Fadi
...
How many times have you heard this before Ausbb? It's just calories in and calories out mate, no need to complicate it ok!
Well perhaps (and only perhaps) in the initial stages, after that, the issue could shift from, I'm eating more because I'm fat, rather than I'm fat because I'm eating more. I know very well that what I just wrote sounds a bit (or a lot) counterintuitive to some, but in these few words of mine, I want you the reader to begin to look outside of the box and more into what hormones (your fat/hunger hormones) are causing and not causing in the overall scheme of things. I wrote a whole article that you may find interesting on this forum years ago, however I've upgraded it a bit and renamed it: Leptin to fat… what testosterone is to muscles . No need to look for it because I'm gonna give it to you right here and now. Granted, the article is more concerned with a bodybuilder who is already low in fat but can't seem to reduce any further, instead of an article relating to "normal" people who are fat and are being told that all they need do is to reduce their calories and she'll be right mate (so to speak)! Please do your own research on the subject, and what you find may just surprise you, just as there are people who do produce the insulin hormone, yet develop type 2 diabetes due to insulin receptor issues amongst other problems, there are also people who do produce the Leptin hormone, yet the brain simply can't read its message, the message to stop eating. http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-facts-on-leptin-faq
After writing the above, I decided to include for you the following short video. I hope you find some information of value to you.
Re-feed and Re-lose
Leptin- The Fat Regulating Hormone
Leptin to fat… what testosterone is to muscles
When you diet for a bodybuilding competition, your main aim apart from having the proportioned beef is to make sure that that beef is well primed. Chiselled, cut, shredded, ripped, call it what you will, the beef has to be 95% lean or leaner. Now that's an anatomy book ultra-sharp razor look. So you're happy dieting along when weight and fat loss come to a screeching halt.
What caused it? Some bodybuilders continue to loose, but instead of looking sharper, they begin to look flatter. Why? Two questions that need to be answered before we proceed. What caused the stoppage in weight and fat loss? It was the fat regulating hormone Leptin. It sounds like some sort of tea you drink, but this is no tea. This is what testosterone is to a bodybuilder wanting to gain muscle mass, the only difference is that this powerhouse of a hormone deals with fat loss. Without testosterone you can't build substantial muscles, and similarly, without Leptin you cannot shed the fat off to show those built muscles to their maximum ability.
Now to the second question. Bodybuilders who continue to lose weight yet look flatter instead of sharper are mainly loosing muscles instead of fat and what’s left of their muscles has been deflated by a lack of muscle glycogen. The ratio has shifted to where the body is now cannibalising itself for its own survival. This should be a wakeup call to any dieting bodybuilder, that the balance of the macros as well as the total caloric intake is not right. However since this article is about re-feeds, I'll get back to talking about our powerful friend Leptin.
Leptin is mainly made by our fat cells, their number as well as their size has an effect on the rate of its release, (this will become clearer soon). A small amount of Leptin comes from our muscles, (nothing to write home about though). So why is Leptin made and released into our blood stream? Leptin presence in our blood stream helps us with regulating our appetite, gives us that hunger feelings, as well as regulate our food intake and how fast we burn it for fuel. So the lower Leptin levels fall, the higher our appetite and cravings become for all the goodies we were having when we weren't dieting. Take heart in the knowledge that this is not some weakness on your part that you're craving the goodies; it's not all in your head. No, this is the real deal built in physiological defence mechanism our body uses to stay alive. After all, its survival and therefore your survival; and NOT coming in ripped for a bodybuilding contest is its ultimate and only goal. So now we've established that less blood circulating Leptin = to more cravings and as we shall soon see, a slower metabolism. A higher level of Leptin therefore, signifies a faster metabolism where fat loss can occur. Take home message so far: don’t let your Leptin levels go too low, or at least recognise their effect if or when they do.
So as you persevere with your low and with some bodybuilders, ultra-low caloric intake, your Leptin begins to act on your master gland the hypothalamus which in turn tells your brain to control your appetite up or down. In the case of our near starving bodybuilder, the message sent throughout the body would be to trigger a voracious appetite as well as slow the body's metabolism down to a crawl, where little or no fat loss will take place. It sort of defeats the purpose of what our bodybuilder has set out to achieve, doesn't it? It's only when Leptin levels return to within a normal and acceptable range that the strong cravings for food as well as the painful hunger pangs go away.
Well then, how would our well-meaning bodybuilder raises his or her Leptin levels so as to kick start the fat burning process again? Some will go all out on a binging craze where they will demolish any food in sight. As I will explain shortly, this would not be in the best interest of our bodybuilding friend. You see Leptin is a fussy and a highly selective fat regulating hormone. It likes and has an affinity to high blood glucose levels. What this means is that our bodybuilder would be served better if he or she consume the majority of their calories from good sources of carbohydrates. Protein, fats, and fructose do not play a major part in boosting Leptin levels. Also, fats are best kept to a low level during this high insulin periods so as to prevent any of them from been driven away into adipose tissue. Protein is best reduced to 1g per lb. of bodyweight and fructose kept low since they have no major impact upon Leptin levels.
Refeeding intensity and duration depends on few factors, namely: how hard you've been dieting and at what percentage fat level you're at. The leaner you are and the harder you've been dieting, the longer and more intense the refeeding would have to be. Calories should be higher than your caloric maintenance level and the duration should span from 12 hours and up. Don't forget, your main aim is to raise your Leptin levels. If your body fat level is at 10% or lower, refeeding should be done about twice a week. If on the other hand your fat levels are between 10-15%, refeeding ought to be done once a week to once every 10 days or so. This is not an exact art and everyone responds differently. In a nutshell, this is not different from a gym workout where if you incorporate high intensity, then by necessity the volume has to drop. On the other hand, if the intensity is low to medium, then one can afford to raise the volume. You may choose to refeed for a whole week, where the more moderate approach in eating would apply.
Ok, so you may gain the smallest amount of fat due to the refeed. However, looking at the benefits ahead of you should far outweigh any fat gained during that small period. So what exactly awaits you that make this whole body tricking so worth it? For starters, your dead metabolism will be revving back up like a muscled supercharged V8 machine. Your hormone profile will be back in balance once more.
For the men in you, that means the almighty testosterone would be back on track to serve your muscles well, with fully reloaded muscles full of skin bursting glycogen, and on another front, to lend a mighty blow to the muscle demolishing king of all, the Cortisol hormone.
For the ladies in you, a raise in Leptin spells a return to your reproduction hormones where your regular monthly cycle is back on track. The stoppage of this monthly cycle should never become an issue to our sisters in the sport, and regular refeeds should be employed so as to prevent such an occurrence from ever taking place. Any disregard to this issue will result in decreased bone density and further accentuate any risk of osteoporosis.
Finally, refeeds should not be interpreted as a wild card in the gym, where the temptation to raise the volume and intensity would be detrimental. Failing to control one's self by going all out would really be defeating the whole purpose of this powerful tool we have at our disposal as bodybuilders. Always look forward to the week ahead after your refeed, because that's where visual improvements would be realised and felt and where euphoria won't be far behind.
Here’re two sample meals; one made up of high carbohydrate low fat low protein (HC-LFLP), whilst the other is made up of LC-HFHP. I’ve put up the link in order for you to check the whole study with its final results.
HC-LFLP
BW 60kg.
Cal 600
Carb 70% 105g
Fat 15% 10g
Pro 15% 22.5g
Rice with roast pork:
Cooked rice 300g
Roast pork 30g
½ egg
Sweet sauce, 2 tsp.
1-2 small cucumber
1-2 spring onion
Now check out how different this 600 calorie meal is compared with the first one (above).
LC-HFHP
BW 60kg.
Cal 600
Carb 20% 30g
Fat 50% 33.3g
Pro 30% 45g
Rice with fried fish:
Cooked rice 90g
Fried fish, 180g
Sweet chilli sauce 2 tsp.
Now look over here please: http://www.tm.mahidol.ac.th/seameo/2006_37_4/25-3770N.pdf for the difference in the levels of blood glucose, insulin, and changes in Leptin concentrations in response to HC-LFLP and/or LC-HFHP meals as presented above.
Okay, I know this is not the time but, since many bodybuilders are always talking about bulking up to add some serious beef, I advise you to take heed that Leptin becomes more and more desensitised in delivering its message to the brain (basically what you have is a Leptin resistance similar to an insulin resistance), where even though the hormone is available, it’s no longer recognised by the cell receptors it calls “home”. Result? Fat, plus other health issues! Solution? When bulking, eat real food! Bulking is not your magic ticket to KFC and MacDonald!
Oh nearly forgot…just as you give yourself ample time to trim down, please give yourself ample time to increase your weight. A majestic Boeing 747-400 takes plenty of time to line up with the runway….for that perfect landing!
Neuron. 1999 Aug;23(4):775-86. Leptin Differentially Regulates NPY and POMC Neurons Projecting to the Lateral Hypothalamic Area Neuron, Volume 23, Issue 4, 1 August 1999, Pages 775-786.Amongst others.
I do thank you for taking some of your time to read the above.
Fadi.
Well perhaps (and only perhaps) in the initial stages, after that, the issue could shift from, I'm eating more because I'm fat, rather than I'm fat because I'm eating more. I know very well that what I just wrote sounds a bit (or a lot) counterintuitive to some, but in these few words of mine, I want you the reader to begin to look outside of the box and more into what hormones (your fat/hunger hormones) are causing and not causing in the overall scheme of things. I wrote a whole article that you may find interesting on this forum years ago, however I've upgraded it a bit and renamed it: Leptin to fat… what testosterone is to muscles . No need to look for it because I'm gonna give it to you right here and now. Granted, the article is more concerned with a bodybuilder who is already low in fat but can't seem to reduce any further, instead of an article relating to "normal" people who are fat and are being told that all they need do is to reduce their calories and she'll be right mate (so to speak)! Please do your own research on the subject, and what you find may just surprise you, just as there are people who do produce the insulin hormone, yet develop type 2 diabetes due to insulin receptor issues amongst other problems, there are also people who do produce the Leptin hormone, yet the brain simply can't read its message, the message to stop eating. http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-facts-on-leptin-faq
Re-feed and Re-lose
Leptin- The Fat Regulating Hormone
Leptin to fat… what testosterone is to muscles
When you diet for a bodybuilding competition, your main aim apart from having the proportioned beef is to make sure that that beef is well primed. Chiselled, cut, shredded, ripped, call it what you will, the beef has to be 95% lean or leaner. Now that's an anatomy book ultra-sharp razor look. So you're happy dieting along when weight and fat loss come to a screeching halt.
What caused it? Some bodybuilders continue to loose, but instead of looking sharper, they begin to look flatter. Why? Two questions that need to be answered before we proceed. What caused the stoppage in weight and fat loss? It was the fat regulating hormone Leptin. It sounds like some sort of tea you drink, but this is no tea. This is what testosterone is to a bodybuilder wanting to gain muscle mass, the only difference is that this powerhouse of a hormone deals with fat loss. Without testosterone you can't build substantial muscles, and similarly, without Leptin you cannot shed the fat off to show those built muscles to their maximum ability.
Now to the second question. Bodybuilders who continue to lose weight yet look flatter instead of sharper are mainly loosing muscles instead of fat and what’s left of their muscles has been deflated by a lack of muscle glycogen. The ratio has shifted to where the body is now cannibalising itself for its own survival. This should be a wakeup call to any dieting bodybuilder, that the balance of the macros as well as the total caloric intake is not right. However since this article is about re-feeds, I'll get back to talking about our powerful friend Leptin.
Leptin is mainly made by our fat cells, their number as well as their size has an effect on the rate of its release, (this will become clearer soon). A small amount of Leptin comes from our muscles, (nothing to write home about though). So why is Leptin made and released into our blood stream? Leptin presence in our blood stream helps us with regulating our appetite, gives us that hunger feelings, as well as regulate our food intake and how fast we burn it for fuel. So the lower Leptin levels fall, the higher our appetite and cravings become for all the goodies we were having when we weren't dieting. Take heart in the knowledge that this is not some weakness on your part that you're craving the goodies; it's not all in your head. No, this is the real deal built in physiological defence mechanism our body uses to stay alive. After all, its survival and therefore your survival; and NOT coming in ripped for a bodybuilding contest is its ultimate and only goal. So now we've established that less blood circulating Leptin = to more cravings and as we shall soon see, a slower metabolism. A higher level of Leptin therefore, signifies a faster metabolism where fat loss can occur. Take home message so far: don’t let your Leptin levels go too low, or at least recognise their effect if or when they do.
So as you persevere with your low and with some bodybuilders, ultra-low caloric intake, your Leptin begins to act on your master gland the hypothalamus which in turn tells your brain to control your appetite up or down. In the case of our near starving bodybuilder, the message sent throughout the body would be to trigger a voracious appetite as well as slow the body's metabolism down to a crawl, where little or no fat loss will take place. It sort of defeats the purpose of what our bodybuilder has set out to achieve, doesn't it? It's only when Leptin levels return to within a normal and acceptable range that the strong cravings for food as well as the painful hunger pangs go away.
Well then, how would our well-meaning bodybuilder raises his or her Leptin levels so as to kick start the fat burning process again? Some will go all out on a binging craze where they will demolish any food in sight. As I will explain shortly, this would not be in the best interest of our bodybuilding friend. You see Leptin is a fussy and a highly selective fat regulating hormone. It likes and has an affinity to high blood glucose levels. What this means is that our bodybuilder would be served better if he or she consume the majority of their calories from good sources of carbohydrates. Protein, fats, and fructose do not play a major part in boosting Leptin levels. Also, fats are best kept to a low level during this high insulin periods so as to prevent any of them from been driven away into adipose tissue. Protein is best reduced to 1g per lb. of bodyweight and fructose kept low since they have no major impact upon Leptin levels.
Refeeding intensity and duration depends on few factors, namely: how hard you've been dieting and at what percentage fat level you're at. The leaner you are and the harder you've been dieting, the longer and more intense the refeeding would have to be. Calories should be higher than your caloric maintenance level and the duration should span from 12 hours and up. Don't forget, your main aim is to raise your Leptin levels. If your body fat level is at 10% or lower, refeeding should be done about twice a week. If on the other hand your fat levels are between 10-15%, refeeding ought to be done once a week to once every 10 days or so. This is not an exact art and everyone responds differently. In a nutshell, this is not different from a gym workout where if you incorporate high intensity, then by necessity the volume has to drop. On the other hand, if the intensity is low to medium, then one can afford to raise the volume. You may choose to refeed for a whole week, where the more moderate approach in eating would apply.
Ok, so you may gain the smallest amount of fat due to the refeed. However, looking at the benefits ahead of you should far outweigh any fat gained during that small period. So what exactly awaits you that make this whole body tricking so worth it? For starters, your dead metabolism will be revving back up like a muscled supercharged V8 machine. Your hormone profile will be back in balance once more.
For the men in you, that means the almighty testosterone would be back on track to serve your muscles well, with fully reloaded muscles full of skin bursting glycogen, and on another front, to lend a mighty blow to the muscle demolishing king of all, the Cortisol hormone.
For the ladies in you, a raise in Leptin spells a return to your reproduction hormones where your regular monthly cycle is back on track. The stoppage of this monthly cycle should never become an issue to our sisters in the sport, and regular refeeds should be employed so as to prevent such an occurrence from ever taking place. Any disregard to this issue will result in decreased bone density and further accentuate any risk of osteoporosis.
Finally, refeeds should not be interpreted as a wild card in the gym, where the temptation to raise the volume and intensity would be detrimental. Failing to control one's self by going all out would really be defeating the whole purpose of this powerful tool we have at our disposal as bodybuilders. Always look forward to the week ahead after your refeed, because that's where visual improvements would be realised and felt and where euphoria won't be far behind.
Here’re two sample meals; one made up of high carbohydrate low fat low protein (HC-LFLP), whilst the other is made up of LC-HFHP. I’ve put up the link in order for you to check the whole study with its final results.
HC-LFLP
BW 60kg.
Cal 600
Carb 70% 105g
Fat 15% 10g
Pro 15% 22.5g
Rice with roast pork:
Cooked rice 300g
Roast pork 30g
½ egg
Sweet sauce, 2 tsp.
1-2 small cucumber
1-2 spring onion
Now check out how different this 600 calorie meal is compared with the first one (above).
LC-HFHP
BW 60kg.
Cal 600
Carb 20% 30g
Fat 50% 33.3g
Pro 30% 45g
Rice with fried fish:
Cooked rice 90g
Fried fish, 180g
Sweet chilli sauce 2 tsp.
Now look over here please: http://www.tm.mahidol.ac.th/seameo/2006_37_4/25-3770N.pdf for the difference in the levels of blood glucose, insulin, and changes in Leptin concentrations in response to HC-LFLP and/or LC-HFHP meals as presented above.
Okay, I know this is not the time but, since many bodybuilders are always talking about bulking up to add some serious beef, I advise you to take heed that Leptin becomes more and more desensitised in delivering its message to the brain (basically what you have is a Leptin resistance similar to an insulin resistance), where even though the hormone is available, it’s no longer recognised by the cell receptors it calls “home”. Result? Fat, plus other health issues! Solution? When bulking, eat real food! Bulking is not your magic ticket to KFC and MacDonald!
Oh nearly forgot…just as you give yourself ample time to trim down, please give yourself ample time to increase your weight. A majestic Boeing 747-400 takes plenty of time to line up with the runway….for that perfect landing!
Neuron. 1999 Aug;23(4):775-86. Leptin Differentially Regulates NPY and POMC Neurons Projecting to the Lateral Hypothalamic Area Neuron, Volume 23, Issue 4, 1 August 1999, Pages 775-786.Amongst others.
I do thank you for taking some of your time to read the above.
Fadi.
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I love self experimenting and I think others should too to work out what is best for them!