I feel like this works in our fannibal circle house. Esp as there is a plant
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Anonymous: Hi, first off, thank you for this blog! I wanted to ask, do you have any science that explains why some people don't lose weight even while starving? I get confused over this especially when trying to argue against fatphobia, so gaining a better understanding would help me. Because isn't fat stored in the body to help in times of starvation? But then how come some people don't lose weight/stay fat even while starving? I don't doubt it happens, I know it does, I just don't really understand why.
bigfatscience:
This is a good blog post on The Eating Disorder Institute (formerly Your Eatopia) about the topic: “ Gaining Weight Despite Calorie Restriction ” The author includes many scientific sources.
In general, though, your confusion comes from the over-simplified myths about weight that permeate our culture.
First, fat is not only an energy storage device, it is also an important endocrine organ. This means that the fat organ regulates hormones, and thus, helps to regulate the functioning of many other organ systems in the body. So the fat organ can grow in response to non-food-related factors, like chronic stress or sleep deprivation, as part of the body’s adaptive response to those factors. (And guess what is stressful? Dieting and weight loss.)
Second, when people do not consume enough energy to meet their needs, two biological processes are triggered. The first is catabolism, which is the process of breaking down the body’s cells to release the energy and nutrients stored in those cells. That energy is then used to fuel the body. This is what people usually think happens when people restrict their food intake to lose weight: the body breaks down fat for energy. Of course, when catabolism does happen, fat calls are not the only cells that are broken down: the body also breaks down muscles, organs, bones, and ligaments to access necessary nutrients and energy. (Yikes.)
But the second process that is triggered by an energy deficit is metabolic suppression: The body slows down all the basic, life sustaining processes of the body to conserve energy.
Losing approximately 10% of your body weight initially slows these life sustaining processes by approximately 15%. And people continue to restrict their energy intake, over time, these life sustaining processes can slow by as much as 30%. Metabolic suppression can also become more reactive over time and repeated bouts of starvation (aka “dieting”). So someone who has dieted in the past will have a metabolism that slows more quickly and more dramatically in response to food restriction compared to someone who has never dieted.
So a person can gain weight while restrictive dieting because an energy deficit causes the body to slow all the life sustaining processes of the body in favour of growing the fat organ, which helps the body to survive in times of stress.
This is some serious shit, people, and it’s a big part of the reason that intentional weight loss through restrictive dieting is so unhealthy.
so if the metabolism is slowed, how does that impact the energy deficit? does it mean less calories are “needed”? because that could work out, stating probably too simply, that if less energy is being used then there is more excess to store as fat.
and if fat growth is happening despite restriction, is catabolization happening?
(sorry if you cant answer these)
“so if the metabolism is slowed, how does that impact the energy deficit? does it mean less calories are “needed”?
Weight loss is often framed that way: Oh, your metabolism is slowed, so you don’t *need* as many calories as other people need! Just keep eating less and you will maintain your smaller body!
But maintaining your body in a state of suppressed matabolism is not a good thing. It literally means that your body has instituted emergency measures to survive. Any non-essential physiological processes – like the reproductive system – are dramatically slowed and can be stopped completely. And even essential bodily processes like the transmission of fluids into and out of cells (the most basic biological function), to the regeneration of cells, to the functioning of the immune system, to the re-myelenation of nerves (essential for their function) are all slowed down.
This is literally what it means when the sources I linked above say that the basal metabolic rate is slowed by weight loss: The body is slowing down all of its essential, life-sustaining physiological processes in order to survive. That is not a good thing. It is not a state that any organism can or should sustain in the longterm.
PS: And yes, when those basic processes are slowed, it can “free up” energy to grow the fat organ.
Reblogging for the person who was asking what happens when you eat less than your body requires to thrive. Basically, you destroy your body. Don’t do it.
This is how the body defends its own, unique, set point weight.
Women everywhere should be doing this.
Interesting
literal white supremacists have endorsed trump and he still had the audacity to say they are “good people” but the second a black woman speaks the trust she gets threatened by the White House. this is what a fascist government looks like y'all…… shit it getting scarier
btw the woman is Jemele Hill. she’s successful af and into sports commentary. she did nothing but speak the truth and call out the fact trump’s ideologies induce white supremacy. let’s not forget about the millions of times the White House has ignored endorsements from the KKK and neo nazis. let’s also not forget how this is the same White House always stresses “everyone’s right to freedom of speech”. but god forbid THIS women calls out the trump administration.
Feel the difference.
Similarly, CEOs whose negligence or active criminal activity leads to numerous deaths rarely receive any prison time, let alone a harsh sentence of 25-to-life. But if you or I were to commit murder, that’s what we could expect.
Retail workers cannot go home at closing time until the last customer has left the store.
So that thing y’all do where you come in at 10 minutes to closing, buy half the store, and want to debate prices, super coupon, and price match at the same time is causing retail workers to miss their last bus home a lot of times.
Don’t be that person
Same goes for if you’re in a restaurant
Not only that, but they don’t get to leave as soon as you sashay out the door either. (This goes for restaurant workers as well) The people who work there also need to count and cash out register drawers, clean the store/restaurant, and make sure things are set for the next day when they re-open, then and only then do they get to go home. The managers of these places, who often don’t make much more than the grunts to be honest, have no choice but to stay until every employee has completed their tasks, the building has been secured, and everyone else has left so they can set the alarm.
So after you leave, the employees have to stay anywhere from 15 mins to an hour or more before they can go home. Not only that, but there are far more women and teenage girls working in retail than men and teenage boys, so walking home can literally be a danger to their health. Please don’t stay past closing, it’s really inconsiderate to the people who work there.
Sincerely, a former retail worker
^^^^
yup. This goes double for, like, fast food workers cus they have break everthing out and then re-clean everything so you could have a 6-inch sub at 12:30.
Same Goes For Call Center Reps, When You Wanna Bullshit About Your Bill For 45 Minutes. Meanwhile I Can’t Text My Ride Home That I’m On Call Or I’ll Get Written Up For Not “Focusing” On You During Our Conversation. It Irks My SOUL!
That last one.
This goes for library workers as well.
And guess what? We don’t get paid overtime.
The second the library closes we stop getting paid. So every minute you keep us past closing we’re working for free.
Don’t wait until closing to use the bathroom.
Don’t wait until closing to find “just one book/movie.”
Just leave.
Oh my gosh, this happens at the animal shelter, too! You wouldn’t think it would, given that we close all adoptions and interactions 30 minutes before closing time to the public. But the number of times people would pull up at 20 mins past closing and bang on the door is unbelievable. I used to work the closing shift, which is timed to go half an hour past closing to give us time to shut everything down. But when people take til the very last minute up front, bringing us animals at a minute til, it puts us way over that time. Then there’s the people who, I swear, are just waiting for us to come outside to do the outdoor chores. They see the closed sign in the front window, but the two cars in employee parking, and they come over to employee parking and wait for us to open the door. And then sit there and argue with us for 10 minutes about getting their dog out, despite us explaining that we literally cannot do that because we aren’t authorized to do the paperwork we’re already closed, and the people who do that are already gone. And it really stinks because we can’t go over a certain number of hours or the whole shelter might get shut down for legal reasons, but closing crew literally can’t leave until everything is done, including dealing with the people who keep you there an hour past when you’re supposed to be gone.
Don’t be a jerk. When people say closing is at a certain time, make sure you’re gone by then. Or before then. And don’t argue with the poor closing workers when you get there after hours.
Warning for the 2017 IT movie
I haven’t seen any posts about this, so I would appreciate it if y'all could share this so people are prepared when they see the movie. This is a bit of a minor spoiler, but it’s important to sexual abuse survivors and child sexual abuse survivors. In the movie, a young female character is approached by her father and he makes some advances towards her, but this is initially deflected. Later in the movie, the third time the father is featured, there is an extremely triggering scene where the father becomes enraged when she refused to let him take advantage of her anymore and he grabs her by the ankles and attempts to assault her. He doesn’t succeed, but this scene was enough that I had a panic attack in the theater and I wish I was warned about this before I saw the movie. PLEASE spread this around so people are prepared for this when they see this movie. Just to reiterate, this is the third time the father is featured in the movie, right after the kids escape the house.
if youre a writer and you want to know what multilingual ppl are really like, today I was giving directions to a Chinese couple but they were having trouble understanding me, so I turned to my gf for help and she explained it very slowly to them in English and sent them on their way. when they were gone I said “babe… you’re Chinese. Why did you give them the directions in English?” and she looked at me with utter horror, and that’s the story of how my gf forgot she spoke her own native language