Metabolic adaptation

I’ve heard doctor fung say that fasting for lengths shorter than 4-6 days won’t affect your metabolic rate. For me I knew this and did 3 day fasts followed by 2 days of maintenance calories, I lost 20 pounds doing this. Unfortunately I gained it all back, I got hungry and craved carbs. I thought IF was good because it prevented metabolic adaptation and your leptin and ghrelin levels weren’t affected but I think mine were. I didn’t overeat because it was fun, it was because I had a biological urge. It felt the same as if I had fell off any other calorie restricting diet. What did I do wrong ? Does the diet actually prevent metabolic adaptation and prevent your grhelin and leptin levels from compensating to encourage weight regain? Thanks

Answer

Over at /r/SaturatedFat, there are some articles that discuss a gene/enzyme known as SCD-1. This gene de-saturates saturated fats.

When our mitochondria burn long-chain saturated fats, the mitochondria release Reactive Oxygen Species. These ROS tell the cell to stop accepting new energy from the blood stream (glucose and fats).

When we burn glucose or unsaturated fats (olive oil, soybean oil, or the unsaturated fats stores in our bodies), ROS isn’t generated; and the cells don’t stop accepting new energy. They are Insulin-sensitive; whereas ROS will make a cell insulin-resistant.

We want our fat cells to be insulin-resistant; so we want to burn Saturated Fats to create ROS.

Fasting, among other things, stimulates the production of SCD-1. Fasting causes our fat cells to become insulin sensitive (so that when we do eat, it stores that food as fat - because we have shown our bodies that we will go long periods without food).

We need to suppress SCD1. A number of supplements can do that. Metformin, taurine, etc.

We also want to consume long-chain Saturated Fats, because that helps keep our fat cells insulin-resistant.

In theory…

Answer

What you did wrong:

- Gave in to your carb cravings

- overate

&#x200B;

When it comes to prolonged fasting, your diet should be well-equipped to allow for it. Carb-heavy meals set you up for failure due to their insulin spikes, causing you to feel ravenous hunger mere hours after eating.

The simplest solution is to take in more proteins & fats or at the very least, cut down on carbohydrate consumption. The ketogenic diet is not necessarily needed, any low-carb diet should do, but it’s clear that your meals need to be much more filling to avoid these voracious hunger episodes.