I Lost 3% Body Fat In One Week By Eating More
It pays to listen to your body.
For months now, my body was at virtually the same weight it had been at despite the amount of exercise I’ve been doing and the amount of food I’ve been eating.
And only recently have I cracked the code — a little bit — in terms of shaping my body into what I want it to be.
A little over a week ago, I started three key things:
- I started to count calories through a calorie counting app.
- I took screenshots of them and sent them to a personal trainer at the gym I attend.
- I switched up my lifestyle slightly by working out less and eating more.
The last one caused my cousin to make a remark about my dietary shift but it doesn’t matter to me.
Because after making that change, while I did gain weight overall, my body fat percentage dropped by 3%.
This was based on a weigh in last Monday, about a week into these dietary changes.
I understand that I’ve been gaining weight from this and it makes sense. I’m purposely avoiding the gym and reducing the amount of exercise I typically do. It’s only natural that I’m going to be gaining weight overall if I’m starting to eat more.
But the amount of food I’ve been eating isn’t as crazy as you think.
It’s Called The Famine State
When reading diet books on weight loss or any weight-loss related article, people will constantly be using the “Energy Balance Equation”. The principle follows that if you’re putting in less energy (i.e. calories) than what you are using up by living, breathing and exercising, then you are bound to be losing weight.
People swear by this equation for everything and it makes sense from a general health perspective.
What many don’t realize is that this only works to a point.
Weight has a way of plateauing or we have urges to binge or there is a health condition that messes with how our body functions and we can’t lose weight.
This leads to the age old arguments that:
- The person is lazy;
- Isn’t trying hard enough;
- Isn’t sticking to the plan or;
- Has some psychological problem (like binge eating);
When in reality, that’s not the case at all.
Take my case as an example.
Back in May, I was eating like this…
Every. Single. Day.
My personal trainer at the time said I should be losing a tonne of weight through all of this. And I’m sure others would be thinking the same way too.
And yet, I rarely lost any weight.
He was using the Energy Balance Equation. He never considered The Famine State.
What It Is
Also called The Famine Reaction, it’s a physiological phenomenon that happens when we’re not eating enough calories and nutrients that our body needs in order to maintain fat storage.
Basically, for the past year once I started hitting the gym I was being a dumb-ass and depriving myself of calories while hitting the gym on a regular basis.
I put my body into a physiological state where it gets harder and harder for me to be losing and even harder to keep it all off.
Case and point: now that I’m eating more within my proper energy levels, (or close to it) I’m gaining weight again.
This isn’t just a me thing either. Every person’s body has a response like this and it has come in handy in many cases.
It’s what has helped the human race to survive shortages of food and survive famines.
Which is why this whole physiological phenomenon was discovered in Nazi Germany due to the internment camps starving prisoners.
However in the cases of weight loss, it’s been a big problem with people.
How It Affects Us
Our body isn’t able to differentiate between when we’re trying to diet or what’s an actual famine.
Paired with how our health trends are right now, you have a messy battle between the diet you’re taking and the famine state.
And if you’re thinking of fasting or restricting how much food you’re having, you’re only strengthening the famine state.
After all, when you restrict food, your body thinks there might be a famine happening and so it begins to store the food, convert it into fat and uses that as fuel.
This is further reinforced by your body making all kinds of extra hormones like:
- Neuropeptide Y, an amino-acid that decreases our latency to eat, increases desire to eat, and delays satiety by increasing our desire for larger meals.
- And glucocorticoids, a stress hormone that promotes fat accumulation. Particularly in the midriff area which is why people put weight in that area when stressed.
By making those hormones, you’re only shooting yourself in the foot by depriving yourself of food.
How To Know If You Have It
Like so many other health issues, they’re often misunderstood or misinterpreted. In the case of the famine state, people chalk it up as a psychological problem.
Again, I point to my cousin who suggested I eat like a bodybuilder.
And people’s reasoning for it being a psychological problem are further reinforced by the signs that you have this:
- You have a nagging hunger or craving for a lot of food.
- Lethargy
- Feeling cold
- Decreased libido
- Weight plateau
- And rapid rebound of weight gain.
Some of those signs would amount to people over-indulging in food or binge eating in the end.
How To Solve It
Well, I’ve already solved it with the whole point of this article. As I said above, I began counting my calories again and paying attention to how much calories I’m taking and burning off.
According to Body Matters Australasia:
The famine reaction [state] can be switched off by ad libitum feeding- sufficient to satisfy physical hunger (intuitive eating). Food sends the hypothalamus a clear message: the famine is over.
In other words, you want to be eating more food.
A calorie counter app will definitely help in this regard as you’ll be able to determine with precision whether or not you’re breaking past your caloric intake.
Because as much as you want to be eating more food, you don’t want to be eating too much.
Just like me, you’ll be gaining weight during that period of time as you bring your food intake higher. However, as long as you’re not eating past your own appetite constantly, you won’t be putting yourself into a state called fat break.
Paired with exercise, you can begin restoring your body and losing weight properly. After all, while I gained some weight by fixing my eating habits, I’m still losing some body fat in the process.
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