Lowery: Questions & Recipes

Diet and Nutrition
21

Jilly,
After a prolonged period of kcal restriction be cognizant of a slower metabolic rate for some time (especially if you cut more than 25-30% below your baseline, original intake or are currently more than 10% below usual body weight).

It might be prudent to keep your records pretty tight and your cardio up as you s l o w l y add calories back in to your diet. How slowly? Don’t know for sure; perhaps over a period similar to the length of the original diet? The million dollar question that no one can answer for everyone is “how long before one’s metabolism agrees to a new, truly lower body mass set point”. Genetic difference in leptin and T3 responses to dieting/ refeeding are examples of how we all differ.

After competing at extreme leanness a few times in my life, I’ve decided NOT to get too lean again (staying above 8% for me), as it starts to look like yo-yo dieting over a few years (writing a new article on this right now!). This loss/ gain cycle, even if not emotionally the same as repeat failed diets in yo-yo syndrome, could still awaken baby fat cells (“pre-adipocytes”) and leave lasting metabolic consequences.

With quality dietary and exercise choices and a patient return to higher kcal intake, I think a new body fat set point may indeed be possible, as evidenced by those few successful dieters out there.

In fact, I’d like to know what others think about the length of this vaguely defined and often ignored “post-diet” period!

22

alwyn96,
Yep, she’s pretty much right (there are always messy confounders to consider). Genetic variance in hepatic LDL receptors helps explain why some folks can live on real butter and bacon while boasting a total Cholesterol of like 160mg/dl… while others run closer to 270 despite exercise efforts, oatmeal and corrogated breakfast twigs.

Still, total cholesterol readings work on a sliding scale and lower is indeed considered better, even if blood lipids certainly aren’t the end-all-be-all of cardiovascular risk - even when considering HDL, its subfractions and various lipid particle sizes.

I’ve used a cool little game called Risko in classess before to give students a way to grossly assess all the messy factors leading to CHD. Notable to a male weightlifter, T-glorifying community is the HDL-lowering effects of androgens (Risko makes it practical as “stocky balding male”). Still, given its pros and cons, I’ll take high-normal T levels any day.

23

Hi Doc

Thanks for your time here.

In your experience, what is the best bulking diet to follow for Skinny-fat type of people? It really becomes ugly looking when your whole body looks like a toothpick compared to your gut.

Furthermore, what about cutting? I am right now following the VDiet and having great success on it, but from the looks of it my whole body will be ripped save for the middle part.

Now regarding your previous post on slowly increasing calorie intake when coming off a diet, I was wondering by around how much extra can you increase the cals per day/per week should one take extra supplementation, such as Carbolin 19 and/or HOT-ROX.

Once again, thanks for your response!

24

juninho,
Thanks for the recipe! I need to copy and paste some of these into a Word doc. I’m always on the lookout for fish recipes (even have a whole book dedicated to fish) because it can be a lot like vegetables…

…really gross (greyish canned green beans and slimy, skin-adhered fillets) or fabulous olive oil and herb-sauteed colored zucchini, broccoli, etc. served with flakey white crunchy flavored fillets.

I once had a food prep prof who said “presentation is everything”.

25

fragfeaster777,
Not especially briefly…

Bulking for “skinny-fat” persons: Tough issue and probably better addressed by keeping one’s existing kcal the same or just slightly higher while choosing better quality foods (e.g. more n-3 fats and olive oil to replace some of the omega-6 and all those trans fats… more fruits and vegetables to replace much of the bread, lower-fat dairy, way-less junk food, etc., etc.). Quality vs. just quantity is a real issue. Also, a more appropriate carb vs. fat “fuel mix”, depending on one’s family history, personal diet experiences, blood work, etc. may help tremendously - for example, if one is glucose intolerant or has high fasting insulin or diabetic relatives, he might consider replacing a third of his carbs with healthy fats (with professional guidance from a dietitian or physician for example).

Cutting isues: It’s tough to hear but often a person’s targeted areas are often the last to come off. I’ve heard clients/ patients/ friends complain of this. I’ve even seen competitors have to virtually SHRED every other body part before the stubborn zones start to come off. Hence, the best approach to spare muscle and sanity is to learn patience, set realistic goals for that body part (e.g. half of the skin fold progress that one might hope for initially) and consider other contributing factors like hormones (e.g. cortisol), tweaked exercise choices, durations, cycles, etc.

Refeeding increments: this depends on what the original and eventual (targeted, long term) kcal totals are but something like this might be a reasonable example for a guy:[i]

Orig diet: 3000kcal

Restriction for 16 weeks: slowly down to 2000kcal by end

Refeed: two-three weeks at 2200-2300, two-three more weeks at 2400-2500, two-three more weeks at 2600-2700, two more at 2800… perhaps stopping there for a month or two see if one’s metabolism is indeed achieving “rehab”.[/i]

Again, this is a generalistic GUESS. Unfortunately, speculation is sometimes called for. Believe me, I wish there was published consensus on how to best do this but “target date diets” and “weight reduction kick-off diets” are generally disfavored for non-obese persons. (Gradual lifestyle changes and patience really are best.)

26

In your “Inflammatory” article, you mentioned that you sometimes took up to 3g of fish oil per day.

  1. At what point would you take less and what are the factors that go into whether you would take more or less, and

  2. You mean 3g of just fish oil, right? Not 3g of Omega-3?

Thanks for taking these questions!

p.s. I believe my girlfriend is meeting with Walt Willett as we speak. Very exciting for her!

27

If it’s just me asking questions, I guess I’ll keep going! Hope you don’t mind!

When I was younger, I was pretty seriously overweight. About 230 or so at 5’8". Then my junior year of high school I dropped down to 140 and now at 26 I’m a more muscular 160. The thing is, there is just a lot of stubborn fat around my sides and waist. Is there anything I can do about this or am I pretty much stuck with it?

I’m doing the P+F and P+C meals and eating very healthily and I’m doing Waterbury’s programs hopefully at least semi-correctly, yet I can’t seem to lose the last bits.

I’m afraid you’re going to say there’s not much more I can do…

28

Walt Willett, eh? Harvard FGP critic, right? He’s a brave man taking on the USDA and whatnot, but I tend to agree with his views quite a lot.

I vary fish oil intake based on habitual food-sources of n-3 fats at any given time - for example, salmon and ground flax. If my diet is providing it, the supplement sources get dropped considerably. (I get paranoid about food source [fish] contamination occasionally though.) I was in fact referring to a maximum of 3.0 g combined EPA+DHA but this dose is high enough that I have only gone there during periods of heavy frequent lifting and subsequent inflammation (I have chronic elbow tendonitis and morning stiffness from probable osteoarthritis after 20+ years of heavy lifting). One can find comparable doses in the literature fairly often but I would never push doses beyond what makes a person comfortable and seeing benefits. I’ve slowly determined the intake that’s helpful to me personally. Despite the fact that many gurus and coaches suggest 6-10 g omega-3 fatty acids daily, I just will not do that entirely via fish oils. Despite very low-toxicity, I am a dietary moderate by comparison. I’m personally shooting for more of a 4:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3, even if I don’t always measure it exactly.

29

Thanks for the reply. Looks like this is going to take a little more research and planning than I realized. Any especially good articles I should check-out? A rough plan seems to be to figure out my new maintenance calorie range (BW x 13???) and slowly work my way up to it while keeping up with the cardio.

When I reach my goal, I will have lost about 25lbs (of fat) and will weigh 125-130 at roughly 15-18%BF (will get tested). Started eating well in Feb and started V-Diet this week (for 2 weeks only) to lose the last 10lbs.

I would like to discontinue HOT-ROX at some point, seems like I should continue until the “ramp up” is over? I’m also considering trying Methoxy-7 at that time - thoughts?

I read a book a while back about post-partum weight loss. I don’t remember the details except that he said that this is one of the few times in a woman’s life that they can reset their bodyweight “set point”. Something about losing the weight within the first year, I believe. Ever heard of this? Sound plausible?

Thanks so much!

30

I think I misread your question. My bad. Maybe I should clarify: I have consumed between roughly a gram per day and three grams per day of combined EPA+DHA via supplements. If I’m really digging my flax and oats and walnuts (not so much anymore) and get-in 2 to 3 tbsp. flaxseed daily along with salmon for dinner, I usually don’t sweat it and feel comfortable consuming the low end or even (gasp!) no supplemental fish oil.

Of course linoleate is different, “weaker” and reportedly unique metabolically compared to EPA and DHA (which themselves differ) but I don’t nitpick too much nowadays.

31

Dr. L:

There was an intriguing tidbit that Chris brought up from a talk delivered at the last ACSM conference that I’d wonder if you could expound on.

“…When your body lacks micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), blood lactate builds up faster and VO2 shows a 12% reduction…”

I read this to say that diet in fact not only affects our aerobic capacity…but affects it greatly (even if we are meeting energy requirements).

Now…it may have been dumb to think so…but WITHIN LIMITS (of course if you are starving, you don’t have energy for much), I didn’t think that diet (especially as it related to vitamins and minerals) affected our aerobic capacity that much.

Any more insights on this Dr. L?

Thanks!

Mufasa

32

Could you please take a look at my post titled, Calorie Recomendations"? Thanks a bunch.

33

Jilly,
As far as metabolism-boosting supplements, some people find them helpful, and during periods of known depressed metabolism, this could be even more important. (As just one example, it’s hard to just move about during the day if you’re fatigued. That lowers total energy expenditure, TEE… not helpful when one is using activity to compensate for a slower BMR from a diet.) Are supplements 100% necessary, no. Do they have their place? I think so, if attention is paid not to make them a crutch or get psychologicaly dependent on them. As with anything, moderation, eh?

I’ve seen by your posts that many of your dietary and activity choices are already smart, though. Cy can probably give you much more info on the particular formulae your considering.

Regarding post-partum set point modification… alas, I don’t know. I’ll look into it, as there may be facinating hormonal clues in those data, though!

34

Hey Mufasa,
Vitamins and minerals are the “sparkplugs of metabolism” (cofactors) helping 100s of enzymes in many biochemical pathways. I can see why metabolic end-products like lactate may build up, when pyruvate fails to readily enter the TCA, for example. (…although… lactate has gotten a bum-rap and isn’t the bad guy many believe it to be!)

My thoughts on this statement are that 1.) actual vite/min deficiencies are rare in Western culture but 2.) one doesn’t need to have a full-blown clinical deficiency to have some level of below-optimal function. This is one reason I am a fan of a daily (or mostly daily) multi-vitamin/mineral supplement as an “insurance policy” because even I don’t eat perfectly.

35

[quote]the MaxX wrote:
Hey there,

Two quick questions:

  1. I would like to hear your take on the “No more than 3 egg yolks a week because of too much cholesterol” statement that is being thrown around by nutritionists these days.

  2. What do you know about the effects of Vitamin C post-workout?

Thanks much![/quote]

You wouldn’t happen to have any new and astonishing details on question number 2 would you? How about your professional take on it if that is not the case?

Thanks again!

36

Aaallrighty then,
It’s getting late and I’m outta here. Thanks for the discussion!

LL