How Leptin Hormone Effects Metabolism / Why Calorie Shifting Works!

I just read an interview conducted by one of my favorite exercise/nutrition/motivation authors, Tom Venuto.  He interviewed Joel Marion who release a wellness system called "Cheat Your Way Thin."

I found the interview to be so EXCITING (in a "diet nerd" sort of way, lol).  Joel explains some of the science regarding hormones and metabolism and how strategically shifting our daily calorie intake makes losing fat so much easier than using traditional restrictive calorie diets.

As I was reading, it struck me over and over again that this was explaining the science behind why the Curves Weight Management Phases works!  It also explains some of why, at the beginning of my journey, I was able to lose for so long without using shifting strategies.

I have included a short excerpt from the interview below, but there is so much more info in the entire interview...

(NOTE:  The link I am sharing of course has links to sites where you can purchase stuff from these guys.  Although I have purchased The Body Fat Solution (by Tom Venuto), I have not purchased anything else from Tom (just subscribe to his free e-mails).  Also, this is the first (that I can remember) hearing of Joel Marion and have not read anything by or about him until now.)
link opens in a new tab...
FULL INTERVIEW BETWEEN TOM and JOEL

This is an excerpt from the interview where Joel is asked to define the hormone LEPTIN in SIMPLE TERMS... (my comment in red)

Leptin is awesome (or at least when you know how to manipulate it, it is). Get on it’s “bad side”, however, and you’re pretty much doomed to be fat.

In the simplest terms, leptin is a hormone that communicates your nutritional status to the rest of your body. From there, your body then makes decisions on what to do with things like fat burning and metabolism, based on the messages it’s receiving from our friend leptin.

High leptin levels = heightened fat burning and metabolism

Low leptin levels = decreased fat burning and metabolism

There’s a little more to it than that, but you asked for simple terms.

Leptin has also been deemed the “anti-starvation” hormone, which is essentially is its major function in the body, to prevent, or at least dramatically slow the negative adaptations (from a survival standpoint) when food is scarce or when energy intake drops substantially (i.e. starvation).

Great for our hunter and gather ancestors, terrible for the dieter.

And while dieting certainly isn’t as extreme as starvation, it really is nothing more than a lesser degree of exactly that, carry slightly lessened, but still very troubling consequences for the dieter.

Getting into some of the research on leptin, research has shown that after only 7 days of calorie restriction (sounds like Curves PHASE 1), leptin drops on average 50% — putting you at roughly 50% of your fat burning potential. That’s after only ONE week. And as long as you continue to fail to provide your body with the energy it’s hoping to receive, adaptations get worse, leptin falls harder, and metabolism takes an even greater hit.

The good news is, it only takes one day of “overfeeding” or “cheating” to bring leptin levels back to baseline and restore things like plummeted thyroid hormones, fat burning enzymes, a manageable (not insatiable) appetite, and metabolism overall.

The problem with overfeeding, however, is that if you fail to properly set up the rest of the diet in an extremely strategic manner around a cheat day or overfeed day, overfeed days can backfire and lead to a one-step-forward one-step-back phenomenon. This is something we cover heavily in (Joel's Cheat Your Way Thin program) —the ideal way to set up the other 6 days each week, based on a plethora of research, to ensure that each cheat day accelerates, not detracts, from progress.

FULL INTERVIEW BETWEEN TOM and JOEL

Let me know what you think of the interview!

November Update

Yay!  I reached another goal since last month's update.  My Body Fat % is now in the excellent range.  Very cool.

We are planning a trip to see family over Thanksgiving and I know my calories will probably be higher than usual.  I have been keeping fiber and water intake very high and I am preparing mentally for the return to "normal" as soon as we get home.  Last year my low weight before Thanksgiving was 214.2.  Weigh-in Sunday after Thanksgiving was 216.8.  By Wednesday after Thanksgiving I hit a new low of 213.6.  So, I know that even if/when there is a gain while I'm away, it won't prevent me from reaching my goal by the end of the year.  The period of "caloric abundance" may even help! :)

My concerns about being away from my routine is more social than health related.  Even when I am not in "restricted calorie" mode, I still like to track my food... mostly out of curiosity and to have the data for analysis later.  I know it annoys some people to see my dedication to this.  I am trying to figure out the balance between keeping my food diary, body measurement stats and exercise journal while on vacation and not irritating everyone around me. (?)

WEIGHT LOSS STATUS...

Started: June 3, 2009  268.0 lbs 39.58 bmi "obese" (body fat 44% "poor")
Today: Nov 16, 2010  148.2 lbs 21.88 bmi "normal" (body fat 20.9% "excellent")

119.8 lbs down

Only 1.2 lbs 'til goal #6 :)

GOALS REVIEW...
1st goal: (lose 65lbs) 203 lbs 29.98 bmi "overweight" ACHIEVED Jan 17, 2010
2nd goal: (lose 99lbs) 169 lbs 24.96 bmi "healthy" ACHIEVED Jun 9, 2010
3rd goal: Achieve "Very Good/Fit" body fat % (22%-<26%) ACHIEVED Jul 16, 2010
4th goal: (lose 111 lbs) 157 lbs 23.18 bmi (Curves 100 lb Club) ACHIEVED Sep 6, 2010
5th goal: Achieve "Excellent" body fat % (<22%) ACHIEVED Oct 16, 2010
6th goal: (lose 121 lbs) 147 lbs 21.71 bmi by Dec 2010
7th goal: Achieve "Superior" body fat % (<19%)
8th goal: Join the National Weight Control Registry by Dec 2011 

PLANS/GUIDELINES...
1. Never Skip Breakfast! (well-balanced & trying for 1/3 of my daily calories before noon)
2. take good nutritional supplements every day
3. eat 5-9 servings of fruits and veggies per day or more :)
4. eat at least 25g of fiber per day (try to get above 50g)
5. continue Curves 3 times per week
6. Water Only, when out to eat... and min of 64 oz water each day... can you get to 128 oz?
7. Daily monitoring myself with FitClick.com
8. Follow Curves Weight Management calorie phases (max out phase 3!)
9. Daily calories are never less than 1200 (except for prayer & fasting days)
10. Spend no more than 7 consecutive days at less than 1500 calories.
11. Limit eating after 7:00pm (or within 3 hrs of bedtime)
12. Be accountable to someone (person or group) and report status monthly.

Convenience Store Diet

Did you hear or read the story about the college nutrition professor who went on a 2-month "Convenience Store Diet" and lost weight?

Story Highlights...

• Nutrition professor's "convenience store diet" helped him shed 27 pounds (went from an "overweight" BMI designation to "Normal")
• Haub limited himself to 1,800 calories and two-thirds come from junk food
• Haub said it's too early to draw any conclusions about diet

Full Story at CNN

You can see the full details of Prof Haubs Diet Experiments on Facebook.

I read the full story and crunched some numbers from his Facebook postings.  I was really interested in body composition.  How much fat vs. muscle did he lose?

According to the data on Facebook...

Starting... 200.8 lbs     33.4% fat = 67.07 lbs     lean = 133.73 lbs
Ending.....174.2 lbs     24.9% fat = 43.38 lbs     lean = 130.82 lbs


Lost..........26.6 lbs       8.5% fat     23.69 fat lbs     2.91 lean lbs   


That means that 89% of the weight he lost was fat lbs!  I was impressed by that number.  That is better than mine.

Things to take away from this...

• He kept a detailed account of everything he ate (food journal)
• He stayed at healthy target calorie deficit for the entire time (not 'cheating' or 'starvation')
• He took vitamin supplements everyday
• He drank a protein shake everyday
• He ate vegetables everyday
• 1/3 of his daily calories were NOT junk food

This follows what I advise most people to do when they want to start making healthy lifestyle changes...
you don't necessarily have to change everything you eat to begin making changes.
Eat what you like... don't change a thing... just weigh and measure every bite accurately and RECORD IT!  Restrict your portions/calories to a healthy DEFICIT.

This is how I started... and when found that I was still hungry at the end of the day or just wanted more food I began to learn how to make (higher fiber, lower fat) choices that would be more filling AND allow bigger portions for the same calories.

If you love junk food, you can still lose weight!  You just have to keep track of the calories!!!

See Tom Venuto's thoughts on this.

Stages of Change

James O. Prochaska, Ph.D. along with J. O. Norcross and J. C. Diclemente are the originators of the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change sometimes called the "Stages of Change."

These are the 6 stages that the model identifies...

Precontemplation - Contemplation - Preparation - Action - Maintenance - Termination

I first read about these stages after I had already entered into stage 4 (action). I was fascinated by how well the descriptions of the earlier stages really matched with my thinking in the months before my healthy lifestyle changes began.  It was reassuring to see research that so well explained the process I had been going through and it gave me some structure and confidence in defining my plan and goals.

I was in Precontemplation for years. I believe I was in Contemplation from November of 2008 until April or May of 2009. That is probably when I entered the Preparation stage. Of course Action stage started for me on June 3, 2009. I believe I am currently in a transition from Action to Maintenance. My Maintenance stage may last for the rest of my life as I don't know if I can ever say that I would be totally 'cured' of my food issues. Achieving Termination stage would be a true miracle because it would mean that I could maintain a healthy lifestyle without any real effort or planning... it would be ingrained in me... my very nature!

The description of the changes are taken from the book Changing for Good.

Precontemplation - "People at this stage usually have no intention of changing their behavior, and typically deny having a problem. Although their families, friends, neighbors, doctors, or co-workers can see the problem quite clearly, the typical precontemplator can't."

Precontemplators resist change. They may change if there is enough constant external pressure, but once the pressure is removed, they quickly revert. Precontemplators are often demoralized and don't want to think about their problem because they feel that the situation is hopeless. "There is certain comfort in recognizing that demoralization is a natural feeling that accompanies this stage-and in realizing that if you take yourself systematically through all the stages of change, you can change."

Contemplation - "I want to stop feeling so stuck. Those simple words are typical of contemplators. In the contemplation stage, people acknowledge that they have a problem and begin to think seriously about solving it. Contemplators struggle to understand their problem, see its causes, and begin to wonder about possible solutions."

However, while people in this stage may have vague plans to make changes, they are often not ready to take action yet. Many people remain in the contemplation stage for years.

Preparation - "Most people in the preparation stage are planning to make changes within the next month. An important first step is to make their intention public. "But although those in the preparation stage are committed to action, and may appear ready, they have not necessarily resolved their ambivalence. They may still need to convince themselves that this is the best step.

This last-minute resolution is necessary. People who cut the preparation stage short lower their chances of success. It is important to develop a firm, detailed scheme for action to carry you through.

Action - "The action stage is the one in which people most overtly modify their behavior and surroundings. They stop smoking, remove all desserts from the house, pour the last beer down the drain, or confront their fears. In short, they make the move for which they have been preparing.

Action is the most obviously busy period, and the one that requires the greatest commitment of time and energy. Changes made during the action stage are more visible to others than those made during other stages."

It is important to realize that, while the action stage is the one that usually receives the most amount of recognition, it is not the only stage during which you can make progress toward overcoming your problem.

Maintenance - "In the maintenance stage, you consolidate the gains you made in the action stage and work to prevent relapses.

This stage is a long, ongoing, and critically important process. We all know someone who lost many pounds on a diet, but regained them all in a few months. Successful maintenance requires active alertness.

Termination - "The termination stage is the ultimate goal. Here, your former addiction or problem will no longer present any temptation or threat. You will not need to make any further effort and will exit the cycle of change.

However, some experts believe that certain problems cannot be terminated but only kept at bay.

Prochaska, J.O., Norcross, J.C., Diclemente, C.C. (1994). Changing for Good. New York: Avon Books.

James Prochaska founded pro-change behavior systems, inc. where you can find more information about the Transtheoretical Model.

Other commentaries on this research...
Promoting Health Behavior Change. ERIC Digest.
Stages of Readiness for Change - University of Minnesota

The Vitamin C Controversy

In addition to Vitamin C I get from my daily multi-vitamins and food, I take an additional 2000mg (2g) via chewable C everyday.  This practice is controversial and I wanted to share some of the links that have brought me to the conclusion that more Vitamin C is better for me.

Beware!  The information in these links challenges the 'conventional wisdom' about Vitamin C dosage and the government's recommendation of 75 mg per day...

"The Vitamin C Fanatics Were Right All Along"

"Are There Safer Ways to Kill Cancer Cells?"

"New antioxidant vitamin "RDAs" better, but not good enough"

Will Overloading on Vitamin C Give Me Kidney Stones?

The Vitamin C Foundation

 Vitamin C Foundation recommended RDA

Surefire Cures for the Common Cold or Flu

Liquid Calories ("Inspired Shakes" might be worth it!)

From the beginning of my journey, one of the first changes I made was to eliminate most (if not all) calories from fluids.  Here is some of my rationale...

• calories in drinks are usually 'empty' (no nutritional value)
• the act of chewing is satisfying 
• I tend to gulp when I drink and not savor like I do when I eat solid food
• I relate drinking with 'thirst' not with 'hunger'

I have had an occasional smoothie.  And I did sample the soda/pop (not diet) at the World of Coke in Atlanta during our vacation... but that is pretty much it.

I just read an article by a FitClick friend that might change my mind about the occasional 'liquid treat' or even meal.  I wanted to share it...
"Inspired Shakes" by Paula.

Recipe for Healthy Homemade Instant Oatmeal

Single Serve Oatmeal w/ blueberries Preparation time:   1 mins Cooking time:   1 mins Makes 1 serving

1/4  cup Quick Oats 1/4  tsp. Ground Cinnamon 1/4  tsp. Brown Sugar-packed 1  packet Stevia in the Raw 1  dash Sea Salt 1/4  cup Frozen Blueberries 1  cup Water 3  dashes Ground Allspice

Start a tea kettle with tap water on a stove burner. Combine oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, stevia, salt and all-spice in a microwave safe bowl. (These ingredients could be pre-measured and stored in zip top bags as 'instant oatmeal packs') Add 1/2 cup of cold tap water to dry ingredients and microwave on high for 1 minute. (make sure that the bowl is big enough and watch carefully for spill over) Remove from microwave and stir. Add frozen blueberries and up to 1/2 cup very hot/boiling water for desired consistency. Stir and Serve. use this nutrition info if you substitute 1/2 oz raisins for the blueberries

Move to Blogger

I have just put all of my journal entries and fitness updates from the past 18 months into my new Blog here.  The early entries were from the Healthy Lifestyles Yahoo Group at New Song Community Church.  More recent entries were blogged at FitClick.com.  I have been thinking about a way to consolidate all my journaling for easier reference and Blogger just might be the answer! :)

I am still very active at FitClick and will probably duplicate blog entries there as well unless I find a good way to link to this blog from there.