggies with butter and a couple of eggs, and CO in my coffee.... I'm good for a long time, with no cravings between.

Mixing carbs with fat is a no-no for me (and others, I think). Makes me swell up like a puffer fish.

Make the chips. You'll thank me.

OMG! Have. To. Buy. Cheese. Now!

[zoebird]

I think that there are lots of ways of looking at this question.

Foremost, the question is what is your current body fat percentage and where do you want to go/be with it?

Second, you'll need to get a sense of your own body type. There are some body types that will get leaner more easily, and there are others that will have to work excessively hard to get there. I am an ecto-meso, so I look tall/thin, but I also have a certain "softness" that comes out of the ecto side of things, rather than looking more "meso" which tends to look more muscular. My body sits comfortably between 18-20% just doing basic primal.

Third, you'll need to keep track of caloric intakes and also your macronutrient profiles (percentage of fat, protein, carbohydrate) so that you know what is what.

Finally, if you are active -- that is, if you want to run because you enjoy it (some people do), then continue to do so, but eat so that you can meet those needs.

(Btw, gadsie is a 14/15 year old teen boy with a ectomorphic body type and high metabolism, so his advice to you is essentially moot; that being said, I eat about 2 pieces of fruit per day, everything else is veggies, eggs, and some meat -- then olive oil, butter, etc).

[ennaejay]

What a great idea for cheese chips -- Do you bake the chips both in the regular oven AND the microwave? I'm looking forward to trying this!

Yep - do both. After the 10-12 minutes in the oven, they'll cool to soft, flat cheese cookies. Putting them in the microwave for that 45-60 seconds on parchment crisps them and makes them bubble up. It takes a couple of minutes to do them all, but so worth it. And one ingredient (plus spices)! Can't beat it! They hold up great for dips too. I can't keep them in the house - everybody snarfs them down on the same day I make 'em. Be sure to use parchment baking paper!

To the OP:
You stated: "Now I'm heavier than I was when I first went primal in April (most likely because I've been cutting down on the cardio--running is the only thing that never fails me as far as weight loss goes)."

You know, I've found the same thing to be true, even lifting heavy 2-3x a week and weekly sprints doesn't keep my thighs as slim as running does. I backed off running all winter because of some GI issues and dietary changes, and only JUST started back up a couple weeks ago. It has been discouraging to feel like I'm starting all over as a runner, and especially with restricting carbs more than I'm used to. I feel GOOD when I restrict carbs, but how does one run on fat and protein? I've been scouring the forums, people do it. I think the key is to keep your heart rate moderate to low so it's your "move frequently at a slow pace" thing. You're looking for something sustainable, yes? You can still jog and be fat adapted. People even run marathons and ultras on paleo. Keep jogging if you like it and get results from it. *I* think you can still manage that just fine. It'll be especially beneficial if you do become fat adapted, you can even do it fasted and be sure you're "burning fat" instead of just the carbs in your muscles.

Also, you're making comments about your weight being up. Have you taken your measurements? Are you making strength gains? Are you just retaining a couple extra lbs of water?