Just the other day, I was wondering to myself, "Gee, Real Nutrition Nerd, if you stopped exercising and just ate fast food for a month, what would be the long term effects?"
Well, now I have the answer. In a new study out of Sweden, participants were asked to limit exercise to 5000 steps a day and increase daily calories by 70% for a month. Oddly enough, they gained an average of 14 pounds. Although they were able to lose the weight quickly thereafter, a follow-up 2-and-a-half years later revealed that they regained, on average, about 4.5 pounds. A control group who exercised and ate properly during the study didn't experience similar weight gain.
From the BBC:
Asa Ernersson, who led the research at the department of medical and health sciences at Linkoping University, Sweden, said: "The long term difference in body weight in the intervention and control groups suggest that there is an extended effect on fat mass after a short period of large food consumption and minimal exercise."While it's probably not my place to question scientists, especially Swedish scientists (love your furniture, guys), I can't help but wonder about the participants. If someone asked me to stop exercising and eat like crap for a month, I'd tell them to take a flying leap, so perhaps the people who agreed to this study were already predisposed to pop down one fiskbullar too many while watching... I dunno, whatever the hell Swedes watch on television. Ace of Base and Abba videos? Dolph Lundgren movies? You tell me. The point is, I'm not totally buying the physiological shift angle that the researchers are suggesting.
Although now that I think about it, I haven't seen Universal Soldier in years. Same with Showdown in Little Tokyo. I might take it easy tonight and rent a couple DVDs instead of doing my core work...
D'oh! Wait a minute! You almost had me, you conniving Scandinavians! Now I see how you did it!
(Tack sa mycket to MichM, The Real Nutrition Nerd's resident Super Computeress, for pointing us to this study.)
Varsågod, Herr Fitness Nerd.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, did you get a chance to read the entire study? There they admit, "We lack knowledge of our participants' attitudes towards a healthy lifestyle, physical activity and eating habits before inclusion but on the other hand, most of them were medical students which is why we believe that they were aware of the potential risks by gaining body weight. The intervention was also clearly described to all participants. However, due to the demanding design we did not randomize subjects to the intervention or the control group, which might have biased long-term results. Speculatively some of hte subjects in the intervention group could be less cautious about gaining body weight as they voluteered to participate in the intervention."
Aside from the poundage these people gained, a couple interesting notes: BMR increased during their "binge-eating" phase, but returned to baseline somewehere within 6 months of returning to their "regular" eating and exercise habits. Also, while both fat free mass AND fat mass were gained during the "sloth" phase, only fat mass was retained after a year of returning to "normal" eating/exercise haibts (fat free mass returned to baseline, while almost half of the fat mass increase remained).
Oh, one more juicy tidbit: "Based on the individual calculated energy need the participants were prescibed to double their energy intake during the intervention, by eating at least two fast food based meals per day . . . if there was any difficulties to ingest the fast food based diet, it could be changed to any food rich in protein and saturated animal fat . . . ." Wonder what would have happened if they were ordered to double their caloric intake with fruits and veggies (besides the obvious increase in potty stops -- tee hee!). Obviously, this would be a lot of volume, but, theoretically, it could be done with a Vitamix. Hmmm . . .
Ha det så bra!
P.S. Previous comment posted by michm; just neglected to sign off . . .
ReplyDelete/michm
Hmmm. I think that's a little lame, to be honest (on their part - not yours). I've often been to doctor's offices staffed by "medical students" and been alarmed by the lack of physical fitness. I have no idea how someone who knows anything about physiology would let themselves go like that, but welcome to the 21st century...
ReplyDeleteI wonder if these people got paid for this study. Reminds me of movie stars gaining weight for certain roles...but these people just gained weight so scientists could figure out something that we already knew.
ReplyDelete" I've often been to doctor's offices staffed by "medical students" and been alarmed by the lack of physical fitness. I have no idea how someone who knows anything about physiology would let themselves go like that, but welcome to the 21st century... "
ReplyDeleteExactly. Personal opinion, is that some choose to go into professions such as medicine, dietetics, psychology, etc. hoping to fix themselves in the process. Unfortunately, their personal issues tend to get in the way of best patient care, but it is what it is.
Sigh . . .
/michm
"I have no idea how someone who knows anything about physiology would let themselves go like that..."
ReplyDeleteThat's a little offensive, don't you think? There are so many factors, physical and mental, that presuming an educated person would never "let themselves go" is absurd.
Yeah, you're probably right, but at the same time, I've been in plenty of doctors offices where the staff is sucking down Coke or giant Starbucks Crapochinos. Theoretically, I'm supposed to know a fraction of what they know about the human body and the what's in that junk horrified me into avoiding it.
ReplyDeleteI've been too fat and I've been too skinny. I've dealt with borderline eating disorders both on the too much and too little levels. I've seen friends and family ruin their lives with bad food choices and it infuriates me. I've been in too many situations where the word "fat" needed to be said in hushed tones when it should be confronted and torn apart. If that makes me insensitive, so be it.
Wait: didn't Supersize Me already pretty much cover this ground? (Disclaimer: I did not see this movie. I was afraid.)
ReplyDeleteYes and no. It didn't really cover the long term effects. Morgan Spurlock went right back to being his normal, svelt self.
ReplyDelete