Leptin is why you regain the weight

grinch031

When people regain the weight after dieting, its not because they are a gluttonous, lazy, slobs with no willpower. Its because their weight regulation hormones are out of whack. Leptin (or lack thereof) is the main culprit in driving you to eat more calories and burn less calories in order to put your body fat stores in a state of homeostasis. Unfortunately that means filling up the fat stores to the levels prior to weight loss.

Leptin is basically a starvation hormone that downregulates your metabolism and causes hunger as your fat stores are depleted. But the problem is that obesity and subsequent weight loss leads to a deficiency in leptin where a person who has lost alot of weight will have lower leptin levels than someone who was never obese but happens to weigh the same.

Studies show that administering leptin to post-weight loss dieters can help prevent them from regaining the weight lost. Also studies show that hormones like leptin, ghrelin, among others stay at improper levels for a long period of time after weight loss.

http://www.jci.org/articles/view/35055
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1105816

wackyfunster

There is another amazing technique than can prevent regaining weight after losing it. It's called eating reasonable portions and exercising. I have been utilizing this advanced technique for 3 years now, and can vouch for it working! :P

suziecue66

irisin Hormone:
"Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have isolated a muscle hormone which may be responsible for the many health benefits of exercise. The scientists have named the hormone irisin after the Greek messenger Goddess, Iris.

Irisin levels rise when people exercise. One effect of this is to convert white fat, the common type of fat that everyone knows too well, into brown fat. While white fat is used to store energy (calories), brown fat seems to be more involved in burning it. Irisin also improves glucose tolerance and causes insulin levels to rise, suggesting that it may be helpful in treating diabetes."

"While little is known about it, it seems to play a major role in maintaining normal weight. One study found that the more brown fat a person has, the lower their BMI will be. "

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/irisin-the-muscle-hormone-linked-to-the-health-benefits-of-exercise/251501/

suziecue66

By doing carb refeeds you can increase leptin to stop a weight loss plateau.