Although this blog is not a diet blog, since I’m writing the reasons why you gain weight, naturally, I thought about ways to lose weight, and I felt that I should write about it.

In this post, I will only write about my "theory for losing weight." Please understand this is not based on practice, but I hope this will help someone.
  

Just like the phrase “gain weight” has two meanings, “lose weight” also has two meanings.
【Related article】 Two Meanings to the Phrase "Gaining Weight"
    

When you eat less (fewer calories) and stay hungry over many hours, your body will try to minimize the change by:

• increasing absorption rate in order to utilize maximum nutrition.
• decreasing calorie expenditure including basal metabolism in order to suppress unnecessary consumption.

Even if you lose a little weight with your hard work, I believe it is only temporary, and most people will rebound because their base weight value hasn’t changed.

[Related article]  Dieting Doesn’t Work in the Long Run
   

The other way is to lower your “base weight.” As I have mentioned many times, the cause of being overweight, in my opinion, is an increased base weight value.

This means that one's absorption ability is higher than that of the average person, and I assume that the higher absorption tendency is related to symptoms such as high blood pressure, heart disease, abnormal blood sugar levels, and diabetes,etc.

So, I believe that to lose weight correctly, lowering the "base weight" itself is necessary rather than reducing caloric intake.

I will quote the reference related to this.
   

(About rebounding of weight)

"The fundamental biological principle at work here is homeostasis. There appears to be a “set point” for body weight and fatness, as first proposed in 1984 by Keesey and Corbett. Homeostatic mechanisms defend this body set weight against changes, both up and down. If weight drops below body set weight, compensatory mechanisms activate to raise it. If weight goes above body set weight, compensatory mechanisms activate to lower it.

The problem in obesity is that the set point is too high. (*snip)

However, by six to twelve months, weight loss plateaus, followed by a relentless regain, despite continued dietary compliance.(*snip*)

So all diets fail. The question is why. 

Permanent weight loss is actually a two-step process. There is a short-term and a long-term (or time-dependent) problem. "

(Dr. Jason Fung, “The Obesity Code” , 2016, pages 62, 215 )

  
The “set point” for body weight that Dr. Fung mentioned can be regarded as the same as my “base weight.” I started writing about this concept of "base weight" without any references, and I am glad to know that there were others out there who had the same idea.

Dr. Jason Fung, the author of “The Obesity Code”, believes that the higher set point of body weight is  relevant to insulin resistance, which is why he has adopted fasting to cure obesity.

My opinion is that we can lower our base weight by eating a lot of less digestible foods, based on a certain rule, rather than by starving ourselves.
This is because I believe that if the root cause of weight gain is due to the mechanism of intestinal starvation, then by doing the opposite, i.e., eating more indigestible food and not feeling hungry, one should theoretically be able to lower one's base weight and in turn lose weight. ("A lot of undigested food remains in the intestines" = "there is still plenty of food for the body" = "no need to store body fat").

Note that when I say "base weight itself goes down," I don't mean that one's metabolism goes up, but rather that one's absorption ability itself goes down.

As I will explain in the following blog, the increase in the level of absorption due to intestinal starvation means that, by using a plant analogy, "the roots grow deeper in the ground and the area available for absorption expands." In other words, I would speculate that the opposite phenomenon should occur in order to lower the level of absorption.

Even when you go out for drinks, if you haven't eaten anything for almost ten hours, you may get drunk faster, but if you eat a good lunch and have ice cream two hours before, you will get drunk more slowly. In other words, if you keep eating less digestible food to reduce hunger, the absorption rate should decrease.

• Reduce carbohydrate intake (rice, bread, noodles, etc.) by half to a third. 
• Eat low G.I. carbohydrates if possible such as brown rice, whole-grain bread, cold rice (starch turns indigestible once cooled down) and al dente pasta.
• Increase foods other than carbs such as meat, fish, fat/oil, dairy products, nuts, vegetables, seaweed, etc.
• If you feel hungry between meals, you can eat something.
• Of course, you can combine this step with some exercise, but make sure you eat balanced meals at least three times a day.
  

Fat was originally thought to be fattening because it is "nutrient dense," but in fact, nutrient dense foods take longer to digest, so consuming them every three to five hours can also help you lose weight (Of course, this varies from person to person).

It would not be wrong to say that a person who usually eats less will gain weight if they eat fat/oil along with carbohydrates, but it's only how you eat and cannot be judged by the size of the calorie content.

[Related article]  Eating Fat/oil Is a Deterrent to Gaining Weight
   

For those who seem to digest food quickly no matter how much they eat, and who always feel hungry, the method (1) may not be effective. Some of them may even gain weight because of the increased calories.

I believe that the reason it becomes more difficult to lose weight as obesity levels become higher, is that they digest food faster and the absorption rate doesn't decrease so easily. In other words, the theory itself is not necessarily wrong.

In a similar case, in addition to improving the diet, it may be helpful to take, for example, enzymes or medication that slows down the digestive process for fats and proteins. By lowering the "digestive ability," undigested food will remain longer in the intestines, which will have the same effect as (1) above. ( Naturally, it must be done under a physician's guidance and It is only theoretical for now).
  

My theory is that carbohydrates are only an indirect cause of weight gain making it easier to induce intestinal starvation. The point is only that we should consume more indigestible foods, slowing down the digestion process and suppressing hunger. So, while carbohydrates are not necessarily bad, I believe that cutting the amount of carbohydrates in the diet will be more effective.

Of course, it is possible that reducing glucose, which provides immediate energy, may speed up weight loss in the short term.
  

For those who have been dieting by eating less, their caloric intake may at least increase . So "eat more to lose weight" may sound fishy.

However, reducing caloric intake is not the final point.

• In the short term, it is also necessary to control the intake of carbohydrates and calories.
• In the long term, it's more important to lower one's base weight and not store fat by leaving more undigested foods in the gastrointestinal tract so as not to feel hungry.

In other words, a "two-step" process is necessary to lose weight properly.

▽In Japan, there are various ways of dieting to lose weight by eating a lot of foods and many people have their own interpretation of “losing weight by eating a lot.”

• Raised  metabolism by eating foods. (Thermogenesis effect).
• Eating a lot of low-calorie foods result in reducing total calories and carbohydrates.
• Some components in a specific food eaten break down body fat.
  

Still, I believe that none of these explanations are correct (although there might be some truth in them), since “why we gain weight” is not recognized correctly and people still believe that too many calories and carbohydrates eaten are the causes of being overweight.
   

・Just as the phrase "gain weight" has two meanings, "lose weight" also has two meanings. To avoid rebounding, the base weight (set weight) itself must be lowered.

・To lower base weight, one should eat fewer carbohydrates, which speed up digestion, and more indigestible foods such as protein, fat/oil, and fiber-rich vegetables, should be eaten to reduce hunger.

・In Japan, the "eating a lot and lose weight" diet is all around us, but it is not properly recognized, and of course, it is not officially approved as a treatment. If it is proven that intestinal starvation causes people to gain weight, I'd like to believe that the meaning of "eating a lot and losing weight" will be properly understood.