"Not your fault! Hormones linked to weight regain" AP wire s

IsleOfThanet
IsleOfThanet Posts: 49
Did you see this article from the AP? "Not your fault! Hormones linked to weight regain".

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MED_DIET_HORMONES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

The article also has a link to the underlying study from the New England Journal of Medicine.

Replies

  • kyrstensmom
    kyrstensmom Posts: 297 Member
    I read that and immediately thought...that's what I need, another excuse to stay fat, or an excuse to use when/if I gain back the weight I have fought so hard to lose.
  • Mom2M_and_O
    Mom2M_and_O Posts: 214 Member
    I read that a while ago. My first thought was "500 calories a day? OF COURSE they gained the weight back!" I don't see how this is a valid study if it's not based on healthy weight loss to begin with.
  • PegasusDeb
    PegasusDeb Posts: 665 Member
    I read that and immediately thought...that's what I need, another excuse to stay fat, or an excuse to use when/if I gain back the weight I have fought so hard to lose.

    I didn't read the article, but that is exactly what my thoughts were too! So many excuses...
  • LolasEpicJourney
    LolasEpicJourney Posts: 1,010 Member
    I knew my body hated me!!!
  • kristilovescake
    kristilovescake Posts: 669 Member
    I read that and immediately thought...that's what I need, another excuse to stay fat, or an excuse to use when/if I gain back the weight I have fought so hard to lose.

    Seriously! This part of the article annoyed me so I'm not even going to finish reading: ""People who regain weight should not be harsh on themselves, as eating is our most basic instinct," Joseph Proietto of the University of Melbourne in Australia, an author of the study, said in an email."

    Yes, I'm sure hormones will make it harder to keep weight off, but we shouldn't use it as an excuse to say "welp, I guess it's hormones, so it's okay to stay overweight and unhealthy"
  • agthorn
    agthorn Posts: 1,844 Member
    I read that a while ago. My first thought was "500 calories a day? OF COURSE they gained the weight back!" I don't see how this is a valid study if it's not based on healthy weight loss to begin with.
    This was my thought too, but I think it's a valid study because it PROVES that rapid weight loss is not sustainable. The participants in the study lost an average of 3 pounds a week, but their bodies couldn't adapt fast enough for them to maintain the weight loss.

    Moral of the story: slow and steady will not only get you there, but KEEP you there.
  • rodneyderrick
    rodneyderrick Posts: 483 Member
    The dieters didn't learn anything, because they lost the weight using a stupid method. If the people who lost weight learned how to lose weight using the foods they enjoy eating, they wouldn't have gained back the weight.
  • ZoayZoay
    ZoayZoay Posts: 60 Member
    Knowledge is power. For me, it suggests that I will need to keep charting my food to maintain weight, not think I'll diet and then be "cured".

    Also it encourages me that I have done really well to get as far as I have.
  • TheKitsune6
    TheKitsune6 Posts: 5,798 Member
    I read that a while ago. My first thought was "500 calories a day? OF COURSE they gained the weight back!" I don't see how this is a valid study if it's not based on healthy weight loss to begin with.

    This.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    Weight regain happens because of inconsistency of staying within calorie limits. You exceed more than you burn, you'll gain weight. Do hormones have an effect on weight loss? Absolutely, but essentially it's how much you eat that dictates weight gain/loss.
    I do believe it does take a good solid year for the body do adapt to losing a significant amount of weight. That's why I would never endorse weight losing programs that drop weight too fast.
  • genxrider
    genxrider Posts: 107 Member
    I read the article and I look forward to more research being done around this idea of "stasis". It's NOT an excuse - that's not a good way to look at this at all. It's a greater understanding of how the human body works. There was a similar and very interesting exercise done at a prison. Volunteers were grouped into "normal weight" and "overweight" sections. The normal weight group were fed a high calorie diet, and the overweight group had a controlled calorie diet. I don't believe it was extreme.

    No surprise - the normal weight guys gained weight and the overweight guys lost weight. The interesting thing happened in the second part of the experiment. The diet rules were removed and the overweight guys gained back, and the normal weight guys lost the added weight and balanced out where they were pre-experiment.

    It really, REALLY is not just about willpower.
  • Russellb97
    Russellb97 Posts: 1,057 Member
    This is exactly why I struggled so long with my weight.

    The last time I hit a plateau about 8 years ago I had been stuck without any weight loss for 3-4 weeks. I also was miserable and could not stop thinking about food, specifically pizza and donuts. So much that I decided to have a day and give in, and eat everything I was craving.
    After I gorged myself all day long I felt totally satisfied and my cravings were non-existent. I felt 100 times better.

    Now I expected to gain a few pounds from that day but I thought taking a step back was worth clearing my mind of food, I just mentally needed a break.

    The shocker was what happened 3 days later, I lost a pound, and then the next day another pound. After the week was over I had lost 3lbs!

    It blew my mind, how in the heck did I lose 3lbs after eating well over 5,000 calories in one day, after I was stuck for several week being perfect?

    Of course I did it again and again, and I ended up losing over 100lbs and wrote the Spike Diet.

    It was all hormones, hormones that regulate my metabolism and my hunger, my Spike Day, spiked them up so I could finally lose weight once and forever.

    My local FOX TV station had an MD on discussing this study, and it was awesome because he named me and my diet book as a solution to the problem.
    Everyone should be spiking, no excuses then.
  • JennW130
    JennW130 Posts: 460 Member
    I read that a while ago. My first thought was "500 calories a day? OF COURSE they gained the weight back!" I don't see how this is a valid study if it's not based on healthy weight loss to begin with.
    my thoughts too
This discussion has been closed.