Questions about adaptations to a diet

[xTheFormless1 New Member Find all posts View Profile Close xTheFormless1]

This question concerns adaptation to diet. What exactly is occuring that makes a diet easier? Lets say one decides to drop bodyfat, they alter meal frequency, calories and eating in general. After say 7-14 days, the diet gets easier to do. An example would be say low carbs becoming easier or going for long stretches of time without eating becomes easier.

The fact that the diet becomes easier....does that mean the diet is more...or is less effective? Could it just be elevation of fat burning hormones and enzymes and greater ability to utilize bodyfat for energy? Or is the body simply reducing the amounts of bodyfat it burns and readjusting to current habits and thus fighting against you to change body composition?

[steel1970 Intense Muscle Competitor Find all posts View Profile Close steel1970]

Easier? Could it be something as simple as you've just hit your groove in regard to the diet, maybe stop having cravings and are not hungry like you were at first, etc? As far as long stretches between meals, no clue, as that's just not for me.

I know my prep diet got easier to handle a week or two in like you said, but I feel I just settled into my routine. Once I personally have a routine down things are fairly easy for me and just flat out hard to screw up....now cardio, well that's a different story....

[mentalflex ISOM Winner February 2012 Find all posts View Profile Close mentalflex]

My opinion is that your body simply adjusts to you energy intake and the changes in macros. You start taking in less kcals and after a little while your body gets accustomed to running on lower kcals. I would speculate that this has to do something with ghrelin, leptin and possibly even dopamine.

Leptin reduces the feeling of hunger and ghrelin stimulate hunger, so once your levels of leptin and ghrelin adjust to amount of food you are taking in I would assume dieting would become easier in the sense that you are less hungry.

I though dopamine might play some kind of role because it is released when we experience some kind of reward or pleasure. Unhealthy foods, like sugar laden foods, trigger the pleasure center of the brain and cause the release of dopamine. One you reduce or eliminate these kinds of foods your brain might disassociate pleasure with food and by eating healthy, resisting those urges and taking satisfaction in your progress you will get receive a sense of pleasure instead.

Just my speculation...

[mister69 Light-heavyweight Member Find all posts View Profile Close mister69]

Good point mental.

That makes sense that your body begins to just deal with functioning on let's say 2500cals for example.

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