That is true. It is very much over simplified. It still remains for general purposes very accurate. Humans as a species have no knowledge in breaking the laws of physics as we know them. Ofcourse it works differently for all subjects and cico doesnt take ones mental abilities in to account. Cico only states blatant non human side of things.
For most people cico is very usefull and only thing standing in a way for ones weight loss is will power. Excuses are easy to make in our modern society where food is cheap and plentiful.
I did skim through the link you send but couldnt really find anything that contradicted cico in itself.
I shed pretty much all the weight I put on during the years my kids were infants using this approach. The thing is that it comes back. Slowly, but it comes back. I have had to conclude that either via genetics or just through years of being overweight my brain is wired up to do this to itself.
So what do you do? Well, the only thing I’ve found is that I have to be at it forever. I have to chose constant applications of willpower or, put on weight. That is exhausting and I go months where I really can’t face it. It feels like addiction but you can’t cut it out completely, you gotta eat.
I have talked to lots of people who don’t struggle with weight gain and there seems to be a big difference in what is going on in my body vs theirs. I cannot turn off the noise, my body will always be telling me to eat garbage. I can resist it but it is ALWAYS there.
Irrespective of my health or looks, I would give anything to turn the noise off, even for a year or two. What could I accomplish if I pointed all that willpower at something productive? It is highly fashionable to shit on drugs like ozempic. “Fatty needs an easy mode button…” It may not be the answer, but people living longer healthier lives and getting to be free from the noise sounds pretty great. I’m stubborn but I won’t say I have not considered bringing it up with my doc.
CiCo works. Full stop, and it will work for anyone who can convince themselves to do it. But if you do it, you soon realize that you are treating the symptoms not the cause.
This is so true. I have struggled with weight and cravings for many years now as well. The one thing that works for me has been going on full carnivore diet. It really makes sweet and garbage food taste bad and really encourages discipline. Not as a lifestyle change but for a month or teo and then leaning to general moderation diet with low carb intake. I never count calories my self but this approach seems to work it self automatically. Might be something to look into? :)
Yeah I have all sorts of tricks to make it easier. Low carbs is great, not because it matters what you eat but I have much more manageable cravings. Intermittent fasting is a good trick too, if you push yourself not to eat until 2PM, you have fewer hours left in the day to spread your calories through.
On and on… I’m pretty good at the mind game but it still fucking sucks that I got stuck having to play it forever.
Here’s the part where it says cico (ebm in the paper) hasn’t really produced any results, since your skimming missed it.
Furthermore, conceptual adoption of the EBM has failed to stem the obesity pandemic.[emphasis mine]Governments and professional health organizations heavily promote energy restriction (especially with low-fat diets) and exercise; nutrition labels on packaged foods prominently display calorie content; and personal responsibility to avoid excess weight gain is emphasized in patient care. Nevertheless, obesity prevalence continues to increase worldwide, prompting spectacularly complex formulations of the EBM addressing myriad biological, behavioral, environmental, and societal factors converging on energy balance (Supplemental Figure 1), with questionable practical translation.
Tldr even with cico being pushed at a population level, 70% of Americans are still overweight or obese. Why do you think that is?
Obeying cico does work. The study seems to state the obvious. People are not very good at obeying rules that bring long term benefit causing short term mild discomfort.
It is too easy to eat too much without it affecting ones ability to survive and reproduce. Priority of physical health is very low in most peoples lives.
All in all. The answer is easy to losing weight but getting there mentally is hard when were are used to everything being easy.
“Obeying cico does work.” and “People are not very good at obeying” are right next to each other in your comment. So people, that aren’t good at doing x, should do x? I’m not getting how that’s helpful. Can you explain how a solution that relies on people doing something they’re bad at has any chance of working?
