And The Winner Is....

TWINKIES!!!! OMG!

TWINKIES WIN!!!! This is Historic!!! Starvation put up a good fight but in the end, Twinkies win the fat loss battle of 2010. How? You may ask. The answer, to which I eluded yesterday, is our pal Leptin.

Leptin is a hormone that is primarily released by fat cells, though nearly every tissue in the body can create them. Leptin’s main role is sensing starvation; in other words Leptin tells your body both how much you’re eating and how much fat you have stored.

Leptin uses this data set to determine if your metabolic rate is too fast, too slow or just right. Lose some fat or chronically under eat; Leptin decreases.  Gain fat or chronically over eat; Leptin increases. In terms of importance to readers, decreased Leptin levels make it hard to lose fat. Increased reliance on other fuels, decreased physical activity, food cravings and all the other problems this blog has addressed soon follow a decrease in Leptin.

Research on Leptin is fairly new but at this point it appears that the body detects incoming calories and uses this info to determine how much Leptin to release. After only a few days of dieting (eating below maintenance) Leptin levels nosedive, wreaking havoc on the good intentions of dedicated dieters.

Here’s the fun part: Eating lots of carbohydrates (especially combined with fat, yummy!) triggers an increase in Leptin, therefore speeding up the slowed metabolism and making it easier to continue losing fat! Not to mention that eating carbs makes us happy (remember, Serotonin?), and provides some relief from chronic under eating.

Upon ingestion, the body digests carbohydrates and turns them into glucose. Part of this glucose will flux through a metabolic pathway called the HBP (Hexosamine Biosynthetic Pathway) and it is this very flux that triggers Leptin’s effect on the OB (obesity) gene. Therefore, we can raise Leptin, by raising Carbohydrates.

How each dieter implements “refeeds” (aka higher than normal carbohydrate intake) depends on several factors. First off is amount of body fat; since Leptin is made in fat cells, the more a person has to lose the longer it will take to really decrease Leptin levels. A lean person with very little body fat can deplete Leptin levels in a few days, whereas an obese person could diet for weeks without a major decrease in Leptin.

Equally important is how long a refeed should last and how often to implement them, and there are many different schools of thought on this topic.  A person with lots of fat to lose, should implement a single weekly refeed, also called a cheat meal. For one meal every week, toss the diet aside and eat some of the foods you are craving. This is just one meal, and you can’t get fat from one meal. So indulge, within reason of course.

A leaner individual should stretch these refeeds out for a longer duration and more less frequent implementation. So for a lean person whose abs are showing or nearly showing, a 5 hour refeed every 10-12 days would be more effective. This is partly because the lean individual will have much lower levels of Leptin; therefore it takes more to return them to normal. Some methods use a 2-3 day period of refeeding, however in practice this often backfires and results in fat regain.

Another popular approach is that of refeeding after every strength training session. Strength training heightens insulin sensitivity, opens the GLUT-4 receptors, and empties the stored form of carbohydrates (glucose) from skeletal muscle improving nutrient partitioning (where the calories go; fat or muscle).  I will blog about nutrient partitioning in a future post.

Some call this EOD (every other day, since most strength training programs are set up 3x/week) or Culking. Culking is cutting and bulking simultaneously instead of alternating the two. Eating less on rest & cardio days and more on strength training days fits this bill nicely.

Regardless of the method that suits you best, dieters can expect a significant weight gain the day after a refeed. This is water weight that accompanies a high carb intake, and it will resolve itself within a few days. Despite this gain, you can expect to look leaner & more muscular the day after a refeed.

The bottom line is that you must create a caloric deficit in order to lose weight, and a caloric deficit (depending on severity & duration) will slow the metabolic rate. Therefore in order to continue losing weight, strategic refeeds must be implemented to keep Leptin levels high and to keep the dieter sane.

An easy rule is that the longer and more severe a dieting stint, the longer & more intense the refeed should be. For those of you who don’t exercise at all, raising the carbs by 100 grams will likely work to restore Leptin levels. If you’re exercising consistently and intensely, upwards of 1000 gram carb refeeds* may be required. Take these guidelines and experiment.

What about the stuff gym lore is made of? Burn fat while gaining muscle? Is it possible? Conventional knowledge would offer a resounding NO; however, being the type that takes a “NO” as a dare or challenge, I have found a few magic secrets to share next week!

Stay tuned, and go eat a Pizza would ya?