When weight is stable, it is maintained by a dynamic equilibrium involving regulation of energy intake and of energy expenditure. An important objective during weight loss is to maximize the loss of body fat while minimizing the loss of metabolically active fat‐free mass. When lean tissue is lost as opposed to fat, total energy expenditure decreases to a greater extent, making further weight loss more difficult.
Various factors control the different domains of energy expenditure influencing the basal metabolic rate “The number of calories required to keep your body functioning at rest”, oxidation rate, and amount of physical activity. Individuals who are more likely to gain weight have lower basal metabolic rates and lower levels of physical activity. •Coupled with a potentially heightened homeostatic and hedonic regulation of appetite, all of these biological mechanisms exert their effects preventing further weight loss and promoting weight regain.
•For example, if you have ever eaten a piece of chocolate cake, even though you might feel completely “full,” your reward system overrides the homeostatic system, encouraging you to eat the cake.
The Biggest Loser Study:
Counting The Biggest Loser Season 8, the researchers tracked fourteen contestants who entered 30 weeks of competition.
Six years after beginning to lose weight, six men and eight women who entered the competition agreed to allow the US National Institutes of Health to monitor and test them.
Surprisingly, the condition of the unit did not regain any of the lost weight. Four cases regained more than the weight they started with. The rest regained their previous weight or a good amount of it.
Most noticeable was the dramatic drop in resting metabolic rate after weight loss.
Before the competition, the average group burned 2,607 calories per day, and by the end of the show, the group had burned 2000 calories per day.
The situation worsened further after six years, when the average amounted to 1903 calories per day. Any increase above this rate will be converted into overweight.
Obesity is a chronic disease and the important thing is not to lose weight in a short time (3-6) months, it is important to maintain this decline for a long period (1_2 years or more).
Danny Cahill is the winner of the eighth season of The Biggest Loser USA. He lost more weight than any contestant on the program. He lost 108.40 kg of weight in six months. From 195 kg to 86.6 kg.
He said at the final concert, “I got my life back, I feel like I got a million dollars.”
Before participating in the program in 2010, he was 195 kg, after the program it became 86.6 kg, and in 2016 he became: 133.8 kg.
His burn rate was reduced to 800 calories per day compared to a man his size.
“This is amazing and terrifying,” said Dr. Hill, a metabolic specialist at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. “I feel like I’m in the wind.”
It is known to researchers that anyone who wants to lose weight – even if they are moderate or even low-weight – will slow down their metabolic rate. So they weren’t surprised when participants’ burning slowed at the end of The Biggest Loser Program.
What was surprising was that the rate of burning continued to decrease even as the years went by. Continuing to recover lost kilowatts. As if the body was doing its best to regain its first weight.
Mr. Cahill was one of the worst cases. In order to maintain a weight of 133 kg, he should not eat more than 800 calories per day, and anything more than that will turn into fat.
Dr. Michael Schwarz, a researcher in obesity and diabetes and professor of medicine at the University of Washington, said: The body will still try to regain weight as long as the weight is below the starting weight of the diet.
“We have to bear in mind that a lot of the contestants didn’t get enough support after the show’s last show and back home,” said program doctor Dr. Robert Huizega. Neither sports experts, nor psychologists, nor sleep specialists.
There is always an easy weight to stay at without effort. This weight increases over the years, this may be due to age
Hormones and their relationship to this study:
It’s not just low metabolism that’s the only reason why runners lose weight. They were always very hungry and longing for food. The researchers found that the leptin hormone at the end of the competition was so low that it was absent for some, and did not return to the rise until the contestant regained his weight. However it only rose to half the concentration the contestant started with. This explains the intense hunger and the high desire to eat.
In a study conducted by the Australian Health and Medical Research Authority, Dr. Joseph Proito of the University of Melbourne found that all hunger hormones were high and satiety hormones low. This means that the runners were very hungry, and that we urgently need to discover a factor that helps curb appetite and the feeling of hunger.
Dr. Hill, a participant in this study, found that, for example, diabetes medications that reduce weight by excreting 360 calories through urine. Every time the weight drops about 2.5 kilograms, the patient’s satiety limit increases to 200 calories per day without feeling, that is, the amount of food increases in order for the patient to feel full, and less than that, the patient remains hungry.
This increase in food intake helps to restore weight rather than reduce metabolism. If the patient does not eat this extra amount, he will still feel hungry, he must hold on to this feeling, otherwise he will regain the first weight.
It can be concluded from this research that there is no need to lose weight as long as we will regain it again. No, this is a false conclusion from the Big Loser Study. This study does not mean that there is no hope for weight loss, this study means that every body is treated differently. Some of them respond to a low-sugar diet, and some of them respond to a protein diet, keto diet, medication, surgery, etc.
This study means that we need to monitor our weight throughout our lives.
Prepared by: Pharmacist. Ruba Noueddin
References:
- https://mayooshin.com/biggest-loser-s…
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/f…
- https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/he…
