Could you eat at a calorie deficit for the rest of your life

I don't know about a calorie deficit, because a true deficit, where you're constantly eating under what you need, would mean that you would eventually die, because you'd have to consistently adjust that amount down.

Now, restricted calories are doable. There have been studies with restricted calorie diets, where the total net of calories is lower than recommended average, but is maintainable, and that has actually been shown to have huge benefits, with lowered cardiac diseases to reduced risks of cancer. I don't know if I could do it personally, because for me, that could lead to issues with disordered eating, but it's an interesting idea. I just don't think society today caters to it.

Sorry, I didn't actually read the article :blushing: I'm at work and didn't want to open the link!

Thanks for sharing this article; I found it to be really interesting, especially:

I asked Holloszy why he thought some members of the Calorie Restriction Society succeeded for years with a restriction diet. “Fear of death,” he said. The flip side of that, of course, would be love of life, which seemed closer to the sentiments of the Calerie subjects I met.

This is totally how it is for me. This may sound obnoxious, but I have a really awesome life and I want to do everything I can to keep the gears running as smoothly as possible for as long as possible. For me, this means counting, measuring and working out. I agree with you - it does become second nature. Either way, I think it's 100% worth it.

Could I eat this way for the rest of my life? Absolutely. Perhaps it's because I'm at a healthy weight and simply trying to lose vanity pounds, perhaps it's because I'm a long-time vegetarian and I'm used to "look before you eat," but I think this lifestyle is a small price that I'll gladly pay for a few more years.

...and if I do someday get womped by some unforseeable illness/injury, at least I'll know that I gave everything my best shot.

The only benefit to that diet is prolonging the aging process and living longer. Processing calories is costly work on the body. Human cells divides itself up to 52 times before degradation sets in (30s, 40s +). The telomeres (the ends of our DNA structure) shortens after ever cell division, until it is too short to properly divide to make a new cell (skin, organ, bone degradation sets in).

By living on a calorie deficit, it is less work for the body to process calories so the body begins to run more efficiently with less energy and the cell's life cycle slows down. Theoretically, by the age of 50, the cell cycle could be at the same stage as a 35-year-old person with a normal calorie diet.

PROS: The only benefit is slowing down the cell division rate, living longer.
CONS: missing out on enjoying foods, eating for pleasure. Eating at a calorie deficit for life....is a life sentence.

What would be the benefit of eating at a deficit when I'm at my goal weight? Wouldn't I just continue to lose until I got to the weight where that deficit was no longer a deficit?

Seems to me that if you're eating "at a deficit" to maintain your weight, then you're either trying to be a weight that's too low and you're fighting to stay there, or you've slowed your metabolism to the point where your maintenance appears to be a caloric deficit. Neither of those sound like fun to me.

being a person that was really big, lost to goal then gained it back I plan to continue to log my foods after I hit goal.

The only benefit to that diet is prolonging the aging process and living longer. Processing calories is costly work on the body. Human cells divides itself up to 52 times before degradation sets in (30s, 40s +). The telomeres (the ends of our DNA structure) shortens after ever cell division, until it is too short to properly divide to make a new cell (skin, organ, bone degradation sets in).

By living on a calorie deficit, it is less work for the body to process calories so the body begins to run more efficiently with less energy and the cell's life cycle slows down. Theoretically, by the age of 50, the cell cycle could be at the same stage as a 35-year-old person with a normal calorie diet.

PROS: The only benefit is slowing down the cell division rate, living longer.
CONS: missing out on enjoying foods, eating for pleasure. Eating at a calorie deficit for life....is a life sentence.

Really interesting, thanks!

I don't know about a calorie deficit, because a true deficit, where you're constantly eating under what you need, would mean that you would eventually die, because you'd have to consistently adjust that amount down.

Not really, and the OP notes, for whatever reason after a while people's weights settle down despite the deficits. You see this in dieters, we call it a "plateau" people are still eating at a deficit, they just aren't losing more weight for whatever reason. Anyway, they do this in mice and other animals as well. It turns out they live (statistically) significantly longer than animals not on restricted calorie diets.

Personally, I'm not sure I'm willing to do this to live longer, but it's an interesting idea.

I learned in one of my metabolism classes that calorie restriction diets increase the amount of the metabolite oxaloacetate (3-carboxy-3-oxopropanoic acid) which has been show to increase life span, and decrease muscle fatigue (among other things).

There is actually a supplement company that that provides a lot of research and peer-reviewed scientific articles on the subject on their website (of course they are trying to sell the stuff! but the articles should be unbiased.)

http://www.aor.ca/html/products.php?id=31

Bump - got to read the article!

bump

I read the article and was quite alarmed and I am frankly feeling the same way towards the responses here. I've lived in a calorie deficit for several years; it's called an eating disorder. At it's worst I was trying to burn a pound a day and I nearly died. Living in a calorie deficit is dangerous and addictive and I can tell you from first hand experience that your muscles will melt, your metabolism slows to a screeching halt and hangs onto fat and you will feel absolutely awful and not be able to function. No, our bodies are not meant to live at a deficit and if you take a second to think about it; you will realize it makes no sense at all. Can a car run without gas, can animals, plants or anything live without food and water? Can anything grow or survive without nutrients? No and I have the health problems to prove it. If by any chance you think your are that special someone that the rules of living don't apply too; go get help because there is a better way to live than starvation. As for all those people who think your body is a math calculation and you can get the results you want through a perfect diet and obsessive exercise; they're wrong. Do and eat what you love and I promise you will find a happy balance with your body; stop trying to impose rules on it.