Re: Natural diet, fats, startch etc,

[Guest guest]

Jeff,

I was surprised by your intention to " drop to 117-122 and keep my BMI

around 18.6-19.4 this year " considering that you have had hypothermia,

sexual, and mental/psychological problems at lower weight.

Putting your numbers (age:45, height:66.5, weight:122) in the

-Benedict equation, I get the following:

BMR: 1364,

Sedentary calorie requirements: 1637,

Lightly active: 1876

Moderately active: 2115

So if you are eating 1500 calories and you are sedentary, your diet is

already 8.4% CR. If you are lightly active your degree of CR is 20%.

If you are moderately active your degree of CR is 29%.

One of the topics we discussed last year was that 15% CR may be

optimum in terms of longevity. You state the case for quality of life

over longevity eloquently in your note below and conclude that it

would not be worth living a long life if you have no joy. Before

embarking on a lower calorie diet, re-read your own words.

Tony

===

Message 16885

From: " Jeff Novick " <jnovick@p...>

Date: Tue Jan 4, 2005 3:07 pm

Subject: RE: [ ] Re: Natural diet, fats, startch etc,

was (Rules of the road)

>>And you do the lot on 1500 calories and its low glycemic (don't know

what your height is but it looks like your going to be at least 30%

Calorie restriction, maybe 40% if your near six foot on those

calories).

I am around 5'6 (.5) " (at my height, every 1/2 inch counts!) .

Now, I have never been very large at any size or weight throughout my

life but I figure it to be about 10-15% CR, with 20% CR at most. I

have been at a much lower weight and BF in the past but was not

comfortable with my QOL at those times. I have weight as little as 104

with around 5% body fat for an extended period. I was always cold.

Felt weak. Couldn't sit for long as it hurt. Had no libido. Felt

irritated often. No clothes would fit as I was buying kids clothes,

and looked very gaunt, and all the other " side effects " you hear about

with extreme CR. It wasn't fun. And the irony is, that if that is

what it takes to extend my life without disease, than who would want

to live long like that?

I have some problems with the whole concept of " set point " and how you

deduce your " usual " weight. We are not rats in cages and have many

other variables that come into play just to survive. So, how much is

typically available and how much is the typical amount of

activity/exercise we get? This all matters.

And, In observing this ongoing human experiment here on earth, it

seems that " most " humans, given free access to readily available food,

will eat as much as they can. We are a rare group. Perhaps it's a

built in survival mechanism but there are now more adults over 300 lbs

and over 350 lbs than ever before, and even more over 500 than ever

before and some upward of a 1000. As the food industy makes more and

more food available, and cheaper and more concentrated, we humans (at

least those humans) just keep getting heavier and heavier. Its seems

that the human " race " is now to obesity.

But, if I was to use some of the concepts, my typical weight as an

adult was around 135-140. I don't ever remember being over 140 (142)

and at my height, that is only a BMI Of 22.3. SO that was my heaviest.

Well take 10% off of that, and you get to 122-126, which is right

around where I am most of the time these days. That's a BMI of 19.4 -

20.0. I may drop to 117-122 and keep my BMI around 18.6 -19.4 this

year. I think 18.5 is the safest and healthiest that we have data to

support.

Regards

Jeff