Why Calories In Calories Oout always fails
Why does cutting calories often lead to a weight loss plateau? Is the traditional "Calories In, Calories Out" approach enough to explain weight gain and fat loss?
In this video, Dr. Jason Fung explains why he believes the conventional calorie-counting model fails to address the underlying causes of weight gain. He explores the relationship between calorie intake, metabolic adaptation, insulin, hormones, and hunger—and why understanding these factors may provide a different perspective on sustainable weight management.
In this video, you'll learn:
● Why the traditional Calories In, Calories Out model has limitations.
● How reducing calorie intake can be accompanied by changes in metabolic rate.
● The difference between calorie balance and the underlying causes of weight gain.
● How insulin influences fat storage and the release of stored energy.
● Why the type of food you eat may affect hunger, satiety, and energy.
● How an 800-calorie omelet compares with a sugary coffee and pastry breakfast in Dr. Fung's explanation.
● Why understanding the root causes of hunger matters more than simply counting calories.
● The three types of hunger: homeostatic, hedonic, and conditioned hunger.
● How GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic relate to appetite and hunger.
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EXPLORE THE HUNGER CODE
Discover more about the science of hunger, appetite, and weight management in Dr. Jason Fung's book, The Hunger Code.
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ABOUT DR. JASON FUNG
Dr. Jason Fung is a physician and bestselling author known for his work and educational content on fasting, nutrition, insulin, and metabolic health.
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⏱️ Video Chapters (Timestamps):
00:00 Introduction: Why Calories In, Calories Out Fails
00:42 The 500-Calorie Deficit Theory
01:53 Metabolic Adaptation and Weight Loss Plateaus
02:48 Mistake #1: The Calorie Deficit Hypothesis
03:11 Mistake #2: The Energy Balance Equation
04:20 Mistake #3: Body Fat Is Not Freely Available
04:43 Insulin and Fat Storage
07:24 How Different Foods Affect Insulin
08:05 Comparing Two 800-Calorie Breakfasts
08:54 Historical Calorie Intake and Obesity
09:48 Mistake #4: Correlation vs. Causation
10:43 Finding the Root Cause of Weight Gain
11:28 The Three Whys
14:26 What Ozempic Teaches Us About Hunger
15:08 The Three Types of Hunger
16:41 The Hunger Code
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Thank you for the information
Appreciate this information 🙏
Fantastic video as always
Insulin is the WORST way to treat T2 diabetes.
It makes you fat and just increases an already too high level of insulin in your body.
I just hope that some day eventually someone will realise that and change how Western medicine treats T2.
Totally, but what do you do , when you have a completely non compliant 500lb deathfat binge eater with a blood sugar of 25 mmol and when given Ozempic, they just out-eat it by getting stoned to trigger their appetite?
It’s like they’re too stupid (or addicted) to realize it’s not the Oz making them nauseated, it’s the bingeing while on Oz, because of the delayed gastric emptying their KFC and St Hubert’s is fermenting in their gunt?
Any advice for them?
They know it.
They can get money by prescribing insulin, glp1 or statins.
There’s no money to be made if you fast and heal yourself.
Diet wars are so confusing. I wish there were streamed debates with the different camps
You have to try it on yourself
– take magnesium glycinate, multivitamin, olive leaf extract, l carnitine every day.
– track your calories. know your maintenance calories. Know a pound of fat is 3500 calories. Know the leaner you are the less fat you can burn each day.
– eat high protein, low fat anabolic diet. where you recreate delicious foods with high protein low fat low sugar swaps.
– walk an hour per day.
– lift three times a week.
– eat in slight (500) caloric deficit every day.
– decaf coffee decreases appetite. useful
– after your appetite normalizes fast on wednesdays. Drink caffeinated beverages, teas, decaf coffee all day. Take magnesium, l theanine, glycine and melatonin to get to sleep. Gets easier.
– adjust maintenance calories every time you lose five actual pounds of fat. Ignore the initial water weight decrease at the beginning of diets and the water weight increase when you recarb.
– take a diet break after every month of dieting and eat at maintenance for two weeks.
-you will inevitably hit whatever level of body fat you want.
– takes a long time. more than a year.
@godsofthesingularity8308 I think this plan would definitely work, but the problem is that being low fat, it would be unsustainable for a lot of people and they would tend to overeat. I think the best compromise is a moderate keto diet to keep the blood sugar stable, yet still getting some carbs, especially for workouts.
I don’t even think of calories anymore!
I lost over 100 lbs without counting any calories! 😹 😻💙🐾💙😻
Qual sua alimentação querida?
Você parou de comer oque gosta tipo alguma sobremesas algo do tipo?
@Maeyvi-d7k not at all. I lost the weight by intermittent fasting & one meal a day. Now I just eat wisely & keep carbs down.
When you get to a normal weight let me know. If you lost 100 lbs it just tells me you are morbidly obese.
@CatCmdrcarbs are not the enemy. You can get better results keeping the fat down. Because fat gets directly stored as fat which was proven with tracers. And fat has more calories per gram than carbs. For carbs to store as far it needs to go through denovo lipogenesis. And that is a rare occurrence. When you eat carbs and gain weight that is only muscle glycogen not fat. You want water in the muscle cells to get a lean muscular look
@WhiteWarriorWill sorry buddy, carbs are the enemy, As Fung and Robert Lustig are saying for years: it is what your body does with the calories you consume. Protein raises a bit of insulin but it can’t hold a candle for what carbs can do. Also tooth decay are mostly caused by carbs. Fat is not the enemy, if it is natural fat it is your friend, unless it comes from see oils, trans fats and processed garbage Natural occurring fats will never kill you or make you fat unless they are combined with high carbs. I lost 86kg in the past without counting calories and now I look like you can see in the photo. Never counted calories before never count them now and I look like most people can only dream of. The secret is in knowing what you are eating.
Thanks Dr Fung, great information as always!
❤❤❤🙏🙏🙏 God bless you Doc very genius explanation
Fasting for 1yr 4months , I lost 100lbs . I never count calories . Change the way I look at food . Intermittent Fasting change my life . Thank You Dr. Fung ❤
Fasting means u dont eat calories LOL
@BktswmTurysn Whih proves that CICO (Calories In Calories Out) works…
Cutting calories worked fine for me, until I reached my 50’s, now I REALLY have to cut my calories, just to keep myself from gaining weight.
Thank you Dr Fung 🎉🎉🎉
Another thing dr fung is correct about: my a1c was diabetic 10 months ago. After prolonged fasting not only did i lose 80+ lbs…as of last week i now have normal a1c!
Congrats! How long did u fast for? what was your schedule, prolonged fasting then intermittent fasting, etc
Yes when you eat less and throw it all into one meal you will improve all blood markers besides cortisol.
🎉🎉🎉
Another thing calories in isolation is actually a good unit of measure when you want to eat some junk food. For instance I can go for a Haagen-Dazs ice cream bar which is over 300 calories. Or I can go for the low-fat fudge bar which is only 60 Cal. 😊 So when I want to cheat on my diet which one should I go for? It’s pretty good for situations like this. Everything is useful in the right situation, we just have to use some common sense.
Fung is the Sophistry King!
Said an idiot troll 🤡
What’s sophistry
@scifikid108 deceptive argument.
That idiot is a troll.
There’s a lot of them under dr . Fung’s videos.
Probably doctors afraid of losing their clients once they learn how to get well without a doctor’s meds.
Well I wasn’t directly drawn to the topic of weight loss but I enjoyed the video a lot because of how Dr.Fung applies logic and breakdowns concepts and connects and links logical ideas….
Might actually attempt to remember the frameworks (the logical flow system)
Enjoyed it and learned a lot… Thanks….
I’ve been training for 45 years…I’m 60 now. I’ve done it all, I’ve seen it all. I’ve been eating 1500 to 1800 calories a day for 6 months. Not even clean…but consistent with 4 days of exercise and 4 infrared saunas for 20 to 30 min. Drink plenty of water, take Apple cider capsules and cayenne pepper caps in the morning with warm water with lemon on an empty stomach if you can manage it.. I have dropped 45 lbs. Another 15 lbs to go. So yeah, calories in and calories our does work with some tweeks etc.
The lower calories and the exercise helps. everything else? Probably negligible at best.
You’re a life saver Dr.Fung.
This PMOS menopausal woman lost 30 kilos in a year eating real food, mostly animal products to feel satiated.
The more I fasted the less my huger went up.
Slow but steady weight loss without loose skin.
All PMOS women know how hard it is to lose weight and keep it off.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart 🙏🏻
I fear hunger the most so I’m interested to hear that the more you fasted, the less hunger went up. How long did you fast for?
@cornchips704 18 hrs fast every day.
6 hrs eating window.
Last meal at 6 pm.
Sometimes I ate once a day( OMAD).
Your body will tap into stored fat during fasting because insulin is low.
You can’t burn stored fat when insulin is high.
Still fasting 18:6 every day although I have lost the weight and kept if off.
It helps me keep insulin low.
High insulin causes all the symptoms of PMOS.
@cornchips704 PMOS symptoms don’t get better by cutting calories.
They get better by eating less frequently.
Unfortunately there’s no cure for PMOS but you can manage it effectively by fasting.
Great explanation. No one has explained it this way. I never count calories anyway and I’m slim and trim from eating right, a conscious effort.
Dr Jason I bought your books about diabetes and about hunger and I stopped eating in the morning and I got down from 10,9 to 6,5 in 3 month following your advise. And my diabetic foot healed itself. Thank you very much.
It’s amazing that people starve to death with no calories in