3 ms·

The conclusion of this article seems dubious to me. "Losing sleep may increase appetite and, as a result, weight." If you lose sleep you are, by definition, a

The conclusion of this article seems dubious to me. "Losing sleep may increase appetite and, as a result, weight." If you lose sleep you are, by definition, awake more which, it would seem to me, would cause your body to require more energy for functioning. Logically it would ask for this energy by stimulating appetite. Eating more is not strictly correlated with weight gain, you have to look at the types of calories being consumed.

nostrademons 17y ago
Calories in - calories out is a remarkable good predictor of weight gain, though. I have a coworker who recently wanted to lose 15 lbs. so she could fit into her wedding dress. She did up this spreadsheet with goal weight, predicted weight, and actual weight over the several weeks leading up to her wedding. The three curves matched up exactly, down to the pound. We were teasing her a little about just how scientific she'd made the process, and she said that it really came down to calories in - calories out. Once you know your body's basic metabolic rate over typical exercise conditions, every X calories above that will result in gaining one pound, while every X calories below that will result in losing one pound. The reason most diets fail isn't that the formula doesn't work, it's that most people don't have the willpower and anal-retentiveness to count calories like that.
- latortuga 17y ago
  You don't give human metabolism enough credit, as though you don't think that our bodies respond to different amounts of energy intake/usage. The main problem with the calories in = calories out myth is that they are assumed to be independent variables when they are self-evidently not. When you work out more, your body demands more energy by stimulating appetite. When you eat less than your body needs, you get cold and hungry. The other problem is that it overlooks the role of insulin in weight gain. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage, this has been known for 50 years or more. Eating foods that stimulate insulin secretion are going to cause you to put on pounds - that's the job of insulin! If every type of calorie we consume contributes the exact same effect on the body, why do marathoners (or any other athelete for that matter) carb-load before challenges? Why not fat-load because everyone knows that fat has twice as many calories per gram? My main point is that not all types of calories cause the same types of effects. Cutting calories below expenditures does not lead to long term weight loss, it leads to hunger.

nostrademons 17y ago

Calories in - calories out is a remarkable good predictor of weight gain, though. I have a coworker who recently wanted to lose 15 lbs. so she could fit into her wedding dress. She did up this spreadsheet with goal weight, predicted weight, and actual weight over the several weeks leading up to her wedding. The three curves matched up exactly, down to the pound. We were teasing her a little about just how scientific she'd made the process, and she said that it really came down to calories in - calories out. Once you know your body's basic metabolic rate over typical exercise conditions, every X calories above that will result in gaining one pound, while every X calories below that will result in losing one pound. The reason most diets fail isn't that the formula doesn't work, it's that most people don't have the willpower and anal-retentiveness to count calories like that.

latortuga 17y ago
You don't give human metabolism enough credit, as though you don't think that our bodies respond to different amounts of energy intake/usage. The main problem with the calories in = calories out myth is that they are assumed to be independent variables when they are self-evidently not. When you work out more, your body demands more energy by stimulating appetite. When you eat less than your body needs, you get cold and hungry. The other problem is that it overlooks the role of insulin in weight gain. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage, this has been known for 50 years or more. Eating foods that stimulate insulin secretion are going to cause you to put on pounds - that's the job of insulin! If every type of calorie we consume contributes the exact same effect on the body, why do marathoners (or any other athelete for that matter) carb-load before challenges? Why not fat-load because everyone knows that fat has twice as many calories per gram? My main point is that not all types of calories cause the same types of effects. Cutting calories below expenditures does not lead to long term weight loss, it leads to hunger.