Losing weight can feel like a hopeless struggle for many people. Eating right and exercising more and not losing anything. Or losing a little bit only to gain it all back again. All these ups and downs can make your weight loss goals seem unreachable. Recent research has found that losing weight and maintaining that loss with diet and exercise may actually be close to impossible.
Research done with obese mice found that the longer the mice were obese, the less likely they were to lose weight and maintain a normal weight.
Why?
The body has a set normal, healthy weight. If you are obese for an extended period of time, your normal set weight shifts to a heavier set weight. Your body sees this heavier weight as the new “normal”. The scary thing about this is, when the normal weight is shifted, it is much harder to lose those excess pounds — even with diets or exercise that might have worked for you previously. So the longer you are obese, the more impossible it will be to lose weight.
The good news is that diet and exercise are not the end all, be all for weight loss. There are underlying metabolic imbalances that prevent most people from losing weight. Everyone is different and has different imbalances; we can figure out what those are for you at Optimal Body Balance.
This information also shows the importance of teaching our children healthy lifestyle habits. The subject of weight seems to be a touchy one with parents — it shouldn’t be. Talk about healthy eating and exercise habits from a young age and it will be normal for you family. 43 million kids under the age of 5 are obese in the country! Those kids are facing an adulthood with hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and premature death. Early intervention is key and this study shows it — mice who were able to stay at a normal weight until they were young adults only by means of dieting (healthy eating habits) were able to keep their normal weight even when the dieting stopped. Young mice who were overfed and had early onset obesity were never able to get back to a normal weight. Even when they dieted and exercised more.
Source:
Christine Kearney. “Can Obesity Hit A Point Of No Return? Researchers Say Yes.” Medical News Today. Medilexicon, Intl., 25 Oct. 2012. Web. 21 Nov. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/251959.php>
