Energy balance equation that is always true
If you are not thinking too hard, it seems that simply eating calories or exercising is not enough to reduce body fat. It has only been tried a few million times and always fails.
The reason for this is that, as explained in Part 1, body fat is regulated like a thermostat. When the fat thermostat is too high, the body changes its hormone profile to reduce energy expenditure (refer to Part 2 on calories) or increase hunger (refer to Part 3 on calories).
Thinking more deeply about the problem of excess calories, instead of "calories in, calories out," we ask, "Why do calories become calories?" The simple answer is that people choose to eat more or exercise less. However, that is completely wrong. Obese people do not choose to eat more.
People eat more because they are hungry.
Being in a hormonal state and not a choice, hunger drives eating behavior (as I explained in my article on what Ozempic teaches us about weight loss). When hormones increase hunger, you will eat more. You can choose what you eat, but you cannot choose to be hungry. In other words, hunger is the root cause of increased consumption, so telling someone to eat less is not effective if they are not controlling their hunger.
Drug-induced weight loss and appetite
Decades of research suggest that the body fights weight loss under body weight setpoint (BSW) by making you eat more. In this study, researchers investigated the intake of canagliflozin in type 2 diabetes patients and found that it definitely induces a small amount of glucose...