Why 'eat less, move more' won't work for weight loss

Harry Bullmore on the need to rethink calorie deficits

- Harry Bullmore

It will be no surprise that weight loss is one of the most common exercise goals on the planet, especially at this time of year. But if losing belly fat is one of your resolutions and you think that exercise is the key, then it’s time to think again.

"The single best thing we can do for ourselves is exercising. It works on almost all diseases we can measure - but not for weight loss,” says Christoffer Clemmensen of the University of Copenhagen’s Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Basic Metabolic Research.

In fact, studies have repeatedly shown the “eat less; move more” mantra parroted to those looking to lose body fat is ineffective. And nor is willpower the vital key that many people believe it to be.

“Weight loss is not a matter of willpower,” adds his colleague, Valdemar Brimnes Ingemann Johansen. “It’s critical to acknowledge the powerful biological mechanisms that interact with your environment.

“Genetic predisposition is a big determinant of our body size and how we look - and this powerful biology that underlies our body size is often beyond an individual’s control.”

The pair are responsible for a recent literature review, published in the Cell journal, which dives deep into this topic. Here, they reveal more about the lesser-known mechanisms behind weight loss that might just help you achieve your goals this year.

The problem with a calorie deficit

A calorie is a unit of energy - more specifically, one kilocalorie is the estimated amount of energy needed to heat 1kg of water by 1C. Since the 19th century, this has been the most common unit of measurement used for listing energy in food and drink.