TRAIN OFF YOUR WEIGHT OR DIET OFF YOUR WEIGHT?

By

CHEKWI  BENWIE

MEDICINE 1

SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL CLUB

Faculty of Health Sciences

University of Bamenda, Cameroon

TANLAKA  LUCAS MENGNJO

MEDICINE 2

SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL CLUB

Faculty of Health Sciences

University of Bamenda, Cameroon

tanlakalucas@gmail.com

TRYING TO LOOSE WEIGHT BY DIET ALTERATION

Human beings are often posed with several tragedies among which we have the assertion that it is easier to gain weight than to lose it. In order to detect the cause of this reality, we will take a closer look at the TCA cycle, particularly, the decarboxylation reactions.

The surplus of the food (carbohydrates, proteins and lipids) we consume can be stored as triacylglycerols in adipose tissue. Also these biomolecules are interconvertible except fats which cannot be converted to carbohydrates. Fats gain their way into  the citric acid cycle through the formation of acetyl CoA fed into the TCA pathway by β oxidation of fatty acids. For this to happen, acetyl CoA fed into the TCA pathway will have to yield oxaloacetate, the main precursor for gluconeogenesis. However, the two carbon atoms influxed into this pathway are lost in 2 decarboxylation reactions to produce CO2. Regardless of which compound owned the two carbon atoms, a two carbon loss is a two carbon loss. This results in the disparity in anabolic and catabolic pathway as in the diagram below.

As we have already seen above, fats cannot yield carbohydrates. Glycemia (blood sugar level) is a very critical physiological condition which needs to be regulated. This is because the brain uses gluocose  as its main metabolic fuel. To a lesser extent, like in the case of extreme starvation, the brain can switch to using acetoacetate (ketone body) as a fuel. This can be problematic because ketone bodies are fats and are obviously derived from a nearby source; the meningeal covering of the brain. Therefore, much of our metabolism is tilted towards protecting the master of the body (brain).

The surplus food we consume is stored as fats. If we choose to limit our calorie intake (place ourselves on a diet), the fat stores are mobilized to produce energy. This can lead weight loss. To maintain the normal glycemic level, our bodies release glucagon and adrenaline to breakdown glycogen to produce glucose (glycogenolysis in liver).

Unfortunately, we eventually become hypoglycemic. this is because our glycogen reserves run out since there is little or no intake of carbohydrates. Prior to prolonged hypoglycemia, Growth Hormone and Cortisol are also released. They both decrease glucose utilization by most cells including brain cells. Consequently we become depressed, sluggish and easily irritated. We then start conceiving negative thoughts like "this diet issue is completely pointless, a piece of chocolate cake won't kill me". If we consider our diet, our body now switches to using proteins to maintain blood glucose level. Proteins are converted to pyruvate after being degraded to amino acids .  Hence, we lose muscle as we lose fat.

LOOSING   WEIGHT  BY  EXERCISE

Nonetheless, there is a better and easier way of losing weight, that is, excersise . Appropriate excersice can train our body to use all the fat stores in adipose tissues to supply the tricarboxylic cycle with acetyl CoA through beta oxidation. If we maintain our normal blood glucose level, we save our proteins and we have enough carbohydrates to maintain our glycogen stores.  With a balanced ratio of exercise to food intake (balance intake of nutrients), our fat degradation can be increased without sacrificing our carbohydrate or proteins.Sample applications are illustrated by  the following figure

The  figure above shows a woman in the initial state with extended and/or deformed  abdomen (image on the left ). The image on the right shows this same woman who regained normal size, weight  and form by  simply constantly doing exercise without necessarily restricting her diet.  Adopt  the "training-off weight"  method  of life ,regain and conserve your normal weight and form.

  Therefore it is easier and healthier to train off weight than to diet it off. It is now left for us to take our stand depending on what we have seen biochemically.

References 

BIOCHEMISTRY International student edition 6^th edition

Campbell /FARRELL . chap 19 biochemical connections page 572

GUYTON AND HALL textbook of medical physiology . 12^th edition chapter 78 unit XIV

DAVID L. NELSON and  MICHAIL M. COX, Lehninga   PRINCIPLES OF BIOCHEMISTRY,Fourth Edition,Chapters: 15,16.Pages:536,607 ,Figure:14-10,16-7

Bossip.com/945926/weight-loss-sorcery a  gallery of shockingbefore and after waist training photos