How to Lose Weight - What does the DATA SHOW?

Dr. Christy begins a THREE PART SERIES on weight loss. This episode is about diets to lose weight. Part 2 will be about prescription medications available to help with weight loss. And Part 3 will be about surgery for weight loss.

Here are the other episodes!
Part 1 - Diet and Weight Loss
Part 2 - Prescription Pills and Weight Loss
Part 3 - Bariatric Surgery and Weight Loss

REFERENCES:
5% body weight loss can make a difference:

Self-monitoring benefits in weight loss:

Apps for weight loss:

High protein, low carb and fasting are best for short term:

Data on Mediterranean Diet:

Chart with green circles:

Weighing daily does not increase anxiety:

Comparison of named diets:

[francesanne]

Your common-sense approach to the pandemic was the main reason I subscribed...I'm happy to see you're making videos to address weight loss with the same level-headedness. Thank you!!

[lucyjanssen]

This is so cool that you made this video. I’ve been trying to lose weight for over a year and a half using exercise and intermittent fasting. I’ve maybe sustained a 5 lb weight loss and I feel like I look the same. The other day I was tearing it up on the tread mill at the gym and then when I got to the locker room to leave I looked in the mirror and was immediately sad because I realized how long I’ve been doing this and still don’t like what I see in the mirror. Ik my body is amazing- I birthed a very healthy child almost 3 years ago. It’s hard to work so hard and not feel like I’ve made a shred of difference. There’s so much weird information out there. I’ve been looking for someone who knows what they’re looking at when they look at data to break this all down. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I would add that going through a health journey has also got to be a sustainable change in order for it to work for you. Making yourself wildly uncomfortable and convincing yourself it’s just for a little while will only lead to burn out probably. So I’ve found the easier the change the more easy it is to stick to it. This is why I hate when people so “jUsT loSe WEighT aND exercisE” as opposed to getting the Covid vaccine. As if losing weight and being healthy is the most simple and least stressful thing in the world. <3
Once again, THANK YOU!

[NirvanicSunshine]

Thanks! I really appreciated the no nonsense focus on what actually works as discovered in studies!

[dchanson]

I lost 40 lbs with low carb diet, less than 20 grams a day. Low carb worked for me, I'm also T2D and A1C consistently in the 5's.

[run_rich_run]

Thank you for an informative video! I am looking forward to watching parts two and three.

[kellyclover]

Time-restricted eating is best. It's far more effective than counting calories. It does however require some self-discipline. Postponing the first meal of the day until say 1 pm is one way you can do it. Insulin plays a major role in fat storage. Time-restricted eating drives down insulin levels. If you can go all the way to one-meal-a-day it decreases insulin even more and it produces even larger weight loss.

[presouz]

I’ve seen TV people celebrities etc. do the bariatric surgery so I’ve learned about the vitamin deficiencies that can happen. When I became overweight for a very long time because of my fibromyalgia and my chronic fatigue syndrome. I chose to do a doctor supervised liquid diet. But I did find out soon afterwards even though I did lose the weight that I was gaining a half a pound a week without even trying! The liquid diet was easy and very effective…my body was thrown into chaos with the liquid diet. So for me may not be for everybody but for me I fried up some bacon and I ate it all day long the next day had some steak cauliflower broccoli and I did this all week I was surprised that going keto was my answer. Here it is four years later and I did gain some weight at the beginning of the quarantine and I still need to get that C 19 extra pounds off. But I’m pretty happy that I have kept all that weight off for a very long time. 😌. Being in ketosis is my answer curious what other peoples answer is.

[snydersflowers]

Super informative, would love to see your take on comparing exercises, such as walking, strength training, group classes, yoga, etc.

[robinconnelly]

I made up my own diet. It's far simpler than all these fancy diets with calorie counting and so on, it works, and most importantly, you don't put it all back on again afterwards. Instead of calorie-counting I CALIBRATE. That means I start with very low carb and I weigh myself each week and adjust the carb until I am losing what I want to lose. Real simple. Exercise is part of it but it's not crazy, very doable. I don't eat horrible foods, I eat Pizza and cakes (but only once a week to reset my system), other than that, my diet is quite tasty, just low in CARB. In 2007 I lost 9kgs and built some fairly respectable muscle aswell. Dieting has to be a LIFESTYLE CHANGE. I diet to look good. The by-product is good health. I'm on a diet now because I got fat over covid. It's going well and my goal is 85kgs which I will achieve in the next few weeks. I feel great.

[karlhungus]

My experience and observations have led me to conclude that playing the "calories-in / calories-out" game is a recipe for long-term failure.

Willpower is finite in humans and it's unlikely that one will either maintain a calorie deficit over time or even continue to reduce calories when trying to reach some arbitrary goal. Neither scale weight or BMI are useful, as they tell us nothing about body composition.

What we eat determines how much we eat. Wild animals don't count calories and they instinctively know what and how much to eat. Many of our modern "foods" (which of course, are not really food) hijack our senses and make us overeat.

But, it's not just calories. The additives in many of these modern concoctions dysregulate our cognition and emotions.

There's also modern technology like smartphones that further complicate matters by disrupting circadian rhythms and that lack of quantity and quantity of sleep further sabotage willpower and increase the chance of someone reaching for junk food.

There are many other factors, too. Excess body weight is not just about calories and outdated ideas like "eat less, move more" -- which has been repeatedly debunked.

[maya-muce]

great video! i have a question though: what exactly is a calorie (within the context of weight loss)? i understand the physics definition of a calorie, but i can’t wrap my head around how calories function within the body since it is not a closed system. there aren’t calorie receptors and the body isn’t a calorimeter. it seems logical that 500 calories of broccoli and 500 calories of white bread would have completely different effects on weight. given how insulin, leptin, ghrelin, and other factors like the microbiota in the small intestine, glycemic load, and nutrient content would interact with these foods, i can assume that they are not equivalent. i’m about to finish my undergrad degree in human biology and public health and have associates degrees in biochemistry and nutrition, but have never questioned the validity of calories in any of my courses. i assume people lose weight with calories in/calories out because they’re being mindful of what they consume. as someone who is trying to lose weight and hopes to become a physician, these concepts really fascinate me!

[robichandraathokpam]

Dr. I want to ask about covid 19..
I lost my sense (smell and taste) from last 7 months ago( from 19 June 2021 till now).... What can I do now

[michaell]

Thanks for the reminder about using all the tools available like MyFitnessPal and scales to monitor progress. The only time I've really been successful in losing weight was by tracking my calories using an app so that it was obvious where I needed to cut back. Again, good for the reminder to use something to monitor what you are eating so that you can set tangible goals.

[yeronid]

will it be too much to have another set of novavax vacine after my first 2 moderna shots a year ago? I hope you have some researched answers for this.

[STEVEID]

Dont count calories. Dont go thru the hassle of calculating expended calories. Just dont eat more than 20 grams of carbs per day. Watch dr ken berry's videos.

[toddb]

Thank you for the suggestions Dr. Christy. I could loose some weight.

[yeronid]

can you please discuss the importance of the booster shot on omicron variant. will it
be more beneficial to wait for the new vaccine (novavax) and have 2 shots of this
since it's been a year since my second vaccine (moderna)? thank you.

[AgathaG]

I tracked everything I ate, and monitored every calorie, keeping to my goal caloric intake for 2 weeks. I lost nothing.

[gcrispin]

May I suggest carnivore. No calorie counting. Eat until you are full.

[rubygreta]

Do not go into any diet thinking you will count calories for the long-term. It is a total loser. Very few people can do it. However, calorie awareness is a good thing. You would be shocked how many calories and few handfuls of potato chips have. Nuts, although healthy are very high calorie. Eat few. But don't count calories.