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Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

nature.com

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Re: Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

#21

Post by cookiengineer »

john_minsk wrote: post #4

Just went trough Yo-Yo. Any good strategies on how to overcome it for good?

It's not about the weight, it's about the exercise.

Start with something easy and establish a rule that won't ever be broken. If you break a rule once, you'll lose the fight.

My rule, for example, when I started to train more:

- start with 10 crunches every morning and evening

- increase by 2 crunches every day

- no exceptions

When you are at ~2 months in, you can add weight training to it to get stronger.

Additionally, find a sport that you can do once or twice a week that is FUN to do. By FUN I really mean it. There's no point in doing sports if you don't enjoy it.

If you enjoy playing batminton, go for it! If you enjoy table tennis, go for it! If you enjoy Kung Fu, Krav Maga, or whatever ... go for it!

Sports isn't about reaching goals, it's about having fun while doing it. Otherwise, you will not overcome the struggles. Your brain needs a reward, and enjoying sports helps you keep wanting more of it.

Re: Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

#23

Post by janpmz »

john_minsk wrote: post #4

Just went trough Yo-Yo. Any good strategies on how to overcome it for good?

For me weightloss worked over a long period of time with a couple of strategies.

1. One was not eating breakfast, this works well when I'm in the office. Then you have fasting built into your daily routine. This has many metabolic benefits.

2. Switching to a low carb diet (keto). I never thought I'd quit eating bread, but reducing carbonhydrates (esp. sugar) and eating more eggs & meat had the biggest effect on my weight. More so than doing sports. This is just a rough guideline, I don't follow this very strictly.

3. Sports + Fasting: Sometimes on the weekends I go on a hike or do some sports and only eat when I get home in the afternoon (e.g. steak). This forces my body to take the energy from the fat reserves.

Re: Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

#24

Post by anon373839 »

john_minsk wrote: post #4

Just went trough Yo-Yo. Any good strategies on how to overcome it for good?

I might consider working with a cognitive behavioral therapist. Since you’ve already lost weight, you do know (in big picture terms) how to lose/not gain weight: eat a healthy diet consistently and get regular exercise. For most people who struggle with their weight, there are emotional eating patterns or even just bad habits that are just hard to break on their own.

Of course knowledge about diet and exercise is immensely valuable, but if there are psychological factors getting in the way, it’s going to be harder to adopt a consistently healthy lifestyle.

Re: Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

#25

Post by agos »

fatdog2 wrote: post #22
agos wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is not helpful nor insightful

its literally the answer unless parent has solved famine

it is, at best, a tautology, at worst, taunting the asker on the very thing they are struggling with. I think we can do better to help each other with something difficult

Re: Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

#26

Post by modo_mario »

john_minsk wrote: post #4

Just went trough Yo-Yo. Any good strategies on how to overcome it for good?

I think you need to make it sustainable. I never had to do it consistently but even I know... Nobody is going to live hungry all the time. Nobody is going to grow old counting calories every damn day.

So rather than just eating less make sure to work out some. Consistently. Id suggest strength training. I did a full body strength training workout 2-3 times a week. Some may suggest doing leg days, arm days, etc but going there takes time on itself and i have other places to be than the gym.

To match that strength training eat more protein. Things like chicken are your friend. This tends to be higher on the satiety index so you'll feel full faster and you'll eat less without it being so painfull. Eat a bit of protein with every meal Really there's a whole lot of other stuff that you can fill yourself up with that won't be too bad for ya. And when you go for a carb? Get the complex one if it's a choice. It'll dampen that peak in insulin.

Avoid the sugary stuff. It's addictive for sure but taper off. Eat before going to the store. Make the hard decisions there not with the easy snack within reach in the evening.

Do a bit of everything that works until it becomes second nature. Overfocusing on one silver bullet doesn't tend to work.

Re: Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

#27

Post by Etheryte »

bsder wrote: post #16
elric wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More like "just take these GLP-1 agonists for the rest of your life". Those seem to have an effect on addictions etc. But at least when it comes to weight, people seem to put it back on once they quit. Perhaps the GLP-1 agonist is lacking an epigenetic reset button ...

Fat cells only turn over about 20% per year. You basically need to maintain a reduced weight for 5 years before the fat cells "forget" the higher weight. If you come off it before that 5 years are up, yeah, you are probably expected to bounce back somewhat. You might not need to be on GLP-1 forever, but you might need to be on it longer than people currently think.

Do you happen to have a reference for that or a specific link to learn more? That sounds oddly specific.

Re: Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

#28

Post by anon373839 »

paulpauper wrote: post #9

The more you research/learn about obesity, the worse it is, much like smoking. One of the most depressing stats is that dieting does not get easier with time. The probability of eventually regaining all the weight eventually converges to 100%. Even if you're successful for 2 years, people still regain by year 4, 5, etc. The body never resists trying to regain the weight. GLP-1 drugs are the best hope yet.

This is self-defeating and untrue. Many people, myself included, have kept weight off for decades. But you don’t get there by thinking of your new lifestyle as “dieting”. You need to learn to love eating healthy foods in a healthy amount, and getting exercise. Eventually you can get to a place where the old foods and habits are simply unappealing.

Re: Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

#29

Post by pif »

paulpauper wrote: post #9

The more you research/learn about obesity, the worse it is, much like smoking. One of the most depressing stats is that dieting does not get easier with time. The probability of eventually regaining all the weight eventually converges to 100%. Even if you're successful for 2 years, people still regain by year 4, 5, etc. The body never resists trying to regain the weight. GLP-1 drugs are the best hope yet.

> One of the most depressing stats is that dieting does not get easier with time.

Yeah, I've tried several times under medical control.

I kept asking my supervising doctor: "When is the constant hunger going to get better?" And the answer was always in the range of a few weeks to several months. But that moment never came... never!

And, in the end, all the kilograms I had lost along the route always found their way back home, and always with some new friends they had met while we had lost sight of each other.

Re: Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

#30

Post by Etheryte »

modo_mario wrote: post #26
john_minsk wrote: post #4

Just went trough Yo-Yo. Any good strategies on how to overcome it for good?

I think you need to make it sustainable. I never had to do it consistently but even I know... Nobody is going to live hungry all the time. Nobody is going to grow old counting calories every damn day. So rather than just eating less make sure to work out some. Consistently. Id suggest strength training. I did a full body strength training workout 2-3 times a week. Some may suggest doing leg days, arm days, etc but go…

This is advice people often give, but unfortunately it's wrong. Exercise and working out are useful and healthy, but it's not a sufficient tool for losing weight in most situations. The core problem is that the amount of calories you eat is in the ballpark of thousands, while a workout will burn in the order of hundreds (excluding athletes and such). This along with metabolic adaptation means that it's always easier to out eat what you burn extra. In other words, you can't outrun your fork. Exercise is healthy for a wide array of reasons, but it's only a small part of losing weight. Nearly all of it has to come from your eating habits.
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