Dear Michael,
There’s one more thing you and I need to clear up. I’ve already ranted about fat people being accused of being lazy gluttons. And I know I’ve berated you already for your disregard of some basic nutritional biochemical principles. Now, I’ve got to fix one final issue—fat people lying about what they eat.
Now people may lie about what they eat. Fat people may lie more than others–or not. But your reasoning for assuming that the women in the study are lying is profoundly inaccurate.
I have to say when I read this, I was ready to call the whole thing off. This is from “Unhappy Meals:”
Consider: When the study began, the average participant weighed in at 170 pounds and claimed to be eating 1,800 calories a day. It would take an unusual metabolism to maintain that weight on so little food. And it would take an even freakier metabolism to drop only one or two pounds after getting down to a diet of 1,400 to 1,500 calories a day — as the women on the “low-fat” regimen claimed to have done. Sorry, ladies, but I just don’t buy it.
So let me clue you in on a little something, Mikey. Not only is it absolutely possible to maintain your weight on 1800 kcals/day, it may be absolutely impossible to lose weight on 1400-1500 kcals/day—if the vast majority of those calories are carbohydrate. Not only did I see numerous instances of just this situation in the clinic, I lived through it myself.
Let’s take a look at the participants in this study: Female. Ages 50-79. Post-menopausal. A bit overweight. Yup, you’re looking at a prime example of a “freaky” metabolism.
Here’s how that “freakish” metabolism works: You’ve spent your whole life eating a diet high in carbs and (relatively—compared to the carbs), low in fat. Every time you eat carbohydrates, your insulin levels go up.
Every time—got that, EVERY time—your insulin levels become elevated, insulin-dependent cells (that’s fat and muscle) down-regulate insulin receptors. As the insulin receptors that remain do their job and cells become full of stored energy, the cells start refusing to take up more glucose. (I’m not making this up. It’s straight out of my biochem book.) Your cells eventually become insulin resistant; your pancreas works harder to make more insulin—because that glucose infusion has to go somewhere—so insulin levels are almost constantly elevated. During this whole time, your blood sugars may look fine. They may look fine forever—or for as long as your pancreas holds out.
Now do you remember what insulin does in the body? Right, it does lower blood sugar, but it has a couple of other jobs as well. It tells the body to store fat (that’s where most of that blood sugar is going). It also tells glucagon to shut up & glucagon is what tells the body to BURN FAT.
That means, even on a low-calorie diet, if the majority of those calories are from carbohydrate, elevated insulin levels may prevent your body from EVER burning fat. Add to that the fact that these women—at that low calorie level—may not be getting enough protein to maintain muscle mass and hormone and enzyme synthesis. Their metabolisms slow to a crawl and they become even less efficient at burning fat.
And I’m not even taking menopause into account here.
In fact, for this population, even a low-carb, low-calorie diet is not going to help them lose weight at any great speed. The typical one to two pounds a week may be more like one to two pounds a month–at best.
With all due respect, I find it hard to believe that as smart as you are, you haven’t figured this out on your own.
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