Adaptive thermogenesis/overeating/reverse

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(Ok, i know some will get annoyed with my constant absurd questions, but I am just curious to know)
I know adaptive thermogenesis is when your body adapts to a lower calorie burn. But if I have not had a week or month eating at maintanence in a long time, eating 600-700 below tdee, would my body try to adapt to lower calorie intake, since I haven't bern at maintainence for a solid time??
Secondly, if I have been at this 600-700 daily deficit with a day or two of eating maintanence or 300-500 above maintainence, will this mean that no matter if I haven't aten for maintainence daily, for like a month prior to a weight loss program-to greaten my metabolism (but accidently eat maintanence or above once a week), would it still be possible to have adaptive thermogenesis and need to reverse diet until metabolism is strong again?
(Does any of this make sense?)

Replies

  • ogmomma2012
    ogmomma2012 Posts: 1,520 Member
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    I don't think that's how the body works. You usually only mess up your metabolism like that with abusing your body with SUPER low calorie intake for a long time. But I really don't know, so maybe someone else will be of more help.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    edited August 2015
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    ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673773/

    Wow that is one subject I have never read about.

    I do know to lose a couple pounds a month I need to eat 2600 calories a day and 3000 to maintain at 200 pounds.

    To track the results of my eating I weigh each morning.

    As the article mentions most of us on average are going to regain the weight we have lost so that is the reason I plan to weight each morning to monitor my eating results. When I decide to stop losing weight I am going to buy a belt that fits me only when it is as large as possible. :)

    Are you having regain issues at this time?
  • ANT98
    ANT98 Posts: 137 Member
    edited August 2015
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    ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673773/

    Wow that is one subject I have never read about.

    I do know to lose a couple pounds a month I need to eat 2600 calories a day and 3000 to maintain at 200 pounds.

    To track the results of my eating I weigh each morning.

    As the article mentions most of us on average are going to regain the weight we have lost so that is the reason I plan to weight each morning to monitor my eating results. When I decide to stop losing weight I am going to buy a belt that fits me only when it is as large as possible. :)

    Are you having regain issues at this time?

    No, just some weight loss issues, but wondering if attempting to eat at a deficit for such a long time has made my metabolism adapt. Wondering if I should maintain for a while (raising calories up) to reset everything
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    alexxazt wrote: »
    ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673773/

    Wow that is one subject I have never read about.

    I do know to lose a couple pounds a month I need to eat 2600 calories a day and 3000 to maintain at 200 pounds.

    To track the results of my eating I weigh each morning.

    As the article mentions most of us on average are going to regain the weight we have lost so that is the reason I plan to weight each morning to monitor my eating results. When I decide to stop losing weight I am going to buy a belt that fits me only when it is as large as possible. :)

    Are you having regain issues at this time?

    No, just some weight loss issues, but wondering if attempting to eat at a deficit for such a long time has made my metabolism adapt. Wondering if I should maintain for a while (raising calories up) to reset everything

    Minimal impact at best

    If you want to take a diet break take one

    But madness lies in obsessing over minor details like adaptive thermogenesis

    If your weight loss stalls for 6-8 weeks refocus on your logging to ensure you haven't let any bad habits, or bad entries slip in
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Measured adaptations are seldom more than a candy bar a day and easily overcome. Sometimes they measure at zero. Measuring RMR on three consecutive occasions will not produce an identical result so part of the adaptation may be noise anyway.
  • NotGnarly
    NotGnarly Posts: 137 Member
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    I ate at TDEE maintenance for 10 days and a couple of days ago started my cut with a 500 cal deficit. So far so good. I'm still testing this out though to really see if eating more will help me lose weight and break through this plateau. I ate vlcd for about a year and my body didn't like that at all. I also did WW and then plateaued. I was long overdue for a diet break lol.

    I'm currently also trying to see if eating at maintenance on Friday and Saturday, then eating at my cut on weekdays will work also. I guess in a few months I should be able to answer your question.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    I ate at more than a 1000 calorie deficit for over a year. The difference between my actual burn and what my activity band predicts is about 20 calories a day... rounding error.
  • Ellen1968v
    Ellen1968v Posts: 1 Member
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    I am newish to my fitness pal and have a question. I see everyone talking about eating at a deficit and I am wondering exactly what that means? I have the calories that MFP says I should consume each day, I also go to the gym and enter my exercise. I don't eat many of the exercise calories but I am doing okay eating the calories I get each day. is this right? I am trying to lose weight. thanks!
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    Ellen1968v wrote: »
    I am newish to my fitness pal and have a question. I see everyone talking about eating at a deficit and I am wondering exactly what that means? I have the calories that MFP says I should consume each day, I also go to the gym and enter my exercise. I don't eat many of the exercise calories but I am doing okay eating the calories I get each day. is this right? I am trying to lose weight. thanks!
    It means how many fewer calories you eat than you burn.

    How many exercise calories you eat depends on how hungry you are, your rate of loss, and how accurate you think the calorie estimates are. It sounds like you're doing it right.
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    edited August 2015
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    In a lot of the studies on adaptive thermogenesis, the participants had extremely low calorie diets, they did not have adequate protein intake, and they did not engage in physical activity.

    I'd like to see more research done on the issue where participants lost weight with these factors adjusted.
  • Ironmaiden4life
    Ironmaiden4life Posts: 422 Member
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    OP check out Lyle McDonalds Flexible Dieting book. He deals with diet breaks and when they are appropriate.
  • arb037
    arb037 Posts: 203 Member
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    Everyone is different, if you have a stall for several weeks you def want to make sure your accuracy is on point in regards to calorie intake, ie weighing and logging everything to make sure no miscalculations are being made.
    If that is good and you still dont lose eating at a "percevied" deficit for 3 weeks then this is not a deficit anymore.
    And would need to increase this either by another reduction in calories ( if room) or by increasing excercise.
    Or
    You can reverse diet for a couple weeks and determine your true TDEE and then start with a deficit again.
  • brendak76
    brendak76 Posts: 241 Member
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    This is kind of the concept in the eat more 2 weigh less groups. They can answer a lot of your questions there.

    I'm on week 3 of a diet break and have increased my goal by 100 calories/day per week. Trying to find my true TDEE and have my weight loss be more sustainable. I was eating 1280/day plus some exercise calories for the last 4 months for .5 pounds loss a week. Just needing a break from that. Haven't gained weight yet and I'm up to 1900 calories/day. And I'm much happier too.
  • ANT98
    ANT98 Posts: 137 Member
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    Awesome! Thanks for all the great responses.
    There's so many things that go through my head when progress is slow, thanks for the advice