Week 1 Measurement
Compared to initial measurements weight went down from 162.5 to 160.8 (-1.7lb). Body fat percentage went from 18.2 to 16.2 (-1%). There is also something that I check is fat mass that has changed. So, from first measurement, it was 29.6lb and current 26.0lb. Which means actual fat loss was 3.6lb. For hip went from 32 to 31 (-1in) and hip went from 38 to 38, no change.
7 Days of Low-Fat Diet
After a week of low-fat diet, I did have more immediate energy due to the carbohydrate intake. Biggest challenge I had was with choices of the protein and gets monotonous after few days. Meals were mainly chicken breast, chicken tender, and cod to minimize fat intake.
As many of the nutrition article suggested, hunger signal does appear. This is due to hunger hormone called ghrelin. If you had frequent snacking, whether with latte, candies, shakes, etc. in between meals you will have the ghrelin spikes more frequently. If the fat loss/weight loss is your goal, you will need to work with the hunger signal and stick with 3 meals. Otherwise, insulin will be produced more frequently and may restrict the fat utilization. With low-fat diet, the carbohydrate intake is elevated which means the insulin production is equally higher compared with low-carb diet. Therefore, it is essential to provide the time for your body to bring the insulin level down. Because of that small frequent meal may not be an efficient plan for it will raise insulin level more frequently.
Alcohol consumption was my weakness especially during the summertime. Cutting out alcohol seem to have brought the inflammation down since my body feel lighter and seems to recover from training and high volume of work. Side affect from cutting alcohol didn’t seem to happen in the first week. I was worrying about withdraw symptoms, however, didn’t seem to happen and feel fine without it.
I felt the importance of supplementing while going through the first week of low-fat diet, especially I'm restricted in fat intake which includes omega 3s so taking that through fish oil supplement. Also, because of protein selection is limited, there may be a chance that I'm not getting iron so that is another supplement that I'm taking in low amount. I also found that frequency of bathroom usage has gone up. I'm guessing either liver or kidney dumping out the waste products through fat loss but to be safe with mineral balance I'm taking multi-mineral. Because of this I'm making sure I'm consistently hydrated. I don't monitor closely but I'm getting at least a gallon a day.
Training with Low-Fat Diet
Benefit of following low-fat diet is, because of carbohydrate intake, it is easier to perform physical activity especially strength-based training. Long steady state cardiovascular training (jog, bike, swim, etc.) may not be efficient due to lactic acid build up as the duration of physical exertion increases. For those who are working to lose fat this may become a problem for it may lead to accumulation of stress hormone called cortisol, which can lead to accumulation of visceral fat unless one has been trained in it.
Training method I found to be efficient is short duration of interval training where you raise your heartrate for 10-20 seconds and recover for 60-120 seconds. Choice of exercises will be exercises that can elevate your heartrate with in those 10-20 seconds, such as Olympic and power liftings, sprints (run, bike, swim), ball slam, battle rope, and so on. 10-20 seconds will allow you to utilize carbohydrates that stored in your muscles (glycogen) but short enough to not accumulate too much lactic acids. With 60-120 seconds of recovery, amount of stress you are applying to the body may be minimized.
By the way that 10-20 seconds need to be higher intensity according to YOUR capability. Higher intensity can be heavier weight or performing as many number of reps as possible. For me this can be sprints, back squats, bench, deadlift and so on.
Sleep
First 2 nights I had tough time falling a sleep. This may be due to eliminating alcohol, increase in training volume, change in weather, or partial hunger. After third day into diet sleep has been better and able to get at least 7hr of sleep.
Going On to Week 2
So far I haven't had huge challenge with diet and seeing decent results. As long as I'm following same diet, I may lose few more pounds or adopt to the diet and plateau. We'll see what will happen.
Kota Shimada
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