Really Baffled: Starvation, Fat Storage, and Cortisol

Theres the topic of the whole starvation myth. I personally disagree with it but also see the validation in the opposing end.
Their main claim that appeals to me is that the body would either store most of what they would eat as fat for “survival instinct” as our human bodies are made to do when in a survival environment or situation 2 being that our bodies burn less calories in performing a LOW INTENSITY exercise. The example i remember hearing about was a study where it found that the group that walked 6 hours a day vs 2 hours roughly the same body composition, that the 6 hours did burn more calories overall due to 6 hours but less calories per hour.

Their second claim that stuck out to me was that CORTISOL is constantly elevated even the slightest when walking excessively causing hormonal issues and we all know that high cortisol that isnt from lifting weights leads to unwanted stomach fat/fat storage.

I just wanted to hear opinions backed up with reasons. This was a live conference at Rice University that people could publicly attend. I dont think they recorded the video for youtube however.

Im having a hard time seeing an actual question in your post. What is it you would like discussed specifically?

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I am confused as to what is confusing. Higher intensity exercise burns more calories per hour than low intensity exercise. I’m sure someone did a study, but it’s painfully obvious. As for the cortisol claim, I refer to the supposedly “Mysterious” finding that higher intensity work burn calories at a greater rate than lower intensity work. That’s you red flag that you are listening to someone that is either an idiot, or is trying to hoodwink you. If elevated cortisol from exercise was such a problem, it would not be relevant what kind of exercise elevated it.

If taking per say 60,000 steps daily and undereating would burn less calories due to the body trying to preserve itself compared to like 20,000 while slightly at a calorie deficit. And just the topic of LISS but excessive and its consequences

The constant elevation of liss is what they were mentioning I believe.

Cortisol in extended LISS*

Here:

Now we all have something to look at and refer to instead of “they” in some vague reference to an argument that no one else is aware of.

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I would take info from rice university over “Wikipedia” any day. However I am not someone who can just per say call or text their organization for specific info, especially due to the recent outbreak of corona. If you find info from valid sites like ncbi to support either side, I would much appreciate it. Thanks

Dude, you haven’t even made a single coherent statement of your opinion and now you want to be a fucking snot about source?

Go fuck yourself.

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Let’s take a step backwards from this.

Is this just a curiosity you have or are you looking to lose weight and trying to make it as difficult as you possibly can for yourself?

Do YOU have anything to back this up as a real issue? What did present to support it? I can show you thousands of guys in Central America that do LISS in the form of working with a shovel all day and are ripped. You still aren’t presenting any actual argument or question.

Actually you make a good point. Construction workers ARE usually somewhat built(not usually on the slim side but still jacked).
I’ll shoot them an email and reply on what they think of mixed intensity(construction) vs just steady boring state ass walking(pure LISS)

Wow talk about over thinking shit…

Christ my son starting his bloody master degree in sports physiology as a professor assistant and he doesn’t overthink this stuff as much as some.

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Has he considered just emailing some construction workers to see what they think about his major?

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Not yet…:laughing:

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The “starvation myth” is the idea that cutting calories too far will slow your metabolism and cause your body to store vs burning it.

The LISS thing is the idea that you can burn calories thru slow cardio. But if you do excessive cardio your body will find a way to preserve energy and burn fewer calories during that exercise.

Cortisol is a hormone, so it changes the way your body works. Some is good but too much tears your muscles down and turns your muscles to fuel and makes you store fat.

Controlling your diet and doing training are good, but they can both cause your body to produce cortisol. Too little food and too much exertion makes so much cortisol that you actually go backwards, and end up fatter with less muscles than before you started.

In the strength and conditioning world these ideas are very controversial. If “some is good,” then more Must be better. People love linear plans and simple ideas like run farther than last time and calories in vs calories out.

Everywhere else people accept the idea of Diminishing Returns. At some point the cost of doing more exceeds the benefit of doing more. So only do the work that produces the benefits. Or train optimally, not maximally.

In my opinion, these ideas are valid. If you jog around a lot, you’ll get good at it and your body will become more efficient. So of course you’ll burn fewer calories. And if you suddenly went swimming you’d suck at it, it would be very hard and you’d burn more calories than jogging.

And I believe there is definitely such a thing as “too much.” Look at super hard, brief military selection programs, like BUDS for the Navy Seals. It’s really tough, most dudes come out busted down and tired, not ready for more and in better shape than when they started.

As far as fewer calories actually amount you fatter, I don’t know. The lean gains guys believe in a “perfect” amount of calories and meal scheduling that will allow you do the impossible and stimulate your body to build muscle without gaining fat. So shouldn’t there also be an “im-perfect” amount of calories and eating schedule that makes your body consume your muscles and makes you fatter?

Well I guess this idiot needs me to mouth out that the email was for the board of nutrition or in more simple terms if you cant comprehend it, is it’s not going to construction workers dimwit

You are the hero that we never deserved haha!! So for your second paragraph on the LISS, how does one know if he/she is in that state and how does one fix that issue? I am personally curious because walking isnt that hard of a thing to do so I mean I would take an extra 30min walk and enjoy like another bowl of watermelon😂

If you take a 20 minute walk to do cardio and burn some calories, and get some results it’s “good.”

After awhile maybe 20 minutes doesn’t give you the same results. Your body is adapting to the training. So you could walk farther/longer time to get the same results. Theoretically, you could walk so far, for so long that it was hard to recover from. Or it impacted your other training. Or built up more stress than you could recover from.

Instead, you could just do what Everybody does and increase the Intensity of the cardio work, not the duration. Real Bodybuilders walk on inclined treadmills to burn more calories in less time. Other people jog to increase the speed, or wear weight vests or ruck sacks to get more “resistance.” Get on the elliptical or cross country ski so you have to pump your arms and legs. I used to like the stair-master.

Fact check: nobody ever liked the stairmaster

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