Forever Fat Loss

1. The "Eat Less, Burn More" Myth: A Recipe for Failure

If there's one thing that's consistent in the medical literature, it's that telling people to eat fewer calories does not help them lose weight in the long term.

The calorie deficit trap. The conventional wisdom of "eat less and burn more" for fat loss is fundamentally flawed. While creating a calorie deficit does lead to initial weight loss, the body adapts by slowing metabolism, increasing hunger, and ultimately causing weight regain. Studies show that over 95% of people who try this approach fail to achieve lasting fat loss.

Metabolic adaptation. When you restrict calories, your body fights back. It decreases thyroid hormone, destroys muscle tissue, and causes fatigue, all to reduce calorie expenditure. This metabolic slowdown halts fat loss and makes it easier to regain weight, even while eating less than before.

Biology, not willpower. The failure of "eat less, burn more" isn't due to a lack of willpower. It's because the body is biologically wired to resist weight loss. The body fat set-point system actively works to maintain a stable weight, making it extremely difficult to override through conscious effort alone.

2. Body Fat Set-Point: Your Body's Weight Thermostat

Fat mass is biologically regulated. So, it’s not just the result of conscious decisions to eat less or exercise more or eat more. It’s a biologically regulated process.

Biological regulation. The body has a built-in system, the body fat set-point, that regulates body weight, similar to how it regulates blood sugar, blood pressure, and body temperature. This system defends a particular weight range, making it difficult to deviate significantly from it.

Feedback mechanisms. The body fat set-point system works through feedback mechanisms that control hunger, metabolism, and energy expenditure. When you try to lose weight, the body increases hunger and decreases metabolism to restore its preferred weight.

Analogy to oxygen and sleep. Just as you can't consciously control your blood oxygen levels or sleep cycles for long, you can't permanently override your body fat set-point through willpower alone. Lasting fat loss requires addressing the underlying biological factors that influence the set-point.

3. Beyond Calories: Why We Really Get Fat

The normal and natural state of the body is to be lean, and when you are living in congruence with your genome, you stay effortlessly lean.

The gluttony and sloth fallacy. The idea that we get fat simply because we eat too much and exercise too little is an oversimplification. While calorie consumption has increased, the real question is why? What environmental factors are driving us to overeat?

Body Fat Set-Point Dysfunction. The obesity epidemic is a modern phenomenon, indicating that something in our environment is causing our body fat set-point systems to malfunction. The solution isn't just to restrict calories, but to identify and remove these obesogenic factors.

Environmental triggers. The things that drive your body fat set-point up and cause overweight and obesity are things in the modern environment. So the solution to losing fat by driving the body fat set-point down is more about things that you don’t do, rather than things that you do do.

4. Calories Do Count, But Counting Them Doesn't Work

Body-weight loss and weight-maintenance depends on the high-protein, but not on the 'low-carb' component of the diet…

The low-calorie trap. While it's true that you need to burn more calories than you consume to lose fat, intentionally restricting calories often leads to metabolic slowdown and fat regain. This approach puts you in a constant battle against your own biology.

The low-carb diet trap. The claim that "calories don't matter" if you follow a low-carb diet is false. Calories always matter. Low-carb diets can lead to weight loss, but only because they often result in lower overall calorie intake due to higher protein and whole food consumption.

A better strategy. The key is to identify and eliminate the real causes of increased body fat set-point and enhance cellular, hormonal, and metabolic function to actively drive down the body fat set-point without having to rely on calorie counting, forced deprivation, or fad diets.

5. Lowering the Set-Point: The True Path to Lasting Fat Loss

Therefore, what we need for sustainable fat loss is not starvation; we need a treatment that lowers the fat mass set-point.

Working with biology. Fat loss isn't about fighting against your biology by starving it of calories. It's about lowering the body's preferred body fat set-point. This involves re-engaging the body fat set-point system by removing the factors that caused it to dysfunction in the first place.

Criteria for success. A successful fat loss approach must cause fat loss without deliberate calorie restriction, maintain fat loss over the long term, and not be harmful to overall health. It should also enhance cellular health and speed up metabolism.

Re-engaging the system. The real path to lasting fat loss success is not fighting against your biology, it’s working with it. It is simply re-engaging the body fat set-point system by removing the factors that caused it to dysfunction in the first place!

6. Neurological Saboteurs: Food Reward, Variety, and Sleep

A high food reward diet drives chronic overconsumption of calories, and thus, leads to fat gain.

High food reward. Modern processed foods are engineered to be highly rewarding, stimulating the brain's reward center and driving addiction. This leads to overconsumption and overrides the body's natural hunger and fullness signals.

High food variety. The endless variety of highly processed foods in the modern world also contributes to overeating. Food-specific fullness means that we can feel full on one food but still have room for others, leading to excessive calorie intake.

Disrupted circadian rhythm. Poor sleep and disrupted circadian rhythm also play a role in fat gain. Abnormal light rhythms, salt and magnesium deficiencies, and lack of movement can disrupt the body's natural sleep-wake cycle, leading to appetite deregulation and decreased calorie burning.

7. Cellular Roadblocks: Metabolic Damage and Deficiencies

Although obesity is a state in which a huge amount of excess body energy (fat) is accumulated, the behavior and physiology of obese individuals mirror those promoted during a state of negative energy balance, including hyperphagia and low metabolic rates.

The metabolism gap. Overweight and obese people often have high levels of leptin (a hormone that signals fullness) but their brains don't respond to it. This "leptin resistance" leads to increased hunger and decreased metabolic rate, creating a mismatch between calorie intake and cellular energy needs.

Metabolic damage. Metabolic damage, caused by metabolically toxic foods, chronic calorie overconsumption, and forced calorie deprivation, can further impair cellular energy production. This creates a vicious cycle of fat gain and metabolic dysfunction.

Micronutrient deficiencies. Deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals can also slow metabolism. Processed foods, fad diets, and certain foods that block nutrient absorption can all contribute to micronutrient deficiencies.

8. The Movement Cure: NEAT Over Exercise

Our current obesity and related health woes stem from the fact that modern life in the Internet-driven electronic age has increasingly leeched NEAT from our existence to the tune of up to 1,500 to 2,000 calories a day.

The NEAT factor. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which includes all the movement you do throughout the day outside of structured exercise, is a major factor in fat loss. Too much sitting and lack of movement can significantly decrease calorie burning and disrupt metabolic function.

Sitting is the new smoking. Prolonged sitting is linked to shortened lifespan, increased risk of heart disease, type II diabetes, and many cancers. It also disrupts appetite regulation, promotes insulin resistance, and slows metabolism.

Prioritize movement. The key is to minimize sitting and move your body as constantly as possible throughout the day. This can involve working at a standing desk, taking frequent breaks to move around, and incorporating more NEAT into your daily routine.

9. The Simple Nutrition Blueprint: Animal Proteins, Fruits, and Vegetables

If it doesn’t run, fly, swim, or grow out of the ground as a fruit or vegetable, don’t eat it!

A simple rule. The nutrition blueprint for effortless fat loss is surprisingly simple: eat meals composed of just animal proteins, fruits, and vegetables. This approach eliminates processed foods, provides ample nutrients, and allows you to eat according to your biological need.

No restrictions. This plan doesn't involve calorie counting, portion control, or macronutrient restrictions. You can eat any animal proteins, fruits, and vegetables you want, as long as they are whole and unprocessed.

Listen to your body. The key is to get back in tune with your body's hunger and fullness signals. Eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full, and satisfy your cravings with whole, natural foods.

10. The Golden Rules: A Summary of Effortless Fat Loss

Fat loss is not about starvation and willpower—it’s about biology!

The key principles. The golden rules of effortless and lasting fat loss involve eliminating highly rewarding foods, eating simple meals, fixing your circadian rhythm, prioritizing whole foods, avoiding metabolically toxic foods, eating according to your biological need, and maximizing movement throughout the day.

A lifestyle change. This isn't just a diet; it's a lifestyle change. It's about aligning your habits with your biology and creating a sustainable approach to health and leanness.

Working with your body. By following these principles, you can create a state of physiology that drives effortless fat loss, without the need for willpower, deprivation, or suffering. It's about working with your body, not against it.

Last updated: March 30, 2025