The Calorie Myth

1. The Calorie Math Myth is Wrong: Your Set-Point Controls Weight.

The average human consumes one million . . . calories a year, yet weight changes very little.

Calorie counting fails. The conventional wisdom that weight loss is a simple equation of "calories in minus calories out" is fundamentally flawed. This simplistic view ignores the body's complex biological control systems. If this math were accurate, the average American should have gained hundreds of pounds more than they actually did over the past few decades, given the documented increase in calorie consumption.

Biology, not math. Your body isn't a calculator; it's a sophisticated biological system designed for balance, or homeostasis. Just like it automatically regulates blood pressure and blood sugar, it automatically regulates body fat around a specific "set-point." This set-point is determined by genes, brain signals, and hormones, and the body actively works to maintain it, counteracting conscious efforts to drastically change weight through simple calorie restriction or expenditure.

Set-point defense. Studies show the body vigorously defends its set-point. When you eat less, your metabolism slows down, and you burn fewer calories. When you eat more, your metabolism speeds up, and you burn more. This explains why traditional calorie-counting diets fail 95.4% of the time and often lead to weight regain; you're fighting against your own biology, not working with it.

2. Low-Quality Food Raises Your Set-Point, Not Eating More.

Obesity is not a disorder of body weight regulation... Obesity is simply the result of the body defending this elevated weight—but in a very regulated way.

Set-point elevation. Long-term fat gain isn't caused by eating too many calories; it's caused by a hormonal imbalance, or "clog," that raises your body's set-point. When you eat low-quality, processed foods, your hormones go haywire, making your body think an abnormally high level of body fat is normal, and it then fights to maintain that higher weight.

Hormonal clog. Key hormones like insulin and leptin regulate your set-point. Low-quality foods make your body resistant to these hormones, leading to overproduction and a "clog." This clog prevents your body from effectively burning fat and signals it to store more, raising the set-point. Very obese individuals often have stable weights because their bodies are defending a very high set-point.

Quality over quantity. Studies on animals demonstrate that diet quality, not quantity, determines the set-point. Rats fed low-quality food raised their set-points and stayed heavy even when switched to a normal diet. However, the hormonal damage caused by low-quality food is reversible by increasing the quality of eating and exercise, allowing the set-point to lower naturally.

3. Exercising More Doesn't Work; Calorie Quality Does.

Exercise by itself has not been shown to be highly effective in treating obesity because the increased energy use from exercise is generally offset by increased caloric intake.

More exercise, more eating. Just like eating less, exercising more of the traditional kind (like jogging) is largely ineffective for long-term fat loss. The body compensates for increased calorie expenditure by increasing appetite and calorie intake. Often, this leads to consuming more low-quality food, which further contributes to hormonal clogging and a higher set-point.

Compensation mechanisms. Studies show that even significant amounts of traditional exercise (burning 2000 calories/week) result in little to no weight loss because the body attenuates the predicted loss through compensatory mechanisms. Marathon runners often gain weight, and studies show physical inactivity is more likely a result of fatness than a cause.

Activity levels haven't changed. The obesity epidemic isn't due to decreased activity. Americans exercise more intentionally than ever, health club revenues have skyrocketed, and studies show overall activity levels haven't significantly changed since the 1970s. Even hunter-gatherers, while more physically active, burn the same total daily calories as Westerners after accounting for body size, demonstrating the body's automatic energy regulation.

4. Calorie Quality is Key: SANE Factors & Hormones.

The more Satisfying, unAggressive, Nutritious, and inEfficient a calorie is, the higher its quality.

A calorie is not a calorie. The myth that all calories are equal is devastatingly wrong. 300 calories of spinach and salmon have a vastly different effect on your body than 300 calories of pasta. Food quality, not just quantity, dictates how your body responds, particularly how it affects your hormones and set-point.

SANEity factors. Calorie quality is determined by four factors:

• Satiety: How quickly food fills you up and keeps you full (more water, fiber, protein = higher satiety).
• Aggression: How likely calories are to be stored as body fat (faster glucose spike = higher aggression).
• Nutrition: How many essential nutrients calories provide (nutrients per calorie).
• Efficiency: How easily calories are converted to body fat (fiber and protein are inefficient).

Hormonal control. High-quality (SANE) calories are Satisfying, unAggressive, Nutritious, and inEfficient. They heal hormones, prevent overeating, and lower the set-point. Low-quality (inSANE) calories (starches, sweets) are the opposite; they harm hormones, encourage overeating, and raise the set-point. Focusing on SANEity allows your body to automatically balance calories at a healthy weight.

5. Misinformation: Low-Fat Myths & Industry Influence.

Good advice about nutrition conflicts with the interests of many big industries, each of which has more lobbying power than all the public-interest groups combined.

Low-fat failure. The decades-long push for low-fat diets, often replacing fat with starches and sugars, has been a catastrophic failure. Studies show no link between total fat intake and heart disease or obesity. In fact, replacing natural fats with low-fat starches and sweets leads to less satiety, increased calorie intake, and worsened health markers like HDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

Cholesterol confusion. The focus on lowering total cholesterol and LDL by avoiding fat is misguided. Research shows low HDL cholesterol is the primary predictor of heart disease risk, and high-starch diets lower HDL. Eating healthy whole-food fats, including saturated fats from natural sources, is crucial for raising HDL and overall health.

Industry influence. The government's dietary guidelines, like the Food Pyramid, were not based on sound science but were political compromises influenced by the food industry. These guidelines promoted the consumption of profitable, low-quality starches and sugars, contributing significantly to the obesity and diabetes epidemics. Food companies actively fight scientific information that threatens their profits, often promoting misleading "moderation" messages while saturating the food supply with addictive sweeteners.

6. Go SANE with Your Diet: Focus on Quality Foods.

For the vast majority of people, being overweight is not caused by how much they eat but by what they eat.

Eat like your ancestors. The solution is simple: eat the way humans evolved to eat for 99.8% of history, before the diseases of civilization became rampant. Focus on whole, natural foods rich in water, fiber, and protein – foods found directly in nature.

SANE food categories:

• Nonstarchy Vegetables: Cover at least half your plate. High in water, fiber, and nutrients. Aim for 10+ servings daily.
• Nutrient-Dense Proteins: Fill a third of your plate. Essential for satiety, muscle preservation, and metabolism. Aim for 30-55g per meal, 3+ times daily.
• Whole-Food Fats/Low-Fructose Fruits: Fill the rest of your plate. Essential fats are crucial for health and burning fat. Low-fructose fruits (berries, citrus) are okay in moderation (0-3 servings/day).

Simplicity and abundance. SANE eating isn't about deprivation; it's about eating so much delicious, high-quality food that you're too full for inSANE options. This approach naturally regulates calorie intake, provides abundant nutrition, heals hormones, and lowers your set-point without hunger or complex counting.

7. Get Smart with Your Exercise: Focus on Intensity, Not Duration.

Smarter exercise... exercises all our muscle fibers, including a type of muscle fiber that is especially hormonally helpful and has probably never been activated in your entire life!

Quality over quantity. Traditional exercise focuses on burning calories over long durations, which is ineffective for long-term fat loss. Smarter exercise focuses on triggering hormonal changes that lower your set-point by working more muscle fibers, particularly the metabolically beneficial type 2b fibers.

Smarter exercise principles:

• Exercise More Muscle: Engage more muscle fibers by using more resistance.
• Focus on Hormones: Trigger fat-releasing hormones through intense effort.
• Increase Resistance, Reduce Frequency: Higher resistance requires more recovery, meaning less frequent workouts.
• Lower Weights: Focus on the eccentric (lowering) portion of movements, which allows for greater force and muscle fiber engagement.
• Reduce Time: Intense effort means you exhaust yourself quickly (minutes, not hours).
• Heal, Don't Hurt: Prioritize safety, sustainability, and resistance over speed or impact.

Minimal time investment. This approach requires only 10-20 minutes per week of high-intensity, low-impact effort (eccentric training and smarter intervals). This is physically all you can do if you're working hard enough, and it provides dramatically better hormonal and metabolic benefits than hours of traditional cardio.

8. The SANE & Smart Action Plan: Simple Steps for Lasting Change.

Eating more and exercising less—but smarter—to enable our body to balance calories for us makes slim simple.

Shift your mindset. Achieving lasting health and fat loss requires fighting fat with facts and shifting from short-term weight loss thinking to long-term health and fat loss. Replace the scale with measuring tapes and focus on health markers like waist circumference, body fat percentage, blood pressure, and energy levels.

Practical implementation:

• Ease In: Gradually swap inSANE foods for SANE ones over five weeks.
• Track Simply: Use a basic food tracker to ensure minimum SANE servings, not calorie counting.
• Cook Smart: Prepare SANE meals in bulk to save time and money.
• Snack Wisely: Choose SANE snacks packed with protein, fiber, and healthy fats if truly hungry.
• Hydrate: Drink plenty of water and green tea daily.
• Exercise Smart: Commit to 10-20 minutes of eccentric and smarter interval training per week.

Commit and get support. Forget perfection; focus on consistency and progress. Set meaningful, long-term goals and commit publicly if possible. Surround yourself with support and remember that you are choosing a proven path to lasting vitality, not a temporary fix.

Last updated: June 11, 2025