The magical gene, what is it?
 

I have been reading about the gene that gets turned on, by what is it, and what if I don't have it???

SIRT1. I think everyone has it and it gets turned on by calorie restriction. I would recommend reading Dr. Johnson's book The Alternate Day Diet and reading the sticky at the top about alternate day fasting/ CRON (calorie restriction optimal nutrition.)

I'll link it here later.

TY

If you find out you don't have it, let me know. Then I'll know there are two of us. :D :D

Back when Dr J wrote, there was SIRT1. Since then, a lot of SIRTs have been isolated. If you do an internet search on sirtuin enzymes or sirtuin proteins, you will find there has been a ton of research - most of it done in 2011 and 2012.

I am sure some people are born without sirtuin enzymes...but those little doodads are so fundamental to the body I suspect those people do not live very long.

SIRTs are always there, always doing their thing, usually burning themselves off in the process. JUDDDs 'trick' is to invoke them at a rate that builds up more than burns. So, they keep doing their thing even when we are not in low-cal/fasting mode.

OH. Some people initially burn a lot more SIRTs than they accumulate. Rate of accumulation varies body to body. Many/most people feel it when accumulation hits a certain level. I can tell you I hit the jackpot on Wednesday of my fourth week JUDDDing. That is about average. Some take longer, some take much less time. (The nice thing is, you lose weight before you hit complete accumulation.)

Did having S1RT1 turned on help on the DDs , or do you just get used to the DDs? And do you KNOW when it's turned on, can u feel it? And does the S1RT1 actually help with weight loss? Sorry for all the questions!!

Yes to the above bolded.

This is just my personal opinion and experience- this is not the case for everyone, but I found the lower the DDs are for a consistent period of time the quicker my SIRTs getting flowing and flowing quite strong. When I take time off from rotations for a vacation, the faster I get back to low, low DDs I get quickly re-satuated with SIRTs and get my energy and appetite suppression back quickly.

Interesting and it makes sense, Carly. I think the wider the gap between UD and DD calories is what makes it happen, right? I definitely have the SIRTs now. That sounds like something bad, lol.

ETA: silly me was joking in the earlier post, Tex. :D

Sounds like squirts lol

sirtuin proteins are created when the body recognizes a caloric deficit, they do three things we are concerned with:

1) they run around the body cleaning up old, dead cells; and the innards of cells that are sickly. They send the detritus to be burned as fuel. And, in the process of cleaning up they can make great improvements in our health.

2) they support fat burning, in fact they appear to be critical to making the body burn fat and preserve muscle

3) for some of us, they reduce feelings of hunger

Sounds great, doesn't it? It is. The trick is that the body only generates them for a fairly short time. After an average of 40 hours, if the body is still in a calorie deficit, it stops producing SIRTs and changes over to burning fat and muscle.

By eating very low one day, we invoke the SIRTs and burn fat (and get a nice internal dusting and cleaning). By eating high the next day, we turn off the calorie deficit and prevent muscle being used for fuel. That is the magic to the rotation.

Gradually, over time, we accumulate enough SIRTs that they hang around and keep working on UD. At that point, weight loss usually speeds up a bit...even if it does not speed up, it becomes very stable and predictable.

When we have a - ahem - body-full of SIRTs, it takes about two weeks to burn them all away. That is why going on vacation for a week or so may cause a bounce, but returning to the rotation and losing the bounce is usually very easy.

I hope that helps.

So I guess I will be scheduling "just" under 2 weeks vacations from now on LOL..... or make sure I continue rotations the first week if I decide to chuck it all the 2nd week - or about the time I start drinking wine :)

Thank you Nancy! That really does help a whole bunch!
I hope, please tell me it's not the thyroid that makes these proteins, please please because I don't have a thyroid

Nancy, thank you so much for that timely post! Hubby and I are heading out on Tuesday for a four day trip to a couple of casinos. I have been dreading the bounce I know will be waiting for me when we get home, but after reading that post, the bounce will be easier to handle now. Thank you!

Sheryl, I will keep reading (I am beginning to feel an eBook coming on) but I don't really think SIRTs are generated by glands the way enzymes are. They act like enzymes but they are formally introduced as being proteins. So far, I have not found anything written that says blah-blah makes SIRTs. I think you are safe - if it was as simple as 'the thyroid makes SIRTs' I think I would have found it.

Everyone contemplating surviving a vaycay (this is where I shine), SIRTs become active, or get created, or whatever the heck it is they do, every time your body thinks it is under caloric stress. Every night, if your body has time to burn through the calories you ate yesterday, a few more SIRTs are - so to speak - born.

Which means mindful eating (if it is not delish, try something else) and intermittent low-cal/fasting eating can keep replenishing SIRTs.

Here is the link to the reason I say I shine at vaycay eating: My Social Eating Marathon

OOPS, I see a typo in that link - normal UD should read just above RMR.

I think mine kicked in this week. I was losing 1 lb a week and this week so far I've lost 3.5.

Do the SIRTs stay active in maintanence if you up your DD calories according to the JUDDD calculator? I'm really looking forward to higher DD numbers but don't want to loose the benefits of SIRTs.

Whoo Ha! Happy SIRT saturation week!

In the book Dr J talks about eating at 50% maintenance levels and having to drop his DDs a few times a year to reactivate what we on this forum would call his NSVs.

It probably depends on your particular metabolism and will take some experimenting. But since September I find having one or two low DDs a week is enough to keep my weight stable and keep my NSVs.

Nancy, thanks for bumping up the old thread within your post and all the great information! I started JUDDD b/c of all the wonderful maintenance success stories over here so it was so helpful for me to be reminded of that this morning!

Sammy, I'm glad you asked that last question! I've been struggling with super hungry DDs this week and have been reluctant to bump my DD cals up at all b/c I don't want to risk the SIRTs going away! Definately wondered how that would work out on maintenance if DDs were bumped up. ETA: WTG on 3# this week? WOW! That's crazy fabulous!!!!

Thanks :love:

I actually wonder about this as well. I have a thyroid, but it's wonky, and I don't have a lot of the NSVs that others report. I don't necessarily think the thyroid produces the SIRTs, but if you're not optimized on your thyroid medication, it might interfere with either their production or the way they function. Maybe. :dunno: I've lost very well with JUDDD, but I don't have the increased energy that many report. I'm dealing also with a highly inflammatory illness right now, so that's not being benefitted by JUDDD. However, I don't get the normal bugs that others in my family have had this year, and I have decent appetite suppression most of the time, so . . . :dunno:

Maybe both, but I think (for me) it really helps with the appetite suppression when the gene finally arrives. When you start not dreading a DD and/or find they're much easier to get through, then you'll know the gene hath arrived. :laugh: On the flip side, sometimes your UDs are sometimes a little harder to get all those calories in. Shocking, I know!

For me it's a realization one day that the UD wasn't very challengining and the UD had me looking for food to get up to the calories. The appetite suppression is the only thing I really "felt".

It takes different times for us for it to kick in. Mine is usually a few weeks, where others it's not near as long.

I read up on this a bit last night Dawn. I searched thyroid and Surtuin. I found an article that said along with all the other benefits of the Sirt1 protein, it also makes its way into the thyriod gland and optimizes and regulates(stabilizes) TSH production. So that is something I will not benefit from. If you or others need help in the TSH area, this protein may help that. I still don't know where the proteins come from though, but I feel if these proteins are found in worms(which they are), they are probably not procuced in the thyroid, unless worms have thyroids?

I did a quick search and found "SIRT1 is a nuclear protein" which means either it is made in the nucleus or works in the nucleus of the cells. Which cells those are or if it is in all cells I don't know. It doesn't seem to be any easy answer to find.

Wow Nancy! I crown you Queen of Sirt info! You have a great way of explaining the process so that it is understandable. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge with us. This post and so many of yours have helped me a lot! :hugs::shake::hugs:

I think maybe I have delayed the production of SIRT by never going below 500 calories on DD's. Also, never getting the appetite suppression...well, not as well as some have. With the help of ptero, I hope to start having lower DD's and get that SIRT flowing!!

:goodpost: :notwrthy: I hate reading books, so this is awesome! I will copy this to my JUDDD info I am making for some friends who may want to see how it works!

I agree Nancy, you are super awesome!!!

Thank you. I am so glad if I am able to help. :love:

I did some more SIRT hunting last night. Here is what I found.

SIRTs are metabolic enzymes (yes, that can :stars: translate to 'SIRTs are nuclear proteins') that live in the cells of every living thing (yeast, worms, people).

Sheryl, stop worrying. You got 'em. I suspect there are probably metabolic disorders that prevent metabolic enzymes from forming. Sadly I also suspect those unfortunates either do not survive to be born or leave us soon thereafter. You are alive = you got SIRTs.

More cool info to follow - reality is interrupting my fun just now :doh:

Glad to know we all have SIRTs and can activate them for better health and weight loss. I'll keep looking for your updates, Nancy. I love your posts!
Thanks :shake::hugs::shake:

I can verify that slacking off on rotations, then getting back on after SIRTs were fired up before the slack that SIRTs can come back quite nicely. I slept like a baby last night and today I'm feeling a better mood and lots more energy....amazing!