Dr. Holly R. Wyatt is a physician and clinical researcher at The Center for Human Nutrition, University of Colorado School of Medicine, in Denver, Colorado. Research interests include studies aimed at understanding whether energy metabolism is altered in obese individuals and in individuals who are successfully maintaining weight loss (reduced-obese). Her research interests also include measuring resting energy expenditure, fat oxidation, total energy expenditure and activity levels in the National Weight Control Registry's (NWCR) long-term reduced population. Dr Wyatt also studies how diet composition affects long-term success in weight loss maintenance. She has studied subjects who are losing weight with the Atkins Diet (low carbohydrate) vs. a low fat, high carbohydrate diet. She has also investigated diet composition, exercise patterns and breakfast consumption in the NWCR.
Dr. Wyatt received her MD degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and completed both an internal medicine residency and an endocrinology and metabolism fellowship at The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She is board certified in both internal medicine and endocrinology.
Dr. Wyatt has been the National Program Director for the Centers for Obesity Research and Education (CORE) since 1998. CORE was established to help educate health care professionals on how to manage obesity in their busy practices. CORE has educated over 5000 providers since its inception. She has received both a National Service Research Award and a Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) from the National Institutes of Health to study energy metabolism and metabolic factors associated with weight loss in reduced-obese subjects. In 2004, Dr. Wyatt became senior editor of a new professional obesity journal, Obesity and Weight Management. She is also the medical director of a weight management program developed at The Center for Human Nutrition called The Colorado WeighTM.
Selected Publications
Hernandez TL, Sutherland JP, Wolfe P, Allian-Sauer M, Capell WH, Talley ND, Wyatt HR, Foster GD, Hill JO, Eckel RH. Lack of suppression of circulating free fatty acids and hypercholesterolemia during weight loss on a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 PUBMED
Hill JO, Peters JC, Wyatt HR. Using the energy gap to address obesity: a commentary. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009 Nov;109(11):1848-53. PUBMED
Catenacci VA, Hill JO, Wyatt HR. The obesity epidemic. Clin Chest Med. 2009 Sep;30(3):415-44, vii. PUBMED
MacLean PS, Higgins JA, Wyatt HR, Melanson EL, Johnson GC, Jackman MR, Giles ED, Brown IE, Hill JO. Regular exercise attenuates the metabolic drive to regain weight after long-term weight loss. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2009 Sep;297(3):R793-802. PUBMED
Stroebele N, de Castro JM, Stuht J, Catenacci V, Wyatt HR, Hill JO. A small-changes approach reduces energy intake in free-living humans. J Am Coll Nutr. 2009 PUBMED
Bahr DB, Browning RC, Wyatt HR, Hill JO. Exploiting social networks to mitigate the obesity epidemic. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2009 Apr;17(4):723-8. PUBMED
Hill JO, Peters JC, Catenacci VA, Wyatt HR. International strategies to address obesity. Obes Rev. 2008 Mar;9 Suppl 1:41-7. PUBMED
Donahoo W, Wyatt HR, Kriehn J, Stuht J, Dong F, Hosokawa P, Grunwald GK, Johnson SL, Peters JC, Hill JO. Dietary fat increases energy intake across the range of typical consumption in the United States. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008 Jan;16(1):64-9. PUBMED
Catenacci VA, Ogden LG, Stuht J, Phelan S, Wing RR, Hill JO, Wyatt HR . Physical activity patterns in the National Weight Control Registry. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008 Jan;16(1):153-61. PUBMED
Wyatt HR. Does insulin concentration modify the outcome of dietary intervention in young adults with obesity? Nat Clin Pract Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Dec;3(12):802-3. Epub 2007 Sep 18. PUBMED
Catenacci VA, Wyatt HR. The role of physical activity in producing and maintaining weight loss. Nat Clin Pract Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Jul;3(7):518-29. Review. PUBMED
Hill JO, Peters JC, Wyatt HR. The role of public policy in treating the epidemic of global obesity. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2007 May;81(5):772-5. Epub 2007 Feb 21. Review. PUBMED
Phelan S, Wyatt HR, Hill JO, Wing RR. Are the eating and exercise habits of successful weight losers changing? Obesity ( Silver Spring ). 2006 Apr;14(4):710-6. PUBMED
JO Hill & HR Wyatt. Role of physical activity in preventing and treating obesity. J Appl Physiol 2005, 99(2):765-770. PUBMED
HR Wyatt, JC Peters, GW Reed, GK Grunwald, M Barry JO Hill. A Colorado Statewide Survey of Walking and its Relation to Excessive Weight. Med Sci Sports Exer 2005; 37:724-30. PUBMED
Current Research Support
5R01DK071692-04 (Wyatt) NIH/NIDDK
Using the Energy Gap to Prevent Weight Regain
This study evaluates the effectiveness of different levels of energy flux following a weight loss.
5P30DK048520-15 (Hill), NIH/NIDDK
Development of a Clinical Nutrition Research Unit (CNRU)
This is a center grant to foster collaborative, multidisciplinary research in nutrition among NIH-funded nutrition researchers.
5R01DK038088-22 (MacLean), NIH/NIDDK
Utilization of Ingested Energy During Underfeeding
This project aims to employ a rodent paradigm of weight regain to study barriers to sustained maintenance of a reduced body weight and therapeutic strategies that can counter them.
2R01DK042549-19A1 (Hill), NIH/NIDDK
Diet and Physical Activity Interactions Obesity
This study evaluates the long-term success of the America On the Move Family Program in reducing obesity and improving health of children who are risk for overweight. If successful, this program would represent an important tool in reducing obesity and could be widely disseminated via the internet and physician offices and through community outlets.