How personal bias prevents fat loss

Actually the only thing that prevents fat loss is not having a caloric deficit.

To lose fat we need to consume fewer calories than expended, pretty simple.

The complicated part though, is our psychological behavior and physiology, which aren't as separate as we may think.  In fact, in order to think, neurons have to fire and different parts of our brain have to communicate with each other.  Our thoughts and feelings, and the intricacies of how our brain works, are all part of our physiology.

Overeating can stimulate more overeating.  Hormones that regulate appetite and satiety are altered by eating very large meals (800+ calories), and by consuming foods rich in sodium, fat, and sugar.

Knowing this, it becomes pretty important to avoid starting to overeat in the first place.

So if we know this, why do we overeat anyway?  Surely if we know we're going to alter our appetite regulation by overeating, we're smart enough to figure out we should avoid overeating.  Sort of. We are smart enough to figure this out, but we're also smart enough to outsmart ourselves by avoiding recognizing reality.. this allows us to keep overeating, and we overeat because of the perceived rewards it brings us.

There's a lot more happening on the psychological front though, and its this essential component of how we perceive reward, risk, harm, and how we justify our actions, that influences our decisions, often without us realizing how our decisions are shaped.

Confirmation bias, self serving bias, overconfidence bias, and belief polarization are key psychological traits that play a major role in keeping us in the habits of overeating and not exercising.

These are sometimes referred to as cognitive illusions. The complexities of our brain circuitry allow us to have biases towards jumping to conclusions that aren't real, but we end up behaving as though our biases are true.

An athlete might develop a practice of not changing their socks when they're in the semifinals, because this will bring them good luck and help them win.  We may call this a superstition, which it is, but this cognitive illusion is created by faulty reasoning, biases that impair normal judgment. There's definitely a duality here as these biases can co-exist alongside rational reasoning.  The same athlete may have the presence of mind to dismiss something like the existence of the tooth fairy.

Being reasonably rational at other times allows us to think, "I'm pretty rational", which obfuscates our irrational biases.  This means that while being irrational, we won't recognize we're being irrational for two reasons; we don't think our current thought is irrational, and further, we're generally not an irrational person so whatever we're thinking, is likely to be rational.

Of course, this is completely irrational.

Researchers have found that in essence, the lower part of our brain that has strong emotional reasoning, and the upper part of our brain that can produce fact comparison reasoning, have some conflicts.  The lower brain can win more often than we realize, because the lower brain can impair the activity of the upper brain.  The upper brain can win too, if we're self aware and use critical thinking. So don't despair, this isn't really as dire at it may be perceived.  This is all good news as understanding this is where the start of our turnaround is.

Be aware, a sign that you're experiencing any of these cognitive illusion traits, is denying that you may be experiencing them.. it's an interesting twist in how our thoughts and feelings become befuddled, and cloud our judgment.

Being self aware and using critical thinking can overcome these biases.

In confirmation bias, there is a tendency to look for or filter for evidence that supports our current belief, idea, or also in this case, a habit we may have.

When I was a smoker I would claim that since there are people over age 60 that smoke, that smoking can't be that bad for you, since it hasn't seemed to have harmed them.

I confirmed my bias belief that smoking wasn't really that bad for your health, which allowed me to stay in denial and justify smoking, which allowed me to keep getting my nicotine reward.

The thing is I had to invent a completely contrived and distorted view that circumvented reality in order to do so.  Confirmation bias, and each of these traits I'll review here, conspire to basically allow us to stick our heads in the sand or stick our fingers in our ears and sing, "la, la, la, la", whenever we see or hear of reasonable evidence against any of our sadly mistaken personal beliefs and biases.

Interestingly many smokers will know that smoking is bad for them, but also perceive the harms of smoking are more likely to occur in other smokers.

With overeating we may choose to believe we don't overeat, and point towards our zero calorie or low fat foods to confirm our bias.

Or we may choose to believe we have a slow metabolism which causes us to gain fat; it's not overeating, it's unusually slow metabolism.  We create these illusions, then act like they're real.

Studies show that most people who struggle with weight gain overestimate their physical activity by nearly 40%, and underestimate their caloric intake by about the same amount (30-45%).

Research also shows that the majority of the population feels that overeating affects other people, but not them.  However with 60% to 70% of the population being overweight, this observation can only be a biased one. 

When people believe they don't overeat or that overeating isn't that big of a deal for them, critical thinking is avoided and the person is unlikely to take action with eating less.

In self serving bias a person may choose to believe that their self determination allowed them to eat less and exercise more to lose weight (reality), but if they gain weight back it's because of chemicals in food, the environment, their metabolism mysteriously slowed down, etc (cognitive illusion).

In self serving bias we tend to attribute our successes to our own brilliance and our failures to somebody or something else.

In overconfidence bias we can get pretty full of ourselves due to successes we've had or perceived we've had, then over-confidently predict future success with no or little chance of failure.

A person can lose weight successfully, believe that they are immune to returning to chronic overeating because they've done so well with their new healthy living, but then be surprised that they did in fact return to overeating and gained weight again.  The sense of infallibility can prevent a person from otherwise being mindful of their choices, and return to overeating without regard for the possibility of reversing their success.

In business, a person might make a series of deals or stock investments that were tremendously successful, and develop overconfidence.  They might miss the fact that success had to do more with a general upwards market trend than their own abilities, and may dismiss the fact that the market is, or could start a downwards trend, resulting in less success.  This cognitive illusion has been shown to be the ruin of many fortunes.

Belief polarization is where we tend to feel affronted by challenges to our current beliefs, ignore new evidence that shows we might be wrong, and become evangelistic in our support of current beliefs.

A great example of this is the current trend of denying that calories in calories out is the only thing that causes fat gain and fat loss.  There are bizarre claims floating about in the media and this wonderful internet that some people can overeat by 1000 calories a day and never gain fat, while others can be on a caloric deficit and "exercise like crazy", and never lose fat.

This is just as fictitious and unreasonable as claiming the sun orbits the earth, but facts and evidence can have little influence because like these other traits I've mentioned here, belief polarization is a cognitive illusion. 

You could even say, delusion.

The truth does actually matter because only harm can come out of acting out on these false beliefs. When we're in the thick of it though, we tend to be unmoved by evidence and reason, no matter how obvious.

In belief polarization a person will feel compelled to ignore reasonable evidence, usually demonizing the reasonable evidence (this makes it easier to deny it).

The only way out is critical thinking and developing the ability to notice when we're falling into any of these natural human cognitive illusions.

Two main troubling values of these cognitive illusions are that, one; stepping back and allowing good judgment and critical thinking to prevail means accepting we're wrong, and we tend to not like that.. and two; it means letting go of a rewarding association we have with our current belief.

It makes us feel like we will be less rewarded, and we don't like that either.

In reality though we are more rewarded by accepting reality.  We're liberated from the illusion, and this allows us to take real actions that cause real outcomes.  We can also be liberated from the emotional and physical harm that an unhealthy lifestyle causes us.

Only our cognitive illusions allow us to act like we're not harmed by chronic overeating and lack of physical activity, or that we're not overeating when in fact we are.

I've written before about how overeating and high concentrations of fat, salt, and sugar have been shown in research to stimulate reward centres in our brains through manipulating dopamine and other neurotransmitters, and have written about other emotional influences on overeating.

Emotional states drive unhealthy decisions

Why we fall for diet and exercise myths

Once the reward seeking pathways in the brain are activated it becomes very difficult to dismiss our sense of reward with food.  If we're stressed we often turn to food because our brains have associated reward with food, and reward is better than feeling stressed, so we eat to temporarily feel good.  This does nothing to address the cause of stress though.. and down the spiral we go.

Our overeating behaviours and beliefs are driven by many complex variables, but most are fairly well understood. There is good news here.. it's not a bad thing to learn about all these things that influence our poor decisions.  Knowing helps us understand what's happening. There are things we can all do to change our biases and misconceptions so that we're no longer harmed by them.

Discover your own biases, their origins, and the things you think and do to maintain them, the things you choose to pay attention to, the people you choose to listen to because they tell you what you want to hear (like the guru with the latest fat loss claim), and those you dismiss because of the uncomfortable truth they represent.. (Um.. Maybe like me ;-)

Critical thinking and emotional self awareness can help liberate people from chronic unhealthy habits that the majority of the population suffers from.  Eating less and exercising more are what we're trying to get at, but we can be our own worst enemies in getting there with our thoughts and feelings.

Wiki link
Belief polarization 

Some Youtube links on these biases:

Studies:

Underestimating food portions Journal Appetite

People who thought they couldn't lose weight due to their metabolism actually had normal metabolism, but significantly under reported how much food they ate.  They gained weight and couldn't lose it because they ate too much, but their biases had them perceiving they exercised 50% more than they really did, and ate 53% less food than they convinced themselves they did.

New England Journal of Medicine study

How To Recover From Running A Marathon

Recovery starts before you start your race with proper planning.

Make sure you'll have access to the post race fluids and food you'll need immediately after finishing. 

Although there are many commercial post exercise products to consume, healthy whole foods work just fine. 

Be mindful of consuming too much fluid after the race. I assisted in a study on runners in the 2005 Manitoba Marathon and we found that some runners over consumed fluids after the race, which can cause hyponatremia; too much fluid intake dilutes sodium levels which in turn can cause the brain to swell, which could result in death (a nasty side effect).

About 500 to 750 ml of carb + electrolyte drink consumed within the first 10-30 minutes after finishing is enough. 

You're looking to match your post race weight with your pre-race weight as a guide to how much fluid replacement you need. It's ok to take a few hours to make up any difference. 

Trying to replace your fluids lost in race too quickly in large amounts (2 or more liters within 1-2 hous) is where the greatest risk of hyponatremia is. 

Overhydrating is less common than under hydrating; being mindful both risks is important. 

Another litre of fluids over the next three hours is a good idea especially after a hot marathon. 

A quick mild stretch after the run can help prevent tightening up, but isn't 100% necessary. 

It's best to head home, shower, and kick back on the couch as soon as possible. 

It's best to avoid alcohol after the run as studies show booze after physical activity impairs recovery. 

Studies show that the less fit you are entering the marathon the more damage to your body there is.  Part of managing your post marathon recovery is proper preparation. Many people suffer unnecessarily after a marathon by pushing too far beyond their current abilities or from getting caught up in the attraction of the marathon challenge when they're not ready for it. 

In general it takes around 3-4 weeks to recover physically and emotionally from a marathon. 

Physically, blood markers of muscle damage return to normal within 3 to 7 days post marathon, and the leg muscles ability to contract normally again occurs between 4 to 14 days after the long run. 

No running for the first 4-5 days is a good strategy for maximizing recovery. 

See a registered massage therapist for trigger point work or even for a relaxation massage.. Your body deserves it!

Non-weight bearing exercise like swimming, cycling, or roller blading is a good idea for your first couple times returning to regular cardio. 

There's no need for intensity yet, or going long. Don't worry about losing fitness from not getting back at it for a couple weeks.. You won't lose any fitness with a week or two off, and the recovery process will improve your fitness. 

Between somewhere around end of the first and fourth week post marathon, very gradually increase the duration of runs and think about intensity 3-4 weeks post. 

You won't need any more than 1-3 runs per week in the month following a marathon and many people do well with no running with 2-4 weeks after. 

Watch your resting heart rate every day after the marathon and definitely avoid training if resting heart rate is still elevated.  

There is variability between people for when it's best for them to start getting back to regular running. About half the population is more tolerant to more training, with the other half being less tolerant. These high and low volume responders need to be mindful of their individual needs and avoid feeling compelled to start running again just because somebody else already has. 

Avoid peer pressure to push too soon. 

Take the time you need get back to normal and you'll be back to enjoying running healthy again. 

Calorie denial; & Why There Is Only One Cause For Fat Gain

Climate change denial seems to be a newsy thing of late. I've got a new one; Calorie denial.

Have you heard that poor sleep causes weight gain?  It can't. Poor sleep can't magically make molecules of fat appear out of nowhere and be deposited in our fat rolls.

How about the idea that since people gain weight back after initial weight loss, that weight loss doesn't work?  Wrong again.  The weight loss worked, then the person returned to overeating and gain the weight (fat) back.

These ideas are from those who are in "calorie denial", people who claim that the standard "calories in, calories out" formula for controlling weight doesn't work.  Usually these are otherwise reasonable people, but for reasons I'll explain, can't deal with the reality that overeating is what causes fat gain.

I've heard obesity researchers, dieticians, and doctors say these ridiculous things.  What is wrong with these folks?

They're in denial. Denial that overeating is the singular and only possible cause of gaining extra body fat.

There are many things that drive people to overeat, but in the end, only excess consumed food that isn't used as energy will be deposited as fat in our fat cells.  If we don't eat too much, we don't (and can't) gain body fat.

Stay with me for a couple paragraphs as I give an example of how susceptible we are to ignoring facts, and instead accepting an alternate, muddled perception of reality..

Did you know that the sun has never "risen" or "set", or ever travelled across the sky; and that it never will?  Most of us know this, but shockingly about 25% of Americans believe the sun orbits the earth.

"Sunrise" is a traditional term.  It's left over from a time when we didn't know what we were looking at and named what we saw through our limited knowledge and ability to observe.

In reality the sun is stationary relative to us; we're the ones who are moving.  We're on the surface of a rotating planet and our position moves in and out of the path of light streaming from the star we orbit.

From our perspective it sure looks like the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and for practical purposes, that's how we refer to the occurrence.

Who get's up in the morning and thinks, "Ahh.. another day of rotating through the suns light".    That's what's really happening, but we don't think about it that way.  We stick with our tradition, which is fine as long as we don't take it literally.  You can bet the folks at NASA depend on the factual understanding of our solar system when planning space exploration.  Just like we should depend on actual facts when making decisions about our diet and exercise.

It's easy for us to adopt urban myths and traditionalisms, but it's also easy for us to be curious and challenge those myths and find evidence supported facts.

 When we're talking about weight loss, we're talking about fat loss.  It isn't that we're talking about losing lean muscle mass, or organ mass, or fluids, or bones, when we're talking about "weight loss" in the popular vernacular.

Even the word "fat" seems to be too much for us to deal with.

It wouldn't matter if one billion people claimed caloric intake isn't that important.  All we would have is one billion people making the same mistake.  Just like all those folks out there who are convinced the earth is flat; they all make the same error and find comfort with supporting each others shared misunderstanding.

We understand fat loss and gain as logically as we understand how the earth is spinning.  There are explainable, measurable, and confirmable facts regarding fat loss and gain, but the current trend is to stick our heads in the sand and ignore what we know about it.

We don't want to deal with our overeating because facing that can feel awkward or just plain bad.

Studies show that most people overestimate how much energy they burn off by 40% to 50%, and underestimate how many calories they eat also by about 40% to 50%.  There are also studies that show than when we're overweight we often don't perceive that we are, or that we need to lose weight.

Being in denial of being overweight or of overeating allows us to continue overeating. Why?  What's so important about overeating?  It's rewarding, that's why.  Even if you don't look at it that way, your brain definitely does.

I've heard the reverence in the calorie deniers voices; those who are calorie deniers sound convinced,  and they're pretty quick to disregard decades of peer reviewed journal research in their sorted stories.

Many don't want to face the reality that overeating is the singular cause of fat gain.  Instead of paying attention to what is relevant and real, there are endless reincarnations of magic weight loss promises, and of our ability to deny we're overweight because we eat too much.  That's how gripping habitual overeating can become.. contrived rationalizations are used to continue justifying overeating, even by some of our most educated experts in health and fitness.

For those who aren't experts, but are suffering from the woes of chronic overeating issues, it's all too easy to lend an ear to the rhetoric of the calorie denial pushers, and join their cause.  Denial loves company because there is strength in numbers. In the end the suffering continues because the real issue is.. denied.

I'll cover a few of the more popular calorie denial idea's out there..

Poor sleep causes fat gain.

Poor sleep doesn't cause molecules of fat to magically appear in our fat cells. Fat in our fat cells comes from somewhere, it isn't magic, and it isn't unexplainable.  The fat comes from food that we didn't use as energy (we ate too much).  Nobody wakes up weighing more than when they went to bed after a night of poor sleep.

It's fairly common now for a person afflicted with calorie denial to suggest that since "research has shown that poor sleep can cause weight gain, that we need to move past looking at calories in and out and pay attention to more complex causes of fat gain".

In reality the research doesn't show poor sleep quality causes weight gain.  That's a misinterpretation. A convenient leaving out of the actual study conclusions that show how the effects of poor sleep can lead to overeating, which causes weight gain.

Re-wording study conclusions to agree with personal bias is an obvious act of calorie denial.

Poor sleep can alter appetite regulating hormones and also reduce cognition. The reduced cognition causes us to be more susceptible to impulsive decisions to choose crappy foods over healthy foods, and the upset appetite regulation causes us to feel more hungry.

If you had poor sleep, but didn't overeat, you would not gain fat.

They don't talk about how poor sleep can lead to overeating, because they don't want to acknowledge that overeating is the singular cause of fat gain.  They have something else to sell; denial.

The strategy here would be to acknowledge that poor sleep can influence us to overeat, and that overeating makes us fat.  It's a good idea to think of healthy sleep as an important part of overall healthy living.  It's not a good idea to believe that poor sleep causes weight gain and then ignore the reality of overeating.

Weight loss doesn't work because people gain the weight back.

Really?  Moron alert! If someone loses weight.. uh.. didn't they loose weight?

The typical malfeasance of "experts" who claim these nuggets of ignorance bury themselves under layers of loony-bin reasoning claiming that weight loss plans that include diet and exercise to lose weight are ultimately a red herring, because these plans "fail" 95% of the time with people gaining back all the fat they lost.

It's pretty irritating to hear experts pass on this misinformation to people who need help.

What do the 5% of people who don't gain the weight back do?  They don't return to overeating, that's why they don't regain the fat they lost.

Diet and exercise don't fail.  It's people that fail to continue with healthy diet and exercise.

Diet and exercise that results in a caloric deficit works 100% of the time.  It can't fail.  That's why people lose fat when they do it.

Claiming otherwise is incredulous.

People give up on maintaining healthy choices and return to how they ate before; which was overeating.

If you don't return to previous overeating habits, then weight gain won't occur.

We don't like the idea of personal failure though.  How about simply accepting this?  What's wrong with accepting failure?  "Ok, I get what happened here, I went back to overeating, that's why I'm gaining the fat back."  Accept the failure for what it is, minus the abhorrent negative self judgment, and return to making healthy choices cognizant of the reality that failure is a possible outcome that we have to be mindful of and avoid.

It can feel embarrassing to contend with the fact that we gave up on successful weight loss and returned to overeating.  People feel like failures.  This is emotionally painful.  This can add to the spiral back to overeating as food is often used to sooth hurting emotions.

Instead of going into denial, which allows for a continuance of overeating, it's better to be mindful of how it is natural to fail, and that one can recover from failure by returning to healthy habits again.

Think about how good it felt to lose weight and that those good feelings are good reasons to continue to make healthy choices.  "Healthy" isn't a bad word.

That's what the denial is about.   Denial is about avoiding an uncomfortable truth.  The uncomfortable truth that despite successful weight loss, most people will return to previous overeating habits and gain weight back.  We know why this happens.  Healthy habits are not perceived as rewarding enough.  Unhealthy habits are perceived as more rewarding.

When on the weight loss plan many will go through the actions of eating an apple instead of a donut, but don't go through the mental and emotional work to overcome why we really wish we could be eating the donut.

We can only take so much of this and eventually all the social, previous habits, and personal influences to overeat overcome the initial willpower to choose the apple, and back to the donut we go.

Yes, I've been there, I know what it's like.

Many people face a daily struggle with healthy choices because such choices feel like a restriction and the unhealthy choices feel more liberating.  In reality the opposite is true.  This article is all about recognizing how we can fail to accept fact and reason.

Denial is part of our human fallibility.

When fat is gained back after initial success it is because the person fails to continue with the healthy choices that caused healthy weight loss.

Calories in, calories out.

So why do people return to living in a way that causes fat gain, especially after being so successful with a way of living that provided successful and healthy fat loss?

There are many reasons.  Culturally we love to overeat.  Overeating is very near and dear to our hearts.  If we don't overeat often we feel like we're being denied one of the most important tenets of happiness.  We love to encourage our friends and family to overeat, and we feel good when we're encouraged to go back for seconds, or to eat a 500-1000 calorie dessert after eating a 2000 calorie meal.

We offer gifts of overeating.  Most of our holidays and special occasions are celebrated with eating too much, and we scoff at the idea of eating healthy during any of these occasions.   An all you can eat buffet is perceived as a "deal" that is willfully celebrated rather than seen for what it really is; gorging on a couple thousand calories that we don't need and furthering the misconception that overeating is somehow a sought after rewarding experience.. In reality behaving like this is at the crux of our obesity epidemic.

Most restaurants have more calorie bomb meals than light meals to choose from, and when most people go out to eat it is with the intention to eat a lot and get enjoyment from eating a lot. We've socially engineered ourselves into a culture that supports overeating from all angles, but we don't make the connection between our reverence for overeating and the fat gain it causes.. doing so would mean we would have to be happy with eating less, and we don't want to do that because we don't believe we can be happy with eating less.. and thus the calorie denial.

What about the "just one time" excuse?  Well, if someone did overeat just one time, and ate less afterwords to balance out the overeating, then they would not gain fat, but that's not what we're talking about, is it?  No, we're talking about chronic overeating that causes a chronic battle with weight gain.  Nobody who is struggling with chronic weight gain should try to convince themselves that they only overeat occasionally or that occasional big chow-downs are not part of why they experience fat gain - this would be denial.

We need to remain aware that food is often used to sooth our hurting emotional state, to cope with stress.

Eating too much also causes us to become conditioned to eating too much.  Chronic overeating has been shown to alter appetite regulation influencing us to need to eat more to feel satisfied and to feel more hungry more often.

Some calorie dense foods provoke a heightened reward stimulis in our brains that results in us wanting to revisit the reward often.

Each of these things are really various ways for us to eat more.  Eat, eat, eat.

Overeating is the singular cause of excess fat gain, but there are multiple things that influence us to continue to overeat or to return to overeating.

Fat has mass.  We can measure it.  Fat molecules in our "fat rolls" are simply excess molecules of food that we ate, but didn't use as energy.  To lose this excess storage we have to eat fewer calories than we burn off.  That's what stored fat is; food.  The only way to reduce fat stores is to place a demand on using the fat stores.  This is what happens when we eat fewer calories than expend, we tap into our fat reserves to make up for what we didn't eat.

To be permanently successful with fat loss and maintaing a healthy body composition, we need to permanently fall in love with making healthy choices, and break off the poisonous relationship we have with rewarding ourselves (which is actually insidiously harming ourselves) through overeating.

For those who aren't successful with a reduced calorie diet and exercise, bariatric surgery may be the only way to lose fat.

Bariatric surgery is all about eating less. That's what causes fat loss after the procedure. It's all about consuming fewer calories than expended; that is the primary purpose of bariatric surgery.

Following a surgical procedure that reduces the physical capacity to consume foods down to very small amounts, a patient will be placed on a medically supervised caloric deficit diet and exercise plan, as well as dietary supplements (the surgery can alter the guts ability to absorb nutrients so a specific supplement plan is prescribed).

In fact, before surgery is commenced successful bariatric surgery candidates will start a calorie reduced diet and exercise program to lose weight prior to surgery to reduce some of the risks of the surgery as well as begin the process of adapting to eating less.  

That's right, weight loss after bariatric surgery comes from consuming fewer calories than are expended.  The surgery does not cause fat loss.  The surgery alters the size of the stomach which reduces the amount of food a person can eat, which reduces the caloric intake.  Calories in, calories out. Sometimes some fat is surgically removed as well as having bariatric surgery, but further post surgery fat loss, and maintaining the reduced body fat, is accomplished through eating less because ones gut has been surgically made smaller, so not as much food can fit.  You have to eat smaller meals because larger meals no longer fit in your stomach after the surgery.

Bariatric surgery is a complex procedure with risks that not everyone is a candidate for.  Thorough medical consultation is required.

Sugar causes fat gain.

Not true.  If one were to eat only ice cream and donuts, but consume fewer calories than expended, fat loss would occur.  This would be a crappy diet devoid of essential vitamins and minerals as well as proper amounts of protein, carbs, and fat. Plus it would of course do nothing to help a person learn what healthy choices are all about, but it would cause fat loss, so long as calories in were fewer than calories out.  It would also be difficult to sustain a caloric deficit on such a diet as these foods light up reward centres in the brain like no other foods can, causing a person to really, really want to eat more.

Sugar can't cause fat gain.  Neither can fat, or protein.  However, sugar does taste really good and feels very rewarding to munch on.  That causes, you guessed it, consuming more calories.  More calories in than out equals fat gain.

Your brain needs 500 calories per day from carbohydrates (sugar).  Your muscles are efficient metabolic machines that are very good at using sugar as fuel.  One of the adaptations to exercise is the bodies increased efficiency at using sugar as a fuel source. From storing more sugar in the liver and muscles, and using sugar more efficiently in the muscles, it's in our DNA to use sugar as fuel, and to get better at using sugar as a fuel.

Our bodies are supposed to eat and use sugar.  Sugar (carbohydrates) are not a problem.  Over-consuming sugars is a problem.

It's factual to say that too much refined sugar in the diet is a bad idea.  It's factual to say that consuming foods with too much added sugar alters appetite causing a person eat more.

It isn't factual to say that sugar, and not overeating, causes weight gain.

In the end, no matter what path a person takes to arrive at putting more food in their mouths and swallowing it, overeating is the only way to gain body fat.   Fat loss only occurs with a calorie deficit.  Fat gain only occurs with a calorie surplus.  We have to move away from feeling offended when we are told or we recognize we eat too much; we need to accept it without judgment, then begin to change our behavior and our feelings about food.  Expressing feeling offended is just more denial.  We create a diversion of feeling offended in order to ignore our overeating.

This is an interesting irony.  We feel offended if it's suggested we eat too much, yet every day we love, love, love to overeat and encourage others to overeat, and accept invitations to overeat like it's some kind of glorious occasion.  Interesting how denial allows us to compartmentalize conflicting concepts in our heads.

What needs to be understood and addressed is that there are many influences that result in a person overeating, and that most often there are more than one of these influences present at the same time.

It's wrong to say that calories in, calories out is an oversimplification.  This moves people away from recognizing they eat too much, and results in people avoiding eating less, because they believe that calories are not really something to be concerned about.  This will only harm, and can't ever help.  It allows for the continued accommodations to overeating, the continued use of chronic overeating to celebrate pretty much anything.  Calorie denial is about maintaining uninterrupted access to the reward of overeating, and avoiding feeling ashamed about the weight we gained through eating too much.

There is no point in remaining or becoming aloof to, misguided in, and supporting the denial of overeating.

With fat gain, all roads lead to overeating; sleep, social, food composition, compulsiveness, habituation, and psychological variables congregate to result in chronic overeating.

To stop overeating, a person has to be able to overcome each of the influences that cause them to choose to overeat.  That's the hard part, but it can be done.

Calories in, calories out, is not an oversimplification, it's a reality check for how simple the ultimate cause of fat gain and loss really is.

Want to know where fat goes when you lose it?  Click here