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Think about what thermostats do. In A. C., for example, as the temperature gets too cold, below the set temperature, it cuts off the compressor and it warms up to reach that point. Same occurs as temperature goes up, compressor starts cooling again.
Have you thought about many people around who are fat, wants to reduce it but can’t stop eating? It’s not about willpower, it’s their leptin hormone at play. Even when they cut down calories, they can’t lose fat at all or maybe little after a stage.
For years, there has been research on any such thermostat mechanism for weight control. It was discovered at last. At 1994 leptin was discovered. It was named ‘leptin’ from laptop – which means thin.
What is leptin actually? It is a polypeptide hormone secreted by the fat cells. This acts as the chief regulator of fat storage and burning.
Let us discuss in detail about the chief functions of leptin:
Leptin kind of gives signal to the body that there is energy excess and body can use it for these lesser important functions (after having enough energy for brain, heart, lungs, GI tract and other vital functions needed to survive).
Now think about one point. If body has such an amazing mechanism for preventing fat gain why does people get fat at all?
Enter leptin resistance or fall in leptin level for interference with your body composition. Think about your body secreting lots of leptin but your body (including hypothalamus of brain and other organs) can “see” it. What will happen? Body will have lots of futile leptin but brain will keep you hungry and metabolism will slow down. This is what happens with obese people.
This has been explained amazingly by the ob/ob gene in a mouse. Those specific genetic variant of mouse lacked leptin and they can’t stop eating. They eat like crazy and pack on loads of fat and gets slower and slower. There are genetic variants of lower leptin,leptin resistance and even lack of leptin altogether (very few cases). These guys get fatter and never stop eating despite highest willpower.
Even the obese individuals, not responding to leptin or those having lower leptin level behave the same way.
If you are having lesser leptin in your body, however hard you try, it won’t be easy to lose fat. Chronic dieting or carb restriction significantly decreases the leptin secretion from fat cells. Metabolism may slow down to huge extent even to few hundreds of kcal per day. This is the basic reason why there is a common saying that diet alone doesn’t work in long term.
It is said that calorie restricted dieting for even one week can cause 50% decrease in leptin. Imagine how easily how your fat loss can be stalled. Reviving the leptin level is vital to continue your weight loss goal.
Refeeding for one or a few days (frequency varies from person to person) and increased carbs can do wonders. This will up the sagging levels and can revive the fat burning process. But please remember, refeeding will never be same for a bodybuilder with 10% body fat and an obese sedentary guy with 30% body fat!
But obese people with lots of fat have lots of leptin production. But why can’t they burn them easily and lose it?
Well, obese people have another problem. They can make plenty of it. The problem is that despite leptin finding and binding its receptors all over the body, no downstream message is sent. The system that senses leptin is broken.
Think of something like insulin resistance. Lots of insulin is produced but the body cells can’t recognize it. Same happens with leptin too. Those brain and other cells, with leptin receptors, get resistant to the hormone. And interestingly, this occurs coupled with insulin resistance too! Double whammy… insulin and leptin acting in unison and the poor obese guy really struggles to lose fat.
This is called leptin resistance, a condition in which the brain can’t determine when body fat is at an okay level. The fat cells are sending leptin out to the hypothalamus to signal that fat stores are full. Leptin binds the receptors, but no downstream messages are sent.
Common causes of leptin resistance are:
Leptin resistance leads to a big shift in metabolism. It causes a new “set-point,” which leads to the maintenance of a higher level of body fat storage and slower metabolic rate. Remember, your body tries to act smart, and if it thinks a “diet” is coming, it immediately holds on to fat as much as it can.
For fat loss effectively, it is now clear that you have to get better of leptin resistance (as well as insulin resistance, coupled with it). How to achieve this? Try these following steps:
Add a few episodes of refeeding – Please don’t think a day or two of higher calorie diet with more carbs will store back all the fat you lost. Those extra carbs may store a little bit of water and raise the weight temporarily. But that is negligible compared to leptin reset benefits for next dieting days.
Try to get better of your insulin resistance – As discussed before, recurrent and persistent higher insulin levels cause insulin resistance. Insulin and leptin resistance are so intertwined that fixing one helps the other.
Try to reduce inflammation and use supplements – Insulin resistance is also a reason of inflammation. Red meat, lots of saturated fat and higher omega 6 fatty acid increases inflammation. White fat, higher triglycerides also causes cellular inflammation. Try to get lean as early as you can and try to stay lean and not bulk up for any reason.
Use omega 3 fatty acids rich food like fish oil, flax seed, omega GA supplements etc. Even taurine and calcium supplementation has been seen to help fight leptin resistance.
Avoid sugar, simple carbs, processed food and fructose – These food leads to early development of leptin resistance (also insulin spiking – later leading to insulin resistance). Avoid them during diet and even in your refeeding days. Try complex and slow absorbing carbs for revving up calories.
Sleep well – Remember that chronic and even acute sleep deprivation reduces serum leptin levels. It also increases the inflammation levels as described above. Try to have at least 7 hours of sound sleep for optimum leptin levels.
Can exogenous leptin be used for fat loss?
This may be an amazing option. Theoretically possible, for sure. At least for dieting plateaus it can be the best option. But practically speaking, leptin being a polypeptide hormone like insulin, has to be injected. Current price is around 500$ per shot, that too only for research purpose. I am not aware of its commercial use till now.
Does exercise has any relationship with leptin?
For details, please have a look in this NCBI article
(U.S. Air Force Photo/Abner Guzman)
For further details on leptin hormone, please read the posts by Lyle Mcdonald on leptin series
Conclusion :
Only calorie restriction and willpower is not enough. To lose weight, and keep it at bay, you have to consider leptin, keep its level high and prevent leptin resistance at all costs.
Introduce refeeds, eat clean, avoid sugar, fructose and processed food, do exercise, fight insulin resistance at any cost and sleep well. Leptin has to be kept under control for long term weight loss success.
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