Eat Less Calories to Lose Weight

The Claim: The only scientifically repeatable and proven way to lose body fat is to eat less calories than you burn

Answer: FACT

Eating less calories than you burn is the only proven way to lose bodyfat. It does not matter when you eat those calories, or what kind of calories they are, as long as you’re in a deficit you will lose body fat and bodyweight.

This is consistent with all of the known scientific literature in this field and with the laws of physics and thermodynamics.

There is absolutely no other way this can work. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying to you on purpose, or clueless enough that they don’t realize they are lying to you. In either case you should avoid listening to them because they’re out to lunch.

To review, here is a brief list of all the things that absolutely DON’T matter for weight loss:

1. Meal timing
2. # of meals per day
3. Nutrient ratios in each meal (protein, carb, fat ratios)
4. Blood type (probably the most ridiculous of all, if you believe this one you need to get your head checked to be sure your brain hasn’t fallen out)
5. Raw food, veggie, vegan whatever (cook your food or don’t cook it, eat meat or don’t eat meat, none of it matters for weight loss)
6. Saturated fat, trans fats, omega 6 fats or whatever fat you like to hate
7. Eating for the supposed purpose of manipulating hormone levels

I’m sure there are other strategies that I’ve missed, so please feel free to enlighten me on the magic weight loss bullets that I don’t have loaded in my fat blasting revolver! (if you can’t tell…I’m being sarcastic here and poking fun at typical weight loss marketing speak)

So if you’ve ever lost a significant amount of bodyfat and bodyweight you already know that none of this stuff matters, if you’ve never managed to lose weight you’ve got no grounds for making any argument…because, well you just don’t know.

If you want to lose weight, the only way to do it is to keep it simple. I suggest Eat Stop Eat as the best way to do this, but don’t take my word for it, test it out for yourself.

John

Posted by johnbarban in Fat Loss, Weight Loss
Tags: Weight Loss |24 Comments

24 Responses to “Eat Less Calories to Lose Weight”

  1. Jordan Says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 12:29 pm

    I’m kinda glad that we can’t “manipulate” our hormones through diet. Wouldn’t we be accidentally manipulating our hormones all the time? Even someone who eats “clean” would be doing it, too, I imagine. Every food is different, after all. It’s a good thing the human body, and its hormones, aren’t so fragile.

    Raw food, blech. That would not be fun.

    Blood type… LOL. That is the only response required. :-)

  2. johnbarban Says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    No kidding,

    So does that mean all the people who don’t have a weight loss problem just accidentally eat in a way that keeps all their hormone levels in optimum fat burning states (or whatever the bs is that these people talk about) OR is it more realistic that these people simply don’t eat enough food to put on weight?! The second conclusion is much more feasible than the first (and it is also correct)

    JB

  3. Anthony Ramos Says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 1:43 pm

    I’m seeing that people think meal timing is the magic bullet. I just found it MUCH easier to overeat when I was eating 6 times per day.

  4. johnbarban Says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    Anthony,

    That is also what I’ve found. If you force yourself to eat 5-6 times per day, then you’ve just created 5-6 opportunities to overeat.

    JB

  5. hulaggrl Says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    What about the warrior diet that says eating one big meal a day is good?

  6. johnbarban Says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 5:07 pm

    Hulaggrl,

    You can eat 1 meal per day if you like, or 7. Neither style is superior to the other in terms of weight loss (as long as it is less calories than you burn in a day).

    The one that you are most happy with is the one that is best for you.

    John

  7. Darrensmooth Says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 10:34 pm

    Hey John,

    this is not related to this post, but I have a question about the teleseminar on the 24th. You said that there is no anabolism (or not as much as we believe) in food, this I just dont understand, probably because its the main message from bodybuilders that if you arent huge its got to be your lack of food. Also you mentioned that the body could use excess calories (existing body fat) to build muscle, so in that case how much would you eat while trying to put on some muscle? Maintenance level calories or ?

  8. Aditya Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 1:23 am

    This line should be on a Weight Loss Bible or something. Everything revolves around it.

    I have been eating well below my BMR over a period of time for the last one year or so. I follow Intermittent Fasting either through Eat Stop Eat/Warrior Diet or whatever, in a way that suits me the best. And I eat ANYTHING. When I say ANYTHING, I am not specific about how the food is cooked/fried/glazed/baked/anything. What I look for is, I eat lesser amount of calories over a period of week than my sum total of BMR for that week. That would mean I do undereating and overeating through the week. I over estimate the calorie value in a food. And this means I would count the calorie count in a beer to be 250 instead of the usual 180 which is thrown around by the calorie counting sites. Overestimating helps and you will know it when you apply it.

    It is really very annoying when people around me are on a ‘DIET’ or say ‘HEALTHY FOODS’. There is this bunch of people around me, who want to be lean but are not and they eat 6 to 7 meals a day and come up with liners like, ‘Dude I am on a diet, I am not eating that pizza, ok I will have a bite’. I mean like what the ****, come on enjoy the food. They would never understand my point of staying lean even while enjoying food.

    I have been lean for a while and probably will be lean forever. And I get comments like, ‘Dude dont compare our eating methods to yours, you have an incredibly high metabolism’. I am sure I dont have that great a metabolism but all I do is fast once in a while. These same bunch of people would run for like miles together all because they have seen me do it (I was an athlete and I never did it to lose weight lol). Its ridiculous how they stay in their brain drained world.

    All in all, the ONLY thing that one needs to know is, Eat Lesser Calories than You normally Burn. Thats all is required to get a Six Pack, Have a Low BFL or Being Lean. Everything else related to ‘Diets’, ‘Health Foods’, Meal Frequeny is pure bs.

  9. joakim Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 3:17 am

    @Aditya :

    All you have said is exactly what I have been going through the last 6 months.

    I did the 6 meals thing, did the warrior thing, did the low carb thing, heck I even did the high carb thing ( yes there is a high carb diet too ).

    I got to 12-13% BF pretty easily but I stuck. It just didn’t work and I couldn’t figure out why. I did my workouts, played football etc

    Then one day I said to myself “dude you are probably eating too much”.

    I started eating at BMR, small changes but it was encouraging to see myself change after a plateau. Now after a month at 300-400 kcal below BMR I am at peak condition and getting better every day.

    What really helps is counting calories in a weekly fashion cause life happens and you can’t just be so strict with yourself on a daily basis.Life is supposed to be enjoyed.

    So one day can be a 0 kcal day but another one can be a 3000 kcal day.That’s the way I like it and it really works.

    Next month I will do a ice cream only diet ( I’ll keep it for one week cause I don’t think I can last longer) to prove to a friend of mine that you can lose weight on ice cream only.I haven’t done it before but I strongly believe it works, it’s calories in, calories out after all.

  10. Fable Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 3:22 am

    I completely agree with this. However, I do find it a lot simpler not to overeat when I stay away from stuff like white sugar, pizza, bread, white rice etc. I am not saying that there is any physiological reason for this, but to me this seems to make the difference between stuffing my face and eating until I am satisfied. Maybe it’s merely the fact that switching up my eating habits a bit and eating food that tastes a lot makes me more aware of what I eat, I enjoy every bit more and hence don’t feel like I need to eat as much.

    So although I completely agree with the fact that calorie deficit equals weight loss, I also know that for me, it’s a hell of a lot easier to create that deficit if I minimize the intake of certain types of “trigger foods”.

  11. Aditya Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 7:01 am

    @joakim

    Your Ice Cream only Diet seems tempting. I am now planning on doing that too haha, just to show them people what its all about. Ok here I go, I start it this Monday. I will survive only on Ice Cream for One Whole Week and still lose weight. Yup, there will be the occasional fasts through the week. I am planning on doing it Warrior Diet style, like fast through the day and then have a bunch load of ice cream at night for dinner, infront of them friends haha! No one can eat more Ice Cream than 1500 calories at one go. I probably would be having a 1000 Calories one every night for 7 days at a stretch! Way to go!

  12. johnbarban Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 11:38 am

    Darren,

    I can’t find any scientific reason to eat any more than maintenance. The error in thinking is the belief that you can gain more muscle than is realistically possible.

    JB

  13. johnbarban Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 11:41 am

    Aditya,

    Great comments, hopefully someone will read this and follow your lead.

    JB

  14. Jordan Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 12:46 pm

    Ice Cream Diet… hmm, I would need some fiber to go along with all that ice cream! lol. 1500 calories in one sitting… honestly, once upon a time I could have! I could polish off a tub of ice cream in two days. Seriously. But I get full much more quickly nowadays, so I don’t know if I could do it anymore. Hopefully I’ll never find out! :-)

    But I do make a point of eating at least one or two desserts a day, partly because I want to, and partly to prove the same point that you guys are making: that it’s okay to eat any type of food as long as one creates a caloric deficit. Right now I have a box of Hostess cupcakes sitting in my cabinet. Don’t laugh! lol. I’ve only had one though. And I had one Reese’s PB cup yesterday and one today. Yeah, talk about restraint! Oh, and I’ve had some carrot cake, too. :-)

    Fable, I empathize. There are some foods that I wouldn’t want to try to eat in moderation every day, every few days, or even once a week. I don’t want to avoid them completely, but I don’t want to go “face to face” with them on a regular basis. For example, we typically eat Chinese food once a week, and I’m thinking about scaling that back a bit. Maybe once every two weeks. I would rather put my calorie deficits to work on burning body fat, not compensating for that huge calorie bomb every week. Sure, I’ll have some smaller calorie bombs here and there, no question about it, but only rarely would they be big as that one.

    And there are certain foods that are easier for me to overeat because of the packaging. Clearly, I used to have a problem with ice cream! lol. It’s just so easy to keep digging deeper and deeper into that tub. Or a big bag of chips. I like something that has a single serving, like these cupcakes. I can have one, no digging through a big container, and then I’m done. Thankfully, there are plenty of tasty foods like this that I can eat in moderation. I’ve finally proven to myself that I can do it. I wouldn’t have believed it a few months ago. I’ll continue to eat in moderation the vast majority of the time, while avoiding the most obvious “calorie bombs.” And even then, a rare calorie bomb won’t hurt. I just don’t want it to happen too regularly.

  15. Jenny Says:
    March 3rd, 2010 at 5:45 pm

    Just wondering what you think about this article by Dr. Barry Groves.

    http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/do-calories-really-count.html

    Your thoughts on this would be very much appreciated.

    Love your site and ESE!

    Thanks,

    Jenny

  16. johnbarban Says:
    March 3rd, 2010 at 7:04 pm

    Jenny,

    I stopped reading at the end of the first paragraph when this person said that calorie balance for weight loss is wrong.

    JB

  17. joakim Says:
    March 4th, 2010 at 3:00 am

    @Aditya

    On day 5 on the “ice-cream” diet I came up with last week, I want to report that everything is running ok.

    The only problem with sugary stuff is that once you start you can’t stop.I try to go 1200 – 1500 per day.Yesterday was soccer & weights day so I did 1800.I also drink coca-cola zero to add to the junk mix.

    I eat walnut-caramel based ice cream.

    First 2 days, it was fun, but I don’t think I will be doing it again.Protein and fat make me feel full.This stuff actually “feels” empty ( and probably is :P ).

  18. Jenny Says:
    March 5th, 2010 at 6:47 pm

    Thanks for the reply and checking out the link John. I really appreciate it! I should have known better and stopped reading at that point as well. Thanks!

  19. Miika Says:
    March 8th, 2010 at 11:33 am

    I lost 30-35 pounds like 3 years ago during 6 months. At the time I tought it was because I jogged like 3 times a week, but now I know it was because at the same time I started to eat cookies(oh man I love em!) which caused my appetite to drop during dinners etc. I ate those cookies like every day and I really tought that my weight dropped cos of cardio I was doing. Now I know better :)

    @joakim Sounds like a nice diet to me :D I realized the same thing a while ago when I ate only sugars like ice cream, chocolate, candy etc. for one day. I didn’t feel full even I ate relatively much. Guess it’s easier to eat protein and fats, like u said! Atleast to me it is.

  20. Miika Says:
    March 8th, 2010 at 11:36 am

    A little clarification; I guess it’s easier for me to eat LESS with foods that consist more protein/fats than foods that consist a lot of sugar.

  21. Miika Says:
    March 8th, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    I actually have one question for U John: I am sure U have heard the carbs in the morning/protein in the evening thing. My question is, do carbs affect differently when U eat them just after U woke up than they do when U eat them just before U go to bed? Thanks

    Miika

  22. johnbarban Says:
    March 8th, 2010 at 4:11 pm

    Timing is irrelevant. Food is food, eat it when you want…carbs, protein fat, whatever, whenever. It’s just the amount that matters.

    JB

  23. Robbie Poot Says:
    March 9th, 2010 at 2:11 pm

    Been observing your web log for 7 days now and I should say I am starting to like your post. How do i support to your web log? best way to build muscle mass

  24. Miika Says:
    March 9th, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    Ok thanks John. I can stand hunger much better during the day but in the evenings it’s killing me!

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