Weaning onto CR and Weight Loss

[FrederickSebastian]

Hey Everyone,

 

My name is Fred Sebastian and I have been a member of this site for a year or two now and plan on going on a CRON-diet for health and longevity sometime in the not to distant future. My problem: I am currently 5'2" and 220lbs (obviously overweight) and want to lose weight but have read that going onto a CRON-diet suddenly will cause you to live less long! I really want to lose weight, but I also really want to go on a CRON-diet the proper way, and the only way I know of losing weight is to exercise and cut calories! What should I do?

 

I have thought about starting by eating 2000 calories per day then cutting it by 20-50 calories per week until I reach a reasonable diet and am losing weight consistently. Is it really worth it to gradually cut calories in order to benefit fully from CR diet or should I just start eating significantly less immediately until I'm down to a reasonable weight, then practice CR (which I'll already be on) from there on out? I really want to lose weight as fast as humanly possible but also want to get the possible longevity benefit of CRON-dieting!

 

Any suggestions?

 

Fred

[Saul]

I think your plan is a good one.

In addition, it is important to have a plant-based diet -- that is, almost all the food that you eat should be vegetables and fruit.  You should also use some nutrition software, to track your diet, and make sure that you are getting all the vitamins and minerals that you need.  Most of us use CronOMeter, which is feely available at cronometer.com.  It's available on all computers, and also as a cellphone app.

Concerning protein:  Most people consume too much protein.  It's best that you should get most of your calories from carbohydrates (which are the principle source of calories in vegetables and fruits).  It's best to get most of your protein from plant sources (such as beans ).  It's best to consume very little animal products.

Hope that helps,

  --  Saul

[Todd Allen]

I think food quality is most important, I eat minimally processed, mostly raw or low temp moist cooked foods.

I lowered my body fat % by roughly 10% the 1st year and 5% each of the past 2 years.  My progress is slowing but I expect in another year or two I'll hit my target range of 10-12%.  Most of my carbs ~40 g daily is from plants especially leafy greens.  The fats in my diet are near 50/50 plant and animal.  Most of my protein ~120 g daily comes from animal sourced foods.  Restricting carbohydrates has had profound benefits for me massively reducing hunger making caloric restriction and fasting often near effortless.   My biomarkers of health have gone from terrible to excellent.  I've gone from borderline diabetic to a very stable blood sugar averaging about 85 mg/dl.  I'm a former short term vegan and long term vegetarian and while that might be a great approach for many it worked out miserably for me.

I don't believe there has ever been or will be a long term controlled trial in humans testing ratios of plant vs animal sourcing of high quality foods and even then the result would only have statistical significance but would still lack relevance on an individual basis.   There is no substitute for learning to track and evaluate what works best for yourself.  You'll never know what works best for yourself without testing a range of approaches.

[Sibiriak]

It's not a simple matter to test what "works best for yourself" in terms of long term health and longevity.

[Clinton]

Hi Frederick,

My thread ‘Clinton’s Stack’ was updated recently due to my own recent ‘wean’ into actual CR.

 It contains all of the supplements I take and meals.  I have a lot of respect for the regular posters and contributors on these forums- it is a treasure-trove of excellent information and perhaps more important (for me): a source of motivation.

best of luck!

keep us posted with your results!

 

[Todd Allen]

21 hours ago, Sibiriak said:

It's not a simple matter to test what "works best for yourself" in terms of long term health and longevity.

Frederick is 5'2" and 220 lbs!  A BMI of 40+ is over weight even if exceptionally muscled.  When one's situation is acute pursuing a fantasy of idealized long term health and longevity instead of finding ones best path to short term health and fitness is misguided.  

[Sibiriak]

I was making a general observation about long term health and longevity.  I wasn't referring to cases like Frederick's in particular.

It goes without saying that one should directly address serious  acute health concerns rather than fantasize about idealized long term health and longevity.