Shangri-La Diet - setpoint success at last page 24

[Happy Paleo Girl]

I've decided to jump on board with the experiment! I tried the potato thing with zero success. I keep losing and regaining the same 5lbs. My low weight was 117 and I stayed there for a long time (up until I was prego with kid#2; and kids #3 and #4 didn't help). Currently, I fluxuate between 137 and 142. I'm hoping that this will help push me past the plateau. I don't expect to see 117 ever again, but anything under 130 would be very nice. Wish me luck!!

BTW - I downed my first tablespoon of MCT oil. Is it normal for it to cause burning in your throat?? (I opted for the MCT oil because my CO is unrefined and has a nice flavor and I've never understood how pinching the nose eliminates flavor since I've always been able to taste whatever is in my mouth)

I've heard about people having a scratchy feeling in their throat after taking MCT or coconut oil. Check out this thread: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread36671.html

[Happy Paleo Girl]

Welcome to the thread! And I know the feeling--I think the biggest surprise about SLD for me was how well it worked. I was extremely dubious about diet hacks after doing the potato diet and absolutely losing my mind with hunger two days in. But taking the oil just works the way it's supposed to.

I was also starving on the potato diet. Most satiable food, my ass! Apparently that's not the case for everyone.

So here it is, almost 8pm, and I didn't have the lunch that I brought to work with me, and I'm still not hungry for the yummy dinner that I had planned to make. Bizarre! I am really surprised, I have to say.

[zoebird]

I think he is saying at first your body will be tricked into eating less, you will lose weight for a while, but eventually, you will start gaining because you were eating too much in the first place and that was never corrected. In other words, you lower your setpoint and see a lowering of bodyweight, but only a change in diet, ie. eating less long term, will defend that setpoint long term.

I see.

So if you eat X calories and gain 2 lbs per year, and then eat X calories and sub some with fat in the SLD way (eating the same amount of calories), then you will loose weight because of the flavor-association bit, but then gain it back again because it is the number of calories on which you gain weight.

If you eat X calories, add in oil/sugar water, loose weight, and as you loose you are decreasing caloric intake, then your body will run well on the lower calories, and therefore you will maintain the weight loss, keeping the new 'set point.'

Yes? Something like that, I think.

[sjmc]

I see.

So if you eat X calories and gain 2 lbs per year, and then eat X calories and sub some with fat in the SLD way (eating the same amount of calories), then you will loose weight because of the flavor-association bit, but then gain it back again because it is the number of calories on which you gain weight.

If you eat X calories, add in oil/sugar water, loose weight, and as you loose you are decreasing caloric intake, then your body will run well on the lower calories, and therefore you will maintain the weight loss, keeping the new 'set point.'

Yes? Something like that, I think.

That's not what it sounded like to me. By "Diet X plus lots of flavorless calories" I assumed he meant what you normally eat, plus the oil. Of course then it sounds even crazier that at some point you'd be gaining back weight at the same rate with this scenario. And of course the premise of the diet is that with the oil you'd eat less than on "Diet X" anyway.

So maybe I understood that all wrong -- but then using "Diet X" throughout was a weird way to explain it.

[lorichka6]

Here is my take on it... I kind of ignore the set point because I'm not sure I buy that...

You eat diet X and gain 2 lbs per year because your satiety signals are screwy and food is too tasty and easily available and you sit on your butt at work all day.

You start taking oil shots each day. For some unknown reason this seems to "fix" your wonky satiety signals so you continue to eat diet X foods, but in smaller amounts because you just aren't as hungry. You may or may not also start craving more nutritious foods so diet X may actually improve a bit. I don't think that he ever says you actually continue to eat the same *amount* of diet X foods, just the same foods. So it isn't like adding 250 calories of fat to your usual caloric intake somehow makes you lose weight - it is that that 250 calories of fat makes you voluntarily consume 500 fewer calories...

You reach goal weight and stop oil but continue diet X - satiety signals get wonky again, nutrition in the food you chose may decrease, and you go back to the 2 lb gain per year.

[marthat]

Yeah, he's not mentioning quantities, but Diet X may represent the quality of foods taken. I think Lorichka has it about right.

In other news, I took my first dose of coconut oil yesterday, had immediate appetite suppression, ate little at supper and no evening snack (even though I had planned for one), and ended up 1.5 lbs less this morning. Back to my lowest weight on the potato diet, now need to move below that and past my sticking point.

I had forgotten how good this disinterest in food feels.

[lorichka6]

FYI - shot glass enthusiasts... I've been using baby food jars. I use the 5 oz jar, stick the solid coconut oil in there in the AM. If I'm not going to be near a microwave I bring a thermos with hot water. Works well.

[beckie]

I had almost the same results at marthat. I had my first spoonful of oil late afternoon. I was still hungry at dinner, but if didn't take much before I was full. I didn't have much interest in the rest of my dinner but I forced it down. I had no interest in my late night snack (which is very untypical of me). This morning I was down almost 1 lb!

Since I had such a weird reaction to the straight MCT oil (I've been using it for sometime in my BP coffee), I'll be using CO today. Almost time for my first spoonful!

[Happy Paleo Girl]

Awesome results so far, Martha and Beckie! I had a similar experience. I experienced immediate appetite suppression upon shooting the oil, and had no interest in food for the majority of the day, which is SUCH a nice change as I had been experiencing almost constant hunger for weeks now! Very annoying. I didn't think I'd be able to eat much at dinner, but I guess I was hungrier than I thought. I had 2 baked chicken thighs with a side of white rice (with a little CO stirred in). Still, down TWO pounds this morning!! I will definitely be sticking with the SLD.

I also think that lorichka6 has the right of it.

[sbhikes]

I have had some pretty good appetite control, too. But it's wearing off, probably because I have hardly eaten anything for a week. Plus I have a cold and that seems to make my appetite haywire.