I have a client who is starting a new diet which I disagree with but she has her mind set.
They have people eating roughly 1000 cal daily with most calories coming from their protein shakes and bars.
They recommend their clients not exercise for the first three weeks because it will hamper their body’s ability to burn fat, here’s a quote:
"How does exercise possibly cause detrimental effects on the process? As you know, when we exercise we cause our body to use more energy and nutrition in order to perform to the level we are pushing. Normally this is a desired outcome, but when the body is already getting a lower calorie intake it can cause issues. During phase one, if we cause the body to need more nutrition that we are giving it, it will turn on the starvation mechanism. When that happens it causes a few things to occur:
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The cells of the body go into a efficient mode where they use less energy to perform the basic tasks. This is for the express purpose of making the body need less nutrition for a short amount of time.
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During this efficient mode the body takes the food nutrition it does get and stores it for later use. This leads to a stop of weight loss and can even cause weight gain.
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The body finds nutrition where it can as fast as it can. This is usually the lean muscle mass, which is not what we want to have happen. The loss of muscle contributes to issues with flabby skin among other health risks. It also causes hunger and many times loss of energy."
Any opinions? Is there any evidence to support the idea that exercise (lifting) while on a low cal diet will hamper fat loss efforts?
Thanks.
While I happen to agree with you that it would probably be better to include some exercise during the first 3 weeks, it may be helpful to step back and look at the bigger picture.
Given the fact that they are going on a fairly restrictive diet it seems likely that the client has less than optimal eating habits. If your client is successful with the new diet and loses weight over the first several weeks, and I would expect that to be the case at 1,000 cals, they will have the opportunity to examine the fact that they are indeed surviving on a nutrition plan that does not match their old habits. That can be very powerful.
Also consider that if they truly follow their diet, 1,000 cals will not provide much energy and they will likely feel completely drained by any workouts. That might be enough to discourage them.
Finally, in the big picture, what is 3 weeks one way or the other? It may be that in 3 weeks or so when their body has adapted to the low calories provided by the diet and progress begins to slow, that the addition of exercise will help to keep the weight loss on track. But really, taken in the context of what you do with yourself over a lifetime, what is a few weeks one way or the other.
Old Lifter
[quote]vinny186 wrote:
They have people eating roughly 1000 cal daily with most calories coming from their protein shakes and bars.
[/quote]
Who are ‘they’? Is this a company who’s ‘diet’ is a way to sell products, or is this a diet approved by a physician for a medical condition that was not stated in the first post?
Also, you mentioned no exercise ‘In Phase 1’ of the diet, what are the other phases? And if possible, what is the diet’s aim for the first phase and all combined phases overall?
Edit: As for exercise, without added info to the whole program and it’s intent, I can have no educated guess. But if you are really concerned, have your client walk a fair bit. I have significant doubts as to the body reacting in a negative manner to walking.
It’s often recommended to avoid little other than enough weight training to maintain muscle.
If they don’t have any muscle, then there’s little to maintain.
Therefore, a harsh deficit by itself may be okay. Helped my stepdad drop about 70 pounds (starting from 300).
But basing the diet on shakes and protein bars doesn’t sound too great (v-diet be damned).
Well at least the client wont “work up an appetite”
When I diet and lift more than minimally I cant help but eat.
I did my best weight loss backpacking through Colombia eating lots of fruit, walking around most of the day, smoking tons of cigarettes and doing bodyweight exercise 3 times in 5 weeks, so crazier things have worked…