Godot

Weighting for Godot

I saw a picture of a bunch of people in our community newsletter and there was a somewhat chubby guy who I did not recognize, and then I realized it was me. Gulp. I wrestled at 129 lbs in high school and now I am 188 and no longer have a waist!  It did not match my internal view of myself.  

This is my experience of managing my weight.

Well that picture was the motivation for me. I put it on my wall and charged off on the highly recommended reduced calorie diet. 

After TWO YEARS of trying the “reduced calorie” diet, I failed over and over each week. What was wrong with me? Do I lack self-discipline? 

Finally, I got angry and did some serious research on dieting. Successful dieting seems to cluster around a low carbohydrate diet.  I bought this book: “Living Low Carb” By Jonny Bowden The link to the book on Amazon ($15 in paperback!):

http://www.amazon.ca/Living-Low-Carb-Controlled-Carbohydrate-Long-Term/dp/1454903511/

He has written several books with similar titles, so use the link above.

I read it carefully and it blew my mind. It covered the side-effects of a high-carb diet, and they are all bad:

  o  Food Cravings (You know that feeling that you just GOTTA have more of THAT!)
  o  Heart Problems (issues with clogged arteries, valves, etc.)
  o  Blood Chemistry issues (High levels of bad stuff like Cholesterol, insulin, etc.)
  o  Weight Gain, Joint issues, Diabetes, Etc.

The book, gave me an understanding of how my body processes and reacts to the foods I eat. All of these findings are backed by studies that are available in the scientific literature.  

Below are some key learnings:

CRAVINGS:

This is the secret.  Cravings are why the “reduced calorie” diet failed for me. Cravings make dieting really hard. 

What are cravings? Cravings make you really long for a food. It can feel like satisfying an addiction. In fact, Yale showed that people can exhibit addiction-like behaviors toward high-carb, high-sugar foods. 

My experience reflected this addictive nature. I would suffer from reduced calorie dieting all week resisting cravings like crazy and then break down Friday night and eat an entire box of Sugar Frosted Flakes; bowl after bowl and it was absolutely delicious!!!! Thus an entire week of diet suffering was made useless by that need to feel “GGRR-RREAT!”  

You will really understand cravings when they are totally gone. Remember what they feel like, as it will be a guide for you. You will periodically go “Oh, my cravings are up.” and manage them accordingly to where you are and what you want to do. 

I was eating far too many carbs on my “reduced calorie” diet. This was the absolutely key for me. Once I could manage the cravings, using the knowledge from the book, I could manage my weight. Finally.

CARB TYPES:

There are two types of carbs: 

Simple Carbs:  These are things like sugar; white flour, bread & rice; candy; cereal, etc. These cause your insulin level to spike up very quickly and then your body crashes when all the carbs are burned. At our house, we would have a nice breakfast of pancakes with syrup and an hour later all four of us would be napping. 

Complex Carbs:  These are much better for you as they raise your insulin levels much more slowly. These are things like: vegetables, beans, whole grain breads, etc. (eat these foods, not sugars, when you have carbs.)

There are two measures that attempt to quantify carb intensity. Personally, I did not find them useful: The Glycemic Index is an attempt to measure the impact of a food on your insulin response. A higher glycemic index means a less complex carb. Think of this as how HIGH your insulin level will spike. The Glycemic Load is the total area under the curve (how much insulin will be needed to process the carbs…)

FOOD ENERGY:

There is a core system that your body uses to get energy from food and it uses two primary sources:

  • Carbs: if you eat carbs, then you burn them for energy. Excess carbs are stored as fat.
  • Fat: if you can’t burn carbs for energy, then your body will burn fat for energy.
  • Proteins: these can provide some energy, but are mostly used for building cells.

Your body prefers carbs for energy because they are easier to burn; thus if you have fat AND carbs in your blood stream, then the carbs are burned first, and fat is stored.

YOUR ENERGY HORMONES:

There are two hormones in your body that provide it with energy:

Insulin – Burns carbs for energy; stores excess carbs as fat. If glucose (from carbs) goes up in your blood, then your body produces this hormone.

Glucagon – Burns fat for energy. Fat storage is suppressed. (The presence of Insulin shuts down the production of this hormone, so you don’t burn fat.)

PICK A MODE:

So basically, your body will be in one of two modes:

Carb burning mode: Insulin is the dominant energy management hormone. Carbs are burned for energy and fat is stored. In Carb burning mode, the hormone Glucagon is suppressed (reduced in your blood stream) and Insulin is elevated, because there are carbs to burn. By reducing carbs, you will decrease Insulin levels, which allows Glucagon levels to rise.

Fat burning mode: Glucagon is the dominant energy management hormone. Fat is burned not stored.  If you are in “Fat Burning Mode”, and you do not have fat to burn in your blood stream, then fat is pulled out of storage and burned. This is a good thing for weight loss.

Consequences:

  • If you eat lots of carbs, you are in carb burning mode and fat is stored. If you eat too much, you gain weight.
  • If you eat high fat, but without carbs, you will be in fat burning mode and will not store fat.
  • If you eat high fat AND high carbs, you will develop health problems.
  • If you eat low-carb and cut down your total calories eaten, you will be in fat burning mode, you will not have cravings and you will burn your fat reserves thus losing weight. BINGO.

All you need is a little discipline, not the will of God.

SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

1) Check out where you are:

Look at an online BMI calculator such as the one below: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm .

2) READ INGREDIENT LABELS

You will start to read the ingredient labels on all the foods you buy.  Carbs begat Carbs:  The more carbs you eat, the more carbs you want. Vendors want to sell more product, so they will add sugars to EVERYTHING. So as a consequence the population gets overweight. It is not a conspiracy, its just vendors offering what we consumers are demanding. 

Sugar is the worst carb you can have, so make sure it is nowhere near the front of the ingredients list. 

Forms of Sugar: sucrose, glucose, fructose, dextrose, agave, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

In order to keep sugar from showing up as the first ingredient, many products use a combination of the many forms of sugar. So a label that lists ingredients of: “{something healthy}, glucose, fructose, dextrose, High Fructose Corn Syrup, …” is mostly sugar, not the healthy thing. Check the carbs and calories.

3) READ THE NUTRITION FACTS LABEL

Most foods have one of these labels on them and you will get good at understanding them. Here’s how:

The first thing to look at is the “Total Carbohydrates 13g” line. Then look at the top for the “Serving Size” of 113g. Lastly, you may want to look at some other entries like calories and/or sodium, but the carbs and total grams are what you key in on.

Since fiber is not digested, you should subtract the grams of fiber from the total carbohydrates to know how many carbs are in the food. In the example label above, the total grams is 113, and the grams of carbohydrate is 13. However the dietary fiber is 1, so by subtracting the fiber, the real carbohydrates you are going to get are 12. Thus this food is (12 g carbs / 113 g total) or 10.6% carbs. Over time, you will develop a general sense of “carb density” by the type of food. For this label, I would just calculate 12 g carbs / 113 g food  and approximate at 10% and the inaccuracy is not material.

Now you need to consider how much of it you will eat, so you note the “Servings Per Container” is 4. If you eat the entire package (all 4 servings), then you get 4 times the numbers on the label (e.g. 12 x 4 = 48 g of carbs.) If you eat one serving (4 oz.), then you get just the 12 grams of carbs. Note that the total calories are 280, so your “1 serving” is only 280 calories, but if you eat the whole package then you get 4 times all those numbers, so 1,120 calories and 48 grams of carbs. Eating the whole container means you will already have blown your daily limit of carbs! 

So now you need to decide how much of it you are going to eat. You know the percentage of the food that is carbs; and the total weight, so you can estimate the total number of carbs that you are consuming and you can assess the impact of it on your body.  

4) LIVE LOW CARB

The title of the book is “Living Low Carb” and that is the way to go. You are NOT on a diet. If you go back to eating the way you have been eating, you will soon come back to the same weight.

You just need to make choices that do not include a lot of carbs.  I found myself eating a lot of meats and cheeses and avoiding all sugars as a general way of being.

THE CORE TECHNIQUE: 

  1. Switch your body into fat burning mode: – Keep daily carbs below 40 grams for 3 days. Avoid simple carbs completely.
  2. After three days, you can bump the limit up to staying under 60 grams of carbs per day. your body switches to fat burning mode and your cravings are gone.
  3. Once you no longer have cravings, you can cut back portions to reduce calories.
  4. If you binge on carbs, (Christmas, Halloween, Super Bowl, etc.) no problem, just go back to step 1) and repeat.

For the first 3 days, eat as much as you want to satisfy your hunger, but stay below 40 grams of carbs. You have to put up with cravings during this period, but they will go away in three days. This technique is a lifelong practice to live low carb.  If the cravings are not gone in 3 days, then you may need to watch your carb count a bit better.

Once you reach your target weight, then stay under 60 grams of carbs per day as a general practice to completely avoid cravings.  Obviously, you will have occasions to eat carbs and enjoy them, (I love Pad Thai!) but now you know how to get rid of the cravings they produce to keep from overeating. You can never go back to full-time, high-quantity, high-carb eating. It just doesn’t work for humans.

Personally, my experience exactly matched what the book described, but not everyone is the same. (I was maniacal about the 40 gm limit.) My cravings disappeared and without cravings, I could cut back drastically on calories and lose weight (1/2 pound per day!)

About Your Health: Before I did this, I had slightly high blood levels for all the things the doctors test for (like cholesterol), within the normal range but high. By switching to a low-carb diet, ALL of the blood measures went to exactly normal. I can’t remember the actual numbers, but suppose my cholesterol level was 230 and 200 was exactly normal, after six months of a low carb diet, my tests came back at 200 exactly. That was true for ALL my blood test numbers!

Within 6 weeks I went from 188 to 160. (I gave up alcohol for that period because it had too many calories.) My speed on the soccer field went up dramatically. I felt better. I looked better. I had more energy. MY wife used the word “handsome” again…

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

DRINK LOTS OF WATER! This is a must. It makes you feel fuller, and often thirst is perceived as hunger. The kidneys and liver are the prime organs in fat burning, and they need water to function well. Water helps increase fat loss, flushes byproducts from your system and helps prevent constipation. Minimum 8 glasses a day, but 10 or more is better.

Remember the 20 MINUTE RULE: Once your body has had enough to eat, it takes 20 minutes for that information to get to your brain. If you keep on eating, then you are eating more than you need. Learn to see how much food is enough and just eat that amount. In 20 minutes, you will feel fully satisfied. (Your stomach will shrink too, so you feel full sooner.) Learn to stop eating when your brain says that was enough, not your fullness signals from your body.  have had

Learn to Recognize Cravings as separate from basic hunger. That feeling of unmitigated and overwhelming desire is probably a craving. Have you blown over 60 grams recently? Go back to step 1) 

Pay attention to quantities. I generally eat about a fist sized portion of a main dish like meat or stew and another fist or two of a salad and/or fresh vegetables.  Your fist may be larger or smaller than mine, but a fist is a good size to use for measuring your quantities. This practice will eventually shrink your stomach and you will feel full sooner.  I find that an order of Pad Thai is good for about three meals for me, whereas I used to eat the whole thing in one meal. Now I am too full to eat more than half. Quantities are where the calories come from.

Eat on Smaller Plates. No kidding. Eat on a side-dish plate, not the big plate. I do it all the time. It feels like more. You know it’s not, a fist sized portion on a side plate looks more substantial. 

Use low calorie sweeteners – we use Sodium Cyclamate or Saccharine, but do your own research, and don’t over-consume them.  

Ideas for Breakfast, since you can’t have cereal include: Fry up ¼ cooking onion for interest, add 2 Eggs, salt, pepper and grate a bit of cheese on it. Delicious.  Other breakfast ideas include sausages, bacon, steak, Quiche (skip the crust) etc.

For Snacks: think of fruits, vegetables, nuts, cheeses. Avoid things in a wrapper or a box. When out and seeing snacks: buy nuts (read the label); water; some vendors have fruit – Corner store: Fruit, sliced meat, cheeses, bottled water. – A few nuts or a little bit of cheese will help deal with cravings or an energy crash. Just have a few, not the whole bag! And move your mind elsewhere for 20 minutes. Do a puzzle. See what works for you, but be honest with yourself.

When Eating out: Target protein at every meal. Be creative and substitute out the carbs.

  • Hamburger Joint: substitute a salad for the fries, toss the bun and just eat the burger
  • Breakfast sandwich: just eat the egg and cheese, throw away the bun.
  • Pasta joint: suggest another restaurant!
  • Steak and fries: substitute vegetables or salad for the fries, double vegetables
  • Restaurants will substitute salads or extra vegetables for potato, rice, pasta, just ask.
  • In a restaurant, don’t let the waiter put the bread basket down on your table. It’s a waste (and a waist.)
  • Skip desert. Always. It requires 10 seconds of will power, (which is easier without the cravings) then your mind will move on to other thoughts.

Keep Motivated: Log your progress. Keep a journal and weigh yourself every morning. It helps with motivation. Below is a sheet to use to track your weight. Put it next to your scale:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Py_V65dtIrgDvx-AK1o0Jn3GcD0pYrrBio-QwD0TzYE/edit?usp=sharing

Fill in your upper weight range and starting date and then print it.

Is this SAFE or DANGEROUS?

Low carb eating is generally recognized as safe. Indigenous Arctic populations have thrived on high-fat, low-carb diets for generations; pretty much without carbs at all.  That being said, there may be specific issues you need to deal with before you can take on this approach. Any issues with Kidneys, or other internal organs that are not in a “normal” state, should be looked into with a doctor before you take this on. Everyone is different! Safety first. 

However, do note that there are lots of scary thoughts floating around about low carb eating.  The headline scare: Ketoacidosis is Dangerous!  Many people (including some doctors) confused nutritional ketosis (a normal state in low-carb diets) with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA)—a dangerous, life-threatening condition in uncontrolled diabetes. Research clarified that nutritional ketosis is safe for most people, as ketone levels in low-carb diets are much lower than in ketoacidosis. The normal levels of Ketones is safe, but always check with your doctor first if you think this might be an issue for you. Its a good idea to check with your doctor before you start this program regardless, as they should know that you are taking on such a significant change in your food intake. If they encourage you to NOT try this program, find another doctor and get a second opinion, as some doctors are not aware of the impact of a high carb diet. 

Since keto is high in fat, critics also worried it would raise cholesterol, clog arteries, and cause heart disease. However, studies showed that low-carb diets can actually improve lipid profiles—raising HDL (“good” cholesterol) and lowering triglycerides.  

Early critics suggested high protein intake in low-carb diets would harm the kidneys. Studies found no evidence that low-carb diets cause kidney damage in healthy individuals. The concern mainly applies to people with pre-existing kidney disease, who may need to moderate protein intake.

Some claimed that since the brain “needs glucose,” a low-carb diet would cause brain fog or cognitive decline. Research showed the brain can efficiently use ketones for energy. Some studies even suggest that ketosis may have neuroprotective benefits, especially for conditions like epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.

Many early adopters of low-carb experienced headaches, fatigue, and dizziness, leading to claims that keto was inherently dangerous. This was found to be due to electrolyte loss (sodium, potassium, and magnesium) rather than an inherent issue with low-carb. Proper hydration and mineral intake resolve this issue.

Today, low-carb and ketogenic diets are widely recognized as safe and effective for weight loss, metabolic health, and certain medical conditions. Some long-term effects (e.g., on gut microbiome and longevity) are still debated. Critics argue that keto may not be sustainable for many people, leading to eventual relapse.  However, with the technique to manage cravings outlined above, you can adjust your weight more easily and you have a better understanding of what foods will do to you. 

If you are “older”, you should consider doing some sort of strength training to keep your muscle up anyway, and you want to make sure the weight you are losing is not muscle. Unless it is your couch muscle…

Example Weight Log

Here is a recent weight log from me. I crept up to 166 and didn’t like it, so I set a new target to have my weight hover between 145 and 150.  I targeted to get in the 143-144 range and then eat normally from there and stay below 60 g of carbs.  That should keep me in the 145-150 range long term.

When I got to 143.0 on  the scale, I had made my target weight and stopped the weight loss program. (I splurged with an order of Pad Thai, 2/3 of which went in the fridge because my stomach had shrunk.)

To use the chart, when I weigh myself I put a dot on the date and weight. I circle it if it is the first weighing of the day. Then anytime I weigh myself I put a dot up without the circle. Yours will look similar but different. Remember it is the long term trend that matters. I had actually started about 4-5 weeks before the first date on the chart, at a peak of 166 lbs. 

The weight chart above shows several things:

  1. My weight varies 3 lbs or more within a single day based on my input and output.  Also, you lose 2 lbs every eight hours from breathing via the moisture, so only the weekly trend matters.
  2. There is a sharp drop down over the course of the last week or two, in the range of 1/2 lb per day. I had really cut back my portion sizes and skipped a meal or two. If I had cravings, I would not have been able to do this.
  3. Notice how this rapid decline STOPPED after the Super Bowl on the 9th. Nachos, a couple of drinks, and the weight loss slows right down, so I get back on the program the next day, but it will take a few days to get back making progress.

The good thing is I can control my weight the way I want.  I KNOW I will be successful. Below is the weight chart at the end when I hit my target weight. I ran out of room, so just wrote it in. 

In this second bout, I went from 166 to 143 in about 12 weeks, or an average of about 2 lbs per week. This is my version of extreme weight loss. Without the cravings, losing 1/2 lb per day is eating very, very little;  two tiny meals a day.  I found my hunger was very low, so I could cut back dramatically.

Below is my ending chart. I am now just eating smart around carbs. 

Carb List For Your Fridge

To help myself understand carbs, I built a Food_Carb_List pdf found here: 

  https://gentient.me/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Food_Carb_List_11_X_17_Both-2.pdf 

This document has the nutritional values (carbs, fat, protein & calories) for a number of foods. It will help you learn to judge the carb quality of the foods you eat.

I printed both pages and put it on our fridge. The two pages are same table, but sorted two ways:

  • Sorted alphabetically by the name of the food, which helps you answer the question “How many carbs in Gooseberries?”
  • Sorted by the number of carbs. This helps you answer the question “What can I eat that doesn’t have many carbs?”

Below is a peek at the top left corner of the two listings. 

The table is approximate (I rounded all the carb numbers to a multiple of 3 to make groups.) After a while you will notice that you no longer need to reference the printout, you will just know.

Recognize the difference between simple carbs and complex carbs. Most natural foods are complex carbs (green beans, peas, etc.) while white sugar is the penultimate simple carb.

Emotional Eating

I can’t really comment on emotional eating, but I do know the topic is really challenging for many people.  There are references on the internet, but I cannot assess the quality of them.  

What I would say is to have compassion for yourself. You come by it honestly. Hopefully, this approach to food will help by dialing back the cravings, or at least knowing how.   

When you are ready, you will take it on. 

Why this might not work

  • You will still need motivation and will power.  Just not a mountain of it. You have to change your behavior; and the payback has to be worth it, or you will not do it.
  • You will need to be honest with yourself. If you never stay under 40 g of carbs for 3 days, then you will never loose the cravings.
  • A key time for will power is in the grocery store. Don’t buy tempting things. If you bring some delicious little treat home, you will eat it eventually; probably tonight, so don’t buy it at all.
  • Personal circumstances – You may have medical issues or other issues that impact your relationship with food and your body.  This is a general outline that holds for the “average” person, but your mind and body may have issues to address in some way.  Be kind to yourself: “Be compassionate whenever possible.  It is always possible.” – Dalai Lama
  • Other? – I am sure there are other reasons why this might not work for you.  However, you now understand how your body processes food for energy and you can be aware of the choices you can make.

Get Support & Offer Support

I have set up a group on groups.io for discussion. You can join by going to groups.io and joining group “WeightingForGodot”, or following this link:  https://www.groups.io/g/WeightingForGodot