Why 'Eat less, move more' doesn't work

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.

- Richard Feynman

(in his Commencement Address at Caltech, 1974)

When I first started working out back in 2011, I was thin, I did not know what nutrition was and was naïve enough to consume protein from a bowl of sprouts. Gaining weight was hard. I knew building muscle takes time, so I kept on looking for ways to gain 'size'. And I landed on the same diet as I am sure many others must have discovered - egg whites (as yolk has fat in it), peanut butter (because protein) and bananas (because it helps in gaining mass), and I gained 5-6 kg in within a few months.

Now it was time to cut. So I followed the conventional advice. EAT LESS, MOVE MORE. I started out with expectations of being ripped. And it didn't work. I tried fasting as skipping a meal surely does make us eat less right? And then I had less food for my remaining meals. But, it still did not work. How can something which everyone says is the way to lose fat did not work for me? "I must be doing something wrong" was my explanation. So I reached out to a bodybuilder friend. He told me add salad and calculated my again. I followed his advice and then, magic happened - I lost weight. But with it, I lost strength, I was sleeping more, felt weak during workouts, and had strong hunger pangs.

That led me into thinking what went wrong. How come what everyone knows as true not work. This streak of self doubt continued until I realized something. If that advice works, why are there so many over weight people around? OH WAIT, how come homeless people, and the one's who are involved in hard manual labour be overweight when they barely get to eat enough food and work very hard all day?

Which led me to the irony. Let me explain it to you this way -

The Irony:

Imagine COVID is over. Great start right? In fact, it gets better! Lockdowns have ended and public gatherings are allowed. Which means that I can hypothetically invite you for a grand celebration. There's going to be music, games and amazing dinner prepared by the best chefs from India; cuisine specialists. So make sure you come hungry!

What would you do to make sure you're able to turn up with an empty stomach and enjoy the delicious food? Skip lunch or snacks? Workout before arriving? Dance to the music before you get to food? I'm sure at least one of these will make you hungry!

Staying away from food combined with a little physical exertion is bound to make your stomach grumble. Of course, you're eating less and working more. It's bound to make you hungry. It sounds like an obvious thing to happen. By that understanding in place, why do we expect to lose fat and stay healthy if we eat less and move more? That's the theory behind CICO - calories in, calories out approach. Just burn more calories than you consume, and you'll burn the fat you carry. Until, you start feeling hungry, crave for nutrients because you're literally having less food, and lose your mental peace. If that's not enough, you might get taunted for eating too much, and not having self control.

And a drop in self esteem is worse than being overweight. We end up believing what other's say about us and shame ourselves for not trying hard enough. But, IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!

Scientific Aspect:

CICO theory puts faith in the 1st law of thermodynamics. Energy can neither be created, nor destroyed, it can only be transferred from one form to another. And assumes the theory to be applicable on humans. And it is. But in a slightly different way -

Energy Saved = Energy expended (exercise + energy used to maintain our body) - Energy consumed (food calories)

i.e. ΔE = E(out) - E(in)

So, what if you start eating less and moving more?

FAT LOSS = ⬆️ΔE = E(out)⬆️ - E(in)⬇️

But we have already seen this doesn't really happen. In fact we end up feeling tired and exercise performance drops. We are unable to work more, since we're eating less. So practically, our energy expenditure goes down. Our E(out) reduces in response to low food consumption

THE REALITY OF LIFE = ⬇️ΔE = E(out)⬇️ - E(in)⬇️

Yes, the law of thermodynamics applied, but it applied to keep the ratio constant. If you eat less, your body will automatically expend less, and thus the difference remains the same. And it's evident in the fact that fat is not lost, only your mental peace is. As Thanos would say, "perfectly balanced, as all things should be", both the equations are completely balanced and true. But the 1st equation is only true on paper, while the 2nd one is how our body reacts to less food.

Moreover, this theory completely ignores the existence of signaling molecules called hormones which tell our body what needs to be done with the food that's in your system. For example, if you workout, your GH and Testosterone go up and you build muscle. Insulin tells your cells to utilize and store energy whereas Glucagon tells your body to use stored energy.

Evolutionary aspect:

The fact that obesity and fat gain are fairly a new concept, merely a few thousands of years old, is well known and proven. You don't see fat people in cave paintings too. We count calories, we apply CICO and we are the fattest species on the planet. Don't say elephants are fatter because that's how they're supposed to look. That's their physiology. Our physiology is to be lean and muscular.

And that's visible in some tribes around the world who still live and look like their ancestors. Lean, strong, agile and muscular, so they could hunt and gather for food. They don't understand fat gain. Their protein comes from animal meat, fat from animal fat, and fruits are rare and seasonal. And we count how much we eat, to be overweight. Imagine counting how much you eat. If animals could talk, our pets would wonder what this big brained dude is up to now.

We are told that our food quality has improved with modernization. But the improved food quality brought us more diseases so that makes me question what went wrong. The populations who eat supposedly inferior food are healthier and happier than us. Probably because the food we eat has changed from what we are supposed to eat. And our definition of healthy food needs re-consideration.

Logical aspect:

If we consider our eat less, move more theory is correct, then -

1. Why is it so hard to lose weight, and why so many people struggle with fat loss?

2. Why do we see overweight people in dirt poor population?

3. If you've tried to lose weight using this theory, how much did you lose and how much did you gain back?

Expecting to be at your physical and mental best with less food is like expecting a sports car (your mind and body) to perform better with less fuel (calories) and engine oil (nutrients).

So next time you see someone trying to lose weight by eating less and spending hours in the gym, grinding, or if that person is you, take a moment. And in that moment, reflect on what has happened throughout your journey. See yourself going through it again, weather it's learning from the internet or paying a dietitian, visualize yourself before and after you started the diet. Have you lost weight? Are you cranky now? Do you feel uncontrollable hunger? Does your workout and diet require more and more will power? Does it seem like you've lost your mental peace? Has your dietitian made you buy packaged products to help you lose fat? If that's the case, you need to ask yourself, the questions I asked above. And let the obvious answer come to you.

You don't need packaged products to lose fat. You have to simply signal the body to lose fat. And when that happens, you automatically eat less. Because your body fat gives you energy. You utilize food and body fat for energy. The food you eat signals your body to use body fat for energy. This is where hormones come into picture, which are completely ignored.

If you are someone who have been trying to lose fat, let me remind you again that it's not your fault. You have been following incorrect advice. And I can teach you the correct way to lose fat and gain health. Check out our Freedom 90 program. And if it's your first time trying to lose fat, check out our #14DayChallenge program to get a taste of what a sports-car-body feels like.

Eat Good, Stay Strong, Live Free

Cheers,

Sushil Dhokne