This concept flies in the face of the laws of thermodynamics, right?
As long as I burn more calories than I eat, I will be in a deficit and
lose weight. Calories in vs calories out. If you are a cool nutrition
blogger, you criticize the “CICO” hypothesis about once a week. It
turns out the human body is a little more complicated than simple
subtraction.
It may be enough to advise people to eat few carbs, thereby
releasing little to no insulin, in order to keep adipose tissue in a
catabolic state. For patients with carbohydrate intolerance, or insulin resistance, this is likely the best course (though patients taking
medications to lower their glucose may have to alter medications).
To do this, one can focus on intake of solely fat and protein (which
helps with satiety).
However, many sources point out certain issues with maintaining
a very low carbohydrate diet indefinitely: thyroid dysfunction and
overall decrease in metabolic rate, adrenal dysfunction, sadness. So
some experts are now recommending one or two days a week of high
carb intake in an attempt to “reset” these hormones, and to allow for
some pleasure. In addition, this brief and infrequent insulin surge
may allow for increased fat oxidation by manipulating the enzymes
involved in release of fatty acids from adipocytes.
Another concern with low carb dieting and the resultant hormone changes is the wasting of muscle. Insulin has a certain “anti-catabolic” effect on muscle tissue, helping to preserve lean mass.
Proponents of the high fat, high protein diet would say that as long
as someone is not at a calorie deficit, he or she would not have to
be concerned with muscle wasting. But we can cite this potential
muscle building effect as further justification for eating moderate
carbohydrates weekly.
The most proven method to counteract the potential muscle
wasting of low carb lifestyles (whether in a calorie deficit or not)
is resistance exercise. One or two days of this a week is enough to
stress our bodies - making our muscles feel unprepared for life’s
challenges. Each day of resistance training should involve bringing
muscles to the point of positive failure, known as inroading. This is
more safely done with machines, as to “fail” with free weights means
getting pinned under a bar; risky even with a spotter. In addition
to preventing catabolism of muscle tissue, resistance training unequivocally increases bone density.
To use resistance training (or even aerobics) to maximum fat
burning potential, do not consume any calories in the several hours
prior to a workout. This goes against much of the advice from Gatorade and GNC. If one’s goal is to squat 600 pounds, it can help to
eat a Powerbar prior to the workout. But if the goal is fat burning
and overall fitness, workouts should be performed while fasting, as
tolerated (it takes some adaptation to reach this point).
Experts differ on prescriptions for which weight training routines to follow. Some make very good arguments for multi-joint,
multi-muscle exercises at heavy weights. Picture Crossfit style,
shoulder-dislocating, rectum-prolapsing Olympic lifts. Some encourage weight-lifting three times a week with moderate weights
at 4-6 repetitions per set. These regimens can become complicated
and veer away from evidence-based guidelines toward anecdotal
“bro-science.”
Dr. Doug McGuff argues that enough of a stimulus is provided by
performing one set of each of five exercises, once a week. The rest
of the time, take walks and be as active as possible at work and at
home. The five exercises are the chest (bench) press, the overhead
(shoulder) press, the row, the pulldown, and the leg press. Each “set”
is 10 seconds up, 10 seconds down, using enough weight to reach
failure at the 90-120 second mark.
His description of the physiology of muscle fiber recruitment
is impressive and convincing. We initially use slow twitch fibers
in these sets until they fail, at which point the intermediate twitch
fibers begin working until they fail. Finally the fast twitch fibers,
acting in units with a vast amount of fibers controlled by one nerve,
enter into the work of lifting. Before your force is finally overcome
by the resistance of the machine, you wil