When obese individuals lose weight, their hunger increases both when they haven't eaten and after eating. Once weight loss stops and maintenance begins, hunger only increases after meals, suggesting...
Mechanism
Synthesis from 1 study
When obese people lose weight, their bodies slow down energy use and change hunger hormones, making them feel hungrier both when they haven't eaten and after meals. But once their weight stops changing, the body adjusts so that hunger is mainly triggered by eating — not by being empty — because the...
Most probable mechanism
When obese people lose weight, their bodies slow down energy use and change hunger hormones, making them feel hungrier both when they haven't eaten and after meals. But once their weight stops changing, the body adjusts so that hunger is mainly triggered by eating — not by being empty — because the gut hormones that signal fullness and hunger keep responding to food intake but no longer react strongly to fasting, as shown in 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.10.010.
Caloric restriction during weight loss triggers a disproportionate reduction in resting metabolic rate, creating a sustained energy deficit that activates homeostatic compensatory mechanisms, as directly measured in 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.10.010.
This metabolic adaptation is associated with increased plasma ghrelin (a hunger-promoting hormone) and reduced levels of PYY and GLP-1 (satiety-promoting hormones), altering signaling through the gut-brain axis to stimulate appetite centers in the hypothalamus, as measured in 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.10.010.
During active weight loss, these hormonal changes elevate subjective hunger and desire to eat in both fasting and postprandial states, reflecting a systemic drive to restore energy balance, as reported in 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.10.010.
Upon weight stabilization, metabolic rate normalizes, but ghrelin, PYY, and GLP-1 dynamics remain altered such that appetite signals become primarily responsive to food intake rather than fasting status, resulting in increased postprandial hunger without elevated fasting hunger, as observed in 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.10.010.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
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