Hardwired Calories Out
If you've heard it once, you've probably heard it a thousand times, that ELMM = Eat Less Move More is a failed strategy for weight loss. The rationale is something like one or more of the following:
- A calorie is not a calorie, because two people who eat the same amount won't weigh the same, or gain or lose the same amount of weight
- The 3500 cal/pound fat figure is wrong because with deliberate overfeeding or caloric restriction, people don't gain or lose exactly as this formula would predict
- If you eat less your metabolism will just slow down to compensate
- If you move more deliberately, aka exercise, you'll just move less later in the day and/or be so hungry you'll compensate by eating more.
So, amidst some of the pre-AHS flurry last week, two studies/blog posts were brought to my attention on Twitter. The first one was courtesy of @BethMazur the WeightMaven: What Infants Teach Us About Preventing Obesity which includes Lutz Kraushaar's analysis of this study. Basically body composition was determined in 44 infants at ages 1 and 12 weeks. Then at age 1.5 years, body composition was re-assessed and both REE (resting energy expenditure) and TEE (total energy expenditure) was measured -- indirect calorimetry and doubly-labeled water respectively. The difference between these was calculated to assess the energy expenditure of activity, their physical activity level, PAL. Now since we're talking babies here, we're talking non-exercise activity, a calorie-out term often referred to as NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). The results were that PAL/NEAT varied widely among the infants, and correlated inversely with body fat percentage. It would appear that NEAT is "hardwired".
This does not surprise me really, I think we all know people (perhaps it's even you) who seem to constantly be moving even when sitting still. But this fact confirms rather than refutes CICO. The naturally more active babies put on less body fat than the naturally less active ones because they expend more energy. Hopefully I get a chance to get back to this topic in more detail at some point, but there's a ton of research out there on the first days/weeks of life, metabolic rate, early growth rate and future susceptibility towards obesity. The collective results of these studies indicate to me that the increased incidence of low birthweight for gestational age babies likely plays some role in the obesity epidemic. These babies typically have an RQ>1 meaning they are laying fat down like crazy and to do so they also have lower REE. (I don't recall any of the studies addressing activity).
Taken together, and looking at any myriad of studies where individual data is provided for measurements of energy expenditure in children through adults of all ages, a rather depressing (for those of us who struggle with excess weight) picture emerges. There is wide variation in both REE and NEAT between individuals, and there's not much we can do about that. The REE especially is difficult to alter, and eating less generally reduces it to additionally widely varying degrees. One thing we really did learn from that recent Ebbeling study is that the changes in REE following weight loss vs. baseline were widely divergent.
The next study comes from Scotty/My College Nutrition @MCN_com: Individual Thermogenic Responses to Mild Cold and Overfeeding Are Closely Related. This paper looks at two phenomenon:
- Increased energy expenditure to "waste" caloric excesses -- at least in short overfeeding bouts -- kind of TEF (thermogenic effect of food) on steroids.
- Increased energy expenditure to create heat when exposed to cold, sometimes called shivering thermogenesis, or that cold thermogenesis we've been hearing way too much about for the past 8 months or so.
So here's the quick summary of the results in this study:
The changes in TDEE during both overfeeding and mild cold exposure showed considerable interindividual variation (respectively, 0.11 to 1.61 MJ/d and 0.19 to 1.58 MJ/d). The individual changes in energy expenditure during mild cold exposure and overfeeding were highly correlated (P 0.005).
Whoa boy! This sounds like one for the "Not Fair" file!! Not only are they some people who can get away with overeating a bit more from time to time also get to benefit from a dip in the cold plunge a bit more than others. Personally, I think I might be one of those lucky ones (shh - grin), because I do believe I lost weight on my last vacation when I know I was both eating (and drinking) more than I usually do but used the cold plunge several times daily in addition to hanging out in the pool or ocean quite a lot. Ned Kock has been discussing a possible strategy of overfeeding from time to time. See here and here, but realize it may or may not be a strategy for you (see those almost 15X differences above). Scotty wrote about this study and others on his (love the name!) Skinny White Buddha blog in Red Hot Thermogenesis ... check it out!
Bottom line, this study would seem to indicate that thermogenic responses are hardwired. And yet, this explanation for why some people seem to get away with eating more from time to time more than others is firmly based in that supposedly debunked calorie theory.
So ... if NEAT is hardwired, and thermogenesis is hardwired, is there anything we can do about this? Folks, there are certainly any number of gurus and diet book authors out there who will tell you that eating this or that macronutrient, taking this or that supplement, exercising or not this or that way, or adopting their "protocol" holds the magic answer for you. Surely there are some for whom some of these strategies may work. Where supplements are concerned, I think most of my readers are familiar with Prof. Dr. Andro over at Suppversity, if you're hearing about some supplement, I'd search his blog and see what studies he's dug up about it and what he has to say before forking over money for it.
The pessimist in me says there's not a whole lot we can do about the hardwiring. Perhaps if I start a stimulant regime I can turn myself into a fidgeter and burn and thus be able to consume a few hundred more calories per day. I tend to think that's not the answer -- the naturally fidgety folks I know are rather unaware of this and/or seek calmness -- so where I'm not hardwired to caloric advantage, I'm not sure I seek becoming just flat out wired. As mentioned, I might well be hardwired for the thermogenic component, but there are pitfalls to deliberate overfeeding that I likely don't want to "go there" .... I'll continue to be a pool rat as much as possible ... not going to be filling my bathtub with ice any time soon ...
Final thoughts: We're all hardwired to some degree. We mostly can't do much about that. CICO is what it is, and there are things we cannot do much about the hardwired CO. However we can increase CO by deliberately moving more -- whether it be formal exercise or simply engaging in more active behaviors. The fact that we have no to little to indeterminate control over CO from "natural" activity and thermogenesis doesn't mean all is lost. It may just be a bit more difficult ... and it may just be a bit easier if you find something you enjoy that gets you moving more. Walk ... dance ... swim ... bike ... It can be difficult, I know. When I was heavier, activity was prohibitive ... but it got better, and I also think water activity is the way to go for anyone with pain and size-related mobility issues. I've been dealing with a bad ankle that has impaired my own ability to enjoy fun stuff, and circumstances prevented getting that backyard pool this summer. Sigh ... would have been the perfect summer for one given the heat and humidity, but t'wasn't to be. But personally I prefer to manage CO in a manner I know there is some control over rather than chase after promises of boosting metabolism through various other, largely untested/unsubstantiated, often expensive, means.
Bottom line, this study would seem to indicate that thermogenic responses are hardwired. And yet, this explanation for why some people seem to get away with eating more from time to time more than others is firmly based in that supposedly debunked calorie theory.
So ... if NEAT is hardwired, and thermogenesis is hardwired, is there anything we can do about this? Folks, there are certainly any number of gurus and diet book authors out there who will tell you that eating this or that macronutrient, taking this or that supplement, exercising or not this or that way, or adopting their "protocol" holds the magic answer for you. Surely there are some for whom some of these strategies may work. Where supplements are concerned, I think most of my readers are familiar with Prof. Dr. Andro over at Suppversity, if you're hearing about some supplement, I'd search his blog and see what studies he's dug up about it and what he has to say before forking over money for it.
The pessimist in me says there's not a whole lot we can do about the hardwiring. Perhaps if I start a stimulant regime I can turn myself into a fidgeter and burn and thus be able to consume a few hundred more calories per day. I tend to think that's not the answer -- the naturally fidgety folks I know are rather unaware of this and/or seek calmness -- so where I'm not hardwired to caloric advantage, I'm not sure I seek becoming just flat out wired. As mentioned, I might well be hardwired for the thermogenic component, but there are pitfalls to deliberate overfeeding that I likely don't want to "go there" .... I'll continue to be a pool rat as much as possible ... not going to be filling my bathtub with ice any time soon ...
Final thoughts: We're all hardwired to some degree. We mostly can't do much about that. CICO is what it is, and there are things we cannot do much about the hardwired CO. However we can increase CO by deliberately moving more -- whether it be formal exercise or simply engaging in more active behaviors. The fact that we have no to little to indeterminate control over CO from "natural" activity and thermogenesis doesn't mean all is lost. It may just be a bit more difficult ... and it may just be a bit easier if you find something you enjoy that gets you moving more. Walk ... dance ... swim ... bike ... It can be difficult, I know. When I was heavier, activity was prohibitive ... but it got better, and I also think water activity is the way to go for anyone with pain and size-related mobility issues. I've been dealing with a bad ankle that has impaired my own ability to enjoy fun stuff, and circumstances prevented getting that backyard pool this summer. Sigh ... would have been the perfect summer for one given the heat and humidity, but t'wasn't to be. But personally I prefer to manage CO in a manner I know there is some control over rather than chase after promises of boosting metabolism through various other, largely untested/unsubstantiated, often expensive, means.
Comments
I simply RE-FUSE the premise that NEAT is "hardwired". As a child I could barely move, when I was growing fatter due to disturbed endocrine system. Now I am energetic ridiculously and am one of those wirey always active thin people. When I was a child I wouldn't / couldn't stand to obtain fluids. Compare to now where I frequently clean or kinda walk/pace just to expend energy in activity.
NEAT is a result of endocrine/nervous system fat tissue dynamics and energy use. You move around if your body makes energy. You sit like a lump if your body isn't. Innateness and hardwiredness has nothing to do with it other than the fact metabolic/nervous system conditions leading to obesity may be genetic or acquired early in life.
"The naturally more active babies put on less body fat than the naturally less active ones because they expend less energy."
Should say 'expend more energy' as I assume you are referring to the more active babies?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6-A0iHSdcA
Can't we just come up with a better name for what babies do for 'non-exercise'?
Because then, this definition of NEAT becomes confusing!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17697152
Also, based on personal and family history, I suspect that NEAT tends to drop with age.
Thanx for the shout out.
I believe that NEAT and Heat Dissipation are important factors in obesity that get overlooked. Too much attention being put on calorie counting and the misguided focus on just EAT. (instead of BMR)
The Paper also discusses the energy dissipation from skin temperature. (blood flow rate and convection i'm guessing)
"The increases of skin temperatures relative to baseline during overfeeding indicate extra dissipation of heat to the environment. To our knowledge, no other overfeeding studies registered skin temperatures."
My main hypothesis is something like this :
High Metabolic people dissipate more heat and have a higher body temperature then the obese. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19375759) Thus when they eat more (like I do on a daily basis) much of the energy is "lost" instead of stored. It's lost mostly to Heat, which is why I sweat in bed at night and remain thin. I'm not constantly fidgeting but my body temp remains high through out the day, been like this since birth.
-Scotty
Got many additional thoughts that are coalescing into a blog post.
Jeez -- How many of the studies touted by low carbers that demonstrate unequivocally that LC works when it produces a spontaneous reduction in intake.
Exercise if for health ... It keeps me fit.
Oh but it does nothing for your weight? Sigh.
i recently found out i was diabetic. i have been doing "paleo" for 3 years, meaning eating till up full, but avoiding grains, dairy most of the time, processed food, working out once a week with weights and sprints for a total 30 min. i maintained a 10% weight loss for 3 years doing this, although i still have lower ab fat. all my blood work for lipids, fasting blood glucose (86-90), and A1c (5.9,5.6) have been good. It's only when i tested myself with a meter after eating 60 grams of fast acting carbs and the meter hit 219 that i realized i was diabetic.
so now i still eat paleo foods, but to get a close to normal blood sugar reading of 90 after i hour, i have to limit the portion and feel a little uncomfortable. my body is used to a higher blood sugar level.
both my parents are diabetic. i'm not overweight. i did not have frequent urination/thirst. my problem is mostly genetic. i encourage people to borrow someone's meter and test yourself or ask a doctor for an oral glucose tolerance test- especially if you have diabetes in your family.
if i had counted calories, but ate oatmeal as part of my meal plan, i think my blood sugars would be too high and i would gain weight.
I'd say ELMM approach still doesn't work.
Because those who try to do it without any change in macronutrients ratios (and partially food quality), fail to lose weight. The few who don't generally cannot show up the best body composition possible (skinny-fat etc.)
"What worked for me is what works"
"What didn't work for me is what doesn't work"
Imo the chance that someone will ever find a one-size-fits-all solution is about 1 in 100,000,000,000.
Reading that, at the end of all the above, was quite weird to me.
So I'm afraid there's a risk of simply arguing about semantics, doing which in a language that isn't even my first would be twice as foolish on my part.
To be clear, what I mean as the EL part of ELMM, is how most people who know nothing about nutrition do it.
So if they usually eat:
BF: cereal + orange juice (or donut + coffee); Lunch: pasta , a little cheese, and a fruit; supper: bread , meat and a vegetable; plus snacks,
when trying to do a diet they simply attemps to lose weight eating less of mostly the same. So cooking 30 grams less of pasta etc.
That is what I'd call real EL(MM).
If someone begins to avoid or restrict some specific food (/macronutrient), in my mind, it's another thing.
Bodybuilders, many showgirls etc. at the end do to some sort of degree a "Faileo Diet" or anyway reduce the ratios of the 2 macronutrients (which one is better to restrict the most is another discussion) that aren't protein.
Good luck with doing it simply (/only) trying to eat few total calories but of bacon and fructose.
I've known a number of habitual eaters who've had success in losing weight by cutting portions -- one egg vs. two, one slice of bread vs. two, skip the dessert, etc.
If your answer is that they (and I) didn't sustain it, that's fair, but the sustainability of macro-restricted approaches is no better nor is rate of maintenance rates.
This is why adherence is the most important predictor of success...not macronutrient content or anything else. If changing macronutrient content helps you adhere better, then great. But if it doesn't, you won't have any more success than any other approach.
when I think about men with the "rock abs" and women with the "steel ass", I'm under the impression the VAST majority uses that method.
I personally "have abs" (no huge muscles though) and have to stay not to far away from a higher protein ratio diet to keep them that visible. It sucks but at least because it's boring, not because I'm hungry all the time. Which would happen to me in the other ways.
If you'd say you can obtain some kind of those type of results, and without suffering even more, with a totally other approach, I'd be either really envious or skeptic.
To remember someone once commented about here: I doubt Jessica Biel does the "chicken-broccoli diet", for not so short time spans, because she is simply masochistic.
'My anecdote constitutes all the scientific evidence the world needs.'
'Any other evidence (regardless of quality or quantity) is BS.'
(1) baseline levels of NEAT/body heat production
(2) sensitivity to stimuli (foods, environment, etc.)
As a naturally *tired and cold* skinny person, I notice that caffeine and sugar are amazing for energy (though not without attendant crashes). Overfeeding also does make me lots warmer. Low baseline, high sensitivity, it seems.
Obviously, this doesn't apply to people who never/rarely exercise and whose bodies and brains revolt at the slightest exertion.
But anyway, this is where it all comes down to a 'life hack' again (as opposed to a 'paleo hack', or a way to hack a supposedly awesome lifestyle). So many paleos get caught up in whether the people around them, or their own lifestyles, support their WOE. Isn't what matters *getting the WOE to support the lifestyle that one aspires to*?
Carbs make you sluggish? Reduce them. LOW carbs make you a miserable nonfunctional wreck? Eat more of them. Acellular/fibrous/FODMAPpy carbs do X/Y/Z to you? Tailor accordingly! And goodness gracious, if LC (or whatever else) prevents you from getting a good night's sleep--how do you expect your body to move well the next day?!
#1) Sally Adams - Extreme Makeover, Weight Loss Edition
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/08/13/extreme-makeover-sally-adams-loses-138-pounds/
"Sally Adams was an active child who grew up to be a slim, athletic woman, but a severe leg injury changed her life.
As a result of the injury, Adams, a Washington, D.C., tour guide, gained 200 pounds. She consumed 10,000 calories each day."
#2) Neil Burns of Kentucky loses 370 lbs.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2153366/From-10-000-calories-day-just-1-800-How-fast-food-fanatic-drank-24-sodas-day-lost-370lbs-hard-way.html
"A man who once clocked in at 680lbs has told how he lost over half his body weight with a simple diet and exercise regime.
Neil Burns, 44, from Richmond, Kentucky, was so morbidly obese he was virtually housebound, describing his home as his 'prison'.
Now, two years on, at 310lbs, the 6ft 4in father-of-one is well on his way to reaching his goal weight of 270lbs.
In a new interview with Good Morning America, he described how he found the impetus to cut a 21-year fast food habit that saw him consume 10,000 calories a day in value meals from McDonalds and Dairy Queen."
#3) Micheal Phelps diet (from 4 years ago):
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/08/13/the-michael-phelps-diet-dont-try-it-at-home/
"Swimmer Michael Phelps’s next career may be in competitive eating. Besides grabbing five gold medals at the Beijing Olympics so far, making him the winningest Olympic athlete ever, he’s got to be setting new marks on the chow line.
A New York Post account of Phelps’s… wait for it… 12,000-calorie-a-day diet, gave us a stomachache. Could one human being really consume that much and still be in Phelps’s shape? And could this possibly be healthy for Phelps, even considering his five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week exercise regimen?"
When I met my husband 23 years ago, he was not slim. He had a bit of a paunch, but he wasn't huge either. Over the years, he gained weight. Again, nothing huge, but a definite weight gain and a bigger paunch. He would not weigh himself so who knows what the weight gain was.
About a year ago, I finally convinced him to go to my GP just for a check-up. He'll be 50 this year and in all the time I'd known him, he'd been healthy as a horse but never went to the doctor for even a yearly check-up. BTW, this had nothing to do with cost. We're Canadian and have universal health care (which we fully support).
So, finally he went to see the GP. He didn't say much to me about the check-up but suddenly cut out his one small glass of juice in the evening, stopped eating second helpings of the generally healthy food we normally eat and started drinking several large glasses of water every day.
And bang, he lost weight. Not scads of weight but he did lose. Yes, he's still got his paunch, but it's noticeably smaller.
I don't think after the first month or two he lost any more weight, but he's kept off the 20 or so pounds he lost (this is my guesstimate) for about a year.
For me to lose weight is a much bigger deal which I won't go into here. For him, it was just cut out the small amount of (non-sweetened) juice, reduce portions somewhat and drink more water. On the exercise front, he now uses the elliptical trainer for about 30 minutes twice a week. He's always been a big walker. Easy-peasy for him. And it proves different approaches work for different people. And for some people, nothing works. There are no easy answers.
Regards,
Rad
Regards,
Rad
How many retired athletes who balloon up do we need for some people to accept the reality that activity energy expenditure plays a role in weight?
http://www.ryanseacrest.co.uk/articles/michael-phelps-doesnt-eat-12000-calories-a-day.html
That Masterjohn quote is truly awesome. Great reminder of the necessity of humility and the importance of questioning oneself (not just others!) in the pursuit of knowledge. Go Chris!
AMEN! And the totally bizarre thing is that ELMM gets the results but....habits are refractory.
I'm a perfect example of that. Got fantastic results with ELMM...and then my 'food issues' kicked up.
I've become a firm believer in Guyanet's food reward theory. I think he hit upon something quite profound there - but the reason I go to food for comfort lies deeper than that.
Speaking only for myself - but venturing a guess about the commenters here, please anyone correct me if I am wrong - we are not about that at all.
We are people who have had to struggle with weight, and want to maintain a healthy normal weight.
There is a huge difference between that and the 'buns of steel' Hollywood bullshit image you are talking about.
Eat less, move more, may very well not make you as ripped as a professional body builder, or as skinny as a supermodel. For that, you probably need drugs.
But ELMM, consistently applied, equals weight loss. It does. Been there, done that. Actually, doing that.
Right now I'm behind in responding to comments due to that thing called life ... in a good way, as I plan on having a relaxing day.
Some may have noticed some disappearing comments, and I'll apologize to James Krieger because it wasn't his fault he spent so much time engaging the person who precipitated this action.
All comments by people who cross post in two-faced fashion on the blog in question have been moved to spam. They may or may not be reinstituted as time and consideration allow, but here's the bottom line.
If the blogger in question wants to participate here, she'll cease and desist the shadow blogging and commenting. That goes for those commenting as well. I have no time for jr high nonsense.
Can we get back to constructive discussion about the STUDIES in this post PLEASE?
Whoo: If infants have a higher NEAT and are less fat, you are assuming the NEAT is hard wired and makes them less fat...maybe they store less fat and so have a higher NEAT, to get all Gary Taubes on you.
Is she trying to imply that the diet of the 12 week old infants is what makes the store less fat and drives their higher NEAT? Isn't that what we are talking about? That's what Taubes says about adults no? I really doubt the 12 week old have significant different dietary choices from each other.
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