Archive re-post - Why is it so easy to get fat?

12 Apr 2013

Why is it so easy to get fat?

1. Aim

The purpose of this article is to draw together evidence based research from varying disciplines, to give greater understanding as to why we are facing an obesity epidemic [1] and the issues affecting weight loss.

2. Intended audience

The public in general, however, I have attempted to write it for the lowest common denominator who has little to no knowledge on the subject. As such detailed analysis has been omitted to give a global view of the issue. Subsequent articles will look to delve deeper in to areas touched on in this article. If there is a particular area you would like me to discuss in future articles, please visit my Google+ page and send me a request.

3. Introduction

The question as to whether or not an obesity epidemic exists is of course, yes. The issue is how big is the problem and why has it happened?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that in 2008, 35% of the worlds adult
population (20+ years) were over weight (BMI ≥ 25kg/m2) and 12% were classed as obese
(BMI ≥ 30kg/m2). These statistics have more than doubled between 1980 and 2008 [2]. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which
consists of 34 countries concludes things have not got any better. 1 in 2 adults in over half of the OECD countries are now considered overweight or obese, with rates predicted to increase over the next ten years. In some countries 2 out of 3 adults will be classed as obese by 2020 [3].
It is a multifaceted problem and as such there is no single research area that will yield the answer. We must look at the subject in it's entirety, what it all means for the "Average Joe" on the street and more importantly what can we, as individuals, do about it.

4. The Odds Are Stacked Against You

Not to sound completely "gloom and doom" from the off but based on the majority of what I have read it states that we are, in a way, destined to get fat. In my eyes this comes from the fundamental principle that we are always looking to satisfy a simple equation.

Maximum Calories Gained : For the Least Calories Burnt

Professor Jared Diamond puts it nicely in his book Guns, Germs and Steel [4] - which is a great book by the way, I highly recommend it.
"All other things being equal, people seek to maximise their return of calories, protein, or other specific food categories by foraging in a way that yields the most return with the most certainty in the least time with the least effort"
He also notes that from anthropological evidence we "crave specific foods, such as protein-rich foods, fat, salt, sweet fruits".
Based on these statements the human race has done pretty well when it comes to getting our food. We walk 10m to our cars and drive to the nearest super market which is normally no further than 20 mins away. Not many calories burnt in foraging for the food and it is almost a certainty the super market will have food. So far so good. Okay, we then have to walk around the super market and push the trolley, but again a pretty low calorie output. Then there is the food we are loading into our trolleys. If you wanted, you could go to town on sweets, crisps, cakes, sugary drinks, burgers, all the meat you want and carbohydrates till they are coming out your ears. I would say this satisfies maximising return of calories with least effort in the least time. Then back to the car, short trip home, quick unpack into cupboards, fridges and freezers and that's you done for then next week or two.

So why is this an issue? Surely this means we are simply extremely efficient animals? Well yes it does but we are victims of our own success. Unfortunately this evolutionary strategy came about based on our hunter - gatherer roots, when we were in effect, feral. Mother nature is a cruel mistress and as such, food was not always easy to find, was not always reliable year in, year out and took a lot of work to get at (i.e. to hunt it, dig it up, climb to reach it or walk miles to gather enough of it). Therefore, when food was available you needed to capitalise on the opportunity presented to you. Either by eating as much of it as you can, preserving/storing it or managing the food source in some manner.
This is why your bodies store excess calories as fat. Our bodies still behave as if they are living in the long, long ago. The pace at which societies and cultures have developed has not given our bodies enough time to physically develop to meet the demands of the current environment. This fat store is supposed to help us in times of scarce supply and hardship the problem being is that these scarce and hard times don't exist in the same way as they did before (at least not for those countries that suffer from obesity the most). Take the Falklands War for example when British troops marched from San Carlos to Port Stanley. They covered 56 miles, carrying upwards of 36kg in 3 days across arduous enemy terrain in freezing conditions [5]. Some soldiers didn't complete the march due to exhaustion and fatigue. Some of these were the fittest soldiers in the Company, the Physical Training Instructors (PTIs). How does that work? Well, as we all know Personal Trainers are all about the gym and being buff, but with this training comes low percentage body fat. During the hardship of the march they didn't have the energy reserves they needed, as they didn't have the fat stores thus they struggled to complete the march.
It is well known that the body will first and foremost burn carbohydrates as its primary form of energy. Only once this has been consumed will it shift to burning fat stores; following this it will move to burning proteins (i.e. muscle), by which point you're in real trouble [6]. This sequential process of energy utilisation within the body has implications not only for the physiology behind weight loss but also the psychology behind it. What this means is that in essence you have to starve your body to loose weight!! Even if you are loosing the recommended safe level of 2lbs of adipose tissue a week you are still in theory starving your body. You are burning more calories than you are replacing. The problem is your subconscious views this loss of weight as a bad thing, it assumes that you are loosing weight because times are tough and not enough food is around. Hence you get all the cravings for calorie rich foods - which usually means all the bad stuff. Remember your bodies strategy is to maximise calories gained, for the least calories burnt.
It doesn't matter that you weigh 130 kg or more. The body doesn't register this. It has calibrated itself to the size you are and how much you currently eat and will be telling you that loosing weight is bad!! I myself have felt the effects of this when I was in the Army. On long training exercises (1-3 weeks) you could easily be burning in excess of 6,000 calories a day. For example I once lost about 5kg in just over a week. Some of this would have been due to water loss but the majority was actual body mass. As a result when ever we came to the end of an exercise the only conversations to be had were those concerning what foods we would eat when we returned to barracks. It was always bacon sandwiches with mayo and cheese, burgers, pizzas, chocolate and so forth. Our bodies were screaming for calories and as such, we could only think of high sugar, high fat, high protein foods.

I cannot cover all the factors affecting why we are pre-determined to maintain weight in this single article (the research is just too vast) but there is a plethora of social and cultural factors as well as individual genetic factors that effect whether or not we get fat, how easy it is to lose that adipose tissue and what effect it has on the body [7] [8] [9]. For example a study was conducted into mothers' body weights and the affect on the children in the womb [10] which makes for an interesting read. In short the findings concluded that an obese mum means an obese child. This is not only due to the nurture effects of being brought up on the same diet as the mother but that "minute changes in the intra-uterine environment may have substantial impacts on health outcomes". Pretty powerful stuff to think that your lack of care for your body is directly affecting someones start in life.

In summary everything is designed to ensure you keep weight on, unfortunately this is out of synch with the environment we now live in.

5. Reliable Calories

So why is our current way of life so out of keeping with how our bodies are designed to work? Again, we are found to be victims of our own success; we developed farming [4]. Prof. Diamond states that farming began to raise its head around 8500 BC. Farming was so significant because it completely changed the way our societies work. Of note for this article, it freed up a lot of time (for some individuals at least) to invent more things as we didn't have to worry about foraging for our food, which used to take up the majority of our hunter-gatherer lives. We started inventing machines which decreased the amount of calories burnt to carry out normal task. Entertainments like the arts, music and theatre developed, where by we sit around and burn barely any calories whilst enjoying the show (and probably consume a few in the form of drinks and snacks) and eventually computers, which you are likely sitting in front of right now reading this article, burning very few calories indeed.

Farming was the catalyst that changed everything but our bodies haven't quite grasped this fact. They still work on the old school rules, not the new school rules.

6. So what does all this mean for me

It means to stay fit and healthy you actually have to go against what your body and mind are telling you. You actually have to go out of your way to consciously make your life harder. Which sounds ridiculous when you think about it but that is the fact of the matter and in order to achieve this you have to be disciplined until a healthy lifestyle becomes second nature and you don't have to think about it. Even if you are one of the lucky ones and you can eat what you like and not gain an ounce. You still need to be physically active in some way in order to be healthy. The problem is your body and mind both say to you, "well we've got all the calories we need, so why on earth do you want to go and burn calories if you don't have to, lets just sit down and watch some T.V., oh and whilst we're their we'll have some nice high calorie snacks too"

This is not to say that you have to deny yourself all the things you love and live a Puritan style existence. It also definitely doesn't mean crash diet. Both of these strategies aren't sustainable and the later of the two is completely counter productive, placing the body into a starvation response. The up shot of this being that your body becomes carbohydrate sensitive, meaning it will grab hold of the smallest amounts of carbohydrate and store it [11]. The result is that your weight will Yo - Yo between extremes (hence the term Yo-Yo dieting). This occurs as the body believes you are in a time of hardship and must help out by storing everything it can. It even starts to deposit more fat in your bones - that's right, once in a starvation response your bones begin to get fat [12].

The psychology of losing weight is therefore very important if not paramount. You have to get your head around the fact that it doesn't feel good to lose weight, that you are going to make yourself feel out of keeping with what your body is trying to do (let alone all the other psychological issues of low self esteem, lacking confidence, personality traits etc etc). When intending to lose weight, it should not be a case of "I'm on a diet" it should simply be "this is how I eat". The very idea of a diet, as most people relate to the term, suggests a transient nature. Something you do for a period of time to purge yourself because you ate too much Christmas pudding or because you want a beach body for your holiday. In my eyes this is not a healthy way to live your life, swinging your weight and perception of self from one end of the spectrum to the other all the time. Just set yourself a tolerance level for bad stuff you're going to eat. For example a 75% : 25% ratio is a good ball park figure (that's 75% of the good stuff by the way!). This is what I do. I try to eat well during the week and then have a "blow out" at the weekend when I go see friends or have a meal out with my partner (or "The Boss" as I like to call her). This way, psychologically you still feed those voices telling you to have something that's high calorie. Doing it this way you actually start to have a "blow out" less and less or the bad things you consume on a "blow out" naturally starts to decrease. This is because your eating behaviours begin to adjust and also your palette. You need to actually re-train how your mind perceives food on a subconscious level. For example I weaned myself off adding refined sugar to food and drink in this way.
As for exercise, again this should not be "I'm on an exercise programme as I'm going on holiday soon" but "this is how I live". Yes, having a programme is a vital part of attaining your goals and being specific in you training but again the terminology suggests a transient feel. The terminology you use is important as it reinforces your life style change. If you ever get the voice telling you to sit down and put your feet up, or it's too cold, or it's too hot or you don't have to worry we'll go for that run tomorrow, just sit down and work out how many hours in that day you were sedentary, including sleep. Then work it out over an average week. When you then compare this to the fact that your bodies are designed to move, to forage for food and to hunt for the majority of day light hours every day, every week, it should certainly be a no brainer whether or not you step outside for that run or walk or cycle.

7. Conclusion

Arm your conscious with the knowledge to bring about subconscious change and adjust the way you look at your life. Following this comes the next important step which is actually acting on it. Changing your behaviours to attain the body you are designed to have. Remember, if it feels like everything is against you, that it's an uphill struggle and it all feels like a lot of hard work ...... well then it means you're doing it right, because you are essentially looking for ways to make your life harder not easier. It is only through looking for ways to make your life harder that your body will eventually adapt. Once you begin to adapt it won't feel like everything is against you, the hill isn't so steep and although its still hard work, you feel like you can handle it. At this point you will start to feel great because you will be achieving.

Key points from the article on losing weight

1. Don't crash diet. 
2. There is no easy way to lose weight as everything is geared towards maintaining your weight. 
3. Increasing your calorie output won't feel normal as your body is telling you to conserve calories. 
4. You will feel hungry. As stated in order for your body to burn fat it needs to burn off the carbohydrates in your meals (i.e. when your blood glucose are low you will feel hungry). Stay strong and accept the inevitable. 
5. Don't cut out all the things you love which are considered bad for you (chocolate, beer, crisps). In the long run this will only back fire. Tell yourself you can't have it and you will want it more. Just work on 75% : 25% and have a 'blow out" every now again (like the weekends when you're seeing friends or family). 
6. Don't just focus on adjusting you're food habits. Your body is designed to move so to be healthy you must take exercise as well as adjusting foods consumed. Its about being healthy, not about being thin. 

8. Future Articles

The exact details about "how I eat" and "how I live" will be covered in subsequent articles including fasting, different approaches to food intake and training types such as power, strength and endurance as they are too vast to be covered here in one article. I will also be looking into further information on the psychology surrounding fitness and life style change.
Articles will be aimed at different audiences like Personal Trainers, clinicians, nutritionists as well as the general public.

I hope this article has challenged the way that you perceive your body and mind. More than this I hope it can empower you to achieve your goals.


References

1. Dubois L., et al. Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Weight, Height, and BMI from Birth to 19 Years of Age: An International Study of Over 12,000 Twin Pairs. PLoS One. 2012;7(2). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3275599/

2. World Health Organisation. Obesity - Situations and Trends. [Web Site]. 2008. Available: 11 Apr 2013 http://www.who.int/gho/ncd/risk_factors/obesity_text/en/index.html

3. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Obesity Update 2012. [Web Site]. 2012. Available: 11 Apr 2013 http://www.oecd.org/health/49716427.pdf
4. Diamond J. Guns, Germs and Steel: A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years. London. Vintage. 1997; 104 - 108.

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yomp Available: 11 Apr 2013

6. Tsintzas K., et al. Differential regulation of metabolic genes in skeletal muscle during starvation and re-feeding in humans. Journal of Physiology. 2006 Aug 15;575 (Pt1):291-303. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1819428/
7. Herrera B. M., Keildson S. and Lindgren C. M. Genetics and epigenetics of obesity. Maturitas. 2011 May; 69(1): 41–49.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3213306/

8. Ramachandrappa S. and Farooqi S. I. Genetic approaches to understanding human obesity. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2011 June 1; 121(6): 2080–2086. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3104766/

9. Bradfield J. P., et al. A genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies new childhood obesity loci. Nature Genetics. 2012; 44(5): 526-531. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3370100/

10. Adamo K. B., Ferraro Z. M. and Brett K. E. Can We Modify the Intrauterine Environment to Halt the Intergenerational Cycle of Obesity? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2012 April; 9(4): 1263-1307. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3366611/

11. Cahill G. F. Survival in starvation. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1998;68:1–2. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/68/1/1.full.pdf 

12. Devlin M. Why does starvation make bones fat? American Journal of Human Biology. 2011 Sept; 23(5): 577-585. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3169094/#R16