Don't Punk the Function, Change the Destination

I was somewhat aghast at gaining insight into Dr. Sharma's current perspective on metabolic function. Using the spring in elastic as an analogy for the body's resistance to calorie restriction induced weight loss-CRIWL, he tells us again why a failed strategy's failure is the fault of the body,

No matter how hard or how long we pull, the rubber band keeps wanting to bring our weight back to where we started. 

That 'resistence' is homoeostatic in nature, part of the body's own self regulation. It is why though your cells replace themselves many times over your life (cycle), you still remain a recognisably human form.

Fighting that is like fighting the body's instinctive design to restore itself properly. You don't fight your body's natural abilities to self regulate, you use them. If Sun Tzu was here he'd tell you, even if you insist on going to war, that's fighting to lose. The rise in weight over the last 40 years of multi-gazillion ££$$'s slimming, fitness, etc., industries has demonstrated that ably.

That answers "....how do we take the tension out of the rubber band?", we don't. That "tension" is exactly what keeps a person at 8 sts/110 lbs/50 kilos. It isn't the issue. What we do instead is to reprogramme its destination, so it this 'resistence' can deliver and repeat that outcome.

Later, Dr. Sharma explains why CRIWL is more retainable in the longer term, without an intact stomach,

......and we now understand that this has little to do with the “restriction” or the “malabsorbtion” resulting from these procedures but rather from the profound effect that this surgery has on the physiology of weight regain.

I took a WTH take,

.......the profound effect that this surgery has on the physiology of weight regain.

And a third,

...the physiology of weight regain.

Got it. Being cut into starvation makes it easier both to achieve CRIWL and to sustain more of that loss, for longer, though he again puts it with more of a flourish,

.....many of the hormonal and neurological changes that happen with bariatric surgery, seem to inhibit the body’s ability to defend its weight and perhaps even appears to trick the body into thinking that its weight is higher than it actually is.

Yes, surgery hampers the ability to respond to your body's signals even in their acute phases (hello anorexics). That latter reference is interesting, why would the body thinking it is heavier than it is lead it to lower its weight, or assist in that?

Not many "fields" would frame amputation as "hormonal and neurological changes". I don't know much, but I'm sure if you lop off someone's leg, you'll reduce their body's protein and calcium, because a leg has muscle-that's protein and it also has bone and that contains calcium, geddit?

...bariatric surgery helps maintain long-term weight loss by reducing the tension in the rubber band, thus making it far easier for patients to maintain the “pull”.

It increases the tolerance of starvation, yes.  It can also reduce hunger dramatically, until the body heals enough for it to recover. Fat people especially have to waste incredible amounts of self control on CRIWL. Surgery, saves a little bandwidth enabling  that to be invested in maintaining a state of lack. Allowing an outstanding level of discipline to pay off better than intact bodies can usually manage.

I must also say, surgery adjusts the body before which is as I have been saying for years is the right way around to do this.

Metabolism is a bit more like a self driving car. If you want it to only go so far , then do not leave it programmed to go much further out. Alter its destination.

Don't deprive it of enough power to reach its destination, i.e. starving it, hoping it breaks down before it can get (back) to its destination-your starting weight, use its ability to regulate itself.

That can go either way as they say. Further in or further out, depending on where you want the body to end up.

The insistence on achieving weight loss or gain via starvation and forced feeding is unnecessary. Though Sharma gives ample clue as to where this is going,

For example, daily injections of liraglutide, a GLP-1 analogue approved for obesity treatment, appears to decrease the body’s ability to counteract weight loss by reducing hunger and increasing satiety, thus taking some of the tension out of that band.

For example, daily injections of liraglutide, a GLP-1 analogue approved for obesity treatment, appears to decrease the body’s ability to counteract weight loss by reducing hunger and increasing satiety, thus taking some of the tension out of that band.

GLP-1 or glucagon-like peptide 1 is produced in our own gut. I was led to believe that it acts as some kind of break or counteracting force on hunger. Hunger is a metabolic function, it is both affected by our internal environment and the state of our metabolic function.

Though its hardly straightforward to tease out, affecting hunger, will potentially affect the state of overall metabolic function.  What I don't get is why the amount of GLP-1 cannot be increased without introducing it, which runs the risk of compromising internal levels of production. The body is wont to react that way to outside sources of what it produces inside.
Hence why real addiction happens and why substance/drug use is something to be avoided, not courted. The medical profession used to understand this.

Think of it as sprinkling “magic dust” on that rubber band to reduce the tension, which makes it easier for patients to maintain that pull thereby helping them keep the weight off. Of course, both surgery and liraglutide only reduce the tension as long as you continue using them. Undo the surgery or come off your anti-obesity meds and the tension in that band comes back as strong as ever.

Is it just me or does that, especially, the last bit sound like a drug pushers patter? I have to ask for the umpteenth time, why are doctors increasingly determined to turn the public into drug dependents?

Think of it as sprinkling “magic dust” on that rubber band to reduce the tension, which makes it easier for patients to maintain that pull thereby helping them keep the weight off.
Of course, both surgery and liraglutide only reduce the tension as long as you continue using them.
Undo the surgery or come off your anti-obesity meds and the tension in that band comes back as strong as ever.
- See more at: http://www.drsharma.ca/stretching-the-rubber-band#sthash.cUDb5a1j.dpuf

Think of it as sprinkling “magic dust” on that rubber band to reduce the tension, which makes it easier for patients to maintain that pull thereby helping them keep the weight off.
Of course, both surgery and liraglutide only reduce the tension as long as you continue using them.
Undo the surgery or come off your anti-obesity meds and the tension in that band comes back as strong as ever.