I think reducing excess sugar consumption is necessary but not sufficient to get lean for some obese individuals like myself.
When I started keto 7 years ago I lost 100lbs. Then I gained it all back - staying pretty strict keto the entire time. I haven't had what you'd call "processed food" or "sugary food" in nearly a decade if you exclude a small % of keto-style things like dark chocolate (85%).
Now back down 45-50lbs (depends on how you count) and hopefully going to continue. But this time I cut out protein, too. It could be that both carbs and protein raise insulin enough to cause obesity in some people. Or maybe seed oils in even the tiniest doses. Those are my two main hypotheses: https://exfatloss.substack.com/p/hypotheses
I don't think fructose is the one shot answer for carrying more fat than is healthy -- but it's consumption or ratio in food consumed by the general population, IMO plays an important role in higher rates of over weight people in a given population nonetheless [1]. Basic foods grown haven't changed that much, but manufactured foods certainly have changed over the last half a century. So too I guess, have our habits of how we eat changed with devices like microwaves that make frozen one serve portions a practical reality for a fast life.
There will of course be a small percentage of people who carry more fat, for different reasons entirely, not directly related to diet or exercise even.
Interesting experiment you're running. Funny thing, one of those years where I never lost much weight push bike riding and other ideas, I landed a 15kg box of dark chocolate buttons - unintentional but I indulged and started bagging up about 3/4 to a full cup in a bag to take with me for the day's travel ... by end of box I'd lost a bit over a kilo (2 pounds) which seemed odd to me.
I'd argue "less activity than what's consumed" is not causal but an accounting of what's already happened. Just like "more money in your bank account" is a mere measurement, whereas "getting paid for your job" is what was causal.
I gave up on fasting for weight loss as well. It's just another form of caloric restriction and that just doesn't work for me. My body is just too efficient: it immediately turns down the metabolic rate to adjust.
I've done 5 days fast, 2 days feeding for a month straight and didn't lose any weight that I didn't immediately regain upon the 2 feeding days.
Very cool! I'm currently wearing a CGM. I already love these and find them super non-invasive (Freestyle Libre 3). It's a penny that sits on your arm and every 14 days you change it for 1 minute.
But this would probably be even cooler.
Do you think there would be other locations that lend themselves to this, besides ear canal? People already use their ears for headphones a lot, so it might be difficult to use for some.
Current CGMs (Continuous Glucose Monitors) are amazingly non-invasive and easy to use. I'm wearing one right now and I can't feel it.
I'm using the Freestyle Libre 3. It's the size of a penny on my upper arm. I don't have to replace it for 14 days, so I'm only really aware of it 2x per month.
It transmits the signal to my phone via bluetooth. So essentially it's like your phone reads your blood glucose live but every 14 days you need to wipe your upper arm with an alcohol wipe and stick a new one in. The process is completely painless and takes 1 minute or so once you've done it a few times.
Any doctor can prescribe you a CGM and they're like $70-100 per 14 day period, depending on brand/location/insurance. If you're diabetic your insurance will likely pay for it.
Should you be on the fence I absolutely recommend you just get one. Pay it out of pocket just to learn how you respond to the things you eat and drink.
CGMs are amazing, and the closed loop makes the diabetics' life vastly better. They can almost pretend they have a functioning (mechanical) pancreas.
But there's more to be done. They don't measure blood insulin, but the interstitial fluid, which responds more slowly. And a new monitor takes an hour to establish its baseline, which is an hour that your closed loop isn't complete. (I gather that the newest Dexcoms take just 30 minutes.)
A version that used just a smartwatch would be amazing, especially if it really was measuring the actual blood level. But making that sure enough to be part of a closed loop is a massive, massive hurdle. It's controlling the delivery of a medicine where both overdose and underdose are dangerous, and that means extremely high levels of precision and proof.
Yea for sure. I think another major benefit would be that it wouldn't just be available for T1Ds or curious/severe T2Ds or nerds like me. Getting an Rx and paying $200/mo is a huge opt-in hurdle.
If this was on by default in every Apple watch we'd have 20 million fewer T2Ds the next week.
The problem is that the FDA is basically forbidding anything that could even remotely be "accidentally abused" by T1Ds. To even a consumer-focused fitness CGM/watch function would have to comply by the most stringent FDA regulations like medical devices marketed specifically to T1Ds, unless you somehow modify it in a way that would prevent T1Ds from "accidentally using it." I've heard you'd need to e.g. delay the feedback by 24h, which makes it pointless.
The book The Fat of the Land by Vilhjalmur Stefansson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilhjalmur_Stefansson) describes how the Eskimos he lived with ate rotten fish all the time. It was a delicacy for them.
Kind of like we eat "rotten/spoiled" blue cheese and dry-aged beef.
But yea, it seems our digestive systems can adapt to it pretty well, given that we've been doing this since long before doctors were around. I suppose the acid kills all the bacteria in the rotten meat unless you're super weak immune wise.
Not just that, there are toxins lethal to "normal" humans (i.e. cadaverine) that one can adapt to by eating small amounts as a child.
Chukchi babies would get ever more rotten bones to suck on (i.e. pacifiers) presumably for that purpose.
I think reducing excess sugar consumption is necessary but not sufficient to get lean for some obese individuals like myself.
When I started keto 7 years ago I lost 100lbs. Then I gained it all back - staying pretty strict keto the entire time. I haven't had what you'd call "processed food" or "sugary food" in nearly a decade if you exclude a small % of keto-style things like dark chocolate (85%).
Now back down 45-50lbs (depends on how you count) and hopefully going to continue. But this time I cut out protein, too. It could be that both carbs and protein raise insulin enough to cause obesity in some people. Or maybe seed oils in even the tiniest doses. Those are my two main hypotheses: https://exfatloss.substack.com/p/hypotheses