CALORIES OR HORMONES? Who's Responsible for Weight Gain?

Both are. It's just that one is the message{Calories} and the other is the messenger{Hormones}.

To explain that let me share an interesting perspective on Stress & Stress Management.

One wise old Indian man told of how he couldn't understand the concept of stress management. He couldn't for the life of him understand why anyone would want to manage stress, because according to him, people should only manage things that are precious to them i.e. Time, Family, Finances. Why anyone would voluntarily want to manage stress, puzzled him. He's definition of stress, however, is what caught my attention. "Stress is the inability to manage your inner systems; your mind, energy, emotions etc."

That definition explains why everyone complains about stress; the wealthy, the poor, the employed, the unemployed, the married and the single. It's because it has absolutely nothing to do with what's happening on the outside, but everything to do with how the inside processes the outside happenings.

This is exactly how calories, hormones & weight loss operate. Hormones are messengers that communicate certain messages(Calories, exercise) to the mind & body. So what do they communicate:

LEPTIN for example is the hormone that communicates whether you're hungry or full. When Leptin levels are high they communicate that we're full so no more storing.. in fact, let's burn some fat to create room. Metabolism increases.

When Leptin levels are low however, the communication to the mind is that we're hungry. So the body responds by slowing down metabolism, and filling up the stores.

Whenever you're trying to lose weight you immediately start to eat less than you use{ Well at least you hope to do it immediately}. This is actually what you should do, although a prolonged caloric deficit{When you continuously eat less} causes Leptin levels to drop. This is exactly why low calorie diets only work upto a certain point. Then weight loss stops, because leptin has dropped and the official communication is that you're hungry, and stores should be filled.

On the outside you have the ideal weight loss environment, eat lesser calories and expend more, but the communication on the inside is that we're always hungry, therefore let's store some for a rainy day, and while we're at it, let's lower the metabolism.

The Big Question then is how do we then control our inner communication?? About stress I have no idea how to do it. Leptin however, we just need to raise its levels from time to time. I'll give you 3 simple ways: 

1. OCCASIONALLY use high intensity interval training- Train at high intensity levels with rests in between(If you train with Deliberate Fitness, you know this is the science behind our occasional Sprint workouts and our short 6-minute intense finisher workouts). 

2. OCCASIONALLY, read that again, have a cheat meal. Have your favorite treats, or eat without portion control from time to time. This gets you that caloric surplus, which increase leptin levels, that then communicate we're full let's empty some stores & increase our metabolism. Again why Deliberate Fitness will not encourage total elimination of some foods.... Well... to some extent.

3. Get quality sleep. Leptin levels are known to rise when you're in the deep sleep cycle of your sleep. To know these cycles better get a sleep monitor. { Still working on how to bring sleep into our evening workouts, I'll let you know the progress}.

That's Leptin. Note that the prolonged caloric deficit is the problem, therefore the occasional is what should disrupt that continuity.

Find more hormones: Insulin, Cortisol and Human Growth Hormone on the blog
deliberatefitness.blogspot.com

Your challenge for this week is to stop complaining about stress all the time and read about the other hormones.

While you do that we'll be at YMCA on Monday, Wednesday & Friday 5.25-6.30pm working out.

Cheers!