If you're frustrated or disillusioned from trying so hard to lose weight, you might find this article encouraging.
You probably don't need to be told how much excess weight affects both our healthspan and lifespan, but just knowing that is rarely the solution. Most people struggling with weight problems have tried many times to lose it. This article explains why it is often so difficult, and provides an easy way to get on the path of effective weight loss. Most importantly, it's a long term and healthy solution, which is vital for longevity.
The cycle of metabolic slowdown during dieting happens when the body responds to calorie restriction and weight loss by reducing its energy expenditure. Here’s how the cycle typically unfolds:
Initial Weight Loss - When we start a calorie-restricted diet, we initially lose weight, primarily from a combination of fat and muscle mass. This weight loss results from a caloric deficit, where the body uses stored fat and muscle for energy.
Decreased Resting Metabolic Rate - As weight decreases, so does the resting metabolic rate, since a smaller body requires less energy to maintain basic physiological functions. The loss of muscle mass also contributes significantly to this reduction because muscle tissue is metabolically active and burns more calories at rest than fat tissue.
Hormonal Changes - An added factor is that weight loss causes changes in several hormones that regulate hunger and metabolism. Levels of leptin, a hormone that signals satiety and helps regulate energy balance, drop significantly. Conversely, levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger, increase. These hormonal shifts increase appetite and can make it harder to adhere to a calorie-restricted diet.
Reduced Physical Activity and Energy Expenditure - To conserve energy, the body subconsciously reduces spontaneous physical activities and non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), such as fidgeting and other minor movements. This further decreases total daily energy expenditure.
Plateau and Potential Weight Gain - With a reduced resting metabolic rate and increased appetite, individuals often reach a weight loss plateau. If they return to their previous eating habits without adjusting for their new, lower resting metabolic rate, they are likely to regain the lost weight. In some cases, individuals may even gain more weight than they initially lost, leading to a cycle of yo-yo dieting.
Breaking the Cycle
This is a demoralizing cycle. It's also very hard to break the cycle when you're feeling so low about all your efforts that don't seem to work. Having a slow metabolism doesn't help because even if you know you need to exercise, you don't have the energy to do it.
So is there an easy way step into a cycle that spirals upwards rather than downwards? Absolutely, and how fast you can change the cycle largely depends on how you're feeling about doing some sort of activity. You may be prepared to do whatever it takes, or you might not have the energy to do much at all. The goal though, is to increase muscle mass, and let's firstly look at why.
Increased Metabolic Rate - Muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat tissue. This means that muscle burns more calories at rest. By increasing muscle mass, you boost your resting metabolic rate, which helps you burn more calories throughout the day, even when you're not exercising .
Enhanced Fat Loss - When you engage in strength training to build muscle, your body uses energy stored in fat cells to fuel muscle repair and growth. This process contributes to fat loss. Moreover, muscle tissue is denser than fat, so as you gain muscle and lose fat, your body composition improves, making you appear leaner and more toned .
Improved Insulin Sensitivity - Increased muscle mass improves insulin sensitivity, which helps your body use glucose more effectively. This reduces the likelihood of excess glucose being stored as fat and supports better overall metabolic health .
Higher Caloric Expenditure During Exercise - Muscle mass enhances your performance in physical activities, allowing you to work out more intensely and for longer periods. This leads to higher caloric expenditure during exercise, which further aids in weight loss.
Ok great, but I don't want to look like a body builder
That's not what we're talking about here. Any increase in strength at all will make a difference for you. There's no need to bulk up to develop a powerful fat burning metabolism.
I don't have the energy to exercise
This is the crucial part of breaking the cycle: Finding a way to get more energy where it really matters, at the cellular level. Once your body cells start functioning efficiently, you'll feel more energetic and subconsciously start doing a little more. Then, even with your current daily activities, you'll start to change your fitness levels. As that improves, you'll find that activity will come easier to you, and you'll feel more inclined to increase your activity. This in turn, continues to improve your metabolism, which then gives you more energy and increases fat burning. It becomes an upward cycle rather than a downward spiral.
How You Can Get Onto the Upward Cycle
Caffeine and energy drinks don't help toward this cycle. They target the central nervous system, providing a perceived energy spike, but it's temporary and doesn't improve your metabolism.
One of the most effortless methods to kickstart this upward cycle is through certain natural enzymes and compounds that can make all the difference in providing an effective way to feel more energetic and also help burn fat and increase muscle:
L-Glutamine
L-Glutamine is essential for maintaining muscle mass during weight loss.
It also supports gut health, which is crucial for nutrient absorption. A healthy gut can regulate hormones that control hunger and satiety. As we noted earlier, these hormones can get out of balance from dieting, so restoring their balance is important.
To illustrate how important gut health is to weight loss, you may have heard of the fascinating study where scientists took gut bacteria from a pair of twins — one who was obese and one who was lean — and transplanted them into mice. The results were striking: mice that received bacteria from the obese twin gained weight and developed signs of obesity, while those that received bacteria from the lean twin stayed lean. This experiment highlights how important gut bacteria are in controlling body weight and metabolism (ICHGCP).
L-Arginine
L-Arginine is an amino acid that plays a critical role in boosting metabolism and promoting muscle growth. It helps improve blood flow and increases nitric oxide levels in the body, which can enhance exercise performance and support fat burning.
L-Ornithine
L-Ornithine is known for its role in reducing fatigue and improving athletic performance. It aids in the detoxification process and helps the body eliminate excess ammonia, enhancing overall energy levels and supporting weight loss efforts.
Colostrum
Colostrum is rich in growth factors and antibodies that promote muscle repair and recovery. It helps enhance the immune system and supports gut health.
L-Lysine
L-Lysine is another essential amino acid that aids in protein synthesis and muscle repair. It helps reduce anxiety and stress, which can often lead to emotional eating and weight gain. Anxiety and stress increases our cortisol levels in our body, which is a hindrance to effective metabolism and contributes to weight gain.
Ornithine Alpha-Ketoglutarate (OKG)
Ornithine Alpha-Ketoglutarate is known for its ability to improve muscle endurance and reduce protein breakdown. This makes it an excellent ingredient for preserving lean muscle mass during weight loss, ensuring that the weight you lose is primarily fat.
L-Glycine
L-Glycine is involved in the synthesis of proteins and has been shown to improve sleep quality. Better sleep can aid in weight loss by regulating hormones like cortisol and ghrelin, which affect hunger and metabolism.
Kickstart Your Upward Spiral
We have included all of these elements into our Weight Loss PM supplement to make it as easy as possible for you to break out of the downward cycle and set yourself on the path of an upward spiral to lose weight in a healthy, long term way. It will help you steadily increase your energy levels and fitness, so that you can be effortlessly losing weight even during your rest times.
There are so many benefits to both our healthspan and lifespan when we are in a health weight range and our metabolism is working at its peak. There's no time like right now to turn the corner with your health.
References
- Lucotti, P., et al. (2006). Beneficial effects of a long-term oral l-arginine treatment added to a hypocaloric diet and exercise training program in obese, insulin-resistant type 2 diabetic patients. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology And Metabolism, 291(5), E906-E912.
- Wu, G., & Morris, S. M. (1998). Arginine metabolism: nitric oxide and beyond. Biochemical Journal, 336(Pt 1), 1-17.
- Castell, L. M., & Newsholme, E. A. (1997). The effects of oral glutamine supplementation on athletes after prolonged, exhaustive exercise. Nutrition, 13(7-8), 738-742.
- Block, K. P., & Harper, A. E. (1984). Lysine requirement and lysine imbalance in growing rats: effects of diet composition on plasma amino acids and organs. The Journal of Nutrition, 114(3), 477-485.
- Monserrat-Mesquida, M., et al. (2020). Protective effects of leucine and ornithine alpha-ketoglutarate supplementation against age-related loss of muscle mass and function in Wistar rats. Nutrients, 12(4), 1072.
- Newsholme, P., & Parry-Billings, M. (1990). Properties of glutamine release from muscle and its importance for the immune system. JPEN. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 14(4 Suppl), 63S-67S.
- Bilek, R., et al. (1999). Colostrum treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. World Journal of Gastroenterology, 5(4), 281-286.
- Yamadera, W., et al. (2007). Glycine ingestion improves subjective sleep quality in humans, a placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover study. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 5(2), 126-129.