According to a new study by Obesity Research Clinical Practice, people were approximately 10% heavier in 2008 than in 1971, and 5% heavier even when eating the same amount of food and exercising equally.
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Study co-author Jennifer Kuk, PhD, an associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at Canada’s York University told Yahoo Health: “These results are clearly in contrast with the common notion that weight management is simply about what you eat and how much you exercise.” Kuk doesn’t have a conclusive reason for why weight loss is more different now than it was in our parents’ generation, but she has some rational-sounding theories.
First, women are having children later in life and science is showing that older mothers produce kids with more fat than those born to younger moms. Secondly, generally speaking we’re eating later than previous generations and Kuk says the timing of when you eat can have an effect on your weight. Also, medications that may not have been available when our parents were our age that lower our metabolic rate can play a role, as well environmental chemicals that are linked to weight gain.
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ForMen takeaway: If you feel like you’re doing everything right—eating a healthy diet, exercising, getting enough sleep—but still not losing weight, know that there may be factors at play that are out of your control. Of course that doesn’t mean you should give up your healthy lifestyle. It’s just more important to focus on moving more and eating better vs. a number on a scale.
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Curated article from Science Daily and Yahoo!
