Metabolic Flexibility, I hope

(Tim Parkin) #1

I’ve had a couple of interesting weight gain/loss episodes recently that I wanted to share. I started keto in February 2018 and then went to LCHF after about five months. Overall I’ve lost about 70lbs so far and dropped from 19st (266 lbs) to just over 14st (196lbs). I am aiming for 13st (182lbs) but I’m relaxed about how long it takes me to get there.

My wife and I went on a 12-day cruise in June. As it was all inclusive and we had 50% off alcohol, as my daughter works for the cruise line, I definitely indulged! In 12 days I put on 10lbs, which I was a bit shocked by. I went back to being good when home, and skipped a couple of extra meals during the first week back. I lost 8lbs in one week, which I was very impressed by.

The same thing happened again recently. I had a bad week where I ended up eating over 1200 grams of carbs, so put on 9lbs in one week. After a week of being ‘good’ I lost 8lbs of the weight gain.

It amazes me that I could put on so much weight in a short space of time, but then lose it again so quickly. The message I take from this is that I have become very carb sensitive, and quickly put on weight if I go above a certain threshold. On the flipside, the weight will quickly fall off if I go back to lower carb. I will mainly stick to low carb, hopefully for the rest of my life, but it’s nice to know that the occasional potato or serving of rice won’t completely derail me!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Don’t forget that one of the effects of storing glucose is that it is hydrophilic. As I recall, each molecule of glucose or glycogen that enters the muscle brings along with it three or four molecules of water. So it’s not surprising that you gained and lost so much poundage so quickly. It wasn’t so much that you added fat, you bloated your muscles. And of course, you shed the water as you used up the stored glucose/glycogen. You may have added a pound or two of fat, but that should get metabolised, as you start keeping your insulin low again.

But remember that fat storage is not the only reason to avoid carbohydrate. An elevated serum glucose level, and the consequent elevated insulin level, can both cause damage. High serum glucose increases your risk of cardiovascular problems by glycating your haemoglobin, making it much likelier to clot, and high serum insulin causes systemic inflammation and interferes with the production of nitric oxide, which results in elevated blood pressure and puts strain on the cardiac arteries, making them more susceptible to damage.

(Ken) #3

Your metabolic flexibility is a good thing. Occasional carbohydrate intake within the context of an overall fat based pattern insures you maintain good metabolic health. It is also a normal part of Human Evolution. It is only when you adapt chronic patterns of carbohydrate consumption that detrimental adaptations begin to occur. Many who preach Nutty Keto Dogma do not understand these simply are adaptive processes, so they continue to bring up apocalyptic scenarios in order to convince you occasional carb intake is somehow unhealthy. When challenged they often go into Victim Mode and rationalize their unscientic beliefs due to some sort of self perceived psychological issue, like a food addiction. In reality, what happened to you was totally normal, good for your metabolism, and in no way caused any fat gain or detrimental adaptive effects. The Human digestive.sysyem is well able to handle some occasional carbs. Human digestion is very adaptive, it take a while for them to occur Same way it took a while to get adapted out of eating carbs when first switching to Keto.The most important thing is to remember that fat based nutrition is the normal and healthy pattern for Humanity, so always use it as your Baseline, with carbs being clearly the exception not the Rule.

The real, appropriate response to you post is: No big deal, just make sure it doesn’t happen often.