The Tubby Traveler from Topeka

Dr. Brian Edwards is a lipidologist. He has completed a year long case study on himself. He has eaten 60% of fat while on a very low carbohydrate diet. During this year long period he has been on cruise ships for 90 days.

These are the end points of his study:
1- LDL particle number
2- Weight
3- CAC (calcium score of coronary arteries
4- CIMT (ultrasound of carotid intimal wall)
5- Hemoglobin A1c (for diabetes)

While this is only a case study of one, Dr. Edwards proposes these end points to be used in future studies to answer the question as to which diet is healthy.

During the course of the year Dr. Edwards learned an extremely important concept: The Reduced Obese State

Based on this concept, Dr. Edwards is introducing a new term to describe why diet fail in maintenance phase: The Sponge Syndrome.

Finally, Dr. Edwards discovered the greatest hindrance to low carbohydrate diets: cross country driving which causes prolonged sitting while driving for eight hours.
The prolonged sedentary state is one of the key opportunities for weight gain in someone who has lost weight. This is one component of many compensatory mechanisms of the Sponge syndrome which cause people in the reduced state to gain weight.