Question

Research on obesity and weight control indicates that

a. when an obese person has lost weight, a diet and exercise program are no longer necessary for maintaining the lower weight.
b. no matter how carefully people diet, they never lose fat cells.
c. overweight people typically suffer from a lack of willpower and self-discipline.
d. set point in some people is unrelated to diet and exercise.
e. lean tissue is maintained by fewer calories than is fat tissue.

Answer 1

To maintain a lower weight after losing it, individuals need an ongoing diet and exercise program, considering the body's natural resistance due to set point, genetics, and metabolic efficiency.

Step-by-step explanation:

Research on obesity and weight control reveals that individuals who lose weight must continue with a diet and exercise program to maintain their lower weight, as inactivity, genetics, metabolism, and the body's set point all play roles in a person's ideal weight. Despite reducing caloric intake, the body may become more efficient, essentially resisting weight loss efforts. This challenges the notion that obese individuals simply lack willpower or self-discipline. The onset of obesity often occurs in childhood or adolescence and can be influenced by whether the brain properly receives signals to turn off appetite. Furthermore, the set-point theory, which suggests that each person has a genetically predetermined ideal body weight that resists change, does not account for social and environmental factors influencing body weight. Moreover, leptin resistance might contribute to obesity by decreasing sensitivity to the satiety hormone leptin, causing an inability to feel full and leading to overeating.