How dieting makes some fatter: from a perspective of human body composition autoregulation
Open accessAbstract
Dieting makes you fat – the title of a book published in 1983 – embodies the notion that dieting to control body weight predisposes the individual to acquire even more body fat. While this notion is controversial, its debate underscores the large gap that exists in our understanding of basic physiological laws that govern the regulation of human body composition. A striking example is the key role attributed to adipokines as feedback signals between adipose tissue depletion and compensatory increases in food intake. Yet, the relative importance of fat depletion per se as a determinant of post-dieting hyperphagia is unknown. On the other hand, the question of whether the depletion of lean tissues can provide feedback signals on the hunger–appetite drive is rarely invoked, despite evidence that food intake during growth is dominated by the impetus for lean tissue deposition, amidst proposals for the existence of protein–static mechanisms for the regulation of growth and maintenance of lean body mass. In fact, a feedback loop between fat depletion and food intake cannot explain why human subjects recovering from starvation continue to overeat well after body fat has been restored to pre-starvation values, thereby contributing to ‘fat overshooting’. In addressing the plausibility and mechanistic basis by which dieting may predispose to increased fatness, this paper integrates the results derived from re-analysis of classic longitudinal studies of human starvation and refeeding. These suggest that feedback signals from both fat and lean tissues contribute to recovering body weight through effects on energy intake and thermogenesis, and that a faster rate of fat recovery relative to lean tissue recovery is a central outcome of body composition autoregulation that drives fat overshooting. A main implication of these findings is that the risk of becoming fatter in response to dieting is greater in lean than in obese individuals.
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Metabolic decline after lean body mass loss results in subsequent body fat overshoot, or regain in fat mass.
“Moreover, the metabolic decline that occurs after LBM loss results in a subsequent body fat overshoot, or a regain in fat mass [6], thereby resulting in unfavorable, compounded changes in body composition.”
From Body Composition Changes in Weight Loss: Strategies and Supplementation for Maintaining Lean Body Mass, a Brief Review (2018) · cites this paper as [6]
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Metabolic Adaptations to Weight Loss: A Brief Review
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- Authors
- Dulloo, A. G., Jacquet, J., & Montani, J.-P.
- Affiliations
- University of Fribourg (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Dulloo, Abdul G.
- ORCID
- Dulloo, Abdul G.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Nutrition Society
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2012-04-05
- Volume
- 71
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 379-389
- ISSN
- 0029-6651 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-2719
- OpenAlex
- W2026119834
- Cited by
- 79
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 2.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of The Nutrition Society (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- reroDoc Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (130481)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Dietary Effects on Health
- Keywords
- dieting, starvation, refeeding, adipokines, food intake regulation, thermogenesis, lean tissue deposition, obesity, weight regain
- MeSH terms
- Adipose Tissue, Appetite Regulation, Body Composition, Body Fluid Compartments, Body Weight, Energy Intake, Diet, Reducing, Female, Growth, Homeostasis, Humans, Hyperphagia, Male, Obesity, Proteins, Starvation, Thinness, Signal Transduction, Thermogenesis, Feedback, Physiological, Adipokines
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