Why We Get Fat

I am currently reading, 'Why We Get Fat, and What to Do About It' by Gary Taubes. Taubes is also the author of Good Calories, Bad Calories which contains a great deal of research to discuss calories and the food industry. * I read the first several chapters of that book, and would like to finish it. *

In Why We Get Fat, Taubes is discussing the Calorie In-Calorie Out theory that I hear so many runners (well, people who run for fitness) chat about. I have heard in conversation people say, I know how far Imhave to run to burn off a handful of M&Ms, or whatever their pleasure is...... My response to their aghast is, if only it works that way.

But I digress..... And Taubes addresses this calorie in - calorie out theory. Chapter Three entitled, The Elusive Benefits of Exercise begins with:

Imagine you're invited to a celebratory dinner. The chef's talent is legendary, and the invitation says that this particular dinner is going to be a feast of monumental proportions. Bring your appetite, you're told-- come hungry. How would you do that?

You might try to eat less over the course of the day -- maybe even skip lunch, or breakfast and lunch. You might go to the gym for a particular rigorous workout, or go for a longer run or swim than usual, to work up an appetite. You might even decide to walk to the dinner, rather than drive, for the same reason.

Now let's think about this a moment. The instructions that we're constantly being given to lose weight -- eat less (decrease the calories we take in) and exercise more (increase the calories we expend) -- are the very same things we'll do if our purpose is to make ourselves hungry, to build up an appetite, to eat more. Now the existence of an obesity epidemic coincident with half a century of advice to eat less and exercise more begins to look paradoxical.

This insight causes me to value the book F*ck Calories. You can get your FREE copy!

 

I am looking forward to finished Taubes book, and re-reading the other.

 

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