Lose Weight and Eat
According to drs A.J. Fogteloo and prof. Dr. A.E. Meinders, people become too fat because they eat more than they use in energy and besides that they are born with a predisposition to get fat.
Drs. E.J. Fogteloo is internist at the Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum (LUMC) and will soon take his doctoral degree in this subject. Prof. Dr. A.E. Meinders is professr in Common Internal Medicin at the LUMC.
They write that it is remarkable that most people are able to keep their weight stabile during a long time. To achieve this, they have to eat as much as they use every day.
In other words, these people have to create a neutral balance between energy intake and use.
The storing of fat (calories) has gone out of control for some people. This is a modern problem, though. Fifty years ago, there was not as much overweight as today. In that time, the meals were often the same and combined with hard physical work. During the last twenty years, our meals have changed.
There is more variety but also less predictable as far as the amount of calories is concerned. Especially the easy, ready to eat meals have more calories than the volume suggests. The old-fashioned Dutch mashed potatoes, meat and vegetables contained a predictable amount of calories. It is not clear, though, how many calories there are in a hamburger or a pizza. This often depends on the brand and on the way it was prepared.
People get fat because they eat more than they use, but there is another cause. A twins-research in Canada has shown that some people have a predisposition to become fat. A fat child with slim parents has 24 percent chance to become a fat adult. This chance becomes a high as 62 percent if one of the parents is fat.
It is not true that all people become more fat and people with a predisposition to become fat do not get fatter unlimitedly. The body has a system that keeps the weight constant. If the body does not get enough energy, the metabolism will adjust. The energy use in rest will go down and the body will burn less to compensate the lower level of energy. Besides that, you will feel hungry. By this responses, the negative energy balance will be undone. This automatic and very effective system explains why loosing weight is so difficult for many people.
Overweight is often seen as a cosmetic problem. People with overweight do not answer to the ideal picture. The psychosocial and medical problems of overweight are much more important. A Scandinavian research has shown that fat people have a worse social position than people with normal weight. People with normal weight also have smaller chance of certain diseases like coronary diseases and type II diabetes mellitus.
Fat also has an important function in the body, though. Women who do not have enough fat reserves do not menstruate and are not fertile. Fat also helps slowing down osteoporosis.
The place of the fat is an important factor in the risk. If a man or woman has a fat stomach or central adiposities, has fat at ‘the wrong place’. A research has shown that a fat stomach increases the chance of coronary diseases and type II diabetes mellitus. It is not known how this works.