Truth about food documentary

In a documentary shown on BBC2 in the UK they did a study on metabolism to see if some overweight people really do have a slow metabolism. The results were startling!

The documentary called “The truth about food” found 2 women who were best friends but had very different body types. One of the chosen women Becky, was very slim and even a little underweight. The other lady named Jo was shorter in height and 22 pounds overweight.

They had known each other for years and they both believed that Becky, who seemed to eat much more than Jo, was slim because she had a faster metabolism. Jo, who had tried to lose weight on numerous occasions in the past, believed she was overweight because she had a slow metabolism.

Both fasted for 24 hours before having their metabolic rate accurately measured in the lab using a ventilation hood. They also drank a bottle of special water which has a non-radioactive isotope marker added to it. This water is well known in science and can accurately measure the total amount of calories someone consumes as well as the total number of calories burned off over the following week. The scientists didn’t reveal the truth about the water because they didn’t want the women to be influenced and adjust their normal food intake in any way. This made it much more accurate in relation to their normal everyday food consumption.

While both had very similar activity levels, the study showed Jo actually had a higher metabolic rate than the slimmer Becky!

Jo’s higher metabolism was basically due to the extra weight which she was carrying. This is logical because moving more weight requires more effort. However, it shows that Jo’s weight problem wasn’t caused by a slow metabolism.
The study also revealed that Jo was in fact consuming about 50 percent more calories than Becky!

Becky was underweight simply because she was consuming fewer calories than she needed.

The documentary concluded that a slow metabolism is NOT to blame for excess weight gain. It was also suggested that overweight people tend to have a higher metabolism than those who are slim and underweight.

I maintain that while metabolism is NOT to blame for excess weight gain the faster your metabolism, fat or thin, the better off you are.

They also implied that people will for the most part gain weight because in some way they have eaten more energy than their body requires.

It seems the fact remains; if we consume more calories than our body requires then we will put weight on. The trick is to find new ways to eat so you consume fewer total calories than your body requires.

To learn more about this documentary then visit:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/humanbody/truthaboutfood/slim/