Why “Calories in, Calories out” is Broken

We’ve been told for decades to eat less and move more. This is the caloric deficit paradigm, and I’d argue it’s not the best way to lose weight. Although it does work, it requires the tedious task of counting calories and leads to a lot of hunger. If our bodies were as basic as an automobile, it would make some sense. But we are much more complicated than a car. The good news is there is a better way that doesn’t require calorie counting. 

Here’s the problem: we’ve been told to eat a diet rich in complex carbohydrates 6 times a day. Then we have to work out to a point where we’ve burned more than we’ve consumed. Well if you’ve had starches and carbs 6 times a day, you are constantly spiking your insulin levels. Insulin removes glucose (carbs) from your bloodstream. So every time you eat a carb rich diet, your pancreas floods the body with insulin. And I’m talking not only about rice and pasta, but also fruits and vegetables. This potent hormone has many roles, and one of them is to build. It can build muscle tissue, fatty acids in the liver, and it builds adipocytes, or fat cells. So when insulin is secreted, the body's ability to burn fat is suppressed. 

Calories in, calories out can work, but the real reason it is broken is that it places to blame on the individual. It requires a lot of exercise, and being in a near constant state of hunger. Hunger is one of our prime drivers, and unless you have extreme will power, hunger will win. So the person that has difficulty losing weight with this paradigm feels guilty that they can’t control their very normal instinct for hunger. 

Luckily, our body can utilize two fuel sources; carbs and fats. If we stop spiking our insulin levels, it allows for fats to be burned. You can do this with an animal-based diet, or by intermittently fasting. Fasting triggers ketosis which is the process of burning fats. Additionally, it encourages our body to be metabolically flexible as I explain in this article. If you try one of these methods, you will lose weight. If you plateau and still want to lose more weight, then you can look at your calories to see if there is a surplus. The best part of this strategy is that you rarely go hungry as our fat storages are far greater than our carb storages. 

I want to be clear that I do not think that carbs are the devil, but there are many benefits to allowing your body to occasionally burn fats rather than carbs. Additionally, insulin resistance is at epidemic levels, and part of the reason for this is that we continue to pump carbs into our bodies. 

The Key to Improving Your Metabolism

Metabolic dysfunction is rampant in the United States. The majority of Americans have an underlying metabolic dysfunction. Obesity is usually blamed for many of the problems that Americans face such as stroke and heart attack, but obesity is just one of many symptoms of a greater problem. That problem is metabolic dysfunction.

To understand metabolic dysfunction and how to correct it, we first have to understand exactly what metabolism is. Metabolism is the way the body converts food into energy. There are 3 macronutrients that we consume; proteins, fats, and carbs. The body converts mostly fats and carbs for energy. Protein is generally used to build parts of the body and is not relevant for the rest of this blog post. The process of converting carbs into energy is called glycolysis, and the process of converting fats into energy is called ketosis. The ability of the body to readily take energy from both sources is called “metabolic flexibility”.

When we consume a diet that is primarily carbs, as we’ve been told to do for so many decades, our bodies learn to rely on glucose for energy. Then it becomes difficult to burn fats for energy. This is termed “metabolic inflexibility”. This becomes problematic for a number of reasons. First off, the body is only able to carry a small tank of carbs on the body. It gets stored in the liver and in muscle, and can circulate in the bloodstream. Roughly 2000 calories can be stored in this way. Once we use that up, we will get hungry, or rather hangry as we are low on energy. Especially if your body has not adapted to going into ketosis, or fat burning. We carry much more fat on the body, even if you are slim, than we do carbs.

When you eat a carb heavy meal, your pancreas secretes insulin. Insulin ushers the circulating glucose from the bloodstream into the liver and muscle tissue. If you have lived a life of constant carb consumption, and are spiking your insulin levels continually, you run the risk of becoming insulin resistant. This leads to type 2 diabetes. 

Insulin is a potent hormone that has many functions. One of its functions is to dictate which fuel source is being consumed for energy. When insulin is secreted, carbs are being used. When insulin is lower, fats can be utilized. So the key to burning fats is to keep insulin levels low. 

How do we do that? Prevent insulin spikes by eating a low or zero carb diet. Even if it's an intermittent strategy, most people will benefit because the majority of Americans are never in ketosis. In fact, the main reason people seem to do well with intermittent fasting is that they are giving their bodies a chance to use up their glucose, and trigger ketosis. If you have difficulty because you are getting hangry, you can just try avoiding foods that are high on glycemic load to start, and then eventually progress to a zero carb diet. The key is to avoid insulin spikes, to allow for fat burning with the end goal of metabolic flexibility. 

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