Body fights weight loss ?

[Burylancs]

Research published today suggests the body remembers obese episodes and resists weight loss leading to yoyo dieting

Dr Laura Hinte, first author on the study, said: “From an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense. Humans and other animals have adapted to defend their body weight rather than lose it, as food scarcity was historically a common challenge.”

Fat ‘remembering’ past obesity drives yo-yo diet effect, say experts

Research shows fat cells are affected by obesity in a way that alters how they respond to food, potentially for years

www.theguardian.com

 

[stella938]

It’s interesting how the body’s evolutionary instincts seem to fight weight loss. The idea that fat cells "remember" past obesity makes a lot of sense when you think about how our bodies evolved to survive food scarcity. It’s no wonder yo-yo dieting is such a challenge.

 

[Burylancs]

The food scarcity aspects were interesting. In the 1990s a popular theory about Type 2 Diabetes was that the genes for it were so well conserved and passed on and comparatively widespread that they must have been useful in ancient times. The theory was /is that Type 2 would have been advantageous in hunter gatherer times in feast or famine conditions to maintain bg levels. Also for older people who might not be getting much food.
Not heard much about that theory recently and don't know what its current status is.

 

[harbottle]

I've read a paper that hypothesis that insulin resistance may be there for evolutionary reasons - surviving starvation. But the genes that cause T2D may have been with us for a long time and the condition has only become an 'epidemic' due to the modern lifestyles. During times of restricted food, like rationing during wars, the number of people developing T2D dropped dramatically.

 

[JITR]

Fat ‘remembering’ past obesity drives yo-yo diet effect, say experts

Research shows fat cells are affected by obesity in a way that alters how they respond to food, potentially for years

www.theguardian.com

To avoid regaining weight change your diet permanently

This is an important practical point at the end of the article:

David Benton, a professor emeritus at Swansea University and author of the 2024 book Tackling the Obesity Crisis: Beyond Failed Approaches to Lasting Solutions, said more than 100 factors influenced obesity.

“Obesity reflects consuming more calories than you burn. When a diet removes energy you lose weight,” he said. “However, the mantra is that diets fail. They fail because to avoid regaining lost weight you need to permanently change your diet. Most often having finished the diet, we return to the lifestyle that caused the problem in the first instance. The result is yo-yo dieting.”

 

[helli]

Although less common, there are people who struggle to gain and/or maintain weight.
I wonder if the same is true with their yoyoing diets.