TBL Contestants and Low Metabolic Rate
Bound by genetics
Our genes makeup has a lot to do with our body shape, but not in the way you think. At least not primarily. I too have a long history of obesity in my family. But that does not necessarily predispose me to obesity. Perhaps my eating habits were formed in my early family life. Thus the environment has more to do with my earlier obesity than genetics themselves. But our evolution as a species, and therefore our genes, has a significant impact on our obesity. This is why: Our bodies were adapted (as a species) for survival through times of abundance and times of scarcity. A low metabolic rate may be the result of such adaptations.
Abundance and scarcity
During times of abundance, the human body adapted by storing energy in the form of fat. Conversely, it adapted to times of scarcity by reducing energy expenditure. Ironically, when eating adequately, the body will not find the need to reduce energy expenditure or store body fat. In the case of the TBL contestants, their bodies responded to the threat of scarcity by reducing the metabolic rate. Their bodies prepared for famine because that was the message TBL contestants were sending with caloric restriction.
Through hormonal adaptations, their bodies spared the fat storage. Conversely, before the show, TBL contestants, and indeed most of us in the USA, lived (or live) in abundance. A diet full of sugar or carbohydrates and low in fat sent their bodies the message of abundance. A spike in insulin after every meal would convert glucose into fat. The goal is to protect their bodies against a time of scarcity in the distant future. Worst of all, we generally have 3 or more meals a day, which means that our insulin levels are constantly high. Thus, the target cells may become numb to the insulin signals. This is called insulin resistance, and it is the beginning of diabetes.
Low metabolic rate
So, how do we prevent a lowering of our metabolic rate on one hand and insulin resistance on the other? Is it the diet or the exercise? Perhaps it is the balance between calories in and calories out? On one hand, we need to send our bodies the message that we are in a time of abundance. Thus, there is no need to reduce our metabolic rate. But, on the other hand, we need to send the message that we have not abundance enough to store fat. It seems like an elegant solution, but how do we do it in a practical way? Obviously, exercise is not the solution, at least not entirely. With exercise, we are increasing our caloric expenditure to which our body will respond with increase cravings.
The ketogenic solution
Confronting our sugar addiction is definitely an important aspect of treating obesity. Diabetics would tell you, it is difficult to maintain an exercise regimen when taking drugs that reduce blood glucose. The ketogenic diet has become popular because users can reduce their sugar addiction by increasing energy via fat intake. This seems counterintuitive: eat fat to lose fat? What you are doing is fixing the sugar addiction and the need for storing energy as body fat. All the while you’d convert your body into a fat burning furnace. The ketogenic diet keeps us in satiety because of its high energy content of fats. Meanwhile, the carbohydrate restriction limits insulin resistance. I believe that the ketogenic diet needs to be studied more. Is it sustainable over the long term? After all, the macronutrient proportions are significantly altered.
OMAD: the elegant solution
OMAD, on the other hand, matches our ancestral conditions. It is easy to imagine that our hunter-gatherer pre-human and human ancestors may have alternated feasting and fasting. With OMAD, our bodies respond as if we were neither in abundance nor scarcity. So our bodies respond with neither increase our fat stores nor decrease our metabolic rate. A single insulin spike a day after a single meal may be easily handled with the following fasting period. Add to that a morning workout while still fasting and the body begins to use the energy stored as fat. As for glucose, it would probably be used during the night of fasting.
The benefits of Intermittent fasting (IF) do not end there. In fact, you should read more about this subject in this blog. Our evolution has made us highly resilient beings. Nevertheless, it could not prepare us for modern life with an abundance of carbohydrates and sugar in processed foods. Ironically, the food industry has learned to manipulate their products to satisfy our insatiable appetite for sweets and starches. So how do we manage to control our sugar craving with IF? Is exercise even necessary to lose weight if we simply cut the carbohydrates or reduce the number of insulin spikes? Finally, is OMAD or any form of IF for that matter, sustainable in the long run? Please check “The Biggest Loser (part III)” in this series.
