The Real Secret to Weight Loss Might Just Be in Your Bathroom

ben bryant

Weight loss is a tricky task to conquer, even with a full arsenal of tips. More than half of Americans have been obese at some point in their lives and more than 90 percent of men suffer from this dangerous weight condition. There isn’t one single way to achieve one’s ideal weight, but there may be a new location worth looking—your toilet.

According to Men’s Health, poop might be the answer to weight loss (and also to many a juvenile bathroom joke). Fecal matter contains a litany of information about your gut bacteria and sending to have it analyzed can help better tailor a plan to drop those pounds.

In a study recently published in the International Journal of Obesity,  people’s ability to lose weight depends heavily on bacteroides and prevotella, two forms of gut bacteria which help digest the fiber in your diet. Some people have higher concentrations than others and the only way you can know is if you have your number two shipped off to a lab.

The study gathered together 62 overweight participants and randomly assigned them either a specifically higher fiber, fruit and vegetable-dominated diet or a standard diet which was heavily meat and fat-based. The participants with the higher-fiber diet lost 7.5 pounds while the regular diet participants lost just shy of four pounds over a six-month span.

This is where the poop pops on the scene; after the initial half-year trial, all participants were shifted to the high fiber diet, and it was found that the people with the higher concentrations of bacteroides and prevotella reaped the greatest losses. In fact, in both segments of the study, it was always the participants with higher concentrations of the crucial gut bacteria that enjoyed trimmer waist lines and greater fat loss.

There isn’t much you can do to up the number of gut bacteria you have, so don’t go licking any doorknobs just yet. Try these workouts that burn the most calories—or, if you’re exercise-averse, here’s how you can lose weight without a lick of exercise. 

[Source: Men’s Health]