Author: David Banko

It’s been over a year since my first post sharing my experience of losing over 140 lbs and 40% of my body weight in 18 months, so Crew Dog and I felt it was time for an update.

In the middle of my weight loss, I remember calling my family excited to share how much weight I had lost that week, only to get the response, “Let’s see if you keep it off.”  Ouch!  But I’ve been on many “diets” over the years and seen moderate success, only to have something happen, and the weight would come right back on plus more!

So what’s the tale of the scale?  Last Summer, I reached a low of 217 lbs.  This week I was on the scale… 217 lbs!  Easy peasy, right?!  Wrong!

While it generally takes 3-6 weeks to establish new habits, our bodies have what’s known as a set point for body chemistry. This set point is how our body regulates our body composition and prompts us for what we need.  When your weight and body composition remains at one place for an extended period of time, your set point resets.  You don’t have to think about what to eat, or how much, and your weight holds steady.  When your water and energy levels are low after exercise, your body sends signals that you are thirsty and need to drink fluids and your energy reserves are depleted so you get cravings for foods to quickly restore the set point.

After losing significant amounts of weight, studies have shown it can take upwards of a year for the set point to change.  This means a year after losing the weight, we need to stay focused until the new lifestyle becomes the norm.

So what happened to me over the past year? I reached the low point of 217 lbs just before leaving for our Summer vacation in 2016.  While I continued to follow the principles in general, I allowed myself to enjoy myself on holiday and was pleasantly surprised when I returned home that I only gained a few lbs (224 lbs).  Unfortunately, my more relaxed Summer vacation approach continued after vacation, and I had trouble getting back to the eating habits I was practicing before, but I only gained a few more lbs (230 lbs).

Then my wife and I went to Italy to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary, and the relaxed habits continued and strengthened in la dolce vita, but I only gained a few lbs (235 lbs).  Now we are into Autumn, followed by Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.  By January 3rd, I was up to 245 lbs! (Although I might have intentionally skipped weighing myself a few days in there.)

Physically I was noticing the difference too, as my energy level was dropping and the sleep apnea was starting to come back.  I had stopped using a CPAP to sleep as I no longer needed it, but as my weight approached 250 lbs, I could feel the tightness in my throat and more difficulty breathing at night.

Enough is enough!  My body was trying to return to the original set point, and I had gotten out of the good habits which helped me lose weight the first time.  I knew what worked and just needed to apply it again.

I re-started, but changing my habits was more challenging than expected.  It was still too easy to add an extra serving on the plate or a late night treat while watching television.

I had also gotten so used to taking long walks that if I didn’t have time for a long walk, I wouldn’t go; so instead of walking 5-6 times a week, I was only walking once or twice.  When I started in 2015, I’d go even if only for 30-45 minutes.  After my annual physical, my doctor reminded me it’s more important to get out for short intervals on a regular basis than a long walk occasionally.

Back to basics for me!

I started doing again what I did in the beginning: focusing on my diet, getting regular exercise, and setting weekly goals.  I’ve now got myself back into the good habits, and the weight is coming off regularly en route to my goal of my old military weight of 210 lbs.

While I plan to enjoy the holidays and parties and will accept the occasional blip on the scale as a result, what I don’t want to see happen is the gradual increase week upon week.  “Only a few lbs,” is no longer acceptable!  I want to reach my goal and keep it there, and eventually be able to do so without really thinking about it.

I will keep you posted!

As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at daveb.uk@hotmail.com. Good luck!

Follow up note – Since drafting this article in October, I have continued to lose weight and have since reached my goal of 210 lbs, reaching my military weight from 1994!  Now I’m into my weight maintenance mode, as I don’t intend to let it drift again like I did last year.

Crew Dog: Thanks, Dave, for reminding us that a healthy lifestyle is a lifelong commitment, and the path has ups and downs.  

Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

[This is the next post in the series of guest posts on healthy diet and lifestyle from Dave Banko.]

My new diet is off and running. I’m disciplined and start losing weight. A couple of weeks in, and my weight loss starts to slow down, then stops all together even though I’m still doing what I did at the start.

Frustration sets in, and this is where many people quit.

Why?! I’ve hit the plateau!

This happened to me time after time.  I worked so hard, and only lost 10-15 lbs.  Months would pass, and I couldn’t get any further.  Eventually something would happen and I’d stop. I couldn’t get past the plateau.

Over time, with repeated trying, hitting the plateau, and not being able to break through, I became depressed and didn’t think it was possible to lose weight. When trying again this time, I set the goal of losing 100 lbs in a year, but given my past experience I didn’t really believe it was possible.

The ‘What’s the Right Diet for You?’ program, though, explained what the plateau was and how to break through it.  This time I was ready and armed with new information, and blew through each plateau as they started to happen!

What is the plateau? Here’s a link to a dietician’s explanation about a plateau. To try to explain it in simple terms, your body adapts to the changes made and your weight loss levels out.

I started off weighing more than 350 lbs, and let’s assume (I wasn’t measuring at the time, so I don’t know for sure) I was consuming 5,000 calories per day to maintain this weight. I start dieting, cut my intake to 4,000 calories per day and start losing weight.  At 350 lbs, my body needed the 5,000 calories per day just to maintain.  Since I reduced the intake to 4,000 calories per day, my body will start burning fat to compensate for the difference.  However, as I lose weight, my body no longer needs as many calories to maintain the lower weight, and at some point the weight loss will level out as I reach the point where my body only needs 4,000 calories per day to maintain itself. (You can probably insert a nerdy mathematical decreasing returns graph here.) 🙂

So what do I do? Cut further… go from 4,000 calories per day to 3,500 calories per day. When I reach the next plateau, I cut further again.

As long as I have fat reserves, I know my body has all the energy it needs and I can cut further.

What I don’t want to do is cut so far my body goes into starvation/fat preservation mode or is unhealthy because I’m not getting the basic nutrients I need.

The recommended average intake for a man is 2,500 calories per day (minimum 1,500 calories) and a woman is 2,000 (minimum 1,200 calories). This average has a wide variation, however, based on age, body size, activity level, etc. You really need to measure and experiment for yourself to find out what your value is.  I found mine, once I went below 250 lbs, to be around 2,200 calories per day, and, at this moment, as I am working on the last 10 lbs, I set myself the target to stay within 1,800 to 2,100 calories per day.

You might feel like you’ve cut really hard, well below the recommended value, and you’re still not losing weight.  Here are my recommendations:

1. Did you cut as far as you think you did? If you aren’t tracking what you eat, you may not think you are eating a lot but would surprise yourself by how much you really are. In August 2015, I finished a project at a customer site and started working from home. I had already lost 100 lbs, and was doing well. After a week, I stopped losing weight, and, in fact, started to gain weight. How could this be? I was following my diet and hardly eating anything. This is when I downloaded My Fitness Pal and started tracking what I was eating. To my surprise, I was consuming much more than I thought. It was too convenient at home to have a bite of this and a bite of that, even good food. My calorie consumption had gone up, and my weight was climbing accordingly. I had to discipline myself to track EVERYTHING I was eating at home to get a handle on this. As soon as I did, I got my diet back on track. Another possibility is that you are having nice low-calorie healthy meals like salads, but the salad dressing you are using is so packed with sugar, unhealthy fat, and empty calories it completely outweighs the benefits of the salad.
2. Did you cut too far and put your body into starvation mode? Remember, we need to consume a healthy minimum of nutritionally balanced food to kick-start our metabolism into burning fat for the excess energy we need.
3. Are you drinking enough water? We need water to flush the toxins out of our systems, to properly use the nutrients we are taking in, and to release the fat into our blood stream for use. Be sure you are drinking enough water throughout the day.
4. Adjust your ratios and the nutritional benefit of what you are eating. We need a balance of protein, complex carbs, fiber, fruits, and vegetables, but our body chemistries are all a bit different, so what may work for me won’t work for you quite the same way. This is fine tuning and will come into play more as you work off the last few pounds.
5. Add or change your exercise regime. Exercise helps improve fitness and burn calories. We need to be careful about exercise when using it for weight loss however (see my previous post on this). Adding or changing your exercise regime while controlling your diet is another way to change the status quo and break through a plateau.

Here’s a blog post from My Fitness Pal with additional tips for breaking through the plateau.  [Hint: think of plateau-busting as troubleshooting.]

Plateaus are natural and will happen as your body adjusts to your new eating lifestyle. When you understand them, YOU CAN BREAK THROUGH THE PLATEAU! Breakthrough simply requires another change, further tuning your diet. You can do this!

Good luck! As always, feel free to contact me at daveb.uk@hotmail.com if you have any questions or comments.  [Crew Dog: Or comment below.]

 

Low Fat! No Fat! High Fiber! High Protein! All Natural! Organic! Free Range! Zero Trans Fat! Sugar Free! No Sugar Added! Low Carb! Multigrain! Light! Cholesterol Free! Made with Real Fruit! [Follow link for more information on food label claims]

[This post is the next in the guest post series on healthy diet and lifestyle from Dave Banko.]

Buyer Beware!!!

There is very little regulation on the claims companies make about food products, and advertisers push it to the limits! Let’s face it, they are trying to make their product stand out from the others.

I no longer purchase anything based on the marketing slogan. When I shop, I read the labels and purchase whole food products with natural ingredients and as few chemicals and preservatives as possible. Don’t believe the slogan on the label until you do your research.

While I’m on the subject, also beware of fad diets like detox, liquid, no-carb, etc.  Any diet that demonizes one or more particular food groups is unbalanced and will force you to compensate with expensive alternatives.

As an example, ‘gluten-free’ is the rage where I live with many people believing they need to eat ‘gluten-free’ to be healthy.

Gluten is a composite protein found in many grains, such as wheat, rye, and barley. There is an autoimmune disease called coeliac which affects about 1% of the population. Coeliac (spelled “celiac” in the US) causes the body to react to gluten by triggering a serious autoimmune response which can damage many parts of the body.  If you have this disease, consuming gluten is dangerous and you need to seek out gluten-free products.

If you don’t have coeliac, gluten sensitivity, or a wheat allergy, you can consume gluten without problem. In fact, going gluten free if you don’t have coeliac can result in serious nutritional deficiencies.

‘Gluten-free’ products are being advertised as ‘healthier’ than regular products. The influence is so strong, I had someone who didn’t have enough food to eat come into the food bank where I volunteer and ask if she could have ‘gluten-free’ products because she was trying to eat healthier. She didn’t have coeliac and was surprised (and relieved) when I explained to her what it was. Believe or not, there is even a company promoting ‘gluten-free’ water, which is ridiculous considering there is no grain in water to begin with so all water is naturally gluten-free.

The same applies to other food allergies, like wheat, nuts, etc. These medical conditions are serious. If you have a food allergy and consume products containing them, the results can range from minor discomfort to death. The fact that products for these conditions are being advertised and labelled is a huge benefit to people with these conditions.

But, if you don’t have the condition, you don’t need to seek out these products in the name of being ‘healthy.’ Instead, eat a good balance of real food.

[Crew Dog: To summarize what Dave is saying – Don’t buy into the hype and confusion of food labels.  Think about what the food advertisers are saying and whether it makes sense – even if a cookie is low-fat, it isn’t healthy fuel for your body.  Don’t pay extra for things you don’t need (like gluten-free water) just because advertisers slapped faddish buzz words on the packaging.  It may seem like a lot of work to eat healthy, but it doesn’t have to be.  Just eat non-processed foods in their natural state (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, fish) or foods with a few simple ingredients.]

As always, feel free to contact me at daveb.uk@hotmail.com if you have any questions or comments, and good luck!  [Crew Dog: Or comment below.]

[Here’s the next post in the series of guest posts on healthy diet and lifestyle from Dave Banko.]

One of the interesting experiments performed on ‘What’s the Right Diet for You?‘ assessed the effect of being tired on the decisions you make about what to eat.

The participants were divided into 2 groups: one group was given a good night’s rest and the other was forced to stay up until early in the morning. The next morning, both were sent shopping and given identical lists of types of things to purchase, but not given specific items.

When the groups finished shopping, their shopping baskets were compared and the results were astounding! The well rested group made excellent choices: lots of fresh fruits and veg, whole foods, and lean meats. The tired group purchased a lot of sugary and high fat items with a calorie content more than double the amount of the rested group!

Why is this?

When we are tired and drained of energy, our natural preservation mechanism is to quickly boost our energy levels, so we crave sugary and fatty foods.

Making good choices in this state will take every ounce of will power to overcome this fundamental self-preservation instinct.

This also relates to the discussion in my previous blog post about how when we are drained after exercise we crave sugary and fatty foods, but eating them would wipe out the positive weight loss effects of the exercise.

How do we counteract this? First and foremost is to get enough rest. I’ll be writing another post about the additional benefits of a good night’s sleep, and this is certainly one of them.

We live busy lifestyles though, and can’t always get enough rest or do things when well rested. In this case, the best thing to do is make a plan while rested. If grocery shopping, make your list in advance while rested, then stick to it when shopping!

In the end, knowledge is power. Just knowing what our bodies want helps us to make better, healthy lifestyle decisions!

As always, please contact me at daveb.uk@hotmail.com if you have any questions or comments. 🙂  [Crew Dog: Or comment below.]

[Here’s the next post in the guest post series on healthy diet and lifestyle from Dave Banko.]

There is a lot of content available regarding the importance to weight loss of drinking plenty of fluids. I’m including this blog post for completeness, but won’t really spend a lot of time on it.

Below is a great diagram from a post called 11 Reasons Why Dehydration is Making You Fat and Sick.

Just remember to be drinking the right kinds of fluids: plenty of water (perhaps with a squeeze of lemon or other fruit/veg infusion) and green/herbal/fruit teas and limit or eliminate sugary and/or caffeinated drinks. Check the labels and you’ll be surprised how many drinks contain sugar, fructose, and a chemical sweetener.

Please contact me at daveb.uk@hotmail.com with any questions or comments.  [Crew Dog: Or comment below]

[Crew Dog NOTE: For more information on proper hydration, such as getting water from foods, times when you need to increase your fluid intake, and what can happen if you drink too much water (hyponatremia), see this Mayo Clinic post.]

 

[Here’s another guest post from Dave Banko on healthy diet and lifestyle.]

This may sound counter intuitive, but the worst thing you can do to lose weight, particularly to burn fat, is to starve yourself.

Your body has a primitive defense mechanism for self-preservation to protect fat reserves in the event of actual starvation, going back to days when the availability of food was cyclical. When no calories are coming in, your body slows the metabolism down to conserve energy (making you feel lethargic and moody) and consumes muscle and organ tissue along with the fat to protect reserves and supply the brain and red blood cells.

You will lose weight, but not all of it will be fat, and this method can have serious negative effects on your overall health.  As soon as you start eating again, most of the weight comes back on as your body rebuilds.

Consuming calories, even a small amount, stimulates the metabolism and releases fat reserves.  This is also another reason breakfast is so important, as you haven’t been consuming calories for 8-12 hours overnight.

In ‘What’s the Right Diet for You?‘ scientists stress 80% of successful dieters start with breakfast.

A good breakfast including protein (eggs, fish, poultry, other lean meat or high protein legume) and complex carbohydrates in fruit and whole grains, and, of course, one or more glasses of water, is the perfect way to kick-start your metabolism and fat burning for the day.

Adding a cup of tea or coffee isn’t the end of world, unless you are also cutting down on caffeine. 🙂 I would avoid fruit juice as it has a high concentration of sugar without the fiber naturally found in whole fruit to slow down its hit to your blood stream.  Also be careful of hidden sugar in spreads, commercial cereals and even muesli.

However, you don’t need a lot of calories to trigger the fat burn which is why the 5 and 2 diet can keep the calorie content on the fasting days to 500-600 total calories. But even the 5 and 2 diet encourages breakfast on fast days to get you going, and regular eating on non-fast days.

Be sure not to fast on consecutive days, and eat properly on the days in between fasts.

According to the National Institute of Health, women should consume a minimum of 1200 calories per day and men should consume a minimum of 1500 calories per day for a healthy metabolism, appropriate balance of protein, fat, fiber and carbohydrates, and avoidance of malnutrition.

If intermittently fasting (this should only be for 2, at the most 3, non-consecutive days per week and for no longer than 12 weeks) the minimum should be 500-600 calories per day on fasting days, and 1500-1800 calories on the non-fasting days.

When aiming to lose weight, average women should aim for a weekly total of 8,400 to 10,500 calories per week and men, 10,500 to 12,600.  If you are heavier or very active, this target should be higher.

When I started this new healthy eating lifestyle (I prefer not to call it a diet, because I will be eating this way for the rest of my life), I weighed 351 lbs (having peaked at 365 lbs) and consumed around 5,000 calories per day.

I tried and failed with numerous starvation and detox diets.

Eating to lose weight made absolutely no sense to me, but I tried it anyway, and my successful weight loss convinced me.

Eating the right foods, in the right combination and at the right time of the day made me feel better, gave me plenty of energy, and made it easier for me to eat less (you may not feel ‘full’ but you will feel ‘satisfied’ and for longer), and the weight melted off.

At the time of this writing (17 months after starting to change the way I ate), I’m down to 218 lbs and working to lose the last 8 lbs to get down to my military weight of 210 lbs.

Every now and then, I still have bad days where I blow the diet, and it shows on the scale the next morning. My natural inclination is still to stop eating to counter my binge from the day before, but I remind myself how my body works, and then go cook my 2 whole egg cheese & veg omelette to have with my morning fruit, full fat natural yogurt, whole grain toast, lemon water, and tea (no sugar), and I’m right back on the program. The weight keeps coming off.

For more information on eating to lose weight, here’s a good blog post from My Fitness Pal.

Feel free to contact me at daveb.uk@hotmail.com with any questions or comments.  [Crew Dog: Or comment below.]

[Here’s the next in the guest post series on healthy diet and lifestyle from Dave Banko.]

One of the main debates in our Facebook weight loss group was whether we should focus on reducing carbs or fat. When focused on weight loss alone, studies have repeatedly shown a ‘low fat’ diet loses more body fat over the same period than a ‘low carb’ diet.

Having said that, there is more to consider for a healthy lifestyle than weight loss alone.

Let’s first separate carbs into complex carbohydrates, which tend to have a low glycemic index (GI), and simple carbohydrates like sugar, fructose and processed grains (skin, husks and other fiber removed), which have a higher glycemic index.

Take an apple for example. An average-sized apple is about 65 kcal and 14g of carbohydrates. The carbohydrates are complex because the natural sugars are locked with the cell structure. This naturally provides fiber so, when you eat an apple, it takes time for your digestive system to break down the cell walls and release the sugar. The cell walls also provide fiber and other nutrients to the body even after releasing the sugar.

When you drink apple juice, the sugar has been squeezed out of the cells of the apple.  There is no fiber to slow down the processing, so the apple sugars are immediately digested and hit the blood stream causing a spike in sugar levels and the need for insulin similar to drinking a commercial cola or other syrup-based drink. As a result, while I eat lots of whole fruits, I no longer drink fruit juice or syrupy drinks. Click on this link to read an excellent article illustrating the difference.

Fat, on the other hand, is dense and energy packed. It takes a lot longer to digest, so eating fat will not cause a spike in blood sugar. Dietary fat becomes an energy source in the blood stream, and any excess energy (no matter the source – whether fat, sugar, carbs or protein) will be converted and stored as body fat to use as an energy reserve for another time when you need it.

For me, I found fat in foods more satisfying in taste and the feeling of fullness than low or no-fat foods. I was satisfied with 1 150g pot of full fat natural yogurt where 2 150g pots of no-fat yogurt still left me longing for more.

In investigating low or no-fat products, I found that because removing the fat leaves the food tasting less satisfying, many manufacturers have compensated by increasing sugar or chemicals to fool your body.  The increase in sugar again leads to the blood sugar spikes which can lead to diabetes.

Since I have a family history of diabetes, I steer clear of anything that can serve as a precursor to becoming diabetic myself.

The negative to fat, of course, is the amount of calories it packs in a small amount of food. If you are satisfied and stay within your calorie targets, it’s fine – remember the French high fat diet is the 7th best in the world; but overeat a little, and it adds a lot of calories.

My personal diet includes a balance of protein, complex carbohydrates (low GI) and full fat items. I’ve gone to more natural foods and avoid processed foods and chemicals wherever possible.

I am not a doctor, and you may have a medical history or condition which requires you to go a different direction with your diet. This is fine, because I’ve hopefully shown that while there are general principles to follow, there is not one diet that works for everyone. Please seek medical advice when putting together any program.

In an article by the BBC on Low Carb vs Low Fat debate, Prof Susan Jebb of Oxford University (and one of the ‘What’s the Right Diet for You?’ team) sums it up like this:

“The investigators rightly conclude that the best diet for weight loss is the diet you can stick to. All diets ‘work’ if you stick to an eating plan that cuts calories, whether from fat or carbohydrate, but sticking to a diet is easier said than done, especially given the prolonged time it takes to lose weight.”

As always, feel free to contact me at daveb.uk@hotmail.com if you have any questions or comments, and good luck!  [Crew Dog: Or comment below.]

[This is the next in a series of guest posts about healthy diet and lifestyle from Dave Banko.]

Counting calories was the subject of a major debate in my Facebook weight-loss support group, and the short answer is: there is no correct answer.  A lot depends on you and how much you need to lose.

When I started losing weight and weighed over 360 lbs, I didn’t need to count calories.  The idea of a food diary and researching calorie content for everything I ate was too extreme for me, and the changes I was already making to my eating lifestyle resulted in dropping the weight relatively easily.

When I got down to around 250 lbs, it was becoming more difficult. With a much smaller percentage of body fat left to lose, and so many cuts already made, the margins were smaller, and I found I had to start counting calories to work off the last pounds.

If you want to start counting calories, smart phone apps make the process much easier. I researched 3 different ones and settled on My Fitness Pal.  I only use the free version, and haven’t seen a need yet for the premium services.

This app has a huge database of foods to search and automatically load, including many restaurant menu items which makes going out to eat easier.  You can also pre-load and copy items.  And it interfaces with a number of activity/step trackers like Fitbit so you can automatically include the calories burned from exercise.

Two of the most interesting functions I found are 1) the ability to track what I ate against my weight the next day, and 2) the ability to pre-plan meals.

• The 1st thing I did was track my normal usage for 1 week, then started experimenting with diet and exercise over a 2 week period.  While the average male stat is 2500 calories per day, I found for me the break-even point was 2200.  If I ate more than 2200 calories, I generally gained weight, and if I ate less than 2200 calories, I generally lost weight.  I say ‘generally’ because it isn’t an exact formula.  Calorie counting is only a tool, but not the only tool you should use to lose weight as there are many other factors too.
• The 2nd is the ability to pre-plan.  If I know what I am planning to eat for the day, or what restaurant I’m going to, I can look up the items I plan to eat and the calorie content and see how it fits so I know how much I can consume and stay within my daily allowance.  Also, if I’d like a glass of wine, some chocolate or ice cream, I can add this in and know where I need to cut back in other areas to have my treat and stay within the limits.

Someone asked me about cheating, by not entering everything.  This tool is for me, to help me with eating healthy.  The only person I’m cheating by not using the tool properly is myself.

One final point, as referenced above, your body is very complex, and simply counting calories will not do it.  If you are staying within your calorie limits, but the majority of the food you consume is unhealthy or out of proportion, it will have negative effects on your health and you may still gain weight. One calorie is not like every other calorie!

So, if you decide to count calories or use something like the Weight Watchers point system, your first step should be to adjust to healthier foods in the correct ratios.  Then you can use a calorie counting tool to help control the portion sizes.

As always, feel free to contact me at daveb.uk@hotmail.com with any comments or questions not covered.  [Crew Dog: Or comment below.]