Tag Archives: Metabolism

Getting High Will Help Your Fat Loss Diet

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Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)
02-22-10
Munich (dpa) – Obese people lose weight at high altitudes and keep it off for at least four weeks, according to a team of German scientists.
Independent of any other change in lifestyle, high altitudes appear to increase metabolism, decrease appetite and lower diastolic blood pressure, the researchers report in the journal Obesity.
Understanding the mechanisms behind this weight loss could provide a basis for new treatments for obesity, they say.
Florian Lippl and colleagues at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich studied the effect of living in high altitudes for one week on the body weight of 20 obese males, while no other change was made to their exercise routine or food availability.
At the end of the week, their body weight, food intake, and diastolic blood pressure had been significantly lowered, effects that were still present four weeks after returning from high altitude.
The low levels of oxygen present at high altitudes could be responsible for an observed increase in leptin, a hormone thought to suppress appetite, though the causes of this need to be further studied, the researchers say.
The lasting weight reduction seen at high altitudes is primarily due to an increased metabolism and decreased food intake, though the reasons behind these changes remain unclear and may be a temporary effect of the body acclimatizing to new surroundings.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)

02-22-10

Munich (dpa) – Obese people lose weight at high altitudes and keep it off for at least four weeks, according to a team of German scientists.

Independent of any other change in lifestyle, high altitudes appear to increase metabolism, decrease appetite and lower diastolic blood pressure, the researchers report in the journal Obesity.

Understanding the mechanisms behind this weight loss could provide a basis for new treatments for obesity, they say.

Florian Lippl and colleagues at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich studied the effect of living in high altitudes for one week on the body weight of 20 obese males, while no other change was made to their exercise routine or food availability.

At the end of the week, their body weight, food intake, and diastolic blood pressure had been significantly lowered, effects that were still present four weeks after returning from high altitude.

The low levels of oxygen present at high altitudes could be responsible for an observed increase in leptin, a hormone thought to suppress appetite, though the causes of this need to be further studied, the researchers say.

The lasting weight reduction seen at high altitudes is primarily due to an increased metabolism and decreased food intake, though the reasons behind these changes remain unclear and may be a temporary effect of the body acclimatizing to new surroundings.

Part 1: The Science of a Fat Loss Diet

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Yesterday, I talked about creating a calorie deficit, meaning that you need to burn more than you consume.  So, let’s assume that you determined that you needed to take in 2,000 calories a day to create a calorie deficit – is it better to:

A. Eat one 2,000 calorie meal per day
B. Eat four 500 calorie meals per day
C. Eat six 333 calorie meals per day

They’re the same, right?  Same amount of calories coming in, so they have to be the same.  Ummm, no.

Actually, studies have shown that C is the most effective meal pattern for burning fat due to a principle known as the Thermic Effect of Feeding, or TEF.  Your body burns calories for everything you do, including to process the food you are taking in, up to 10% of your calorie intake per day.  So if you are eating 333 calories in a meal, your body is using approximately 33 of them to process your meal.  When you eat less frequently, you’ll experience a lower TEF, which has been related to weight GAIN in the long term.

Other studies have shown that the higher the TEF (from eating frequently) the higher the feeling of satisfaction.  This is important from a psychological standpoint, meaning that you do no feel like you are starving yourself because it is only a couple of hours until your next meal.

One other important point above – your meals don’t have to be EXACTLY the same size every time, but they should be as close as possible, meaning, do not eat one huge meal with five apples spread through out the day.  Remember, every meal should contain a protein source.

In Part Two, I’ll cover metabolism and a little more about calories.  You are not going to believe what I tell you!

Add a Little Sunshine to Your Fat Loss Diet

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A recent study by the Endocrine Society found that men and women with higher vitamin D levels experienced a greater amount of weight loss when dieting compared to those with lower levels.  Study participants were put on a reduced-calorie diet for eleven weeks.  The researchers found a linear relationship between baseline vitamin D levels and weight loss.

“Plasma vitamin D predicts subsequent weight loss, suggesting a potential role for vitamin D in promotion of weight loss, perhaps through effects on adipose metabolism,” the study’s authors conclude in their abstract about their findings.

Vitamin D can be obtained from sun exposure, foods (fatty fish such as salmon) and supplements.