Although this is not a diet blog, since I’m writing the reasons why people 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 “to gain weight” has two meanings, “to 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  from the book, “The Obesity Code.”

     
(*1)The “set point” for body weight is the same as what I call “base weight.”

Dr. 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, which is quite different, is that instead of starving ourselves, we can lower our base weight by eating a lot of less digestible foods according to certain rules. This is because I believe that if the underlying cause of weight gain is due to the mechanism of intestinal starvation, then by doing the opposite, one should theoretically be able to lower one's base weight, and in turn lose weight.

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.

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 drinking, you will get drunk more slowly. In other words, if you keep eating less digestible food to reduce hunger, the absorption rate should decrease.
     

I think the key is to reduce carbohydrate intake to a certain extent and conversely increase meat, fish, oil/fat, fibrous vegetables, seaweed, nuts, dairy products, etc. to reduce the time you feel hungry.(If you feel a little hungry, eat something. Eat regularly even if you don't have an appetite.) 

Specifically, I believe there are two ways to do this.
      

• 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.
  

It would not be wrong to say that a person who usually eats less will gain weight if they eat fat 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 ability to digest food, 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 necessary to eat more indigestible foods so as not to feel hungry while controlling carbohydrate intake, etc.
  
• In the long term, it's more important, by continuing to do so, to lower one’s base weight and get the non-rebound body you desire.

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.
  
• Eating a lot of low-calorie foods result in reducing the total caloric intake daily.
  
• Snacking results in a decrease in appetites, and as a result, reduced caloric intake at meals.
  
• Some components in a specific food eaten break down(/decomposed) 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.

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

(2) 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.

(3) In Japan, the "eat a lot and lose weight" diet is all around us, but I think 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.

Let me explain something about the core of this blog.
Perhaps for most of you it is hard to believe me, but I’ll just write the facts as they are, as I experienced them. I did not write this from my imagination, but based it on my own analysis of what actually happened to me.

When I got into college, my total body weight fell down to the thirty-kilo range, so I knew exactly why I gained almost five kilos so rapidly in a few days, even though I didn’t eat much.

The idea of storing fat in the body as a reserve against starvation is something every researcher considers at one time or another.

However, it is said that this theory is an idea that has been rejected by researchers throughout history. This is because many overweight people often eat more, and many African refugees are thin and malnourished. 

One might say, “If starvation makes us fat, then African refugees would be obese.”

In contrast, many of us in developed countries are more likely to eat westernized foods made from wheat, meat, eggs, etc., which provide good nutrition and are easier to digest. Therefore, if we focus on the inner workings of our intestines, we are more prone to inducing intestinal starvation.

The reality is that being overweight has become a problem even among the poor populations in the world. The common denominator there is not an excessive intake of calories or carbohydrates (sugar), but a poor balance of food (cheap carbohydrates, lack of nutritious food including vegetables, etc.).

In my blog, I mentioned that one’s base weight value goes up by inducing intestinal starvation, and I want to explain what it means here. For the sake of explanation, I will use plants as an example.

The same goes for humans, and just eating a lot of calories doesn’t necessarily mean we all gain weight and become overweight. Even if we eat only one meal a day, as long as it’s well-balanced, there will be enough nutrition left in the intestines to be absorbed.

(2)Using an example of a plant, weight gain by inducing intestinal starvation and an increase in base weight could be explained in the same way as a plant that is extending its roots and taking in more nutrients. (See figure below)

Actually the villi (folds) of the intestines do not grow, but the absolute level of absorption goes up by expanding the surface area over which nutrients can be absorbed(*1).
(I will explain this in greater detail to the researchers.) 

So even if you eat the same amount of food as you did before, you will gain weight instantly. (For some, it might be three kilos in a year, for others, it might be ten kilos in just a few days.)

This, I believe, is the fundamental difference between obese and thin/lean people. 

(*1)The small intestine is said to have a surface area of more than a tennis court when all its folds(villi) are spread out. This is because it absorbs more nutrients. 

When your base weight goes up and you gain weight, it means that the balancing point, in terms of "energy- in, energy-out," has gone up, which can generate a more positive energy cycle and make it more difficult to lose weight.

When dieting, temporarily reducing the caloric intake to lose weight means reducing the "fertilizer" in the example of a plant. However, it is only a temporary weight loss, and you will likely return to your original weight when you start eating a normal diet again (the rebound effect).

Moreover, the reason why each time some people diet, they rebound and gain more weight than before is that skipping meals or eating light meals (not enough vegetables) can lead to intestinal starvation, which can further increase your base weight.
     

It is not that after you get fat, you gain muscle to support it. I believe that muscle is built at the same time you gained weight, at least up to a certain weight, because overall nutritional intake, including protein, has increased.

The increased intake of nutrients as a whole, including protein, creates a positive cycle of energy, which leads to the following phenomena. Digestive enzymes, hormones, etc. are also made from proteins (amino acids), which may increase the ability to digest food and increase the appetite. So, it is no wonder that people with larger bodies or stronger stomachs generally eat more than others.

There exists a cause-and-effect reversal phenomenon: people do not gain weight because they eat more, but because the bigger they are, the  hungrier they become, and in turn, they eat more.
    

On the other hand, if a lean person eats balanced meals three times a day, every day, he or she doesn’t induce intestinal starvation. And there is a good chance they will stay the same weight and have the same appearance for the rest of their life, regardless of caloric intake.

Therefore, "fatness" and "non-fatness," in this regard, are not obesity genes. 

Also, for people like me who are very thin, being thin itself can reduce the amount of protein and other nutrients that can be taken in, thus a negative energy cycle continues. In turn, the muscles that support the stomach and intestines become weak and droopy, and the ability to digest food is also diminished by not secreting enough digestive enzymes.

This is a vicious circle where thin people can’t gain weight and remain thin.

It is said that obesity is related to many factors, but why? I will quote an interesting description that is relevant to my blog.
  

The various theories fight among themselves, as if they are all mutually exclusive and there is only one true cause of obesity. For example, recent trials that compare a low-calorie to a low-carbohydrate diet assume that if one is correct, the other is not. Most obesity research is conducted in this manner.

This approach is wrong, since these theories all contain some element of truth." 
(Jason Fung. The Obesity Code. Greystone Books, 2016, Page 70.)

What we need is a frame work, a structure, a coherent theory to understand how all its factors fit together. Too often, our current model of obesity assumes that there is only one single true cause, and that all others are pretenders to the throne. Endless debates ensue.

Too many calories cause obesity. No, too many carbohydrates. No,
too much saturated fat. No, too much red meat. No,
too much processed foods. No, too much high fat dairy. No,
too much wheat. No, too much sugar. No,
too much highly palatable foods.No, too much eating out. No

It goes on and on. They are all partially correct.  (*snip*)
   

I think the author provides a keen insight into the multifactorial nature of obesity. We must first understand that being overweight is not as simple as "it happens when we consume more calories than we expend," but is caused by a complex interplay of various factors.

    
However, what I want to say is that based on my intestinal starvation idea, the various factors can be aggregated to some extent, which means that obesity can be complicated and intertwined with factors and theories we can see, and cannot be completely explained, but when we focus on the unseen workings of the intestines, the cause of weight gain would be mostly specific.

▽In contrast, when (B) the base weight value goes up by intestinal starvation, there are various interrelated factors.

For instance, it is said that the following affects weight gain:
・Skipping breakfast  ・Late dinner　・How many meals you eat
・Refined carbohydrates　・Processed food　
・Lack of fiber intake  ・Unbalanced diets

These are some of factors that are related to part (B) of the graph.

    
The important thing here is that each of these factors seems to be linked to weight gain, but there is no causality between each factor and outcome. Rather, they are related to inducing intestinal starvation. (In this case, some may say intestinal starvation can be “confounding factors.”)

(1) Many theories that are believed to make us fat fight among themselves, as if there is only one true cause of obesity, as Dr. Fung mentioned. Researchers may be well versed in their own areas of research (e.g. resistant starch, the value of eating breakfast, the effects of carbohydrate restriction, hormones, gut bacteria, etc.), but that does not necessarily capture obesity as a whole, so each theory can stand alone.

What we need now is a framework for how each theory is intertwined, and I'd like to believe my theory can be helpful in that regard.

(2) The root cause of being overweight, I believe, is the increased base weight value, which is caused by intestinal starvation. Intestinal starvation is caused by a combination of at least four factors, and since "what kind of food we eat" and "how we eat them (lifestyle)" are such important factors, many things seem to have something to do with weight gain－intestinal starvation can be a "confounding factor."

In other words, I believe the causes of weight gain would be mostly specific in the unseen workings of the intestines.  

I’ve stated before that what increases your base weight is the hunger mechanism (intestinal starvation) and here, I want to talk about three(+one) factors that accelerate intestinal starvation.
【Related article】→My Definition of “Intestinal Starvation”
    

When there is only one of the situations from above, the intestinal starvation mechanism hardly occurs. However, when there are three and the +one factor which I will discuss later, the mechanism for intestinal starvation happens more often.

Some say they gained weight from eating too many carbohydrates, but others won’t seem to gain weight even if they eat a lot of carbs.
Some say they gained weight by eating junk foods late at night, but others don't gain at all, even if they eat in the same way.

These differences exist since intestinal starvation is decided by the composition of various factors.

Meals with mainly refined carbohydrates (starch) and some good protein (a small amount is enough) and less fiber intake from vegetables, make people fat most easily. It seems with less fat in the diet, intestinal starvation is more likely to be induced. It’s because dietary fat slows digestion.

*Eating speed, how many times you chew your food, or hydration during the meal, are also related to the above.
 

Eating late at night won’t automatically make you fat. If you have to eat a late dinner, you can snack (milk, chocolates, or  sandwiches, etc.) between meals in order to prevent intestinal starvation.
  　　

If there are genetic factors, the difference of digestive ability will be the first thing I will bring up as the factors. And it may vary between races as well as between families. (Of course, it may change after birth.)

I stated that an important factor other than the above three factors is “+one,” but this can be explained by a “continuity,” which is whether you had an unbalanced diet (or a light meal) for your previous meal and the meals before that.

The reason for this is that the intestines are as long as seven to eight meters, so it takes the food more than ten hours to pass through.

Intestinal starvation is determined by the entire intestinal tract (or it might be the small intestine only), so the previous meal or the meals before that also affect it.

If you haven’t read these articles below, please read them first.

Base Weight; The Precondition Regarding the Rebound Effect

Two Meanings to the Phrase 'Gaining Weight'

In my previous article, "Two meanings to the phrase 'gaining weight' ," I wrote that your base weight increases by the hunger mechanism－strictly speaking, intestinal starvation. I would like to explain it simply.

(1) It happens when you eat and when your gastrointestinal tract is working.

(2) It refers to the situation between meals, such as between breakfast and dinner, or lunch and late dinner, or dinner and the next lunch, where every substance in the entire intestines from a range of seven to eight meters has been digested.(It might be small intestine only.)

In other words, the stomach and intestines are working to nourish the body, but all the food eaten has been digested, and the body perceives it as “there is no food.” It’s different from simple hunger in that:

 (a) basically, everything, including protein, fat, and even water, is digested;

 (b) there is no fiber or anything close to it (※This is why it is said refined carbohydrates make you fat).

However, in this era with an abundance of food, it seems like those who eat a lot are obese and those that don't eat much are thin, and this tends to lead to a misunderstanding.

There is a reason for this, and  it is my own theory based on my personal experience.
The question here is : "In what way do our bodies perceive starvation ?" Starvation is not decided by the amount of how much we’ve eaten, but rather, how the digestion process in the intestines proceeds.

That is to say, even if you eat a lot, if your diet is skewed toward easily digestible carbohydrates and some protein, and you end up being very hungry for hours, you will be close to a starvation situation.

On the other hand, even if you eat a little, if you eat a well-balanced diet including vegetables, dairy, meat, and fat  every five to seven hours, then your body won’t perceive you as being in starvation mode. When there are some undigested substances in your intestines, your body perceives them as "there is still food." In other words, your intestines decide everything.
  

Please check out my blog below before reading this one.

→ Base Weight; The Precondition Regarding the Rebound Effect

I would like to define this term first. There are two meanings of the expression "gaining weight" which we use daily. I think the confusion of these meanings causes a lot of misunderstandings.

For example,  “you'll gain weight if you eat a lot of calories” or “even with diets when you rebound, you might weigh even more than you did before you did the diet,” etc.

I realized this when I got really thin, but I think the confusion of these two meanings results in various misunderstandings and false information, and most people are dieting in the wrong way.

The first one is “gaining weight” meaning to go back to your base weight based on the mechanism of maintaining your present condition. 

▷Toru Watanabe, a Japanese actor, used to be heavy, but with a diet, he weighed around seventy kilograms (70kg) when he appeared on a television show.

However, when he got married at twenty-six, he couldn't maintain his diet anymore and ate a lot and he went back to one hundred and thirty kilograms (130kg). (It is said that he made a new record for his weight change every time he dieted.)

On the other hand, the second “gaining weight” expression means that your base weight itself increases.
Though I have reduced the amount of my food intake, I shattered my previous weight level and gained three kilograms in the last year which means I’ve gained ten kilograms in the last three years... meaning my maximum weight has increased.  
 

For example, someone who has never been more than sixty kilograms has become sixty-three kilograms in the last year. In this case, it means that his/her base weight itself increased from sixty to sixty-three kilograms.

When you gain weight to your base weight from a rebound after a diet, it's the (A) mechanism, but if you gain weight naturally more than your base weight, it is the (B) mechanism. This is because the diet creates a situation of starvation.
It is generally believed in Japan that eating when your metabolism is slowing down makes you gain more weight, but it has already been proven that fat people have a higher basal metabolism[1].
     

■Japanese Sumo wrestlers are famous for eating a lot of rice and being fat, but I believe that, to put it in extreme terms, they will gain weight because of a mix of (A) and (B). Although it looks like they eat more and are gaining weight, the mechanism should be the same as that of people who try dieting, but in the end, they gain more weight than before due to the rebound effect.
       

References：
[1] Dr. Jason Fung, The Obesity Code, 2016, Pages 62.

First of all, I want to explain the most important point. It's the assumption that each person has the ability to maintain their present condition, also known as preserving current stasis in the body.
I recognize that this is the precondition of everyone regarding weight control.

All through the year, we get thinner when we are busy, and we gain a little fat when we aren’t active and eat a lot. Although everyone repeats such things, even if we don't calculate calories strictly, the body shape of person won't change so easily. Fat people are fat and thin people are thin.

So, here, I want to define the term “base weight” as the weight to which you go back when you continue eating a lot for three to five days doing nothing such as during the long holidays. Usually in most cases, you won't go beyond the base weight and will usually come back to it.
  

In this example, the base weight of A is forty-eight kilograms(48kg), that of B is sixty kilograms(60kg) and that of C is ninety kilograms(90kg). There is the mechanism to maintain their present condition working in their body to bring them back to their base weight.

So, it’s difficult to assume a person’s body and weight condition only with caloric intake.

Consider the example above, that if A continues an intake of 100kcal over her recommended daily caloric intake every day for several months or years, the assumption is that it will accumulate into fat and she will eventually gain weight up to the eighty-kilogram level. This is wrong (She might gain weight but that is a different mechanism).

In general, people who are overweight are living with caloric restrictions, so their present weight is lower than their base weight.

On the other hand, thin people don't have caloric restrictions, so their present weight and their base weight are often close. Therefore, thin A won't gain weight even if she eats a lot, and B and C will gain weight as soon as they eat.

But, as soon as the match was over and he started to eat, his weight increased ten kilograms in a few days. The rate of going back to his base weight was fast. Those who have tried diets and eat less than usual might have experienced this. Often, it's called the rebound effect.
    

I arrived at this idea of "base weight" through my own experience and by observing people around me, but according to Dr. Jason Fung, the author of “The Obesity Code,” in 1984, two researchers, Keesey and Corbett, first proposed that there is a "set point" for body weight and fatness. 

According to this idea, homeostatic mechanisms in the human body work to defend this body set weight against changes. 

However, I have a different view about it.

It makes total sense that when the body has less energy available, it lowers its metabolism to conserve energy expenditure, and that when you eat a lot, your basal metabolism conversely increases, but isn't that a consequence of what happens in the body when you increase or decrease your intake of calories? That idea may explain the rebound effect after dieting, but it does not explain the fundamental difference between fat and thin people－the reason why some people gain weight. 

I believe that each person's base weight (set weight) value is determined by the absorption ability of the   intestines (the small intestine is also known as the "second brain”). This is my conclusion from my own experience, and I believe I can prove that theory with the help of experts.
    

References：
[1] Dr. Jason Fung, The Obesity Code, 2016, Page 62