For those of you trying to understand weight regain due to low leptin

I write:

The mathematics of weight loss |
Ruben Meerman http://ww
w.youtube.com/watch?v=vuIlsN32WaE&feature=youtu.be …
Very good science lesson @surfnscientist
I loved your talk but you need to remember
it's biology not physics @garytaubes  
read http://meandgin.blogspot.com/2018/09/exercise-effect-in-biggest-loser-tv.html …
explain cases not losing wt w exercise
as reduced obese?

11:22 AM - 9 Sep 2018

Kevin writes:

“Eat less, move more and keep breathing.

Diet & exercise. Amen!”

I write:

Kevin, he does not address the Reduced Obese.

He doesn't know what he doesn't know.

Kevin writes:

“I thought it strange that you posted this link, as indeed,

it does not address the things you espouse.

But again I have to reiterate that, for me personally,

eating less (and eating different), and "moving" more . . . does work.

I will admit that I have been taking a good look at diet,

and some hefty reduction in carbs is attractive.

Maybe even some increased fat.

But as for exercise, I am steadfast on a 6-day per week grueling regimen.

Stubborn Lithuanian, I am.”

I write: Kevin, I like   The mathematics of weight loss by Ruben Meerman for the science of where does the weight loss go? However he does not know why reduced obese regain weight w low cal diet and exercise. Not sure what's hard to understand Kevin? Kevin writes: What??? I never said it was hard for me to understand. And I too loved the video for the science of where the weight loss goes. Very interesting stuff for sure. I was just saying that a grueling regimen of exercise works for me. That is not to say it works for everyone. Maybe I am one in a million, altho I hate to flatter myself. I am probably the exception to the average workout stooge. When I began these workouts many years ago, it was not with the goal to lose weight. It was to gain mass. I drank protein malts (under direction of my ex-body-builder/trainer). I worked out 7 days per week, and then eventually pared down to 6 days. I was committed and focused. To the point where I was reprimanded for coming in late to work because I hadn't finished my workout. I was in my late 40s then and deeply in the throes of the dreaded male menopause. Today, it is still a focus for me but not as accessible. I hate that I am not now going to the gym six days per week. Why the reduced obese regain weight with a low-cal diet and exercise causes me to question both the diet and the level of exercise — not as much the diet as the exercise. But that is just me. I know how apathetic we Americans can be. Unwilling to break an ongoing sweat at the gym once we even get there. It behooves us to bring ourselves to the brink every time we go. A good morning workout will invigorate me for the rest of the day. And the diet, that is another matter entirely. This whole diet and exercise thing needs to be right on our front burners, not simmering somewhere on our back burners. If we were as passionate about our health and well-being as we are about our careers, then there would be less confusion and happier and lengthier retirements. In my opinion, of course.”  - Kevin I write: Kevin I am very glad you responded so we can get into the weeds. Kevin you write : “Why the reduced obese regain weight with a low-cal diet and exercise causes me to question both the diet and the level of exercise — not as much the diet as the exercise.” Kevin this is what I don't understand why you don't believe the science of LOW LEPTIN in the reduced obese. Haven't you read this NYT article yet on the Biggest Loser? Reduced obese have low leptin levels that tells the brain it is starving. Hence EXERCISE METABOLISM is reduced by 40% That means when you walk a mile you don't burn 100 calories you burn 60 calories. Also RESTING METABOLISM is 70% of total metabolism. Exercise does not affect this. Kevin writes “I just read the NYT article. Thanks for the link. I agree with it. It does take a monumental effort to keep weight off . More rigorous exercise will do it for some. Not all. I understand that. And I do believe the science. Here is a good article on the hormone Leptin. I think it does a great job of explaining what you are saying — for laymen like me. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/leptin-101 But as the NYT article points out, increased levels of exercise can keep weight off. Again, not everyone. And I understand there are those who cannot continue with a serious exercise regimen, whether it be because of injuries, age, time constraints, or the fact that it just isn't working for them. I fail to see the correlation between low Leptin levels and the reduction of exercise metabolism by 40%. Can you better explain that to me? And if you only burn 60 calories by walking a mile, walk two miles. There will always be adjustments that will have to be made to any workout — continuously. Failing to accept that will end in discouragement or even disaster. Dear Kevin, Start with this video 2 min HBO FAT NATION link then see all the things Leptin does below. Kevin writes: So, my question is . . . before America had an obesity epidemic before fast food, did none of these brain problems exist? Is this the result of McDonalds, Wendys, KFC, Hardees, etc? I don't remember a fat nation when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s . Even the 80s. So the obesity problem grew out of junk food and couch potatoism? Sedentary lifestyle? And now our brains have adapted and are telling us we are starving even tho we are reduced obese? Cowabunga!!! God bless corporate America who has been feeding us crap for decades . . . and continues to do so. I write: Not at all Kevin. Famine is what caused this brain wiring. Brain cells die but not fat cells.   Fat cells are needed for survival. Thus low leptin is the anti-starvation hormone and does not allow body weight to get too low when it will be dangerous. Leptin does this by slowing down exercise metabolism and resting metabolism. In other words Leptin makes the body VERY EFFICIENT at using the 800 calorie diet without further weight loss. Then it replaces the fat first before heating up the body.   It wants to get a nice buffer of fat. for a possible famine next week. This is why very lean elderly have higher death. A little pouch of fat prevents mortality during illness.

Kevin

I have met Dr. Rudy Leibel.  Very nice guy. He was co-founder of Leptin

Cheated out of Nobel Prize link

Kevin asks:

So, my question is . . . before America had an obesity epidemic before fast food,
did none of these brain problems exist? Is this the result of
McDonalds, Wendys, KFC, Hardees, etc?
I don't remember a fat nation when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s.
Even the 80s. So the obesity problem grew out of junk food and couch potatoism?
Sedentary lifestyle?
And now our brains have adapted and are telling us we are starving
even tho we are reduced obese?
Cowabunga!!!
God bless corporate America who has been feeding us crap for decades . . .
and continues to do so.

My response:

Not at all Kevin.

Famine is what caused this brain wiring to survive famines.  

Brain cells die but not fat cells.  

Fat cells are needed for survival.

Thus low leptin is the anti-starvation hormone

and does not allow body weight to get too low when it will be dangerous.

Leptin does this by

slowing down exercise metabolism and resting metabolism.

In other words Leptin makes the body VERY EFFICIENT

at using the 800 calorie diet without further weight loss.

Then it replaces the fat first before heating up the body.  

The body wants to get a nice buffer of fat.

for a possible famine next week.

This is why very lean elderly have higher death.

A little pouch of fat prevents mortality during illness.  

SUPER ACHIEVERS OF WEIGHT LOSS MAINTENANCE?

meandgin.blogspot.com/2018/09/super-achievers-of-weight-loss.html

“How did some of the men and women in the Look AHEAD
(Action for Health in Diabetes) trial
defy the odds by managing to stay the course and keep weight off?

Although this study ended prematurely in 2012
because intensive weight loss was not shown to
reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems
in people with diabetes,
the researchers have been able to glean important insights regarding weight loss.

For example, according to a 2011 Look AHEAD study in the journal Obesity,

people who sustained a 10 percent or greater reduction for four years

(dubbed "super weight maintainers")

THE CONTROL GROUP 17.2%
THE TREATMENT GROUP 26.9%
As compared with NWCR
IT'S NOT A BIG NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO MAINTAINED WEIGHT LOSS
LESS THAN 10% WEIGHT LOSS
COMPARED TO CONTROL GROUP

The Super achievers of the LOOK AHEAD TRIAL:
attended significantly more treatment sessions with counselors

than people who lost less weight.

This finding strongly suggests that regularly working with a counselor,
who can provide psychological support and
assist with setting goals and other healthful behaviors,
is an important key to helping you keep lost pounds from returning.

Look AHEAD researchers have also noted that the super weight maintainers
in their study have a number of qualities in common with members of the
National Weight Control Registry (NWCR).

The NWCR was created as a way to learn more about
the habits and behaviors of successful dieters.

The registry currently includes more than 10,000 people
who lost at least 30 pounds

and kept the weight off for at least one year.
Interviews with registry members
reveal a number of practices the majority of them follow, including:

• 1-Counting calories
• 2-Consuming a low fat diet
• 3-Eating breakfast almost every day
• 4-Weighing themselves at least once a week
• 5-Keeping track of what they eat and their physical activity
• 5-Exercising at least once a week
• (THIS MUST TYPO, THEY WALK AN HOUR A DAY)
• 
  
• 6-Watching less than 1 hour of TV daily

There is a perception, supported by some research, that

weight loss may be more challenging for people with type 2 diabetes.

That makes the success of the weight maintainers in Look AHEAD

even more impressive.”


Despite this cohort which did not do much better
than the control group in this cohort.
 LOOK AHEAD FAILED IT'S PRIMARY OUTCOME OBJECTIVE.

Two women who maintained weight loss

These two women remind me of the people in
 NATIONAL WEIGHT CONTROL REGISTRY LINK


Emma Court's article on two women who maintained weight loss link 2016

‘Nobody talks about how, after you lose weight,
it’s 10 times harder to keep it off than to take it off.’
Olivia Ward, winner, Season 11, ‘The Biggest Loser’

" What’s more, their metabolisms were
even slower at their more recent body weight than expected,
to the tune of burning about 500 calories less."

These two women have been able to maintain, more or less,
their television show weight loss of 129 and 120 pounds, respectively.

Compared with the 14 contestants that participated in the study,
this puts them distinctly in the minority.

But doing so has required daily calorie counting and
an hour plus of exercise, six days a week, for the nearly five years since she won the show, Ward said."

“I don’t think the average reader will find it encouraging but ...
it’s definitely encouraging for me to know,” she said.
“I may have to work harder than the average woman. And I know that.”

Still, Ward said, knowledge is power."

"Slowing was greater for people with the greatest amount of weight loss.
But it continued to slow even for people who,
like Ward and Curlee, kept the weight off."

"For Ward, who’s 40 and lives in New York City,
that means what she eats is “maybe not the normal amount of calories
a normal 150-pound woman would eat.”

"Not to mention, she’s a spin instructor, so she works out a lot
— as many as three times in one day."

"Though much of her job involves planning wellness programs for HCA,
Curlee said that, like most people, she still spends most of her day sitting at a desk.

That means going to the gym at lunchtime,
for example, and other kinds of life changes, said Curlee,
who is married to a personal trainer."

"Study takeaways

Even before the study, which was published in the journal Obesity,
scientists knew that metabolism slows after a successful diet.

But when researchers contrasted

the metabolic slowing of the “The Biggest Loser” contestants

with bypass surgery patients, they found a startling difference.

While the TV contestants’ metabolisms continued to slow,

with that rate even increasing in magnitude six years later,

the surgery patients — who did have “significant” metabolic changes
half a year post-operation — “had no detectable metabolic adaptation after 1 year
despite continued weight loss,” the study’s authors wrote."

My comment, I don't think this true. Surgery patients have similar regain issues. They don't lose fat cells

"But in fact, the Obesity study concluded that, despite contestants’ weight regain,
they were “overall quite successful at long-term weight loss
compared with other lifestyle interventions.”

Like Ward and Curlee, the authors concluded that weight loss wasn’t impossible.

Rather, they said,
“long-term weight loss requires vigilant combat against
persistent metabolic adaptation that acts to
proportionally counter ongoing efforts to reduce body weight.”

My comment.
Not clear why the metabolic adaptation is not clearly spelled out.
I believe it is all about the low Leptin
and the fact that the fat cells never die
with those billions of excess fat cells acting like a Sponge
to soak up calories for fat even with 1500 calorie uptake.