EAT MOAR TATERS! Huh? page 43

[gopintos]

Based on the 3500 cal = 1 pound of fat 4. CICO is BS (maybe)

Sort of like when I use to eat a cookie and gain 10lbs.

[Uncephalized]

I think we got our wires crossed somewhere. I think I said this morning I'm on Day 12 and down 9lbs. but I want to stick it out for two more days and hit 10lbs. Sorry if I said otherwise. I have lost 1" off my waist in this time.

As to the CICO of this: In 12 days I would normally eat roughly 30,000 calories or 2500 cal/day. The last 12 days I ate almost precisely 17,000 calories (35lbs of potatoes, 3 cups rice, 1 qt bone broth, 1/4cup ketchup). That is a 13,000 calorie deficit for 2 weeks.

Based on the 3500 cal = 1 pound of fat, I should have lost only 3.7lbs.

This leads to several possibilities:
1. I lost over 6lbs of lean muscle and/or water (doubtful)
2. My energy output and resting metabolic rate has increased considerably (possibly)
3. I was underestimating how much I was eating before (likely)
4. CICO is BS (maybe)
5. A combination of the 4 (Bingo!)

It is very easy to calculate the calories in 35lbs of potatoes and 3 cups of rice, but very hard to accurately count when eating normally. Calorie labels are misleading, it's not practical to weigh and measure, and you sometimes eat a little more than you think.

So the reality is I was maintaining my weight previously on more like 3000 calories a day, I lost a bit of muscle & water, and maybe boosted my metabolism a bit eating mainly pure starch.

The fact that you lost 1" and ~10lbs of weight is actually good evidence that what you lost was mostly fat. 1" per 10 lbs of fat is a rule of thumb I have heard multiple times, although I don't know how universally accurate it is.

Did you end up tracking temperature at all?

I'm planning to start my own Tater Feast next Monday, after I am done with birthday-weekend celebrations.

EDIT: I think I am going to track body weight and oral temperature, and take waist, hip, neck, bicep and thigh circumference measurements each day on waking for a couple of days leading up to, each day during, and a few days post-feast. I'm interested to see what the patterns and changes look like, if any. I'll post my results here.

[Neckhammer]

Bones, minerals, organs, water, muscle....all count as lean mass and without an actual fat measurement its really just complete and utter wild guesses as to how much mass being loss is fat vs lean.

[bdilla]

I'm two days in and nearly sick of potatoes. Ugh. Get me some sour cream, bacon and cheese and I'll be good. I have to cut it short because I'm going out of town for a memorial service on Saturday. I feel thinner and can already tell a visual difference after only two days, but I never thought eating potatoes like this would be so hard.

I think I'd probably try it again for another 4-5 days, but that's about all I think I'm gonna be able to stand. I'm gonna start a LG protocol when I get back in town.

[Rosemary 231]

Started Potato feast/fast yesterday morning. 5:40 am, weighed 140.8. 5:30ish this morning, weighed 138. YIPEE!!! Calmly endured a power outage at work this morning (kids had to search for books in our library using the light from my cell phone. Finally we all got to go home.) I, still calm, drove to the park and ate my potato and read in the shade for awhile and then went home and cooked more potatoes. Daughter came home from work, stood in the door of my room and told me "they (son-in-law too) were very concerned and didn't want to watch me die". I am gratified, but the scientific explanation is just too long to go into. Still calm but starting to "shred" a little I asked her to support me in this for 7-10 days, she offered to "bear with me". I better take what I can get.

[Keeks333]

Someone from paleohacks pointed me to this thread after I was curious on how to lose the last stubborn 5lbs without using IF and this is so interesting! I have read a lot of the posts but 47 pages is a lot so forgive me if this was already answered but:

1. Can I/Should I still workout during the tater diet? (I usually do yoga 1-2x/week, lift heavy weights 3x/week and go for long walks)
2. I am planning on doing it for 7 days. Have those who have had success with this truly not gained the weight back after the fact? I am in a plateau for the past month and want to break through to my goal weight!

[Terry H]

Sounds like a sure path to diabetes to me.

I, as a t1, certainly agree. When will the next fad come? Moar Twinkies! Huh?

[otzi]

Someone from paleohacks pointed me to this thread after I was curious on how to lose the last stubborn 5lbs without using IF and this is so interesting! I have read a lot of the posts but 47 pages is a lot so forgive me if this was already answered but:

1. Can I/Should I still workout during the tater diet? (I usually do yoga 1-2x/week, lift heavy weights 3x/week and go for long walks)

Yoga, yes; Lifting, no; walks, yes

2. I am planning on doing it for 7 days. Have those who have had success with this truly not gained the weight back after the fact? I am in a plateau for the past month and want to break through to my goal weight!

Seems to stay off for most

Good luck!

[Neckhammer]

^ Wait.....what!!!

Ok I'm extremely confused. The ONLY more or less agreed upon factors that preserve lean mass while in a caloric deficit are PROTEIN and RESISTANCE TRAINING.....so your doing the potato thing (not much protein, but whatever....pointed it out and was moving on)....now you also wanna say "no" to lifting. The only other thing proven to help you keep everything that isn't fat?!?!?!

Someone please explain this logic to me.....

[sbhikes]

What's wrong with resistance workouts during this time?

By the way, I did another one-day potato fast today. I will end it tomorrow with a normal dinner. One nice thing is that it's sort of calming. Gives me an appetite reset, both mental and physical. Also, I had been drinking too much black, french press coffee for about a week. I didn't realize that it was so strong. After almost a week of it I was feeling really awful with caffeine intoxication (that's an actual thing.) I felt the worst yesterday. I think the bland potatoes has been helpful to recovering from this. I ate 4 potatoes today, three of them were quite huge.