Losing weight and saturated fat question..please ideas!

[Robin2038]

Good morning,

I've been on a Muses protocol for about three months. I definitely feel a bit sharper cognitively, but I"m losing too much weight on the diet. I've asked my Muses coach to ask the nutritionist and others to give me suggestions to my dilemma, and am awaiting their answer, but I wanted to post here as well as compare the suggestions. Here's my situation:
53 yr old female, APOE 3/4, 5'4", Weight 111 (was about 120 in January; 130 18 months ago before watching my diet carefully and consistently exercising). I eat a " low glycemic" diet (A1c had been 5.7 at last check, but always lower before that) with 1x week Grass fed beef; salmon/fish 3x week, chicken 2-3x week, a bit of dairy, 1-2 TBSP every 2 days or so of coconut oil, lots of veggies, a little fruit (avocados every other day or so), low carb but some complex carbs. My glucose levels are pretty good, occasionally a little on the high side (sweet potato) but mostly very good. So what can I eat to keep myself from losing weight? My doctor wants me to take 3-4 TBSP of coconut oil a day, but I'm hesitant to go that high. He is a new Muses Lab adviser and integrative medicine physician and said he doesn't know of any studies that show APOE-4 individuals shouldn't eat coconut oil or limit it (says some studies were poorly done on coconut oil raising LDL, but not sure if he looked specifically into APOE-4). Any studies to show him?
I am not extremely well read on this, but I did read a bit on coconut oil and from what I hear on this forum I'm still confused. I'm thinking of cutting out most dairy (currently have one serving 1/2 and 1/2 almost every morning and occasional cheese, A2 milk on occasion, full fat yogurt a few times a week) but increase the coconut oil per my doctor's order until my next NMR (in a couple of months) and see what happens. Any thoughts or ideas on stabilizing my weight with my lipids (see below)? Aside from LDL P, all is well. I understand many will dismiss the LDL P as not significant with the good LDL-size, so I'm just looking for viewpoints on that. I always lose weight easily regardless of what type of diet I'm on (low fat/low carb/etc.). My NMR results a few weeks ago are below. I Leaving now to go out and buy new clothes for work...pants falling off! I'm having a calcium scan in a couple of weeks, so if those results are good should I just go for the coconut oil and not worry about the LDL-P number?


My NMR results BTW, and Lp(a) was very good (16 nmol/L with <75 being a risk factor for CHD)

LDL-P 1259 nmol/L
LDL-C 152
Triglycerides 58
HDL-C 102
HDL-P 35.0 UMOL/L
Small LDL-P <90 nmol/L
LDL Size 21.8 nm

So LDL size was Pattern A

Thanks!!!!!
Robin

[cdamaden]

Can you eat nuts on your protocol? If so, try a mix of macadamia nuts, walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts.

[Robin2038]

Nuts! I forgot to mention I eat nuts daily but perhaps adding more would do it.

[circular]

I am also sometimes too skinny when eating my best. I try to make up for it by building muscle. Once an endocrinologist told me I was underweight and should gain weight. I asked him how he wanted me to do that. He paused and said, 'build muscle'.

[Stavia]

More nuts, a whole avocado every day, more olive oil on your salads, more fatty fish instead of so much chicken. Sardines are cheap if salmon blows your budget.

[Julie G]

Robin, you've gotten some great remarks re. help with gaining weight. I wanted to address your concerns re SFA as it relates to your LDL-P. Your numbers are good, just below the 50th percentile... but because you're on the borderline, I would keep an eye on SFA. Reducing it is a simple way to lower LDL-P.

The coconut oil question is iffy. Your last A1c indicates you probably are insulin resistant in which case it might be really helpful, BUT your reports of weight loss make me think that might have greatly improved. If your IR is under control, you may benefit from switching away from coconut oil towards more MUFAs and PUFAs (nuts, EVOO, avacados, olives) to accomplish the same goal (ketosis) in a way that might be more heart healthy.

Congrats on all of your improvements!!!

[SusanJ]

As a fellow 3/4, I find it interesting that I seem to also be walking a fine line between carbs and fats. Too many fats raise my lipid numbers, too many carbs raise A1c. Coconut oil really whacks my lipid numbers, and not for the good (beyond LDL-P).

But, you don't mention caloric intake. Maybe you just aren't getting enough for your physical output to maintain weight? Do you track in cronometer or similar program? Sometimes it's hard to guess, when upping fat in particular, because is can be so satiating.