MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
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Hits of the Day
The Fat Trap
By artappraiser on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 2:18am |By Tara Parker-Pope, Dec. 28, 2011 for the Jan. 1, 2012 New York Times Sunday Magazine
[....]“What we see here is a coordinated defense mechanism with multiple components all directed toward making us put on weight,” Proietto says. “This, I think, explains the high failure rate in obesity treatment.”
While the findings from Proietto and colleagues, published this fall in The New England Journal of Medicine, are not conclusive — the study was small and the findings need to be replicated — the research has nonetheless caused a stir in the weight-loss community, adding to a growing body of evidence that challenges conventional thinking about obesity, weight loss and willpower. For years, the advice to the overweight and obese has been that we simply need to eat less and exercise more. While there is truth to this guidance, it fails to take into account that the human body continues to fight against weight loss long after dieting has stopped. This translates into a sobering reality: once we become fat, most of us, despite our best efforts, will probably stay fat. [....]
URL:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html
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Comments
There would also seem to be a similar dynamic occurring with those attempting to curb their substance abuse or to abstain altogether. There is a notion of will power that is deeply woven into the psyche of Americans, which has a strong moralistic slant. We find ourselves back confronting the larger issue that the difficult problems we face that have always been difficult may be that way because they are complex problems. Simple solutions will never address the complex dynamics that sustain and facilitate the problem, whether it is physiological or societal (which all end up it seems to being also related to some bio-psycho-emotional attributes.)
by Elusive Trope on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 9:13am
Seems to make a lot of sense that once the body enters a starvation mode and collects fat to protect itself, that it isn't going to give that up easily, if at all. Which might mean that for some of us, without the aid of drugs (legal or not) that certain physiques are unattainable. But that doesn't mean that certain levels of strength and endurance are unattainable. There's still a lot of benefit to working out.
by Michael Maiello on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 9:20am
If you want to lose weight, train for a marathon. It gives you both a means and an increased motive (the less you weigh, the faster you can run). Of course, even if you don't lose weight, you'll be in better health, as you say.
by Verified Atheist on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 9:36am
I've always found running the be the most effective weight cutter. Ran NYC Marathon in 2008 and it worked just like you said. Am training for a half marathon now. Though my body prefers spinning and weight lifting.
by Michael Maiello on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 9:49am
Yet the once you move into the territory of motive, one is confronted with the complex psycho-emotional realm. Saying "train for a marathon" is easier said than done that has nothing to do with that thing called will power.
Personally, if I have a problem it is that I am too skinny. I don't exercise at all (although I really should start). In the fifth grade I became so self-conscious of weight, I was incredibly overweight or anything, but I was definitely stocky - that I began to starve myself. I would see how long I could go without eating. Now I have a set weight and can basically eat whatever and not gain a pound. As one of the characters in Breaking Away said in response to the question as to why he was "so damn skinny": "well, I eat three times a day and my body eats four times a day."
The point of that is back in elementary school I basically had an eating disorder - a mild case of anorexia. My relationship to food and diet is still wrapped up in those years many decades ago. Doing anything which leads to 'bulking up' in any way creates a negative reflexive response. Not that I can't override this if I work at it - but that includes being conscious of these feeling that arose many moons ago. Both my mind and my body will work to keep me from gaining weight, which in the short term, creates frustration etc if I have an contradictory objective.
by Elusive Trope on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 10:02am
The author of the article, as anyone who follows her columns knows, has trained for a marathon, and also knows and follows what is the most current consensus on healthy eating, admits that she too still struggles with weight, as she describes on page 2 of the piece, where she also says she couldn't do what it takes to maintain weight loss that some in her article do.
But you are on the right track in theory or approach, as training for a major sporting event might change the metabolism problems involved for some. As the article lays out, turns out it hasn't worked out that way for many, it just isn't that simple. That science is learning more and more how and in how many ways it's not that simple.
I've never had a weight problem, but like the author, my mother did and two of four sibling do. (And my spouse does as well.) I am the oldest, and I watched my mother gain more weight with each childbirth (hormones can do evil things) without eating more (and I know what she ate, believe me, there was no extra food or snacks in that household to binge on) and I despise, just despise the moralizing and prejudice about this whole topic. I've got my father's weight genes, I'm lucky there (along with his family's predilection for problems of the nervous system--justice I guess.)
I actually get "it's not fair!" anger emotions when I read examples like those in the article-the people who have to restrict calories to hunger levels and exercise each day just to maintain weight loss, when I can eat what I want whenever I want, (including, yes things like whole pints of Haagen Daaz and half of cakes at times if I feel like it or the whole meal at MacDonalds, with the sugary drinks) and not gain anything significant, even if I am not physically active.
Here's the ironic part about the moralizing: most eveyone in this culture wants to be thin. They don't need the lectures and the guilt. It's not like the 17th century when everyone wanted to be fat. It's the blame the victim thing that really bothers me. Until "they" figure it out, nobody should be blaming anyone. Seems like medicine still doesn't have much of a clue about the human body on this front, like with a lot of other things.
by artappraiser on Mon, 01/02/2012 - 3:14pm
You're absolutely right. I should be clear that although I lost a significant amount of weight (nearly 50 pounds) when I took up running, most people would not have described me as noticeably overweight prior to me losing the weight (on a 6'2" frame, there's a lot of places to hide weight, and I was lucky, arguably, that my body type is one that distributes fat fairly evenly).
I do want to be clear that for me running was not just a means, but also a motive. If I gain 10 pounds, I notice it in my times before I notice it on my waist.
by Verified Atheist on Mon, 01/02/2012 - 3:28pm
P.S. More personal anecdotals affecting my attitude. The spouse of over a quarter century is a 6'3" bulkster, football player and wrestler in college. I have many years experience seeing what he eats and how active he is. He is the caveman type, loves meat, always has, is now a foodie and and has had to force himself to get enthused about vegetables (formerly know as "rabbit food") and complex carbs. He is also reformed alchoholic. Alchohol has lots of calories, and constant use also fucks up your blood sugar and endrocrine system. Over the years, I watched him do things like try starve himself on Nutrisystem (which if you follow the instructions, has you adding a lot of very small portions of fresh food to their MRE's) and not lose much of anything. And I've also seen him lose weight rapidly, almost scarily rapidly (like in diabetes onset) on the Atkins diet, eating only the fats and proteins he loves. He is now losing weight with the fancy treadmill unused, but controlling portions, but I suspect it might be because of a health problem I won't got into.Again, it's just simple, and everyone is different.
by artappraiser on Mon, 01/02/2012 - 3:28pm
My brother also lost a lot of weight on Atkins, and gained it back again, and lost it, and gained it back again. His protein diet is very scary for what it does to the liver and kidneys.
It's definitely true that there's no one-size-fits-all routine, and although there is a generally reliable rule of "eat less, exercise more", that's easier for some of us to do than others, especially when one factors in the variable amounts of "less/more" that applies to each individual. In some ways, it's not unlike alcoholism. Although I drank a bit when I was young (mostly before I turned 21), I've never had a taste for it. I have no basis for judging what an alcoholic experiences.
by Verified Atheist on Mon, 01/02/2012 - 3:33pm
This reminded me of this:
You are what your father ate, too: Paternal diet affects lipid metabolizing genes in offspring, research suggests.
That plus whatever is triggered by dieting (or starving) would explain the greater obesity levels in the South. Pellagra was prevalent throughout the area even reaching epidemic proportions in the early to mid 1900s. Always thought it interesting that one of its main symptoms is aggression. Also that it can be cured with just a small amount of brewer's yeast in the diet. Guess we should have developed more of a taste for beer over bourbon or moonshine.:-)
by EmmaZahn on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 11:37am
The apple never falls too far from the tree.
by Elusive Trope on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 11:45am
Thanks Emma.
by artappraiser on Mon, 01/02/2012 - 3:15pm
My guy read the Tara Parker Pope piece, and said "Wow, The New York Times wrote an article about something that fat people have known forEVER."
by erica20 on Mon, 01/02/2012 - 4:28pm
My take is more like: it's about time we started seeing articles to make the holier-than-thou skinnies just quit their yappin about stuff they know nothing about (and to some exceptionally prejudiced and small-minded G.P.'s and internists out there: yes, I'm including you) But it's all good.
by artappraiser on Mon, 01/02/2012 - 5:38pm
Occupy Cellulite
by Donal on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 11:01am
...before it occupies you!
by erica20 on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 11:43am