>At the end of the day, everything boils down to "eat fewer calories than you expend".
Sure, if you stop eating you will lose some weight, but, you can die of starvation while obese. In animal studies, that Taubes cites in one of his books, it is possible to reduce calories and the animals won't lose weight and it is also possible to add a lot of extra calories and not become obese.
Calories have something to do with it because they are one part of the equation. Calories in does equal calories out. Calories In = Calories Stored + Calories Expended. But, the mistake is in thinking that the law of thermodynamics means that the type of calories in doesn't impact the ratio of calories stored/expended -- the variables are not independent. The content of the food you eat impacts: your hunger, your energy level, fat storage rates, and your metabolic rate, all of which mean that attempting to cut or add calories may not have the expected impact depending on what the food is.
> Sure, if you stop eating you will lose some weight, but, you can die of starvation while obese.
This guy[1] went for over a year on vitamins and water. He didn't die, and he did drop a lot of weight. Actually, "prolonged fasting in this patient had no ill-effects." Though it's probably one of those things you really shouldn't try at home.
Taubes gives the example of rats bred or genetically modified to be fat - if you starve them, the body eats the heart and the brain before it gives up on the fat - the animal can starve to death while still fat. Getting fat changes you - a person who was 400 lbs and diets down to 200 has a very different metabolism than a person who has always been 200 lbs. It's possible that something we've been doing is making fat more prone to stick around than it was in times past.
The hypothesis that the problem is too many carbs is plausible but not proven and the full truth is certainly going to be more complex.
Starvation guy is an interesting data point in any cace.
Sure, if you stop eating you will lose some weight, but, you can die of starvation while obese. In animal studies, that Taubes cites in one of his books, it is possible to reduce calories and the animals won't lose weight and it is also possible to add a lot of extra calories and not become obese.
Calories have something to do with it because they are one part of the equation. Calories in does equal calories out. Calories In = Calories Stored + Calories Expended. But, the mistake is in thinking that the law of thermodynamics means that the type of calories in doesn't impact the ratio of calories stored/expended -- the variables are not independent. The content of the food you eat impacts: your hunger, your energy level, fat storage rates, and your metabolic rate, all of which mean that attempting to cut or add calories may not have the expected impact depending on what the food is.