Interesting science article on weight maintenance

loganrandy69

http://www.science20.com/deconstructing_obesity/blog/normal_regulation_of_human_body_weight-156239

No conclusion, but an interesting take on society's "obesity problem".

melimomTARDIS

I read the article but I wish it had some solutions, instead of just laying out the problem.

loganrandy69

Yeah, I was looking for something at the end. But seeing the statistical link between age and weight gain was enlightening.

CSARdiver

Meh, correlation science. Needs further analysis to attempt to determine causal factors although I imagine a strong link to the push from the 1960/1970s towards academic careers and our overall trends towards a sedentary lifestyle.

busywaterbending

I think the article is describing appetite, not hunger. Hunger is a state the body becomes as a response to a lack of nutrients. Appetite is a psychological response and is triggered by the will.

you are hungry but you can not are appetite.

busywaterbending

loganrandy69 wrote: »

Yeah, I was looking for something at the end. But seeing the statistical link between age and weight gain was enlightening.

I think it just shows how humans self medicate their depressions and reduced dopamine / seratonin levels with food. Many studies show that food addictions are prevalent in humans, monkeys, rats, cats who are unhappy.

ninerbuff

The propensity for people to binge in the US while staying here is more than likely psychological. I've had many cousins who were thin, then came to the US, lived here for a couple of years and gain like 15 to 20lbs. Lots of the same foods are available in the Philippines, yet for some reason they didn't eat as much. I also noticed when I went to the Philippines, I lost weight even though I still ate lots of food that was high sodium and high fat, however my portions seemed much smaller. Whether they were or not, I wasn't tracking intake at the time.
It seems that people just think the US is just a big food party. Even it's citizens.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

fastforlife1

This is an excellent article. Thank you for sharing it. I think it show that our weight loss goals should be tempered by our age not by our high school weight.

TimothyFish

The article seems like a long roundabout way of saying that it isn't about willpower but about how our bodies handle food or the food environment we are in. That could be true, but I can't do much about how my body handles food or the kind of foods I am exposed to, but I can apply my willpower toward eating less and moving more.

disasterman

To me, it's of interest that as we age over 40 we also lose muscle reliably unless we do something to maintain, build it. I would imagine there's a a connection between the weight gain and muscle loss - I suspect a slowing metabolism would be the mechanism.

Once you reach middle age if all you do is eat and exercise like you always have, you're almost guaranteed to lose muscle and gain fat (and weight)so something has to change.

EvgeniZyntx

Gah. Read one of the original articles: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20318/full

It's an unfortunate publication - they recognize a high variance on their average but don't even publish it.
Averages without variance info (especially when variance is high) are next to useless.

TimothyFish

HappyCampr1 wrote: »

ninerbuff wrote: »

The propensity for people to binge in the US while staying here is more than likely psychological. I've had many cousins who were thin, then came to the US, lived here for a couple of years and gain like 15 to 20lbs. Lots of the same foods are available in the Philippines, yet for some reason they didn't eat as much. I also noticed when I went to the Philippines, I lost weight even though I still ate lots of food that was high sodium and high fat, however my portions seemed much smaller. Whether they were or not, I wasn't tracking intake at the time.
It seems that people just think the US is just a big food party. Even it's citizens.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

When I was 18, I moved to S. America for three years. Maintained my weight perfectly. Within 6 months of moving back to the states, I gained 30 pounds. Not going to guess at the reason (other than me obviously eating more).

I've noticed that even something as simple as shopping at a different grocery store can influence what I eat. While spending some time in the Atlanta area, I would shop at Publix about once a week and would walk through the produce section before anything else. I would end up with a bunch of fruit in my cart. Now, I shop at Target. The produce section isn't as extensive and is easy to walk past. I end up shopping there last, and only when I make a special effort.

DeguelloTex

TimothyFish wrote: »

The article seems like a long roundabout way of saying that it isn't about willpower but about how our bodies handle food or the food environment we are in. That could be true, but I can't do much about how my body handles food or the kind of foods I am exposed to, but I can apply my willpower toward eating less and moving more.

I'm in exactly the same food environment I was in a year ago when I weighed 112 pounds more.

RaspberryTickleChicken

melimomTARDIS wrote: »

I read the article but I wish it had some solutions, instead of just laying out the problem.

Try this article on some practical tips & perhaps key to maintaining Compiled from long term maintainers (3+ yrs) in the National Weight Control Registry: HERE