u/rivenshire

This is a treat meal (out of state relatives visiting & 4th of July) but still trying to be moderately healthy/conservative.

Prompted by a recent lipid panel showing high ldl (though paradoxically low triglycerides and high hdl), I drastically reduced my saturated fat intake (which was quite high) while majorly increasing my fiber consumption (which was mid). This also shifted my macros a bit, so I have a higher carb ratio than before, but fewer net carbs.

I've been doing this pretty consistently for three weeks, and I actually have had leftover calories to use up (or choose not to) almost every day. Meanwhile, I'm losing weight more steadily, meeting my goal of one pound per week (for reference, I'm late stage perimenopausal).

Practically speaking, this has looked like...

...all but eliminating butter (no subsitutes either), so sticking to cooking with avocado and olive oil, reducing cheese (treat food), still eating yogurt and cottage cheese (not lowfat kinds), avoiding processed meats (treating bacon as a treat food),
having less and leaner beef and pork, eating more fish and poultry, not having ice cream (but I will for a treat once in a while) and only very small portions of baked goods (preferably homemade with higher fiber, lower saturated fat ingredients).

...adding psyllium (in water before dinner), continuing flaxmeal, adding cacao powder, eating more oatmeal and oat bran, continuing to eat sprouted and (fully) whole grain bread (and now whole wheat pasta), having more fruit, especially apples and berries, increasing vegetable and legume (beans) intake, eating dark chocolate with almonds, as well as a small amount of dry roasted nuts and almond butter.

Bonus: another thing that is helping is not logging exercise in Cronometer unless I've had a super active day and keeping it set to "sedentary" with TEF on.

I hope this helps someone, though it's likely many here already have discovered these things 🙂