Genes in charge; their relation to weight

Before the diet began, the fat subjects' metabolism was normal ?- the number of calories burned per square meter of body surface was no different from that of people who had never been fat. But when they lost weight, they were burning as much as 24 percent fewer calories per square meter of their surface area than the calories consumed by those who were naturally thin.

In the last ten days or so, I've regained two pounds.

In the last ten days or so, I've regained two pounds.


Could this have been due to water retention?

Weight-loss researchers have long known that participants in diet studies who are fed identical meals often lose vastly different amounts of weight and that part of the reason may be differences in their bodies such as metabolism or hormones. They've recently focused the spotlight on insulin, which drives sugar into cells for storage and causes weight gain in carb lovers who produce too much of the hormone.

10-pound gap. In the JAMA study, researchers measured the insulin levels of 73 obese adults, without diabetes, after they drank a sugary beverage. One group was told to reduce carbohydrate intake to no more than 40 percent of calories and to consume unrefined or "low glycemic load" carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables, and barley to keep their insulin levels down. A second group could eat a variety of carbs but had to restrict fat intake to 20 percent of calories. After 18 months, participants who had the highest insulin spikes at the beginning of the study had lost nearly 13 pounds on the low-glycemic-load diet; their counterparts on a low-fat diet shed an average of just 3 pounds. The low insulin makers in the study lost the same 3 pounds regardless of which diet they followed. Yet all of the groups had cut their intake by about 400 calories a day.