And now I go all grad student on your asses.
When I read articles like this one on five stealth forces in weight loss (which sounds way more ninja than it actually is) my furrowed brow, hand-raising, dorked out side comes out in full force. It also harkens (”harkens”? egads) me back to my stint writing for a very acah-deh-mic school of public health. I don’t always agree with some of the approaches of some in that field towards the (ba ba buuuum) obesity epidemic (aaaaaghhhh) but there are some folks saying smart old things there. And really, this article is a collection of a number of different factors from a variety of science-y and social science-y fields on why weight loss isn’t as simple as the diet shake makers make it sound. (Say “diet shake makers make it sound” five times fast now and I bet you’ll burn some calories.) Here, I’ll show you what I mean. Because there’s good news and bad news. Always get the bad news first, it’s less depressing.
Oh, and I’m not really going to go into explaining all the technical shit behind these ideas because the writer of the bit already did that part, but just click the damn link if you want to know more.
1. Bad News: Your body wants you to be fat. We could say this is the geneticists and the medical anthro people putting in their two cents, because essentially it boils down to the fact that some people’s bodies don’t want to let go of the fat on there, and hold it by signaling hunger (a little hormone called leptin is the culprit,) decreasing metabolism, and becoming more efficient at conserving fat. Some of this is included in the “thrifty gene theory” which basically says people who historically dealt with famine or less food or different foods pass on the ability to hold weight (a good thing in a famine) to their ancestors. Some genes get activated by—guess what?—dieting.
What does this mean? Well, just that it’s harder for some people to lose weight and maintain it than others. Such is the unfairness of genetics. But hey, Good News: Wait till we have a famine and you’ll be sitting pretty, surviving only on sugar packets and MREs and the flesh of the skinny people who kicked it already.
2. Bad News: This one is my favorite. Your leisurely 20 minute walk isn’t gonna do it. There’s a pretty well-known study of 5,000 self-selected people who lost an average of 66 pounds and kept it off for 5 and a half years. While they had different eating plans and methods, here’s what most had in common (get ready for the money quote): “vigorous exercise for at least an hour most days of the week. Most also participated in at least one other activity or sport.”
So is it just the fact that these people burn a ton of extra calories in a week? Maybe. But I’m guessing (and this is the psychological perspective) that a big part of all of it is having exercise be such an integral part of their lives at a minimum doesn’t hurt. They have athletic goals, sometimes social structures organized around physical activity, they get made exercise as high a priority as other things. And when you get that shit built in there, you don’t want to lose it, even when maybe the fear of fat stops being your sole motivation.
That’s my unscientific guessing there. But it bugs me that people soft-sell this information, and think if we just tell people to do a little stroll they’ll be dropping pounds. They’ll get some benefit, but after a certain point, it’s probably not going to result in losing weight for lots of folks. So why don’t we just tell it like it is? If you simply want to be active, go ahead and walk, but if you have a meaningful weight-loss goal AND you want to keep the weight off for a long time, you will probably have to sweat for a good amount of minutes most days of the week. I hear “not everyone likes to exercise hard, and we don’t want to scare people off.” Um, okay, then once again, life is about choices. I prefer my information straight up, no ice, no little umbrella. I’m a proponent of finding activities you actually kinda enjoy at least a little so your hour daily isn’t fuckall hell. And the Good News is that there’s lots of other benefits to that intense workout, including a heaping spoonful of badassery, so there. Also good news: It keeps me in business.
3. Bad News: It’s totally your mom’s fault. Well, more like mothers with high blood-sugar levels while pregnant are more likely to have obese or overweight kids. Blah blah blah.
Good News: It’s totally your mom’s fault! See? She ruins everything! Nah, if you treat the gestational diabetes the risks of high weight in kids goes down.
4. Bad News: Diets are shit. No, that’s not what it says, it’s actually about studies comparing weight loss on various plans—this was the one some folks interpreted to mean that Atkins works a while back, even though we were talking about kinda small pound differences. Of course no one lost much weight on the diets, and when they lost some pounds, they didn’t keep the weight off either. But the one plan and population that showed most success were people who were high insulin secretors who went on a plan that replaced high-sugar refined carbs (cookies, juice. etc.) with veggies and some fruits and legumes. Please note this was not a low-carb plan. Just a low refined-carb plan. Difference, yo. Oh, and high secretors tended to be apple-shaped (as opposed to pear) though only a blood test can tell you fer sure.
Good News: If you are a high insulin secretor, you might have some luck with this. And cutting the refined carbs is generally good for many of us. No need to drink corn syrup straight from the tap.
5. Bad News: There’s a virus linked with obesity. Adenovirus 36. And this: “The virus naturally infects 15 percent to 17 percent of the human population, says Dhurandhar, and is present in 30 percent of obese people—even nonobese people who have it have higher BMIs than their uninfected peers.” Yikes! Oh, and right now there’s no cure. Great.
Good News: Maybe you can infect other people who get all weight-righteous with you? Oh, that’s not right. Well, you can still exercise and eat well and stuff and maybe stave it off. Sheesh.
What an interesting set of findings! My own experience would back up the benefits of the whole hour a day of vigorous exercise thing (and yes, the bad-assery is a major incentive and I’m enjoying busting out the pull-ups right now). I hadn’t made the link between high levels of insulin excretion and body shape before but it makes sense. My mother and sister are both very apple shaped and Mum was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Me, I got the same genes as the women on my father’s side of the family. I’m all about the hourglass! Mum does well on a low-carb diet. In contrast I go insane if I don’t get the carbs in. I tend to bonk heavily and start getting crazy cravings for baked goods! Which I guess says something for not being too dogmatic about any one eating philosophy and knowing what works for you …
Pip
October 2nd, 2008
I’m with you on the ‘give-it-to-me-straight” front. When I decided to get off my couch and actually, you know, move a little, I started out with 5-30 minute walks or bike rides, and about a 2,000 calorie a day diet (cause I was 300+ back then, and the ‘formula’ and all the literature I could find said I’d be losing 3-5 pounds a week with that calorie count). So imagine my surprise when I gained a pound that week. Hysterical crying and freaking out occurred. I visited my doctor, who said (I paraphrase), “Yeah, you work on your butt all day, right? You need a minimum 5 hours a week of cardio to get your metabolism moving and keep it there.” More hysterical crying and freaking out, because I couldn’t conceive of doing that much exercise back then. But you know what? It worked. She was right. 3 hours hard biking, 2 hours speedy walking, down 5 pounds the next week. All these words are to say that I am living proof of all the bad news - I’ve got fat genes, low activity, and a love of all things refined, both sugary and salty - but also living proof of the good news (there’s no doubt I’ve passed on the obesity virus to all within my vicinity - I’m so glad to know fat really is contagious) is if you know what the rules of the game are, you increase your chances of winning, even if it’s freaking hard and time-consuming and you don’t even really believe you can do it. But at least you freaking *know*, you know? Don’t sugar coat it, or it’ll go straight to my ass.
Ashleigh
October 2nd, 2008
I’m with you on the wanting the information ugly, and not having it shown to me through beer goggles that make it pretty and nice.
Tricia
October 3rd, 2008
I never did really fully get the recommendations that people go out and walk for 20 minutes. I mean, if they’re eating however many calories a day, walking briefly isn’t going to cut it. Sure, active is better than not active, but if they’re looking for weight loss? Nuh uh.
Lethological Gourmet
October 3rd, 2008
Thank goodness for whatever genes or environmental factors that have created within me a craving for that daily spoonful of badassery. It took Sleep Apnea to get me out the door but that’s not really on my mind anymore. It’s kicking ass thanks very much.
But yeh, #2 is true, at least in my experience. Exercise does more than just burn calories. It acts as a catalyst for…something. I’m no scientist but I can feel it. And I like it.
nolafwug
October 3rd, 2008
I can totally relate to the one article depicting how with the vigorous exercise. I have been doing much of the same for nearly 2 years and have dropped over 100lbs, but it is quite hard to maintain. I hate to exercise. If I had it my way, I would come home from work and relax on the couch watching the tube until I fall asleep, then wake up in the middle of the night, shower, and jump into bed for a few hours before having to start it all over again. As far as caloric intake, believe me when I say that I am not alone in having much of the same appetite that I did before my weight-loss, but I cut out one major thing: Fast food. That is literally the only thing (besides sweets) that I cut out almost completely. When that happens, one would be pleasantly surprised how that weight starts to come down. Thanks for the post…it’s rather an entertaining read!
Manhattan Beach Day Spa
November 6th, 2008