Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site bbncc5.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer From: sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) Newsgroups: net.consumers,net.med Subject: Re: Need info on "Gold Key" Weight loss plan Message-ID: <764@bbncc5.UUCP> Date: Sat, 19-Oct-85 13:46:19 EDT Article-I.D.: bbncc5.764 Posted: Sat Oct 19 13:46:19 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 21-Oct-85 00:44:55 EDT References: <378@cylixd.UUCP> Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, MA Lines: 39 Xref: watmath net.consumers:3205 net.med:2590 > Recently a radio station here has been advertising the "Gold Key" weight > loss clinic/plan/whathaveyou. They don't say much about it except that > it is supposed to "re-train your metabolism to burn fat rather than > store it." This sure sounds good on the surface. Too good to be true. > The phone number to call is that of an individual, so I suspect it > might be an "Amway"-type outfit. Anyone out there in net.consumers > know anything about this outfit? Anyone in net.med care to give an opinion > on whether "re-training" ones "metabolism to burn fat" would work? I know nothing about "Gold Key", but regular aerobic exercise has been shown to be many times more effective in assisting weight loss and maintaining a desired weight than would be expected by its caloric expenditure. On a reducing diet alone, your body adjusts to the smaller number of calories by slowing its metabolic rate, thus using whatever you eat more efficiently. Naturally, this slows your weight loss. Adding regular exercise counters this effect, increasing the metabolism and allowing a much more steady, plateau-free weight loss. Experiments in both animals and humans have allowed researchers to hypothesize the concept of a "setpoint", a weight which the organism attempts to maintain. Regular, moderate aerobic exercise actually LOWERS this setpoint. Onjectively, this is reflected in a lower food intake and higher metabolism. Becoming sedentary RAISES the setpoint and we observe weight gain. Completing a diet without continuing regular exercise is almost doomed to failure, as your body strains to reestablish homeostasis at its old setpoint. Some researchers believe that a weight-loss/weight-gain cycle actually causes the setpoint to increase. Thus, there certainly seems to be a way to "train" your body, but it certainly isn't too good to be true! 20-30 minutes of aerobic exercise 3 to 5 times a week is all that is needed. I know it isn't easy, because I fall victim to such fluctuations, and in fact I'm presently on a diet/ exercise regimen, having seen my setpoint (and my waist) explode after slowly "forgetting" my regular daily exercise. -- /Steve Dyer {harvard,seismo}!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer sdyer@bbncc5.ARPA