Interesting article about weight gain

NY Times Article

Re: Interesting article about weight gain

very interesting.

Re: Interesting article about weight gain

I really think I have come to believe this statment:

each person has a comfortable weight range to which the body gravitates. The range might span 10 or 20 pounds: someone might be able to weigh 120 to 140 pounds without too much effort. Going much above or much below the natural weight range is difficult, however; the body resists by increasing or decreasing the appetite and changing the metabolism to push the weight back to the range it seeks.

Re: Interesting article about weight gain

Okay, perhaps I'm missing something... He fed people a 600 calorie diet for 4 weeks, causing them to lose 100 pounds each (on average in 4 weeks). He then fed them a maitenance diet for 4 weeks and then sent them back out into their regular lives.

He's SURPRISED they gained the weight back? All this tells me is that crash diets don't work. He didn't do anything to evaluate or change their behavior patterns, activity levels, etc.

I DO believe in the statement about bodies having a comfortable range toward which they gravitate, but I believe our conscious choices play a huge role... And I'm not a skinny minnie. I'm someone who has struggled with her weight for a long time. I'm a size 12 now and need to lose about 45 pounds.

I just have HUGE problems with this study. It seems to me that their bodies were reacting like they were starving b/c for all intents and purposes, they were. They went from whatever caloric intake caused them to be more than 100 pounds overweight (an intake they'd maintained since childhood or adoloscence) to taking in a liquid diet of 600 calories a day - then a maintenance diet which had to be at least half to a third of what they were formerly taking in.

I wish they would repeat the study on people who lost weight at a healthy rate.

I'm not saying it's bogus -- I'm saying the way they describe this study doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me... but that's probably why I'm not a doctor.

Like I said, I DO believe biology plays a huge role... but this just seems like something I'd like to see more white papers on.

Message edited 5/8/2007 11:43:09 AM.

Re: Interesting article about weight gain

Wow- that was a really interesting article!

Re: Interesting article about weight gain

Posted by Kara

Okay, perhaps I'm missing something... He fed people a 600 calorie diet for 4 weeks, causing them to lose 100 pounds each (on average in 4 weeks). He then fed them a maitenance diet for 4 weeks and then sent them back out into their regular lives.

He's SURPRISED they gained the weight back? All this tells me is that crash diets don't work. He didn't do anything to evaluate or change their behavior patterns, activity levels, etc.

I DO believe in the statement about bodies having a comfortable range toward which they gravitate, but I believe our conscious choices play a huge role... And I'm not a skinny minnie. I'm someone who has struggled with her weight for a long time. I'm a size 12 now and need to lose about 35 pounds.

I just have HUGE problems with this study. It seems to me that their bodies were reacting like they were starving b/c for all intents and purposes, they were. They went from whatever caloric intake caused them to be more than 100 pounds overweight (an intake they'd maintained since childhood or adoloscence) to taking in a liquid diet of 600 calories a day - then a maintenance diet which had to be at least half to a third of what they were formerly taking in.

I wish they would repeat the study on people who lost weight at a healthy rate.

I'm not saying it's bogus -- I'm saying the way they describe this study doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me... but that's probably why I'm not a doctor.

Like I said, I DO believe biology plays a huge role... but this just seems like something I'd like to see more white papers on.