We’re not surprised to hear the statistic that the weight loss strategy of “eat less, move more” has a 1% success rate and a 99% failure rate according to Jason Fung’s article entitled “Obesity – Solving the Two-Compartment Problem – Fasting 21”. Furthermore Fung states another mistake made is the “Calories In / Calories Out (CICO) hypothesis” presuming that energy is stored in the body as one single compartment.

In fact, the body derives energy mainly from two sources, fat and glucose (carbs). Glucose is sored in the liver as glycogen and once the proper amount is stored the remainder is stored as fat. Unlike glucose which is easily accessed by the body to burn for energy, fat is a bit more difficult to access and can be stored limitlessly.

Your body stores energy as you eat and this in turn will be burned for fuel. But your body doesn’t take equal amounts from both compartments of fat and glycogen nor does it burn them simultaneously. So why is it that the Calories In/ Calories Out is not the most successful weight loss strategy? Because not all calories are equal, you either store sugar (glucose) or fat and your body burns sugar first then fat.

So in order to burn your fat storage cells, you must begin by reducing and clearing out your sugar storage. So effectively a low carb, high fat diet (keto) will reduce your glucose stores and in turn fat will be burned.