Hormonal
Adaptive thermogenesis (AT) during caloric restriction primarily manifests as a reduction in resting energy expenditure (REE) driven by glycogen depletion and insulin suppression, rather than changes in fat mass or leptin levels.
When you start a diet, your body reduces energy expenditure quickly (within 3 days) to conserve energy. This is driven by dropping insulin and emptying glycogen stores, not by losing fat. This is a normal physiological response (adaptive thermogenesis) that makes early weight loss harder than expected, but it does not mean your metabolism is permanently damaged.
During phase 1, decreases in FFM exceed the decrease in fat mass; they are due to losses in intracellular (due to glycogen and protein mobilisation) and extracellular water (due to an increase in natriuresis) rather than to losses in cell mass per se... During phase 1, AT is explained by 'threshold model' related to the fall in insulin secretion.
Why this rating
Based on controlled clinical studies (e.g., Minnesota Starvation Experiment, controlled underfeeding) with consistent findings on insulin/glycogen dynamics.
Source
Changes in Energy Expenditure with Weight Gain and Weight Loss in Humans
Manfred J. Müller et al. · Current Obesity Reports · 2016
DOI 10.1007/s13679-016-0237-4
More from this paper
- Adaptive thermogenesis during overfeeding does not significantly increase resting energy expenditure (REE) or diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT); instead, energy dissipation occurs primarily through increased activity-related energy expenditure (AEE).Good
- During weight loss maintenance, adaptive thermogenesis is driven by low leptin levels associated with reduced fat mass, leading to decreased non-resting energy expenditure (AEE) and increased muscle work efficiency.Good
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