Avoiding Weight Re-Gain?

[Gidds]

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT DIETING, I AM MERELY INTERESTED IN THE THEORY!

Say somebody lost like 20 pounds crash dieting or because an unfortunate situation lead to semi-starvation, how would they avoid regaining the weight once they had adequate balanced food?

 

[spectrum]

With diving down to weekends we're going to check out a Y membership for the family tomorrow night.

If you eat it you need to burn it.

In some of those cases you mention the body may have sacrificed some reserves that it WILL replenish.

Pete

 

[jonnythan]

Well the answer is not to crash diet. The answer is to develop healthy eating habits and attain your natural, healthy weight.

Crash dieting is inherently unsustainable and teaches your body to have a low metabolism, making it very hard to pick up normal, healthy eating habits afterward. Moreover, it's tough on your body to begin with.

Don't be in a hurry.. quit worrying about how you look and worry more about your health. Proper nutrition and exercise are the key, not dropping pounds.

 

[Gidds]

I thought we went over the fact that I AM NOT DIETING ?
I am interested in the physiological reaction to starvation mostly.

 

[jonnythan]

I thought we went over the fact that I AM NOT DIETING ?
I am interested in the physiological reaction to starvation mostly.

I was speaking hypothetically to no one in particular, I apologize if it seemed like I was addressing you specifically.

The human body has an impressive ability to keep itself from starving to death. Your metabolism lowers, your muscle mass degrades as the body consumes the calorie-rich muscles, the body consumes its fat reserves. This is what happens when you crash diet/starve yourself. When you start eating normally again, the body tries really hard to replace the things that it lost by storing as much of the food you eat away as fat as possible. You need to slowly ramp up your caloric intake while ramping up your activity level and preferably strength training to help replace lost muscle mass.

 

[Gidds]

Which goes first, fat or muscle?
I assume fat comes back first since you have to work to make muscle?

 

[jonnythan]

They both go at the same time, but if all you're doing it drastically cutting calories and maintaining your current activity level, [from what I understand] you will probably lose muscle mass as fast or faster than fat.

Muscle mass consumes more of your body's resources, even when resting, than fat cells. Theferore, when your body senses starvation (for instance if you start eating 800 calories a day), it will use the muscle mass more quickly.

Incidentally, this is the reason that as you put on more muscle mass, you will have more energy and can consume more calories without gaining additional mass. Muscles are always hard at work burning calories even if they're sitting still.

 

[ZenDiva]

When you take off weight.....if you do it slowly it is much more likely to stay off...which is why people who do those crash/fad type diets...tend to yo yo....

the mind set should be that you are NOT on a diet....but you are changing your lifestyle.....to be a healthier person....and as in anything else should educate yourself on how to know the differences and be able to make smarter food choices....

As Jonnythan stated...Muscle will increase your metabolism as it uses more fuel...calories to maintain it....it's also more dense then fat...so one should take a sledge hammer to the scale...because if you're changing your lifestyle and your weight goes up due to an increase in muscle mass you are likely to see an increase in the scale rather then a decrease, however you will see a decrease in your body's measurements and how your clothes fit....

when you don't eat, ie go into starvation mode, your body has a tenancy to not want to let go of it's stores....which is why it's harder to lose weight ...and why it's recommended to eat several small meals through out the day, which helps to increase your metabolism naturally, burns more calories and your body won't "hold" onto your fat stores because it knows you'll be feeding it again ....

 

[divetahoe]

Which goes first, fat or muscle?
I assume fat comes back first since you have to work to make muscle?

Fat goes first since it is the body's storage system for energy. Only after all available easy energy is consumed does the body start metabolizing muscle.

As for what comes back, that depends on a few factors: caloric intake, quantity and QUALITY of exercise (e.g., cardio or weights) come to mind immediately. If you are working out regularly and are regulating the caloric intake at or below basal metabolic levels (typically 1800 or so per day), you will either lose or maintain the weight, with loss of size instead (muscle being more dense). If you increase calories beyond basal metabolic levels, you will gain muscle if you exercise, fat if you don't.

 

[coach_izzy]

Fat goes first since it is the body's storage system for energy. Only after all available easy energy is consumed does the body start metabolizing muscle..

Nah-ah!! Let's keep in mind that the usage of different sources for energy is dictated by blood glucose levels. ALL nutrient molecules are broken down to have access to the glucose.

When blood glucose levels drop (as in starvation and crash diets) the body starts to break down molecules from the simplest to the more complex. So which is first? Glycogen! And where are the major sources of glycogen in the body? That's right, the Liver and Skeletal Muscle! The process is called glycogenolysis and is very energy efficient, thus, the first to be used. When other molecules have to be broken down for their glucose (in the process called gluconeogenesis, which requires quite a bit of energy) and which is easier to break down? Amino Acids, the building blocks of protein, which in turn are crucial for skeletal muscle. The last will always be the fat molecules, which are quite complex and metabolize far better in the presence of Oxigen.

To answer your question, whoever resorted to crashing down 20 pounds would definitely drop weight, but would look pale, with dry flaky skin, terrible breath and BO and would have to rely on stimulants to keep going during the day. They will put the weight back on, and it won't be pretty.

I assume we're talking about regular folks in here (the nature of the case makes me think so) and not athletes involved in certain sports that require weight classes. That's an entirely different real.

BTW, this is not speculation, these are facts and can be found in Berne's and Levy's "Physiology" in the section of "The gastrointestinal system"