Quote:
Originally Posted by Rygar
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I'm really against the notion of 'this is the answer for everyone' when it comes to dietary / exercise stuff. I have met people that exercise / diet healthy and remain large, and have met people that eat shit and are rail skinny. Certainly documented cases of conditions that make it extremely difficult to store fat in an individual.
Until "Genetic Metabolism anomaly 1- 439" can be quantified I'm a proponent of 'do what works for you'.
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Genetic metabolic anomalies can be quantified to an extent already, but no matter what it's always going to be, "do what works for you."
A portion of that book I mentioned spends some time discussing professional athletes, and in particular, the subset of that population that are genetic outliers in terms of metabolic expenditure. Pontzer's hypothesis is that many top-level endurance athletes would have high metabolic expenditure even living sedentary lifestyles, rather than the metabolic expenditure being high due to all the exercise. He doesn't suggest that everyone is the same, but rather that an adult individual's total energy expenditure is relatively consistent regardless of activity level- until around age 60, and with the understanding that certain pathologies can affect this as well.
There are many genetic factors that influence level of adiposity, and obviously energy expenditure ("high" vs "low" metabolism) is one of them, but I currently believe that this one factor gets too much credit. A factor deserving more consideration is imo genetic variation of hunger/satiation cues. A simple example of this being genetic differences in production of (or responsiveness to) ghrelin (the "hunger hormone") and leptin (the "satiation hormone").
There are of course also factors beyond the genetic- including social, psychological, environmental, etc. that all affect adiposity. Each individual is unique, and we all need individualized approaches to support our health. In light of our modern food environment, aggressive treatment with prescription medications, psychotherapy, and dietetic consultation may all be required for many to maintain a healthy weight.
I feel like telling someone with adiposity-based chronic disease to "eat less and move more" is about as effective as telling a person with major depression to "cheer up."