Weight Loss Theories: Calories vs Hormones

There is an ongoing debate as to how to lose weight. The calorie restriction method says to eat less. The Hormone theory says this is too simplistic and advocates fasting, or time restricted eating. Which is correct?

Calorie Theory

Fat = calories in – calories out

This equation is critical to the calorie Theory

The calorie theory says that to reduce fat you need to reduce calories in (what you eat) to less than calories out (what you burn). People are encouraged to eat less in order to lose weight. For example if you eat 100 units and burn 200 units, your body will then use 100 units of fat to make up for the shortfall, and you will lose weight.

The problem is the body does not follow this logic. When you eat less your body metabolism slows down. You feel tired, lethargic, with no energy. You therefore burns less. The net effect is that though you are eating less, you are moving less, so your fat percentage does not change. The fewer calories you eat, the slower your body becomes and the less energy you have. You will therefore not burn fat and slim down. When people on a diet complain of feeling overly tired, this is what is happening.

In our example you reduced calories from 200 units to 100 units, but your body has slowed down to only burn 100 units. You do not need any further energy, and therefore you do not lose weight.

Hormone Theory
The body has only two sources of energy: sugars (which is converted to glucose) from eating food, or stored fats. When you eat too much carbs or sugary food, the body cannot use it all at that time, so then converts the rest to stored fat, saving this energy for a rainy day in the future. Over many years we become increasingly fat. This is a survival mechanism to prevent you from starving to death.

You are not about to starve to death, but your body does not know this. You only wish to reduce or burn your stored fats, in order to lose weight. When you eat carbs and sugary foods your body creates a hormone called “insulin” to convert these ingredients into glucose, a form of sugar that your body uses for fuel. This conversion also prevents and blocks your body from burning fat. It is easier for your body to use sugars rather than burn fat. No matter what you do, if you have sugar in your body you are not able to burn fat, because it is blocked by insulin.

If you wish to force your body to burn fat, then you will need to remove all sugars from your body. Without these sugars your body will not create insulin, because there are no sugars to convert. Your body will instead, and reluctantly, start to burn fat stores for energy. This is the key to weight loss.

Removing sugar from your body takes 12-14 hours. Thankfully we can count the time we are sleeping every night. If you can not eat carbs or anything with sugar for 16 hours, then sugar in your body will be used up and your body will then burn fat. The longer you do not eat sugars, the more your body will burn fat and you will lose weight. This is called “time restricted eating”, or “intermittent fasting”. Intermittent fasting is a slow dieting method, just as slow as when you put on excess weight. Be patient and give it sufficient time to see results.

There are other factors that can prevent you from losing weight such as a lack of sleep, and too much stress. Your body is only trying to prevent you from hurting yourself. You really can’t blame it.

Dr. Jason Fung has advocated for the hormone theory of weight loss and intermittent fasting. I encourage you to research his findings and videos.

The other benefit of intermittent fasting is that when there is no sugar in your body, your body produces no insulin. This daily reset of your insulin level can be very beneficial to those with type 2 diabetes.

Testosterone and Weight Loss (2022) | Jason Fung

Hormones Matter A TON For Weight Loss: Hormones matter, but cannot be blamed for obesity

Science of Intermittent Fasting (2022) | Jason Fung

Here’s Why Your Body Stores More Fat in Certain Places

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *