Factors that Affect Weight that are NOT Calories In Versus Calories Out…

I had a situation a few months ago where in a group setting with multiple other trainers, a trainer picked an overweight celebrity and stated emphatically that they weren’t healthy, simply because of the celebrity’s size.

I was shocked. It was an overly simplistic view on health, one deeply anchored in the disproved idea that you can’t be over weight and healthy. Studies from as far back as the 1950’s showed that whilst obesity rates between bus conductors and bus drivers were similar, the rates of chronic disease, including heart disease, were much lower in the conductors^{1 2}. These were the days when a conductor boarded the bus to collect tickets all day, standing up and moving about slowly, and the researches thought it was that exact thing that reduced disease so dramatically in this group.

In fertility studies, it’s been demonstrated that there are a few main reasons for male and female infertility, one of which is obesity, but the others include³:
~ being underweight
~ heavy drinking
~ smoking
~ chronic stress
~ environmental toxins and endocrine disruptors, PFAS and micro plastics
~ sedentary lifestyle

So not to put too fine a point on it – you cannot tell someone’s state of health by their size.

So if someone is overweight, but they exercise regularly, lift weights, eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, meet their protein needs, don’t smoke, drink, or sit down for long periods, then chances are they are healthy!

More than being healthy, they’re probably bloody fit as well! I’ve trained alongside 100+ kilo men and women for many of my overseas adventures. I’ve loaded them with 20+ kilo in their backpacks, made them repeat 1000m climbs carrying those packs, and had them walking for 6 or more hours, distances up to 20km in one session. While I’m only carrying 70 odd kilos up those mountains, these guys often have double that, and not only keep up, they’ll set the pace. On the leg and bench press, they’ll easily lift double what i can do, and in the case of this particular celebrity, think about how fit and strong she has to be to dance with 100kg of bodyweight, while singing, for a couple of hours night after night! It’d take a lot more stamina and strength for her than the fleaweight singers.

To reiterate – fitness is not a look. I may look fit, but these clients and that celebrity are fitter and stronger than I am!

So, whilst this trainer was correct int the sense that obesity does impact health negatively, it’s only one modifiable risk factor from a plethora of other factors. It’s unhelpful to compound the stress and pressure felt by many everyday women by making their weight the only thing that matters in terms of their health, when there’s a dozen other things that they can do first that may be even more achievable for them!

Things that i would prefer we started with are:
~ getting enough fibre
~ getting enough protein
~ getting enough sleep
~ addressing chronic stress
~ addressing hormone imbalances (see above points! optimising blood sugars and restoring a natural diurnal rhythm will go a long way to re-balancing hormones!)
~ improving gut health (there are studies showing that the diversity of the gut has an impact on weight)

Now that was just the introduction, because for the next month or so, we are going to talk about factors that affect your weight, or your client’s weight, that aren’t calories in or out. Hopefully we will broaden your understanding of health more broadly, and reduce the number of people judging other people solely on how they look.

https://youtu.be/-_X6cXQpv84

Your Gut Microbiome Affects your Weight.

But before you ask, we don’t really know how or why!

In the two reviews that I have referenced, they found that the gut microbiome affected energy expenditure, nutrient metabolism, hormone stimulation and inflammation ^{4 5}, all of which will impact your natural, easy to maintain weight.

Unfortunately, with the trillions of bacteria that inhabit our bodies, we do not yet know which bacteria move us towards a lighter body mass, and which ones move us towards a heavier body mass. We also don’t know if the bacteria causes the food habits or the food habits culture the bacteria.

However, what we do know is that people with a wider variety of gut microbiome tend to maintain a “healthier’ body weight, and the road to building a wide variety of gut microbiome is through your lifestyle. We also know that people who begin a high fibre diet tend to lose weight⁶.

So, if you or your client wants to lose weight in a healthy manner, this may be more effective than calorie counting, especially for women. Eating more fibrous foods, like whole grains (not processed, like bread and pasta, the actual grains themselves), fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds will give you a good head start; while eating sugary foods, artificial sweeteners, and saturated fats will have a negative effect on your gut diversity.

 

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Genetics, your in utero experience, and your early habits during childhood affect your adult weight.

None of which, are anybodies fault.

Our genes are not limited to inherited physical characteristics; they also help determine how our bodies process and store nutrition⁷. Genes are segments of DNA, and some of them have an influence on metabolism, which determines how efficiently we convert food into energy. As such, some people have genetic variations that mean they’ll have a slower metabolism and a greater propensity to store fat, while others will have genetic advantages that help them maintain a “healthy” weight despite diet or lifestyle⁸.

What this means is that two different people, eating the exact same diet and exercising in exactly the same manner will have completely different bodies.

A person’s in utero experience will also affect their adult weight. Pregnant women respond to stress the same way as any other person, but the impacts extend towards her unborn baby. Infants born to mothers who experienced trauma are far more likely to have low birthweights, as well as an altered microbiome, both of which are tied to an increased risk of fetal mortality, slowed cognitive development, and a higher risk of developing chronic diseases including obesity⁹. Sustained maternal stress will also affect which genes in the foetus are switched on and off, altering gene expression, and sometimes passing these expressions down through the generations¹⁰.

What this means is that if your mother or grandmother was a victim of domestic violence, a refugee, or sustained some other kind of trauma, it may impact your weight, your metabolism, the way you think, and your risk of disease^{11 12}– despite what you eat or how you exercise.

Finally, the habits of your family, and negative experiences when you’re a young child will impact your adult weight. The influence of what’s called “cumulative misfortune”, or negative childhood experiences, on the adult’s health is mediated by three adult factors: socioeconomic status, depressive symptoms, and physical activity¹³. In other words, if the adult is active, avoids depression, and earns a livable wage, their less likely to develop obesity than those that don’t.

Both nutrient deficiency and excess in early life can cause epigenetic changes that have effects that last a lifetime in that child, including their weight¹⁴.

Since we have no control over our genetics, our in utero experience, and our early childhood, it is also unfair to label people who are genetically wired to sustain a heavier weight as “lazy”, or “not wanting it enough”. Messages like “we’ve all got the same 24hrs”, “a moment on the lips a lifetime on the hips”, and “you’ve got to want it bad enough” are unhelpful, ignorant, and inaccurate for these populations. They add to the load of shame that many of these people carry about their weight, which has its own consequences in their ability to lose it.

Your Lifestyle Will affect your Weight

Chronic stress will affect your weight, either because of the high levels of circulating cortisol, unhealthy stress-induced behaviours, or a combination of the two. When you’re stressed, your adrenal glands release adrenaline and cortisol, spiking your blood sugar, which is exactly what you need to escape a sabre tooth tiger. Once the threat has subsided, the adrenaline wears off, and your blood sugar drops¹⁵.

This will trigger sugar cravings, it also encourages your body to store sugar as abdominal fat for future stressful events¹⁶. Chronically high circulating levels of cortisol will also slow your metabolism in order to store more fat, to protect you against future stressors¹⁷.

In addition, we may have ingrained emotional eating habits, or our particular form of stress includes being busy, so grabbing fast food, skipping exercise, or sleeping less, all of which will have an impact on where you sit on the scales.

Sleep in particular will impact your hormones that affect your weight. Sleep deprivation alone will slow your metabolism, leading to less energy burned throughout the day¹⁸. Being sleep deprived will also affect your hunger hormones; when you don’t get enough sleep, your ghrelin (hunger) hormone increases and your leptin (satiation) hormone decreases. Furthermore, if you haven’t slept well your insulin sensitivity declines, which means your blood sugar sits higher and could lead to other health issues like insulin resistance. It will also affect your motivation to exercise, as well as your ability to recover from exercise or illness¹⁹.

Women are significantly more likely to experience insomnia than men²⁰. Their fluctuating hormones through their cycle will also affect ghrelin, leptin, and insulin sensitivity, especially if they experience PMDD²¹ (premenstrual dysphoric disorder). They are also impacted again during peri menopause and in the post menopause period of a woman’s life²².

Finally, physical activity (as opposed to formal exercise) will affect your weight. Physical activity is the amount of movement you experience as you go about your day, as opposed to exercise which is formal, planned, done at a specific time. Labourers and teachers are more physically active than someone who works a desk job, even though they may spend the same number of hours in the gym. If you’re getting up and moving about more than your sedentary counterparts, you’re more likely to maintain a healthy muscle mass, metabolism, and body weight²³.

The weight that you are, losing and gaining weight, is multi-factorial, and calories in versus calories out is just one factor in the equation. One thing that we can be sure of is that shaming overweight people online or in the gym, is unhelpful, ignorant, and could even contribute to their weight through stress or feeling discouraged. If you truly want to help people achieve and maintain a healthy weight, then creating an inclusive environment with a broad understanding of the co-contributors to someone’s weight would be more effective than strict meal plans and extreme exercise prescriptions.

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