Dieting makes your body reacting like you are being starved?

tekiegirl

I watched The Men Who Made Us Thin (episode 1) the other day and the main message I got from it was that diets do not work and people usually end up heavier than their starting weight.

I think this is something that has been said before, but it was the reason they gave that interested me. They said about a study which had looked at a group of healthy weight men who were put on a diet of 1500 calories per day. Apparently their behaviour was strange (but that could have been to do with their accommodation) and they put on weight after the study, ending up heavier than they were before the study began. Apparently when we diet as overweight people our bodies react in exactly the same way as if we had been a healthy weight and been starved, just like the men in the study.

Our brains think we are being starved and try to get us to consume lots of calories. High calorie and high fat foods are suddenly craved.

When I look at my weight loss graph and I think about my experiences I think this is true. My graph shows steady overall weight loss, but with fairly high gains (~+1kg) about once per month (my brain winning!) then I drop back to less than I was before the gain. It makes sense really. Our brains are trying to protect us from starving to death, they just don't seem to realise that we are not.

I think if people knew that their brains would react this way then it would help. It is clearly a psychological and physiological fight where we have to overcome our habits and our brain's natural defence mechanisms to achieve and maintain a healthy body.

I definitely think this is something the NHS should be looking into; not sending people to classes but to therapists!

This has also got me thinking about strategies to overcome the 'starving' brain. If you are losing a lot of weight maybe stopping the loss and maintaining a plateau every few months or few kg would help. Your brain would get used to the new you and more normal calories before you embark on the next bout of weight loss.

I would be interested to hear other people's thoughts on this.

helenrosemay

All I can say is I've steadily lost weight since the beginning of June and not gained any weight. I've not craved fatty or high calorie foods (look at my diary if you want I've been very honest entering food)
The only reason I ever put weight back on again in the past is because I got lazy and ate junk food and I put the weight back on slowly over many years.

LivingtheLeanDream

Thanks for your post - I think alot of it is mind over matter and it is our brains that need re-training.

scottaworley

I have a few things to say here.
1) From an evolutionary standpoint doesn't it make sense that our bodies want hold onto all of the fat that they can? When you are on a caloric restriction your MIND might know that you are getting food soon, but your BODY doesn't.
2) A 1kg variance is really to be expected. It is normal fluctuation due to water retention, yada yada, etc. I have not seen the film or studies, but I hope that they're talking about more long term weight gains. (eg lose 10 pounds in 1 month, gain 20 pounds in 6 months)
3) Again, I have not seen the film or studies, but I would assume that the weight gains can be attributed to a combination of binge/purge and metabolic adaptation. I'll explain. When the average Joe diets he severely restricts his caloric intake. He is not armed with the tools to know how to lose weight in a healthy manner, and he wants the weight to come off as quickly as possible. Often he will eat sub 1000 calories most days and do a lot of cardio. After a month he's lost 10 pounds or more. He's happy with his results. He has a "victory meal". And another, and another, and another. He's eating 2500-3000 calories per day. His metabolism has adapted over the time that his body thought that it wasn't getting any food. His BMR has dropped by 200 points. So now he's eating like he was before he dieted and his metabolism is 1/10th as effective. He's going to put on the weight 10% more quickly. Don't forget the cardio - he has. He stopped doing 2 hours of cardio per day. His body had taken that cardio for granted, and his BMR has dropped an additional 100 calories to compensate for all of the extra exercise that he was getting. He's now eating at the same levels as he was before his diet, but he's effectively at an additional 300 calorie surplus.
And this is why we don't yo-yo diet.

acidosaur

I have read that a full 'diet break' after a long period of dieting helps people lose more weight over the long term. That means eating at maintenance for a month or so.

scottaworley

I have read that a full 'diet break' after a long period of dieting helps people lose more weight over the long term. That means eating at maintenance for a month or so.

I would eat ABOVE maintenance by 50-100 calories to get some upwards adaptation.

TavistockToad

by only having a small to moderate calorie deficit and not cutting out any food groups, you shouldnt have that problem.

1500 cals for men is a BIG deficit (at least 1000 cals for your average male), hence the body/brain feeling the need to over compensate and eat as much as possible after a period of time.