Fearing the unknown
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I'm having an existential crisis. Between my trainer recommending calorie cycling, the diet break posts on here and the Nova episode called The Truth about Fat I fell down the interweb rabbit hole researching dieting effects on metabolism. Most of what I read/saw said that long term dieting can lower your metabolism. The used a biggest Loser contestant as an example. He lost around 200 lb on the show but after the show is metabolism rate was extremely low so he had a hard time keeping it off. There was only one article that stated the effects were negligible
I'm eating at maintenance this weekend but I'm still trying to stay away from sweets/sugar (because of the diabetes) so I feel like I'm eating a lot. Perhaps it's a good thing I'm starting to think about these things now so that when I reach my goal I don't go buck *kitten* wild.
I'm going to start with calorie cycling and test that out for a few weeks to see if it's feasible, if not I'm going to incorporate breaks.1 -
I read somewhere that chewing gum and drinking cold water or eating spices foods can rev your metabolism up to burn more calories!...I guess it’s worth a try but not sure how you could prove it works lol0
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@papayahed, from what I have read, eating at a deficit of 1000 calories/day or less does not damage your metabolism. The Biggest Loser is an extreme example where people lost weight at an dangerous and unsustainable rate. They lost muscle and likely suffered organ damage as a result. Losing weight in an easy, sustainable way (the way us Larger Losers recommend) will not damage your metabolism. Will you burn fewer calories doing the same activity after losing 50 pounds? Yes, of course you will. It takes more calories to keep a 250 person alive than it does to keep a 200 person alive. But that is not the same thing as "damaging your metabolism". But at the same time, you will be capable of moving your body more after losing 50 pounds.
Regarding diet breaks to reset your metabolism or your weight "set point" I wonder about the physiological science behind this. While I think it might be helpful psychologically to prevent diet fatigue and practicing maintenance is an important skill that we all need to learn, I think the science is still out on whether it's necessary to prevent weight loss plateaus or regains during maintenance.
I personally haven't taken a diet break, except for a day here and there because, you know - life. I've lost 106 pounds so far and never had a real plateau - just a little water retention that resolved itself after a week or so. In the past, when I regained weight it was because I went back to eating like I did before - stopped weighing myself or monitoring what I ate. When I get to the weight I want to maintain (maybe 10 more pounds?) my plan is to keep doing what I'm doing today - just with a bigger calorie allowance.
Curious what other folks think.3 -
Coming from the perspective of someone who has lost 100 and regained 110 back (after my dad died suddenly) and am starting back at scratch, I can tell you that even if my metabolism did slow down there is really no one to blame but me for letting it all go for so long... 110 pounds took 9 years to put back on. It might get harder but trust me when I say it is easier to get moving, try new things, and feel better when your smaller.
I might have another life crisis that will probably kick my emotional eating into high gear and start me gaining again, but trust me when I say that next time I won't leave it very long, and as long as I have a metabolism, I do know how to take it off once I commit!
So I'm not scared, I know the rest of my life will just be a series of ups and downs...but I am going to do my best to have more downs than ups from now on 😉
Hugz, Lyn2 -
@papayahed
The slowing/damaging of a metabolism is another way in which the internet is conflating two things and creating a problem that only exists in extreme conditions. Being in a calorie deficit does cause your BMR to downshift but just slightly and it is very temporary. From my understanding the biggest loser contestants were being forced to eat 800 calories a day and exercising enough to be essentially starving themselves for months. The internet is taking the true fact of lowered BMR and mixing it with BL results to "prove" that we are all at risk. We are not.
You can damage your metabolism but you have to work pretty hard to do it. It would likely take being on a show being beat up constantly by coaches or being disordered to bypass our natural defense mechanisms.
If you stay within the 1 percent rule and, as added insurance, take some diet/deficit breaks you will be fine. Most people do not even know to take them and they are fine.
Calorie cycling doesn't do anything to protect you if it still results in an overall deficit each week. If you want to try it as an experiment that is fine but you should only keep doing things that make your weight loss easier to sustain.
Be weary of new theories and new findings. Weight gain and loss is a very basic function in our bodies. There really isn't much new to know about it but there is money to be made in trying to convince people there is.
The plateaus that @speyerj mentioned usually only happen to short inactive women who are in the vanity pound range. Their lowered BMR and the margin of error in calorie counting is just enough to keep them at maintenance for long periods of time instead of losing. By taking a break and resetting their BMR they can resume losing again.
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@papayahed
There's a lot of good information in the forums on the various studies that have come out. I think it's called the Minnesota Starvation Experiment that was done several decades ago, and it was the one study that shed a lot of light on human physiology in response to starvation and extreme deficits.
The problem with most studies performed on various diets is that they are usually extremely small in their sample population, and many allow the subjects to simply self report, meaning most are very poorly controlled and thus really end up meaningless. However, your popular magazines and news sources don't bother to explain that when they report on these studies; their job is to catch your attention with news. The exact same thing happens here at MFP with the articles that show up on your home page - there have been tons of articles that showed up there that was filled with shaky science.
So really, take was you read on CNN, The Times, Prevention, or any other popular level news sources with much skepticism; for every article you find claiming one thing has been proven, you'll find another that debunks it.
I usually listen to the folks here that have a science background and who point out actual journal studies to back up what they are claiming, and that's just because I can grasp math, but biological sciences and medical jargon quickly go over my head
Most people, however, when in for the long term dieting are going to have plateaus and just times where they slip off the wagon; its human nature. The idea is to find a method of losing weight that you can sustain in the long term and give yourself enough time to firmly establish new habits that will aid you in maintaining your weight once you lose it.
My personal opinion is that the science studies that are being used here to encourage the refeeds and diet breaks are sound and logical; of course eating in a deficit is going to be stressful on your body; your body needs a certain amount of fuel to function and when you are forcing it to use its reserves, its going to be stressful. We all know what long term stress can do to a person physically and mentally, so it just makes sense to me to take time every once in a while to give our bodies a break - just like we take vacations to get away from it all to give ourselves a break from our every day stresses of living, work, family, etc. So even if it were to be proven that the diet break doesn't really have an impact on hormone levels, I still believe they are a valuable tool in many other ways.
Secondly, diet breaks give you a chance to indulge yourself in a controlled manner. When you are in a deficit and calorie counting, while we know we can eat whatever we want and still lose weight as long as we stay within our deficit, we all also know that there are some items we would normally enjoy that just aren't worth the calorie load. Pizza, for example But when you are in a diet break and getting back those deficit calories you can indulge in some of those once in a while foods which in turn can help stave off feelings of deprivation.
Thirdly, I think they are a wonderful tool in learning what maintenance will be like and how to eat to maintenance which is the end goal for all of us. You get a 2 week controlled window to experiment in - if you slip off the rails, the damage done will be minimal and will give you time to find what will work for you. I don't suffer from binge episodes myself, but I would think that the structure of a diet break might also help with learning to limit over feed periods (I can't promise that; but you might find more information from others who have done it and see what their results were).
I'm only 3 days in but I have already noticed a little more energy, and I am very surprised to see how little interested my stomach actually is in those extra calories - I was really expecting to have to strongly hold myself back. We'll see where I am 2 weeks from now; my biggest hurdle will be going back to deficit eating and I may have to let myself back down slowly; we'll see in 2 weeks!
BUT there really isn't any need for you to worry so much about it now; just watch, learn from the experiences of others here, and then look at your own patterns and needs to decide if you want to give it a try or if it might work for you. The beauty of all this is that there isn't any one "right" way or any "best way" that is one size fits all; the best plan for you is the one that works for you personally!1 -
Thanks, you guys, for talking me off the ledge!! LOL. I've been ignoring all the people/experts that have been pushing keto on me, but that darn PBS special really did a number on my mind. Maybe because it is PBS. And in truth, the episode was not about losing weight just about the role of fat in the human body. It did talk about the numbers of people who gain weight back and it hit me in the face.
Right now I don't feel deprived of calories nor is it a struggle to stay in my calorie goal. Every once in a while I start to feel a little tired and run down and thats when I take a day or two and eat more calories. It's been working for me.
Soooo..... Freak out over, I'm going to continue the plotted course and take breaks whenever I feel the need.
Thanks guys!!
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Yes!...bmeadows what you said about “indulging yourself in a controlled manner”, really was a “ light bulb” moment for me!...
...most of you know by now that I suffer from BED...( binge eating disorder ) btw it is so good to finally have a name for what I have had most of my life!...anyway, I have been really on the straight and arrow for a couple of weeks and this morning I hit my lowest weight 271.6... it looks like I might hit my 80 lb one year goal by the end of the week!...
I am planning my first controlled diet break the end of June...it will be the first time in my entire life that I will be controlling the amount of food I consume without being on a “ diet”... because when I am not losing weight, I eat...and eat...and eat...I am super excited that I am having the courage to do this...I am scared to death but it will certainly be a good “ test” for me...and when the last two weeks of June arrive, if I don’t feel like I can handle this, I will hold off a couple more weeks until I feel like I am ready....I know I need to try this both mentally and emotionally and for my physical well being...
Bmeadows and Novus please keep us updated on the progress of your breaks and share with us some of the foods you are enjoying in moderation...4 -
@conniewilkins56 Good luck to you! Having a plan may make all the difference for you - I hope it helps!
I indulged in pizza yesterday, but got myself a personal pan from Pizza Hut, lightened up the cheese on it and piled on the vegetables. I did grab 1 slice of hte medium pepperoni and cheese for mom and dad, but that's was it. And today, I splurged on a hot dog and a small strawberry sundae at Dairy Queen, which I haven't had in probably over a year. I'm using skim milk instead of cashew milk in my coffee, allowing myself to put raisins in my oatmeal, will probably allow cheese in my grits, and eating the full sandwich instead of taking the top bun off. That's what I've been doing so far! Course, since my calorie goal went up, so did my protein goal, and that's always a challenge for me to get close to, so there's still a lot of meat, greek yogurt, and cottage cheese in my diet. And I'm making sure to get my prunes in, too - need my fiber!1
