Our Body’s Fat Storage Memory- Lt Col (Dr) Mohd Arshil Moideen

weightWhy it is easier to gain weight back if you lose your weight rapidly using all these readily available diet products?

Our body has a memory and a sensor for our fat storage. Because of this memory, the body will convert other readily available nutrients in our body i.e glucose and protein into fat storage when the body senses rapid fat loss in order to meet back the fat level based on existing body memory.

An example would be, if your fat % for all these years is around 33.2 %, your body will make sure that they store more fat and convert other nutrients into fat to maintain the 33.2 % of body fat in the event of rapid weight loss. This is also the reason why some obese patients undergoing Liposuction procedures need to perform this expensive  procedures  repeatedly and frequently simply to maintain their weight .

Another example would be, obese patients who had few kilograms of  their fat removed  during surgical operations will simply gain back weight postoperatively. If you take a product which facilitates rapid weight loss, you will only lose weight while taking the product  (during the short period of time) and the moment you stop taking it or go back to your normal diet, your body will start storing the fat back to its usual level prior to taking the product.

So, how to ensure a sustainable and safe weight loss?

Losing weight steadily over a longer period of time is more sustainable than losing weight rapidly. The body’s memory on our fat storage will not change in a rapid weight loss but will change in a sustainable and steady weight loss. Basically, what we are doing here is to modify the memory of our body with regards to our fat storage level steadily to prevent re-storing of fat after a steady weight loss.

An example of steady but sustainable weight loss would be to lose about 12 kg over a 6 month period at a rate of 2 kg per month.

So, how can we achieve this sustainable and steady weight loss?

The answer to this is to stop spending unnecessary amount of money on expensive products, treatment or equipments etc and go back to the basics, the way our ancestors did it, through healthy diet and structured physical activity regime.

In losing weight, 80 % of the effort involves healthy diet while only about 20% is due to physical activity and workouts. Remember, Fit is not a goal, but it is a way of life.

Lt Col (Dr) Mohd Arshil was previously the Director for Preventive Medicine and Medical Ops, Military Health Division and is currently pursuing his DrPH. Find out more about him at The Team page. This article is an excerpt of his previous article. Read the full article here https://www.mmgazette.com/trying-to-lose-weight-are-u-doing-it-right-lt-col-dr-mohd-arshil-moideen/.

 

[This article belongs to The Malaysian Medical Gazette. Any republication (online or offline) without written permission from The Malaysian Medical Gazette is prohibited.]

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