The Four Low Energy Availability Types

The Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly LEAs.

Your health is your responsibility - get to know yourself!

I have discussed the daily and weekly low energy availability states I continue to see many experience. Please see the Minnesota Starvation Experiment episodes with Ash and Sarah on their “Rooted in Resilience” podcast and the episodes with Tyler on his “Recommended Daily Value” podcast. After a brief discussion on these two, I will also present two other LEAs I commonly see many experience.

As a reminder, the LEA is a state where the body does not have sufficient energy to support optimal physiologic function. The time domain has been a missing piece in this discussion, and I am presenting some ideas and patterns I have noted here. There are many factors that can contribute to a LEA that are independent of total calorie intake. For example, macronutrient relative composition, micronutrients (the food matrix and the essentiality/ conditional essentiality also missing from the discussion), infection, psychological/ emotional stress, movement (RED-S), things like anemia, GI absorption issues, etc. This is why obese people can be/ are in a state of LEA. The two ends of the spectrum - metabolic syndrome and CFS/ME. Research states the LEA caloric threshold as ~30-35Cal/kg LBM. Anecdotally, I find 35Cal/kg LBM to be the threshold. However, I acknowledge there could be a self-selection bias.

Daily LEA

The typical daily LEA pattern is people under-eat during the day and then are ravenous at night. This typically leads to one overeating food that is not as nutritionally dense, as most do not reach for steak and potatoes. If anything, most reach for low volume, low satiety, and hyper-palatable foods - usually putting them squarely in the swamp. This typically leads to a feed-forward cycle of insufficient/ not restful sleep, not being hungry in the morning/ bypassing those signals because “I blew it last night and need to save calories.” Also, because of the impact sleep has on mental energy/ decision fatigue, glucose sensitivity, etc., they are even more hungry for quick fuel sources.

The other version of the daily LEA came about because some people are pushing fasting later in the day. This leads to issues similar to those in the flipped version.

I think there is something important about micronutrients and macronutrients coming in throughout the day. This does not mean I believe grazing should be the go-to because of considerations about stomach acid refill/ release, the migrating motor complex, etc. Another consideration is everything that is not digested and absorbed now has to go to the large intestine for the microbiome to deal with. Or it sits in the small intestine as the pancreas is struggling to keep up with the exocrine enzymes and bicarbonate, the gallbladder and liver with bile, etc. this then potentially leading to issues like SIBO, SIFO, etc.

Tyler brought up a great point about how under-eating can be easier after overeating because typically one is not as hungry. “[They’re] often not hungry in the morning because they ate so much at night leading to a perpetual cycle.” A similar situation can show up in the weekly, monthly, and yearly LEA cycles as a high week (days, months) can allow for momentum (e.g., less diet fatigue, more micros, etc.) into a low week (days, months)!

Weekly LEA

The weekly LEA is when people undereat for a few days and then overeat - the stereotypical “I ate so well during the week, but then had my cheat meal(s)/ overate on the weekend.” Many are doing some form of macronutrient cycling, e.g., carb cycling, which has returned to the popular narrative.

Daily and weekly LEAs seem to cause a more significant negative:positive metabolic adaption from the time spent in the LEA - the body seems to more quickly down-regulate and takes longer to up-regulate. Over time, this leads to a reduction in muscle, and based on the MSE, etc. research, organ mass, which impacts mental health, hormones, etc.

The other two cyclical LEAs I see are the month and year cycles. Women especially seem impacted by the month cycles - yes, even menopausal ladies, as they still show cyclical variations if they pay attention to themselves. Men also show these cyclical variations, but their frequency might be less or greater than a month - some up to three months, probably following the spermatogenesis cycle.

Monthly LEA

For the monthly LEA, many slightly under-eat for about three weeks, then are ravenous for one week. Some are more like a stair - they have a week of lower calories, a week of slightly higher, a third week of even higher, and a high week. Others flip-flop a little more - the daily and weekly LEAs, etc. This typically follows the menstrual cycle pattern, with the over-eat week being right before their period starts. However, it can happen the week before ovulation, etc. Many have chalked this up to the changes in hormones, especially estrogen. And yes, progesterone changes, but it’s measured in ng/mL vs. estrogen’s pg/mL - so order three difference. Of course, receptor density and cell signaling play a role in this. Anyway, I continue to find when we smooth out the calories throughout the month, the over-eat week, followed by the under-eat week(s), and the negative metabolic adaptations that result tend not to happen. Smoothing it out means adding some calories to the other days that month. For example, say you eat a maintenance of ~2200Cals every day for 3 weeks, then eat ~2400Cals for 1wk. Try eating ~2250Cals every day for the 4 weeks and see if you still have a hungry week. If you do, trial the smoothing procedure again. Typically, many eat fewer calories the week(s) after to bring their weight back down - even though this generally is water weight and will eventually anyway. If anything, they prolong this leveling because of cortisol, adrenaline, etc., promoting retaining the water. This is why many lose inches and weight in a reverse. I think many lose sight of the fact that the scale is not only showing you your fat stores. The MSE really highlights the edema problem, especially how long it can take the water to come off when refeeding. Also, the slight fat gain during the over-eat week, then the lower calories, so losing some lean tissue, fewer micronutrients, etc., during the under-eat week(s) leads to this feed-forward cycle of more negative:positive metabolic adaptations.

Yearly LEA

Finally, the yearly LEA. The research seems to point to people gaining about 1-3lbs every year. Most of this weight seems to come during the holidays. Many have argued the gain is due to a lack of sunlight, especially from the halting of vitamin D production because of the drop off of UVB, movement, more sleep, etc. However, Australians, in their summer during the holidays, also show this propensity to gain around these celebrations. This also seems to be from a yearly cycle of calorie restriction/ excess, where the hunger from the year LEA comes to a head around the holidays. Especially because socially, these times have become an approved time to overeat; many fall into the natural cycle. Then many go right into a cut on January first for the New Year, further cementing the negative metabolic adaptation. Also, depending on the frequency one cuts throughout the year vs. being at maintenance will impact this cycle. Again, smoothing out these calorie cycles by dispersing the calories throughout the year seems to hedge against this cycle. Mainly because those who already have the negative metabolic adaptations, which I will define here as having a lower muscle/ potentially organ mass (nuance because could have fat infiltration, etc.):fat mass, those who are not at the 43-48+Cal/kg LBM, etc. tend to gain more than those who have a “healthy” lean body mass:fat mass during the holidays.

Track to know yourself!

People continue to claim, “It can’t be my diet!” But how many have been eating enough of the foods they objectively do best with? And for a long enough time? Many think they are eating enough, but they are not for them. Also, macro and micro considerations come into play. Because of the above, seeing your trends and getting to know yourself more is excellent motivation to track your calories and weight every day for at least a few months, if not a year. I will also keep recommending people hit 100+% of the RDAs from food. Expect to see your weight jump all over the place. The important part is tracking your average weight. Also, many need to put on more muscle; if anything, their weight might be higher - see the FFMI calculator. I still have a lot of muscle I need to put on! Also, unless you are going through beginner gains, muscle growth is very slow and seems best done at maintenance - again, assuming that 43-48+Cal/kg range

As a reminder, I do not recommend jumping to these calorie targets as one has to wait for the positive metabolic adaptations to kick in - go slow. Yes, at first you will be in the realm of tracking error. However, even +4Cals (e.g., +1gC) per week, for 100 weeks is +400Cals. And again, calories/ macronutrients without the micronutrients needed for the enzymes to function will leave you in a worse state - see the historical challenges with total parental nutrition, etc.

Because people seem to lack nuance and the concept of “both, and” - As a reminder, the above does not mean you need to change anything, especially if you are objectively doing well, have no desire to, etc. I have written extensively about how I mindfully eat and no longer track most of the time. I think this should be were most move to eventually. Many in our transform group and my current/ previous 1-1 clients have greatly benefited from seeing these trends for themselves, and are seeing huge gains in their biochem, biophys, movement, and psychoemotional slices of the pie since taking them into account. Optimally, we would never get to this state. But, alas, many are. Take what resonates and leave the rest.

What has your experience been with these LEA cycles?