Homer Simpson (c) Fox Media
It’s not unusual to think you’re hungry. What might be surprising is that, once you’ve begun losing weight, your brain actually responds differently to the sight of food. However, that seems to be exactly what researchers at Columbia University are finding, as NPR reported yesterday.
The complex dance of hormones and neurochemistry that controls our reaction to food, at both a cognitive and physical level, is something that can be hacked to our advantage, however. It just takes a little insight, planning, and discipline. Fortunately, most weight-loss programs, from the insanely strict to the lifestyle maintenance, consciously or unconsciously include a mechanism that allows you to out-smart your cravings. Some of them are even built around it.
Cheat codes days for the win. It’s not God Mode, but it’s a start.
What researchers have found is that people who have been on diets and lost more than 10 percent of their beginning bodyweight, two things happen. First, they have depleted levels of the hormone leptin due to the weight loss, and, as a result, their brains tend to show an emotional response pattern to food, rather than a more analytical or detached one. Thus, if we can keep our leptin levels in the range where our body doesn’t feel like it’s being deprived or starved, we won’t be casting longing looks at a plate of brownies or quart of ice cream, and can see them in a more objective way.
More Spock, less McCoy, much as it pains me to say so. I admit it; I’m a huge Bones fanboy.
Fortunately, part of that analytical approach means that, about once a week, we can look at something like a pizza, or a box of cereal, or that ice cream, or pretty much anything that would normally scream “diet land mine” and say, “YOU! GET IN MAH BELLEH.” It takes about a week to a week and a half for leptin levels to get depleted to the point where your body shifts into starvation mode and stops being profligate about ransacking stored fat for energy, but the good news is that it comes back online very easily – usually within a day or two after a cheat day.
What all this means is that you can, through strategic and tactical application of tasty and delicious evil, trick your body into forgetting you’re even trying to lose weight, at least as far as your brain and hormones are concerned. Which means you can check out that box of Oreos giving you a come-hither glance and say, “Not tonight, baby… but how about Saturday?”
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