Thanks and congratulations on your journey.

Yes, not only was a lot of what we have been told wrong, it was the polar opposite of right. One only has to look as far as the Standard American Diet (SAD, appropriate acronym) to see where the diabetes and obesity epidemic came from. The calories in/calories out energy expenditure hypothesis is wrong. Yes, there is an energy balance and no the laws of thermodynamics has not been negated. But what was ignored was the monster effect of hormones on our metabolism.

When a person tries to calorie restrict to loose weight, they will loose some initial weight. But the body, sensing there is a shortage, reduces metabolism by up to 25%. In other words, cut your calorie intake by 25%, loose a little weight, but then stall out because the body has dropped its energy needs. It drops body temperature, you feel tired and cold with no energy. It is the body's mechanism to control energy use in a time of little food. By keeping calories up, but replacing the carbs with fat, the body maintains metabolic rate. It even increases and "wastes" some energy via the ketones excreted in the urine and acetone through the breath. White fat can take on the characteristics of brown fat (the fat in our upper chest that protects vital organs from the cold and can actually heat our body). and "waste" additional energy. In a time of plenty ("fat" times) the body actually wastes energy through excretion and heat. And that is a good thing when trying to lose weight.

Dr Jason Fung has some great information about body set weights and the fallacy of caloric restriction when trying to lose weight. He has a clinic that treats many obese patients.

I post this stuff because I have spent a lot of time researching and figuring it out. I present it in the hopes that someone will benefit from it as I have. I have watched a lot of videos that weren't worth watching also. I post only the ones of the people that in my estimation have studied or been involved directly in the research and are beneficial to watch. Not everyone agrees with all aspects of a low carb/high good fat or Ketogenic diet. But on the major points there is little disagreement. Reduce fast carbohydrates and replace them with good fats and modest protein (higher protein as we get older to maintain lean body mass).

John