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Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss

(www.nature.com)
263 points paulpauper | 2 comments | 14 Apr 25 04:47 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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paulpauper ◴[17 Apr 25 07:33 UTC] No.43714036[source]▶
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.
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anon373839 ◴[17 Apr 25 08:46 UTC] No.43714393[source]▶
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.
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1. throwaway2037 ◴[19 Apr 25 09:14 UTC] No.43735203[source]▶

    > Many people, myself included, have kept weight off for decades.
To be clear, more than 80% of people eventually regain weight lost during a diet. While your statement might be factually correct: "many people" can be 20% of the millions of people who diet each year, but it overlooks the main point: Keeping off weight after a diet requires near superhuman control. Most people cannot do it. Thank god I was born with good genes that makes it easy for me to control my weight. It looks and sounds like hell trying to diet to lose weight.
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2. anon373839 ◴[19 Apr 25 22:17 UTC] No.43739927[source]▶
> Keeping off weight after a diet requires near superhuman control.

No. This is wrong.

Keeping weight off requires retraining your habits and relationship with food so that it becomes natural and even enjoyable to stay healthy. It also may require addressing some emotional and psychological issues that are keeping you stuck.

The path to that point may be challenging (not always!), but it is simply false that you must exert “superhuman control” forever to keep your progress. In fact, the opposite is true: if you view yourself in an adversarial posture with your diet, and are relying on willpower to “win”, then you are likely to fail because nobody can deprive themselves forever.

Circling back to that 80/20 statistic: I think it’s evidence that most people are not approaching this problem in the right way. And part of the problem, in my opinion, is defeatist beliefs like the ones I am criticizing here.