<div class="bbWrapper">Lots of ideas and opinions here...<br />
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The reality is, weight loss is NOT important, Fat loss is. <br />
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This was my journey, and I'll share some sources that helped me.<br />
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My journey started in 2002 at the age of 18. Was just over 103 kgs, and I'm 169 cm tall (short?)<br />
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I did what I knew at that time, cut calories.<br />
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I was eating one meal a day most days and occasionally 2 meals a day.<br />
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I was also doing some weight training and sports.<br />
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In about 6 months, I went from just over 103 kgs to 69 kgs.<br />
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BUT, and that's a HUGE BUT<br />
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I'd lost strength...<br />
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I later found out that a large part of what I lost was muscle.<br />
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in the next 12 months, I went back to just under 90 kgs, this time with a lot less muscle to boot.<br />
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That's when I went on a journey to find the truth<br />
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What I found was counter to everything we have been taught.<br />
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I found that weight loss as such is BS and fat loss is the important thing for health, disease prevention etc.<br />
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After reading hundreds of books, finding common strains and testing everything out on myself what I found is that, Calories are not everything, the effect of each calorie you eat on your hormones is more important.<br />
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Insulin is the nutrient transportation hormone, but in excess it leads to insulin resistance where your fat cells cannot release the stored fat for your body to use (so in effect promoting fat storage).<br />
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Eating too little for too long also leads to adaptation where your body fights to save every calorie it can by storing it as fat, again by secreting the hormones for that to happen.<br />
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After years of struggle, I managed to add a bit of strength back and bring my weight under 80 kgs.<br />
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Then, in 2011 I read The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson, this along with the intermittent fasting and exercise patterns shared by Martin on his site <a href="https://leangains.com/the-leangains-guide/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="noopener">https://leangains.com/the-leangains-guide/</a> is what helped me go from being just over 22% body fat to just under 12 % body fat in 9 months. I also read the book The Gabriel Method which had some 'mindset' tools that were useful, but I didn't use them consistently.<br />
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This was after trying and testing all sorts of dietary philosophies and theories (Low cal, low fat, veg and many variations there of).<br />
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So what worked for me was lowering my carb intake to under 100 gm/day and removing grains, sugars and starchy vegetables, and increasing fat intake, while doing 3 x 30 minute workouts a week with heavy weights as Martin talks about.<br />
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All I can say is test things out. No one 'diet' works for everyone. Test things to see what your body responds to and do more of what works for you. <img src="/community/imgs/emoticons/em-wink.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-shortname=";)" /><br />
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Give any major change you make with your diet and workouts 12 weeks.<br />
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Work through the year in 12 week intervals (this is called periodization in sports training and body building circles), take the 13th week off to rest and also evaluate what worked and what didn't and tweak for the next 12 week cycle.<br />
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The 12 week cycle for general goal achievement has been explored and expanded in a book called 12 Week Year which is quite good.<br />
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So where to from here?<br />
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1. Check your body fat %<br />
2. Give the dietary & exercise routine change you made 12 weeks.<br />
3. Track your vital stats every week for the 12 weeks (Weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, neck, chest circumference, bicep, forearm, thigh & calf circumferences.<br />
4. While you're working on your existing plan, take some time to read The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson and the posts in <a href="https://leangains.com/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="noopener">https://leangains.com/</a> website.<br />
5. If your body fat % goes down in the 12 weeks, stay on the plan for the next 12 weeks while tracking your progress. If the body fat % doesn't change, test the knowledge you gain from reading the book and blog posts from step 4.<br />
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All the best.<br />
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PS. There is another side to the above. The above is the 'tactical' part of the equation, on the other side is the 'self-image' and 'mindset' side of things. This is where tools like Visualization (like MJ mentions in 'UNScripted' [Not the LoA BS] will be useful in 'seeing yourself' as someone who is lean, fit and strong, and doing the things to get there and maintain the practices. I'm still learning more about this aspect of the equation to maintain the lifestyle and results in the long term.</div>
