Welcome to fat fighters.. 2020 .. Double Digits.. - The Bear and Badger

b0r1s

Saturated fats from meat are ok. Trans fats are what you need to avoid. Basically stick with healthy fats. Coconut oil, butter (organic is better), fats in fish and meat, egg yolks. Oh and as I've said many a time I love me some full fat Greek yoghurt.

But yeah sugar is a killer.

hylian_elf

Yeah I've stopped avoiding fat except trans fat, which not may use now anyway?

My go to for fats:
Nuts (whole cashews and peanut butter in particular)
Seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, hemp, linseed etc)
Avocado
Olives
Yoghurts (mostly Greek)
Salmon

b0r1s

I do like a good nut. But I do get greedy with them and the calories just rack up so I am avoiding them for the next few months.

I'm just on yoghurt and the odd bit of meat fat for now. Oh and butter on my toast in the morning.

hylian_elf

Butter on toast is a given. Mine isn't organic but it is at least 100% butter.

b0r1s

Mine isn't at the moment. Asda had a massive block for £1.50. I probably buy organic every other month.

Dan

Coconut is great, especially pre intense training.

The lauric acid promotes fat burn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauric_acid

Oily fish and cheese are meant to do the same.

So I wouldn't just avoid saturated fats, as coconut oil and lauric acid are saturated.

Medium chain fatty acids all the way (avoid long chain).

It will raise your cholesterol, but good stuff (HDL), so that actually contributes to an improved cholesterol profile; it's the ratio of HDL to LDL that's important, not the actual level apparently.

Gotta disagree on animal fats though, I try to avoid them as much as possible.

Certainly not as bad as trans fats, hydrogenated, and partially hydrogenated, and didn't do the Inuits any harm it seems, but I'd totally prioritise Avocado, Salmon, Almonds, Coconut, and other sources of healthy fats over it.

Also, don't cook with olive oil! It has a low smoke point, and gets really unhealthy when fried with.
So should be used cold only, e.g. as a salad dressing.

Rice bran oil came up tops when I did my research on oils, and it's much cheaper than rape seed oil etc. (and arguably much better).

Peanuts aren't a nut (it's a legume) and arguably aren't great. Almond butter and the like are much better, but really expensive!

I've bought all sorts of nut butters, and they can work well spread on celery etc. but given the calories and expense, better to just eat some whole nuts every now and again I think.

Tahini is very healthy, and more affordable.

And yeah, sugar's like crack. Also, sugar will make you hungry again. Fats won't, they'll help keep you full. So agree on concentrating on reducing sugar over fat.

Fats are expensive in calorie terms though, so reducing them can make a real difference.

Once you reduce sugar a lot of commercial treats start tasting horrible.
I can't even enjoy bounties any more - way too sweet for me.
I can't believe the amount of sugar they stuff in things like cheap chocolate, it just tastes nasty. But I guess that's the average taste?
It's nuts. I'll happily munch half a great fruit like an orange, but common snacks taste nasty.

Think I should cut out more junk again.
Been successfully skipping breakfast every day though, straight into a healthy lunch (followed by something like cake, oops).

hylian_elf

If peanuts aren't nuts then neither are almonds I guess.

Both peanut and almond butter have their pros and cons but I just prefer the taste of peanut butter. Mmmmm.

b0r1s

On the meat fats it's not every day. But a couped times a week I might have steak or lamb.

Can't remember the last time I had a normal chocolate bar. I had some chocolate at Easter but it was dark. Only sweet thing I have now is the ocassional protein bar which I'm sure is full of saccharin so isn't great but only when I'm stuck and can't get from the gym for a shake.

hylian_elf

I eat dates and have some honey with my egg on toast etc.

Some dark choc after lunch, small amount of 60% Green & Blacks.

hylian_elf

Red meat once a week.

Dan

hylian_elf wrote:

If peanuts aren't nuts then neither are almonds I guess.

Both peanut and almond butter have their pros and cons but I just prefer the taste of peanut butter. Mmmmm.

An almond is technically a seed, but the point is seeds and nuts are alkali like veg.
Peanuts are a legume and acid forming.
So meant to be considerably worse.
Some go as far as saying not to eat legumes.

Last I checked the nutrional profile of tahini was far better. Sesame seeds are pretty pointless, but pulverised as they are in tahihi have a lot of benefits.
It is an acquired taste though, as more bitter.

Almonds are generally seen as the best "nut"

But yeah, peanut butter's tasty and much better than most snacks.

Yeah, I was doing the dark chocolate only thing before. Will have to return to that. So much better.

Lord_Griff

Lots of salt and sugar in peanut butter. Careful.

Dan

Depends on the product. Salt quantity in the decent ones with added salt and nothing else is neglible, and only around 25% of the population are actually sensitive to salt apparently (as in, has any effect on their blood pressure).

But yeah, peanut butter's mainstream, so comes in trashy varieties, while nut butters and even tahini (which you can get in the supermarket still) are more health/wholefood/specialist, so tend to have oil floating on the top, and nothing added other than perhaps a pinch of sea salt.

But you can easily buy peanut butter like that too (just perhaps not in the supermarche)
Meridian etc. are decent brands.

Some peanut butter like whole earth contains palm oil to homogenise it.

Anyway, read up a bit and the reasons peanut butter's meant to be bad:

High in Omega 6 (which we generally have too much of already in the diet)
Acid forming
Can contain aflatoxins - a known carcinogen (although far less than unprocessed peanuts apparently).

Skerret

Top flight organic peanut butter is a joy, sparingly. Expensive as fuck but o so worth it.

hylian_elf

Lord_Griff wrote:

Lots of salt and sugar in peanut butter. Careful.

Do you mean added salt and sugar? Zero in mine. Meridian 100% peanuts and nothing else.

Dan

Aye, Merdian's good, got the same stuff. If there were added salt, and even sugar, it'd be pretty low to be fair - basically negligible.

It's cereal and stuff that has a surprising amount of salt in it. Ready meals people might expect, rice crispies less so.

For example, I could well be wrong, but I think there's more salt in a normal serving of some cereals than there is in ready salted crisps.

hylian_elf

Yeah I'm wary of salt content in cereal. I love my cereal so I reduce salt elsewhere. I scream at my wife when she adds salt to my meals.

b0r1s

Well weight is continuing to drop. After doing medium amount of carbs week before last I reduced to low carbs last week and lost 8lbs. Sub 16st now. Less than 3st to go. I did notice the difference in strength though. Felt quite weaker. Gonna put a bit more bread and sweet potat back in diet and see what effect it has on performance.

hylian_elf

I'm up to 76.4kg / 12st (wrong thread / direction, I know), I seem to go up and down by couple of pounds here and there but generally an up trend. Some people have said I look thinner than before so hopefully it's muscle I'm packing on. I personally feel I've gained a mm or so on tummy though.

b0r1s

It's possibly the back widening effect. Makes your waist look smaller hence thinner maybe?

Nina

Dan wrote:

And yeah, well done Nina! Could argue it's less interesting terrain but think it's great over there for cycling and blading. Would love less hilly terrain!

I kinda like the terrain over here, but then, I love water. There are quite a few interesting places around Amsterdam, all very Dutch. There's a certain calmness to the environment.
I don't like the wind when on a dike though. Killed me tonight, one of the others in the group joined me so I could avoid the wind a bit. Then I managed to fall over when we had a pause to discuss where to go next. Just randomly fell, best way to look professional... I work at a bike shop so it's always my boss and me and whoever wants to join in Tuesday nights.
Still, did it again and feel good about that. I don't really like cardio, but I can accept it in this form. Plus, my boss read something that people who do cardio make extra brain cells, while people that do strength training don't. Tested with rats, but I had to hear about that the whole day.

superflyninja

Im back at the gym. Started last week. Its kinda odd with the weight side of it. Feels strange going back being considerably weaker than when I left but its all uphill from here

Feel good though. Finishing a workout and feeling great! Still fasting and have greatly reduced snack intake.Here's hoping that this is finally rthe time I shift the weight.(again).

b0r1s

Good luck Ninja, keep at it mate!

GooberTheHat

Ive stepped up my gym sessions again recently. I'm stuck at 98kg. I did manage to get down to 96 last year but it's not budged south from there since. I might need to hit the weights a bit for the extra weight loss but I don't really want to bulk at all.

The Daddy

Eat less food?

GooberTheHat

Cheers.

The Daddy

No probs!

Actually, in a more legitimate advice frame of mind, giving up dairy helped me keep weight off. Generally I would rise to 12.5/13st when I stopped training, but these days I can more or less maintain 12stone more easily.

Alternatively could you focus strength training on less "bulky" areas, like core stuff?

GooberTheHat

I do a lot of core stuff already, I try to be very careful about what I eat.

Any reason why cutting out dairy helps.

The Daddy

No idea. Just helped me keep weight off. Really only affects my morning cereal, coffees and not having cheese with stuff.

b0r1s

Fat is calorific. So eating an amount of cheese and same amount of veg there will be more calories in the fatty cheese even if it's good stuff like Feta. Having said that I personally cut down on carbs first. Works for me.

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