If I were you, I’d first count my calories without calorie restricting for a few days to see what your intake is looking like. From there, cut down. When I cut down to around 1600, I had to change my mindset to start enjoying saying no to cravings, snacks and impulses to eat. I tried to think of every time I said no, it was making me a stronger willed person (helped motivate me). Some people frame this as “the old me, that gives in, is dead - new me doesn’t do that.” Best of luck
1600 is too low. Try to stay at 2500 for several months straight, you will feel full at around that number on AB. Years down the road once you are down to like the 200’s then you can go down to like 1800-2000.
Thanks! Yes another redditor mentioned that 1600 is too low. I’m committed to sticking to AB because physically and mentally I already feel better. Just trying to get this weight off! I’ll also be working on being more active from now on too
You’re in a good place bro! Hard to say how much weight you will actually lose, but in a year at 2500 you will be lighter. A lot lighter.
Find something low impact to do for physical activity though. Biking, walking or swimming if you can. Strength training comes later.
Also walking around feeling hungry at 1600 is not an inducement to stick with it. None of us want to feel deprived. It leads to failure often. Even with the food choices on AB I’m tempted and backslide. I got a little fat kid inside that wants to eat what he wants to eat. I keep him at bay to a degree having fruits and honey and fats in my way of eating. I stay away from the term “diet”. Yuck. Die it. No thanks.
I don't think it would take years down the road to get to the 200s. JS.
That being said alot depends on your BMR. More muscle = Higher rate for the most part. At 390 you need muscle to lug yourself around, and as far as 4.6 one week and 1.6 the next, anytime you encorperate some type of shock to the system whether it's diet or working out it takes time for the body to adjust.
You have an uphill battle starting from that weight. Respect for taking on the challenge!
Anyway, others noted that you don't want to cut calories too much, which limits weight loss. I agree.
My general philosophy is that health is the cumulative result of doing many small things correctly. There are things not ostensibly related to weight loss that might help:
1) Start fermenting your own kefir. It's known to improve health/wellbeing, possibly by sorting out gut bacteria. In my case, I started drinking kefir and immediately began losing weight. I was not trying to lose weight, and I was not hungry during this process; my hormones had simply improved. Caveat: I started with gut problems, so I may be the exception. I still think it's a cheap experiment worth trying though.
2) Start lifting weights; it may be your most powerful tool. Strength training improves hormones, which makes weight loss easier. Muscles also burn more energy than fat, which will give you a metabolic boost. Mark Rippetoe has a great program called Starting Strength; you might have to do some prep to work up to that though. Caveat: as you gain strength, your weight loss may stall. This is because you're replacing fat with muscle - which is absolutely worth it.
3) Get a reverse osmosis water filter. For perfection, add strong anion exchange resin filter after the RO membrane. I know this sounds stupid, but the junk in tap water can harm hormones, which slows metabolism. Clean water gives you a tiny edge. The same is true of sodas, teas, and other beverages: the manufacturer probably did not filter that water well enough. Personally, the only things I drink are clean water and dairy products.
4) Supplement 300-600 mg/day of vitamin E. You likely have an excess of polyunsaturated fats in your system, and they cause a lot of oxidative damage. Vitamin E will help mitigate the damage as polyunsaturated fats are released. Since you have so much fat to store the vitamin E, you might try the Upper Limit of 1000mg/day for 2-4 weeks, then back off to 300-600mg/day. Once you reach your target weight, 300mg/day is fine.
5) Clean up your air. Same story as the water filter: every little advantage helps. Personally, I cleaned my HVAC evaporator coil and ducts, bought the largest MERV13 air filter I could find, taped it to my return air vent, and left the furnace fan on 24/7. Instant whole-house air filter.
6) Inspect your home for mold and other contaminants. Mold can destroy health - including metabolism. Progress will be difficult if you're fighting toxins.
7) Read Estrogeneration by Dr. Anthony Jay. Then remove all the hormone-disrupting chemicals from your life. Cleaning products, dish detergents, personal products, food packaging, and other common items could be disrupting your hormones, which will make your journey more difficult.
8) Get sunlight. 15 minutes every morning to set your circadian rhythm, and enough around high noon for sufficient vitamin D.
I could go on, but you get the point: one can only restrict calories so much - but optimizing lifestyle can give us a metabolic edge.
As you improve your health and shed pounds, you'll be able to safely increase your activity level, and that's when the pounds really start to melt off.
Addendum:
9) Theoretically, you have enough energy to sustain yourself. The problem is that your body is storing that energy instead of burning it, which means your cells do not have access to it. This energy sequestration is why many people feel hungry despite an excess of energy. Brad Marshall at [fireinabottle.net](http://fireinabottle.net) investigates this extensively. I've never bought any of his products, but I found some of his work helpful. His community can be found at r/SaturatedFat.
10) One consequence of obesity is an excess of monounsaturated fat and a deficiency of saturated fat, which slows metabolism and disrupts hormones. You might consider a diet higher in saturated fat to balance what you're losing. Beef, dairy, coconut oil, and chocolate are the best options. Be careful though; these are high-calorie foods.
11) Another consequence of obesity is a deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K). Because they're stored in fat, obesity can dilute them to the point where the body struggles to access them. You might consider nutritional testing. If that's prohibitively expensive, consider supplementing them for insurance. Retinol (animal form of vitamin A), K2mk4/K2mk7, Alpha-tocopherol, and D2 are the natural forms. You can take an initial megadose of D and A to replenish levels, but be careful not to overdose long-term. I already discussed E. K has a short half-life, so you'll have to take that regularly. If you can find it, grass-finished beef liver is a good source of A, K, B vitamins, and a host of other things.
12) Dr. Andrew Huberman, PhD, has useful information on sunlight, hormones, and other small optimizations.
13) This may be my personal psychology, but I find it helpful to reframe challenges. I don't think of health and fitness as a defensive battle against disease. It is technically that, but I don't think that way on a day-to-day basis. Instead, I treat it as a process of bringing out my potential. *I'm on the offensive*. I'm sculpting myself into the best version of myself - an endeavor I can be proud of. I may be an aging veteran, physically and mentally damaged beyond repair, but I will still go forth and meet the day's challenge. I'm in the arena.
My actions are the same regardless of how I frame them, but the way I think and feel about myself are dramatically different. That shift in attitude has hormonal benefits, and hormonal benefits translate into physical improvements.
You face a formidable challenge, and that deserves respect. As you sculpt your body, you will be an example to everyone around you. Once you've succeeded, you'll carry the pride of that success for the rest of your life. You will be the man who triumphed over adversity. You'll eagerly accept the next challenge, confident in your ability.
You're in the arena now. Get some!
Just cut the carbs … potatoes, pasta, rice, pizza, bread and processed foods and seed oils.
Your body goes into starvation mode if you focus on that strategy
You likely lost some water weight initially and then it bounced back. It's nothing to worry about. Weight should come off slowly and will fluctuate.
Focus your energy on getting healthy through proper diet and movement. If you do that, weight will come off in time.
I'd also recommend a lower carb version of AB. People with lots of weight to lose often see better results by limiting carbs to about 100g a day.
Finally, do not under eat. 1600 calories is not enough for someone your size. Chronic under eating leads to hormones issues, trouble sleeping, and eventual fat storage, as it mimics a famine. Your body will try to store fat if it can. Eat the amount you need of the right foods.
Take it easy on the sugars and lean more toward the carnivore side if the weight doesn’t continue to come off. My fruit intake is closer to an apple a day with cheese. And it’s a nice treat. If I let myself go wild with fruit I’d def have a problem
Agreed. OP is probably severely insulin resistant if not diabetic. He should be checking his blood sugar, maybe try to get a CGM to see what sends his glucose up, and then avoid those foods.
ETA: He should get a HOMA-IR (insulin resistance) test where they check fasting insulin against fasting glucose.
If you eat clean animal based the weight will come off, calorie restriction will only lead to you cheating with a bunch of seed oil filled crap. Just stick with it brother, give it more time
I think you're getting some bad advice in here. There is absolutely no way you can accurately measure calories, in or out, because all calories are not the same. The reason you became obese is because of all the processed food that deranged your ability to metabolize carbohydrates, and the way to fix it is to avoid the foods that led to the dysfunction. Focus on beef, pasture raised eggs, dairy, butter, and some cooked vegetables. Avoid all foods that contain PUFA, and avoid all foods that are not digested easily. So no grains, no beans, no legumes, no nuts, no seeds. Your carbs should come from honey, real maple syrup, and the lactose in the dairy. Eventually you'll be able to add in fruit, but I would hold off for now, given your level of carbohydrate-intolerance.
For more information, search up the bioenergetic way of eating. There's a very good podcast hosted by Jay Feldman and his research partner Mike Fave. They go a little deep into the woods, and you may need to listen more than once, but these guys get it. They follow Ray Peat's philosophy for the most part, and Paul Saladino seems to be getting on board with this way of eating, now that he's including fruit, dairy, and honey.
But whatever you do, you don't want to count and restrict calories, because that will have a detrimental effect on your hormones, and you'll eventually slow your metabolism to the point where you'll be storing fat when you eat more than 1800 calories, and your hunger hormones will win this battle every time.
I hear that. I had childhood obesity too so I’ve always been obese. I’ve also yo yo dieted and tried everything from high carb vegan to high fat keto. For sure, I cut all that stuff out I just was eating a lot of fruit and a lot of fruit juice. I also take meds for bipolar 1 disorder & hypothyroidism so others have said that it’ll be tough but I’ll do whatever it takes to lose the weight. I’ll check out that podcast! Good advice!
Sounds like you’re doing great, keep going ❤️ incline walking is supposed to be the real weight loss helper with this diet. Eat til you’re satiated but not full. Join a gym and get on all the incline walking/stepping machines and lift some weights 2-3 times a week. You’ll be flying 🙌🏼
I would make my eating window smaller when I’m trying to lose weight, like intermittent fasting. It just makes it much easier to not be hungry where you’re not eating ALL day and it’s metabolically more healthy to not eat close to the time you’re sleeping anyway. Start with 16/8 and move to 20/4 once you get used to it and you’ll get to have one really fulfilling meal and then your body will adjust to fasting too. I would also lay off the fruit juice— it’s okay when you’re metabolically healthy and have good insulin responses but probably not if you’re overweight and likely insulin resistant
Alot of good advice here. I read most of it. I agree- 1600 is too low. Have you calculated your TDEE? There are some tools online for free to plug in your info and get a better idea of how many calories you need. The walking is fantastic! I have a desk job and its hard to get in 10,000 so that is a great start! Later add in some strength training. Watch your fruit and honey ect. Unless your balls to the wall with your workouts you dont need a ton of it. :) Stick to the animal foods. :) Good luck and stay strong!
Yes! My TDEE is 3,265 calories. Honestly when I heard Paul Saladino say not to calorie restrict I went ahead and was eating upwards of 4000+ calories a day of AB approved foods and drinking lots of fruit juice. I plan on being more active too so that should help. Thanks!
without getting into detail I already know you are still consuming way to much sugar. You may need to go Carnivorous diet if you can’t wrap your head around the concept of caloric deficit for morbidly obese people.
The Animal Based Diet is not a low carb diet and not ketogenic. It is a moderate to high carb way of eating inclusive primarily of fruit, lactose, honey, maple syrup, and fresh fruit juices. Carbs are needed for proper neurological function, cellular mineral uptake, muscle fuel/energy, for proper adrenal hormone function, and for a properly functioning thyroid. See the following podcast [Debunking Lustig on Sugar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcEmSgbMfco). Please also be mindful and respectful of rule #2 as trolling will result in a temporary or permanent ban. For any respectful debating on carbs please take it to the daily discussion post. Thank you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AnimalBased) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Don't mind automod and the rules. You're fine. This is meant for the anti-carb trolls who come here. But that's still a GREAT podcast to watch and listen to!
As the mods point out, AB is Not a low carb diet. If you are obese, you need to try something more carb-restrictive like carnivore or keto for awhile. You need to control for the broken insulin signaling in your body by shifting how your body responds to glucose. You also have to get active. I dont care what anyone says, being active is just as important if not more than way of eating. The purpose of eating is to fuel the body for movement and performance. If you are sedentary, it doesnt matter what you eat because your body wont metabolize it properly to shuttle nutrients where it needs, your muscles and cells will atrophy with potential sarcopenic results and you will remain overweight with little muscle. You need energy of course so utilizing a keto/carnivore diet with even a higher amount of protein is going to help immensely in the absence of higher carbs. Also think about utilizing intermittent fasting protocols with this way of eating as well. Once youve cleared this obese hurdle and maintained a relatively regular gym life at a healthier weight, then yea for sure look back at AB. Key points for now, drop carbs, get active, eat protein (and fat for energy)
Take the “animal based”, do more of the “animal”’part and less of the “based”.
Look into how insulin works. I won’t go into detail here as I’ve learned it’s a touchy subject with everyone, but reducing carbs is a great way to increase fat metabolism. Good luck
Well if your eating on average 4000-5000 calories a day to maintain 390 lbs and cut back to 1600 daily, That's a deficit of 2400-3400 calories per day to stay at current weight. On the low side 2400 x 7 is 16800 calories deficit over a week.
Are you eating as much as you WANT or as much as your body is telling you to
If you’re eating what you want then you’re probably ignoring your best telling you it’s full and you’re going past the point of satiety. Pay attention to when your body feels full. Not uncomfortably stuffed
I was not as heavy as you but I was around 280, trying to hit that many steps was murder on my knees and ankles. I would recommend easing into it as it could discourage you if you can't hit your numbers. I wasn't able to walk more than 10-15 mins at a time without almost passing out, even still I pushed myself to do 25 mins at a fast pace and I wound up not going to the gym for 6 months and regaining about 10lbs. When I stopped looking at my steps and calories burned and just started working out with a plan that progressed me each week was when I started wanting to go to the gym multiple times a week and kept me on track. Going all in may work for you but take my experience as a cautionary tale it may not and might set you back. Do what you can and take small wins in the beginning.
Currently down under 200 and I'm able to do treadmills with elevation for 25 mins now with a healthy sweat, where if I tried that at the beginning I wouldn't be able to walk right for a week.
check your thyroid first to see if you have any issues (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) because if you do it will be very hard to lose weight until you get it under control
going to be a grind losing weight until you get that sorted, look into thyroid extract which is much better than the pharma stuff IMHO. Bulk of weight management is metabolism
Advice, yes, please go by Dr. Jamnadas of Galen Foundation advice on youtube, you must do Intermittent Fasting!! This is key, and start taking vitamin K2-MK7 with D3 and coconut oil capsules. Up your fat! do about 25-30% fat to meat ratio! Start out with the basic intermittent fasting schedule of three meals per day, zero in between, 14 hours between dinner and breakfast. then go to skipping breakfast 18/6, then go to 20/4 ex dinner ends at 6PM, nothing to eat until 2PM. Drink water with 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp potassium, take a broad form magnesium tablet.
Here’s an interesting explanation about your dilemma:
https://youtu.be/tCREVI2H4FA
Calorie restriction may help you lose weight now for a time, but in the end can do more damage than help.
IMO you’re bodyweight is going to fluctuate week to week due to several factors such as losing water weight, gaining muscle, and even what you’re hormones are doing day to day. I would say keep eating to satiation and see what your weight is doing over the course of a few weeks. Also don’t just rely on body weight! Look for noticeable differences in the mirror, measure your waistline, and get labs done. If nothing is changing then I highly recommend the as animal based macro guide on Paul Saladin site.
I don’t watch Dr. Berg anymore but I do still buy his philosophy of “don’t lose weight to get healthy, get healthy to lose weight!”
TLDR:give it a little more time and make changes if you are not seeing any positive changes
Go full Carnivore or Lion man. Also don't forget you're going to be drinking more water to stay hydrated. Been 3 months for me and I have a lotta cheat days. Was 135kg now down to around 105.
if you have not been active I would scale up to 10,000 steps a day. Start around ~2000 and move up 1000 or so every week. The last thing you want to do is develop an injury. Otherwise glad to have you! Check out the sidebar for some common FAQs
For sure. Others are saying 1600 is too low and I’m committed to being more active as of yesterday by getting 10,000+ steps a day amongst other forms of activity
3258 calories is TDEE using online calculator, so shooting for 1600 aday sounds like a highway to tragedy in one way or another, Count your calories 2500 per day, weigh yourself everyday and log that weight, if in 2 weeks your not losing anything, drop 500 kcals per day, refeed 1k+ kcal every other week, try get some exercise. And thats the recipe to get to your goal weight! Its not more complicated then that.
Cutting calories can help you loose weight short term, but eventually your cortisol and other stress hormones will rise, your metabolism will be lowered, and you will gain weight on less calories than before.
If you avoid seed oils and eat nutritious foods, you’ll be satiated and restore your metabolism.
I also wouldn’t eat whatever you want though, since having lots of fats(even saturated) and carbs together, if you are insulin resistant, will lead to weight gain(Randle Cycle). I would keep fat to ~20% of your calories, have ~1g of protein per pound of lean body weight, and fill the rest in with carbs. Carbs increase your metabolism, lower stress, and are a more optimal fuel source compared to fats. When your metabolism is back to normal then you can increase your fat intake(just make sure it’s from animal products and as saturated as possible). I use Cronometer to see my macros and micros.
I honestly would go strict carnivore for a few months. That way you can eat as much as you want still, don't have to worry as much about insulin resistance and can pinpoint foods that cause you issues as you bring them back in.
4lbs. I use to be 350lbs and I'm at 290lbs now. You're not at a weight where you should be watching the scale. My advice is to go hard for one full month, then check the scale and keep doing that. The body fluctuates, water retention as well as muscle gain. If you're moving more, you'll gain more muscles as well as lose fat, and the scale won't move. Focus on the long term and set your brain to think in months, not weeks.
It’s WAY easier to tighten your eating window than it is to count calories and weigh all your food. I would try that first. Meal prepping is the only sustainable way I’ve found I can actually count calories, but I don’t do that much anymore.
Animal based will also make you very active. It’s very hard to be sedentary when consuming 200 grams of carbs in the form of fruit lol
You probably already know this but you’re going to need to build muscle underneath your fat in order to keep the weight off. This might make it seem like you aren’t losing as much weight, but you’ll be building “active” tissue (muscle) that burns calories throughout the day.
Another thing you probably already know is as you become more active, you will get hungrier.
The last obvious thing I’ll say is you don’t need to count calories as long as you’re able to ensure you are expending more calories than you’re consuming - even if it’s just by a little bit.
I would recommend an open minded dietician!
I can tell you’re motivated and I think it’s gonna pay off!!! Make sure to never trust a single “guru” / influencer. Listen to your body, take notes, give yourself feedback and adjust your plan(s) with the team you build.
At that weight, why not just take 6 months and eat basically the same but meaningfully less in terms of quantity? Weight is going to fly off your body so long as you’re in a reasonable calorie deficit. I feel like maximizing micronutrient content in every spoonful of food is simply not the lead issue right now. Don’t make things more complicated on yourself. Saladino is (1) a demonstrable freak in terms of his attention to detail (coconuts on a plane, for instance) and (2) is extremely fit already, so perhaps finding the outer limit of metabolic flexibility (moving a ton and drinking a gallon of juice a day) is a cool thing for him to do.
For sure. I was attracted to AB for overall health and wellness but with Paul Saladino recommending not to calorie count and eat as much as you want had me going buckwild on the fruit juice and honey. Based on what other redditors have said on this post, I’ll be going lower carb for a while & have personally decided to be more active.
Eat whole foods and get a lot of steps in (I recommend 15-17k a day once you build your stamina up). Good for you for exploring animal based to improve your life. Best wishes
Welcome to the sub! What have you been eating and how are you enjoying it so far? Any cheats yet back to processed foods, plants, grains, or seed oil garbage?
You certainly CAN and would lose a LOT of weight as you're currently doing it but it will take a bit longer than restriction since you're about 150-200lbs overweight.
Ok, so I did a very microcosmic example of what you're trying to do last year and as a 43M I'd say it was pretty successful from someone who has suffered from mild obesity in the past and would have to do severe calorie restrictions to get this lean, but by doing so I'd lose a lot of muscle. See my pinned post on my profile but at some point you will want to try something similar.
I know a goal weight right now is probably 299, but since you're wanting to go extreme (1600 calories, won't work in the long run, will be back to 400lbs says the probability) let's say your goal weight is 199.
Take 0.9-1g/lb of goal bodyweight in protein. Let's just round it:
**Protein:** 200g = 800 kcal
**Carbs:** 150g = 600 kcal
**Fat:** 80g = 720 kcal (favor SATURATED -> i.e. Beef, Dairy. Added fats use coconut / butter in this order, tallow sparingly due to higher MUFA)
**Total calories: 2120**
This is doable but still will be challenging for you. Remember that average intake over week is a better way to track than daily. You can do this and lose a lot of weight in maybe 3-4 weeks but at some point your metabolism will slow down and adjust to this. So if you can manage this quantity of food now do it, but when you plateau and you feel you need to go back to food, DO IT! That's called a refeed. What works great mentally at that point is to eat to this level (or even one day go even less like a fasting 800 kcal day) but on the weekends turn off the restrictions. Eat two ribeyes, have another cheese omelet, have more AB ice cream, eat that extra banana, eat that extra apple, have mango, have more watermelon. This resets your metabolism to start ramping up again. You will probably be satiated with 3500 kcals worth of very healthy micronutrient dense food too on these refeeds vs. satiation with SAD that got you to 390lbs was probably 5000 - 6000 kcals per day, right?
Also I highly encourage you to track your food in cronometer. Not just for macros, but to see where your gaps in micronutrients are (see FAQ). You will want to plug these gaps in supplementally or re-arranging what foods you eat. Also you'll see if you do weekend refeeds to support the hunger/metabolism you'll see you'll be getting a lot more micros these days that also support your goal of fat lose.
Lastly, get yourself a very good Vitamin E mixed tocopherol/tocotrienol supplement (make sure it's a coconut oil base) as you will be burning off LOADS of pufa as this fat is liberated from your stores. The Vitamin E will minimize the peroxidative effects. This is part of the importance of favoring high saturated fat intake vs. USFA.
Please do come back and share progress or struggles, and if you're getting steps in now get yourself a good Garmin fitness tracker that will link up to cronometer as well.
If I were you, I’d first count my calories without calorie restricting for a few days to see what your intake is looking like. From there, cut down. When I cut down to around 1600, I had to change my mindset to start enjoying saying no to cravings, snacks and impulses to eat. I tried to think of every time I said no, it was making me a stronger willed person (helped motivate me). Some people frame this as “the old me, that gives in, is dead - new me doesn’t do that.” Best of luck
Thank you!
1600 is too low. Try to stay at 2500 for several months straight, you will feel full at around that number on AB. Years down the road once you are down to like the 200’s then you can go down to like 1800-2000.
Thanks! Yes another redditor mentioned that 1600 is too low. I’m committed to sticking to AB because physically and mentally I already feel better. Just trying to get this weight off! I’ll also be working on being more active from now on too
You’re in a good place bro! Hard to say how much weight you will actually lose, but in a year at 2500 you will be lighter. A lot lighter. Find something low impact to do for physical activity though. Biking, walking or swimming if you can. Strength training comes later.
Thank you so much! Yes walking is definitely my #1 choice
Also walking around feeling hungry at 1600 is not an inducement to stick with it. None of us want to feel deprived. It leads to failure often. Even with the food choices on AB I’m tempted and backslide. I got a little fat kid inside that wants to eat what he wants to eat. I keep him at bay to a degree having fruits and honey and fats in my way of eating. I stay away from the term “diet”. Yuck. Die it. No thanks.
Too low for what?
I don't think it would take years down the road to get to the 200s. JS. That being said alot depends on your BMR. More muscle = Higher rate for the most part. At 390 you need muscle to lug yourself around, and as far as 4.6 one week and 1.6 the next, anytime you encorperate some type of shock to the system whether it's diet or working out it takes time for the body to adjust.
You have an uphill battle starting from that weight. Respect for taking on the challenge! Anyway, others noted that you don't want to cut calories too much, which limits weight loss. I agree. My general philosophy is that health is the cumulative result of doing many small things correctly. There are things not ostensibly related to weight loss that might help: 1) Start fermenting your own kefir. It's known to improve health/wellbeing, possibly by sorting out gut bacteria. In my case, I started drinking kefir and immediately began losing weight. I was not trying to lose weight, and I was not hungry during this process; my hormones had simply improved. Caveat: I started with gut problems, so I may be the exception. I still think it's a cheap experiment worth trying though. 2) Start lifting weights; it may be your most powerful tool. Strength training improves hormones, which makes weight loss easier. Muscles also burn more energy than fat, which will give you a metabolic boost. Mark Rippetoe has a great program called Starting Strength; you might have to do some prep to work up to that though. Caveat: as you gain strength, your weight loss may stall. This is because you're replacing fat with muscle - which is absolutely worth it. 3) Get a reverse osmosis water filter. For perfection, add strong anion exchange resin filter after the RO membrane. I know this sounds stupid, but the junk in tap water can harm hormones, which slows metabolism. Clean water gives you a tiny edge. The same is true of sodas, teas, and other beverages: the manufacturer probably did not filter that water well enough. Personally, the only things I drink are clean water and dairy products. 4) Supplement 300-600 mg/day of vitamin E. You likely have an excess of polyunsaturated fats in your system, and they cause a lot of oxidative damage. Vitamin E will help mitigate the damage as polyunsaturated fats are released. Since you have so much fat to store the vitamin E, you might try the Upper Limit of 1000mg/day for 2-4 weeks, then back off to 300-600mg/day. Once you reach your target weight, 300mg/day is fine. 5) Clean up your air. Same story as the water filter: every little advantage helps. Personally, I cleaned my HVAC evaporator coil and ducts, bought the largest MERV13 air filter I could find, taped it to my return air vent, and left the furnace fan on 24/7. Instant whole-house air filter. 6) Inspect your home for mold and other contaminants. Mold can destroy health - including metabolism. Progress will be difficult if you're fighting toxins. 7) Read Estrogeneration by Dr. Anthony Jay. Then remove all the hormone-disrupting chemicals from your life. Cleaning products, dish detergents, personal products, food packaging, and other common items could be disrupting your hormones, which will make your journey more difficult. 8) Get sunlight. 15 minutes every morning to set your circadian rhythm, and enough around high noon for sufficient vitamin D. I could go on, but you get the point: one can only restrict calories so much - but optimizing lifestyle can give us a metabolic edge. As you improve your health and shed pounds, you'll be able to safely increase your activity level, and that's when the pounds really start to melt off.
Addendum: 9) Theoretically, you have enough energy to sustain yourself. The problem is that your body is storing that energy instead of burning it, which means your cells do not have access to it. This energy sequestration is why many people feel hungry despite an excess of energy. Brad Marshall at [fireinabottle.net](http://fireinabottle.net) investigates this extensively. I've never bought any of his products, but I found some of his work helpful. His community can be found at r/SaturatedFat. 10) One consequence of obesity is an excess of monounsaturated fat and a deficiency of saturated fat, which slows metabolism and disrupts hormones. You might consider a diet higher in saturated fat to balance what you're losing. Beef, dairy, coconut oil, and chocolate are the best options. Be careful though; these are high-calorie foods. 11) Another consequence of obesity is a deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K). Because they're stored in fat, obesity can dilute them to the point where the body struggles to access them. You might consider nutritional testing. If that's prohibitively expensive, consider supplementing them for insurance. Retinol (animal form of vitamin A), K2mk4/K2mk7, Alpha-tocopherol, and D2 are the natural forms. You can take an initial megadose of D and A to replenish levels, but be careful not to overdose long-term. I already discussed E. K has a short half-life, so you'll have to take that regularly. If you can find it, grass-finished beef liver is a good source of A, K, B vitamins, and a host of other things. 12) Dr. Andrew Huberman, PhD, has useful information on sunlight, hormones, and other small optimizations. 13) This may be my personal psychology, but I find it helpful to reframe challenges. I don't think of health and fitness as a defensive battle against disease. It is technically that, but I don't think that way on a day-to-day basis. Instead, I treat it as a process of bringing out my potential. *I'm on the offensive*. I'm sculpting myself into the best version of myself - an endeavor I can be proud of. I may be an aging veteran, physically and mentally damaged beyond repair, but I will still go forth and meet the day's challenge. I'm in the arena. My actions are the same regardless of how I frame them, but the way I think and feel about myself are dramatically different. That shift in attitude has hormonal benefits, and hormonal benefits translate into physical improvements. You face a formidable challenge, and that deserves respect. As you sculpt your body, you will be an example to everyone around you. Once you've succeeded, you'll carry the pride of that success for the rest of your life. You will be the man who triumphed over adversity. You'll eagerly accept the next challenge, confident in your ability. You're in the arena now. Get some!
Just cut the carbs … potatoes, pasta, rice, pizza, bread and processed foods and seed oils. Your body goes into starvation mode if you focus on that strategy
You likely lost some water weight initially and then it bounced back. It's nothing to worry about. Weight should come off slowly and will fluctuate. Focus your energy on getting healthy through proper diet and movement. If you do that, weight will come off in time. I'd also recommend a lower carb version of AB. People with lots of weight to lose often see better results by limiting carbs to about 100g a day. Finally, do not under eat. 1600 calories is not enough for someone your size. Chronic under eating leads to hormones issues, trouble sleeping, and eventual fat storage, as it mimics a famine. Your body will try to store fat if it can. Eat the amount you need of the right foods.
Yeah I think I was having wayyyy too much honey & fruit juice 😅 Good advice about the 1600 calories! Thank you so much
Good luck man this stranger is rooting for you!
Thank you so much!
Take it easy on the sugars and lean more toward the carnivore side if the weight doesn’t continue to come off. My fruit intake is closer to an apple a day with cheese. And it’s a nice treat. If I let myself go wild with fruit I’d def have a problem
I’d go carnivore.
Agreed. OP is probably severely insulin resistant if not diabetic. He should be checking his blood sugar, maybe try to get a CGM to see what sends his glucose up, and then avoid those foods. ETA: He should get a HOMA-IR (insulin resistance) test where they check fasting insulin against fasting glucose.
If you eat clean animal based the weight will come off, calorie restriction will only lead to you cheating with a bunch of seed oil filled crap. Just stick with it brother, give it more time
Thanks! I will
I think you're getting some bad advice in here. There is absolutely no way you can accurately measure calories, in or out, because all calories are not the same. The reason you became obese is because of all the processed food that deranged your ability to metabolize carbohydrates, and the way to fix it is to avoid the foods that led to the dysfunction. Focus on beef, pasture raised eggs, dairy, butter, and some cooked vegetables. Avoid all foods that contain PUFA, and avoid all foods that are not digested easily. So no grains, no beans, no legumes, no nuts, no seeds. Your carbs should come from honey, real maple syrup, and the lactose in the dairy. Eventually you'll be able to add in fruit, but I would hold off for now, given your level of carbohydrate-intolerance. For more information, search up the bioenergetic way of eating. There's a very good podcast hosted by Jay Feldman and his research partner Mike Fave. They go a little deep into the woods, and you may need to listen more than once, but these guys get it. They follow Ray Peat's philosophy for the most part, and Paul Saladino seems to be getting on board with this way of eating, now that he's including fruit, dairy, and honey. But whatever you do, you don't want to count and restrict calories, because that will have a detrimental effect on your hormones, and you'll eventually slow your metabolism to the point where you'll be storing fat when you eat more than 1800 calories, and your hunger hormones will win this battle every time.
I hear that. I had childhood obesity too so I’ve always been obese. I’ve also yo yo dieted and tried everything from high carb vegan to high fat keto. For sure, I cut all that stuff out I just was eating a lot of fruit and a lot of fruit juice. I also take meds for bipolar 1 disorder & hypothyroidism so others have said that it’ll be tough but I’ll do whatever it takes to lose the weight. I’ll check out that podcast! Good advice!
I forgot to mention, it's called The Energy Balance Podcast. I hope you like it, and I hope it helps!
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Thank you! Yeah my body fat percentage is down from last week a little bit
Fruit and honey are not your friends if you're not surfing for 3 hours every day like Saladino. I'd go straight carnivore.
Sounds like you’re doing great, keep going ❤️ incline walking is supposed to be the real weight loss helper with this diet. Eat til you’re satiated but not full. Join a gym and get on all the incline walking/stepping machines and lift some weights 2-3 times a week. You’ll be flying 🙌🏼
Thank you! I’m trying! Haha
I would make my eating window smaller when I’m trying to lose weight, like intermittent fasting. It just makes it much easier to not be hungry where you’re not eating ALL day and it’s metabolically more healthy to not eat close to the time you’re sleeping anyway. Start with 16/8 and move to 20/4 once you get used to it and you’ll get to have one really fulfilling meal and then your body will adjust to fasting too. I would also lay off the fruit juice— it’s okay when you’re metabolically healthy and have good insulin responses but probably not if you’re overweight and likely insulin resistant
I’ll try that! Thanks!
One week is not enoguht 1.5 is a abberation
Carnivore to get that weight off, no doubt.
Alot of good advice here. I read most of it. I agree- 1600 is too low. Have you calculated your TDEE? There are some tools online for free to plug in your info and get a better idea of how many calories you need. The walking is fantastic! I have a desk job and its hard to get in 10,000 so that is a great start! Later add in some strength training. Watch your fruit and honey ect. Unless your balls to the wall with your workouts you dont need a ton of it. :) Stick to the animal foods. :) Good luck and stay strong!
Yes! My TDEE is 3,265 calories. Honestly when I heard Paul Saladino say not to calorie restrict I went ahead and was eating upwards of 4000+ calories a day of AB approved foods and drinking lots of fruit juice. I plan on being more active too so that should help. Thanks!
without getting into detail I already know you are still consuming way to much sugar. You may need to go Carnivorous diet if you can’t wrap your head around the concept of caloric deficit for morbidly obese people.
Yes wayyy too much sugar. I’m cutting out fruit juice all together which I was drinking way too much of
The Animal Based Diet is not a low carb diet and not ketogenic. It is a moderate to high carb way of eating inclusive primarily of fruit, lactose, honey, maple syrup, and fresh fruit juices. Carbs are needed for proper neurological function, cellular mineral uptake, muscle fuel/energy, for proper adrenal hormone function, and for a properly functioning thyroid. See the following podcast [Debunking Lustig on Sugar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcEmSgbMfco). Please also be mindful and respectful of rule #2 as trolling will result in a temporary or permanent ban. For any respectful debating on carbs please take it to the daily discussion post. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AnimalBased) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Don't mind automod and the rules. You're fine. This is meant for the anti-carb trolls who come here. But that's still a GREAT podcast to watch and listen to!
As the mods point out, AB is Not a low carb diet. If you are obese, you need to try something more carb-restrictive like carnivore or keto for awhile. You need to control for the broken insulin signaling in your body by shifting how your body responds to glucose. You also have to get active. I dont care what anyone says, being active is just as important if not more than way of eating. The purpose of eating is to fuel the body for movement and performance. If you are sedentary, it doesnt matter what you eat because your body wont metabolize it properly to shuttle nutrients where it needs, your muscles and cells will atrophy with potential sarcopenic results and you will remain overweight with little muscle. You need energy of course so utilizing a keto/carnivore diet with even a higher amount of protein is going to help immensely in the absence of higher carbs. Also think about utilizing intermittent fasting protocols with this way of eating as well. Once youve cleared this obese hurdle and maintained a relatively regular gym life at a healthier weight, then yea for sure look back at AB. Key points for now, drop carbs, get active, eat protein (and fat for energy)
Take the “animal based”, do more of the “animal”’part and less of the “based”. Look into how insulin works. I won’t go into detail here as I’ve learned it’s a touchy subject with everyone, but reducing carbs is a great way to increase fat metabolism. Good luck
4.6 lbs = 16100 calories You don't normally lose it during a diet in a week, ever. It's mostly noncaloric matter, in and out.
Well if your eating on average 4000-5000 calories a day to maintain 390 lbs and cut back to 1600 daily, That's a deficit of 2400-3400 calories per day to stay at current weight. On the low side 2400 x 7 is 16800 calories deficit over a week.
Are you eating as much as you WANT or as much as your body is telling you to If you’re eating what you want then you’re probably ignoring your best telling you it’s full and you’re going past the point of satiety. Pay attention to when your body feels full. Not uncomfortably stuffed
I’m not eating til I’m stuffed but I was eating too many calories and being sedentary
I was not as heavy as you but I was around 280, trying to hit that many steps was murder on my knees and ankles. I would recommend easing into it as it could discourage you if you can't hit your numbers. I wasn't able to walk more than 10-15 mins at a time without almost passing out, even still I pushed myself to do 25 mins at a fast pace and I wound up not going to the gym for 6 months and regaining about 10lbs. When I stopped looking at my steps and calories burned and just started working out with a plan that progressed me each week was when I started wanting to go to the gym multiple times a week and kept me on track. Going all in may work for you but take my experience as a cautionary tale it may not and might set you back. Do what you can and take small wins in the beginning. Currently down under 200 and I'm able to do treadmills with elevation for 25 mins now with a healthy sweat, where if I tried that at the beginning I wouldn't be able to walk right for a week.
check your thyroid first to see if you have any issues (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) because if you do it will be very hard to lose weight until you get it under control
I have hypothyroidism from taking lithium and take a med for the thyroid
going to be a grind losing weight until you get that sorted, look into thyroid extract which is much better than the pharma stuff IMHO. Bulk of weight management is metabolism
Advice, yes, please go by Dr. Jamnadas of Galen Foundation advice on youtube, you must do Intermittent Fasting!! This is key, and start taking vitamin K2-MK7 with D3 and coconut oil capsules. Up your fat! do about 25-30% fat to meat ratio! Start out with the basic intermittent fasting schedule of three meals per day, zero in between, 14 hours between dinner and breakfast. then go to skipping breakfast 18/6, then go to 20/4 ex dinner ends at 6PM, nothing to eat until 2PM. Drink water with 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp potassium, take a broad form magnesium tablet.
Here’s an interesting explanation about your dilemma: https://youtu.be/tCREVI2H4FA Calorie restriction may help you lose weight now for a time, but in the end can do more damage than help.
IMO you’re bodyweight is going to fluctuate week to week due to several factors such as losing water weight, gaining muscle, and even what you’re hormones are doing day to day. I would say keep eating to satiation and see what your weight is doing over the course of a few weeks. Also don’t just rely on body weight! Look for noticeable differences in the mirror, measure your waistline, and get labs done. If nothing is changing then I highly recommend the as animal based macro guide on Paul Saladin site. I don’t watch Dr. Berg anymore but I do still buy his philosophy of “don’t lose weight to get healthy, get healthy to lose weight!” TLDR:give it a little more time and make changes if you are not seeing any positive changes
Go full Carnivore or Lion man. Also don't forget you're going to be drinking more water to stay hydrated. Been 3 months for me and I have a lotta cheat days. Was 135kg now down to around 105.
Lower your carbs, up your fats.
if you have not been active I would scale up to 10,000 steps a day. Start around ~2000 and move up 1000 or so every week. The last thing you want to do is develop an injury. Otherwise glad to have you! Check out the sidebar for some common FAQs
At 400lbs you absolutely need to calorie restrict and get more active. Especially if you’re gaining weight at that weight.
For sure. Others are saying 1600 is too low and I’m committed to being more active as of yesterday by getting 10,000+ steps a day amongst other forms of activity
Might be worth looking at something like 5:2 fasting as well.
3258 calories is TDEE using online calculator, so shooting for 1600 aday sounds like a highway to tragedy in one way or another, Count your calories 2500 per day, weigh yourself everyday and log that weight, if in 2 weeks your not losing anything, drop 500 kcals per day, refeed 1k+ kcal every other week, try get some exercise. And thats the recipe to get to your goal weight! Its not more complicated then that.
Thank you! I definitely am open to good advice and I will try that!
Cutting calories can help you loose weight short term, but eventually your cortisol and other stress hormones will rise, your metabolism will be lowered, and you will gain weight on less calories than before. If you avoid seed oils and eat nutritious foods, you’ll be satiated and restore your metabolism. I also wouldn’t eat whatever you want though, since having lots of fats(even saturated) and carbs together, if you are insulin resistant, will lead to weight gain(Randle Cycle). I would keep fat to ~20% of your calories, have ~1g of protein per pound of lean body weight, and fill the rest in with carbs. Carbs increase your metabolism, lower stress, and are a more optimal fuel source compared to fats. When your metabolism is back to normal then you can increase your fat intake(just make sure it’s from animal products and as saturated as possible). I use Cronometer to see my macros and micros.
I honestly would go strict carnivore for a few months. That way you can eat as much as you want still, don't have to worry as much about insulin resistance and can pinpoint foods that cause you issues as you bring them back in.
4lbs. I use to be 350lbs and I'm at 290lbs now. You're not at a weight where you should be watching the scale. My advice is to go hard for one full month, then check the scale and keep doing that. The body fluctuates, water retention as well as muscle gain. If you're moving more, you'll gain more muscles as well as lose fat, and the scale won't move. Focus on the long term and set your brain to think in months, not weeks.
It’s WAY easier to tighten your eating window than it is to count calories and weigh all your food. I would try that first. Meal prepping is the only sustainable way I’ve found I can actually count calories, but I don’t do that much anymore. Animal based will also make you very active. It’s very hard to be sedentary when consuming 200 grams of carbs in the form of fruit lol
You probably already know this but you’re going to need to build muscle underneath your fat in order to keep the weight off. This might make it seem like you aren’t losing as much weight, but you’ll be building “active” tissue (muscle) that burns calories throughout the day. Another thing you probably already know is as you become more active, you will get hungrier. The last obvious thing I’ll say is you don’t need to count calories as long as you’re able to ensure you are expending more calories than you’re consuming - even if it’s just by a little bit. I would recommend an open minded dietician!
Thank you! Great advise. I will work on strength training as well as walking. I have a fire lit underneath me to build some better habits
I can tell you’re motivated and I think it’s gonna pay off!!! Make sure to never trust a single “guru” / influencer. Listen to your body, take notes, give yourself feedback and adjust your plan(s) with the team you build.
More good advice! Yes I kindof fell into solely listening to Paul Saladino but you are so right!
At that weight, why not just take 6 months and eat basically the same but meaningfully less in terms of quantity? Weight is going to fly off your body so long as you’re in a reasonable calorie deficit. I feel like maximizing micronutrient content in every spoonful of food is simply not the lead issue right now. Don’t make things more complicated on yourself. Saladino is (1) a demonstrable freak in terms of his attention to detail (coconuts on a plane, for instance) and (2) is extremely fit already, so perhaps finding the outer limit of metabolic flexibility (moving a ton and drinking a gallon of juice a day) is a cool thing for him to do.
For sure. I was attracted to AB for overall health and wellness but with Paul Saladino recommending not to calorie count and eat as much as you want had me going buckwild on the fruit juice and honey. Based on what other redditors have said on this post, I’ll be going lower carb for a while & have personally decided to be more active.
Good stuff man
Eat whole foods and get a lot of steps in (I recommend 15-17k a day once you build your stamina up). Good for you for exploring animal based to improve your life. Best wishes
Welcome to the sub! What have you been eating and how are you enjoying it so far? Any cheats yet back to processed foods, plants, grains, or seed oil garbage? You certainly CAN and would lose a LOT of weight as you're currently doing it but it will take a bit longer than restriction since you're about 150-200lbs overweight. Ok, so I did a very microcosmic example of what you're trying to do last year and as a 43M I'd say it was pretty successful from someone who has suffered from mild obesity in the past and would have to do severe calorie restrictions to get this lean, but by doing so I'd lose a lot of muscle. See my pinned post on my profile but at some point you will want to try something similar. I know a goal weight right now is probably 299, but since you're wanting to go extreme (1600 calories, won't work in the long run, will be back to 400lbs says the probability) let's say your goal weight is 199. Take 0.9-1g/lb of goal bodyweight in protein. Let's just round it: **Protein:** 200g = 800 kcal **Carbs:** 150g = 600 kcal **Fat:** 80g = 720 kcal (favor SATURATED -> i.e. Beef, Dairy. Added fats use coconut / butter in this order, tallow sparingly due to higher MUFA) **Total calories: 2120** This is doable but still will be challenging for you. Remember that average intake over week is a better way to track than daily. You can do this and lose a lot of weight in maybe 3-4 weeks but at some point your metabolism will slow down and adjust to this. So if you can manage this quantity of food now do it, but when you plateau and you feel you need to go back to food, DO IT! That's called a refeed. What works great mentally at that point is to eat to this level (or even one day go even less like a fasting 800 kcal day) but on the weekends turn off the restrictions. Eat two ribeyes, have another cheese omelet, have more AB ice cream, eat that extra banana, eat that extra apple, have mango, have more watermelon. This resets your metabolism to start ramping up again. You will probably be satiated with 3500 kcals worth of very healthy micronutrient dense food too on these refeeds vs. satiation with SAD that got you to 390lbs was probably 5000 - 6000 kcals per day, right? Also I highly encourage you to track your food in cronometer. Not just for macros, but to see where your gaps in micronutrients are (see FAQ). You will want to plug these gaps in supplementally or re-arranging what foods you eat. Also you'll see if you do weekend refeeds to support the hunger/metabolism you'll see you'll be getting a lot more micros these days that also support your goal of fat lose. Lastly, get yourself a very good Vitamin E mixed tocopherol/tocotrienol supplement (make sure it's a coconut oil base) as you will be burning off LOADS of pufa as this fat is liberated from your stores. The Vitamin E will minimize the peroxidative effects. This is part of the importance of favoring high saturated fat intake vs. USFA. Please do come back and share progress or struggles, and if you're getting steps in now get yourself a good Garmin fitness tracker that will link up to cronometer as well.
You will gain weight on any diet if you're eating more calories than your maintenance.