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Wednesday 20 July 2011

Lose weight and keep it off for good...ah...EXCEPT if you're already OBESE!

Well, I just attended an excellent seminar by Dr. Robert Kushner on 'The Physiology of Obesity' and learned lots of new information that has been generated by a whole host of very hard-working obesity specialists who have done some remarkable and robust research studies on the hormonal and (patho)physiological pathways of appetite and body weight regulation.

The GOOD NEWS -- If you have gained weight over your holidays and/or have put on a few pounds over a couple years -- you CAN lose it and KEEP IT OFF FOR GOOD -- once you stop the period of overeating and GET BACK to your usual intake of kilocalories AND continue to move and live, probably get back to your usual exercise regime, so as to get back to your 'usual' weight and eating pattern. So, YES, you MUST exert a bit of discipline to get yourself back on track, but once you exert a bit of this discipline and come to your senses, apparently, your HORMONES will BEHAVE and help to get your appetite under control, enable you to regain that youthful, healthful figure, and PHYSIOLOGICALLY set you up to keep your weight in check. YAAAAY!

Oh....the BAD NEWS -- NONE of the above happens IF YOU ARE OBESE!!!! Whoops! Sorry -- those of you who desperately NEED all the PHYSIOLOGICAL HELP you can get as you emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually struggle to whack the weight off and feel and look decent, dignified -- perhaps just plain 'normal' and 'acceptable' -- well... YOUR HORMONES and HOMEOSTATIC and HEDONIC SIGNALING PATHWAYS are MUCH MORE primed and inclined to KEEP YOU OBESE and/or, WORSE YET -- MAKE YOU GET OBESE AGAIN EVEN IF YOU'VE SUCCEEDED (through the blood, sweat, and tears of dieting and working out!!!) in whacking off quite a chunk -- say 10% or so -- of your unsightly flab!

It's like this:

1. IF you ARE OBESE and Not Trying to Lose Weight
If you're obese and not doing a heck of alot, if anything, about it -- PHYSIOLOGICALLY, your hormonal and metabolic pathways signalling things like, oh ,say -- you are full, you've had enough food for your body's needs, your body fat stores are excessive, you are carrying way too much weight for your bones and organs to bear and function properly, you need to STOP eating, you need to GET UP OFF THE COUCH AND MOVE, you are NOT MOVING ENOUGH and certainly not like your beautiful body is hard-wired to move since the beginning of time == well, they are completely turned OFF, in a way, to HELP YOU HELP YOURSELF! It's a sad and ironic conundrum! YOU ARE THE VERY PEOPLE who NEED all systems to be GO and in HELP mode, but the reality is that the obesity, itself, prevents the body from getting back to optimum function. No surprises, there, though! I think we've all known that for years -- its just now, it's more known WHY and HOW. Well, at least we know a BIT more -- there's STILL alot NOT KNOWN!

2. IF you Are/Were OBESE and HAVE LOST or ARE STILL TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT and KEEP IT OFF
God help you! Every pathway and signalling substance possible is conspiring to get you to hang on to the weight and fat, get you to overeat and KEEP overeating, and make your hard efforts to burn off the kilocalories less effective so as to KEEP YOU FROM EXPENDING THE ENERGY YOU NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT! Now, THAT SUCKS!!!!! Again, for many of us who have tried to lose weight and have succeeded only to find ourselves back at square one after a few months or years -- NO SURPRISES here -- right? We just know a bit more WHY and HOW this HEARTBREAKING scenario happens. But, again, as much as we do know about this phenomenon -- there's still alot NOT KNOWN.

For me, the MOST IMPORTANT TAKE HOME LESSON from all of this information about 'The Physiology of Obesity' is this:

DO NOT BECOME OBESE TO BEGIN WITH!!!

That is, for those of you who have children -- more than ever -- PLEASE DO NOT OVERFEED THEM AND ALLOW/ENABLE THEM TO BE INACTIVE! Do NOT ALLOW YOUR CHILD/CHILDREN TO BECOME OBESE!!!!

And if they already are -- get them to the GP, a dietitian, or to whomever you can to GET HELP to GET THEM TO NORMALIZE not just their BODY WEIGHT, but their PHYSIOLOGY!!!!! What I didn't mention above is that ALOT of the pathophysiological occurrences in obstructing successful alleviation of the obese state has to do with fat cell number and size and the amount of time the obese state has been sustained -- SO -- the SOONER you get a person to lose the weight and do what it takes to 'normalize' their body's weight and functions and get into a situation where dietary intake is more in alignment with energy expenditure (that is, activity levels and kcals needed to move the body), the LESS FAT CELLS the body will have and proliferate, the SMALLER the existing FAT CELLS WILL STAY, and the less chance of the 'RATCHETING UPWARD' effect the body will have -- that is -- the phenomenon when the body just continues to keep getting bigger and bigger, the appetite continues to also get bigger and bigger, and the body then REQUIRES more and more and bigger and bigger to the point that the 'obesity' becomes the body's preferred state and THIS is what makes it SO HARD to REVERSE the obese state.

Now, I also STRONGLY feel that for those of us who are obese and strive to lose weight and keep it off, for good -- just KNOWING what we're up against HELPS. What we DO HAVE working FOR US is the simple laws of physics! The less you put into your body and the more you move -- IF YOU KEEP IT UP over time -- the body WILL respond to CONTINUE to lose weight and KEEP IT OFF. The take home lesson, thus, is to JUST KEEP AT IT and DON"T SUCCUMB TO THE (patho)PHYSIOLOGY of obesity!

I MEAN IT!! We KNOW the odds are totally stacked against successfully losing weight and keeping it off but that's doesn't mean we should stop working at it.

And, the folks researching solutions and alternatives continue to work hard on possibilities for relief on many fronts: medications, procedures, genetic and epigenetic therapies, and, of course, diet, physical activity, and counselling that WORK most efficiently.

Keep the faith!! and GET YOUR CHILDREN ACTIVE AND EATING WELL!!!! and PREVENT OBESITY FROM HAPPENING IN YOUR CHILDREN!!!! :)

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