Is there any real evidence to the whole metabolism vs. weight issue?

Factual Questions
1

I don’t want to open up a can of worms here, but I do have a legitimate question. I’m looking for actual cites or facts, not anecdotal evidence (ie, “I eat 800 calories a day yet still gain weight, therefore I am proof that low metabolisms exists!”).

In many weight related discussions, you hear people talking about how they have a “slow” metabolism and therefore have to eat MUCH less than other people just to maintain their weight, much less lose any. On the other side of the spectrum, you hear about the skinny people who eat 4000+ calories a day and barely can fit into those size two jeans.

I’ll admit: I’m a skeptic. I don’t have anything to back up that skepticism, thus this thread.

I could buy the fact that people have slightly different metabolisms. Given two people of similiar height, build, and activity levels, I could understand there being a slight difference between the daily caloric requirements between the two. I’m talking a couple hundred calories at most.

I have a really hard time believing that one can live on 500 calories a day for extended periods of time and never lose weight. If that’s true, how come we don’t see pictures of concentration camp prisoners where one in every ten or twenty prisoners looking of standard weight and relatively healthy? Not that this is real evidence, but hey, I said I didn’t have real evidence.

Another anecdote: My ex was fairly slim most of the time I was with him. He spent one summer doing construction work. I remember figuring out the calories he ate on a given day once, and it was in the 3500-4000 range. He ate a LOT. He also worked his ass off every day, was in his late twenties, and was slim and muscular. A lot of people talked about how much he could eat and still stay slim, and he was considered one of those skinny people who could eat whatever they wanted.

Fast forward 3 years, to when he became a programmer and had a desk job. He ate maybe half of what he used to eat, and got chubby. There goes the “fast metabolism” arguement.

I find the same thing true of myself. I sit at a computer all day; even with working out on a regular basis, if I want to lose weight, I have to work at it. On the other hand, during times in my life where I was much more active, it was quite easy to lose weight.

I could go on and on with my anecdotes, but what I’m looking for are studies or medical articles that back up the “slow” vs. “Fast” metabolism. Anyone got any?

2

Actually, I think this in part proves the argument. When you are active, you have a higher (“faster”) basal metabolic rate (that is, your body’s metabolism at rest). If you’re a sloth, or stuck behind a desk 12 hours a day, you will have a slower “at rest” metabolism, and pack on pounds more easily. This is why exercise is doubly important: it not only burns off calories when you’re doing it, but it also helps your body burn more calories even when you’re not exercising.

3

I don’t think that one example can prove an argument. I was looking for some long term studies or some such thing.

4

Right, but I think the question Athena is asking is whether (as is sometimes claimed) some people have a naturally much higher or lower basal metabolic rate. Are there people whose metabolism runs faster/slower regardless of their activity level?

Anecdotal evidence certainly does abound, but I’ve never heard of any systematic study establishing that such people exist. I know I have seen instances that seemed to support the theory. A former female co-worker of mine consistently checked in at (by my eyeball estimate) about 95 pounds with a ~5’9" frame–she was always bitching about the rumors that were constantly flying around that she was anorexic/bulimic. “I try and try to gain weight,” she said to me once … But that experience is of little value in this inquiry, eh?

5

There was a very good documentary on UK TV (no cite I’m afraid), that showed studies indicating that the bigger you are, the faster your metabolism: your body have a larger number of cells to provide energy for. In other words, the entire theory is bunk.

6

Some people are better at storing fat than others.

I keep trotting out this article whenever weight-related discussions come up, but it really is just that good: The Pima Paradox.

7

Here’s a slightly related article:

Also, Dieting: Does it really lower your metabolic rate?

Also, The Reality Behind Metabolism Myths

8

I saw a documentary on this once on discovery health. It showed quite a few shots of various families eating dinner, talked about how often they ate, and what sort of foods. (showed one family shopping)

The one thing I noticed was the foods these people were eating. Corn, bread, rolls, potatoes, candy, chips, pasta. Geez, no wonder 99% of the Pima Indians was obese and diabetic. They talked of going on diets, that 800 calorie nonsense, and nothing working. I dunno about the genetic dispositions, but if these people at 6-8 meals, eating healthy foods instead of so much junk food, with or without exercise it would help. Geez, first thing any doctor does when somebody is diagnosed with hyperglycemia is having them eat a low carb diet eating 6-8 meals a day. Nothing they ate in this 2 hour special looked like anything a diabetic should be eating.

9

Epimetheus: points well taken. As was pointed out in the article, the Pima have adopted a rather fatalistic view about obesity and diabetes.

10

This foloowing is fact based only on my observation.

I work in an office, as does Mrs Bernse *

I cook virtually all the meals. We eat virtually the same portions.** Mrs Bernse has a sweet tooth and craves grease at times. I vary rarely do. Regardless, we both have a very healthy appetite.

We are both quite sedintary(sp?) at home.

I am 5’11"

Mrs. Bernse is 5’9"

I weigh approx 200lbs

Mrs Bernse weighs 118lbs

The only conclusion that I can make is that she burns off her calories/fat far faster than I do, hence I conclude she has a higher metabolism.

[sub]* = Mrs. Bernse does at the odd time work outdoors, but not labor intensive. Regardless, this just started.

** = Mrs. Bernse will quite often eat more and larger servings than I[/sub]

11

Or perhaps her body is less efficient at extracting energy from her food, thus requiring more food to gain equal energy. (hey, its a theory that doesn’t involve metabolism)

12

I am scheduled for bariatric surgery next April. My doctor here at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester did tell me that he had recently attended a conference where the results of a study were presented that indicated that, all other things being relatively equal, some people will gain weight and others will lose weight with identical diets. Now, he didn’t say anything about the initial state of these test subjects; were some of them obese and others lean? I imagine that such information would be useful here. That’s the only real study I’ve heard of from a doctor so far; everything else is, as you already alluded to, anecdotal.

[long, drawn-out anecdote ahead]

Since we’re already posting some anecdotal evidence here, I’ll offer this: I can confirm that exercise is absolutely key in weight loss. I’ve dieted and failed to lose much weight, but when I add exercise (with no change in diet) I can usually count on some weight loss. Combining just about any kind of diet with exercise is ideal, and will produce significant weight loss.

The real problem, as far as I can tell, is that it is significantly harder for some people to maintain a diet/exercise regimen for long enough and consistently enough to maintain a healthy weight-particularly if the person has developed poor diet/exercise habits early on. Losing 20 pounds and keeping it off is a LOT easier for most people than losing 100 pounds and keeping it off, even if the basic method is the same.

In addition, many morbidly obese people are discouraged by their inability to perform many of the aerobic exercises that they see lean people performing in gyms or on TV; although ANY exercise is better than none, the extremely slow process of weight loss and the poor track record of successful weight loss and maintenence tends to be major discouragements for the obese. So, unless or until these people are able to do significant amounts of exercise, their basal metabolic rate WILL be lower than their more active compatriots. Lean people almost automatically are more active than obese people, simply because they can do things for longer periods of time without tiring, getting joint aches, etc.

Although I have been obese since childhood, I personally found that my weight problems really got bad after college, when I went from a fairly active lifestyle (job as a busboy in a restaraunt, basketball full-court every day in summer, weightlifting all year round, volleyball indoors in winter, etc) to a very sedentary liefestyle in the working world (desk job 8 hours a day) with no significant changes in diet. I now find that weight-bearing exercises are hard on my knees and back, so I recently purchased a recumbent exercise bike, which allows me to get in at least 30 minutes of exercise 5 or 6 days a week with minimal impact on my joints. This in turn strengthened my muscles and increased my cardiovascular endurance, and now I am better able to perform weight-bearing exercises as well. In one month with the exercise bike, I was able to lose 20 pounds; but then I hit a brick wall (metaphorically speaking). Again, there is no significant change in diet (I currently follow a low-fat diet, but may switch to an Atkins-like diet soon) and the exercise is there, but for whatever reason, my body weight refuses to budge for weeks. I think this is a common experience for many people trying to lose large amounts of weight, and it is very hard to maintain enthusiasm for your diet/exercise program when you stop seeing results from your efforts. So I’m thinking that many people just give up and go back to their old habits. Perhaps the answer is to actually increase the level of exercise and the strictness of the diet to push it to the next phase…but again, if it were an easy thing to do, then very few people would be morbidly obese, you know?

My decision to go for bariatric surgery takes into account my previous (failed) attempts to take the weight off and keep it off. I need to push past the plateaus and reach the next phase of weight loss and maintenence, and I am basically asking to be relieved of half of the burden here; my end of the bargain is to maintain and increase exercise levels consistently, while the surgery does most of the heavy lifting as far as diet goes.

13

I know you didn’t want anecdotal evidence, but since you posted some yourself, I’m going to give one nevertheless.

I knew this girl, who was 19, IIRC and very skinny. I didn’t knew her well, and assumed she was anorexic (especially given her sex/age). Once, I invited her and some friends for a meal. I remember the menu I had prepared : foie gras, salmon cooked in a cream sauce with a side serving of potatoes, and I don’t know what kind of cake for dessert. I was actually a little worried about her, since I thought an anorexic could be annoyed with this kind of food (I don’t know much about anorexic people) but since she wasn’t the only guest…

And I watched her engulfing incredible quantities of food :eek: , consciensiously drowing the salmon in sauce, sipping bread in whatever was left of the sauce, taking potatoes once, twice, thrice…etc…

Actually, I was so surprised that I asked her about it later and admitted to her I had believed she was anorexic. And she went on explaining to me that she had a specific metabolism issue and had to eat a lot of food and still couldn’t gain a pound. I was able to verify this in several instances later : she definitely ate amazing amounts of food, and stayed on the clearly too skinny side.
So, from then on , I believed there was indeed people with a very weird metabolism.
That say, I would assume that such cases (or the reserve cases) are pretty rare, and that the metabolism issue is most often used as a convenient excuse. But I’m going to wait for other people posting non-anecdotal evidences to prove me right or wrong.

14

Funny - I’m the exact opposite. Granted, I’m not obese (I could stand to lose, at most, 20 pounds. Much more than that and I’d be too skinny IMO). Exercise alone does nothing for me, weight-wise. I found this out for certain a couple years ago, when I went on a very strict exercise regime. Cardio and weightlifting 6 days a week, for 45-90 minutes each time (I worked up to the 90 minute mark). I did this faithfully for six weeks, and weighed and measured myself at the beginning and the end. I didn’t change my diet. Results? I weighed the same at the beginning and the end. My measurements (bust, hips, waist, thighs, etc.) were the same as well. Damn!

Diet, on the other hand, makes a big difference. The last time I lost a significant amount of weight, I didn’t exercise at all through most of it. Of course, I find exercising MUCH easier than watching my diet. I like eating too much. Figures, eh?

15

Of course if you work out a lot, you get hungry more. When many people work out they just eat more. Perhaps this is the case. Or, more than likely, you weighed the same because you were losing fat, unknowingly, and gaining muscle. I have been working out for about 10 months or so, lifting, cardio etc, and weigh the same as when I started. The difference? - I am much stronger, and I can see muscles now. My shirts fit the same, my pants fit the same, but I bet my BF is not the same.
Combining proper diet and exercise works the same for everybody, metabolism or not. If a person with a slow metabolism burns 400 calories on the treadmill every day for a week, they will have lost the same as a person with a fast metabolism. Calories in, calories out. People that say “exercise didn’t work for me”, are not doing it right.

16

I probably ate a bit more, but I didn’t track it, I simply ate the same foods I normally eat and ate until I was full.

I believe if I was doing the “losing fat, gaining muscle” thing it would have shown up with the tape measure. As I said before, I noticed no difference in my measurements.

I was stronger at the end, and my muscles were definitely toned. I’m not saying nothing changed - I’m just saying that it didn’t make me drop a clothes size or lose any weight. For what it’s worth, I have a body fat scale, it may have moved a little but I don’t remember a huge difference.

<shrug> Exercise alone doesn’t work for me - whether that’s because I’m naturally fairly muscular and don’t see massive muscle gain/fat loss with exercise, or whether I unconsciously eat more when I exercise to make up for lost calories has yet to be determined. Exercise AND watching my diet definitely works. Watching my diet without worrying a lot about exercise works, too. Like I said, I like to eat!

17

In and of itself, exercise isn’t a terribly effective tool for weight loss. This sucks. Diet is the crucial component.

18

As to the concentration camp example - Everyone was skinny because they were being worked to death. However, metabolism could be what was responsible for those horrifyingly skinny people just being horrifyingly skinny, rather than horrifyingly dead, in a mass grave.

19

Yes, I probably should have stressed that in my post. Exercising and eating a buch of junk food isn’t going to do too much. It might help with some health issues, but like you said, diet is the key element. However, exercise combined with diet is going to be much more effective than just diet alone.
I know what you mean about the eating thing. I tend to get hungrier after a workout and eat, justifing that if I want more muscle I need to eat more. :o

Sometimes the “losing fat, gaining muscle” thing doesn’t show up well on a tape measure. Huge gains takes alot of time, those fast weight loss diets only rebound, take it slow, allowing your body to adjust to it takes months, sometimes years. It isn’t a diet, it IS a lifestyle change.
Six weeks is not a very long time to weightlift and expect amazing results. Patience is crucial. :slight_smile:

On the OP though, I think metabolism HAS to be a reality. I know too many skinny people that eat and eat (and don’t eat really healthy), and never gain a pound. Either they are burning the energy at huge rates, or they have very inefficient digestive systems. (it has to go somewhere right?) I am talking about people like the guy I work with. 5’11, 150lbs and eats about 4000 calories (I have counted a couple times) every day at work, and never gains any weight. (he is like at 6% bodyfat, you can see an 8 pack.) Yet I see other people, the same age as him, eating A LOT less food and have gotten bigger since I started there. (and they eat pretty much the same stuff, burgers, candy, etc)

20

I heard this story before…from a woman with bulemia