The Fat Loss Paradox
Fat loss is a micro-injury to the body.
Yes, you read that right.
When looking deeper at a fat cell, we can note that it is extremely susceptible to damage as the nucleus is located on the outer edge of the cell. Most cells have their nucleus in the centre to avoid taking damage.
For this reason, fat cells are super vulnerable to damage and as well as traction stress.
Since fat cells are very easy to damage, they have an exo-skeleton that protects them. This is known as the extra cellular matrix. The ECM protects your fat. As fat cells shrink, they begin to rip and pull away from the ECM creating traction stress and releasing excess heat shock proteins and inflammatory immune signals like interlukein 1B.
After a period of fat loss, injury repair becomes the top priority as lowering these inflammatory signals will help us prevent weight regain in the future.
The old paradigm: fat cells are just stored energy and when you get them to shrink you have solved the problem.
The new paradigm: fat cells and fat loss are governed by immunity. When fat cells shrink we are triggering a cascade of biological signals that will promote weight regain in the future.
Fact: Nearly 90% of individuals will eventually regain most of the weight they lost within a year!
Following a significant fat loss period inflammatory signals rise, excess heat shock proteins will release, metabolic rate drops, hunger signals increase (serum leptin), our Mitochondria no longer utilize oxidative phosphorylation and are now utilizing glycolysis (also why cancer and fat cells are extremely similar).
Let’s imagine an individual who has just lost 60lbs. This person has clearly gotten many fat cells to shrink in the process. As those fat cells shrink, they tear and rip apart from the protective layer called the ECM. Now those fat cells need the ECM to protect them. If the ECM does not remodel/shrink along side those fat cells, this individual will begin to have issues, like weight regain.
The ECM is composed of various collagen fibres and as we lose weight, the ECM and those fibres begin to harden and stiffen. This is traction stress that will continue to cause stiffening over time. The more times we lose and regain the weight, the harder it becomes to lose the weight once more. Each time is more difficult which most can agree on simply from their own experiences.
The ECM continues to stiffen till it will no longer remodel itself. This is also why fat loss is very difficult in older populations or among those who constantly lose weight and gain weight seasonally. We can hack this biochemically and biomechanically.
For now, we will start with a hack we can implement post fat loss.
Get cold a couple times a week!
It’s important we do not over do cold exposure.
1. Take 3 Grams of L-carnitine + 50-100mg of CoQ10.
2. Cardio. Go for a walk, run, whatever you're up for, just move!
3. Wait 20 minutes post cardio and get cold!
4. Use a mechanical massager over your problem areas - this is physically restructuring the ECM biomechanically!
You want to do this in a fasted state.
Next, there are some things we may want to avoid after we have just lost a decent amount of body fat. But first, it’s we understand that with the right amount of anything, we can optimize our health. By overdoing that one thing, we will disrupt the internal balance and begin to some very negative side effects.
Let’s take water for example. Of course we know that water is vital for human life and longevity but does that mean we should be drinking 20 gallons a day? Of course not! This applies to everything we do and consume.
Even the sauna, believe it or not.
Now this is not to get the wrong idea about heat shock proteins. There is so much research to support all of their amazing health benefits. However, this is to highlight the when something good can be done at the wrong time or in the wrong amounts.
Getting back to our main point here, that the separation of shrinking fat cells from the ECM creates traction stress. That traction stress is friction. That friction generates heat. Meaning; traction stress from fat loss releases heat shock proteins. If we do not suppress heat shock proteins post fat loss we will be much more likely to regain the weight we just lost.
The reason being; the presence of heat shock proteins in your fat mass is direct proof that fat loss or shrinking fat cells is inflicting cellular injury. One in particular is HSP60. Heat Shock Protein 60 moves proteins directly into the mitochondria. A key to remember is that HSP60 (and any HSP for that matter) are neither good nor bad.
However, over-expression of HSP60 in your fat mass will recruit inflammatory mediators, like interleukin 1B. Interleukin 1B directly promotes weight regain within 4-12 months depending on the individual and their lifestyle routine.
Say we took that individual who just lost 60lbs and reached their goal weight. For the next few months to come, we should limit sauna use and instead lean more towards cold exposure. This is merely highlighting seasonal balance ingrained in our human biology.
Next, we need to Hack IL-1B by stimulating the hormone Adiponectin. You can do this by simply increasing walnut and avocado consumption and pairing it with a high dose EPA fish oil, and Fucoidan.
These 4 things have been shown to help up-regulate adiponectin, directly block IL-1B and down-regulate HSP60 in your fat mass.
