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From: rene@nlm-mcs.ARPA (Rene Steiner)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Re: weight loss
Message-ID: <1362@nlm-mcs.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 3-May-84 15:31:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: nlm-mcs.1362
Posted: Thu May  3 15:31:33 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 5-May-84 01:07:41 EDT
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I took a weight-reduction/nutrition course, and some facts I recall:

1) After a certain age, the number of fat cells remains contant (they
just get bigger) UNLESS you reach about 170% of your desired weight.

2) The only way to (semi)permanently lower the amount stored per fat
cell is exercise. It seems your body has a "set-point" of how much fat
it likes. Exercise lowers this - otherwise, your body thinks you're
starving, you get hungry, go off diets, etc.

3) (seen on a NOVA show on obesity) There are two types of fat: white
fat and brown fat. Brown fat BURNS energy. Skinny people have hot
spots (literally, shown on a thermogram) where they have brown fat.
Fat people have very small, reduced hot spots. The scientists
interviewed were testing themselves (!) with some substance which,
when injected, increased brown fat activity. It apparently worked with
genetically fat mice (really impressively fat mice!). This was a year
or two ago - I'd like to see a followup.

4) It is certainly not all physical. Psychological reasons for
overeating and remaining overweight are often as hard (or harder) to
conquer as purely physical and chemical reasons.

				- rene

p.s. I just joined Weight Watchers, and I lost 2 pounds last week.
We'll see how it works out (can I find the time and energy to cook?
Can I avoid mashed potatoes, chocolate-chip cookies ... uh, oh, now
I'm hungry!). If anyone is interested, the new Weight Watchers'
Cookbook seems to have a lot of low-calorie but tasty-sounding meals.
Anyone interested in a few recipes? Or should I ask net.food?