Why Losing Weight is Almost Impossible (for 49 out of 50 of us)

For anyone who has ‘accidentally’ managed to become significantly overweight and then tried to lose some weight it will come as no surprise to read that losing weight is really hard to do. The basic problem is that our brains will not let us lose weight, and in then end, we ‘are’ our brains.

What happens is that when our brains detect that the glucose levels in our system have fallen below a level they are happy with, which varies from person to person, the two centres in our brains that regulate pleasure turn up the volume on the desire to eat; thereby forcing us to restoring our glucose levels. At the same time the pre-fontal cortex—which provides us with logic and self control—loses its ability to control these impulses.

The brain basically demands that we eat to raise glucose levels to a point that it is happy with, then it lets the controlling balances return back to normal.

It seems that only about 1 in 50 people have the ‘willpower’ to over-ride the brain’s requirements and not eat to raise glucose levels when the brain demands it. Which is another way of saying that only about 1 in 50 people will be ultimately successful in their quest to lose weight.

Embedded in this explanation is the reason why exercise is rarely as helpful in losing weight as it is often made out to be. This is because exercising causes glucose levels to drop which then triggers the brain’s glucose ‘disaster recovery program’ and hence, for 49 out of 50 of us, we eat as demanded by our brains to push glucose levels back up; and we will typically do this within 60 minutes of exercising. It might just be a coffee with two sugars or two coffees with one sugar or a whole milk coffee, but whatever, it will basically negate—or almost negate—any weight burning that might have resulted from the exercise.

The theory goes that up until we reach the age of about 25 our brains are reasonably happy to chug along on fluctuating glucose levels and hence rarely trigger their glucose ‘disaster recovery programs’. But, for whatever reason, sometime between 25 and 30 our brains decide that fluctuating levels are just not on and it wants stable levels—hence the glucose ‘disaster recovery program’ starts to get used a lot more.

So … what to do?

Lately I have been doing a lot of reading on why we get fat and what to do about it (see other posting here) and sadly I don’t have a really good answer about how to make the brain happier with lower or fluctuating glucose levels, like it was when we were younger. I guess if any drug company comes up with this pill they are going to make a fortune.

The other good pill would be one that gave us the willpower to over-ride the brain’s glucose ‘disaster recovery program’. But I don’t know of one of those either.

The popular theory is that eating less more often will keep glucose levels ‘flat’ and will stop the brain from engaging the glucose ‘disaster recovery program’. The routine suggested is:

• Breakfast
• Morning snack 1 at about +1.5 hours.
• Morning snack 2 at about +3.0 hours
• Lunch.
• Afternoon snack 1 at about +1.5 hours.
• Afternoon snack 2 at about +3.0 hours.
• Tea/Dinner.
• Evening snack 1 at about +1.5 hours.
• Bed

You don’t need to eat while you are asleep because, magically, the body automatically maintains the exact right levels of glucose to keep everyone happy while you are asleep; unless you are Type 1 diabetic in which case disregard everything in this post.

It is due to this last point that many of us lose more weight when we are asleep than we do when we are awake and moving around.

The key with these snacks is that they be low GI and hence are metabolised into glucose slowly rather than all in one big burst right after you eat them. As a general rule fresh fruit of almost any kind is suitable. An important point is to eat the snacks whether you feel like them or not because the idea here is to stop the oncoming glucose dip that triggers the ‘disaster recovery program’ and it may not be due for another hour yet; but if don’t eat the snack now then the dip will happen and all is lost. Then you will eat this snack, the next snack, and maybe the snack after all at once—because you brain demanded that you do.

So. That’s my latest reading on the matter summarised. I am thinking of giving it a go. Seems to me I just need to take some apples and maybe sliced rock melon to work to snack on between meals