Sorry – saw you answered the question already in the article.

-Jon

Would a moderate increase in caloric intake via fat and protein be effective in restoring normal hormone levels or are carbohydrates necessary?

Thanks,
Jon

The following question is somewhat related to a conversation I was recently having with a neighbor of mine. He’s a devoted gym rat, but a few months ago he sustained back injuries when a car blindsided him on the road. During the early phase of recovery he kept calories up to help with the whole process, however as the months went on, he began to steadily reduce intake because he wanted to keep his bodyfat levels in check. Currently his daily intake is rather low for a male, but he is also not currently engaged in any notable physical activity yet.

He commented on feeling like his testosterone was in the toilet and how he was feeling a high level of mental stress lately. So my question is this…..while caloric restriction is likely no aid in such cases, is it possible that the high level of mental stress could be the main culprit behind how he is feeling as opposed to the caloric restriction?

Initially I though it might be the current restrictive intake, but he’s been at this level for a few months, and he says that feeling like someone shut off the testosterone coincided with the things that were mental triggers for episodes of stress. And while his intake is below 2000 kcal/day the nutrient density of what he does consume is quite high.

I wish more people who have many pounds to lose could have this information. It is truly overwhelming to lose large amounts of weight, and your approach is so sensible and accessible. I’m becoming a personal trainer myself and I will definitely guide folks to your material.

Thanks again.

Comment in:
Am J Clin Nutr. 1999 Sep;70(3):305-6.

Effect of prolonged moderate and severe energy restriction and refeeding on plasma leptin concentrations in obese women.
Wisse BE, Campfield LA, Marliss EB, Morais JA, Tenenbaum R, Gougeon R.

McGill Nutrition and Food Science Centre, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montréal, Canada.

BACKGROUND: Plasma leptin in humans is subject to both long- and short-term regulation; it correlates with indexes of body fat that can only change slowly. However, short-term fasting causes large and rapid decreases. OBJECTIVE: We tested the interactions between energy intake and fat loss on plasma leptin during prolonged moderate and severe energy restriction, with a view to understanding mechanisms of control. DESIGN: Postabsorptive leptin was measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay specific for the human peptide in 21 obese women aged 41 +/- 3 y (weight: 102 +/- 4 kg; 48 +/- 1% body fat) after 1 wk of a weight-maintaining diet and then weekly for 4 wk during a total fast (group 1); a 1.9-MJ/d all-protein, very-low-energy diet (VLED) (group 2); or a low-energy, balanced-deficit diet (BDD) providing 50% of maintenance energy (group 3). In groups 1 and 2, leptin was also measured after 1 wk of refeeding with a diet equivalent to the BDD. RESULTS: Mean leptin decreased markedly by up to 66% (P < 0.001) at week 1 of energy restriction and then gradually thereafter. The change in leptin per kilogram fat mass correlated with that in glucose concentrations [r = 0.538 (P = 0.012) at week 1 and r = 0.447 (P = 0.042) at week 4] but not with that in fat mass. During refeeding postfasting, leptin increased (P = 0.008), despite an ongoing loss of fat mass and correlated positively with changes in resting energy expenditure. At times with comparable cumulative energy restriction and fat loss between diets, the percentage change in leptin paralleled that in glucose. CONCLUSIONS: In obesity, changes in energy intake over days to weeks are a primary modulator of plasma leptin concentrations that are related to the change in glycemia and are able to override the regulatory influence of fat mass.

The idea is that when you begin to consume more food than required for maintainance the excess food is stored as glycogen muscle and fat. At first the dominant process is glycogen storage then muscle growth but by around 2 weeks that is more or less done and the dominant process is fat storage.

The diet period is to reduce any fat stored and to create a hormonal environment for the body to respond to the overfeeding period. does this make sense?

Thanks for another interesting post

martin