How the Body's Metabolism Adapts to Dieting and Weight Loss

?I?ve wrestled long and hard trying to decide how to rank the importance of the following information. I didn?t come to a thorough understanding of Metabolic Adaptations until the year 2000. In short, Metabolic Adaptations are changes that occur in the body in response to food availability and bodyweight changes. Metabolic Adaptations change metabolism, the way the body uses calories. The amount of changes in body composition determines the extent of Metabolic Adaptations.

My experiences led me to think that Metabolic Adaptations might be the most important factor in solving problems in weight loss and weight control. I found it difficult, though, to accept that idea. I?d placed so much emphasis on the primary importance of the Energy Balance Equation that I figured nothing would control it.

I thought about my dilemma for several months.

Then, it finally struck me that these two seemingly independent issues ? the Energy Balance Equation and Metabolic Adaptations ? were, in fact, unified. They were not, in any sense, independent of one another. Metabolic Adaptations are, simply, adaptations that happen within and as a part of the Energy Balance Equation.

I directly experienced the effects of Metabolic Adaptations during my overfeeding and underfeeding studies. When I was younger I reached a personal high bodyweight of 265 pounds. Here, I found it impossible to consume enough food to maintain that ponderous body mass. In another experiment to decrease bodyweight, I reached 165 pounds. Here, I found it just as impossible to maintain that personal low bodyweight.

At a bodyweight of 165 pounds, I ate sparingly. This was sharply in contrast with the 10,000 calories a day that I?d consumed at 265 pounds. Throughout the following decades, I always found it rather easy to maintain a bodyweight of 220 pounds. I ?settled? easily into this weight while consuming an amount of food that was satisfying. I was fatter at 220 pounds, though, than I wanted to be. So, I would reduce my food intake to lose some fat. Every time I tried to push my weight to a lower level, I required an ever-lower level of calories to reach my goal. That fact was indisputable.

This observation made me question the simplistic calculations used by nutrition experts in weight loss programs. They first measure the subject?s bodyweight, then they calculate his calorie needs based on standardized tables. They use the Body Mass Index (BMI) or measure the subject?s body composition to figure out his ideal bodyweight and then calculate the number of calories the subject needs to eat to reduce to a new lower bodyweight. They use the assumption that each pound of fat contains 3,500 calories.

They make no provision for the fact that a portion of the lost bodyweight will include a loss of Lean Body Mass (muscles and organs).

And, they make no provision, in short, for the Metabolic Adaptations I?m about to describe.

This time-worn procedure is overly simplistic. It?s doomed to fail because the nutritionist makes no provision for the fact that, as one sheds pounds, Metabolic Adaptations occur. These Adaptations lead to fewer pounds lost at the same calorie intake. In other words, one loses weight (and fat) faster the fatter one is. As one becomes ?leaner,? this process changes dramatically. For example, let?s say we reduce one?s calorie intake by 1,000 calories a day. Over time, this reduced calorie intake will fail to stimulate the same rate of bodyweight loss as it did at the start of the diet.

Again, a decrease in calorie intake below energy needs results in more weight loss the fatter one is. It also leads to more fat loss. As the diet proceeds and bodyweight decreases, the rate of bodyweight loss will slow or even stop. It?s very important that this fundamental fact is understood!

It?s assumed that each pound of fat is worth 3,500 calories, as I?ve said. Under this assumption, a decrease in daily calorie intake of 500 would, theoretically, lead to a loss of one pound per week. That?s because 7 days times 500 calories a day equals 3,500 calories, the assumed energy content of one pound of fat. One could also accomplish the same effect by burning 500 more calories a day.

By following such a program for 12 weeks, the calculation predicts that the bodyweight loss will be 12 pounds. This is how the weight loss ?experts? calculate potential losses. Further, everyone assumes that the bodyweight loss is composed solely of fat. This is a monumentally mistaken assumption!

What are the two mistaken assumptions? First, that calorie restriction leads to a continuous, steady loss of bodyweight for a given amount of calorie reduction. And second, that the lost bodyweight is composed entirely of fat tissue. Both assumptions are wrong

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