Transcription
Hey, I'm Dr. Spencer with Arpi, and today I want to talk about the secret to sustainable fat loss.
Most people think there are magic tricks to make it happen, but I'm going to tell you the truth using science. Many come to me as a weight loss physician looking for these secrets to sustainable, long-term fat loss. There are people out there who will make you think it's their hormones. They’re going to sell you some magic beans, some magic pills, or magic reps.
But today, I want to tell you the science behind successful fat loss—losing fat and keeping it off.
One of the first things people ask me about is whether they have to lower their carbs. Is it keto? No, that's not it. Is the secret counting calories and macros? No, that's not the secret either. What about eating a vegan or whole food plant-based diet? Is that the secret? No, no, no.
Is this secret intermittent fasting, where you don't eat at certain times of the day or certain days of the week? No, that's not it either.
So, what is the secret to successful long-term fat loss? I'm going to tell you exactly what it is. The secret is adhering to a caloric deficit.
Now, I know what you're thinking: this is basically like a sound bite that says "eat less, move more." A caloric deficit is simply burning more calories than you're taking in or ingesting fewer calories than you're burning. That's it.
Now, the keto people are going to get mad and say, "Yeah, but look, a ketogenic diet helps you stay fuller longer, stay satiated. That's how it works." And it's somewhat magical, but I'm going to tell you what all that does.
All these other things that I just talked about—keto, intermittent fasting, counting calories, a vegan or whole food plant-based diet—help you adhere to a caloric deficit. Every single study that's ever been done on successful long-term weight loss has shown that adherence is the most important part of losing weight and keeping it off.
But there are things that can help you adhere. For example, as the ketogenic proponents say, if you do a ketogenic diet, it helps you with your satiety and hunger, which helps you adhere to a caloric deficit. Counting calories is an external way of helping you adhere to a caloric deficit, which means eating fewer calories than you're burning. Intermittent fasting helps you shift when you eat, which helps you eat fewer calories than you're burning, which means you're adhering to a caloric deficit.
That's it—no magic.
Now, I do want to mention that people ask me, as a weight loss specialist physician, about weight loss medicines or weight loss surgery. Guess what those help you do? They help you stick to a caloric deficit.
Weight loss surgery, in fact, doesn't just melt fat off your body automatically; it helps you with your appetite and is a very powerful tool—our most powerful tool—to help you stick to a caloric deficit. I happen to use weight loss medicine since I'm not a surgeon, and these are not fat burners. These are medicines that work in your brain to help you with appetite and to help you stick to a caloric deficit.
I know what some of you are saying: "Are you just saying it's calories in versus calories out? That's such an outdated model."
It's not an outdated model; it's technically true. The thing is, and the key is how you achieve this. This is why I was talking about all the different methods of finding a way to adhere to that caloric deficit. Yes, technically, it is just calories in, calories out, but a ketogenic diet helps you achieve that. Intermittent fasting may help you achieve that. Weight loss medicines, surgery, vegan diets, and whole food plant-based diets can also help you achieve that.
So, technically, it is just calories in, calories out, but how you achieve that is where the real magic is, and it's going to be very individual.
I have patients who have failed ketogenic diets miserably and have done extremely well with counting calories and macros. For whatever reason, the ketogenic diet was either too restrictive, or they just did not like it. Counting calories and macros helped them be a little bit more flexible and sustain the caloric deficit for five or eight years that I've been following them.
Some patients have actually failed at counting calories and macros and switched to a ketogenic diet because their issue was their appetite, and that helped them achieve the caloric deficit and lose weight sustainably.
There is no magic—there's only science. We must individualize for each person to find a way to help you achieve the caloric deficit.
If you want to learn how we've helped thousands of people lose weight and keep it off, click the link in our bio to learn more.