Metabolic Adaptations to Weight Loss - It's Not So Simple
If you're not losing weight, it's most likely due to metabolic adaptations.
Weight loss is more complex than sleeping all night. Weight loss is difficult to achieve because our bodies are designed to store more fats when food is scarce. Even if you follow a strict diet or limit your calorie intake, you may still feel that your body composition isn't improving and that losing weight is a long-term goal.
What could be the cause of not losing weight? Let's talk about metabolic adaptation; how it affects weight loss and other related topics.
Metabolic adaptation is the body's instinctive mechanism for ensuring that our body has enough energy. In times of scarcity, this physiological reaction helps us survive.
Most people nowadays encounter scarcity due to dieting or caloric restriction intake to achieve weight loss goals.
How do Metabolic Adaptations Affect Weight Loss?
You will lose a few pounds when starting a diet due to your body's reduced calorie intake.
Even if your calorie intake remains constant, your body weight stays unchanged. It is due to the body's adaptation to using low energy levels while at rest to maintain body functions such as breathing. The body's energy consumption rate is referred to as the basal metabolic rate (BMR).
There are two reasons for the low BMR rate. When you're on a diet, your energy expenditure is low, and your body needs less energy to digest food because you're eating less. Second, your body demands less energy to fuel body functions because you've lost weight.
Once you've reached a certain level of weight loss, it's difficult to advance without continuing calorie restriction and exercise. Restricting calories causes you to feel hungry, which activates your body into survival mode or uses metabolic adaptation to keep you from losing much weight.
Because of how our bodies react to food deprivation, metabolic adaptation can cause a delay in weight loss advancement. Furthermore, it may result in decreased energy expenditure and reduced fat.
While calorie restriction is frequently recommended for weight loss, it is not an ongoing approach for maintaining an optimal metabolic adaptation.
Metabolic Adaptation Based On Science
Restrictive diets can be effective for short-term weight loss, and most people experience rebound weight gain. There is an increase in food cravings and other psychological and neurological changes in the brain.
Furthermore, there is a decrease in energy expenditure, fat burning, and changes in hormonal levels (Leptin) during metabolic adaptation.
How to Prevent Rebound Weight Gain?
When you stop dieting and resume regular eating habits, your body will quickly regain building tissue, resulting in rebound weight gain. Rebound weight gain refers to regaining lost weight. How to prevent it?
Set an eating plan.
Avoid extreme diets. Eat nutrient-dense foods to lose weight.
Don't deprive yourself of your favorite foods when trying to lose weight.
Consider weight loss to be a lengthy procedure rather than a quick one.
If you are perplexed, seek advice from experts. It is the best option.
We are different in physical and body composition. We live with other points of view and different lifestyles. Weight loss is achievable through self-discipline and dedication.