fruit and hunger (also: introducing Micky)

[Guest guest]

Short version: I’ve been fighting hunger and binges

since starting CR. Switching from non-starchy vegetables to fruit as my main

source of carbs abolished the hunger and the binges, and now I eat 400 calories

less per day with less hunger than before. The longer version tells the whole

story, including my theory of why it works, my CR-resume and my current

pictures (relaxed and flexed).

Long version: I have no set point (for whatever it’s

worth). As a teenager I touched 187lb/85Kg twice and 137lb/62Kg twice (crash

diets), before I reached my final height of about 5’10”/177cm.

During my twenties my weight steadily climbed from about 158lb/72Kg/BMI-23 to

176lb/80Kg/BMI-25.5, and by the age of 34 I was 200lb/90Kg/BMI-29 fat

couch-potato (more than 30% bodyfat) and suffering from a bad sleeping

disorder. That’s when I made my new millennium resolution: my 1st

priority in life is: me. All the rest will take care of itself. It did. I

started working out, initially just walking, then added some weights, became

somewhat Zonish, and by the end of year 2000 I was overtraining like crazy:

lifting weights 10 hours a week, running 20 miles a week, swimming, road

biking, mountain biking and finished an Olympic length Triathlon (Eilat, Israel) in 2 hours

and 40 minutes. I lost about 60lb/27Kg of fat and gained about 40lb/18Kg of

Lean Body Mass and weighed about 180lb/81Kg with about 10% bodyfat. But I was overtrained,

and most likely not on CR. So during 2001 I reduced my workout volume gradually

and substantially, while thinking “harder” about CR, on a low-carb

diet with 2 carb-loads per week. My weight was mostly stable, and I fooled

myself that I was on CR. By the end of 2001, at 194lb/88Kg and 14% bodyfat

(quite big, though quite lean as well) I realized that the laws of

thermodynamics hold, and that I’m on CE (Calorie Enhancement). So the

real CR battle began early in 2002, when I dropped all other activities except

lifting heavy weights, and I gradually reduced my workout frequency from 5

times a week to 2.3 times a week, with less volume per workout. I started

counting calories more seriously, and was quite hungry at 2200Kcal/Day (then I

though it was 2000… today I know it was 2200). The problem was that I

would over-eat about twice a week; always in the evenings, always on non

workout days, and always fruits; frozen, fresh and dried. I guess a binge would

be anywhere between 500 and 1500 calories. So that put me roughly on a

2400Kcal/Day. I gradually lost weight from 194lb/88Kg to 172lb/78Kg, but the

hunger did not subside, and the binges seemed more “pronounced” as

the weight went down. That’s when I read the post that changed all of it:

Lyle Mc posted on misc.fitness.weights that a post-workout meal must

include some fructose, because empty *liver* glycogen stores put the body in a

catabolic state, and most weight-lifters want to be anabolic. I couldn’t

care less about being anabolic (accepting CR’s inevitable consequences),

but all the pieces of the puzzle suddenly fell together: Low liver glycogen

stores make you hungry; ingesting fructose preferentially loads the

liver’s glycogen stores (glucose/starch preferentially loads the muscles’

glycogen stores) thus make you less hungry; that’s why I never binged on

workout days: those were the only days I ate fruit post workout, so my liver

glycogen stores were never empty on those days; that’s also why I binged

on fruit: my body craved for liver-glycogen. So I made the leap of faith, and

instead of eating mostly non-starch vegetables I switched to mostly fruit

(strawberries, cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries,

apples and pears and a bit of the others). I maintain the same caloric intake

(actually, same percentage) from carbs though, at 35% (Protein: 40%, fat: 25%).

The magic was instantaneous: I was so much less hungry to the point that I was

able to postpone my meals such that I effectively skipped a meal every day

(down to 3 meals per day). I never even felt the need to over-eat in the

evenings, since then. Well… “then” was only 3 weeks ago, but

I lost 4 pounds during those 3 weeks, with less hunger than ever, and not even

wanting to binge. And I can eat the sweet stuff! (oh, please forgive me,

merciful gods of low-carb) I’m in CR heaven. The pictures are at

169lb/76Kg, with some muscles left, before I totally wimp out in CR

heaven… and into weight-lifting hell.

So now I eat about 1700-1800Kcal/Day on non-workout days,

and I make an effort to eat up do 2000Kcal/Day on workout days (that would be

every 3rd day, soon to be every 4th day).

My Pictures (relaxed and flexed) : http://photos./group/ /lst

Micky.

P.S.

- I’m 37.4 years old, married, 4 kids, living in Redmond WA, and my

sleeping disorder is so much better now, so it’s almost not a nuisance.