Is Weight Loss Achievable With An Energy Balance?

Ah, the pervasive misconception- that dieting is all about eating less and exercising more

. Do you know where this notion originates? The concept stems from the First Law of Thermodynamics, which states Accumulation = Energy In - Energy Out. From this, people have extrapolated that losing weight requires one to decrease the energy in (eat less) and increase the energy out (exercise more). Is this a myth? Yes, the science behind dieting and nutrition is much more complicated than reducing calories.

Please, do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that the First Law of Thermodynamics can be violated. On the contrary, if you are losing weight, you must be obeying the Laws of Thermodynamics. By the same token, if you gain weight, you are also obeying the laws. In fact, there is no way for our bodies to disobey thermodynamics. Yet, using these overarching scientific principles as a basis for weight loss is silly. For one thing, these laws do not specify what kind of weight would be lost. When you have a shortage of calories, you may end up metabolizing glycogen, muscle tissue, or even your organs in order to meet the body's energy requirements. Not a pretty picture, is it?

Similarly, eating more does not mean you will gain fat. You may deposit the excess calories in the form of muscle, bones, tissue, sugars, fat, or a combination. For example, when you were a kid, you were certainly consuming more calories than you burned in order to grow. All those excess calories did not turn into fat tissue! On the contrary, you developed longer bones, broader muscles, and larger organs. Your hormones and genetics, not your calorie intake, dictated your body composition.

Unfortunately, following this misunderstood notion has put many people into dangerously low-calorie diets. The body continues to adapt to the shortage of calories by lowering the basic metabolic rate, which slows down and halts weight loss. The dieter responds by cutting even more calories out of the diet. Sometimes, the dieter ends up on a starvation diet, just to see the scale go down. But the body is not responding by consuming fat. On the contrary, the body will preserve fat tissue as much as possible on low-calorie diets. Fat is a good repository of energy, and as far as your body knows, it will need that stored energy in order to help you live through the hard times. Instead, your body metabolizes your energy-consuming muscles, so that you can get by with fewer calories.

The takeaway message is not to flagrantly ignore science or to stuff your body with lots of food. Yes, your body must adhere to the Laws of Thermodynamics, but it can adapt to changes in calorie quantities. In order to master weight loss, you must learn to regulate your metabolism by influencing your fat-storing and fat-metabolizing hormones. This crucial regulation results from types of exercise and specific food groups. See my other health and fitness articles to learn which foods promote the fat-burning hormones.

by: Bryan Holekamp

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