Christinam

I watched this study on weight on BBC and they went into why people gain a lot of weight. If it’s eating too much, exercising too little or low metabolic rate… Many of the study participants thought they eat just as much as their skinny friends but get fat. Turned out that once monitored, they actually ate 50% more than the thin guys, didn’t have a low thyroid or low metabolism like they imagined. I also know people that eat everything and are thin. But they are either those energizer bunny types that have nervous energy and probably burn the calories like crazy or they eat small portions.
Another observation of mine, is, that stress, tensions and depression leads to eating for comfort and if that person is insecure they might every so often go on a really extreme diet and lose weight. But they haven’t worked on their inner life and end up eating lots again after restricting. I also think that stressed people are cold a lot because tensions constrict blood vessels. I do think that extreme diets cause even more stress because the body gets the message that you don’t eat when hungry and therefor does it’s hormonal thing and gets you to pig out later and store safety fat for the next starvation. But I don’t know if it’s ever a good idea to eat more than hungry for. Or even force oneself to exercise a lot. I live in southern california and people are obsessed with eating healthy and staying active. But guess what, there are lots of gorgeous slim people here, too. So maybe it’s a good thing. I don’t know. But supposedly people who hang around active slim people are more likely to be like that, too.
I might be wrong and eating lots can eventually lead to a healthy slim body. But I don’t really see proof on this forum. Most of those who lost the weight again went back to eating moderately, say they are sorry they took rereading so far and gained a lot, even counting calories to lose it. It seems that some of the testimonials do claim, that they ate a lot and lost weight. And soon after starting, too. I don’t know what’s going on there. Maybe they are very young. I don’t know. And I don’t see any such person here, which might mean that they ended up gaining and might not even be on the plan anymore.
I’d be happy to see those who ate a ton and lost the weight. And I don’t buy that anyone is genetically meant to be chunky. Healthy, to me, means filled out (not bones sticking out) without a bunch of jiggle or rolls. And looking solid but good naked.

I think it’s good that you are now coming around to eating whole foods. And I agree that Matt seems to promote junk food in large quantities which just cannot possibly be good in my my mind. Some people rapidly gunk up their livers when they eat a high sugar diet because their body is somehow wired that way. I’m very cautious since nobody is coming around here and sharing their great weight loss story while eating lots.
Better safe than sorry. But I still eat well. One reg. entree size bowl full of oats with banana, dates, coconut milk, warrior protein powder and some maple syrup for breakfast, something like quinoa or rice with miso, coconut oil, steamed carrots, small handful of greens and a small dessert of cream cheese( no additives) on a few strawberries with maple syrup. And some fish or beef most days. Sometimes I’ll have some ice-cream and dates with macadamia nuts in the afternoon. This plan has stopped my weight gain which happened on lots of bread, some tart/cookies, lots of ice-cream, butter, jam, pancakes. Urgh, eating that felt yuck and the taste of it wasn’t really interesting anymore after a few weeks. I felt like a gross, lethargic, depressed sloth on that?Maybe I’m happy with my plan now because it’s close to how I ate growing up.
I’m so sorry you gained so much weight. You probably were too thin when you started, so you will probably not need to lose as much as you gained.
Walking is good until you lose a bit of weight and then you could do 20 min. of push ups and abs, squats everyday to keep it simple until you start feeling good again. Try and stay busy doing things and reading etc. as not to focus so much regrets or worries.

Your take reminds me of something I read in Water Last’s book. I speaks of high calcium to phosphorous ratios being preferable in most cases. And in the section on hypoglycemia and sensitivity to sugar, he states that some of us don’t have a proper sugar metabolism and end up using alkaline materials like calcium to buffer the resulting acidity. He recommends a diet that stops this process. It is contrary to eat for heat since it rules out sugars incl. fruit, but one can freely eat gluten free grains, butter, coconut oil, veg, animal foods etc.. He mentions the symptoms of someone with this conditions, one of which is cold hands and feet, irregular menstruation, depression…, rather similar to a low metabolism. Well, he sais that this person produces acidity where a healthy individual does energy. I used to see myself in his description but it was just too hard for me to swear off of sweets entirely. I wonder if his approach paired with some of Matt’s ideas like drinking less, more salt and eating good amounts would produce superior results for some of us. Or, if this would just be another diet devoid of pleasure and too low carb to heal the metabolism. I’m interested in your take celtic. and anyone else’s of course (:

I think it might be a histamine reaction. Maybe it’s from hard cheeses. I’ll have to eliminate foods and see.