Observation: Obesity is an energy disorder

[Keith]

The more I think about it, the more I think that obesity is, in no small part, an energy disorder.

Pretty much everyone who frequents these forums would know that eating high-GI processed foods gives you an energy boost followed by an energy slump.

Obesity is characterised by a lack of energy. This is presumably partly from the effort of constantly carrying the extra weight and partly due to efficiency issues in the body associated with the weight or fat (eg. fatty tissues around the liver reduce its ability to process food).

The net effect is that an obese person craves energy a lot more than the average person. And what's the best source of "gotta have it now!" energy? That's right, those high-GI carbs like doughnuts, cakes, chocolates etc.

So what's the solution? I'm not the expert, but from personal experience:

(1) Eat often! This is not a solution that immediately leaps to mind when you're trying to lose weight, but if you keep that energy metabolism stoked, you avoid the energy cravings (you'll probably still get the odd craving for comfort foods, but that's emotional not energy, and a lot easier to deal with when your energy needs are met). (Roughly) evenly divide your daily calories across at least 5 meals a day.

In my experience, a lot of people (office workers anyway) have 5 meals a day without planning to. They have 3 meals a day and grab a coffee (and maybe cake) a couple of times a day (one 16oz latte = 250+ calories). The mistake is in not realising these are meals and reducing the size of your other meals accordingly.

(2) Eat a lot of food! Eat foods with a moderate-to-low calorie density. Four medium bananas have less calories than a Krispy Kreme Devils Food Doughnut and will fill you up for 3 times as long.

The trap in eating those high-GI, high energy foods is that they just don't satiate your hunger very well. Your body devours them rapidly then crashes and craves more. Stick to the low and medium GI foods and they'll tide you over a lot better. I recommend having a look through a GI chart, but as a general rule of thumb, the less processed a food is, the lower-GI it's likely to be. Note: If you're diabetic controlling your blood-sugar is critical so don't rely on this.

(3) Exercise! Obese people get told all the time to exercise, but we're rarely told why. Most think it's for weight loss. It certainly doesn't hurt in that regard but you reduce your calories more by eating one less doughnut than by taking a 40 minute walk.

The main reason for obese people to exercise is - you guessed it! - energy control. When you exercise regularly, your body gets fit. A fitter body works more efficiently and evens out those energy peaks and troughs. Ever notice how annoyingly energetic and cheerful athletic people are? They weren't born that way - they just have a constant supply of energy flowing through their body because they're fit.

Obesity doesn't have to go hand in hand with unfitness - Sumo wrestlers are supremely fit, for example. But if you're obese and unfit, start slow. The weight puts extra pressure on your body - you don't want to do yourself an injury. Aim to exercise at the edge of your fitness level. If that means a walk around the block, cool, do that. After a little while you'll feel up to walking faster around that block. Or increasing to two blocks.

(4) Sleep! Very little stuffs up your energy metabolism like lack of sleep. What's enough sleep? If you get to bed at a decent hour and you wake up before the alarm feeling refreshed, that's enough sleep.

Quality is as important as quantity. If you find yourself sleeping for long periods of time, maybe you're one of that minority who needs a lot more sleep. But more likely you're just not getting a high quality sleep. Look into factors like: is it dark and quiet enough? Are you taking stimulants like nicotine, caffeine or television (yes, you read that right) before bed? Are you sleeping at a regular time (shifting your sleep window by 1 hour takes your body 1-2 days to adjust to)?

Overcoming obesity is definitely a challenge. But it's a much more achievable challenge when you have a steady level of energy to work with.

P.S. I'm thinking of putting this article on my blog (when I have one ) so any input is gratefully appreciated. (I'll tweak it slightly so it's not directed at members of this forum, of course).

P.P.S. I've been meaning to post something like this for a while, but I was inspired to finally do it by Novice runner's thread. Way to set us all an example to follow, NoviceRunner! Keep up the awesome work...

[harrem]

Originally Posted by Keith

(3) Exercise! Obese people get told all the time to exercise, but we're rarely told why. Most think it's for weight loss. It certainly doesn't hurt in that regard but you reduce your calories more by eating one less doughnut than by taking a 40 minute walk.

I agree with you. Most people that doesn't exercise will evetually get fat and it is not a healthy lifestyle. I think people should be more conscious about themselves and start exercise to avoid all kinds of sickness.

[Rose of Cairo]

Hi Keith,

I agree with you that obesity must be some kind of energy disorder. If you see the body as an energetical system, just every health issue is linked to some energy disorder in some way.

I also agree with you on eating often, eating a lot of low-GI foods, exercising and sleeping. I think other criteria than the GI are important too when choosing the food, but that would be off-topic here.

What I really have a hard time agreeing with is that obesity is a lack of energy. An energetical disorder, yes, but not necessarily a lack. Other things can happen to energy, like being blocked somewhere. For example I suffered from cold feet for a while. So I went to see an acupuncturist, he said some energy is blocked at some point, stuck two needles into me and byebye cold feet.

From my personal experience as an overweight person, it's not a lack of energy. I've got much more energy than many thin people I know. I can dance or cycle for hours and hours and keep going all night through, whereas some slender people are tired much faster or are not that dynamic at all. Of course when climbing a mountain I'm slower than a thin person, but that's not because of having less energy, it's just that I have to carry more weight. If you put 44 additional lbs in their backpack, they'll be just as slow as I am. That's not a sign of low energy.

Actually I often have the impression that I have too much energy. It's more that this energy can't get used appropriately. Or it can't flow correctly. It gets stuck somewhere and makes me almost explode instead of being useful. Something like that.

I don't know, I would like to hear other people's opinions on that. Maybe I'd have even more energy if I was thin?

[eblight]

You could say with regard this that obesity is blocked energy often but not always emotionally blocked energy that can lead to fatigue, tiredness and lethargy.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Rose of Cairo

What I really have a hard time agreeing with is that obesity is a lack of energy. An energetical disorder, yes, but not necessarily a lack. Other things can happen to energy, like being blocked somewhere. For example I suffered from cold feet for a while. So I went to see an acupuncturist, he said some energy is blocked at some point, stuck two needles into me and byebye cold feet.

I suspect you're using a broader definition of energy than I am. When I refer to "energy" I'm not talking about chi or prana, I'm referring purely to the amount of "get up and go" you have. I'll clarify that in the blog article whenif I post it.

The post is partly a rejoinder to all those people who claim that fat people are just being lazy. (In general, not in these forums specifically).

Originally Posted by Rose of Cairo

From my personal experience as an overweight person, it's not a lack of energy. I've got much more energy than many thin people I know. I can dance or cycle for hours and hours and keep going all night through, whereas some slender people are tired much faster or are not that dynamic at all.

That's interesting and apparently contrary to my personal experience.

Do you exercise regularly? Eat predominantly plant-based unprocessed foods?

Like I said in my post, it's entirely possible to be simultaneously fit and obese. If you're a fit and obese person who avoids the foods that screw up your energy it's entirely reasonable that you'd be more energetic than thin people who eat crap and don't exercise.

Tom Venuto had a term in "Burn the fat, feed the muscle" - "Fat skinnies". ie. people who are a 'normal' weight and build, but have a high body fat percentage because their muscle tone is so minimal.

[Rose of Cairo]

Originally Posted by Keith

I'm referring purely to the amount of "get up and go" you have.

Well that doesn't make any difference. If you're referring to the amount of "get up and go": I have a lot of it!

Originally Posted by Keith

Do you exercise regularly?

Well, I don't think you would call it "exercising regularly", since I have no fixed training anywhere. But I do move a lot. I use no car and no bus and no elevator, only my feet and my bike. I dance a lot. Whenever I have an opportunity to play ping pong or do some rock or mountain climbing, I do it. Most of all I spend hours and hours with fast walking and cycling. It's not a regular training, sometimes I don't go at all and sometimes I'm away for five hours. But in average I need to walk or cycle about two hours a day to feel good. More is even better.

Originally Posted by Keith

Eat predominantly plant-based unprocessed foods?

Yep!

Originally Posted by Keith

Like I said in my post, it's entirely possible to be simultaneously fit and obese.

Well, isn't that a direct contradiction to your statement that

Originally Posted by Keith

Obesity is characterised by a lack of energy.

?

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Rose of Cairo

Well, I don't think you would call it "exercising regularly", since I have no fixed training anywhere. But I do move a lot. I use no car and no bus and no elevator, only my feet and my bike. I dance a lot. Whenever I have an opportunity to play ping pong or do some rock or mountain climbing, I do it. Most of all I spend hours and hours with fast walking and cycling. It's not a regular training, sometimes I don't go at all and sometimes I'm away for five hours. But in average I need to walk or cycle about two hours a day to feel good. More is even better.

Yeh, if you're moving around for about 2 hours a day that definitely counts as regular exercise. (The minimum definition for regular exercise is usually 30 mins 3x a week).

Originally Posted by Rose of Cairo

Yep!

Originally Posted by Rose of Cairo

Well, isn't that a direct contradiction to your statement that

?

I meant that "obese people generally have a lack of energy". AFAIK, that's a valid use of the word "characterised, but I can use clearer language.

Obesity and unfitness usually go hand in hand. And that combination makes it many times harder to get fit than if you were unfit and not lugging around all that weight with the associated energy-management issues.

The article implies (but doesn't outright state, I now realise) that fat people can have good energy if they do the 4 things mentioned in the article (eat regularly, eat well, get fit, sleep well). And that in fact, the best way to lose weight is to get your energy metabolism under control.

You sound like you fit into the category of an overweight person who does those 4 things, and thus has your energy metabolism under good control. It sounds like you probably have a naturally good metabolism too, but you're doing all the right things to keep it that way.

[Rose of Cairo]

Ah! Yes, obese people can have good energy if doing this. I thought you were giving more weight loss advice. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Please don't feel criticized, I really like your advice. I think these are very good ideas. Doing those four things helped me a lot to have more energy, indeed. But oddly enough, I did not lose any weight.

What do you call a good metabolism?


edit: I'm having doubts that I have one. I would love to know more about that! Can you explain?

[VacMan]

When people say "metabolism" they usually mean:

How many calories you burn in a day without doing any activity.

Some people naturally burn a higher amount of calories without doing anything than others.

You can also damage your metabolism by eating too little food.

When you eat too little for too long your body will often times think that it's starving and will decrease the amount of calories you burn at rest to conserve energy.

You can keep your metabolism burning higher by eating "enough" food.

You really want to keep your calories in the correct range if you want to lose weight, not too much, not too little.

Every persons ideal calorie intake varies based on their body characteristics.

But there are ways to figure out what number is right for you.

[yorik]

On one hand your advice is pretty good, but your "observation" seems to be a little naive, or perhaps uninformed. That's not bad mind you, because it's easily corrected.

To call obesity an energy problem is pretty vague, especially when you define "energy" as "get up and go". That sounds like enthusiasm, and makes it a psychological issue, which you don't address. Later on you address fitness as part of energy control, but apparently exercise is not? This just doesn't make sense to me. As somebody pointed out, moving around 300 pounds requires a lot more energy expenditure than moving around 150 pounds. An obese person expends much more energy than a normal person just walking down the hall. Naturally, an obese person requires more caloric intake.

Do you mean metabolism?

Obesity is definitely a metabolic disorder, and in most cases correctable. Metabolism has many factors including consumption, conversion, storage and expenditure.

You need to consume the right amount for your energy expenditure, and the right mix of macro nutrients (protein, fat, carb) for your body composition.

You might be surprised that obese people have a surprisingly large muscle mass. Imagine the difference in strength required to stand up between a 150 pound adult and a 300 pound adult. Most diets utterly fail to take into account muscle mass; obese people tend to need more protein than average to maintain muscle mass.

Another surprising fact is that fat storage is controlled by insulin. Some doctors argue that the purpose of insulin is not to help you use energy, but to remove sugar from your blood. One way it does this is to store it as fat.

The purpose of exercise is many. If done properly, it raises your metabolism. You burn more calories, even after you stop exercising. (That's what high intensity interval exercises do.) It adjusts your body to be more sensitive to glucose and to use more of the insulin to move glucose into muscle cells and away from storage.

Dr. John Berardi of precisionnutrition.com has a theory called G-Flux, in which body composition (obesity) is affected not by the absolute energy expenditure, but by energy flux, where you will lose fat by both exercising more, and eating more, so more energy both comes in and goes out. It seems to work.

So, if you mean "energy" equals "metabolism", then your observation is correct, but then your ideas are nothing particularly new.

[joanmhe]

I find your post interesting, and agree with much of it - I have been observing my energy levels closely for the last month, and definitely see the sugar boost when I am tired. I also feel the energy boost from a piece of fruit.
My low energy, I'm guessing is from being sub-clinical hypothryroid. I'm trying "The Thyroid Diet" by Mary Shoman. She recommends a diet of 3 meals a day with no snacks. The first 2 days of this, I have had the highest energy days since I started tracking.
I tried one day on John Berardi's eating plan, and felt awful, I just couldn't get enough calories without eating any starches.
Reading Steve's recent Raw diet blog posts has caused me to start eating a lot more raw fruits and veggies and lose 3 pounds

[yorik]

Originally Posted by joanmhe

I tried one day on John Berardi's eating plan, and felt awful, I just couldn't get enough calories without eating any starches.
Reading Steve's recent Raw diet blog posts has caused me to start eating a lot more raw fruits and veggies and lose 3 pounds

Another aspect we tend to overlook is that there are different types of people. Dr. Mercola is an advocate of metabolic typing. Some people do really well on just carbs, others do really well on just protein, others require a mixture, so there seem to be three types.

At first, I tried Atkins, and my "energy" levels stabilized a lot better on a higher ratio of protein and fewer carbs, but my body composition didn't change at all. It's only when I combined protein and carbs (low glycemic, to be sure!) that I started to change body comp.

If you're fairly big, Berardi's plans can be challenging to get the calories without starches. The trick is to time your starches so you eat them after exercise when their impact will be minimalized.

Another trick that seems to work really well is carb and calorie cycling. You eat a constant amount of protein and fat every day, but you cycle the amount of carbs from virtually none, to a medium amount the next day to a very high amount on the third day, then start over. The calorie spikes appear to be just enough to trick the body into maintaining a higher metabolic rate during periods of lower intake. (It apparently has something to do with the hormone leptin.) Of course, you have to keep exercising!

[joanmhe]

I'm about 15 pounds over my ideal weight, but don't eat meat, soy, or cheese. So, on the one-day Berardi trial, I ate veggies, fruit, hummus, egg whites, fish, and peanut butter that day - I was planning to exercise at 5 pm, but had a headache, (I don't usually get headaches). Total calories for the day was less than 1000 until I ate about 30 crackers for an after-dinner snack (about 300 cals). I didn't feel that hungry, which was a plus, but I should have realized that I was not doing this right when I nibbled on the whites of the orange peels...
Anyway, I have since read that Omega-3 eggs do not negatively impact cholesterol counts, so have added the yolks back, which would have helped. Limiting high GI foods is part of my current "trial" which seems to be going well so far, as long as I eat on schedule. One major bout of exhaustion, and one minor, compared to feeling tired all afternoon and evening every day.

[VacMan]

joanmhe,

1000 calories is really low and is probably causing the headaches and fatigue.

I'd be real careful with that, eating too little can damage your metabolism over time.

And cause you to feel not so hot too.

[joanmhe]

Vacman - I agree with you completely. My experience is teaching me that even on diets where you are not supposed to have to count your calories, you still have to count to make sure you get enough.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by yorik

On one hand your advice is pretty good, but your "observation" seems to be a little naive, or perhaps uninformed. That's not bad mind you, because it's easily corrected.

I'm not sure why "observation" is in quotes. It is an observation, drawn from personal experience.

I'm certainly open to input, that's why I posted the essay in the first place.

Originally Posted by yorik

To call obesity an energy problem is pretty vague, especially when you define "energy" as "get up and go". That sounds like enthusiasm, and makes it a psychological issue, which you don't address.

There's a couple of reasons I didn't address the mental aspects:
(1) The essay was pretty long already.
(2) I have minimal answers/experience in that area. ie. I didn't really have anything to say in that regard.
(3) In my experience, attempts to "psych myself up" have been short-lived affairs that were completely insignificant compared to the boost or slump that my level of physical energy gives me.

Obesity is an energy disorder like Diabetes is an energy disorder (though thankfully a more treatable one).

Originally Posted by yorik

Later on you address fitness as part of energy control, but apparently exercise is not? This just doesn't make sense to me. As somebody pointed out, moving around 300 pounds requires a lot more energy expenditure than moving around 150 pounds. An obese person expends much more energy than a normal person just walking down the hall. Naturally, an obese person requires more caloric intake.

I'm not really sure what you mean here. I mentioned the effort of carrying the extra weight.

Exercise, IMO, is primarily useful for building fitness. Sure, it burns calories, but if your energy levels are up and down you'll crave calorific food that'll more than offset the effort spent exercising. Once you're fit (and do the other stuff) your energy levels stabilise.

Originally Posted by yorik

Do you mean metabolism?

I don't believe so. A good metabolism gives you more energy but metabolism is a much less ephemeral thing than energy. You can have good energy levels in the morning and poor energy levels in the afternoon depending on what you've eaten, whether you've exercised etc. Your metabolism is fairly consistent.

I suspect energy is largely a matter of blood sugar levels - low GI foods tend to give you even & extended energy - but I'm not familiar with biology, so I can't say for sure. Energy level ranges from lethargic to energetic.

Originally Posted by yorik

Obesity is definitely a metabolic disorder, and in most cases correctable. Metabolism has many factors including consumption, conversion, storage and expenditure.
You need to consume the right amount for your energy expenditure, and the right mix of macro nutrients (protein, fat, carb) for your body composition.

Interesting and of course true, but outside the scope of the essay which focuses on managing your energy levels day to day to avoid binge-inducing cravings.

Originally Posted by yorik

You might be surprised that obese people have a surprisingly large muscle mass. Imagine the difference in strength required to stand up between a 150 pound adult and a 300 pound adult. Most diets utterly fail to take into account muscle mass; obese people tend to need more protein than average to maintain muscle mass.

I'm not surprised at all. I'm obese and I'm pretty strong. My stamina's not great though, even though I'm probably fitter than most people my weight.

I understand it's pretty hard not to get enough protein with a modern diet, even if you're vegetarian (which I'm not). Even obese people don't need much over 100g of protein per day.

Originally Posted by yorik

Another surprising fact is that fat storage is controlled by insulin. Some doctors argue that the purpose of insulin is not to help you use energy, but to remove sugar from your blood. One way it does this is to store it as fat.

Insulin is another part of the energy levels I was talking about, but again detailed biology is beyond the scope of the essay.

Originally Posted by yorik

The purpose of exercise is many. If done properly, it raises your metabolism. You burn more calories, even after you stop exercising. (That's what high intensity interval exercises do.)

That's true and I did originally have a line in about it, but deemed it as outside the scope of the essay. The essay indicates that exercise burns calories but that a minor dietary change will have greater impact on your calories. That takes the "afterburn" effect into account.

Originally Posted by yorik

It adjusts your body to be more sensitive to glucose and to use more of the insulin to move glucose into muscle cells and away from storage.

Interesting. I can tweak the essay to say that exercise may also reduce the amount of fat stored. But again, the focus of the essay is on controlling energy levels which I believe is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Originally Posted by yorik

So, if you mean "energy" equals "metabolism", then your observation is correct, but then your ideas are nothing particularly new.

Like I said above, energy is not the same thing as metabolism.

I assumed that I had not invented something entirely new, but it was a breakthrough discovery for me and I imagine the insight would be new to a lot of my readers (once I post it on my blog and assuming I get readers. ).

I had intended to rewrite the blog in response to everyone's input tonight, but I think it's best to exercise point #4 of my essay right now. Hopefully I'll get to it tomorrow evening.