The enzymes going back to better than normal is so good.

It’s the decision I made with alcohol. I have to constantly remain paranoid about this.

• Lose the first 25–30 lb through food control. This is probably the biggest multi-system lever: weight, insulin resistance/A1c, BP, triglycerides, and liver.
• High-protein, moderately low-carb, low-saturated-fat diet. Think lean protein + vegetables/fiber + mostly unsaturated fats—not dirty keto.
• Strength 2–3×/week + moderate cardio/walking. Strength for muscle/body composition; cardio because your triglycerides and metabolic markers clearly respond to it.
• Fix the iron deficiency
• Make sleep/recovery a real intervention. Better sleep should help appetite control, glucose regulation, BP, recovery, and your ability to execute everything else.

https://cnsnnts.blog/2026/08/09/i-am-learning-about-my-body/

Weight: diet structure >>> cardio
A1c/insulin: adiposity + food quality + activity, currently obscured by iron deficiency
Triglycerides: very responsive to activity/diet
LDL/ApoB: persistent baseline tendency + meaningful diet/activity modulation
Iron: vulnerable when intake falls / endurance rises
Liver: surprisingly responsive even without major weight loss

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Number 1 – the body does move. The markers will move if given the right impulses. My body is not broken in any deep way. It definitely responds under the hood to the right pressures.

I think the biggest question has been to craft the RIGHT pressure for MY body.

1. Your weight seems much more diet-responsive than exercise-responsive
food structure → large weight effect
cardio → surprisingly modest weight effect

In your own data, fasting did not compensate for diet quality.

2. Your triglycerides are probably your fastest lifestyle-response biomarker

Look at this sequence:

Your TG appear very responsive to the overall combination of activity, carbohydrate quality, alcohol/food intake and metabolic fitness.

The 2024 marathon period gave you a TG/HDL ratio as low as 1.0. That’s a huge contrast with 3.8 in the bad-diet/IF period.

3. LDL behaves differently—and this is important

Your LDL history is remarkably persistent:

You spent years changing weight, keto, fasting, exercise and diet, and LDL frequently lived around

That suggests there is probably a fairly strong baseline component to your LDL phenotype that lifestyle modifies rather than completely determines. I wouldn’t call that proven genetic hypercholesterolemia from these numbers alone, but it’s unlikely that LDL is simply a reflection of whether you exercised last month.

So I would treat LDL/ApoB as its own project, rather than assuming weight loss or A1c improvement automatically fixes it.

4. Your glucose story is subtler than “you’re getting more diabetic”

fasting glucose has generally been pretty unimpressive

But there’s now a giant confounder: iron deficiency.

5. The iron timeline is probably the most clinically important experiment

6. Your liver may actually be the most encouraging result

Your current AST ALT are excellent liver-enzyme values.

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Thing to do	Why / what your history suggests	Subsystems likely affected
Maintain a consistent calorie deficit	Diet has moved your weight much more than large increases in cardio. Weight loss should also improve several downstream markers.	Weight, A1c/insulin, BP, liver
Moderately low-carb diet	You seem to do well metabolically with carbohydrate restriction, but there’s no obvious need for extreme keto. Helps appetite control and triglycerides.	Weight, A1c/insulin, triglycerides
High protein (~170–200 g/day)	Improves satiety and helps preserve muscle during substantial weight loss.	Weight, muscle/body composition, glucose
Strength train 2–3×/week	Preserves/increases lean mass while dieting and improves glucose disposal without requiring huge exercise volume.	Weight/body composition, A1c/insulin, longevity
Moderate cardio 2–3×/week	Your 2024 high-cardio period produced your best TG/HDL phenotype. Cardio seems metabolically valuable even when it doesn’t reduce your weight.	Triglycerides, HDL, A1c/insulin, cardiovascular fitness
Walk frequently / stay active daily	Gives much of the insulin-sensitivity benefit without the recovery cost of marathon training.	A1c/insulin, triglycerides, BP, weight
Don’t use marathon training as a weight-loss tool	You trained heavily . Huge exercise volume didn’t overcome your food/energy balance.	Weight, recovery, iron
Keep red meat, but favor lean cuts	Completely eliminating it removes an efficient heme-iron source; fatty red meat can work against LDL goals.	Iron, hemoglobin, LDL/ApoB
Favor olive oil, fish, nuts, avocado over butter/fatty meat	Your LDL has repeatedly been high, including during dirty-keto periods. Fat quality matters.	LDL, ApoB, cardiovascular risk
Avoid “dirty keto”	Your 2013 keto phenotype had good TG/HDL but high LDL. Keto solved one lipid problem while leaving another.	LDL/ApoB, triglycerides, weight
Use IF only if it makes eating less easier	IF + poor diet in 2016 still produced TG Timing isn’t enough.	Weight mainly
Replete iron	Your iron stores went low	Iron, hemoglobin, energy/exercise capacity
Don’t optimize around A1c alone until iron improves	Iron deficiency can distort A1c.	Glucose assessment
Consider CGM / post-meal glucose temporarily	Would tell you whether the issue is post-meal excursions rather than fasting glucose and avoids some of the current A1c ambiguity.	A1c/insulin strategy
Prioritize ~25–30 lb of initial weight loss	Probably your biggest single multi-system intervention. First milestone around 30 less	Weight, A1c, insulin, BP, liver, triglycerides
Keep alcohol low	Your ALT has improved from as high as despite remaining heavy. Protect that improvement.	Liver, triglycerides, weight, BP
Improve sleep toward 7+ hours	Poor sleep makes appetite, insulin sensitivity, BP, recovery and weight control harder simultaneously.	Weight, A1c/insulin, BP, recovery
Address possible sleep apnea	If present, improving sleep quality could be a surprisingly large metabolic and cardiovascular lever.	BP, glucose, weight regulation, energy
Repeat LDL + ApoB after ~3 months of the optimized plan	Your LDL seems partly lifestyle-responsive but also persistently elevated across very different lifestyles.	Cardiovascular risk
Get Lp(a) once if not already measured	Helps determine how aggressive you should be about lifetime LDL/ApoB exposure.	Cardiovascular risk

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I heard this in a Magnus Carlsen interview.

The basic idea that AI + human >>>>> human or AI alone. Chess shows evidence of this, but also other fields increasingly so.

So here is my thinking. I am going to combine a few different things

• I overthink. I am smart but I overthink. I will still use my brain a lot.
• I will augment it with AI. Put my health data in there and try to understand patterns.
• And I will also augment this with a concierge doctor. I think they will put me on the right path.

Things are becoming clearer than ever before. I think i am understanding my body well.

This is the right age to maximize the change and start shifting the train’s path.

---

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_chess

View at Medium.com

View at Medium.com

Holy shit, what? Strength training can raise these?

Is one of the reasons they have normalized because I stopped strength training??

Stay away from loosers. You dont need that energy around you.

you are trying to be great.

God has graced me with feet, arms, body.

Its fine if I have issues. But for now, today, I can push it. So I will.

I want to workout.

The basic formula is:

Protein + vegetables + beans or lentils + one concentrated fat.

Protein and fiber make the meal filling. Beef or lamb adds readily absorbed iron. Beans and lentils add fiber, slower-digesting carbohydrates, and additional iron. Vegetables add volume and micronutrients. The main calorie trap is stacking cheese, avocado, hummus, tahini, seeds, guacamole, and oily dressing in the same bowl.

Default Orders

CAVA: Greens + black lentils + grilled steak + grilled chicken + tomato/onion + cucumber + broccoli or cabbage + pickled onions + skhug + lemon + hummus or tahini; skip rice, pita, pita crisps, feta, multiple dips, and multiple dressings.

Chipotle: Salad bowl + steak + chicken + black beans + fajita vegetables + tomato salsa + tomatillo salsa + extra lettuce; optional guacamole; skip tortilla, chips, queso, sour cream, cheese, and vinaigrette; add light rice only around long training sessions.

Just Salad: Supergreens/spinach/kale + extra roasted chicken + edamame, chickpeas, or lentils + broccoli + tomatoes + cucumber + peppers or carrots + lemon + light vinaigrette; choose no more than one of avocado, cheese, seeds, or heavy dressing.

Whole Foods: Lean beef, chicken, or salmon + lentils or beans + two vegetables; avoid creamy sauces, fried sides, mac and cheese, and excessive hot-bar oil.

Indian: Lamb tikka, tandoori lamb, kebab, or a less-creamy lamb curry + dal or chana + vegetables; moderate rice; usually skip naan.

Shawarma: Beef or lamb shawarma + extra chicken if available + salad + lentils, chickpeas, or hummus + tomato + pickles + lemon; use garlic sauce or tahini lightly; skip fries and large pita portions.

Protein Rules

My normal fast-casual choice is one serving of beef or lamb plus extra chicken, not double beef. That supplies some heme iron while keeping total saturated fat lower than an all-red-meat meal.

Chicken remains the everyday protein. Beef and lamb are strategic additions. Salmon remains in the rotation for protein and omega-3 fats, but it is not a major iron source.

Regular choices:

• Chicken
• Salmon
• Lean steak
• Lean beef shawarma
• Grilled lamb
• Eggs
• Greek yogurt
• Beans, lentils, chickpeas, and edamame

Occasional choices:

• Large ribeye
• Fatty lamb curry
• Processed meat
• Double steak or double barbacoa

A 12–16-ounce ribeye is a full indulgent meal, not an iron supplement disguised as dinner.

Carbohydrate Rules

I am not eliminating carbohydrates. I am prioritizing carbohydrates that contain fiber and are harder to overeat.

Regular: vegetables, lentils, beans, chickpeas, edamame, berries, modest whole fruit.

Strategic: potatoes, rice, oats, and intact whole grains, especially around longer training.

Rare: chips, pita crisps, tortillas, naan, pastries, desserts, juice, sweetened coffee, regular soda, and calorie-heavy smoothies.

Beans and lentils stay. They contain carbohydrates, but they also provide fiber, protein, minerals, and better satiety than refined starch. At CAVA or Chipotle, lentils or beans are generally more useful than a large serving of rice.

Fat Rule

Choose one concentrated fat per meal:

• Hummus
• Tahini
• Avocado or guacamole
• Cheese
• Nuts or seeds
• Oil-based dressing

Do not combine several automatically. A salad can easily become a 1,200-calorie meal through sauces, cheese, avocado, seeds, and oil even when every ingredient sounds healthy.

Iron Rules

Use beef or lamb several times per week, pair it with lentils or beans, and include vitamin-C foods such as lemon, tomatoes, peppers, or broccoli. The meat supplies heme iron and may also improve absorption of plant iron from the rest of the meal.

Keep coffee and tea roughly one to two hours away from iron-focused meals. For iron absorption, the main issue is coffee’s polyphenols rather than caffeine itself. Caffeine matters separately because excessive or late intake can worsen sleep.

Food improves iron intake, but it may not replace treatment when iron stores are already depleted or ongoing blood loss continues.

A1C Rules

The diet lowers A1C only if it also lowers average glucose exposure and produces sustainable weight loss. “Low carb” does not automatically mean “low calorie.” Double meat, cheese, tahini, guacamole, oil, nuts, and a large dinner can still prevent weight loss.

The priorities are:

1. Remove liquid sugar and refined starch.
2. Keep protein high enough to control hunger.
3. Keep vegetables and legumes high.
4. Control sauces, fats, and restaurant portions.
5. Lose weight gradually rather than chasing nutritional perfection.
6. Walk for approximately ten minutes after meals when practical.
7. Add resistance training twice weekly.
8. Improve sleep, because chronically short sleep makes appetite and glucose control harder.

Weekly Rotation

Monday: CAVA steak + chicken + lentils.
Tuesday: Just Salad extra chicken + edamame or lentils.
Wednesday: Chipotle steak + chicken + black beans.
Thursday: Salmon + vegetables + beans or lentils.
Friday: Beef/lamb shawarma or grilled Indian lamb + salad + legumes.
Weekend: Chicken, salmon, eggs, lean beef, or lamb; large ribeye occasionally.

The Entire System

Start with protein. Add vegetables. Keep beans or lentils. Choose one concentrated fat. Use steak plus chicken rather than double steak. Rotate red meat with chicken and salmon. Skip liquid calories and routine refined starch. Keep coffee away from iron-focused meals. Use rice around genuine training needs. Walk after eating. Judge the plan by weight, waist, energy, and laboratory trends.

The plan is repetitive by design. A complicated diet can work for a few days. A handful of automatic orders can work for years.