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Controlling the Body’s ‘Fat Thermostat’
Dealing with weight rebounds
Contrary to what most people believe, long term weight loss is not simply about cutting a few calories here and there. Sure, it sounds like it works, but the bottom line is that it does not. This has been proven in countless studies and also the countless tears of unsuccessful dieters desperately counting their calories like Ebenezer Scrooge counting his pennies. We pretend we live in a world where nutrition demands scientifically rigorous proof that prescribed treatments are effective. So, where are the studies that show that cutting calories causes long term weight loss? After 50 years of desperate, intense research, guess how many studies prove its effectiveness? How about zero? That’s right, Nada. Zilch. Zero. The only reason we think the ‘caloric reduction as primary’ strategy is effective is because it’s been repeated so often. It’s like Santa Claus. When I was a kid, I thought “So, some random guy is just going to give me presents for no reason?” But repeated often enough, these tales gain an undeserved sheen of truth.
No, the key to successful weight loss is to control your body’s ‘thermostat’ — the body set weight (BSW). A room thermostat is set to your desired room temperature and in the summer, when the outside temperature is hot, it turns on the air conditioning. In the winter, it detects the temperature is too cold, and turns on the heat. Your house stays at the perfect temperature despite wildly varying outside conditions.
In our bodies, we have the BSW, also called an appestat or obesistat, essentially a thermostat for body fatness. Some people believe we are designed to eat everything in front of our face and now that food is so easily available, we have no choice but to gain weight. This is false and completely ignores normal human physiology.
