Short-Term Overeating May Cause Long-Term Weight Loss Difficult

Our notion that extra weight and piled-up fats gained through a few weeks of sluggish behavior and over indulgence in high-calorie food can be easily eliminated at the gym, might be wrong.

A new Swedish research reveals that even a month of unhealthy living can have a long-term effect on your body's physiology according to Dr. Torbjorn Lindstrom, a co-author of this study. Lindstrom recommended that very high food-intake should be avoided during shorter periods in normal life.

For one month, Dr. Lindstrom and his colleagues placed the 18 normal-weight healthy participants (12 men and 6 women with an average age of 26 years old) in a restricted physical activity routine that involved the equivalent of no more than 5,000 steps per day. The team noted that five thousand steps is the threshold for an "inactive" lifestyle while "active" lifestyle involved ten thousand steps or more.

Aside from their daily physical activity participants' daily caloric intake were increased to 70 percent. The additional calories were mainly sourced from fast food which contains about 5,750 calories. The research also included a comparison group who did not change their diet/activity.

After the month-long experiment, the feasting group gained an average of 14 pounds. Their fat-mass increases from 20 percent to 24 percent of the total body weight.

That new weight gained by the participants was eliminated (more than 10 pounds) after six months. However, one year after the study's end, researcher noticed that there is an evident gain in fat mass (of about 3 pounds on average) compared with their pre-study status. This fat stuck around stubbornly despite the participants' calorie intake was back to normal and active routines.

Two and a half years after the study, the researchers found that fat mass continue to increase (just under 7 pounds on the average) on the feasting participants. Long-term physiological change was not found on the control group who had remained to their usual diet.

Based on the findings, researchers concluded that short-term overeating coupled with sedentary lifestyle may change body composition and lead to a significant boost in body fat levels. The changes appear to continue, despite resuming to a healthy and active behavior.

However, study author Asa Ernersson, said that there's a possibility that age may have an effect in losing body weight after a short-term overindulgence in high-calorie foods. "But from this study we cannot draw any such conclusions, since most of the participants were between 20 and 30 years old."

via News.Yahoo.com