Comment by chriskanan | Hacker News Reader

Comment by chriskanan | Hacker News Reader

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Same here, except I'm not at my ideal weight yet. Since starting a low-carb and fairly lean meat diet, I've lost 20 lbs in three months (200 -> 180, and hoping to get back to my pre-grad school weight of 160). I feel awesome, and I intend to keep up with this in the long-term.

The diet is basically to eat lean protein sources (scallops, salmon, round or loin steaks, chicken without skin, whey protein shakes (brand dependent), etc.) with broccoli, spinach, or another high fiber low carb green vegetable with every meal (4-6 meals per day). Assuming I haven't had any "cheat meals," the last meal of every 3rd day on this diet is a sweet potato/yam as a kind of carb refeed. I've really enjoyed the diet and I feel much better. I based it off of this source (but I used a somewhat lower calorie calculation than they suggest, since the diet is for bodybuilders): http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/docs/2007/gameover_vol2.pdf

At work I have a Quest Nutrition protein bar as a snack, which satisfies the fiber and protein requirements.

Before this, I followed a "healthy" Mediterranean diet for 2 years and failed to lose any weight even with exercise, but at least I didn't gain any either.

Why are you going for lean meats? Most low carbers encourage consumption of fattier meats, to encourage production of ketones. Unless you're trying to limit your omega 6 intake, I don't see how it would be beneficial to eat lean meats on a low carb diet as a lower fat diet would limit your body fat mobilization and encourage muscle wasting through gluconeogenesis. But if it's going well for you, power on. I however, have lost body fat and maintained lean body mass by eating lots of fatty meats, pork rinds, cheeses, butter and avocado. I was never obese however, maybe a bit skinny fat with a bit of a beer belly. People need to change their thinking about saturated fats and fats in general (except trans-fats from seed oils, those are always bad).

Ditto on the lean meats. I switched to a low-carb, high protein/non-lean meat diet and lost 13 lbs in the first month, with no additional exercise. My diet was largely carbs - cereal, toast, breads in the a.m., sandwiches, crackers, bread and ice cream, so eliminating all of that was a fundamental change to my diet. I've never looked back.

It is quite dangerous to go both low carb and low fat[1].

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation

You talking about a keto diet which is high protein, high fat, limiting the carbs to under 50g or less, depending on your size. High protein, Low carb, does not reduce the carbs to such a level that it puts you in a keto state. Half a cup of mixed veg has around 12g carbs, so eating a cup at every meal with your protein will not put you in a keto state but will keep you at a low carb level. This is where most bodybuilders stay or go for 40/40/20 ration with 20 being fats.

I'm on an extreme version of keto (come stop by /r/keto on reddit!), where I consume under 20g/sugar a day (the rest is fat and vegetable protein). I'm losing ~2-2.5lbs/week, and have never felt better.

Hats off, i have tried keto, just couldn't handle it.

Half real food, half DIY Keto-specific Soylent.

I'm 31, and spent the majority of my early 20s at startups wolfing down Mountain dew. Was up to almost 200 lbs for being 5' 6", and now I'm down to 165, and headed towards 150.

Exercise is critical as well. I run 3-5 miles every other day, with a 10 mile on Saturday or Sunday.

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