Metabolic Compensation

Calories In – Calories Out?

The calorie zealots want you to believe your body is a rudimentary calculator that only engages in adding and subtracting. Eat too many calories or burn too little, and you gain weight. Add in more food and subtract exercise, and you will gain weight.

Wow.  If only it were that easy.  The problem is that, in the beginning (first few times of calorie deprivation), it is that easy, and when we get results the first handful of times we diet, we hold this method as solemn truth.

No my sisters, no.

What I so want to scream from the hilltop to all women who want to avoid weight gain is, “stop trying to lose it!… it will make you fat!”

How do I know this?  I am a scientist?  Well, no.  I just know. (From experience).

Let me tell you.

When I was 14, I decided I was not thin enough.  Being 5’8”, large boned, size 10 feet, big hands and fingers… I was simply taller and bigger than my friends, weighed more than them, and wore a larger size than them.  That I weighed more than my friends entered into my awareness the summer before 9^th grade, when in order to order our drill team uniforms we girls were measured and weighed by our instructor.  Oh my stars!  To my horror I weighed in at 130 pounds, when my com-padres were somewhere in the range of 105-115.  Mind you, no one made fun of me.  My shame was self-inflicted.

Trust me when I say, there was not an ounce of fat on me.

I also relied on Teen Magazine to let me know what my body should look like.  I wanted to look thin like the models on the cover and in all the ads throughout the magazine.

Thus began my dieting life.  Of course, in 1980, the road to success was paved via the traditional low-calorie protocol.  I clipped a low calorie diet regime out of a magazine and followed it to the tee (side-note: this is how I finally learned to like eggs).  I don’t even remember whether I was successful… after all, there wasn’t any real weight to lose, so losing 5 pounds would have made a difference.

When I was fully grown (physically) and graduated high school I weighed 150 pounds (which I now know, was perfect thinness for my body type, but was it small enough for my mind?  Well, no).  That summer I took to a low calorie diet and to riding my bike 10 miles most days.  My youthful body responded!  Lost down to 135 and was thrilled.

Heading into collage, I eventually returned to my “normal” way of eating – – processed foods and fast foods – – but I stuck with the bike-thing… figuring I could eat what I wanted to if I exercised like a maniac (calories IN, calories OUT, right?)

This wasn’t a sustainable approach, and I graduated collage 30 pounds heavier.  I was mortified the following year when, in anticipation of my impending wedding I got on the scale and it read 180.  I did what every bride does.  I took straight away to a low calorie diet and exercise routine.

By wedding day I had lost 20 pounds and weighed in at 160!  Success!  And let me tell you, 160 looked good on me.

Then came baby #1.  When she was a few years old my then-husband told me he “didn’t love me anymore” because I had gained weight (I was probably 185).

Weight, what?

In order to “save” my marriage, I took to the latest diet fad.  I think this time it was counting and restricting fats (thank you Jane Fonda).  My young, resilient body obeyed once again and I lost the same 20 pounds.  Marriage saved.

A few years later, fully pregnant with baby #2, I remember tipping the scales at 205 and couldn’t have been more mortified (even though pregnant) that the first number on the scale was a “2.”  This was cause for self-loathing and downright fear, for sure.

Don’t think exercise had not been part of my life for the previous five years of young motherhood; it was.  Aerobics, step aerobics, gym time, weights, walking, jogging, cycling, you-name-it.

Fast-forward to age 33.  Divorced.  My weight was still hovering between 180 and 195 (still mortified).  All “medical” weight charts indicated that, based on my height and bone structure, I should weigh no more than 135.

Weight, what?

Who makes these charts, and who gets to say what “normal” weight is?

Anyway, I went on another prescribed protocol that promised weight loss.  This was a list of foods that I could choose from, mostly chicken and vegetables if I remember right.  It was called Physicians Weight Loss.

Of course I lost the same 20-30 pounds again and was thrilled to be 160 (like my wedding day!). I will admit that I took the wedding gown out and tried it on, but it wouldn’t zip up!

Weight, what?

That’s was my first “learn” that even though the scale was the same, things had, well, shifted.

Three years later I had gained back those 30 pounds, plus some more for good measure.  I found that the first number on the scale was a “2” again (and this time I wasn’t pregnant).  Weighing in at 205 I was in an absolute panic.  I wasn’t having it.  No sir.

The clouds parted and the skies cleared!  I had a plan!  I found the Double-Dubs.  What a God-send.  At first.

…”You mean to tell me I can eat anything I want, so long as I stay under my allotted POINTS each day?”  This was the selling point of the Double-Dubs.  No foods were forbidden… you could mix and match whatever you wanted to eat or drink if you stayed in your point range.  Got it.

Glass of wine 4 pts.

Can of green beans 0 pts.

Fake grilled “cheese” sandwich on 49-calorie bread 4 pts.

Baked fries 4 pts.

Salad 0 pts

Balsamic vinegar as dressing 0 pts.

Milk chocolate malt balls 8 pts.

…and so it went.  I survived for one year on canned green beans and processed foods.  At the Double-Dubs meetings I attended from 2001-2004, there was not an emphasis placed on true nutrition; mainly on freedom of food choice.

I stuck to the program like glue, and I exercise 5 days per week as well.  On each of these 5 days I gave myself the choice of:

-step aerobics before work;

-climbing and descending 9 flights of stairs (5 times, on each on my morning and afternoon breaks at work) (that’s 90 flights of stairs per day);

-or running on my treadmill for 30 minutes in the evening.

I mean, I was unstoppable!

I lost a whopping 60 pounds in the first year!  OMGoodness!  I weighed 146 pounds!  I went from a size 1X to a size 8!  An 8!

I had never in my life worn an 8!  I mean it; as an adolescent I went from whatever preteen size girls wear to a size 12 in grownup clothes, somewhere between junior high and high school.  I never!  An 8!

Ladies, I was in heaven!  I was so happy and relieved to finally be in control of my body!  I was king (okay, queen).  I had finally found the formula for a thin life!  Forever!

Usher in a new word — maintenance.

I had lost the weight by eating daily points that equated to 1,000 – 1,200 calories per day.  Maintenance was the same protocol, and was based on limited points as well.

No problem, I was a champ at the Double-Dubs.  I sailed through the second year with no weight gain.  Never mind that my hair and nails grew as thin as could be.  At the end of the second year my scale began to betray me.

Weight, what?

With no change in my calories or exercise protocol I began to gain weight.  How could this be?  But the Double-Dubs promised!  No, no, no!  Uh, uh.  I was having none of it.  I am in control of my body!  I will show it who’s boss!

I incorrectly deduced that if lowering my calories had worked for the past 2 years, then all I had to do was lower them some more.  I reduced my daily calories from 1,200 to 800 per day, and went on a strict regimen of “100 days of exercise,” meaning just that… 100 days of workouts in-a-row, no exceptions (also known as over-training and adrenal fatigue).

I continued to gain weight.

Weight, what?

Enter Metabolic Adaption (only that name wasn’t really out there yet in the early 2000’s; the research findings just hadn’t surfaced yet)

I could NOT fathom why my calories in/calories out method was failing me?  I went to my GP, literally crying, and asked him to help me.   After listening to my tale of restricted calories and chronic over-training, he said that he didn’t have any idea why I was gaining weight, and offered to put me on anti-depressants (which he said would probably add to the weight gain!).  No thank you.  That was my final visit to him.

It became apparent to me that I had to be in charge of my own health.  I had to be my own advocate.  For the next 15 years I would read every book I could get my hands on with regard to nutrition and weight loss.  I would try the Slow Down Diet, Eating for Your Blood Type, Fasting, Juicing, the Atkins Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, a Gluten Free Diet, a Low Carb Diet, the Gabriel Method, HCG, Vitamins/Supplements, the Beta Switch and Intermittent Fasting.  It’s not that some of these methods didn’t have value; it’s that I had already damaged my metabolism through prolonged, consistent calorie deprivation and overtraining, so my body could no longer respond to these methods.

During this period (in 2009) I became convinced that if I adopted a organic, pescatarian diet (think vegetarian, plus fish) that all the stress placed on my body would be eliminated and the weight would finally come off.   As a result of this meatless protocol, ten years later I am much healthier with regard to my hair, nails, skin, and all “numbers,” except for that darn scale!  Also, I am on no medications…

(…yes, that was a shameless plug for a meatless regime!)

Friends and family who have followed my weight loss efforts have been baffled by my lack of success, saying things like, “If anyone deserves to be skinny, it’s YOU!”

Over the past six years I have had moderate success with intermittent fasting and the Beta Switch (never more than 10 pounds, though).  Metabolic Adaption had a firm grip on me for more than a decade, so I continued to gain more and more with each small loss.  Two years ago, despite my 8-year career of clean eating (consisting primary of fish and vegetables; no sugar; no diet sodas; and nearly-no flour), I weighed 275 pounds.

Weight, What?

The Final Frontier.  Fine, I’ll give up alcohol.  

For real?  Yes, for real.  I figured that my problem must be that my liver is too busy processing alcohol (20 drinks per week) to burn any fat (duh!)… not to mention all those drinks were adding about 4000 calories to my weekly caloric intake.

Surely this would work.  I gained 13 pounds the first year I was alcohol free.  All of this effort, and I was at a record high of 288 pounds.

Weight, What?

Metabolic Adaptation

After so many years of this unexplained inability to lose weight, I knew there was something going on inside of me that wouldn’t allow me to lose weight – no matter what.  Something that made my body hang onto every single calorie I put into it.

Meanwhile, each year at my annual checkup, my Internist politely encouraged me to follow the calories in/calories out protocol for weight loss.  I don’t even bother to discuss it with my doctor anymore.

Something about metabolic adaption and metabolic damage caught my attention, on-line, last year.   I stumbled across a website called Twin Cities Metabolism (TCM).I learned what I already knew (I just didn’t know the name of it).  Metabolic adaption is a response to starvation.  The body becomes extremely thrifty at using very few calories to translate into energy.  In short, it stores fat like a bitch.  It is usually accompanied by insulin resistance and high cortisol levels (both fat storage hormones).

Well, hallelujah!  Someone gets it!

I went on to set up a free consultation with TCM, and have been on the program for seven months.  I have lost 55 pounds!  This is nothing short of miraculous!

This success is largely attributed to thorough lab testing done through TCM (tested over 150 markers) that showed that I had a bacterial growth in my digestive tract, yeast overgrowth, insulin resistance, and high cortisol… just to name a few of the major players in the game of my own weight loss resistance.

The first few months on the program involved supplements targeted to correct and reverse my internal issues.  My doctor worked with me (weekly phone consultations) to build a food list that did not trigger any food allergies or food sensitivities.

After the first month, we began to incorporate calorie counting (not drastic) and exercise.  Based on my weekly progress, my doctor led me through various practices that allowed weight loss without further metabolic adaptation.

At the end of six months we re-tested the labs and all of my internal issues had either been eliminated or greatly reduced!  In the past month or two the weight has begun to fall off more “effortlessly.”  That is not to say I am eating higher calories, or not exercising… but my plateaus are fewer and farther between.  I attribute this to the correction of the internal issues; now my body can focus on weight loss without those numerous obstacles.

Today I weigh 233 pounds (8 months).  I never thought I would put that in print!  Perspective is a funny thing… when the scale was on the way up and I reached this weight, I was frantic – – so unhappy.  But now that I’ve reached it on the way down I’m ecstatic!  Losing the first 55 pounds gave me my life back!   Everything about my gate and countenance lightened!

My body is so much happier and ready for any task without having to muster up the strength to carry around that extra weight!  And get this – – I have started wearing wedges again!  Yes, heels!  I haven’t worn anything besides flat shoes for the past six years!  My knees and feet just couldn’t take the weight in a heel!

Read about Another Very Important Nuance to My Success – Lectins (or the lack thereof)

Update at 11 months:  Current weight 216… lost 72 pounds!

Update at 21 months:  Current weight 228…gained 28 pounds.

In the interim period between 11 months and 21 months I had lost down to a weight of 200 pounds; but after the unexpected death of my beloved father, and then heading directly into the highly stressful “Covid Season” in March 2020 I did regain 28 pounds over that summer.  Stress will make it more difficult to stick to your protocol… but be patient with yourself, dear reader.  Do your best during times of crisis (because your body needs vital nutrients and low sugar to get you through your crisis!), but know that you will return to your excellent clean eating!

Update at 30 months:  Current weight 185… lost 103 pounds!

Once I got back on my protocol (lectin free) I was able to resume my weight loss journey.    It was during this time that I read Dr. Steven Gundry’s book, The Longevity Paradox, and given my father’s recent death (and the subsequent re-evaluation of my own longevity) I began to incorporate the following 2 Gundry longevity-promoting habits into my lifestyle:

The main change that helped me take off the 28 pounds that I had regained, plus an additional 15 pounds (in an 11-month period) was intermittent fasting (or time-controlled eating).   Intermittent fasting has many wonderful benefits, but the main benefit is that it combats insulin resistance (normalizing insulin resistance is a very important step is correcting your body’s metabolic functions).  My preferred fasting method is 8/16, wherein I limit my eating to 8 consecutive hours per day, and then allow my body to rest for the remaining 16 hours per day.  For example, I aim to finish my evening meal by 6:00 p.m., and then fast (rest) until 10:00 a.m. the following morning.  (For an additional brain-boost and longevity strategy, I don’t go to sleep for at least 3 hours after I finish my evening meal – – which also counts as the first 3 hours of my 16-hour fast).   Of course, my food during the eating window is a lectin-free protocol.

The second change that helped me achieve this latest 43-pound loss is what I call calorie cycling.  It’s a method whereby I eat 600-800 calories per day for 5 consecutive days, once per month.  Importantly, the food eaten during this cycle is strictly vegan (no animal products) and lectin-free.  This allows my body to rest, and to take in lots of vegetable nutrients and fiber.  Calorie cycling is also one of the tricks I also learned from Twin Cities Metabolism, whereby you prevent your body from going back into metabolic adaptation through the cycling of higher caloric weeks and then lower caloric weeks (vs. staying in a low caloric state all the time, which damages your metabolism).

So, there you have it!  The latest update!  Since I began the lectin-free protocol (from Dr. Gundry’s book, The Plant Paradox) 30 months ago, my insulin resistance has reversed, all of my inflammation markers have diminished, my body is now able to respond to intermittent fasting and calorie cycling, and has let go of the excess weight.

What Weight?