Calorie restricted diet protein changes

It has been reported that restricting calories can extend life and reduce the risk of chronic disease in some species.

A recent Dutch study has also discovered that a very low calorie diet (500 calories compared to the typically recommended daily 1500-2000 calorie intake) can cause substantial and quick weight loss. During the study, average weight loss achieved was 9.5kg over an 8 week period of which around 75% was fat.

The scientists observed a dramatic change in around 40 specific proteins within the body, responsible variously for antioxidant protection, regulating cholesterol, utilisation of free fatty acids and affecting the way fat cells store and release fat. It is hoped that the breakthrough research will lead to more precise mapping of chemical responses to dieting, thus potentially allowing us to eventually determine whether a particular diet is safe or not.

This is hugely significant. Starvation will trigger the body into a different chemical state that results in weight loss. Whether weight lost from starvation is ultimately healthy or not is another matter, but it works. The problem is that once the person returns to normal eating, the body chemistry ‘relaxes’ and the same fat storage tendencies return.

The study observed a reduction in levels of blood glucose, insulin, leptin, LDL (bad) cholesterol without any significant change to HDL cholesterol or triglycerides. Interestingly, there were no obvious differences between males and females.

This is consistent with my observations of hundreds of clients that came through our weight management clinics, albeit with a few differences. Similar to the above study, our approach was entirely diet-based with exercise discouraged whilst dieting. This was because the precisely balanced chemical environment created by the diet was easily upset by fluctuations in energy output and would retard the weight loss progress and induce undesirable hunger and cravings.

Our diet regime ranged from 700 - 1000 calories and varied based on sex, age and blood chemistry profiling. The intention was to restrict the body’s energy intake sufficient to stimulate the change in body chemistry required to release fat at the most efficient level possible without falling into ketosis or starvation. Interestingly, this approach resulted in average weight loss of 7-10kg in the first 4 weeks alone, almost double that of the Dutch study. By simple regular monitoring of weight and fat resistance, we could see that the loss was all fat (with the exception of a 3.7kg of retained fluids mostly in the first week):

Note that healthy fat loss differs from simple weight loss in that it is cyclical. The chart below shows the daily weight loss for the same person and demonstrates a clear 3-5 day cycle throughout the entire process. This is why you should never weigh yourself daily when losing weight.

Based on a random sample of 77 non-deviating (ie: not cheating) clients in 2004, we observed the following results:

This amply demonstrates that stimulating the body’s chemistry may prove to be the most effective and failsafe method of losing weight without inducing severe ketosis or starvation.

Let’s hope the research continues!

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