G-Flux and why it matters to your health and weight loss goals

[BackInTheGame78]

G-Flux or Energy Flux is basically how your TDEE versus calories in correlate.

Low G-Flux correlates to people who don't burn as many calories through activities but eat less while High G-Flux correlates to people who burn more calories through daily activities and also eat more.

Some people think that a 500 calorie deficit is the same regardless of whether you move a lot or move a little. That isn't true...at least not when it comes to the body and how it views it.

To quote James Krieger when describing why energy flux matters:

“There is evidence that your body’s ability to naturally regulate its body weight is most effective in states of high energy flux, rather than low energy flux.

High energy flux may protect against some of the metabolic adaptation that occurs with weight loss, and may reduce sensations of hunger. For example, endurance athletes who establish an energy deficit through exercise while maintaining a higher calorie intake have a higher resting metabolic rate compared to untrained subjects in a low energy flux condition.

Older adults have a lower resting metabolic rate and lower muscle sympathetic nervous system activity when in a low energy flux state compared to high energy flux state.

Following weight loss, obese subjects had a higher resting metabolic rate and reported less hunger and more fullness in a high energy flux condition versus low energy flux condition, despite both conditions being in energy balance. Low energy flux also predicts future increases in body fat.

This data suggests it is better to establish a deficit with a higher energy expenditure and higher calorie intake, rather than lower energy expenditure and lower calorie intake.”

Will Wearing A Weighted Vest Help You Lose Weight Faster?

Over the last six weeks, I’ve become mortal enemies with this 15 LB weighted vest: But really, I wore this vest every day through the latter […]

elevatedcoachingsystems.com

Energy Flux and its Role in Obesity and Metabolic Disease - PMC

In order to reverse the global obesity pandemic, there is a need for an enhanced understanding of the energy dynamics that underlie the problem. To maintain a stable body weight, energy intake must, over time, match or equal energy expenditure, a ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Increasing Energy Flux to Maintain Diet-Induced Weight Loss - PMC

Long-term maintenance of weight loss requires sustained energy balance at the reduced body weight. This could be attained by coupling low total daily energy intake (TDEI) with low total daily energy expenditure (TDEE; low energy flux), or by pairing ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Everything You Thought You Knew About Burning Fat Is Wrong

What do you know about your "energy flux"?

www.menshealth.com

All About G-Flux

No, it's not a new superhero: G-Flux is a new way to think about how your body uses energy -- and how to harness that power to get lean while eating abundantly.

www.precisionnutrition.com

 

[Ricky]

I think there is alot of validity to this. Of course athletes who stop working out after years of being in competition shape tend to gain tons of weight due to not dialing back the food they are eating once they dropped to lower levels of training post competition

 

[BackInTheGame78]

This is the Blue Pill part of science many of you guys won’t understand it. Energy flux is a buzz word and a marketing strategy too make money, basically bs framing in the fitness industry

Humans were made to be active. That's our base state.

If you somehow think sitting around on your ass and doing very little activity is somehow good for you then I suggest you are clueless.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

When it comes to health, Im way better informed then you, this is an undeniable fact as I have enough proof of this.

Dont try to play me here and as a Mod dont even try to frame People here unless you are Open-Minded.

Besides that, you didn't get my comment

View attachment 10809

In your own mind you are a legend I am sure.

 

[Deranged]

Humans were made to be active. That's our base state.

If you somehow think sitting around on your ass and doing very little activity is somehow good for you then I suggest you are clueless.

This is true from my experience. It's really easy to experiment with too. The days you laz about and do all the relaxing things you thought you needed, maybe at some junkfood too. How's your mental health that day, and the day following? Note your confidence levels, anxiety levels, mental clarity, willpower and cravings.
Now compare that to one of those busy days you're active and social. Work, gym and errands. The day flies by without you even conceptualizing time. You find yourself very confident, flirting with everything in sight, eating better (almost like your subconscious knows you need high quality fuel), amazing clarity of thought and that untouchable fulfilling feeling.

 

[EyeBRollin]

LOL at using "Blue Pill" to delegitimize increasing TDEE as a means of losing weight.

You didn't read these articles, did you?

I got the gist of what he was saying. “It ain’t this complicated. Fitness is an multi-billion dollar industry” etc etc.

I agree, honestly. This stuff may be true but it does more to confuse people than it helps. It can easily be misconstrued as we should just eat more to lose weight.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

There's nothing complicated about G-Flux.

1) If you eat less and exercise more, you're creating a pretty rough energy deficit.
2) If you eat less and don't exercise, the energy deficit is reasonable.
3) If you eat the same and exercise more, the energy deficit is reasonable.
4) If you you eat more and WAY exercise more, the energy deficit is reasonable.

Option 1 is miserable and unsustainable for most.
Option 2 still sucks because you're still eating less.
Option 3 isn't too bad because you're not eating less.
Option 4 is pretty good because you get to eat more while you train like crazy. It doesn't even feel like you're dieting this way.

Option 4 is what G-Flux is talking about. If the reader is an autist who thinks they can eat more and lose weight while not training like crazy, they get the outcome they asked for. Apply common sense and active reading to the article and anyone could understand it.

Option 5: Wear a weighted vest for much of the day so body thinks it weighs more and sets it's metabolism to that weight instead of your current weight so that you can eat more and still lose weight.

 

[EyeBRollin]

There's nothing complicated about G-Flux.

1) If you eat less and exercise more, you're creating a pretty rough energy deficit.
2) If you eat less and don't exercise, the energy deficit is reasonable.
3) If you eat the same and exercise more, the energy deficit is reasonable.
4) If you you eat more and WAY exercise more, the energy deficit is reasonable.

Option 1 is miserable and unsustainable for most.
Option 2 still sucks because you're still eating less.
Option 3 isn't too bad because you're not eating less.
Option 4 is pretty good because you get to eat more while you train like crazy. It doesn't even feel like you're dieting this way.

Option 4 is what G-Flux is talking about. If the reader is an autist who thinks they can eat more and lose weight while not training like crazy, they get the outcome they asked for. Apply common sense and active reading to the article and anyone could understand it.

I hear you man. It is easy for fitness enthusiasts to understand. However, the general public is ignorant as fvck on this stuff. G-Flux may as well be rocket science. Make it simpler.

 

[BillyPilgrim]

By no means an expert, but if you're going to eat a sh1tload, don't forget to occasionally fast.

edited to bold

 

[BillyPilgrim]

You didn't read a single link here, be honest.

No, but I know about digestive issues and that's something you don't want to disregard. I haven't read any linked content bc I'm speaking from experience.

 

[BillyPilgrim]

way to water down your opinion.

Nothing was watered down. The point remains the same, if you eat a lot you want to occasionally clear out your digestive tract otherwise you're at risk of issues down the road, and again I speak from experience.

Try an easier target to slag lmao.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I'm not entirely convinced of that one yet. When a study comes up with a term "weight receptors" to explain their findings, it gives me pause.

The body has sensors in the shins that act as an internal scale of sorts to help it know how much you weigh. It's called a Gravitostat.

It's why sitting too much is so bad because you are not bearing any weight meaning your body thinks it weighs much less than it does.

And when you wear a weighted vest, it pushes it in the other direction, making it think you weigh more than you do.

Shouldn't be surprising seeing how the body needs and uses markers for many other things to "know" where it stands. It uses Estrogen as the hormonal marker to know how it's sex hormones levels are and Leucine as the amino acid marker to know where it's protein levels are.

It's why the male endocrine system is being destroyed with all these estrogenic plastics and pesticides that circulate in everything we eat, drink and touch. It causes circulating estrogen levels to be too high...well, the only way normally that estrogen levels are too high in males is when they are producing too much T and it's aromatizing into estradiol, which means the body thinks its producing too much T and lowers it production and starts ramping up production of SHBG to bind to it and make it inactive, a double whammy.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I'll add that being fat plays a fairly large role in estrogen levels, which is an increasing concern for developed nations.

Agree with everything else about estrogen.

Still not entirely sold on the weight receptors/gravitostat's. It's a theory based on an outcome, but I think a better way to test this would be to use external weights specifically around the shin's gravitostats and keep people sitting the same amount of time, then compare RMR. I'm willing to believe in it if they run a test on that, but I think it's jumping to conclusions that otherwise cannot be proven.

I'm not saying it's not real, I'm saying I don't believe we have the evidence to prove it. Yet.

Yes, fat in and of itself is estrogenic and causes a negative feedback loop in the body whereby it becomes easier to store fat with more estrogen and then as you gain fat your body produces more estrogen.

In terms of the Gravitostat, I am being my own guinea pig on this and will report back. Currently on Day 6 of wearing my 30lb vest 10-12 hours a day. Planning to do this for a month, take a week off and then repeat and see how things progress. Have my starting weight, tape measurements and estimated bodyfat percentage to compare against.

The research has mainly been done in mice/rats but researchers believe there is evidence the same exists in humans.

The Gravitostat Regulates Fat Mass in Obese Male Mice While Leptin Regulates Fat Mass in Lean Male Mice - PubMed

Leptin has been the only known homeostatic regulator of fat mass, but we recently found evidence for a second one, named the gravitostat. In the current study, we compared the effects of leptin and increased loading (gravitostat stimulation) on fat mass in mice with different levels of body...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Body weight homeostat that regulates fat mass independently of leptin in rats and mice - PubMed

Subjects spending much time sitting have increased risk of obesity but the mechanism for the antiobesity effect of standing is unknown. We hypothesized that there is a homeostatic regulation of body weight. We demonstrate that increased loading of rodents, achieved using capsules with different...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The gravitostat protects diet-induced obese rats against fat accumulation and weight gain - PubMed

The gravitostat is a novel homeostatic body weight-regulating mechanism, mostly studied in mice, and recently confirmed in obese humans. In the present study, we explored the effect of weight loading on metabolic outcomes, meal patterns and parameters linked to energy expenditure in both obese...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1800033115

Here is a preliminary human trial showing weighted vest participants had fat free mass remain relatively stable with significant fat loss.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30275-3/fulltext

 

[BackInTheGame78]

By no means an expert, but if you're going to eat a sh1tload, don't forget to occasionally fast.

edited to bold

1) It's not talking about eating a sh!tload, necessarily. If you are burning 2300 calories a day through activity and want a 500 calorie deficit, you are eating 1800 calories. If you increase your TDDE to 2800 calories, a 500 calorie deficit now becomes 2300. The body works better when it's active and fueled than when it's sedentary and less fueled.

2) I fast twice a week every week using a 5:2 system.

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

Energy flux is a buzz word and a marketing strategy too make money, basically bs framing in the fitness industry

I agree it's a new spin on an old idea. Which itself is as old as time.

However, it makes basic sense.

The more lean muscle you have the higher your base metabolism.

The more lean muscle you build while still maintaining a calorie deficit the better you'll look, etc.

It's pretty basic if one can think beyond only two variables...

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I agree it's a new spin on an old idea. Which itself is as old as time.

However, it makes basic sense.

The more lean muscle you have the higher your base metabolism.

The more lean muscle you build while still maintaining a calorie deficit the better you'll look, etc.

It's pretty basic if one can think beyond only two variables...

G-Flux doesn't necessarily have anything to do with lean muscle mass. It has to do with how many calories you burn via TDDE which in part has to do with how much lean muscle mass you carry but more about how active you are on a daily basis versus how many calories you are in taking.

A person with a lot of lean muscle mass is still going to burn far more calories if they are active and moving during the day versus sitting on the couch. That's the real meaning of G-Flux.