Study: Gen Y may find it harder to lose weight than their parents

So you’ve been eating right and exercising all the time, but still struggling to look as good as your mum, or dad — what gives?  Well, you might be surprised to know that your parents had it a whole lot easier!

According to a recent study out of York’s University’s Faculty of Health and published in the journal of Obesity Research & Clinical Practice, the non-millennial’s (aka mum and dad) could eat more, exercise less and still manage to avoid excessive weight gain. We know, we were just as shocked as you.

The study analysed the dietary data of nearly 36,400 American adults between 1971 and 2008, as well as physical activity data of 13,419 adults between the years 1988-2006.

What they found suggested, if you’re 25 you would have to eat even less and exercise more than those older, in order to prevent excessive weight gain. But, it also indicates that obesity could be beyond poor diet and exercise, and we should be considering the effect of other lifestyle and environmental factors such as pollutants, genetics, stress, timing of food intake, gut bacteria and medication use.

“We observe that for a given amount of self-reported food intake, people will be about 10 per cent heavier in 2008 than in 1971, and about five per cent heavier for a given amount of physical activity level in 1988 than 2006,” says Ruth Brown, lead author. “These secular changes may in part explain why we have seen the dramatic rise in obesity.”

Interestingly, the researchers said that despite there being several studies to show that eating less and exercising more results in weight loss, in the long term, they’re not effective. Really?

“This is because weight management is actually much more complex than just ‘energy in’ versus ‘energy out’,” notes Jennifer Kuk, professor and author. “That’s similar to saying your investment account balance is simply your deposits subtracting your withdrawals and not accounting for all the other things that affect your balance like stock market fluctuations, bank fees or currency exchange rates.”

“Ultimately, maintaining a healthy body weight is now more challenging than ever,” says Kuk.

Just.Great.

 

Source: bodyandSoul