Completing the trine: vive la différence!

First, the obligatory picture of Hannah Spearritt :-)

Women have a harder time losing weight than men. Women retain water more than men for hormonal reasons, but a factor that's overlooked is that, on average, healthy women have higher body-fat percentages than healthy men. This is because women have babies and men don't. Who knew? On the plus side, women produce more DHA than men.

Why should having higher body-fat percentages make a difference to weight loss? See What is the required energy deficit per unit weight loss? The energy deficit required to lose 1lb of body-weight increases with increasing body-fat percentage. It's rarely 3,500kcals per lb.

If you really love mathematics, see The Dynamics of Human Body Weight Change.

From the above paper:- ΔU = ΔQ - ΔW

where ΔU is the change in stored energy in the body, ΔQ is a change in energy input or intake, and ΔW is a change in energy output or expenditure. This is the Energy Balance Equation. As I said back in Back to black, CIAB, pharmaceutical drug deficiencies & nerds.

Where body weight is concerned, calories count (but don't bother trying to count them).
Where body composition is concerned, partitioning counts.
Where health is concerned, macronutrient ratios, EFAs, minerals, vitamins & lifestyles count.

N.B. Poor health can adversely affect body weight and/or body composition, by increasing appetite and/or by adversely affecting partitioning.

Back to black, CIAB, pharmaceutical drug deficiencies & nerds.

First, a song by someone who should be alive, but isn't...

The above video was inspired by a Facebook friend who had an accident with Schwarzkopf black hair dye and spent ages getting the stains off her skin. You know who you are!

I may have mentioned that nutrient deficiencies can adversely affect mental (and/or other) function. Nowadays, many people live on a diet of Crap-In-A-Bag (CIAB). There's just enough essential amino acids (EAAs), essential fatty acids (EFAs), minerals & vitamins to keep their bodies alive. However, Alive ≠ Working properly.

To compensate for one (or more) nutrient deficiencies, many people are prescribed one (or more) pharmaceutical drugs to tweak how their brains work e.g. fluoxetine, citalopram/escitalopram, venlafaxine, quetiapine, risperidone, valproate etc. There are no pharmaceutical drug deficiencies!

There are people who suffer from mental (and/or other) illnesses, despite having diets & lifestyles that provide sufficient amounts of all nutrients. This post isn't about them. There are people who suffer from depression due to traumatic & inescapable events/situations. This post isn't about them, either.

Finally, nerds! We nerds love to compile information. For an interesting interview with a top compiler of useful information, see Examine's Supplement Goals Reference Guide.

For an excellent article with a mere 148 references, see Why Calories Count. To sum up:-

Where body weight is concerned, calories count (but don't bother trying to count them).
Where body composition is concerned, partitioning counts.
Where health is concerned, macronutrient ratios, EFAs, minerals, vitamins & lifestyles count.

N.B. Poor health can adversely affect body weight and/or body composition, by increasing appetite and/or by adversely affecting partitioning.

Continued on Chow on chow, Parkinson's Law, two ways of doing something, and love.

FAO the over-fat and/or those with metabolic syndrome: Big breakfast, medium lunch & small dinner is beneficial.

Breakfast like a King/Queen.

Go to work on an egg.

According to High caloric intake at breakfast vs. dinner differentially influences weight loss of overweight and obese women.
"High-calorie breakfast with reduced intake at dinner is beneficial and might be a useful alternative for the management of obesity and metabolic syndrome." See the other PubMed studies listed in the above study, which corroborate it.

What about all the "artery-clogging" cholesterol in egg yolks? See Eat Whole Eggs All Day and Throw Your Statins Away? 375x Increased Dietary Cholesterol Intake From Eggs Reduces Visceral Fat & Promotes Healthy Cholesterol Metabolism.

The most simple tip to lose weight EVER is “Eat less and move more”.

Said Gaz at Cycle Of Life - Fix You.
He went from this...

Not a happy bunny.

To this...

A happy bunny.

Now tell me that ELMM doesn't work!

On burning, storing and recomposing.

Burning

I couldn't resist!


On my adventures around the interwebs, I've noticed the following:- "Humans aren't Calorimeters. Therefore calories are irrelevant to humans." While I agree with the first sentence, I don't agree with the second one.

Calorimeters burn (oxidise) foods at high temperatures with a flame using oxygen, which produces carbon dioxide, water (depending on what's being burned) and heat energy.

Humans burn (oxidise) foods at 37ºC with enzymes , charge transporters etc using oxygen, which produces carbon dioxide, water (depending on what's being burned), mechanical energy and heat energy.

As both oxygen and carbon dioxide are gases, these can be measured by respiratory gas analysis to establish the rate of burning and what's being burned at any instant. See It's all in a day's work (as measured in Joules). When resting, burning occurs at a rate of ~1kcal/minute and as it's measured while fasted, ~0.11g/min of fat is burned and ~0.01g/min of carbs is burned. Also note that a lot of mechanical energy can be produced, which can increase the rate of burning by a factor of seventeen.

In conclusion, humans burn (oxidise) foods, though not with a flame and they can produce mechanical energy in addition to heat energy. The rate of burning and what's being burned at any instant can be measured.

Storing

When we eat food, it's digested and absorbed. As a digested meal is absorbed, it appears in the blood as glucose, triglycerides and amino acids. These then disappear from the blood due to burning and storage. See Extended effects of evening meal carbohydrate-to-fat ratio on fasting and postprandial substrate metabolism.

Figure 1 shows the effects of a 100g Oral Glucose load or a 40g Oral Fat load on blood glucose level over a period of 360 minutes. Note that subjects are resting during the 360 minutes. As the 100g Oral Glucose load produces a large blood insulin response (See Figure 2), fat-burning temporarily stops. Therefore, the ~1kcal/minute resting burning rate is derived from carbs. Therefore, the carb-burning rate is ~0.25g/min. At this rate, it would take ~400 minutes to burn 100g of glucose. However, it takes ~180 minutes for blood glucose level to fall from maximum to minimum. Therefore, some of the glucose from the Oral Glucose load is stored (mostly as glycogen in muscles and liver).

Figure 3B shows the effects of a 100g Oral Glucose load or a 40g Oral Fat load on blood triglyceride (fat) level over a period of 360 minutes. Note that subjects are resting during the 360 minutes. As the 40g Oral Fat load produces no significant blood insulin response (See Figure 2), fat-burning is unaffected. Therefore, the fat-burning rate is ~0.11g/min. At this rate, it would take ~364 minutes to burn 40g of fat. However, it takes 180 to 240 minutes for blood triglyceride (fat) level to fall from maximum to minimum. Therefore, some of the fat from the Oral Fat load is stored (as fat in adipocytes) even though there is no significant blood insulin response.

Therefore there are times when stuff is stored and there are other times when stuff is withdrawn from stores.

Recomposing

After doing intense exercise e.g. sprinting, resistance training with weights etc, muscles become very sensitive to insulin. Therefore, if intense exercise is done just before stuff is stored, stuff (amino acids and glucose) is preferentially stored in muscles rather than in adipocytes. This increases muscle mass relative to fat mass.

If non-intense exercise is done at times when stuff is withdrawn from stores, this maximises the amount of fat withdrawn from adipocytes and minimises the amount of stuff (amino acids) withdrawn from muscles. This decreases fat mass relative to muscle mass.

It's therefore possible to increase muscle mass at some times and decrease fat mass at other times while keeping overall mass relatively constant i.e. it's possible to gain muscle and lose body-fat without being in an overall caloric deficit. See Body Recomposition.

It’s the Calories, Stupid.

I thought I'd mark my return to blogging by taking the piss out of a certain Diet Doctor for his post It’s the Insulin, Stupid, who takes (and tweaks) Fig 7A from Hyperinsulinemia Drives Diet-Induced Obesity Independently of Brain Insulin Production.

At first glance, Fig 7A looks like a CIH believer's dream come true (apart from the words "High Fat Diet").

Hyperinsulinemia → Obesity.

Obesity is caused by too much insulin. Game, Set and Match to insulin.

Not so fast! Let's take a look at the rest of Fig 7.

Figure 7. Revisiting the Current Model of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes(A) The most widely accepted model of the pathogenesis of obesity and type 2 diabetes posits that a high-fat diet leads to obesity and insulin resistance (there is debate about the relative order and causality of these). In this widely held view, insulin resistance then leads to hyperinsulinemia, which is followed by β cell exhaustion, and then type 2 diabetes. The accepted model is incompatible with our results that put the insulin hypersecretion genetically upstream of obesity.(B) Our data support a model whereby insulin levels must be kept low to maintain energy expenditure in white adipose tissue via the expression of Ucp1. Our data do not address the order of subsequent events after obesity (outside the yellow box), such as insulin resistance and/or type 2 diabetes, since they were not observed in our studies. In other words, the effects of insulin gene dosage on obesity are independent of sustained changes in glucose homeostasis or insulin resistance.

↑ Peripheral Hyperinsulinemia → ↓ Uncoupling Proteins (WAT) → ↓ Energy Expenditure → ↑ Obesity.

Obesity is caused by a reduction in energy expenditure. Game, Set and Match to The Energy Balance Equation. It’s the Calories, Stupid. In the mice in this study, energy expenditure is strongly influenced by insulin levels. In humans, not a lot. In humans, insulin can act as a stimulant and as a sedative.

I'm not an insulin denier as is obvious from my other blog posts. I'm still controlling my carbohydrate intake.
I'm not a food reward denier and I've been using food reward principles to lose some more weight.

The above post will probably annoy some people. Before wasting your time writing a comment, please note my Moderation Policy.

Of mice and men, Kleiber's Law & FIRKO.

More musings from my fevered brain!

I remembered a discussion on Hyperlipid about FIRKO mice.

Note: FIRKO stands for Fat Insulin Receptor Knock Out and it results in White Adipose Tissue (WAT) having vastly reduced uptake of nutrients, thus inhibiting gain of WAT. Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) has up-regulated uncoupling proteins i.e. BAT produces more heat.

What was also interesting was that, in a study where mice's VMH (VentroMedial Hypothalamus) was also deliberately damaged, mice ate more food but didn't gain any weight. What? The Energy Balance Equation doesn't apply?

Mice weigh very little (~30g), so they can't burn off significant amounts of energy through exercise the way that humans can. So, how on Earth can mice eat more without gaining any weight?

Peter Dobromylskyj gave me the answer. As a veterinary surgeon, he works on rodents so he knows about this. Rodents under anaesthesia easily get hypothermia. The penny dropped! Mice have a very high surface area:mass ratio (see the above graph) compared to adult humans. As heat is lost through the skin, small animals like mice are at a disadvantage when it comes to heat conservation. They have behaviours for conserving heat e.g. covering themselves in bedding (which reduces heat loss) or huddling together in groups (which reduces surface area:mass ratio). Anaesthesia prevents these behaviours.

Any excess energy intake that cannot be stored due to FIRKOisation is disposed of by increased heat production in BAT and increased heat loss by reduced heat conservation behaviour. Simples!

Most adult humans have little BAT, so are unable to perform the same trick. You could try sitting in a bath of cold water. ;-p That would make me really cold and hungry (and wet!), so I would eat ravenously afterwards. But that's me. Your Mileage May Vary.

What I believe and what I don't.

First, some soothing music...


I've been getting into arguments on the Internet again! People assume that I believe certain things and "put words in my mouth". As we all know, assume makes an ass out of u and me. I am therefore "laying my cards on the table", so that you have no excuse for being ignorant.

I believe that human beings are extremely complicated creatures both physiologically and psychologically. Our weights are influenced by a humongous number of factors, some of which I will list below.


Physiology

Calories count (but don't bother counting them)! If we eat more than we use, we store the excess in fat mass and muscle mass. If we eat less than we use, we draw the deficit from fat mass and muscle mass. Insulin is involved in the storage of stuff, as is acylation stimulating protein (ASP).

Moving too little makes our skeletal muscle insulin resistant, as inactive muscles have virtually zero requirement for glucose and fatty acids, so down-regulate the uptake of them. See also The effects of high-intensity intermittent exercise training on fat loss and fasting insulin levels of young women.

Eating too much and moving too little has sweet-F/A to do with gluttony and sloth.

Our weights are regulated by our brains, which are influenced by a large number of hormones & chemicals, including insulin. There is no "set point" weight.

In the winter, when it's cold and dark, we eat more, sleep more and move less so we gain body fat. Subcutaneous fat acts as heat insulation, so having more of it in the winter makes sense.

Our weights can be affected by water balance, which is controlled by our kidneys.

How much of a particular food we eat is influenced by reward. Some foods can be addictive (or moreish, as we say in the UK) due to excessive reward. Deliciousness and moreishness are not the same thing. Reward theory and set-point theory are not the same thing.

Rapidly-falling blood glucose level in the normal range can stimulate appetite. I have had personal experience of this on three occasions where my blood glucose level was being monitored. As eating a load of high-glycaemic carbohydrates can result in rapidly-falling blood glucose later, this is another good reason to not overeat refined carbohydrates.


Psychology

The exercise paradox. Exercise decreases appetite*. So, why do some people eat more when they exercise more? See Normal Weight Men and Women Overestimate Energy Expenditure – Research Review and Discrepancy between self-reported and actual caloric intake and exercise in obese subjects.

*If exercise increases your appetite, there may be a reason for this. See Move More: Solutions to problems.

The diet paradox. People think that eating a healthy food with an unhealthy food reduces the calories, discussed in detail in The Dieter’s Paradox – Research Review.

Manipulating the masses is easier than you think.

The Coolidge Effect applies to food as well as sex. Eating one food for every meal gradually reduces reward to zero, no matter how moreish it may be initially. This is how the Potato diet worked.


I often leave very concise comments on blogs. Just because I don't mention this, that or the other doesn't mean that I consider this, that or the other to be irrelevant. I can also go on a bit. I'm a nerd!

EDIT: If I disagree with your point of view, I may try to tease more information out of you (or I may tease you just for fun). The more I disagree with your point of view, the more I'll tease you. If I utterly abhor something you stand for, I will tease you mercilessly!

Why counting Calories and weighing yourself regularly can be a waste of time.

To lose weight, eat fewer Calories than you burn. Sounds fairly straightforward, doesn't it? Well, all sorts of things can mess up this simple maxim.

What is a Calorie?

One dietary Calorie (Cal) is 1000calories, or 1kcal for short. A calorie (cal) is the amount of energy required to heat 1g (1mL) of water by 1degree C. As 1cal is a tiny amount of energy, kcal is commonly used. I prefer to use kcal rather than Cal, as the first word in a sentence is always capitalised which could cause confusion.

The SI unit of energy is the Joule (J) and is the amount of energy required to lift a 1kg weight 1m into the air. As 1J is also a tiny amount of energy, kJ is commonly used. There are 4.186kJ in 1kcal.

Why counting Calories can be a waste of time.

1) When the label on a packet of food states that the food contains Xkcals or YkJ, the number isn't accurate. See Food Composition Analysis and its Implications for Dietary Planning.

2) Most people are hopeless at judging portion sizes, even when using a measuring spoon! Watch the following video made by Leigh Peele called Fat Loss Tips! Shocking!

3) People suffer from "The dieter's Paradox", where they erroneously believe that adding something supposedly healthy to Crap-In-A-Bag/Box/Bottle (CIAB) reduces the total number of calories. See The Dieter’s Paradox – Research Review.

Why weighing yourself regularly can be a waste of time.

As mentioned previously, scales cannot distinguish between muscle, body-fat, glycogen+water, urine, faeces etc. Bodyweight can fluctuate considerably on a day-to-day basis. The following list (source forgotten!) lists the effect of various things on body-weight.

Thing________________________Weight change (lb)
Glycogen supercompensation________~+10
Glycogen replenishment/depletion_+/-4 to 5
Pre-menstrual water retention_____~+5
Eating a high-sodium meal__________+2 to 3
Fluid retention on airplane flight +2 to 3
Going to the loo (No.2)____________-1 to 2
Going to the loo (No.1)___________~-0.5
Drinking a mug of tea_____________~+0.5

So step away from the scales. There's nothing to see here, folks! If your belt/clothes are getting tighter, reduce the frequency of eating "treats" (moreish foods that are usually high in sugar, fat, salt & flavourings).

And finally, a little light relief. If I just waffle on about Diet & Nutrition all the time, it can get boring. So here's a YouTube video of a really cool cat that must have watched the Doctor Who episode "Blink". You know, the one with the Weeping Angels. Ninja cat comes closer while not moving!

A blast from the past.

Look who's turned up on the BBC food boards after a 4-5 years absence. A big "Welcome back" to Zoë Harcombe, who has the site 'Why do you overeat? When all you want is to be slim' and The Harcombe Diet.

We agree on most things. The problem with counting Calories is that, if you reach your Calorie limit by 6pm, what do you do? Spend the rest of the evening hungry and go to bed with a rumbling tummy & hunger pangs? Or just have one teensy-weensy bite to eat, which turns into a "nom-a-thon"? I know what I would do, as I can resist anything.......except temptation!

What we don't agree on is that Calories don't count. I say that they do. So does Lyle McDonald and Anthony Colpo. For people who are restrained to a hospital bed, changing the relative proportions of carbohydrate & fat (keeping protein constant) in their diet makes no difference whatsoever to their long-term weight gain/loss (ignoring glycogen + water weight differences). What it does make a difference to is how much these restrained people would beg for food. On a high-carb diet, I was much hungrier than when I was on a low-carb diet. This is why I ate way too much on the former diet (& got fat) and ate much less on the latter diet (& got slim).

It's thought that Insulin is the only hormone responsible for body-fat storage. This isn't correct.

Insulin makes the body store glucose (from dietary carbohydrates) and amino acids (from dietary proteins) and stops the body from burning fats. Therefore, having chronically-high serum insulin levels (hyperinsulinaemia) is not desirable for people wishing to burn body-fat for fuel.

As we all know, dietary carbohydrate raises serum insulin levels by raising blood glucose. See http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm.

However, dietary protein also raises serum insulin levels. See http://www.mendosa.com/insulin_index.htm.

Eating most fats with carbohydrates raises serum insulin levels even higher still, although fats lower the glucose response. See http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/133/8/2577.pdf. What do junk foods mostly consist of? High-GI carbohydrates + fats. However, omega-3 fats reduce the hyperinsulinaemia caused by the other fats. See http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/reprint/53/suppl_1/S166.pdf.

Eating fat on its own does not raise serum insulin levels. See http://intl.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/75/3/505.pdf. However, it's still possible to gain body-fat by eating too many Calories of dietary fat. Acylation Stimulating Protein (ASP) makes the body store dietary fat as body-fat. See http://www.jlr.org/cgi/reprint/30/11/1727.pdf.

The amount of food that free-living people (i.e. people who are not restrained to a hospital bed) eat depends mostly on their appetites. This is affected by the food that they eat (the low blood glucose that follows hyperinsulinaemia causes severe hunger pangs) and also advertisements. Watch this Google video of Adam Curtis' BBC documentary The Century Of The Self - Part 1 of 4.

I hope that you all had a good Christmas.