You cut the fat, eat smaller portions, forgo desserts (most of the time) and even exercise, but you still can’t lose-weight. It turns out that you may be up against something bigger than what you eat: your own genes. Though scientists have long theorized that being overweight runs in families, they recently made major breakthroughs in proving it. Using obese mice, researchers identified a handful of mutated genes ~ Obese, Diabetes and Fat, to name a few ~ that may contribute to obesity. Honing in on genes, however, is only one step in understanding how our bodies regulate weight. “We’re still trying to figure out whether each of these genes plays a role in obesity and to pinpoint the mechanism that allows the body to resist weight loss,” says Rudolph Leibel, co-director of human behavior and metabolism at Rockefeller University in New York City.
But even proponents of the genetics theory don’t dismiss the impact our culture has on what we eat and how overweight Americans have become. Studies show that regardless of genes, as countries get richer, high-fat foods become more abundant, people become less active, and they get fatter. But if scientists can use this genetic information, one day you may be able to compensate for cultural factors. In the meantime, eating right and exercising are still the best ways to maintain an ideal weight.
Workouts Keep Working?
For years, obesity scientists have suspected that an internal mechanism keeps our weight at a set point. In 1995, Rockefeller University’s Rudolph Leibel, a proponent of this theory, published a study that revealed when subjects lost 10 percent of their weight, they burned about 15 percent less energy, and when they gained 10, they burned about 15 percent more of their weight. These results may explain why dieting doesn’t always work.
To overcome natural forces, the goal is to keep your metabolism revved up through exercise, not diet. Cut calories, and your body converses energy by slowing down the metabolic processes. Exercise, and it speeds up, not only while you work out, but after, too. Your resting metabolic rate (what your body burns when you’re sitting) can increase by 10 percent for up to two hours after exercising.