Energy levels and metabolism

[pwonline]

I'm going to be completely honest here, the more I listen to peoples experiences the more I believe this is like a cult and dangerous.

This was supposed to extend not only our lifespan but health span, but all I'm seeing is it extending suffering. I realise now that this is easily classified as an eating disorder. Maybe a handful of people are able to sustain this "lifestyle", most of these people are self employed able to afford the best nutrition and advice.

What good is living if you spend most of your day using tests and stuff to check if your bloodwork is good? Why are we so concerned when you have fat old people living to mid 90's eating carbs and smoking! One thing I realised is a weak body means a weak mind. I starved my body so much that I was constantly irritable and snap every second to my loved ones and felt like shit all day!

I rather live a normal happy life to 90 then a miserable slow death to a 100. I honestly believe what Dean said is true, the friend that gave him the advice that CR practitioners are most likely decreasing life span with the extreme calorie restriction than extending it. Has no one thought the one guy that led this "revolution" died a miserable end with a muscle wasting disease and thought he would live to 120, has anyone seen his interviews where he looks so weak and talking like he's already 120 at mid 60's?

I doubt this message will get through to most CR practitioners, we are too stubborn and won't let go of the fountain of youth theory, we are scared of death but we should be focusing on how to live NOW. not the last 10 years of our lives!

I count my blessings that Dean entered my life and talked me out of what I was doing. I increased my calories from 1600 a day to 1979 a day and feel alive again! something I haven't felt in 6 months of turmoil. I still gained immense knowledge in nutrition that will stay with me but I'm only interested in growing my body now! 

Dean I don't want to drastically increase my calories from 1600 to 2300 in such a short time. Each week I will add 50 calories and measure my weight until I reach a point where I'm increasing weight. Then stick with that calories until I need to increase again.

my only concern is to gain muscle and more muscle. I don't care if I have to consume 2700 calories or any number of calories. I want a strong body. I don't care about when I die but care about how I live now. I will never restrict my calories again, definitely never go below 2200 calories. I honestly wish everyone is at peace and finds a happy balance but I want nothing more to do with CR practice, this almost ended my life prematurely and I have a long recovery process to get my pathetic weak body back to vitality. Sorry if I sounded harsh but this is insane with the amount of suffering I'm seeing

[Dean Pomerleau]

32 minutes ago, pwonline said:

I doubt this message will get through to most CR practitioners, we are too stubborn and won't let go of the fountain of youth theory, we are scared of death but we should be focusing on how to live NOW. not the last 10 years of our lives!

You may not know this but you are preaching in church without (many) remaining true believers. There may be a few lurkers around this forum who still cling to the belief that serious CR will buy them lots of extra years of health and life, but not many. Matt? Khurram? Saul and Al may still believe, but (wisely, IMO) don't seem to be practicing hardcore CR at this point as far as I can tell.

Michael Rae probably still believes and is practicing serious CR, but he only drops in here a couple times per years as of late - his most recent post was 9 months ago and his most recent (rather qualified - "assuming it translates...") endorsement of serious CR was a year and a half ago:

The last data-driving extended discussion we had on the merit of serious CR was almost exactly six years ago, not too long after the disappointing CR monkey trial results came out, for anyone interested:

--Dean

[pwonline]

39 minutes ago, Dean Pomerleau said:

You may not know this but you are preaching in church without (many) remaining true believers. There may be a few lurkers around this forum who still cling to the belief that serious CR will buy them lots of extra years of health and life, but not many. Matt? Khurram? Saul and Al may still believe, but (wisely, IMO) don't seem to be practicing hardcore CR at this point as far as I can tell.

Michael Rae probably still believes and is practicing serious CR, but he only drops in here a couple times per years as of late - his most recent post was 9 months ago and his most recent (rather qualified - "assuming it translates...") endorsement of serious CR was a year and a half ago:

The last data-driving extended discussion we had on the merit of serious CR was almost exactly six years ago, not too long after the disappointing CR monkey trial results came out, for anyone interested:

--Dean

This site should have posts like this pinned! It's strange when you are in the middle of this, very hard to let go, I guess it's our propensity for food disorder ultimately that clouds our judgement. Dean I didn't mention this but you looked so much better with higher BMI but I still believe being able to restrict your calories as you do (around 1950) will indeed starve of illness and health complications till much later in life but the downsides (of which most neglect or stay in ignorance) IS NOT worth it.

Find a diet that is healthy and sustainable that restricts processed foods and sugar and lots of veg and whole foods and keep a bmi that's in healthy range, with 8 hours sleep and moderate exercise and enjoy life.

I had no idea that I was still sailing on an abandoned ship with not even the captain coming to the surface.

I'm so happy I didn't stay on this diet so long but I've already done irreversible damage, my hair just 6 months ago was full and thick, It now has bold patches and very thin, I lost hair on hands as well. You honestly saved my life Dean, I can't begin to thankyou enough. I have no idea why or how you did it, I was ready to carry on with 1600 calories for a very long time. My legs became so weak and skinny that walking starting becoming a choir but I still maintained the belief that I was going to live long time and I don't need a body beyond basic needs. You given me a new life and I will remember your words "don't take things to the extreme". 

We need things in moderation in life and balance.

Michael Rae is a genius. but maybe like most geniuses they go crazy. Dean you are a godsend for staying on this site to offer real valuable life saving advice to wonderers like me, I honestly should have seen the warning signs, I should have questioned why the only videos of CR practice was 5+ years ago on YouTube and the only people that are still carrying on with this are people that have more realistic CR calories of around 1900. No point crying over spilt milk, I'm still glad I went through this though Dean, I now have a diet that works but also understand so much like OMEGA 3 to OMEGA 6 ratio, time restricted eating to utilise fat storage and ketones, BDNF, etc. I don't think I'd have such a strong vitality diet as the one I'm using if I didn't engross myself in nutrition in order to be able to not die while on 1600 calories with BMI of 16 and maintenance  calories at 2600!

Dean I hope to report to you in the future with my weight gain and a happier life. love you man!

[IgorF]

1 hour ago, pwonline said:

Dean I don't want to drastically increase my calories from 1600 to 2300 in such a short time. Each week I will add 50 calories and measure my weight until I reach a point where I'm increasing weight. Then stick with that calories until I need to increase again. 

my only concern is to gain muscle and more muscle. I don't care if I have to consume 2700 calories or any number of calories. I want a strong body.

I am not Dean but I will answer on this.

First thing first - to gain weight does not mean to gain it all in muscles. And gaining it not in muscles does not mean it is bad. For very lean person getting it in fat is good. At least if it is getting it to the BMI let's say up to 20-22. Why so - because this creates an energy store to address a possible hard desease, injury etc.

The body of a person who is not eating will break some muscles for glucose in the first 20-30 hours, then a person can start getting the glucose I/V in case of severe decease and burn the fat until the care/recovery will happen. Those who have no fat will run out of resources and the story will probably end.

Being very lean means - gambling against a possibility of emergency body fat requirements.

Dean described a good way to get the weight back with bananas. I personally went back few kilograms in a similar but faster way - 500-750kk surplus for two weeks from fruits (via fructose magic described in the recent book of Rick Johnson), then I switched to zero delta and my weight was stabilized.

Getting muscles is a longer story, a man can not do it fast, there are optimization tricks described e.g. by Ori Hofmekler and they could be applied to target the muscle gainning but this is a separate topic to address, in any case getting some fat is also a good idea for somebody at very low weight, just as a safety belt, it is fast and easy. Then getting muscles could be addressed in a longer timeframe.

 

Br,

Igor

 

 

[Dean Pomerleau]

27 minutes ago, pwonline said:

I believe being able to restrict your calories as you do (around 1950)...

I think you are confusing me with some else. My diet has evolved a little since this thread, but not too much, especially when it comes to calories:

My BMI at that time was 17.5. I've since raised it to 18.5 by gaining six pounds.

--Dean

[Gordo]

On 6/10/2022 at 3:38 PM, Dean Pomerleau said:

I think you are confusing me with some else

His mind is about to be BLOWN when he finds out you eat 3000 calories a day!  😉

I do think he has a point about modifying this site to more prominently convey that the whole extreme CR thing is pretty much dead at this point,  even Paul Mcglothin recommends a 22 BMI.   The video discussed here is a pretty good summary of longevity research from Luigi Fontana:

 

[pwonline]

On 6/14/2022 at 12:53 AM, Gordo said:

His mind is about to be BLOWN when he finds out you eat 3000 calories a day!  😉

I do think he has a point about modifying this site to more prominently convey that the whole extreme CR thing is pretty much dead at this point,  even Paul Mcglothin recommends a 22 BMI.   The video discussed here is a pretty good summary of longevity research from Luigi Fontana:

 

 It is no mistake Dean, I used the stats on your blog that I posted, a very old blog!

Gordo this site needs to go. It's dangerous for certain types of people. No one should advocate living on a diet with so few calories.

I feel so much better at 2000 calories and slowly increasing by 50 a week to a point I'm starting to gain weight again! If not for Dean I think I'd have done serious damage by end of this year. I can't believe Paul Mcglothin recommends at least 22bmi, the truth about this FAD OF A DIET is coming out.