Weight and Body Fat

¶ … People work hard to lose pounds from their abs, with the persistence to make every step great and hard objective to lose few pounds each time they exercise. In fact, some of the encouragements are not more than rumors. Scientists revealed truths and opportunities in the article, aiming to give reachable goals and simpler methods to burn fat.

Accumulating body fat could be related to personality inertness and high fatty food intake for years, therefore it is important that people increase their awareness to reduce fatty components in their diets for regular basis, while at the same time increase active body movement from daily activities and mild exercises.

The article explained, while a number of people misunderstood that cutting fat intake and raising exercise frequency grow linear with body fat loss, in reality, half of the points may need second thought. There are many factors contributing to obesity.

Human develops fatty cells in the subcutaneous tissue. Such cells even present in children tissue, and they tend to change size as fat consumption increases or decreases, but never gone astray once the cells are formed. Therefore, a heavy-eating child may develop obesity when he/she grows as adult. To keep their weight constant, human should prevent overeating and keep balanced diet as well as regular exercises.

b. Analysis of Obesity and Weight Loss Studies

Studies were conducted to find how body fat composes human cells and tissue differently, and how they came into different profiles. Older people may gain fat more than young people.

Composition of body weight indeed varies with sex and age. The ageing cells most likely undergo different distribution pattern and forming. Between 20-50 years old, human's adipose tissue spread up more in central abdominal area. Men tend to follow the pattern more than women, with significant fat loss in the subcutaneous tissue due to "male android patterning. Also, people above 50 years old tend to lose fat free mass, rather than fat loss itself, hence they complain for being overweight (Bemben, 1998).

The data showed 208 in Anne M. Fletcher's Eating Thin for Life book study showed, 7 of 10 people of adults had been overweighed for years since their adolescence (Meyer, 1999).

Sometimes failure digestive tasks and uncompleted digestion cause materials to accumulate in the intestine column. Mucus and dried fecal matters may build up for years and block proper absorption of digested foods in later process. Researchers found that the material called, "mucoid plaque," became on of the reasons why people found harder to lose weight. Sometimes the mass lie semi-permanently, reduced the metabolism rate, and inhibited the intestinal movements including blocking nutrient absorption and normal secretion. (Anderson as cited in A Common Mistake That Prevents Most People from Losing Weight and How to Avoid It, 2003). Considering this fact, it is possible that some adults have another weight loss problem regarding the insufficient digestive problem that may build up for years.

However, it doesn't mean older people should give up weight loss programs. Fletcher's study also revealed among the 40-year-olds had recorded successful weigh loss after exercises. Older people with excessive weight tend to be less active and inert, and they simply need reasonable balancing between their diet and regular exercise. People with low-fat diet can convert their excessive fat into muscles by weight lifting. Other exercise did well.

c. Type of Experimental Design

The article gave example on how obesity should be seen from different cases, based on age, sex, and types of activities related to weight loss. Studies use epidemiology, to reveal the "distribution and determinants (causation) of disease frequency in human populations." In this case, the studies above involved data collection from observation, through samples from different age to see how the incidence of weight loss differed between frequency of exercises and amount of fat intake lessening. Stronger focal point lied on the case-control study design, where researchers compared exercise factor with ability to control weight, and moreover on Bemben's article (1998) different factors ("hypothesized predictor variable") were used to be determinants of type of body weight or fat mass measurement applicable to each sample range (Epidemiology (Terms, Principles, Study Design) Lecture).

d. Problems and Strengths of the Article.

The article was easy to understand, providing new breakthrough in scientific research that was presented for easy grasp of public knowledge. The language in the article gave access even for commoners to digest the information properly and with no trouble, as often come in popular magazine. Apart from typical commercial methods offered to lose weight, scientists recommended doing regular ten-minute household chores and active movement had been helpful to control excessive fat tissue forming in human body. The calories burnt depended on the body weight. Such activities varied from making beds, shoveling snow, dancing, walking, and through sports exercises like swimming and running (Fletcher, as cited in Meyer, 1999). For common people, this is an easy recommendation to do.

The article however still contains flaws as the methods it presented were general and didn't address specific case.

e. Quality of information in the Article

The good information contained here; this article helps retrieving the truth about fat. Public should see the function of fat in their food composition. It is not recommended to simply discard fat from the menu since around 20-30% of the recommended dietary food should come from fat. Fat naturally accommodate fat-soluble vitamins function in human metabolism and cell membrane formation. In result, for example, human will find healthy skin texture and normal reproductive system since fat composes most elements of the tissue and organs (Alphin as cited in Meyer, 1999).