Episode 418: Dr. Jason Fung: Why Calories Are Not the Key to Weight Loss
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What is the common misconception about weight loss?
Can you just kind of talk about that a little bit more? Yeah, absolutely. So the whole idea with calories in, calories out is that it makes a few false assumptions, first of all. People look at it and they say, you know, calories represents one part of the food to treat. That is the energy that's contained within that food.
Why are calories not the only factor in weight loss?
But when you're trying to gain or lose weight, there's actually much more to it than simply the energy that's contained in that food. Yeah. So it's not just the energy, it's what your body does with that energy, right? So if you take 100 calories of cookies, for example, or brownies versus 100 calories of, you know, salad or broccoli or, you know, salmon or whatever, the body can choose what to do with that energy, right? So you can either store it as fat or you can burn it and use it for energy. You can generate body heat, for example. So simply taking in that energy doesn't mean that you're gonna store more fat because if your body simply uses it, then you're not gonna store fat. However, on the other side, if you take in 100 calories of cookies and your body immediately shuttles it into body fat, which is simply the storage form of calories, well, you don't have any energy.
So then your body is gonna have 100 calories less energy because you've put it into storage. And so therefore, you're going to be hungry or you're going to generate less body heat, none of which sort of breaks the laws of thermodynamics. Because people always say, oh, it's thermodynamics. And anybody who says that clearly doesn't understand thermodynamics in any way. Because remember that it's the energy balance equation is body fat equals calories in minus calories out. And that's always true. But there's three variables there. There's body fat, which is storage. There's what goes in and what comes out, right? So if you take less in, for example, you're reducing your calories in, you don't necessarily reduce body fat.
How do hormones affect body fat storage?
What could also happen is that if calorie, what comes in goes down, what goes out, that's energy expenditure can also go down and your body fat can stay the same. So that is one of the choices the body can make. but it depends on the hormones within your body, right? So if you're eating less, but you're burning less, then your body fat is not going to go anywhere, right? And it doesn't break the laws of thermodynamics. So simply eating less doesn't automatically translate into lower body fat. It depends on what your body does with it. And that's all about the hormones in your body, right? So we know, for example, that insulin is a hormone that promotes storage of those calories. So if you simply take foods that
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the common misconception about weight loss?
2:09–2:36
2
Why are calories not the only factor in weight loss?
2:36–4:29
3
How do hormones affect body fat storage?
4:29–5:19
4
What role does insulin play in weight management?
5:19–5:53
5
How do different foods impact hormonal responses?
5:53–8:02
6
Why does eating less not always lead to fat loss?
8:02–9:13
7
What happens to your body when you store calories as fat?
9:13–12:46
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