Skinny Girl's Quest for Muscle

Skinny Girl's Quest for Muscle
Extreme Dieting and Fat Cell Production

I sometimes frequent the diet forums on various websites and have been disappointed with the number of questions about super low calorie dieting (less than 1,200 calories per day). I eat more than 2,000 calories per day and am able to both 1) gain muscle and 2) lose fat. However, the dieters seem so blinded by a need for a fast weight loss that they ignore health issues. Additionally, there is another, much greater concern (especially for individuals fixated on losing weight)--here's my most recent answer to a question from one of the extreme dieters asking how much she'd lose with a 500 calorie per day diet. I liked my balloon analogy so much that I've decided to share it here as well:

Stressing your body with a super low calorie diet may in fact increase fat cell production, fat cell production that isn't likely to occur under normal conditions. Your existing fat cells may shrink in size, but you'll end up with more fat cells in your body in the long run.

To get an idea of what happens imagine putting 3 water balloons in a bowl; This is you prior to your super low calorie diet. The water balloons can grow as they get fed and shrink if you starve or "exercise" them, but there are only 3 of them.

Under extremely low calorie diet stress, your body will make more balloons. Instead of 3, you may have 10. The 10 balloons individually will only get as big as a regular water balloon in size, but now you have 10 balloons instead of 3, making you more than 3 times as big when you rebound off of the diet, and making it more than 3 times as hard to lose the weight next time.

Your total number of fat cells are predetermined before you are born. However, now that you've stressed your body, that number increases. The fat cells don't ever go away--your new fats cells stay with you for life, you'll always have 10 from now on instead of 3--and what ever weight those new 10 fat cells will naturally pack on your body. In effect, if you have a natural weight of about 125 lbs today, with additional fat cells, your new natural weight will be more than 125 lbs. It will be harder to lose weight in the future and you will be naturally heavier.



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references:
The Straight Scoop About Dieting, By Sharon Greene Patton