Weight Loss Is Harder Today Than It Was Twenty Years Ago

One reason could be Western society’s general view that female obesity is undesirable and unattractive, while another could be growing evidence to suggest women are more responsive to adversity in life than men so they might be more likely to perceive being overweight or obese as a source of stress or adversity.

“We observe that for a given amount of self-reported food intake, people will be about 10 percent heavier in 2008 than in 1971, and about five percent heavier for a given amount of physical activity level in 1988 than 2006”, lead researcher Ruth Brown said in a statement, adding, “These secular changes may in part explain why we have seen the dramatic rise in obesity”. Therefore, even those extra couple of points make can make the difference between healthy weight and an unhealthy index. Adults today gain weight easier than their 1980s counterparts, even when they eat the same amount, according to the study. Researchers also used physical activity frequency data of 14,419 adults in the 1988 to 2006. It didn’t matter if the individual consumed the same number of calories, exercised just as extensively and included the same percentage of fat and protein into the daily diet.

“Look at the food going in our body, it is quality and quantity”. Even more studies, including a new one from the University of California, Berkeley, are showing that those who go to sleep late are more prone to weight gain than those who nod off earlier in the evening.

For up to a quarter of people, antidepressants including the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs, “blockbuster” pills in the U.S., cause weight gain. Today’s population eats more meat, on average, and this meat is increasingly produced using antibiotics and hormones to promote livestock growth.

If you have been struggling to lose weight, this study suggests that a few of your trouble with your waistline may be beyond your control.

Finally, Professor Kuk told Atlantic journalists that people’s “microbiomes”, their gut bacteria, may have changed in the last 35 years. Everything from pesticides and flame retardants to BPA and phthalates are suspected of altering our hormonal processes and confusing the way we gain and maintain weight.

Over time, constant exposure to these may change a person’s microbiome and cause them to pile on the pounds more easily. “[Obese people] are judged as lazy and self-indulgent”, she says.

To maintain, say, the same weight your parents were at your age, you’d need to eat significantly less and exercise significantly more than they did.