In this article, we’ll review the newly discovered phenomenon of ‘restorative adipocytic reset’ — a new pathway towards turning on the fat-burning mechanisms in the body, without relying on caloric restriction, fasting or carb-reduction. The fascinating thing about this particular strategy is that it doesn’t even rely on diet at all — it all has to do with cortisol, the HPS axis and the G-protein-coupled receptors located on adipose (fat) tissue throughout the body.

How Does the Adipocytic Reset Work Exactly?

The restorative adipocytic reset works by incorporating a few sleep variations in your schedule, as well as increased water amounts at certain times of the day. Put very simply, the classic adipocytic reset involves going to bed 20 min early 3 days in a row, followed by going to bed 40 minutes late (so 20 minutes compared to before you started). What this does is massively suppress cortisol spike:

Is the cortisol awakening rise a response to awakening? – PubMedA distinct rise in cortisol levels that occurs after morning awakening is increasingly used as an indicator of…pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Cortisol on Circadian Rhythm and Its Effect on Cardiovascular SystemThe synthesis and secretion of cortisol are controlled by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Cortisol exhibits a…www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Relationship between Cortisol Changes during the Night and Subjective and Objective Sleep Quality…The aim of this study was to investigate whether the nighttime cortisol release was associated with subjective and…www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

We’ve talked before about how the cortisol system functions to suppress fat-burning. Although its a catabolic hormone, cortisol indeed supports the accumulation and prevents the removal of fat from adipose tissue. In combination with this, it triggers calcium release from the bones, which is in part responsible for the ‘food coma’-type of phenomenons.

By doing the follwing two things only:

• Shifting your sleep as we already mentioned — 20 min backwards for 3 days, followed by 40 min forwards for 3 days.
• Not drinking any liquids for 3 hours before bed, but drinking one large glass of water as soon as you wake up.

We achieve the restorative adipocytic reset we want and our bodies will naturally trigger the mechanism that starts removing fat from adipose tissue. The results won’t necessarily be dramatic, but they often are — just last month I heard of a colleague that lost 30 lbs. in less than 2 months just by following this protocol(she also incorporated a high-protein breakfast meal, as is popular with many modern fat-loss diets).

In the next part of this series, we’ll go into more detail on how the reset works and on various variations on the process!