CR versus exercise: advice ?

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Recently I've finished losing around 30 lbs and now want to stabilize

at my current weight. Specifically, I'm male, age: 59, ht: 67.75 in.

and now weigh around 134 lbs for a current BMI of around 20.5. I

started losing weight around a year ago by limiting my food intake to

2400-2700 kcal/day of nutrient-dense foods (as recommended in the

forum files) and by cycling, supplemented with walking and weight

training. I (somewhat arbitrarily) decided I didn't want to go below

around 135 lbs so for the past few weeks I've cut my cycling by 33%

to curtail the weight loss. However, I'm still eating approximately

2300-2400 kcal/day.

Since, in animals at least, it appears that restricting calories is

more beneficial than exercise, I guess I need to cut back even more

on my cycling. I might add that, disappointingly, my borderline-high

systolic blood pressure (129 mm) hasn't changed with the weight loss

and my total cholesterol (as measured around 3 months ago) was also

still borderline high (total: 201 mg/dl, HDL: 73, LDL: 111, Trig:

85). I'm hoping that with further caloric restriction that both the

systolic BP and total cholesterol will decline. However, since I've

always done a lot of aerobic activity, I'm finding it difficult to

cut back which will be necessary if I want to decrease my input of

food calories.

In summary, I guess I would like to find an optimum balance between

exercise and CR to maintain my weight at its current value (or maybe

a little less since I'm still losing slowly). I realize that there is

probably no way to quantify the advantages and disadvantages of

exercise versus CR but I'm looking for advice on the matter.

Thanks,

Tom

[Guest guest]

Tom: congrats on your achievement!

I'm assuming:

1) that you've read the " exercise " file

2) that you're limiting salt in your diet

Since you're 59, be very careful about losing more weight. Walford warns

that at greater ages (that's me also!), your restriction should be moderate.

Otherwise you could be harming your health rather than improving it.

AFA blood pressure, there might not be much you can do. Family history is a

factor and like yours, my own BP is not especially low either. But I'm the

only one in my family who has not to take bp medication and i'm it would be

much higher on ad lib.

You could try the portfolio diet for your lipids. Here are the foods,

courtesy of Rod in a previous post:

Almonds

Barley

Beans, northern (kidney; lentil; chick pea)

Cauliflower (broccoli, carrot)

Double fruit jam

Eggplant

Margarine, plant sterol

Metamucil + water

Oatbran

Oatbran bread

Okra

Onion

Orange (apple, pear)

Peppers, red

Soups: lentil with curry; vegetable with barley; black bean; minestrone with

pasta

Soy milk; soy burger; ground soy; tofu; soyagurt; soy hotdogs; soy deli

slices

Tomato

Vegetarian chili (vegetable curry, three-bean chili)

and this in a previous post of Peg's:

my cholesteral had gone from years at 224 total to under 130. I attribute

this completely to the use of psyllium, guar gum powder and lots of Oat

Bran Flakes only. Eggs every day ............

Also from Tony:

Since linoleic acid is an omega-6 *essential* fatty acid, and there is

no additional source of it in the diet, the end result will be

elevated cholesterol levels. For this reason, I am suggesting that

high cholesterol level is a symptom of INADEQUATE omega-6 EFA linoleic

acid, particularly when there is adequate soluble fiber intake, and

sources of saturated fats and dietary cholesterol are restricted.

Some sources of linoleic acid are sunflower seeds, walnuts, grape seed

oil, safflower oil (not high oleic), or sunflower oil (not high

oleic).

So, Gay, both Dr. Walford and Udo Erasmus could be right, depending on

the macronutrient composition of your diet. Your cholesterol level

can be used as a guide for whether you are deficient in omega-6.

I have set up a set of three web pages on how to normalize

cholesterol:

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/health/cholesterol.html

Tony

on 6/28/2005 4:12 PM, at tomrscott@... wrote:

> Hi All,

>

> Recently I've finished losing around 30 lbs and now want to stabilize

> at my current weight. Specifically, I'm male, age: 59, ht: 67.75 in.

> and now weigh around 134 lbs for a current BMI of around 20.5. I

> started losing weight around a year ago by limiting my food intake to

> 2400-2700 kcal/day of nutrient-dense foods (as recommended in the

> forum files) and by cycling, supplemented with walking and weight

> training. I (somewhat arbitrarily) decided I didn't want to go below

> around 135 lbs so for the past few weeks I've cut my cycling by 33%

> to curtail the weight loss. However, I'm still eating approximately

> 2300-2400 kcal/day.