Disagree. The root cause of the problem is that you can't apply to more willpower if you don't know how to actually fix it, and we don't.
There are currently 0 known methods to lose fat sustainably. Yea, you can starve yourself for a few weeks in a thousand ways, but none of them lead to lasting fat loss. Neither does any kind of exercise.
We need to find the true root cause, or this will not change.
Starving one’s self is not necessary. Not buying ice cream, cookies, chips, added sugar foods, and beer is necessary. Do not eat out, and do not let unhealthy foods into the house. And do not shop while hungry.
The root cause is all that unhealthy stuff gives everyone a dopamine hit they want.
Living in an environment that discourages walking and physical activity in exchange for sitting in cars also does not help.
I've done all that and more for 10 years and still gained 100lbs. Exercise didn't help, just made it worse. Yes, I've gained 20-30lbs (not muscle, I wish!) in a few months by exercising more. I've failed to lose fat doing 10 months of 4x per week intense exercise.
It just doesn't work.
Then I just lost almost 50lbs with some "crazy" diet experiment by eating as much heavy whipping cream as I feel like. No working out at all.
These mainstream theories of "just eat healthy" simply don't work for obese people.
You own failings are due to you lying to yourself about how much you eat.
Humans are not able to break the laws of thermodynamics. If you consume less than you burn, you will lose weight no matter what.
False. How much you eat is only indirectly related to energy partitioning, which decides if that food energy will be burned or stored. Trust me, I've tried more than you and am more obsessed with the topic :)
You probably decreased carbs and PUFAs significantly as part of "eating less."
> Humans are not able to break the laws of thermodynamics. If you consume less than you burn, you will lose weight no matter what.
Ah, the ol' accounting tautology :)
Of course you're right, but of course it has nothing to do with the topic. "Being in an energy deficit" does not necessarily come from "eating less" or "exercising more" and eating less or exercising more do not guarantee a deficit.
Turns out the human body is full of miraculous biochemistry, it's not an oven.
Ah, that explains it. You had a serious moral failing and you corrected it.
> It’s extremely obvious that doing something like running every day (if it leads to a calorie deficit) will make you lose fat.
But what if it doesn't because your body is a self-regulating dynamic system that changes energy partitioning and intake demands based on output?
If someone isn’t losing weight on a caloric deficit, they’re not tracking their food intake and exercise properly.
The reason is, of course, that your body can downregulate energy expenditure according to energy intake. I've observed my body downregulate to about 1,000kcal/day. No fat loss on a 1kkcal/day OMAD diet for 2 months straight. No exceptions.
If you get below the bare minimum (say 1kkcal/day for me) your body will start shutting down pretty essential systems like the immune system, you won't be able to concentrate, sleep will be messed up.
Yes, I've done all these experiments, obviously.
So by "science", you mean your n=1 "experiment" and not conservation of energy?
Conservation of energy is a whole other story and I don't see how it's related to fat loss.