Currently, in America, over 70% of the population is carrying around excess fat with 30% of those individuals carrying around enough excess fat to be considered obese. Given the trend, many more individuals are on the same path of gradual weight gain throughout the duration of their lives, destined to spend the latter half of their lives (or even, in many, their majority of life) suffering under the burden of a body overfilled with fat. With the staggering rate of individuals having to deal with the repercussions of this excess weight, effectively addressing this problem must be a priority.
The problem – despite the incredible force trying to counteract this excess fat accumulation problem, and despite millions (even billions?) of individuals actively trying to counteract the excess fat accumulation, results are rather sparse and rarely last. Therefore, a new approach to addressing the excess weight accumulation problem is absolutely necessary if we are going to create any effective, lasting results.
What might this new approach look like? Well, to begin with, I can tell you what it is not. This new approach is not going to be established by making slight tweaks to previous plans or laying out one more diet or hack that promises to be the answer. Instead, the only foreseeable method of creating an effective solution is to completely re-evaluate our beliefs behind weight loss and to start from the ground up establishing a new framework.
With that, let us begin.
Understanding The System
A first step in addressing any complex problem is to ensure that we understand the system under scrutiny. In this case, let’s begin by understanding two particularly relevant systems:
System 1: The Human Body (the macroscopic view)
Obviously, when discussing weight loss, the system under scrutiny is the individual’s body. Since the goal is to relieve the body of the excess fat, we must be able to imagine how our actions will lead to results spanning the entire body:
While this macroscopic view helps us imagine the end goal, it actually does very little in regards to providing any practical information. Solely imagining the entire body provides us with a picture that is too complex – there are too many variables at play across the entire body, and the zoomed out perspective tells us nothing as to what we really need to do in form of action. This macroscopic perspective can help us see the end goal, yet it may leave us prone to errors in our understanding of the specific problem.
To avoid these errors, let’s note a second, more specific, system:
System 2: Adipose Tissue – the site of fat storage
When we think about weight loss it is natural to think about it from the perspective of the entire body (as it is the body that we see in the mirror every day), yet if we get more specific, the actual system we need to target is the site of the fat storage (i.e. adipose tissue). The bottom line is that we must get fat out of storage if we want to lose that fat, which is, once again, the real goal of any weight loss strategy.
Adding in one more step – it isn’t enough just to release this fat – this fat also must be oxidized by the mitochondria (broken down and converted to ATP) for that energy to be released. Thus, a second important system to keep in mind:
This second system provides us with a more specific goal: if we want to lose weight, we need the body to release fat from storage and then oxidize that fat.
Yet, when looking at this zoomed in system, we have to be careful that we are not overlooking the bigger picture. System 2 interacts with many other sub-systems to support the entire system that is the human body (System 1), and if we want to have any chance reaching and sustaining our weight loss goals, we have to make sure that we take these other variables into consideration.
Which is why we must keep both systems in mind as we continue forward. A view of these two combined systems looks something like this:
Now that we have a specific image of our end goal in mind, we can get to work understanding how this can be accomplished. That is, we can get to work understanding the actions we can take to put both systems in a state where the bulk flow of fat is being released and oxidized, thus achieving the ultimate goal of fat loss.
But, before we get to the actual approach we will use to create healthy, sustainable weight loss, we need to understand some key principles about both systems. As we know, the body is no simple system that will just react based off of our wants – it has its own control on itself, and thus if we are going to achieve any serious results, we must make sure we are working with, not against, these systems. To do this, we will make sure we understand some governing principles of human metabolism.
The Human Metabolism – Understanding Basic Principles
The human metabolism is a biological system, and therefore operates under the same governing principles that all biological systems are guided by.
The most significant principle to understand for the problem at hand is homeostasis, which describes the tendency for the factors within biological systems to fluctuate within a range of values, always tending back towards a healthy set point. In these systems, factors naturally rise or fall away from this healthy set point, only to be driven back towards a happy medium by other factors that sense and respond to these fluctuations. In this, a state of dynamic equilibrium is achieved.
Biological systems are able to operate in this way due to embedded feedback mechanisms. As one factor begins to elevate, that factor serves as a signal to inhibit whatever is allowing (or causing it) to rise.
The human metabolism, a biological system, is made up of sub-systems that are constantly fluctuating only to return to equilibrium.
Let’s introduce a few key sub-systems that are particularly relevant to the discussion at hand:
- Blood sugar (AKA blood glucose) stays relatively stable over time due to the opposing effects of insulin and glucagon.
The pancreas is the body’s primary sensor for blood sugar levels. As blood sugar elevates the pancreas releases insulin, a signal to cells throughout the body to deal with that elevated blood sugar. Cells throughout the body respond to the insulin signal in various ways (muscle cells take that sugar in and either burn it or store it as glycogen; fat cells take that sugar in and store it as fat). The result is that blood sugar drops back down to a baseline level.
When the pancreas senses blood sugar levels dropping it releases glucagon, a signal to the body to release glucose into the bloodstream (for example, the liver breaks down its stored glycogen and releases it as glucose in the bloodstream. With insulin and glucagon working as antagonists (with opposing effects), the body is able to maintain a healthy range of blood sugar. (link to expanded blood sugar system) - Fat storage stays relatively stable over time due to insulin (acutely)and leptin (long term)
Although it may not look like it given the state of this world, the body has methods for maintaining control over its long-term energy stores as well. Bringing insulin back into play here, when there is elevated blood glucose, insulin is released which moves the bulk flow of energy into storage (e.g. energy is stored as fat in adipose tissue). However, this fat is not free to accumulate indefinitely; the body has another hormone, leptin, which elevates in response to expanding adipose tissue. This leptin signal tells the brain to decrease hunger, resulting in less eating, and thus allowing fat to be released from storage. In this way the body maintains homeostatic control over fat stores.
Combining these two energy homeostasis examples, we see blood sugar being in constant flux, with blood sugar constantly rising or dropping based on our actions (eating a meal raises blood sugar; exercising or sleeping uses glucose, causing blood sugar to drop). Because of this, the pancreas is continuously sensing blood sugar levels and constantly responding by varying its output of insulin and glucagon.
Meanwhile, our fat stores are constantly fluctuating depending on what is happening with blood sugar (and therefore, with insulin and glucagon). Fat stores will generally fill up as we go through the day (our eating window) only to decrease as fat is released throughout the night (or, throughout a long work out).
This is a simple example of how the body’s energy stores and energy availability are in constant flux, yet over time remain in a state of dynamic equilibrium (i.e. homeostasis). It is important to note that, while we can discuss the sub-systems separately, each sub-system is tightly integrated as one system that works together to keep the body in a healthy state of metabolic equilibrium.
This example also gives us some insight as to how the external environment interacts with these internal systems. For example, our eating behavior dictates the signals that are released (by eating lots of carbohydrates, lots of sugar is released into the bloodstream, causing lots of insulin to be released, causing a strong energy storage signal). Alternatively, by going for longer periods without eating carbohydrate, the adipose tissue is able to release fat and use it as fuel because the insulin signal is low and the glucagon signal is high.
In this way we can begin to see how external factors interact with this internal network – when external factors enter the system they perturb the equilibrium. For example, consuming a carbohydrate-rich meal will elevate blood sugar, resulting in the elevation of insulin, ultimately bringing blood glucose back down. Meanwhile, that elevated insulin drives the flow of energy towards fat storage.
Alternatively, by restricting carbohydrate, the body is able to release fat and oxidize it.
Note an important point here – it also works that internal factors create the drive for those external perturbations. For example, as blood sugar levels drop, the body sends a signal to the brain that drives a change in behavior (e.g. seeking out a carbohydrate-rich meal).
When all goes well, the system works in this state of dynamic equilibrium
- the body seeks out resources from the external environment when the internal environment demands it
- the body responds internally when external factors perturb the state of equilibrium
Back to the Problem
However, as we know all know, all is not well, as the modern human body is no longer capable of maintaining this state of metabolic homeostasis. Instead, blood glucose levels are regularly out of whack (energy crashes which progress to pre-diabetes which progresses to full-blown diabetes), and fat seems free to accumulate in excess.
Which brings us back to our problem – although now, I hope that you can see the problem framed quite differently.
Framing the Problem
The Reprogrammed Systems Model views the excess fat accumulation problem as one of a system that has lost its ability to maintain homeostasis – that is, the system supporting fat regulation has become dysregulated, allowing fat to accumulate in excess. Given this perspective, addressing the problem means addressing the dysregulation – that is, taking action to send external factors that help the body shift back into a state where it can maintain homeostasis.
Note that this is very different than the traditional approach to weight loss – an approach that focuses on one specific variable (energy), and ignores the many other variables in the system that are dictating where that energy goes.
Still, from this traditional wisdom, we do know one additional piece of information. As excess fat accumulation is a problem of excess energy accumulation (because energy is stored in the bond of fatty acids), we can view the problem as one of energy balance.
From energy balance we know that to lose weight, an energy deficit must be created. Therefore, our ultimate goal can be perceived in terms of an overall energy deficit; that is, energy in must be less than energy out:
Energy In – Energy Out = Change in internal energy
If change in internal energy is (-), then Energy in < Energy Out
Thus, we have multiple pieces of information that can help us frame a method for causing fat loss: Energy balance tells us that, overall, an energy deficit must be created. However, it does nothing to tell us how it can be created, which is why we need the second set of information – that is, an understanding of how the body regulates its energy stores. If we can understand how these energy stores are regulated, then we can take action to prime the body to release the stored fat and burn it, thus creating a calorie deficit and causing healthy fat loss.
Thus, framing how we may best address the excess energy accumulation problem:
A: Understand how the metabolic network functions
- What are the key drivers and governing factors internally driving metabolic homeostasis, and how may these have become dysregulated?
- What are the key external factors influencing these internal factors?
B: All the while keeping in mind the ultimate goal: creating an energy deficit. That is, consuming less energy than is expended, overall.
Bringing back in our original 2 systems and summing up our ultimate goal, at this point we have the following:
The question for us now is how: How do we put the body in a state where the net flow of energy is via the release and oxidation of fat? What actions can we take to put our bodies in this state?
Up next, I will dive into the governing principles that will allow you to answer these questions.