DDF Weight Loss Challenge

[wayfe]

+1 (FTFY)

Thanks

[Sammy82]

Following

[wayfe]

http://time.com/3222213/low-carb-diet-beats-low-fat/

[12HRS]

http://time.com/3222213/low-carb-diet-beats-low-fat/

at some point some of your posts are going to start contradicting each other

(the current state of dieting science)

[wayfe]

Just wanted to take a moment to talk about something important to me.

If you are a teacher or parent or in any way in charge of a child who is overweight- please, please don't ignore it! It is so much simpler to impress healthy habits when children are young. Aside from that- you absolutely cannot fathom the internal havoc an unhealthy diet wreaks. Aside from diabetes and heart issues, being overweight causes hormonal disruption that can later have disastrous effects on the reproductive system.

Take care of the issue. It's not only about appearances. It's about health

[wayfe]

at some point some of your posts are going to start contradicting each other

(the current state of dieting science)

My outlook on effective dieting is low carb, high fat. Have I contradicted myself?

[wayfe]

The case against dairy and grains

http://impossiblehq.com/two-foods-stop-eating/

[wayfe]

When it comes to weight loss, an ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure

[Venilla]

Question to participants: How much time do you exercise per day?

[Mordyk]

Question to participants: How much time do you exercise per day?

45 minutes but i want to try to extend that

[wayfe]

Question to participants: How much time do you exercise per day?

I'm really bad about exercise. Hoping to do 2-3 times a week

[Sammy82]

Question to participants: How much time do you exercise per day?

0 minutes (who has time for exercise?!). I do try increasing my stair climbing at work though (instead of taking the elevator).

[ygygold]

10 minutes every day, and 1 hour two times a week

[wayfe]

Guys, I'm not going to enforce daily weigh-ins, but we must have an official weigh in next Monday. Make sure to update the wiki when you weigh yourself!

[Super Speed]

I don't exercise at all, unless you count walking 27 feet from my car to my desk, oh and back.

[Venilla]

45 minutes but i want to try to extend that

10 minutes every day, and 1 hour two times a week

Wow! Seems you guys are the only ones doing exercise. Keep it up! I hope you'll inspire the rest of us.

0 minutes (who has time for exercise?!). I do try increasing my stair climbing at work though (instead of taking the elevator).

So far that's what I do.

I'm really bad about exercise. Hoping to do 2-3 times a week

Same here

I don't exercise at all, unless you count walking 27 feet from my car to my desk, oh and back.

Oh yeah, I gained 45 pounds since I got my car.

[sky121]

The crazy thing with people today and lack of exercise is that most of us have some people around  in our lives who are suffering in their older age from lack of exercise and eating well.  People wait until trouble comes knocking to start to change their ways.

[stbaum]

0 minutes (who has time for exercise?!). I do try increasing my stair climbing at work though (instead of taking the elevator).

i used to work out at 10:30pm till midnight. i have a full time job and a kid so my schedule isn't light at all. you MAKE time as if your life depended on it because it just might

[sky121]

Also there are little things that can help as well. Taking the stairs. Parking in a farther spot. Spending the time you spend with your kids outdoors. Etc. 

[wayfe]

Heard about Insulin Resistance (IR) lately? It's been making the news since experts suggest that around 35% of the population in westernized countries are IR.

So what is IR, anyway?

Insulin is an interesting little hormone that is secreted by the pancreas when blood sugar are raised, once food has been broken down into glucose. Insulin's role is to get the glucose through the blood in to the cells. Think of it as the key that unlocks the cell doors to allow the glucose in.

How does insulin cause weight gain?

As a friend explained so eloquently-

"At its most rudimentary level, having insulin in the blood tells your liver that it needs to convert and store sugar as fat. If you consistently eat a lot of sugar, and spike your blood sugar levels, and therefore spike your insulin levels, you're constantly flooding your body with a hormone that tells it "hey, this person has a bountiful supply of food that we should store for winter". Except we don't have to store fat as a reserve anymore. Having a bountiful meal doesn't mean that we have to store it for a time of hardship later, because we'll probably able to have another bountiful meal just a couple of hours later"

This becomes a double threat to those who are IR. When a person develops IR their cells can't process insulin effectively. So blood sugars remain high, which causes the pancreas to secrete even more insulin and so the cycle continues. A person with IR will have a much higher insulin spike after consuming food and their liver gets an even louder message to start storing fat. So they just keep on piling on the pounds. If you have IR you might have noticed that you don't seem to eat that much more than others- yet you keep gaining while other can easily maintain their weight.

Eventually, unresolved IR leads to prediabetes and diabetes when the panceas give up and stop producing insulin at all.

IR has hardly any clear symptoms and often by the time people find out about it they are already prediabetic or diabetic. Studies show that most people with prediabetes become diabetic within 10 years, unless they change their lifestyle. But the good news is that lifestyle changes can prevent or delay the onset of diabetes.

IR is best diagnosed with a blood test.
A1c levels are very indicative with normal range being about 5.0. Those with A1c levels of 5.1-5.7 are considered IR. 5.7 And above make you prediabetic and an A1c above 6.4 qualifies you as diabetic.
Other tests that ascertain IR are fasting 3hr glucose tolerance test with corresponding insulin draws. You'll be able to see a huge spike in insulin after the 2nd draw showing exactly how the body is overcompensating by producing extra insulin after the initial spike.

How is IR cured? You need to find ways to sensitize your cells to insulin. Avoiding carbs and exercising accomplishes this. Whether you're IR or not, the more insulin sensitive you become the easier it is for you to lose weight and keep it off.

Who is at risk for having or developing IR:
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends that testing to detect prediabetes be considered in adults who are overweight or obese and have one or more additional risk factors for diabetes. The section "Body Mass Index (BMI)" explains how to determine if a person is overweight or obese. However, not everyone who is overweight will get type 2 diabetes. People without these risk factors should begin testing at age 45.

Risk factors for prediabetes—in addition to being overweight or obese or being age 45 or older—include the following:

being physically inactive
having a parent or sibling with diabetes
having a family background that is African American, Alaska Native, American Indian, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, or Pacific Islander American
giving birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds
being diagnosed with gestational diabetes—diabetes that develops only during pregnancy
having high blood pressure—140/90 mmHg or above—or being treated for high blood pressure
HDL cholesterol level below 35 mg/dL or a triglyceride level above 250 mg/dL
having polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
having prediabetes, impaired fasting glucose (IFG), or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) on an earlier testing
having other conditions associated with insulin resistance, such as obesity or acanthosis nigricans
having CVD

More info can be found here:
http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/Diabetes/insulin-resistance-prediabetes/Pages/index.aspx