Does Chronic Dieting Lower Resting Energy Expenditure Below that Estimated by Predictive Equations, Thereby Increasing an Individual\u27s Risk of Becoming Overweight or Obese?

In the United States, 70.2% of adults are overweight or obese (NIH, 2014). The most prevalent obesity treatment modality is dietary restriction yet roughly 80% of overweight individuals are not successful at long term weight loss (Wing and Phelan, 2005). In fact, 33-83% of dieters regain more weight than lost (Mann et al., 2007; Swanson & Dinello, 1970). The goal of the study was to develop a screening questionnaire that detects chronically persistent and transient obesity. A total of 16 women (ages 19 to 59) completed an obesity-screening questionnaire and were assessed for total body weight (TBwt), percent fat mass (FM), fat free mass (FFM), and basal metabolic rate (BMR). The ratio of BMR/FFM was non-significant between controls (29.39 +- 0.37) chronically obese (27.92 +- 0.86) and transient obese subjects (27.92÷1.56), but that the ratio BMR/TBwt was significantly lower in chronically obese (14.69 +- 1.81) vs transient obese (17.81 +- 3.35) and controls (22.37 +- 1.14). The screening questionnaire did significantly distinguish between controls (22.20 +- 4.60), transient (29.35 +- 3.32), and chronically obese (40.75 +- 2.53) subjects.This research did validate the obesity-screening questionnaire and suggests that chronic dieting may cause a loss of fat free mass (FFM), and a lowering of basal metabolic rate (BMR). On a larger scale, this questionnaire can allow clinicians to efficiently discern whether to implement a treatment plan for chronically obese subjects who struggle with difficult weight loss or implementing one for transiently obese who experience easy weight loss