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Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

nature.com

141–150 of 343 posts

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

#141

Calorie counting is the only truly reliable way to lose weight

That's clearly not true. Calorie counting can work if you stick to it and aren't shit at estimating the calories in food. Almost any diet can work if you are able to stick with it. Appetite suppressants like amphetamines seen to work too. We've also seen that the new diabetes drugs actually work.

“Any diet” is still putting you at a net caloric deficit. There is no other principle that can explain weight loss that I know of. Whether you’re counting calories to achieve that deficit or following a “diet” it comes down to the exact same thing. Counting calories just demystifies the process of weight loss.

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

#142

Well, yeah. Adipocytes multiply when you get fat. But when you lose weight, they don't apoptose, they just shrink in volume by giving up their lipid stores.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" continues to be an undefeated aphorism.

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

#143
> However, maintaining weight loss is a considerable challenge, especially as the body seems to retain an obesogenic memory that defends against body weight changes

This is validating as I’m very skeptical about this when looking for a partner that currently has a physiology I’m interested in but had one I wasn’t interested in at some point before, and this seems to be a shared experience

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

#144
post #2

As someone who's struggled with weight loss, and have known others to struggle with it well, I think we colloquially called this "slow metabolism". It always did feel like it was easier to gain weight than lose it, especially fat weight and not muscle weight for me. I was recently sent a video about fat adaptation (basically teaching your body to be better at burning fat) by a very fit friend, but I wonder how much o…

> It always did feel like it was easier to gain weight than lose it, especially fat weight and not muscle weight for me.

It is the exact, polar opposite for me. I cannot gain even if I eat junk all day.

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

#145

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.

In line with the book "Intuitive Eating", I'm trying to make peace with both food and my weight lately for this reason.

Given what effects stress, depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, etc. have on the psyche and body, I'm running an experiment, and betting that making peace and taking care of my body as it is right now will benefit me in the long run.

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

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worse than that. Subcutaneous fat (which is the one you can trim off with liposuction) usually expands relying more in cell expansion and not in hyperplasia. Visceral fat on the other hand, is way more likely to involve hyperplasia and you cannot use liposuction against this type of fat. This is also the fat that is very hormonally active and increases the risks of diabetes, heart disease, cancers, strokes.

Is it unremovable because it's inside the core muscles and near internal organs?

See the second half of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bav_IBsuXEM

Visceral fat is literally enclosing the intestines, major blood vessels, organs, etc. of the abdomen.

Nevertheless, it is possible to surgically remove this sheet of fat that's covering your organs, it's called an omentectomy. But it's a big surgery, and done only in case of cancer, not for weight loss. That is, in humans: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29367725/

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

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10k calories a day is what a black bear eats preparing for hibernation. And it is what Michael Phelps would eat daily when training in the pool for hours on end. Obese people can remain obese eating 1000 calories a day. I recall one episode of My 600lb Life and the show's featured person that day was at 900 or 1200 calories a day and still didn't lose weight. Might have still been gaining. It is a dynamic system. Peo…

I'm sure an obese person claiming to eat 1000kcal per day can still gain weight but that is largely due to selfreported calorie estimates being a bad measure. Put that person in a chamber where calorie intake is controlled and I'd bet the effect disappears.

Yeah, I don't know if it was that episode or from somewhere else, but there was a similar thing where they followed the person around for a day and it turned out they didn't count anything ate as a snack between meals. They were accurately counting their meals, but including the snacks went somewhere above 3000 a day.

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

#148
post #2

As someone who's struggled with weight loss, and have known others to struggle with it well, I think we colloquially called this "slow metabolism". It always did feel like it was easier to gain weight than lose it, especially fat weight and not muscle weight for me. I was recently sent a video about fat adaptation (basically teaching your body to be better at burning fat) by a very fit friend, but I wonder how much o…

> It always did feel like it was easier to gain weight than lose it, especially fat weight and not muscle weight for me. It is the exact, polar opposite for me. I cannot gain even if I eat junk all day.

drink milkshakes

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

#149
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet it happens. A doctor in my family told the story of a patient they were treating in hospital who medically needed to lose weight, and who they found unable to get any reduction until they dropped below _200_ calories a day. Metabolism is _significantly_ more complex than CI/CO, from experience.

What is more likely: - a physics-breaking thermodynamic anomaly - a food addicted person is lying about their consumption 200 kcal a day.. yeah sure. A human body needs more than that just to breathe and pump blood. Even comatose a skinny person needs 5 times as much. Overweight people have a significantly higher metabolic base rate. Just breathing can easily be 1000kcal a day if your lungs have to move 30 kilos of u…

If you treat humans as biological machines, signaling system (hormones, endocrine system) is very important. When signaling system is messed up, your CI/CO model with self-control doesn't work at all. Signals need to be fixed.

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

#150
post #2

As someone who's struggled with weight loss, and have known others to struggle with it well, I think we colloquially called this "slow metabolism". It always did feel like it was easier to gain weight than lose it, especially fat weight and not muscle weight for me. I was recently sent a video about fat adaptation (basically teaching your body to be better at burning fat) by a very fit friend, but I wonder how much o…

Jason Fung is probably the world's leading research expert on obesity. If you want videos to watch on it, it starts and ends with this guy. He has done a ton of lectures and blogposts going back over a decade, and also has the stereotypical clickbaity YouTube videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpllomiDMX0

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