First, you must isolate a human being in such a way you can account for every single calorie incoming and outgoing. Incoming calories are relatively easy to measure, but for outgoing you have to at least measure:
- How much heat is produced by the body (how much energy is expended keeping the room at the same temperature)
- How many calories did the body use to warm sweat and pee: collect every single drop of sweat and pee, measure its volume and temperature as soon as it leaves the body, compare to temperature of water ingested.
- Collect every single particle of stool leaving the body, measure temperature, weight and calorie content.
Only after you have a human being isolated in a way all calories in = calories out, then you can test the "Stop eating and you'll lose weight" hypothesis. Before then, anybody with such a claim is just blurting out junk science.
You know there are ways to measure metabolic rate right? I don't have the study in front of me but there was an interesting paper that shows upon caloric restriction metabolism can drop 20-30% as the body attempts to hold onto calories.
I'm not sure why calories in = calories out is such a heretical statement on HN. It's a well establish fact. Of course the calories out can adapt to reduced calories in, but the fact remains, if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight.
I have no problem with the "calories in = calories out" statement. Thermodynamics says it must be true.
If calories in <> calories out it doesn't mean the law of thermodynamics is wrong, it means you have a leak somewhere in the lab you must plug before you can test hypothesis such as "eat less and you will lose weight".
> if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight
The laws of thermodynamics are a established fact, but somehow concluding that ingesting less energy will somehow cause you to lose weight is the same kind of logic fallacy that would lead you to fill your car with only half a tank of gas expecting to get twice the mileage.
You changed what I said. I did not say "ingesting less calories will cause you to lose weight", I said "ingesting less calories than you burn will cause you to lose weight".
How do you scientifically prove this?
First, you must isolate a human being in such a way you can account for every single calorie incoming and outgoing. Incoming calories are relatively easy to measure, but for outgoing you have to at least measure:
- How much heat is produced by the body (how much energy is expended keeping the room at the same temperature) - How many calories did the body use to warm sweat and pee: collect every single drop of sweat and pee, measure its volume and temperature as soon as it leaves the body, compare to temperature of water ingested. - Collect every single particle of stool leaving the body, measure temperature, weight and calorie content.
Only after you have a human being isolated in a way all calories in = calories out, then you can test the "Stop eating and you'll lose weight" hypothesis. Before then, anybody with such a claim is just blurting out junk science.