Need more WEIGHT :)

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Richard McG
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Need more WEIGHT :)

Post by Richard McG »

Well made the transition to OMAD (Thx to MAC)......now having a hard time getting my weight back. Was down to a low of 120's from 160 lbs. Eating a HUGE meal every day. LOTS of healthy fats but no luck in really getting the weight up. Now around 134-138 (BMI-19) 6 ft. Doing weights more often a little less running.......thinking of a WEIGHT GAINER powder to get me up back to my original slim 160.

Any suggestions on one that is healthy? Or should I stay away from these. Trying to gain weight but stay within Ketosis.

Thanks so much, friends.

Rick
52 years of age, 4/4, BMI ~19, Omad, No cognitive decline as of yet ;)
JD2020
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Re: Need more WEIGHT :)

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Richard McG wrote:now having a hard time getting my weight back. Was down to a low of 120's from 160 lbs. Eating a HUGE meal every day.
Rick, why not just add another meal? How could anyone eat just one meal a day and not be anything other than rail thin?
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Julie G
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Re: Need more WEIGHT :)

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Well made the transition to OMAD (Thx to MAC)......now having a hard time getting my weight back. Was down to a low of 120's from 160 lbs. Eating a HUGE meal every day. LOTS of healthy fats but no luck in really getting the weight up. Now around 134-138 (BMI-19) 6 ft. Doing weights more often a little less running.......thinking of a WEIGHT GAINER powder to get me up back to my original slim 160.

Any suggestions on one that is healthy? Or should I stay away from these. Trying to gain weight but stay within Ketosis.

Thanks so much, friends.

Rick
Hi Rick! I agree with JD2020. OMAD isn't working for you, my friend. Consider adding a meal (or even two) back in until you get to your original weight. This may also help explain why your BIOSENSE numbers are so high. Being in a hypocaloric state, you're likely chronically burning your own fat. As you may already know, being underweight actually puts you at risk for cognitive decline.
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Re: Need more WEIGHT :)

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Julie G wrote:As you may already know, being underweight actually puts you at risk for cognitive decline.
Yikes. I did not know that.
Richard McG
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Re: Need more WEIGHT :)

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Ok, thanks everyone will add another meal also for a bit and get those numbers back up. Really added more EVOO + even more nuts (two large hand full now) this week and on my high point, today was at 140!

I too didn't realize being underweight was negative for cognitive decline. Assumed BMI 18.5 + was acceptable. Thanks for sharing!
52 years of age, 4/4, BMI ~19, Omad, No cognitive decline as of yet ;)
circular
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Re: Need more WEIGHT :)

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Richard McG wrote:Ok, thanks everyone will add another meal also for a bit and get those numbers back up. Really added more EVOO + even more nuts (two large hand full now) this week and on my high point, today was at 140!

I too didn't realize being underweight was negative for cognitive decline. Assumed BMI 18.5 + was acceptable. Thanks for sharing!
I’m wondering whether there’s consensus about a safe BMI range for cognition that’s based on good evidence. Or, is there better evidence for using a body fat percentage range or some other data point?
ApoE 3/4 > Thanks in advance for any responses made to my posts.
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Julie G
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Re: Need more WEIGHT :)

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I’m wondering whether there’s consensus about a safe BMI range for cognition that’s based on good evidence. Or, is there better evidence for using a body fat percentage range or some other data point?
Such a great question. As you know, those who are underweight are at higher risk as are those that are considerably overweight. It's tough to pinpoint a "safe" range with the evidence we have. In Dr. Bredesen's book we used 18.5 (for women) and 19 (for men) as the bottom cut-off with the caveat that BMI is a very rough measure as it fails to take into account body frame and muscle composition. That low end BMI may be very healthy for those with small frames who aren't particularly muscular. Whereas, for the top end of the range, we chose 25 which might be very healthy for those with large frames that are very muscular. To best reduce risk, our goal is to be metabolically healthy and weight stable, with strong muscles.
Richard McG
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Re: Need more WEIGHT :)

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Thanks, Julie as always for adding information and educating us on these things. Much appreciated!
52 years of age, 4/4, BMI ~19, Omad, No cognitive decline as of yet ;)
circular
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Re: Need more WEIGHT :)

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Julie G wrote: It's tough to pinpoint a "safe" range with the evidence we have.
Thanks Julie!

I suspect there will be different optimal BMI ranges for different age groups, similar to protein needs, ideal blood pressure, and so on.

I'm sure Dr. B and team have seen this and looked at other BMI studies too, but it stands out to me because of its huge size (of course as always the paper notes its limitations too):

BMI and risk of dementia in two million people over two decades: a retrospective cohort study (2015, n=1,958,191 individuals, retrospective cohort]
Compared with people of a healthy weight, underweight people (BMI <20 kg/m²) had a 34% higher (95% CI 29–38) risk of dementia. Furthermore, the incidence of dementia continued to fall for every increasing BMI category, with very obese people (BMI >40 kg/m²) having a 29% lower (95% CI 22–36) dementia risk than people of a healthy weight. These patterns persisted throughout two decades of follow-up, after adjustment for potential confounders and allowance for the J-shape association of BMI with mortality.
Interpretation Being underweight in middle age and old age carries an increased risk of dementia over two decades. Our results contradict the hypothesis that obesity in middle age could increase the risk of dementia in old age. The reasons for and public health consequences of these findings need further investigation.
[Emphasis added]
While this UK study denotes underweight as BMI <20, the CDC denotes underweight as BMI < 18.5. I think the CDC is using the kilogram/meter formula like this UK study, so it appears they choose different cutoffs.

I'm trying to make sense of how 18.5 is okay as long as muscle strength isn't good, when poor lean muscle mass is linked to dementia…

Ooops, or so I thought until I just found this brand new paper (behind a paywall):

Sarcopenia is associated with incident Alzheimer's dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and cognitive decline (5/21; n=1175; 5.6 yr followup; lean muscle mass vs grip strength)
Conclusions

Poor muscle function [grip strength], but not reduced lean muscle mass, drives the association of sarcopenia with late-life cognitive impairment. Further work is needed to identify features of muscle structure, which may increase the specificity of sarcopenia for identifying older adults at risk for late-life cognitive impairment. [Emphasis added]
This is so interesting. What if all someone exercised were their grip muscles? Just kidding! I use this SportsGrip in the car (but it's not all I do):
ApoE 3/4 > Thanks in advance for any responses made to my posts.
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Julie G
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Re: Need more WEIGHT :)

Post by Julie G »

Based on that study, I suggest we all give up and eat bon bons on the sofa and work towards extreme obesity for brain health. It's certainly a head scratcher. A quick perusal showed that the median age was 55 years old with 9 years of follow-up; perhaps too early for dementia to be seen? Another consideration, all of the information came from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) in the UK. In other words, it was a part of routine health exams from the NHS and no cognitive testing was conducted. I'm guessing that records were scanned for the diagnosis of dementia instead. Lots of room for error there. Many geriatricians even here in the US still consider dementia a normal part of aging and also fail to use proper testing to diagnose.

We know extreme obesity is correlated with diabetes and heart disease, both risk factors for dementia. Being of normal weight, I'd be hard pressed to intentionally gain weight to protect my brain based on this study.
I'm trying to make sense of how 18.5 is okay as long as muscle strength isn't good, when poor lean muscle mass is linked to dementia…
Is this in reference to my comment about weight below? I certainly wasn't encouraging poor muscle strength but rather referring to healthy extremes on both ends of the "normal" weight spectrum. Think of a wiry, strong Blue Zones laborer on the low end vs. a hulky body builder on the top end- both could be metabolically healthy, weight stable with strong muscles yet very different body compositions.
This is so interesting. What if all someone exercised were their grip muscles? Just kidding! I use this SportsGrip in the car (but it's not all I do):
Lol, that's one way to game the system. Might work but I wouldn't bet on it. :D
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