Does race related with the pace of losing weight?

randomtai wrote: »

No. :huh:

x2

tryitonemoretime wrote: »

I found on this website that members who have lost more than 80-100 lbs in a year are mostly Caucasian.
It's also common to be found on other website who tell about success stories.

Meanwhile, people from other races (black, asian, latin etc) need more time to lose similar amount weight.

Is there anything related with our genes that make us losing weight faster or slower?

NO

BTW, it's taken me 2.5 years to lose 100lbs. And I'm pretty dang pale. Just a totally unscientific anecdotal example to augment your totally anecdotal experience here in MFP land.

There have been some studies indicating that African American women expend fewer calories than Caucasian women, which would translate into it being harder to lose weight and needing to put in more activity in order to lose the same amount of weight. See, for example: http://www.medicaldaily.com/losing-weight-harder-black-women-same-diet-white-women-265599. Or just google it, many articles will come up.

While it may seem like a negative when it comes to dieting, it could be a positive also. This means that African American people use calories more efficiently, which I think could have implications beyond dieting, such as disaster life expectancies. E.g., estimates about when to give up looking may need to be tailored to race of victims, as blacks may last a day or two longer in a situation in which a Caucasian may starve to death.

This may be an adaptive thing, based on different life conditions over time, or related to climate. Skin color is apparently related to climate, and it takes about 1,000 years for skin colors in a certain area to be about the same (not accounting for immigration during that time). Look at sickle cell anemia, which is most predominant in the African American community and is an adaptive reaction to malaria in Africa. OR it could be related to the properties of melanin. Studies at Cornell have found that melanin acts as a semi-conductor, so it pulls energy from energy sources. Thus, perhaps less food is needed because melanin captures energy from the sun, etc. These are all guesses, but intriguing ones. We don't study melanin enough in this country , but I'm sure that's in our future as demographics continue to change.

minamu68 wrote: »

There have been some studies indicating that African American women expend fewer calories than Caucasian women, which would translate into it being harder to lose weight and needing to put in more activity in order to lose the same amount of weight. See, for example: http://www.medicaldaily.com/losing-weight-harder-black-women-same-diet-white-women-265599. Or just google it, many articles will come up.

While it may seem like a negative when it comes to dieting, it could be a positive also. This means that African American people use calories more efficiently, which I think could have implications beyond dieting, such as disaster life expectancies. E.g., estimates about when to give up looking may need to be tailored to race of victims, as blacks may last a day or two longer in a situation in which a Caucasian may starve to death.

This may be an adaptive thing, based on different life conditions over time, or related to climate. Skin color is apparently related to climate, and it takes about 1,000 years for skin colors in a certain area to be about the same (not accounting for immigration during that time). Look at sickle cell anemia, which is most predominant in the African American community and is an adaptive reaction to malaria in Africa. OR it could be related to the properties of melanin. Studies at Cornell have found that melanin acts as a semi-conductor, so it pulls energy from energy sources. Thus, perhaps less food is needed because melanin captures energy from the sun, etc. These are all guesses, but intriguing ones. We don't study melanin enough in this country , but I'm sure that's in our future as demographics continue to change.

Maybe I missed it, but the link and the link to the study really didn't mention body fat %. Also, even though they were prescribed the same exercise routine, you can't assume everyone was putting out the same amount of effort. The loss seemed just based on a scale number, and as many people on MFP alone have come to realize, it's not the only way to see progress and, at times, the least accurate when compared to body composition.

But that might be trivial. *shrugs*

What I did find interesting was the descriptions about energy expenditure. The fact is, TDEE maintenance is not going to be the same all the way around. They prescribed a set calorie goal for each and not per the individual.

So that means that the rate of loss could have been slower in certain women because their maintanence calories was actually lower than the rest of the group. So if the calorie deficit (as an example) was set at 500 cals...the women with lower energy expenditures actually aren't coming in at the full deficit.

Also, again, reviewing effort into exercise and activity level would also come into play, I imagine.

If each of the women were for sure set at exactly a 500 calorie deficit, I can only wonder if the rate of loss would actually have been the same.

Myhaloslipped wrote: »

Derpes wrote: »

This is why I love you!

We need to mix it up sometime...

i'm asian (filipino to be exact) living in florida.
i've lost more than 90lbs in 8 months.

i think the only reason why you see more success stories from caucasians is internet boards (in this case, MFP) is largely white. if race has to do with losing weight i think it would be marginal. if anything it would be about location. available food, cost of eating healthy and activities you can do to help you lose weight in a specific area - neighborhood, city, region, state, country.