Coconut is used in quite a fair bit of South Asian and South east Asian curries. Fruit’s are different though. Some unripe fruits like Mangos , Plantains are used for South Asian cooking. Not so much the ripe fruits.
One of the tricks to make a thicker , creamier indian dish is to use roasted poppy seeds / watermelon seeds / coconut milk / cashews…
what I like most about certain cultural foods is the use of natural ingredients. Far too much of what we eat these days is manufactured foods… like breakfast cereal.
Reminds me of
Pretty big month for me. Was able to fit into a shirt size that didn’t start with an X for the first time in my life. 7 more kg down and 2 away from my goal (70kg at 1.81m). Little bit of a regret was not incorporating any weight lifting on my journey instead of relying completely on cardio and diet but I’m happy with where I’m at. In the middle of a big life-changing move though so probably won’t be able to get on a strength training routine until things have settled down. Still sticking with my diet and exercise but I’ll start easing up on my calorie restrictions soon.
Yay 
Switched things up a little this week. I’ve pushed “leg day” back to later in the week so it doesn’t wipe me out while running / cycling etc.
Rewarded this morning with a new pb on my little run route. Still not earth shattering and no threat to anyone on here, but it’s pushed my Garmin estimated VO2 max (lies) to 49, superior category. Highest it’s been.
Nice to have some recorded progress.
Howdy all some advice needed. Looks like I need to revise my workouts again. I dont want to but circumstances look like they may force the issue.
I’m currently weight training 4 times per week, 45 minute sessions with other cardio / activities in between. It works, I’m leaner than I have been over the last say 6 years, maybe longer, and have certainly put on more muscle in the last 10 months.
Sadly there’s been a price to pay for the extra muscle. My kidney function “appears” to have declined. I say appears as the decline aligns perfectly with my weight training journey and other markers such as protein in my urine are down (good). Blood pressure is also generally down (high BP is a typical symptom of screwed kidneys)
Basically, when they measure kidney function they look at creatinine in your blood. The more you have the lower your kidney function is. That is adjusted with weight. But it’s a kind of crude marker because it can be influenced by your own muscle mass, activity levels, and even diet.
My numbers are such that it’s got my nephrologist starting to look at things a lot more closely and perhaps gearing up the next stage. To me that doesn’t quite feel right. So I need to make some diet tweaks but also a review of the training regime. BTW The nephrologist says don’t stop and don’t back off. The fitter I am the better.
So how to continue resistance training but more aligned to maintaining muscle rather than putting any more on? Thoughts anyone, purely on the training. I’m not expecting any nephrologists to appear from the aether
Either train less frequently, do less volume (1 set instead of 3 for example) or make the workouts easier (if you could do 12 reps with a particlar weight, stick at 7 or 8).
Yeah I was thinking somewhere along those lines or even simply reducing the weight. It’s just a training angle I’ve never really seen discussed before as it’s normally about “gains”.
That said, there are lots of athletes out there who weight train but have a requirement to keep body weight down. Climbers for example. I’ve just not got any real idea how they go about it.
That’s entirely to do with calorie consumption. If you burn more than you consume then, over time, you will lose weight. Doing weight training will help you maintain more of the muscle mass
Yeah happy to go back into a calorie deficit for a while get a bit more off but I’m wondering longer term. Assuming a calorie deficit will reduce things a little it’s then how to maintain that level with any gains.
Really odd question I know.
What’s your goal? Lose weight? Get leaner?
Your kidneys are most definitely NOT in worse shape because your physique has improved. Two things in temporal association with each other does not mean one caused the other. More importantly though, increased creatinine is not by itself enough to say your kidneys are in worse shape. This is not medical advice, but caution is needed in interpreting test results to put them in the right context.
A disease that produces a test result does not mean a test result is the result of the disease. Blood sugar can be elevated on a test if the body has developed an inability to clear it (diabetes) or if the test is taken too soon after eating. The same concept applies to creatinine. Creatinine will be elevated if your kidney function falls, but it is also elevated in people with healthy kidneys after exercise (not just weight training). If your doctor is not asking you to retest after a period of 48-54 hours of no exercise then you need a new doctor. And you absolutely should not be adjusting other parts of your life that are good for general health on the basis of altering a test result that doesnt mean what it is commonly interpreted to mean.
EDITED TO ADD:
The effect of recent strenuous exercise on creatinine levels is far bigger than that of just having more muscle mass.
While getting a little more lean is certainly welcome and something I will do I’m more looking at changing my workout routine a little, more towards maintenance rather than gaining much more muscle.
Interesting and entirely sensible thinking about it. I’m trying to remember what I was up to before the test. It wasn’t a particularly strenuous week from memory as I was on leave from work and needed some down time
That’s my thinking but there is a relationship between muscle mass and creatinine levels and they can make an adjustment for it (I was given a body scan shortly after diagnosis for this reason). Plus other symptoms / indicators are moving in the right direction, plus I feel ok, no nausea, dizzy spells, water retention etc. etc. So I 100% agree that caution is needed, I have another test to sort for next month and then again a little later down the line, so I have time to make some adjustments that might help and that can include a good rest before testing. I think this is the approach being taken, there’s no panic, only some increased urgency (which is a good thing to keep me honest 
). I dont plan to stop, to be fair I was advised not to, but I see no harm in seeing if I can be smarter about it. It’s pain that I’m at that hovering above the threshold between stage 4 and 5.
I need to have a look at your routine
No problem. 4 x 45 minute (or so) work outs each with 7-9 exercises for 3-4 sets each working around 10 reps per set but I never get to 10 on the final set. I’m not super strict
Monday - 4-5 exercises chest, 3-4 exercises biceps I alternate between chest, biceps
Tuesday - 4-5 exercises back, 3-4 exercises Triceps
Wednesday - Run
Thursday - Leg day. 6-7 exercises of hell.
Friday - 5 exercises shoulders, exercises abs.
If for whatever reason I miss leg day on Thursday I’ll switch the Friday up to some compound movements (dead lifts, traditional squats etc.)
Weight wise I tend to build up to my max weight for the third set an will do a 4th if I feel there’s more in the tank.
If weather plays ball I’ll surf / kitesurf in the middle of that somewhere, wherever I can. If I do get out I may miss a workout the day after.
Actually, before anything find what is causing the creatinine increase. Exercise alone can’t be causing a significant enough spike but I’m no clinician.
But there’s nothing excessive about your training regimen
That can be tricky but I can only control diet and exercise. Both can influence it but worth noting that I’m not talking a huge drop, just enough to get me close to the Stage 5 boundary with a downward trend such that they are paying close attention to it. Over the last year I’ve gone from an eGFR of 21 or so to 16. 15 is the trigger level where shit gets super serious.
Yeah my dad has been having similar issues but his is possibly age related as he’s near 80.
What’s your diet like? What food groups and what is your average daily calorie intake?
Diet wise I’m not perfect so this has been a kick up the ass in that regard but I’m mainly vegetarian but have been eating a little fish of late. I’ve been a bit naughty of the chocolate and stuff which I’ll cut right down on now.
It absolutely does. To the point if that if you have done any strenuous exercise within about 48 hours of the test you should assume your levels will be elevated. Just like eating an hour before a blood test will make your blood sugar be read as “high”, the relationship is entirely predictable and the mechanism well understood.
The elevated levels are of course not to be ignored in someone with a history of kidney issues and (based on more recent posts) falling GFR. But that is even more reason to rule out the other possible obvious causes of the elevation.
Creatinine is best thought of as a relational biomarker. It’s elevation is treated as problematic not because it does anything problematic directly, but because of what you can infer about what is happening to create the elevation. However, that inference is based on an estimate of what the creatinine output should be (which is why it is adjusted for weight). No such adjustment is made for physical activity, which is why 1) it is best to abstain for a couple of days before a test if the results are relevant to you, or 2) don’t over interpret the results if they are high in the period after exercise.