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I don't quite understand what the leptin reset protocol is, who should be doing it and what should be done? Can anyone give a brief overview in laymans terms?

I've seen the site but still don't get it!

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7 Answers

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Restoring leptin sensitivity should allow the brain to naturally regulate energy homeostasis to allow the body to adjust to its correct weight naturally. This is based on leptin being the master control hormone in the neuro-regulation of appetite.

It's laid out here:

http://jackkruse.com/my-leptin-prescription/

The FAQs are useful too:

http://jackkruse.com/the-leptin-rx-faqs/

To start - do this for 6-8 weeks:

  1. Eat paleo/primal as per Robb Wolf or Mark Sisson
  2. ~50g protein within 30 minutes of waking (if hunger/cravings persist add more protein)
  3. No snacking
  4. 4-5 hours betweens meals (3 meals/day - can drop to 2 if you are not hungry)
  5. No snacking
  6. No heavy exercise (walking is fine)
  7. Did I mention no snacking?
  8. 50g carb limit (25g limit for those with a lot of weight to lose)

Determine whether you have reset your leptin according to his guidelines.

After reset you can:
1. Relax the 30 minute breakfast rule (still eat protein - the timing can relax)
2. Continue eating paleo/primal
3. Eat low carb if you want to lose weight (or add some to compensate for exercise)
4. No snacking between meals
5. Skip meals or IF if you are not hungry
6. Start exercising (HIIT/heavy weights)

He has more info on supps and various testing that might be useful for people with specific issues, but that's basically it.

He strongly encourages liberal use of coconut oil and green tea.

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1 
 This is interesting. Maybe explains why CR fails: Starvation, like obesity, is accompanied by a decreased BBB transport rate of exogenous leptin (20). Whereas it is difficult to explain the evolutionary advantage of decreased leptin transport in obesity, an advantage is obvious in starvation. Decreasing the amount of the anorectic protein reaching the central nervous system should enhance the drive for seeking food – majkinetor Oct 27 2011 at 14:09
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 Something is wrong there tho... They say: Here, we postulate that triglycerides may underlie the impairment in BBB transport in both obesity and starvation. Triglycerides are decreased with fasting but are elevated with starvation and tend to be elevated with obesity. Supporting this hypothesis is the observation that mice with impaired triglyceride synthesis are protected against development of both diet-induced obesity and obesity-induced leptin resistance (22). Thus, hypertriglyceridemia could explain impaired transport of leptin across the BBB in both starvation and obesity. – majkinetor Oct 27 2011 at 14:13
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 And that just doesn't make sense.... In other paper they say:In this cohort of initially healthy women, nonfasting triglyceride levels were associated with incident cardiovascular events, independent of traditional cardiac risk factors, levels of other lipids, and markers of insulin resistance; by contrast, fasting triglyceride levels showed little independent relationship. – majkinetor Oct 27 2011 at 14:14
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 That's an interesting paper. But I did not see that they claim anywhere that milk is bad (although I can see how you concluded that). It does claim that triglycerides block leptin transport across the BBB (blood brain barrier). In mice. They increased serum triglycerides by injecting the mice with milk. The mice did not drink the milk. High serum triglycerides may be part of the problem with respect to leptin resistance. Thanks for the link! – Dave S. Oct 27 2011 at 14:21
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 +1 for mentioning no snacking, but I would like to remind people reading this that there is also no snacking in the evening, and no snacking between meals, and also no snacking before and after meals. – The Loon Oct 27 2011 at 16:38
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It is the way to let your body be sensitive to hormone leptin which controls long term energy intake and expenditure. Leptin is the way your brain perceives your energy status and consequently how to react.

It is done using zero carb, hi fat, ultra protein breakfast - 30-70g of protein. It takes several weeks and Quilt suggests not to exercise during that time. Markers of improvements include increased sweating, reduced appetite and correction of some clinical makers.

This should be done by all overweight people.

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Thats how I understand it at least. – majkinetor Oct 27 2011 at 8:25
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 Correct, except the zero carb part. I've only ever seen him state 50g or in some cases 25g carbs/day. 25g CHO is arguably VLC, but not ZC. – Dave S. Oct 27 2011 at 13:40
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 I didn't say zero carb day, I said zero carb breakfast – majkinetor Oct 27 2011 at 14:01
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 It is not a zero carb breakfast. Carbs are supposed to be eaten during the time of the day that cortisol is high. – The Loon Oct 27 2011 at 16:36
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 Here it is: "Make sure that breakfast has little to no carbs (less than 50 grams), and has a lot of protein and fat". From jackkruse.com/my-leptin-prescription – majkinetor Oct 27 2011 at 17:04
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Cook ahead of time. Go to sleep a little earlier. Set your slow cooker the night before. Act "as if". As if this may be your last opportunity to eat for days. The lack of time in the morning seems to be one of the most common excuses, but you can work around it for a few weeks with a little planning and imagination.

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@LisaAPB - Do you have an example (or two!) of what you cook in your slow cooker for breakfast? I find I spend so much time every evening cooking in preparation for the following day and would love to be able to put some breakfast foods in my slow cooker! I don't eat eggs but do you have any meat/veg combos that might work well in a slow cooker for breakfast? – Mashanshell Oct 27 2011 at 20:50
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It's not zero carb but VLC. You eat breakfast within half an hour of waking. Breakfast should keep you going for hours, even better if it keeps you full until dinner time.

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As for why you should care about leptin:

There was an article in today's New York Times describing the results of a recent Australian study that really helped me understand the role leptin plays in body weight and why people regain weight after dieting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/health/biological-changes-thwart-weight-loss-efforts-study-finds.html?_r=1&hpw

here's a snippet:

One hormone, leptin, which tells the brain how much body fat is present, fell by two-thirds immediately after the subjects lost weight. When leptin falls, appetite increases and metabolism slows. A year after the weight loss diet, leptin levels were still one-third lower than they were at the start of the study, and leptin levels increased as subjects regained their weight. Other hormones that stimulate hunger, in particular ghrelin, whose levels increased, and peptide YY, whose levels decreased, were also changed a year later in a way that made the subjects’ appetites stronger than at the start of the study.

The subjects were on a low-calorie, "maintenance" diet and they still were gaining back all the weight they lost. Unless leptin can be normalized at the new, lower body weight, the dieter will inevitably gain the weight back, even if he/she eats very, very little food. And they'll be miserable and hungry the whole time. Logically, then, the only way to NOT gain the weight back is to somehow raise leptin levels. HOW and WHAT you eat apparently makes a difference here.

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 I don't think this is supposed to increase leptin, it's supposed to increase sensitivity to the leptin that is circulating. Leptin should drop when fat is lost. – Travis Culp♦ Oct 27 2011 at 18:45
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What if you don't have time to eat the BAB within 30 minutes of waking. I have to get up early as it is to get to work and any earlier would disrupt my good sleep.

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7 
 I'm sorry if this is mean but not having time is the WORST excuse not to eat a healthy breakfast. It takes me about 8 minutes from taking out the skillet to shoveling scrambled eggs in my mouth and you can heat up leftovers while the pan is heating up. Got to bed 15 minutes earlier if this is such a big deal but I can't stand this excuse. – Nutritionator Oct 27 2011 at 15:41
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 I think I was pretty successful with this by following the rules with some liberty. One of them was eating within 30 minutes of waking. I did it for the first couple of weeks, but I'm back to taking hard boiled eggs in the car with me, so that's about within 90 minutes. – staceychev Oct 27 2011 at 16:08
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 (cont.) That being said--I have 2 daughters (one of whom is a toddler), a full time job, a husband, etc. What I've learned to do is fulfill the nutritional requirements without a lot of time. I can make eggs fried in butter in about 5 minutes, chop them up in a bowl with a spoon, and eat them at stop lights. I can hard boil eggs and eat them on the way. I don't eschew dairy, so I can take some raw cheddar cheese with me, or some slices of cold meat. There are definitely ways you can do this without adding too much stress to your morning routine. Rethink your definition of breakfast. – staceychev Oct 27 2011 at 16:08
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 Cook in advance. For example, a lot of people do massive cooking on weekends, and eat that during the week. Other than that, re-evaluate your priorities. Not a judgement call, but if you aren't willing to work around your schedule/life for your health, perhaps deep down, your health isn't really as critical to you as you think. Until that changes, you're going to stress out a lot with things like this. – James Oct 27 2011 at 16:25
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 Many on the plan have been pre-cooking sausage or bacon and then pulling it out of the fridge or freezer in the AM. The 30-minute rule IS A BIG DEAL in the beginning, but it is only for a few weeks for most people. You just all that snack time through the day for time in the morning. – The Loon Oct 27 2011 at 16:45
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Use pre-cooked sausage scrambles, a small carton of egg beaters, 4 ounces of finely grated cheese. Mix all in a bowl and pour into muffin tin. Bake at 350 for about 18 to 20 minutes. One or two of these nuked in the microwave on the way out the door with my coffee and I am good to go. I bake these on Sundays so I have plenty for the week! and the 30 minute time isn't a problem any more!

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