Primal Potato Diet (PPD) page 5

[AlanC]

If you have excess glycogen when starting the potato diet, you are going to lose all that glycogen before the body turns to body fat. Hence water weight loss.

Why exactly would you run out of glycogen when stuffing yourself with starch all day?

And just how much is "excess"?

Perhaps more to the point, why are you arguing if it works or not, on a thread created for people to discuss their (actual) experiences with it?

I've experienced water weight loss before when low-carbing. Then you really do get that "dried out" look and feel, rapidly plumping back up again when you reintroduce carbs.

When you're munching on potatoes you never really run out of available carbs - but you DO seem to burn fat?

With my first attempt at this I measured my arms, legs, chest and waist. I track my workouts too and the only things that went down were my weight and waist measurement. That simply doesn't jibe with my previous experiences of 'syrup shrinkage' (water weight loss from losing glycogen).

Your results may vary but have you actually tried this yet?



AC

[sakura_girl]

I don't want people to be misinformed about basic nutrition....also, I want to clarify for myself because I really don't understand how your logic works in terms of how the potatoes are metabolized.

When you are burning energy because of the caloric deficit, you are burning the glucose from the potatoes + glycogen in your body?....unless I'm missing something here on the deficit part of it.

[paleo-bunny]

I was going to question what you said sakura_girl, but having thought about it I agree with you.

When someone is in a significant calorie deficit, water loss is coupled with fat loss via glycogen depletion regardless of the macronutrient content of the diet.

[fat belly frog]

Day 5 - no weight loss yesterday, now up a bit from the day before. sitting on 106kgs total loss 4.9kg

Full day of activerty yesterday, 3 hours at the beach in the morning assisting with kids surf club training out in the water on a paddle board, the 3 hours in the afternoon kitesurfing. No noticeable loss in energy.

B- 400g potato salad as above
L- three cups rice with chilli, spring onion, chives, red pepper and hot chili sauce mixed thru
D- 400g mashed potato as above with chopped chili, chives and spring onions mixed thru.

Ate a lot more yesterday as I was more active, but cal would still have been under 2000

[fat belly frog]

Day 6 - no weight loss today, Still sitting on 106kgs total loss 4.9kg (10.8lbs)

Appetite has dropped right off as well, skipped breakfast yesterday and today eating ~ 1000-1200 cals per day. Feeling full and have plenty of energy. Down the beach again yesterday morning for 4 hours swimming, paddling, running

[brookesam]

With my first attempt at this I measured my arms, legs, chest and waist. I track my workouts too and the only things that went down were my weight and waist measurement. That simply doesn't jibe with my previous experiences of 'syrup shrinkage' (water weight loss from losing glycogen).


AC

Just curious... what do your workouts consist of? Have you scaled back on exercise any when eating only potatoes?

[AlanC]

I did the first time (3 days of taters), the 2nd time (4 days of taters) I just did a normal workout on the 4th day (I only workout once or twice a week anyway).

Workout was wide bench press, 3 sets, a wide-grip pull-down thingy with my home gym 3 sets, barbell bicep curls 2 sets, inclined stomach crunches 40 reps, squats (1 set) followed by 1 set of lunges, 2 sets of close-grip pull-ups/chin-ups, then side raises.

It's not a perfect workout but just one I've followed for awhile if only for tracking. I normally change things around after a few months.

Point is, I was doing the same reps with the same weights and bodyweight. The only thing I 'changed' was deliberately not thinking about where I could add some more weight or reps, which I usually do.

Pull-ups were not too impressive as I have tendinitis in both elbows at present, so only did 4 then 3 - but that's the same as I have done recently anyway.

My biggest concern was not a lack in performance, as there wasn't any, but concern at the lack of protein after the workout. So I just ate a LOT of spuds at that point

Today I'm beginning another potato 'fast'; this time I'm going to try for 5 days - but with a twist...

This week I'm going to deliberately hammer my muscles, upper-body only, EVERY DAY for the 5 days.

For months now I've been easing off a bit because of the elbows and trying to give things time to heal and all that. This week no patience whatsoever, no easing off, no kindness, no allowances - I'm deliberately going to shock the heck out of my body with fasted-state cardio (only 20 mins) every morning, with a weights workout every evening, while eating absolutely nothing except spuds, spices and black coffee, for 5 days.

I DO NOT recommend anyone follow this madness!

The general potato thing does seem to work and yes, you can do a light or normal workout - strength and energy are still there.

The crazy thing I'm doing this week is just to shock my body out of holding onto fat. I'm not going to restrict my intake of spuds at all, just eat until full but I'm going to experiment with zero fat intake and a lot of fat burning, while forcing my muscles to work and see just what happens.

I've always preached low carbs and recovery time. Just as an experiment I'm trying the opposite

I know I can put muscle back on later if I'm eating it, for now I'm sick of having a little round belly poking over my belt - but again, don't follow what I'm doing. This is just a personal N=1, a 'Hey, if too much starch works, perhaps batshit crazy will work even better?' thing.

If you never hear from me again the experiment was a failure



AC

[fat belly frog]

Here is my workout I did tonight,

Monday 12 November - 50, 100, 200's

A1: 50 pull ups, ( 11,8,6,6,5,5,5,4,1)
A2: 50 sledge hammer swings each side/arm
A3: 50 sledge hammer over shoulder shovel throws each side
A4: 50 sledge hammer axe chops each side
A6: 100 fwd lunges (50, 30,20) 50 each side
A7: 200 Hindu squats (100, 100)

Leg finisher
B1: 3 x 10 *Bulgarian split squats BW only
B3: 3 x 10 side lunges
B4: 3 x 10 suitcase dead lifts 2 x 16 kg KBs
B5 3 x 10 shrugs 2 x 16 kg KBs
B6: 100 around the worlds

During the week it's a mixture of BW sessions, surf club training with the kids, walking the dog, swimming and kite surfing. Weekends are 4-5 hours down the beach as above. I also swim in a masters squad 2-3 times per week it's 1 hour session, 2500-2800m. Pretty active lots of slow steady cardio and play...

Cheers

[Kilian]

Welp, this looks interesting enough to try. I'm already pretty darn lean as it is, but I would love to lean out that extra few percentage points before I head to Cabo for winter break!

Also, this is perfect for me right now because I'm fairly constricted on budget and need to spend less on groceries.
I'm going to give this a shot in conjunction with my current modified Stronglifts 5x5 routine.

A few questions to people though before I start:
Can I eat lean meat (boneless/skinless chicken)?
Can I eat fibrous vegetables?
Regular potatoes vs. sweet potatoes---which is better?

Thanks yall. Will update with my progress/impressions.

[tatertot]

Welp, this looks interesting enough to try. I'm already pretty darn lean as it is, but I would love to lean out that extra few percentage points before I head to Cabo for winter break!

Also, this is perfect for me right now because I'm fairly constricted on budget and need to spend less on groceries.
I'm going to give this a shot in conjunction with my current modified Stronglifts 5x5 routine.

A few questions to people though before I start:
Can I eat lean meat (boneless/skinless chicken)?
Can I eat fibrous vegetables?
Regular potatoes vs. sweet potatoes---which is better?

Thanks yall. Will update with my progress/impressions.

The Potato Diet consists of just potatoes (not sweet), eaten as plainly as possible, for max weightloss. The best success, in measure of weight lost and hunger, comes with eating boiled or baked potatoes with a little salt/pepper. When you start adding things like chicken breast and other veggies, your hunger will increase and weightloss slows.

I don't know anything about you other than you are fairly lean. If you have a background that includes glucose intolerance, eating disorders, or are wanting to do heavy workouts at the same time as the potato diet, it may not be for you.

Plan on eating somewhere between 2-4 pounds a day, but let hunger guide you. I find I am very comfortable eating no breakfast, 1 or 2 baked potatoes for lunch, 1 or 2 for dinner, and if I'm still hungry any other time, I like to have a supply of boiled potatoes on hand to munch cold. Do that for a week or so and you will see rapid weightloss.