Clapp On

Good advice (he said modestly)

2012-05-17T13:28:27Z

A friend of mine is on Facebook working on losing 200 lbs (starting from 420, I think he said). He asked if anyone had any nutritional tips. Well. I posted a few, and figured I'd post them here, too.

On a side note, I'm kind of surprised that pasting from FB into WordPress worked so well. Modern technology is pretty amazing.

Larry Clapp A site I like, and that helped me lose 46 lbs in 2010, is http://www.MarksDailyApple.com/ ("MDA"). I've read a lot about diet, nutrition, and exercise in the past three years, and I've found that "conventional wisdom" is often wrong. For example:
- wheat and other grains are actually not that good for you, and wheat in particular is actively bad for most people.
- The whole "gluten free" thing? Not a fad, and a good idea to at least try.
- The whole "low carb" thing? Also not a fad. (Well, okay, it was, for a while.) But it turns out that consuming too many carbs does tend to promote obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and just general poor health. "Too many" varies by individual, but < 100g/day is a good place to aim for when trying to lose weight. Contrast this to the "recommended daily intake" of *over 300g/day*!
- Eating fat doesn't "make you fat", turns out that's sugar (and probably things that taste like it, like supposedly non-caloric sweeteners).
- Skipping meals is okay, and may in fact be actively good for you. Search MDA for "fasting" and "intermittent fasting"
- The "six meals a day" thing to "keep your metabolism going" is not actually supported by the evidence.
Mark's Daily Apple
www.marksdailyapple.com
Mark Sisson's daily musings on health, nutrition, fitness, the health industry and the low-carb, paleo, Primal lifestyle.
44 minutes ago ·
Larry Clapp Here are two places I recommend that give a broad outline of what to eat, or actually what *not* to eat:http://www.archevore.com/get-started/ . The first time I read that, I thought, "that guy is whacked", but the more I read, the more it was in line with current, evidence-supported theories about diet, nutrition, and health.
Archevore - Archevore Diet
www.archevore.com
An Archevore is someone who eats based on essential principles, and also someone who hungers for essential principles. Take your pick.
41 minutes ago ·
Larry Clapp And there's http://www.gnolls.org/1141/eat-like-a-predator-not-like-prey-paleo-in-six-easy-steps-a-motivational-guide/ . "Predators eat meals, prey grazes on snacks."
"Eat Like A Predator, Not Like Prey": The Paleo Diet In Six Easy Steps, A Motivational Guide - GNOLL
www.gnolls.org
?"How does the paleo diet work?" Here's the simple, solid, and strongly motivational step-by-step guide. You can do this!
39 minutes ago ·
Larry Clapp Okay, three places: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-to-the-primal-eating-plan.

It's not an accident that all three of these guys (and their websites) are heavily into reading the actual studies (not just news stories about them); heavily into what's *practical* as opposed to some fleeting *optimal*; and (grrr) heavily, though pretty much accidentally, *opposed* to "conventional wisdom" about diet, exercise, and health.

And all three of their eating plans are similar. Imagine.
How to Eat According to the Primal Blueprint | Mark's Daily Apple
www.marksdailyapple.com
Do the Math In my recent Context of Calories post, I explained how the different...See More
31 minutes ago ·
Larry Clapp My biggest piece of advice is, only make changes that you can live with for the rest of your life.

180.0, baby!

2012-05-16T13:41:48Z

180.0. That's what the scale said this morning. Lowest since 10/6/11, when for one day I hit 179.6. The three day window was 180.4, 179.6, then 180.4 again, so I'm not sure that really counts. The last time I was consistently hovering around 180.0 was last June.

This could certainly be another outlier, but I'm happy, nevertheless. :)

[Current "goal date" on LoseIt: June 21.]

[ Update 5/17/12, the next day: 180.0 again this morning, so not a total fluke! :) ]

Steve Pavlina articles I've enjoyed so far

2012-05-14T13:25:17Z

I discovered Steve Pavlina over the weekend. He's a fascinating guy. He's clearly a nutjob in some respects, but a lot of the rest of his advice is quite practical and useful. Here are some of his articles that I enjoyed and recommend.

Overcoming Procrastination, and various articles linked from it, including: Triple Your Personal Productivity and Do It Now. This was my "doorway" into his site, and is the top hit if you Google "overcoming procrastination".
Passive Income Series (ongoing, as of this writing)
How To Make Money From Your Blog
How to Build a High-Traffic Web Site (or Blog)

Weight / fitness status, 5/14/12

2012-05-14T13:13:08Z

Week 7. Net loss so far, 8.4 lbs, down 2.8 from last Monday.

My starting weight 3/26 was 189.6

My current weight is 181.2

My goal weight is 175

My plan is to lose 1 lb per week

My calorie budget is 1,697

My goal date is June 28, 2012

My original date was July 8, 2012

I've had a cold since about last Thursday. Long story short, Friday sucked, Saturday was bad, Sunday was less bad, today is fairly okay so far. The Primal/Paleo lifestyle may provide higher resistance to disease, but it's not immunity by any means. Alas. :)

A cool page on overcoming procrastination

2012-05-14T02:08:22Z

If you Google "overcoming procrastination", this page is the first one, so this link is probably extraneous, but I liked it.

And then I read some of the rest of the site for the next three hours. Or maybe more, I forget. Very interesting stuff, if you like his style.

And if you don't, well, he doesn't care. For some reason, that amuses me. :)

But he makes the point with pretty simple math: "I get 1M hits a month. Out of that, some people are bound to hate what I've written, and frankly there's nothing I can do about that. So I write what I write, and if you like it, come back, and if you don't, don't. What could be fairer than that?" (Paraphrased.)

New low, relatively speaking

2012-05-12T16:03:13Z

Weighed in this morning at 181.2. I have a cold and am probably dehydrated, but, that said, I haven't weighed this little since late October of last year. Yay. :)

Calories in, calories out

2012-05-09T17:35:40Z

I just wanted to put on paper (so to speak :) some thoughts on CI/CO. If you've read GCBC none of this will be new.

Some people in the dietary sphere like to insist that "it's all about the calories", or words to that effect. Gary Taubes argues that it has to do with how you metabolize different kinds of foods, and that it's not only about the calories. His critics tend to argue back about the 2nd law of thermodynamics and how if you expend more than you consume, you'll lose weight, QED.

So I'd like to present some edge cases that prove that whether and how your body metabolizes what you consume is important.

Can you eat U238? No. Lots of energy there, though.

Can you eat crude oil? No. Lots of energy there, though.

Can you drink gasoline? No. Lots of energy there.

So it's apparent that your body can digest certain things and can't digest other things. So why is it so hard for some people to grasp that your body digests different things differently? While it may not be all about the insulin, it's a lot about the insulin.

Weight / fitness status, 5/8/12

2012-05-08T13:37:39Z

Today is Tuesday; I'm a day late, alas.

Week 6. Net loss so far, 5.8 lbs, up 0.5 lbs from last week.

My starting weight 3/26 was 189.6

My current weight is 183.8. (Yesterday, Monday, was 184.)

My goal weight is 175

My plan is to lose 1 lb per week

My calorie budget is 1,716

My goal date is July 10, 2012

My original date was July 8, 2012

Sort-of IF'd last Tuesday: coffee for breakfast, 3 oz cheese for lunch, 2.5 oz nuts as a snack, then dinner. Pigged out last Wednesday; ~2k calories over budget just for that day. IF'd last Thursday: coffee for breakfast, no lunch, then dinner.

IF'ing today: coffee for breakfast, no lunch, then dinner. Well, that's the plan, anyway. :)

Good lines ...

2012-05-08T13:18:58Z

Maurice Sendak, Author of 'Where the Wild Things Are,' Dies at 83. :(

The NY Times had this to say about him, among other things:

"Roundly praised, intermittently censored and occasionally eaten, Mr. Sendak's books were essential ingredients of childhood for the generation born after 1960 or thereabouts ... ."

I love that line. :)

Weight / fitness status, 4/30/12

2012-04-30T13:17:52Z

Week 5. Net loss so far, 6.1 lbs, down 1.7 from last week.

My starting weight 3/26 was 189.6

My current weight is 181.5 (except this scale reads 2lbs low compared to my regular one, so really 183.5 or so). Hit 182 (adjusted) yesterday morning; up 1.5 lbs since then.

My goal weight is 175

My plan is to lose 1 lb per week

My calorie budget is 1,700 (except LoseIt thinks I weigh 2 lbs less than I do)

My goal date is June 16, 2012 (ditto)

My original date was July 8, 2012

Sort-of IF'd last Friday: coffee for breakfast, and 3 oz cheese for lunch, then regular dinner.

Weight / fitness status, 4/23/12

2012-04-23T13:04:50Z

Week 4. Net loss so far, 4.4 lbs, down 2.2 from last week.

My starting weight 3/26 was 189.6

My current weight is 185.2

My goal weight is 175

My plan is to lose 1 lb per week

My calorie budget is 1,725

My goal date is July 5, 2012

My original date was July 8, 2012

It seems to take a long time, but, you know, at this rate, at the end of May I'll be at 180, then at the end of June I'll be almost to my goal. "Slow and steady wins the race." :)

Tangent: Googling the above quote finds that it's from Aesop's The Tortoise and the Hare. Another interesting Aesop quote that gets less air time: "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." :)

"The Catholic Bishops Lobby Against Legislation to Protect Children"

2012-04-20T02:15:18Z

"[B]ishops are lobbying in many states to block legal reform that would protect children from sex abuse"

http://verdict.justia.com/2012/04/19/the-catholic-bishops-lobby-against-legislation-to-protect-children

What. The. Fuck?

First fast update: the morning after

2012-04-18T12:36:08Z

Woke up ~3am with, of all things, ankle pain. Cramp? Dunno. May've been fast-related, maybe not. (Definitely wasn't hydration related; I'm positive I was sufficiently hydrated! :) Probably was fast-related, though, as I don't recall ever having this happen before. If I do this again, and wake up with leg pain again, I'll think about vitamins while fasting.

Aside from that, no worries so far. I'm not, like, ravenously hungry or anything. I'm enjoying my coffee with cream on a (very) empty stomach. :)

Confessions of a neophyte faster

2012-04-18T01:18:30Z

Pardon me while I pat myself on the back. ;)

Mark Sisson inspired me to try fasting today. I had dinner last night ~9pm (it's now ~24 hours later), and all I've had since then was 3 cups of coffee with cream.

It's gone fairly well. I've been "low carb" (more or less) for over two years, and my wife and I frequently skip breakfast (semi-consciously following something similar to Sisson's "Eat WHEN" protocol: Eat When Hunger Ensues Naturally), so my body is, I believe, fairly accustomed to living on its own energy store (i.e. fat :). We don't have a name for our "protocol", we just say "when you're hungry, eat; when you're not ... don't."

My biggest problem is the "don't think of an elephant" problem: I'm fasting, and I know I'm fasting, so it's hard to not think about food. But, as near as I can tell, that's the primary reason food is on my brain, not, as one might otherwise expect, actual hunger. :) And if I am hungry, well, who'd've guessed.

I did something that might not normally be advised for a first-time faster, and went to the grocery store on the way home from work. I did so deliberately, however, with a specific target in mind: I'm almost out of tea at work. So I got some more, and also some heavy cream for my coffee tomorrow, since work only stocks "Coffee Mate".

My last meal was at Hamburger Hamlet; among other things, I had a cheeseburger with bacon, which I ate open faced, i.e. sans bun. That cheeseburger, from Hamburger Hamlet, mind you, was noticeably less good than the cheeseburger I had last weekend at Laishley's Crab House, a seafood joint. ಠ_ಠ

My wife and I came up with the idea of logging water in LoseIt as a flag that I'm fasting, as opposed to just not logging. She's very smart. <3 Having actually done it, it occurred to me to just create a custom food, so I did that too / instead. :)

Fasting

2012-04-16T13:31:14Z

Mark Sisson wrote a nice series on fasting. Part 5 is here with links to parts 1-4.

I'm planning to try it this week, skipping food (except coffee! :) Tuesday or Thursday or both.