"Exercise is not an effective tool for weightloss" is nonsense

#41

So many people have a story like this! Chronic cardio + high carb is a particularly lousy combination…

(ianrobo) #42

exactly what Tim Noakes was … and especially in running many are not ‘well’

(Dan Morrison) #43

Great job, and I think anyone can benefit from exercise. But I also believe you can’t out exercise a bad diet. Plenty of couch potatoes who lose on KETO. Plenty of hard exercises are un healthy

#44

Even Fred Hahn, LCHF/Keto & personal training community educator and author says that 99% of muscle development is in what we eat, just 1% is in the magic of mitchondrial releases that happen in slow burn weight lifting. I was really surprised when I learned that at first - I had no idea! I’d thought food was only half of it, not 99% :smiley:

However, that 1% factor that happens in certain metabolically enhancing, intense and slow strength-bearing activities can be exponential for body recomposition - a boost that enhances body, mind, and spirit and works multiple systems of the body at once.

Still and all - it’s truly amazing how just feeding our bodies with ancient mammalian macros can work such wonders! Biology is truly amazing.

The films Cereal Killers, Run on Fat, and The Big Fat Fix present a lot of data on how LCHF eating maximizes health for endurance athletics as well as saves lives of ordinary people. Talk about win-win!

(Adam L) #45

Really interesting thread, thanks for being brave enough to put it out there and question the words of someone (Dr Fung) who so many of us greatly respect, follow and are grateful to for what we have learnt from him. I am sure I’ve heard on the podcast Richard refer to sinking insulin or leg muscles developed through countless hours of bike riding being glucose and insulin sinks. We know that Richard knows and lives this stuff.

#46

Thanks, @Adam! I think we’ve heard the terrible “eat less, move more” thing so many times, and it’s both misleading and incredibly disheartening. Dr Fung is probably wanting to move away from that as decisively as possible. I’m sure he understands the hormonal response to activity more than most folks but he wants to emphasize that shifting our eating (and incorporating fasting) is the most direct route to changing insulin signaling.

(Richard Morris) #47

The TL;DR version is yes and no, and it’s complicated.

The position that “Exercise is not an effective tool for weight loss” came about as an argument against the commonly held view that “Exercise produces a caloric deficit which is necessary to lose weight”

It has been made by many experts including Tim Noakes, Stephen Phinney and Aseeem Malhoutra in an editorial in the British journal of Sports medicine.

http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/49/15/967

You can think of our daily energy budget as comprising 3 buckets. There is the basal energy expenditure which is all the things you must do to be alive … like apparently pumping sodium out of your cells and potassium in consumes up to 66% of your cells total energy use. Then you have the resting energy expenditure which comprises all the optional energy uses like warming, or immune function. And finally you have the energy you are going to need to exercise.

The caloric deficit theory holds if you increase your exercise, then you just get more energy out of storage (body fat). If there were a switch that prevented us accessing body fat or using fat for energy then we would instead make budget cuts in our optional energy expenditure (REE).

Insulin is just such a switch. When insulin is high we are inhibited from extracting free fatty acids from adipose tissue, and we are inhibited from burning long chained fatty acids in our cells.

We don’t draw down stored energy in body fat by increasing energy consumption, we do it by lowering insulin … which is high when we eat carbs, or if we are profoundly insulin resistant it can be high when we eat nothing at all (high fasted insulin).

So the biggest bang for buck is going on a diet that lowers insulin - ie: keto.

HOWEVER, as I understand it building up new muscles with weight bearing exercise can reduce insulin resistance but a little, and using those muscles will draw glucose out of circulation which will draw down insulin in circulation, and High intensity interval training will increase mitophagy (turning over old damaged mitochondria and making new fresh organelles), which may also lower insulin resistance.

You don’t NEED to exercise to lose weight, you need to lower insulin and keto will do that.
Exercise can assist diet by reducing insulin resistance, and lowering your insulin even further.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #48

That’s the clearest description I’ve seen so far. Thank you, @richard!

(Bunny) #49

Need for exercise depends on body type (per Dr. Eric Berg) WHEN FIRST STARTING out!

Three Body Types:

  1. ADRENAL

  2. LIVER

  3. OVARY

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #50

How do you tell which type you are? I think I might be ovary . . . . :grin:

(Bunny) #51

Go to Dr. Bergs website to take the free test:

https://www.drberg.com/body-type-quiz

(David) #52

Sadly, only available to US residents. Looks like an interesting concept though.

(ianrobo) #53

I can get it in the UK but I tried this at the start of my journey and it did reveal and confirm my thoughts …

(David) #54

It asked me to put in a US telephone number. I think I know what I am anyway.

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #55

I’ve spoken about this in another post: clearly my insulin levels need to come down, because I’m plateaued long-term around 80-81kg, and I should definitely be under 74-75kg even accounting for lean muscle tissue growth.

This forum has been very helpful in isolating for me other ways to improve insulin sensitivity. For me, even keto has not been sufficient and I am sure I need additional pathways to get there. As far as I can tell, the best options are strength training, fasting, and Metformin, probably in that order.

Thanks to @SlowBurnMary and others, I’ve just started experimenting with the McGuff protocol for resistance training, and I began Metformin a few weeks ago. Am considering trying an extended fast for good measure, maybe towards Xmas.

If I see remarkable results from these changes, I’ll definitely spruik them here.

#56

https://fakenumber.org/ :slight_smile:

They are supposed to be unattributed, so you’re bothering no one.

#57

In terms of effectiveness, the order is: fasting, Metformin, strength training.

#58

Except this isn’t just any strength training that he’s talking about :slight_smile:

#59

Yes, please keep us posted! My husband and I have been experimenting with bodyweight and kb exercises to failure at home and it’s pretty intense. We’re about 3 weeks in and feeling good. For myself I can’t tell more than that yet but yesterday I did a double take when my husband took off his shirt, so something nice is happening :grin:

(VLC.MD) #60

would love to hear what you think of Metformin + Keto.
do you test blood ketones ? blood sugar ?