Four Simple Rules To Tailor Your Diet To Meet Your Body's Needs

This started as a rant in, of all things, a thread on toileting in the wilderness. It's something I'd been meaning to bring up, so having written it there I'm reposting part of it here and adjusting as necessary to address diet. Fear not, pooping is only a small part of what follows.

A few years ago I started once again to address my health through diet. I started by throwing away all the dogma being pushed by the so called "nutritionists" because I'd followed their advice religiously for years and had gotten fatter and more lethargic. Not only that I had painful and "aggressively aromatic" digestive issues.

The truth is that the human body is very complex and has several built in feedback systems that preclude a "one size fits all" solution to dietary needs. For example, if you starve yourself to lose weight, one of those feedback systems will reduce your energy levels to conserve energy while another will decide that you are in a famine and will try to store as much fat as possible to keep you alive. Your body still needs calories to live which it will take from your muscle mass. At the end of the day you will lose total weight, but may carry more fat and less muscle.

I'm an engineer and think like an engineer, so I also solve problems like an engineer. I'm actually surprised I didn't come up with this sooner. I decided to start from scratch and came up with a few simple rules based on what I was trying to accomplish, namely having more energy and feeling healthier. I reasoned (correctly, as it turned out) that these would self regulate my need for calories and weight loss would be a side effect.

If you follow these rules (and really pay attention) by making one change at a time you can find the magic custom fit for your dietary needs.

The four simple rules:

1. If I eat it and it gives me energy it's good. The main purpose of eating is to fuel the body. Eat more of this and less of other things.
   
   
2. If I eat it and don't feel an increase in energy it's a waste of money. Would you put gas in your vehicle if it didn't let you drive further than what was already in the tank?
   
   
3. If I eat it and it makes me sleepy it never goes in my mouth again (except for certain social reasons). If it makes you sleepy it is being stored as fat as your body processes it.
   
   
4. The cleaner your defecation the better the quality of your diet. Man was not created with a roll of toilet paper in hand. Toilet paper is a tool created by Man to overcome poor dietary practices.

In case you are interested my personal "magic" combination is FAT Protein Fiber carbohydrates. About 50% of my calories come from fats, 35% from protein, and the remainder for carbs (mostly salad vegetables). Fiber has no calories, but it helps digestion and improves rule number 4 above. I get mine through non starchy vegetables.

I don't calorie count. If I need more energy I eat. If I don't need energy I don't feel hungry. This is common in all diets that restrict carbs. I've come to the conclusion that carbs, which are most abundant in nature during the Fall) are nature's way of fattening us up in order to survive the Winter.

Your relative combination may be different depending on your body, but if you are an endomorph like me you will probably wind up with a similar ratio. Just follow the rules above and you may be surprised at the transformation that will take place.

I'm now over a hundred pounds (45 kilos) below my peak weight and each week brings a new low. My energy levels are increasing as a result of packing around less weight, but more so by eating the foods that give me energy and avoiding those that sap it away.

 

Interesting.

After a visit to the Doc for some blood work, I also begin a diet modification program. I've taken a different tack. (BTW the blood work was to ensure what I had planned would not kill me/aggravate an existing but unk condition)

I still eat some carbo, but limit those to about 100gr/day. I eat a lot of green leafy stuff (gotta have my cabbage&kale) and dairy/fish.

I measure everything I eat and record the things I eat. I also record my weight every morning on rising.

My average calorie intake is now 'about' 700 cal/day. Initially, the day total was 900 to 1100 calories as I wanted to ease into this new diet.

Just under a month later, I had the same blood work done once again, with the addition of a urine test (albumin specific) along with cholesterol levels. So far, all good and I've dropped 10% of my body mass.

In the first two weeks, the loss was over a lb/day on average, about what I was looking for. Now the measured loss is dot 5 to dot 8 lb/day and that should taper slightly as I get my Chow dialed completely in to drop around dot 5 lb/day.

Note - I have a very sedentary job - tech writers sit on their ass for 8 hr/day working a keyboard. Since it is winter (think lethally cold outside) I stay inside. I do have an exercise program with a daily routine.

major points, as much as I love my toast in the AM, I've cut out bread, pasta and most other refined flour products out - for now. As has been my habit for some time now, I drank a large glass of green tea in the Am and another, smaller one, after my evening meal.

Once the weather turns nice again, I'll up the calories to match my increased activity - gardening, out camping and so on requires a 'thicker' diet then what I am consuming now.

Again, I note, my doc is on board with this and has ordered the blood testing etc to track effects of the change. At the first of May, I'll go in for another series of blood & urine tests, and have a thyroid panel pulled at that time as well.

I might have foregone the testing if I was 30 YO and still working outdoors full time, but I'm not. Any major, planned diet changes should be discussed with a competent medical professional. Some of these diet 'fads' have proven to be fatal. To be fair, being obese will kill you sooner rather than later - so paying attention to what you eat is a worthwhile effort....

 

Good luck and I hope this works for you.Remember what I said about feedback systems above. Weight loss is not a simple eat fewer calories and lose x amount of weight. EVERY successful system, biological, mechanical, electrical, etc. uses feedback systems or it isn't viable.

On very low calorie diets there is a real risk of losing muscle mass instead of fat. To prevent this you need to know your base metabolic calorie needs - these are the calories needed by your body to maintain your current weight. Subtract 500 calories to safely lose a pound of fat each week and you won't risk your body literally eating your muscle mass to stay alive.

I did the math for myself and when I compared it to what I'm eating daily following the above it turns out that it's the same. My weight loss target by calculation is 2100 calories per day and I eat anywhere from 1900 to 2100 per day. The thing is that I'm letting my body figure it out for me and it

 

The albumin specific test was to ensure I wasn't eating into muscle. The idea of eating limited carbo is it (hopefully) keep that from happening.

With any weight loss one should drink copious amounts of water. as well.

 

Super thread. Very accurate.

 

I am taking a completely different tack. I'm also an engineer and like @3M-TA3 I tend to think like one...sometimes that does leads to over-thinking a problem and/or the famous 'paralysis by over-analysis' syndrome but that is for a different thread...

Fasting. Before you start booing and throwing things read below. I have tried it a bit and it works so I am going to go full throttle starting Monday. I like it because it's super simple. All you do it fast for 1 or 2 days a week. I want to try Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, 3 days until I get my weight where I want it then just Tuesday and Thursday. It sort of throws one back to the days of old when our ancestors couldn't get 3 meals a days and many days went hungry because hunting/fishing was poor. There is a pretty good article in the link below and here is bit about it... Strange that science has finally proven what many cultures and religions have known for centuries...

"The 2016 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Japan’s Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries of the underlying mechanisms of a physiological process called autophagy. Autophagy is a natural process by which the body degrades and recycles damaged cells, proteins and toxins...This is the body’s way of cleaning house. It happens during starvation, calorie restriction, and fasting."

Fasting for Health and Longevity: Nobel Prize Winning Research on Cell Aging - Blue Zones

 

I'm a 'dont eat unless I'm hungry' and i get crap for it all the time. but it works for me

 

I'm a "If I see it and it looks good, I eat it person. If I like it, I WILL eat it again, again and again"

 

Me Mikey see it this way Eat all fruit use A LOT of TP ............. Eat all meat scream while pooping. Eat a good mix of everything no screaming and not much TP.

 

Re-reading this thread when you wrote "dont" I saw "donut". That's probably not a good thing.

 

Dr. Jason Fung has a great book The Complete Guide to Fasting. He tells of many health benefits to a 24 hour fast 1 or 2 times a week. I just started that myself. It requires setting your mind to it, but then it isn't that hard to do.

 

Anything by Jason Fung is A+++

Fasting is easy for me. I normally eat 1 meal a day but sometimes find (eating keto) that im just not hungry and if thats the case, i just don't eat. Sometimes for 3-4 days (think the most was 5 days.) unfortunately im a pretty good cook so sometimes the foods to good to.. you know... not eat even if I'm not actually that hungry LOL

 

I fast, it works. Wait 18 hrs between meals. I do it at least once a week regularly unless I am training for a bike tour then there no need.

 

What are the benefits you feel you are getting from fasting? Feel better, weight control, etc.?

 

Weight control is my reason. After 50 i ballooned up to 180+. My feel good weight is 160. I'm 5'11.998". Not a big guy. Frankly I am the runt of the litter, however the meanest of the pack. Lol.

As far as the rest I meditate and do yoga ( lots of young fit babes) so it's hard to say how much the fasting contributes.

I reread you post so I thought more info would explain. Meat is the smallest portion on my plate, if I down a porterhouse I will be using tons of TP. Same with a fast food meal. Doesn't matter what accompanies it.

Sugar is not my friend so I save it for the holidays. I use 1/2 and 1/2 instead of milk. Cook with butter often, love french cooking. I eat oatmeal often, if I dont my intestines let me know. There is always something raw on the table at dinner.

I am fortunate, it took very little real effort to lose weight, I wish the same could be said for getting in shape. I dont remember it being this painful when I was younger.

Speaking of young people;I hate you guys. Running around, drinking and smoking; and then being to run full court games all afternoon. And then go out the next night. You guys dont have to spend money to just have a little fun in the bedroom. Young dudes suck. You guys just suck

 

Fast will give the body a chance to detoxify and do maintenance that it can't do if it is always busy digesting that last meal.