Note: The following is a series on understanding and addressing the challenge that is losing weight within the context of achieving a healthier body. As of May, 2021 this page is a work in progress, so while I can assure you there is plenty of content to read through below, all links may not be available at this time.
When the goal is weight loss, a calorie deficit must be achieved (as the first law of thermodynamics tells us).
This initial statement is a simple one, but the methods that can be used to achieve this calorie deficit (in a healthy and sustainable manner) are not necessarily so simple.
Yet, the method means everything.
For example, simply eating less (and/or exercising more) as the traditional calorie balance model advised does not prove to be the method by which just anyone can achieve the goal. As it turns out, forcing a calorie deficit by working hard to control calorie intake and expenditure more often than not leads to negative health outcomes (including anxiety and other mental distress, and greater metabolic dysfunction).
The reason: when the body is put in a calorie deficit, it can respond in a number of ways:
- Releasing and burning more fat (the desired outcome)
- Burning through sugar (creating low energy and carbohydrate cravings)
- Decreasing overall energy expenditure (a compensatory and not ideal outcome)
- Creating a strong drive to eat more and move less (the common outcome, making life extremely frustrating)
Only one of these pathways actually leads to the goal that you may be hoping to achieve: #1 - weight loss via lipolysis and fat oxidation.
That is, the true goal for those hoping to lose weight is most often to achieve weight loss via lipolysis and fatty acid oxidation:
- excess fat is released from storage (lipolysis)
- fat is oxidized as a fuel source (and is released from the body)
Most importantly, the body needs to be carrying out this function as the individual is building habits that will sustain these outcomes.
The following is a series of models developed to help understand this goal clearly, including how our choices (behavior) drive pathways of healthy fat balance.
Long-term energy (particularly lipid) balance within and across tissues throughout the body is likely a part of your long-term health goal.
However, depending on your own circumstances, your current specific goal may look a bit different.
For example, the goal for most individuals is fat loss. If an individual has excess fat stored on his or her body, then fat loss will be necessary before fat balance becomes the goal.
But before we dive into any conversation on how to lose weight, we need to get clear on fat balance and why weight loss may be in an individual's best interest. Let's take a deeper look at what this all means. Read Part 1 here
2. Pathways of Energy Balance
Weight loss, especially within the context of achieving better health, is about more than just creating a calorie deficit. Yes, we know that a calorie deficit must be achieved for weight loss to happen, but we also must keep in mind that energy is tightly regulated by complex networks that support our bodies - so, an action that focuses solely on caloric restriction may not actually lead to sustainable fat loss at different sites of excess fat storage.
The above model helps to integrate all of this into one simple framework. I build the model in the following two posts:
Step 1: Understand the Application of Energy Balance
Step 2: Combine Energy Balance with Physiology (pathways and mechanisms)
3. Addressing the Weight Loss Challenge
Now that we understand the extent of the challenge, we can get to work determining what each of us can do to achieve a healthy lipid balance.
For many, this may include some initial weight loss (that occurs within an overall system that is learning that it has excess fat stored which needs to be released from storage and oxidized as a fuel source).
That's what we'll learn in this section. How to make choices that:
- Help the body understand that it has excess fat stored away
- Encourage the body to release fat from storage and utilize it as a fuel source
Note: In this section you'll hit a paywall as we transition from theory to how-to. Per my payment policy, I do my best to keep all of my science-based thinking free as a collaborative effort to work towards better health solutions.
If you're here for a program focused entirely on making healthier decisions and creating better health outcomes then consider signing up for my membership.
Weight Loss Articles
- How To Burn More Fat (Theory)
- How To Burn More Fat (Practice)
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