Article on NYT:
A Mathematical Challenge to Obesity
Dr. Carson C. Chow, mathematician and physicist, studies causes and solutions of obesity through mathematics.
Some of his team’s findings:
- Obesity is a result of the overproduction of food (it is cheap and there is too much of it) in America
- A reduction of 3500 calories does not equal a pound lost
- Heavier people gain weight faster
- The “plateau” was proven mathematically (in 3 years, you hit equilibrium)
They also made a really cool calculator to help you find your caloric input and output requirements to meet your goal weight! Check it out here:
Body Weight Simulator
Interestingly, their tool says for me to lose 10 lbs in 6 months, I should go for 1730 calories a day. All other tools tell me 1300. This could be due to the way they calculate estimated activity level. I told it that I do regular activities more than once a week (which is usually true).
This quote was interesting to me:
Another finding: Huge variations in your daily food intake will not cause variations in weight, as long as your average food intake over a year is about the same. This is because a person’s body will respond slowly to the food intake.
Yepyepyep. Been maintaining in roughly a 5 lb range for over a year. I’ll have a week where I’ll eat fast food nearly every day but then clean it up and my weight will be right back where it should be within another week, in 2 at the most.
It also says I can maintain eating a little over 2000 calories. That’s pretty cool. (Except I don’t count them…)
