Sure #1 is what it all comes down to, but how much are you in control of the calories that you burn? You can find scientific studies as far back as the Minnesot

Sure #1 is what it all comes down to, but how much are you in control of the calories that you burn? You can find scientific studies as far back as the Minnesota Starvation Experiment that shows that your body tries to maintain homeostasis when calories are reduced via regular caloric restriction, or with extreme overfeeding. Weight, like much of the bodies processes is a strictly hormonally regulated, the the biochemistry/process of fat burning is actually pretty well understood. Oxidation of fatty acids competes w/ glucose (which is generally preferred), known as the glucose-fatty acid, or Randall cycle (doi: 10.1007/s10545-010-9061-2, PMC2950079). The easiest way to increase FAO is therefore to reduce availability of glucose (don't eat carbs, or simply don't eat). This also lowers insulin levels, which independently inhibits lipolysis. (doi: 10.2337/db08-0281) What's also interesting is that as you fast, your ghrelin levels (hunger hormone) goes down (as does insulin, cortisol spikes) - doi: 10.1210/jc.2004-0604 I know everyone's an expert here on HN and I'm glad you were able to lose some weight, but #2 has no scientific or statistical basis, and #3 is prima facie laughable and its hard to imagine any animal surviving if that were the case. (Just stick to tasty natural, minimally processed, real food and you'll be fine).