Successful Weight Loss - No Evidence of Reduction - 2007/05/11 23:45
Some researchers have suggested that a successful weight loss may be accompanied by a larger than expected reduction in resting metabolic rate. If this is true, this reduction (also called "increased metabolic efficiency") may be the reason so many people find it difficult to maintain weight losses. In this study, we measured the resting metabolic rates of 40 registry members and a group of weight-matched control subjects. Resting metabolic rates for the two groups were not significantly different, although registry members had a respiratory quotient (RQ) slightly higher than that of control subjects. We found no evidence of increased metabolic efficiency in registry members, suggesting that this phenomenon is not an obligatory consequence of successful weight loss. The observed difference in RQ may have been due to either registry members’ consumption of a low-fat diet or to a reduced capacity for fat oxidation.
(Source: Wyatt H.R., Grunwald G.K., Seagle H.M., Klem M.L., McGuire M.T., Wing R.R. and Hill J.O. (1999). Resting energy expenditure in reduced-obese subjects in the National Weight Control Registry. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 69, 1189-1193.)
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