3 ms·

I highly recommend this article from the MacroFactor team on this: https://macrofactorapp.com/refeeds-diet-breaks/ https://macrofactorapp.com/refeeds-diet-break

I highly recommend this article from the MacroFactor team on this: https://macrofactorapp.com/refeeds-diet-breaks/ https://macrofactorapp.com/refeeds-diet-breaks/ Basically their view is that refeeding (aka cycling) probably doesn't do much physiologically speaking, but there may be advantages to adherence when people use diet breaks (typically longer than a cycle or refeed).

com2kid 3y ago
> As shown in Figure 9, results indicated that “intermittent energy restriction interventions,” which include relatively long diet breaks, led to a fairly negligible weight loss advantage that was not statistically significant. The problems I am seeing with all these studies is that the participates in the control groups (just regular dieting) are still losing weight throughout the study. Instead, do a study where you have a bunch of people who are calorie restricted, and when the scale stops moving, have half the participants do a re-feed before trying to cut again, and the other half keep soldiering on as is. Or to put it another way, we all know people plateau with diets. Running a study that where participants do not hit a plateau, and instead having science just go "oh well! Sorry can't help you!" aren't of much use. (It is funny because the author of that article starts out talking about plateaus, and then runs a bunch of studies that.... don't encounter plateaus.) I've met people, who are grossly obese, who after going from 400lb to 300lb, find that they aren't losing weight at even 2500 kcals a day. So they drop it to 2000kcal. 25 pounds later the scale stops, and they try 1500kcal, feel like shit, and they give up. Math says at 250lb they should be shedding tons of weight at 1500kcal, but they aren't. I want to see a study that investigates that, instead of "oh someone lost 10kg, woohoo!" 10-15kg is a lot of weight to lose, but almost any dietary intervention will pull of a 10-15kg weight loss (which is what all the studies looked at show!) > Theoretically, reverse dieting should be most effective in scenarios where metabolic adaptation is most extreme, and to my knowledge, the Minnesota Starvation Experiment reports some of the most dramatic metabolic adaptation ever observed in the scientific literature. Except it was taking people at healthy weights and having them drop to an unhealthy low weight, and then having them regain weight. The situation we are faced with now is people at unhealthy high weights, with all the hormonal problems that entails, losing a bunch of weight, and messing up their hormones in a different way, and now the goal is to stabilize their body at that new lower weight. > As previously discussed, the available research hints at a number of subjective and behavioral improvements related to hunger, satiety, diet adherence, mood, and perceived energy level, in addition to improved performance All of those "subjective" feelings have basis on the body's physiological systems. With better measurements, the underlying cause of those "subjective feelings" can be found. Edit: FWIW I think the extreme weights we are seeing in developed societies have multiple underlying causes, and that pure dietary interventions are not the solution for everyone. From gut microbiome to environmental pollutants, to the # of ads for fast food on TV, IMHO the problem is multi-causal.

com2kid 3y ago

> As shown in Figure 9, results indicated that “intermittent energy restriction interventions,” which include relatively long diet breaks, led to a fairly negligible weight loss advantage that was not statistically significant. The problems I am seeing with all these studies is that the participates in the control groups (just regular dieting) are still losing weight throughout the study. Instead, do a study where you have a bunch of people who are calorie restricted, and when the scale stops moving, have half the participants do a re-feed before trying to cut again, and the other half keep soldiering on as is. Or to put it another way, we all know people plateau with diets. Running a study that where participants do not hit a plateau, and instead having science just go "oh well! Sorry can't help you!" aren't of much use. (It is funny because the author of that article starts out talking about plateaus, and then runs a bunch of studies that.... don't encounter plateaus.) I've met people, who are grossly obese, who after going from 400lb to 300lb, find that they aren't losing weight at even 2500 kcals a day. So they drop it to 2000kcal. 25 pounds later the scale stops, and they try 1500kcal, feel like shit, and they give up. Math says at 250lb they should be shedding tons of weight at 1500kcal, but they aren't. I want to see a study that investigates that, instead of "oh someone lost 10kg, woohoo!" 10-15kg is a lot of weight to lose, but almost any dietary intervention will pull of a 10-15kg weight loss (which is what all the studies looked at show!) > Theoretically, reverse dieting should be most effective in scenarios where metabolic adaptation is most extreme, and to my knowledge, the Minnesota Starvation Experiment reports some of the most dramatic metabolic adaptation ever observed in the scientific literature. Except it was taking people at healthy weights and having them drop to an unhealthy low weight, and then having them regain weight. The situation we are faced with now is people at unhealthy high weights, with all the hormonal problems that entails, losing a bunch of weight, and messing up their hormones in a different way, and now the goal is to stabilize their body at that new lower weight. > As previously discussed, the available research hints at a number of subjective and behavioral improvements related to hunger, satiety, diet adherence, mood, and perceived energy level, in addition to improved performance All of those "subjective" feelings have basis on the body's physiological systems. With better measurements, the underlying cause of those "subjective feelings" can be found. Edit: FWIW I think the extreme weights we are seeing in developed societies have multiple underlying causes, and that pure dietary interventions are not the solution for everyone. From gut microbiome to environmental pollutants, to the # of ads for fast food on TV, IMHO the problem is multi-causal.