Not everyone enjoys a sweat session, but exercise has long been touted as a key component of losing weight. Exactly how big a role it can play is still something of an open question, but a new analysis of the contestants who had lost a significant amount of body weight while on “The Biggest Loser” reality television show suggests that it can be an integral piece of the puzzle.
The analysis, published in the August 2021 edition of the research journal Obesity, reinterpreted data collected from contestants of the show. In a previous study, the author, Kevin D. Hall, noted that contestants experienced a dramatic slowing of their metabolisms after losing a lot of weight. He also noted that regaining the lost weight doesn’t restore the metabolism to its previous level, which helps explain why it’s so difficult to keep weight off after losing it.
In the new study, Hall attempts to explain those findings in more depth, using what he calls the “constrained model of human energy expenditure.” That model states that the body aims to keep an even keel in terms of energy expenditure and will turn down its metabolic rate when weight loss occurs.
From an evolutionary standpoint, this is great news – our hunter-gather ancestors could rely on the body’s precise energy-balance-keeping mechanism to help them get through lean times. But in the modern age, where far too many calories are on constant offer, that survival mechanism may be contributing to rising rates of obesity.
