The other day, we received a question about leptin. Someone had read something about leptin on Instagram and had no idea what it was. So, here is an excerpt from one of our Triage Militia articles.

"Leptin is the body’s “satiety” hormone (and one we will discuss more in depth in future lessons), it is a made by fat cells (this is important, so remember it) and helps the body to regulate energy balance by stopping hunger. Leptin is the opposing hormone to the hormone ghrelin, the body’s hunger hormone. In obesity, a decreased sensitivity to leptin occurs, resulting in an inability to detect satiety despite high energy stores. When dieting to an extremely lean level, lower leptin levels occur and thus you feel hungrier.

It should be noted that although dieting does cause the levels of leptin in the body to go down, dieting also causes an increased sensitivity to leptin, so it isn’t all that bad. Exercise has also been shown to increase leptin sensitivity, and obviously, this is a positive for those in a caloric deficit and engaging in exercise. Poor sleep also seems to impact leptin levels negatively, so a poor nights sleep could leave you feeling hungrier.

So in essence, leptin is responsible for making you feel full after eating a meal. This brings us to our first indication for when we should implement refeeding, if you are constantly hungry (despite adequate protein and a well balanced and generally whole food diet) you potentially have lowered leptin past the level your body requires to feel satiated.

Another point to be noted is the relationship between insulin and leptin. These two hormones play a key role together, insulin (and this is a very simplistic definition) essentially knocks on the door to a cell and allows nutrients to enter that cell. If you are resistant to the effects of insulin, as in very overweight people or diabetics, you also desensitise yourself to the effects of leptin. But this works in our favour when dieting, especially when carbohydrates are kept high in the diet. You see carbohydrates have the greatest ability to affect insulin, and thus leptin. This is why most coaches recommend refeeding on higher carbohydrates versus higher fat.

In essence, an increased sensitivity to insulin, also translates to an increased sensitivity to leptin.

So the best way to control leptin, is to control insulin. The best strategy for this is a well structured diet and resistance training."

And there you are. That excerpt was taken from the nutrition section of the Triage Militia; more specifically, from an article on the use of refeeds during a diet. 

We hope it helped you out.

Kind Regards,

Gary & Paddy

Triage Method