No doubt you’ve heard the term – “calories in versus calories out”
But is losing weight really that simple?
It seems like everywhere you look online, people are arguing about what kind of diet is best for losing weight – and they fall into 2 main camps.
On one hand, you’ve got the CICO crowd, who argues that body weight is dictated by the relationship between how much energy you consume and how much energy you burn.
Which implies that even if you were eating only twinkies, you’d still lose weight, as long as you were in a calorie deficit.
On the other hand, we have the “it’s not that simple” crowd, which has 2 main arguments.
Prioritizing food quality over quantity
Placing the importance of hormones like insulin, genetics, and individual factors over calories
So which one of these two camps is correct?
In order to get a clear answer, let’s quickly recap how weight loss actually works:
Your body runs on energy
You can’t photosynthesize energy from the sun the same way a plant would.
The only way you can consume energy is through food.
And the amount of energy in your food can be measured in calories.
If you don’t feed your body enough energy to keep up with all the demands you’re placing on it through basic bodily functions, walking, chores, and workouts – it will tap into fat cells for stored energy.
As those fat cells drain for energy, you get lighter and leaner over time.
Think of it like a badass post-apocalyptic vehicle in Mad Max.
The car runs on gas, and it has some spare fuel strapped to it as reserves.
If you’re constantly refueling before the gas tank gets empty, you’ll never need to tap into spare fuel.
But if you’re out in the desert, and can’t find a gas station, you’ll need to tap into your reserves in order to keep going.
Over time, those reserves will get depleted.
Those reserves work the same way as your body fat works.
That’s how you can picture the energy balance model – food is coming in on one side, and being converted into usable energy (that’s called metabolism)
And calories being utilized on the opposite side of the equation for everything your body uses energy for.
If you want to learn my preferred way to burn more calorie for fat loss, read The Best Exercise To Lose Belly Fat (Most Underrated)
Which brings us to the first big question:
Does the TYPE of food you eat matter – or does it come down to calories?
I might be the first person to tell you this, but the answer is yes to both of these questions.
For example, people will say that eating 2000 calories of cat food is not the same as eating 2000 calories of white sugar.
And they’re right.
That’s why I now do a 50/50 split, with 1000 calories of each.
Food actually requires energy to digest – the cost of converting eclairs into energy is called the thermic effect of food.
Higher protein foods like steak are more metabolically expensive to digest than sugar.
Since your body has to work harder to break down those proteins, it’s utilizing more energy.
That means more calories get burned on the calories out side of the equation.
So your net calories would be lower.
On top of that, high protein diets have been shown to be far more effective at reducing appetite than lower protein diets.
Which means when we add this back into a real-world context, I’d be far less likely to reach for snacks between meals if I eat a high protein diet.
So less calories may end up being consumed.
That’s why I use a daily protein goal in Four Point Fat Loss
The same factors apply to high fiber foods like broccoli, apples, and potatoes.
That fiber slows digestion, which leads to lowered hunger levels.
And the fiber itself isn’t readily available for energy, so it’s not all absorbed.
Which means that the types of food you consume have a definite impact on your body weight.
Not to mention all the health benefits that come along with eating a diet with plenty of protein, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
But the underlying mechanism is still the energy balance model.
At the end of the day, whether your weight decreases or not will still be determined by the difference between the energy you consume and the energy you expend.
You can certainly make losing weight easier by making better choices with your food, but it’s not a necessity.
Hormones, genetics, and environmental factors?
Being born to obese parents, in an underprivileged neighborhood means that you’re going to have a much harder time losing weight, right?
Especially if you have a condition like hypothyroidism which reduces your resting metabolic rate, and makes it harder for you to lose fat.
Absolutely.
Only having access to ultra-processed, calorie dense foods will stack up the calorie intake side of the equation significantly.
Having limited availability or encouragement for daily physical activity will make it much harder to expend the amount of energy required to keep up with all that food.
And having a condition like hypothyroidism will decrease your energy expenditures.
So weight gain is a more likely outcome.
Especially with all the insulin that would be released into your bloodstream after eating all that junk food, that has got to make you fat, right?
The truth is that insulin does absolutely redirect nutrients from your bloodstream into fat cells.
But it also directs nutrients into your muscle cells, which is great for building muscle.
And the only way it can actually direct that energy into your fat cells is if there is an excess of energy present.
Remember from earlier in the video, fat is stored energy, and energy can’t just appear into your body from thin air.
Here’s a great quote about insulin from my friend Dan Feldman, a registered dietitian and competitive powerlifter:
The harsh truth about calorie deficits
This might be a tough pill to swallow but…
things like food quality, hormones, genetics, and individual factors are certainly important when it comes to losing weight.
But at the end of they day, they can only influence how much energy you intake, or how much energy you expend.
I see that as an optimistic and empowering truth.
There’s a simple underlying mechanism that you can use to lose fat, get yourself healthy, or feel great with your shirt off.
Now I’m off to eat some pie and spend time with family, since it’s Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend.
Hope you have an awesome day
– Matteo
