When You Lose Weight, Here’s How Your Body Fights To Regain It For You
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It’s well-known that intentional weight loss is often regained quickly, but it’s not always clear why.
Sometimes it is clear! For example, we wrote previously about how a person who has been on GLP-1 RAs may afterwards be even more inclined to put on fat than before:
❝Of the four studies that actually looked at the macros (unlike most studies), they found that on average, protein intake decreased by 17.1%. Which is a big deal!
It’s an especially big deal, because while protein’s obviously important for everyone, it’s especially important for anyone trying to lose weight, because muscle mass is a major factor in metabolic base rate—which in turn is much important for fat loss/maintenance than exercise, when it comes to how many calories we burn by simply existing.
A reasonable hypothesis, therefore, is that one of the numerous reasons people who quit GLP-1 agonists immediately put fat back on, is because they probably lost muscle mass in amongst their weight loss, meaning that their metabolic base rate will have decreased, meaning that they end up more disposed to put on fat than before.
And, that’s just a hypothesis and it’s a hypothesis based on very few studies, so it’s not something to necessarily take as any kind of definitive proof of anything, but it is to say—as the researchers of this review do loudly say—more research needs to be done into this, because this has been a major gap in research so far!❞
Read in full: Semaglutide’s Surprisingly Unexamined Effects
But that’s about GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs; what about dietary weight loss?
It can be quite different in terms of its mechanism, for example: The 3 Phases Of Fat Loss (& How To Do It Right!)
But new science sheds a light on where these things meet:
Of mice and menus
Researchers (Dr. Frankie Heyward et al.) did a mouse study showing that after weight loss, the body often continues generating persistent hunger signals for weeks, increasing the drive to regain lost weight.
The way that this happened suggests that the body is likely to biologically defend a previously higher weight, creating sustained pressure to return to that elevated weight rather than comfortably maintaining the lower one.
Notably, only mice whose food intake remained permanently restricted to match lean controls maintained their weight loss, suggesting that reaching a lower weight didn’t erase the physiological drive to regain. This suggests that the draconian methods discussed in our article “What Are The “Bright Lines” Of Bright Line Eating?” may work, at least for long-term weight loss, if not necessarily for happiness*.
*For health and happiness, we would suggest almost the opposite, per: Intuitive Eating Might Not Be What You Think and What Flexible Dieting Really Means 😎
Back to the recent study: mice who gained weight the most quickly during their first four weeks on a high-fat diet were more likely to regain more weight later, which means early weight-gain responsiveness appears to predict long-term vulnerability.
Because both mice and humans share the same relevant pathways in this case, this has implications for GLP-1 receptor agonist use too, because while GLP-1 RAs can effectively reduce body weight, these findings suggest that underlying hunger biology will still persist and contribute to regain when treatment or calorie restriction stops.
You can read the new paper itself, here: Evidence of persistent hunger following dietary weight loss in mice
Want to learn more?
You might like these main features on getting your body just the way you want it, sustainably and healthily:
- How To Lose Weight (Healthily!)
- How To Build Muscle (Healthily!)
- How To Gain Weight (Healthily!) ← this one’s specifically about gaining healthy levels of fat, for any who want/need that
And also:
Can We Do Fat Redistribution? ← yes we can, but there are caveats
Take care!
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The HRT That Prevents Osteoporosis Without Side Effects
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Today’s article will be mainly about women’s health, because it’s about the tradeoff between:
- Menopause-mediated osteoporosis due to declining estrogen levels
- Estrogen-mediated gynecological cancers that can be worsened by HRT
So, there seems to be a “damned if we do, damned if we don’t” choice here, when it comes to HRT.
But, it’s not really. This is because of several factors:
Firstly, the cancer risk increase has been greatly overstated by a faulty study that has since been refuted but the press ran with it at the time and now that PR hit can’t be undone.
You can read more about that here: Cancer & HRT: What’s Safe?
Secondly, know that the cancer risk is mainly if you already have an increased cancer risk (e.g. current or previous cancer, or family history of that cancer, or you know you have a gene that increases risk of that cancer)
For more on that, see: The Real Benefit Of Genetic Testing
Thirdly, there is often some cognitive bias at hand in this matter: while people are typically more afraid of cancer (it’s a death sentence, right?) than breaking a bone (it fixes itself, right?) the truth is that after a certain age, a small increase in cancer risk is mathematically preferable in terms of health-related quality of life and survivorship/mortality, compared to a large increase in fracture risk, when in later a life such a fracture is typically life-changingly bad, and many go to hospital, get some infection, and die. Or otherwise simply never really recover, and everything is rapidly downhill from there. Whereas cancer? Your body killed cancer just now. Like it does every day.
Now, that’s not to say that cancer should be underestimated—it’s a serious problem and does kill many people. But in the cold hard light of day (and mathematics), it’s still better to take a tiny increase in cancer risk over a huge increase in fracture risk.
There are some ways around this conundrum
We have previously written, for example, about:
The Hormone Therapy That Reduces Breast Cancer Risk & More
Most recently, however, there’s a new way of doing things that’s been developed.
How it works: the estrogen is encapsulated in a two-layer shell that delivers it only to osteoporotic bone, avoiding systemic absorption to uterine (and other) tissues. By this we mean: it is assumed that this would also apply just the same to not being absorbed to the ovaries, breasts, and other tissues, but the study itself was looking at avoiding uterine/endometrial cancers specifically.
This matters, because postmenopausal estrogen loss accelerates bone resorption and weakens bone structure, but standard estradiol therapy can raise assorted gynecological cancer risks for some people, as discussed up top.
Note: we’re using “estrogen” and “estradiol” somewhat interchangeably here. To oversimplify it: estradiol is the most useful form of human estrogen, and it’s what modern estrogen therapy uses.
Now, when we say “encapsulated”, we’re not talking about capsules like you might commonly have when taking supplements. We’re talking microscopic here; the estrogen compound itself is encapsulated, with a covering that will only remove itself when it comes into contact with osteoporotic bone. In other words, it’s “special delivery” estrogen that can only arrive to one particular body structure, and not any others (it’ll just bounce off others without being absorbed, until, circulating in the bloodstream, it at some point reaches its bone target).
How that works: they coated estradiol with bone-seeking peptides that bind calcium, then enclosed it in tannic-acid–magnesium cages that stay intact in neutral pH but dissolve in acidic bone-loss microenvironments.
As a bonus, this also has a dual therapeutic action: tannic acid blocks bone-dissolving cells, and magnesium ions support bone-forming cells, while (as mentioned above) the estradiol activates only when the shell breaks down
In terms of testing, we’re not at human trials yet, hopefully soon, but here’s what there’s been so far:
- In vitro: coatings remained stable in bloodstream-like pH but reliably released contents in acidic solutions that mimic osteoporotic bone
- Mouse studies: twice-weekly injections of the encapsulated hormone for four weeks raised bone density above pre-osteoporosis levels with no uterine side effects and showed fluorescence-verified localization only in weakened bones
You can find the paper itself, here:
Want to learn more?
If osteoporosis (or risk thereof) is a concern for you, you might want to check out:
- The Bare-Bones Truth About Osteoporosis
- Osteoporosis & Exercises: Which To Do (And Which To Avoid)
- Which Osteoporosis Medication, If Any, Is Right For You?
And for a much deeper dive into avoiding osteoporosis, cancer, and more, check out:
Unbreakable: A Woman’s Guide to Aging with Power – by Dr. Vonda Wright
Take care!
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On This Bright Day – by Dr. Susan Thompson
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
This book is principally aimed at those who have struggled with emotional/comfort eating, over-eating, and/or compulsive eating of some kind.
However, its advices go for the “little compulsions” too, the many small unhealthy choices that add up. Thus, this book has value for most if not all of us.
The format is: each day has a little quotation, followed by a short discussion of that, which is then underlined by an affirmation for the day.
The main thrust of the book is to promote mindful eating, and it does this well with daily reminders that are helpful without being preachy.
Bottom line: if you enjoy “daily reader” type books and would like a daily reminder to practice mindful eating, then this book is for you!
Click here to check out On This Bright Day, and enjoy your food mindfully, every day!
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Women Living Deliciously – by Florence Given
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
“Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?” as the line goes, and this book answers that, and how.
While roundly aimed at women, as per the title, this book will be of benefit to anyone who finds that society has wanted to keep you small and contained, and that perhaps you were meant for better.
The book is divided into three sections:
- Excavating
- Planting
- Blooming
…which broadly describes the process the author takes us through, of:
- Digging up what is wrong
- Putting better things in place
- Enjoying life
This is important, because otherwise a lot of people will understandably exhort us to step 3 (enjoying life), without really thinking about steps 1 and 2.
Her wording of it is important too, it wasn’t just being flowery for floweriness’ sake—rather, it highlights the nature of the process: while “enjoy life” seems like a thing-in-itself (as Kant might say), in reality, there’s another necessary thing (or series of things) behind it. In contrast, the gardening metaphor renders it clear: how will your flowers bloom if you do not plant them? And what good will planting them do if the soil is not right for them?
So, she gives us a “ground upwards” therapeutic approach.
The style throughout is casual but sincere and heartfelt, and while this is a book of personal change rather than social change, it does reference feminism throughout so if that’s not for you, then neither is this book.
Bottom line: this is a lot more than just a pep talk or a book of platitudes; it’s a lot of concrete, applicable stuff to markedly live life better.
Click here to check out Women Living Deliciously, and live deliciously!
PS: we notice a one-star review on Amazon expressed disappointment upon discovering that this is not a recipe book. So please be aware, the only recipe in this book is the recipe for a fulfilling and vibrant life 😎
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Progesterone Menopausal HRT: When, Why, And How To Benefit
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Progesterone doesn’t get talked about as much as other sex hormones, so what’s its deal? Dr. Heather Hirsch explains:
Menopausal progesterone
Dr. Hirsch considers progesterone essential for menopausal women who are taking estrogen and have an intact uterus, to keep conditions at bay such as endometriosis or even uterine cancer.
However, she advises it is not critical in those without a uterus, unless there was a previous case of one of the above conditions.
10almonds addition: on the other hand, progesterone can still be beneficial from a metabolic and body composition standpoint, so do speak with your endocrinologist about it.
As an extra bonus: while not soporific (it won’t make you sleepy), taking progesterone at night will improve the quality of your sleep once you do sleep, so that’s a worthwhile thing for many!
Dr. Hirsch also discusses the merits of continuous vs cyclic use; continuous maintains the above sleep benefits, for example, while cyclic use can help stabilize menstrual patterns in late perimenopause and early menopause.
For more on these things, plus discussion of different types of progesterone, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
- What Does “Balance Your Hormones” Even Mean?
- What You Should Have Been Told About The Menopause Beforehand
- HRT: Bioidentical vs Animal – A Tale Of Two Approaches
Take care!
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The Japanese Health Initiative That Lowers Blood Sugars
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
We’ve talked before about Good (Or Bad) Health Starts With Your Blood, and how a lot of human disease begins with, or is exacerbated by, diabetes or even pre-diabetes, and that in the US, this is even more strongly true than in the rest of the world, what with the US being #1 for diabetes.
However! That does not mean if you’re not prediabetic, there is no threat. This is because it is usually insulin resistance, and not the high blood sugar content itself, that is the main driver of disease. It just so happens that blood sugars are a lot quicker and easier to test, and the correlation between them is high. On the other hand, insulin resistance will often go unnoticed for many years, because the pancreas just cranks out more and more extra insulin to compensate and keep the blood sugars balanced—until one day it can’t because the body is so resistant to insulin that the pancreas just can’t produce enough to get it to care adequately, and that’s when the blood sugars will finally rise (and get noticed).
We reviewed an excellent book about precisely this (very, very common) phenomenon: Why We Get Sick – by Dr. Benjamin Bikman
The good news is, there are things can be done to Improve Your Insulin Sensitivity.
And with regard to blood sugars themselves, an excellent list is: 10 Ways To Balance Blood Sugars
Number 8 in that list was:
After you eat, move
The glucose you eat will be used to replace lost muscle glycogen, before any left over is stored as fat… and, while it’s waiting to be stored as fat, just sitting in your bloodstream being high blood sugars. So, this whole thing will go a lot better if you are actively using muscle glycogen (by moving your body).
Inchauspé gives a metaphor: imagine a steam train worker, shoveling coal into the furnace. Meanwhile, other workers are bringing more coal. If the train is moving quickly, the coal can be shoveled into the furnace and burned and won’t build up so quickly. But if the train is moving slowly or not at all, that coal is just going to build up and build up, until the worker can shovel no more because of being neck-deep in coal.
Same with your blood sugars!
But that—sound advice as it is—remains a little vague, leaving us with questions such as:
- How much movement?
- For how long?
- And what’s the window of opportunity to enjoy this effect?
With those questions in mind…
Japan’s “Plus 10” Initiative
The government of Japan has a “plus 10” initiative, whose goal is to encourage everyone to add just 10 minutes of extra activity to each day. You might think that won’t make a big difference, but in fact it all adds up, for example: Cumulative Exercise vs Neurodegeneration ← which shows how it is cumulative exercise over time that matters the most in this regard, which means that “little and often” really does count for a lot.
We’ve also written before about How Useful Is “Exercise Snacking”, Really?, with some very specific protocols there for those who like to truly optimize everything.
Most recently, a Japanese research team investigated the effects of two different approaches to post-dinner exercise, on blood sugars:
- Walk for 10 minutes, immediately after eating
- Walk for 30 minutes, 30 minutes after eating
There was also a control condition (rest only, no walking).
They measured the effect of these conditions on blood glucose in three ways:
- 2‑hour blood glucose area under the curve (AUC)*
- mean average glucose
- peak glucose
*that’s a way of looking at the total impact of it over the course of the recording period
They additionally measured heart rate, perceived exertion, and gastrointestinal discomfort.
They found that both walking conditions significantly reduced 2‑hour blood glucose AUC and mean glucose versus control:
- 10-min walk: the AUC was 15,607 mg·min/dL (control was 16,605), and mean glucose = 127.9 mg/dL (control was 135.8mg/dL)
- 30-min walk: also effective, but no significant difference compared to the 10‑min walk immediately after eating.
However! Only the immediate 10‑min walk significantly lowered peak glucose (164.3 mg/dL, compared to the control condition’s 181.9 mg/dL).
Which means that the immediate 10-minute walk not only equals the delayed 30-minute walk in most ways, but also outright beats that in a third way. And that third way, the peak glucose? That’s where the insulin resistance starts, so this is critical.
As for the other things they measured: both walking conditions were rated as low perceived effort, with the 10‑min walk feeling the relatively easier of the two. No increase in gastrointestinal discomfort was reported for either walking condition.
You may be wondering about the pace of this walking:
❝The walking speed was self-selected by the participants to be comfortable. The participants were instructed to walk at their usual relaxed pace as in their daily life. The walking speed was set on a treadmill and was implemented at the same speed for the two walking conditions.❞
You can read the paper in full, here: Positive impact of a 10-min walk immediately after glucose intake on postprandial glucose levels
If walking isn’t your thing, or you don’t have a treadmill and the weather outside is frightful, then you might like:
No-Exercise Exercise! ← for a veritable buffet of exercise snacking ideas
Want to learn more?
Consider:
15 Easy Japanese Habits That Will Transform Your Health
Enjoy!
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Figs vs Pineapple – Which is Healthier?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Our Verdict
When comparing figs to pineapple, we picked the figs.
Why?
Both have their merits! But…
In terms of macros, figs have 2x the fiber as well as more carbs and protein, making them the nutritionally denser option in the macros category.
In the category of vitamins, figs have more of vitamins A, B2, B5, E, and K, while pineapple has more of vitamins B1, B3, B9, C, and choline—so, a tie in this round.
Looking at minerals, figs have more calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while pineapple has more copper and manganese; a clear win for figs here.
When it comes to phytochemicals, figs have slightly more polyphenols, but pineapple has bromelain—we’ll call this round a tie, though an argument could be made for a subjective win for pineapple, given bromelain’s potency (see link below).
Either way, adding up the sections makes for an overall win for figs, but by all means enjoy either or both, as they both have great things to offer!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Bromelain vs Inflammation & Much More
Enjoy!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
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