Reverse 'Diet Created' Slow Metabolism
The fight goes on. In cycles. We stop eating as much. Skip meals. Reduce portion sizes. We keep doing what we do... working, cooking, cleaning, walking the dog, and maybe increasing exercise too. Then we run into a wall and give up and rapidly gain weight again. We live disheartened and in disbelief until our motivation returns again, one way or another.
At this point, you might look for professional help. Maybe you ask your doctor. But the message is always the same... Eat less and move more. You don't question the advice. You hear it all the time. So it must be the way. Afterall, it makes sense. Calories in and out.
Therefore, it's not hard to understand why some would slash their food in half and double their workout sessions. A sacrifice to achieve their goal. But what actually happens is calorie restriction peddles around once again straight into the wall. They must be doing something wrong because all that's happening is they are losing weight and gaining it back again. Then repeating the cycle.
In the end, as we saw in The Biggest Loser study, we are damaging metabolisms. Permanent weight loss is reduced by creating a slow metabolism. As we try to make a greater divide between calories in and calories out, in the long run, the energy needed to keep us alive ends up a lot lower than estimated.
In fact, we've already seen reports of 3-6% lower resting metabolism after severe weight loss. But this can become a 15% decrease in absolute resting metabolic rate.[1] This means, to maintain the lost weight you'd have to eat a deal less than imagined. It could end up being 500-800 calories less than someone who's never had to really diet.
As we continue yo-yo dieting and repeating the same strategies dressed in different clothes, this artificial slow metabolism could stay with you forever...
...Unless you do something different to break the cycle & fix your broken metabolism
In reality, calories are not motionless. At best, they simply provide guidance. It's complicated, however, an easy example is the availability of nutrients - You might only digest 60% of a 100 calorie pack of almonds, while the next person could get a little more or less. Plus, there's your body's choice to absorb nutrients... you may not need it so it goes through undigested or your body will hold onto it and extract as much as possible.
Then there is the calorie out part... again this fluctuates in many ways. But the most notably, as you decrease 'energy in', 'energy out' decreases to match it. In response to eating less, your body ends up burning fewer calories just as we've seen in The Biggest Loser study, even though they were pushing their bodies to do more.
While the calories in and out theory sounds great, this metabolic adaptation creates an unsavoury recipe.
It seems unreasonable... The number of calories I put in should be that number and the calories I use shouldn't change without my doing. And if I do more then the calories I use should increase.
Although, this is not how your body works. Admittedly it varies from person to person. But to survive a world without fast food and intensive farming and convenience on every corner, nature has its way. Your body fights towards being relatively stable. Even more so as you lose weight.
To make matters worse, by slowing down your metabolism through continuous extreme dieting, your body becomes hormone defective and sensitive to messages. For example, hunger signals increase. And the hormone, leptin, reduces which prevents fat being released from the fat cells. And you're extraordinarily stressed so cortisol stays high which causes poor sleep and water retention. With all this happening, you can end up feeling bigger, not losing weight or even gaining weight.[1,2,3,4,5]
Boost Slow Metabolism Created by Calorie Restriction
It turns out, some do not accept this reality. They push to find answers. Because it's not only a desire to lose weight, it goes with their job. Fitness models consistently fluctuate their body fat percentage as they cannot stay at such a low level. After many cycles, it can become increasingly difficult to lose body fat so they've figured out ways science is only now proving true.
The original industry solution to help dieters fight back was to focus on your protein intake. Because the thermal effect of digesting protein is massive compared to carbs and fats, doubling your servings is often recommended. Therefore, your metabolism can increase up to 300 calories. Plus, it makes you feel fuller for longer. That's an added bonus when you're not eating much. So, you'd end up adjusting your intake of carbs and fats to make room for the added protein.
Then some smart people discovered sleep's effects... a lack of sleep contributes to bad decisions... which can lead to eating the wrong things. Also, a lack of sleep makes terrible chemical reactions which leads to chronic inflammation and disease with obesity one of them.[6] Therefore, it's always a good idea to harness the power of sleep to improve your wellness. Also, if you're having trouble falling asleep, then find a recipe for deeper sleep.
Throughout the last decade, our relationship with bacteria has changed. Before, it was dirty. We disinfected the germs. Sprayed our homes. Washed our hands with chemicals. But now, we're beginning to see resistance. The bugs are not dying. We're creating superbugs and harming our bodies from the chemicals.
Today, we have a better understanding how bacteria have always lived with us. It turns out, an overgrowth of bad bacteria is bad for us. They can cause us to become sick and overweight. While good bacteria cause us to become naturally slim. As a result, many are supplementing with probiotics, the good bacteria, to aid their health.
More recently, we are questioning if we are simply their host. They seem to have more control over our body than anyone would like to believe. Therefore, it's a good idea to nurture the good bacteria living with us to help us function correctly. So it's a good idea to eat probiotic foods and the foods they like.[7]
Besides this, one major metabolic symptom is insulin resistance. This means your cells are not responding correctly to insulins messages. So your body has to produce more insulin to be heard. This leads to a number of problems, including diabetes. But significantly, if insulin is high then your ability to access fat from your fat cells is hampered.
Due to insulins impact, specialist doctors have identified ways your body can become resistant. Junk food looks to be the most common, to be precise, a food combination of carbs and fat like chips and doughnuts drive metabolic syndrome. Whereas, some blame high carbohydrate diets and others have noted insulin resistance with very low carb diet.
Either way, insulin resistance needs to be stopped in order to improve your metabolism. Above all, the most convincing strategy I ever have seen is through fasting. Different fasting strategies have not only fixed insulin resistance but reversed diabetes and helped fight obesity.
In fact, one of the contestants in The Biggest Loser study, Rudy Pauls, ended up with bariatric surgery. This effectively forces a state of fasting. Because he is unable to eat enough, his body does some wonderful things. Insulin resistance not only disappears but his metabolism returned to near normal levels.
Actually, numerous fasting studies have gone on to show an increased metabolism. A 3-day fast can boost your metabolism by 14%. Other short fasts have shown similar increases.[8,9,10] All in all, it does seem that fasting in a healthy controlled way does not damage your metabolism. The chances are it will fix it.
Finally, a technique that's growing in popularity within the fitness industry takes the scientific facts, flips them on their head to fix a slow metabolism. Due to their constant fat loss cycles and contests, these people are more in tune with their bodies than most. They are more aware of the impact food has on a slowing metabolism. And now they've developed a reverse diet to fix a slow metabolism while staying lean.