Do Refeeds Help you Lose Fat Faster? [pcqsrPCq_P7]

Do Refeeds Help you Lose Fat Faster? [pcqsrPCq_P7]

| 1h 28m 28s | Video has closed captioning.

Cutting without Counting: Sigma Nutrition Radio: Link to the article: ‎ Tags for search engines (ignore): As we lose weight, our bodies begin to adapt to the shortage of food. The metabolic rate drops a little, hunger increases, energy levels drop a little, and so do testosterone and other hormones. These adaptations are normal and are there to increase our chances of survival because our bodies don’t know we’re intentionally losing weight. Now, refeeding is a planned increase of calorie and carbohydrate intake during a diet. It's main purpose is to reset some of the negative metabolic adaptations by acutely raising leptin levels. Leptin is a hormone which regulates hunger, metabolic rate, libido, and a lot of other functions in the body. Here's why leptin is important: Studies have shown that leptin injections speed up the metabolic rate. So the logic behind refeeding is to acutely spike leptin levels by eating more carbs. In theory that will lead to an increase in metabolic rate for a few days and prevent metabolic slowdown. But there is a problem. Spiking leptin through injections is not the same as spiking it by eating more food. Leptin injections raise leptin levels to supraphysiological levels. Also they allow you to reset a lot of the metabolic adaptation without consuming more calories, meaning you stay in a calorie deficit. But in the case of a reffed day, to spike leptin levels and speed up your metabolic rate you have to overeat - basically eliminating the calorie deficit. The amount of food you have to eat is the main problem. Studies show that a full on binge increases the metabolic rate by 3-10% for about a day. Burning 50-200 calories more in a day sounds awesome but think of the food you have to eat to achieve that effect. You will no longer be in a calorie deficit. That makes sense from an evolutionary point of view. Our metabolic rate slows down to prevent starving to death. Would it be a wise decision to reverse all the metabolic adaptation just because you had access to food for one day or a few hours? Our body doesn't think so. The story is different with longer refeeds lasting 3 days or more. When you eat at maintenance or slightly above for a few days that will most likely reverse some of the fat loss adaptation but again, not to the pre-diet levels. Remember that the amount of calories we need for maintenance is very closely linked to our body weight. A smaller body burns less energy both at rest and during any kind of activity. So there are two ways to minimize metabolic slowdown using refeeds: have refeeds that last a few days or shorter refeeds more often. There is a price though. If you do that, your weekly caloric deficit will be small and your cut will take a long time - probably 4-5 months to drop 15 pounds. Or you could go very, very low in calories on the days that you are dieting so you average a better calorie deficit. But I wouldn't recommend that. You'll probably become obsessed with food and your fitness will take over your life completely. What I recommend is that you accept the fact that your metabolic rate will go down a little while cutting no matter what you do. And you don't need to get stressed about it - studies show that the metabolic rate doesn't slow down more than 15% than what would be predicted even in the case where you lose half of your body weight like in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. If you lose only 10-20 lbs of fat your metabolism will slow down but probably only about 100-200 calories a day depending on the person. That's not so bad. #medical weight loss az #keto diet weight loss pills