VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Hey, everyone! Hope you are having an amazing day, amazing week, so far. Today's topic is one that comes up all the time, all the time. And it's Tanya, I've been watching my calories, I've been exercising, I've been doing all the things, but I can't seem to lose weight. So I wanted to cover a very interesting topic about why the "calories in and the calories out" is a flawed model for weight loss, especially if you are 40. And over.
So hi, guys, I'm Tanya Zucco. I am a board-certified physician assistant, functional medicine practitioner, and hormone expert. And my passion is helping women optimize their health so that they can lose weight and look and feel their absolute best. So let's get back to the topic at hand. All right.
So, you know, the process of gaining weight and losing it, as we all are finding, isn't as simple as you might think. Okay, again, my clients know this cause they come to me saying Tanya, I've done it all; I've tried it, I've been so good, but it's not working, I can't lose weight. So really, so that the model of the "calories in calories out" that many of us are familiar with doesn't consider the complex hormonal pathways that are involved in an energy balance in weight gain and in weight loss in the body, especially around age 40 when our hormones tend to really get out of balance.
Okay, so let's look at the flaws of the calorie deficit model of weight loss by imagining the human body as a car. Okay, so let's say that the engine is ourselves, the tank is our fat stores, and the fuel within the tank is provided by the food that we eat. Okay, so as we drive the car along the engine, aka the cells burn the fuel, aka the fat in order to keep the car moving. And so, by consuming food, we essentially are refilling the tank as we go. Okay. So in this analogy, if we want to deplete our fuel tank, aka if we want to deplete and get rid of our fat stores lose weight, we can either put less tank in the fuel, eat fewer calories, or drive the car more or faster, right, which means exercise more. Makes sense, right? But the question is, Is this accurate? Is this really a good way to represent the human body? And also, is this really a good way to represent a real car's complexity? And the answer is no because we see that it doesn't work. And a real engine doesn't just require fuel to run. It requires this precise blend of fuel and oxygen control temperature, humidity, lubrication, and more. And then add to that each engine model is slightly different. So then you disrupt the balance of any of these factors in the fuel efficiency is going to change drastically if it even runs at all.
So now you can see how weight loss and fat loss is a lot more complex than just fuel in the tank and trying to get rid of that fuel. Now add to that, what if we drive the car, that more realistic second car that we're talking about, except this time the air filters clock, which is preventing oxygen from entering, making the conditions impossible for the fuel to burn efficiently. And what if the engine oil is depleted. And now, there's too much wear and tear on the engine, and we've got all this friction going on. So this is actually a more accurate representation of the human body and all the hormonal mechanisms that come into play when we talk about weight and energy balance.
Now, what's interesting is different types of foods eaten at different types of the day also lead to unique hormonal responses in the body. Okay. And it's these hormones, in particular insulin, that determines what happens to food molecules after we eat them. Okay. And then also what's even more interesting is different individuals can have highly variable glucose responses to the same food, regardless of the calorie content of that particular food. So all of this is why the conversation of you know the right diet, and I've been doing everything right. I've been doing everything that Susan did, and it worked for her, but it's not working for me.
You know, this, this is really why the conversation of the right nutrition and the right food and health plan should be a highly personalized one. Okay, because everyone's engine is slightly different, and everyone's hormones are slightly different. So hopefully, this gives you a little bit more insight and relief that even though you have been doing the right things, it doesn't mean that you're not on the right track, but it just means that there might be a little more complexity to what you might need to do.
And next time, tune in because I'm going to take this conversation a little bit further. And talk about why having a stable blood glucose, and how monitoring your glucose and your particular response to different foods is one of the layers, in addition to other hormones, and your gut factors, that you need to take into consideration, when determining your ideal health and diet plan to achieve your unique goals.
So hopefully you found this helpful and useful. Thanks for tuning in. If you think this might be helpful, please do share it. I appreciate you all hanging out with me, and I'll catch up with you on the flipside.