Nashtide is gonna lean bulk...

[DragonBits]

In the right hands, skin calipers can be very accurate. What is RMR?

RMR is resting metabolic rate also called basal metabolism. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the total number of calories your body burns at rest.

Most people estimate this, but to actually test this you relax in a chair while your oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide output, and electrocardiogram (EKG) are measured for 16 to 20 minutes.

One always see a table that say how many calories at a minimum you need based on height and weight, but it's really a guess based on averages, some people have a faster or slower metabolism than the average.

 

[Nashtide]

Got it, thanks.

 

[DragonBits]

Tested on the Tanita a couple of days ago, I was jazzed about my fat % dropping down below 20%.

The most lean I have been for 25 years!

9/30/2009 163 lbs 26.5% body fat Target is 18%, predicated weight 148.47
6/1/2015 165 lbs, 24.7% body fat Target is 20%, predicated weight 156.01
8/8/2017 168 lbs 27.5% body fat Target is 24%, ?
11/28/2018 153 24.4% body fat predicated weight is 152.21
3/12/2019 142 lbs, 19.7% body fat Target is 13%, predicted weight 131.01

I would like to lose another 7-10 lbs, but it seems harder to do now.

BTW, they ask you what you want your % body fat to be, then Tanita give you a predicated weight.

Obviously the prediction is far off reality.

 

[Nashtide]

Excellent! Why is fat loss harder now? Are you saying 13% is unrealistic? I think you could easily drop 10 lbs of fat if you are sufficiently motivated. I find it easiest when I go slow. I shoot for around a half lb/week. That’s only approximately a calorie deficit of 1750/week. Very doable and not uncomfortable at all.

 

[DragonBits]

Excellent! Why is fat loss harder now? Are you saying 13% is unrealistic? I think you could easily drop 10 lbs of fat if you are sufficiently motivated. I find it easiest when I go slow. I shoot for around a half lb/week. That’s only approximately a calorie deficit of 1750/week. Very doable and not uncomfortable at all.

I don't know why it's harder now. Just slower to lose any weight.

At first I was losing ~6+ lbs a month with very little effort. Watching my blood glucose and trying to keep it low, sometimes seeing how low I could get it, the lowest I was able to push it down was 74. I didn't have an appetite at all.

Now I get hungry more often. Now I lost maybe 1 lb in a month. And I will have to buy new clothes, all my jeans are loose. My waist at my max weight was 36-37", now it's probably 30, at my minimum weight ever (~134 lbs) my waist was about 28-29".

My most recent "push" has been to increase my running ability, slowly to avoid overuse problems, I have gotten up to about 2x1 mile @ 5 mph runs in 50 minutes, I would like to get to a total of 5 miles running in an hour. Not a fast pace, but time/distance is a bigger factor than pace in my cardio goals.

I believe if I can get up to 3+ miles running, it will start to have a bigger effect on my weight.

I still weight lift, but I won't focus on that until I get to the 130s weight. And I tend to avoid heavy quad / hamstring lifting right now as it limits my running ability for 2-3 days.

 

[Nashtide]

I don't know why it's harder now. Just slower to lose any weight.

At first I was losing ~6+ lbs a month with very little effort. Watching my blood glucose and trying to keep it low, sometimes seeing how low I could get it, the lowest I was able to push it down was 74. I didn't have an appetite at all.

Now I get hungry more often. Now I lost maybe 1 lb in a month. And I will have to buy new clothes, all my jeans are loose. My waist at my max weight was 36-37", now it's probably 30, at my minimum weight ever (~134 lbs) my waist was about 28-29".

My most recent "push" has been to increase my running ability, slowly to avoid overuse problems, I have gotten up to about 2x1 mile @ 5 mph runs in 50 minutes, I would like to get to a total of 5 miles running in an hour. Not a fast pace, but time/distance is a bigger factor than pace in my cardio goals.

I believe if I can get up to 3+ miles running, it will start to have a bigger effect on my weight.

I still weight lift, but I won't focus on that until I get to the 130s weight. And I tend to avoid heavy quad / hamstring lifting right now as it limits my running ability for 2-3 days.

I guess I’ve been lucky. As long as I restrict calories I drop weight.

 

[DragonBits]

I guess I’ve been lucky. As long as I restrict calories I drop weight.

I think it's always true, restrict calories enough you lose weight. For some people their metabolism might slow down so they need to restrict calories more than expected.

But the problem is, how much of an effort is it? How hard is it for you to restrict calories? Is it something that eventually you give up on?

When I said losing weight was easy at first, if wasn't hard at all to reduce eating. Once I started to avoided so many carbs it was pretty easy, I had no real appetite to eat. A few days I had two scoops of protein powder in coffee and a couple of dozen peanuts for "dinner", not hungry for more.

I think the metformin had something to do about reducing appetite, but I have read that effect only lasts for a limited time, maybe 7 lbs.

 

[bkb33]

I think it's always true, restrict calories enough you lose weight. For some people their metabolism might slow down so they need to restrict calories more than expected.

But the problem is, how much of an effort is it? How hard is it for you to restrict calories? Is it something that eventually you give up on?

When I said losing weight was easy at first, if wasn't hard at all to reduce eating. Once I started to avoided so many carbs it was pretty easy, I had no real appetite to eat. A few days I had two scoops of protein powder in coffee and a couple of dozen peanuts for "dinner", not hungry for more.

I think the metformin had something to do about reducing appetite, but I have read that effect only lasts for a limited time, maybe 7 lbs.

I do think metformin plays a big role in reducing appetite, from anecdotal evidence I've observed. I also think it becomes harder to lose BF as your number gets lower. For example, it's extremely easy for me to get down to roughly 11%. Getting any lower than that, however, feels damn near impossible. I've flirted with that line but never successfully pushed beyond it. I imagine it only gets harder as you get into "bodybuilder ranges" like 4-6%.

 

[Nashtide]

I do think metformin plays a big role in reducing appetite, from anecdotal evidence I've observed. I also think it becomes harder to lose BF as your number gets lower. For example, it's extremely easy for me to get down to roughly 11%. Getting any lower than that, however, feels damn near impossible. I've flirted with that line but never successfully pushed beyond it. I imagine it only gets harder as you get into "bodybuilder ranges" like 4-6%.

I never considered that. I lost almost 40lbs about four years ago and it was very easy. I basically just started eating better. I quit junk food and fast food. I have been able to maintain my weight with almost no effort. So I guess I foolishly assumed my quest to drop another few pounds wouldn’t be a big deal. I hope I’m right! We’ll see...

 

[bkb33]

I never considered that. I lost almost 40lbs about four years ago and it was very easy. I basically just started eating better. I quit junk food and fast food. I have been able to maintain my weight with almost no effort. So I guess I foolishly assumed my quest to drop another few pounds wouldn’t be a big deal. I hope I’m right! We’ll see...

Same here! I had a practically identical experience. I’d love to know how it goes for you if you decide to push to another level. I am starting low-dose Metformin this weekend, so that may help me finally achieve the vaunted single-digit benchmark.

 

[Nashtide]

Same here! I had a practically identical experience. I’d love to know how it goes for you if you decide to push to another level. I am starting low-dose Metformin this weekend, so that may help me finally achieve the vaunted single-digit benchmark.

I will keep this thread updated with my progress. Unfortunately, I’m visiting family in NY and I’m going to eat pizza at an alarming rate. That won’t help my cause!

 

[Nashtide]

Metformin is an interesting drug. I think it is going to be widely prescribed and/or OTC in the near future.

 

[DragonBits]

I never considered that. I lost almost 40lbs about four years ago and it was very easy. I basically just started eating better. I quit junk food and fast food. I have been able to maintain my weight with almost no effort. So I guess I foolishly assumed my quest to drop another few pounds wouldn’t be a big deal. I hope I’m right! We’ll see...

I also have lost 30-40 lbs a couple of times in my life. I have kept off for a long time the obese condition I was in at +170-190, but without TRT I tend to be about 165 lbs.

In my 40s I took up running and a diet, got up to run 5 miles and my weight dropped from 160 >133. But soon after that I quit, and I think that is also when my total T took a dive down to 347 ng/dl. Maybe the lower T caused me to quit, at the time I thought I just got burned out on running.

After that I slowly got up to 190 lbs in 2008-2009, went on TRT and dropped to 150 lbs. Basically a lot more active, didn't really pay attention to diet.

Went off TRT, gained from 150> 168.

Currently back on TRT, lost 168>~155 lbs, then added metformin + TRT +avoid excessive carbs + more exercise and went to 141 lbs. (I was also taking LEF ultra prostate forumla, which raised my SHBG from 45>66 and lowered FT, E2, DHT.) But it did lower my PSA from 4.2>3.4 which was my main objective. And diet + metformin lowered my A1C from 5.8% > 5.2%.

Recently I stopped metformin, stopped the LEF prostate supplement. Wanted to see if I can maintain BG levels, keep dropping weight, keep a stable PSA level, raise FT/E2/DHT back to more normal levels, return SHBG back to the 40s.

I still eat quite a bit, our anniversary was on the 13th, went to a Korean all you can eat BBQ, ate a ton of grilled beef/chicken/pork/shrimp. It has little affect on BG since it was mostly all protein and only a limited about of kimchi.

I do think we have body set points where our bodies want to maintain a certain weight, like for me two areas I tend to set at are either 140 or 160 lbs.

Right now my main exercise is running, soon to be biking, and I don't ever want to get back to over 146, as it isn't easy to lose at my age. Also, skin isn't as elastic as it once was.

Of course, now I am 66 and losing weight, doing a lot of exercise isn't quite as easy as it was.

 

[DragonBits]

I will keep this thread updated with my progress. Unfortunately, I’m visiting family in NY and I’m going to eat pizza at an alarming rate. That won’t help my cause!

Anytime pizza is involved, I have to make an exception.

 

[Nashtide]

Anytime pizza is involved, I have to make an exception.

I grew up in northern NJ, the land of pizza and now live in Tennessee, so anytime I’m in the NY area I eat pizza morning, noon and night.

 

[Nashtide]

So, went from 13.7 to 13.5%bf. Obviously not a dramatic loss, but after spending four days in NY, I wasn’t sure I’d lose any fat. The good news is I maintained my lbm.

 

[Nashtide]

Update:
I’m down to 13.2% bf and I’m hanging onto the muscle. Very pleased so far. This is the leanest I’ve been in many years. I think I’ll be able to see some abs around 12-12.5% bf. I’m really working the abs hard. I’m hitting them 6 days per week. Thanks for playing along.

 

[DragonBits]

Update:
I’m down to 13.2% bf and I’m hanging onto the muscle. Very pleased so far. This is the leanest I’ve been in many years. I think I’ll be able to see some abs around 12-12.5% bf. I’m really working the abs hard. I’m hitting them 6 days per week. Thanks for playing along.

Congrats, looks like you are well on your way!*

 

[DragonBits]

Tested on the Tanita a couple of days ago, I was jazzed about my fat % dropping down below 20%.

The most lean I have been for 25 years!

9/30/2009 163 lbs 26.5% body fat Target is 18%, predicated weight 148.47
6/1/2015 165 lbs, 24.7% body fat Target is 20%, predicated weight 156.01
8/8/2017 168 lbs 27.5% body fat Target is 24%, ?
11/28/2018 153 24.4% body fat predicated weight is 152.21
3/12/2019 142 lbs, 19.7% body fat Target is 13%, predicted weight 131.01

I would like to lose another 7-10 lbs, but it seems harder to do now.

BTW, they ask you what you want your % body fat to be, then Tanita give you a predicated weight.

Obviously the prediction is far off reality.

I see a couple of reason losing weight is harder now.

My T3 declined from 2.6>2.1 while TSH went up from 1.7>2.99, making me nearly clinically hypothyroidism. So I am taking T4/T3 to get back more to normal. BTW, I think taking too much iodine was what caused this.

My FT went down to 9 pg/ml from 18, mostly because my SHBG went from 43>66 which no doubt was from taking LEF's prostate formula. Good news was my PSA went from 4.1>3.3.

So I stopped the prostate formula and upped my T dose. Hopefully my PSA doesn't start to go back up!

My weight has come down a little, from 43>41 or so.

The excess iodine should be gone by now.

Soon I will retest T, T3 and shbg to see where they are now.

The take away, supplements to have affects.

 

[Nashtide]

I see a couple of reason losing weight is harder now.

My T3 declined from 2.6>2.1 while TSH went up from 1.7>2.99, making me nearly clinically hypothyroidism. So I am taking T4/T3 to get back more to normal. BTW, I think taking too much iodine was what caused this.

My FT went down to 9 pg/ml from 18, mostly because my SHBG went from 43>66 which no doubt was from taking LEF's prostate formula. Good news was my PSA went from 4.1>3.3.

So I stopped the prostate formula and upped my T dose. Hopefully my PSA doesn't start to go back up!

My weight has come down a little, from 43>41 or so.

The excess iodine should be gone by now.

Soon I will retest T, T3 and shbg to see where they are now.

The take away, supplements to have affects.

Interesting. I haven’t tested thyroid in years. As a matter of fact, I don’t remember the results. They were normal whatever that means. I guess I should check again. I take a lot of supps, but nothing unusual.