Do We Have A Cure for Obesity? Not Exactly, But a Major Puzzle Piece Just Fell Into Place

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are everywhere. Thousands of people are losing weight.

Have we been eating too much or moving too little?

A client told me this week that her husband has "basically NO metabolism." Is that possible?

Do we finally have a cure for obesity?

Not exactly. What we have found is a way to override the body’s appetite signals.

We’re a step closer to understanding why so many people struggle with weight, thanks to a new international study.

Researchers tracked the daily calorie burn of over 4,000 adults from 34 countries, ranging from hunter-gatherers in Tanzania to office workers in Norway.

They discovered that people in less-developed countries who walk miles daily, hunt, farm, and do manual labor burn about the same number of calories as those of us with cars, laptops, and desk jobs.

Whether you're stalking prey in the savanna or typing emails in the suburbs, your total daily calorie burn is remarkably similar, once body size is factored in.

The findings support a theory known as the constrained total energy expenditure model.

Our bodies regulate how many calories we burn in a day, keeping it within a narrow range.

If you start burning more (like marathon training or daily manual labor), your body compensates by dialing down other biological processes--or in the case of marathon training, increasing appetite!

That's how people who walk miles daily, farm, and do manual labor burn about the same number of calories as those of us with cars, computers, and desk jobs.

If we aren’t burning significantly fewer calories than our great-grandparents, or people in rural, active communities, why are obesity rates skyrocketing?

Because we’re eating too much and too much of the wrong things.

The study found that increased calorie intake, not inactivity, is the biggest driver of the obesity crisis.

The researchers estimated that diet plays10 times the role that declining movement has.

The main culprit is ultra-processed foods--those convenient, shelf-stable, highly engineered products with long ingredient lists and low nutritional value.

These foods are designed to make you want to coming back for more--and are so easy to mindlessly consume.

The researchers found a strong link between diets high in ultra-processed foods and higher body fat percentages.

It makes so much sense. People from other countries or who spend time in them come here and comment on how sweet and salty the food is--and how big the portions are!

We know now that metabolism is highly unlikely to be an issue. Most people’s metabolic rates are remarkably consistent once we account for their body size.

Metabolism can slow slightly with age or certain health conditions but the difference is smaller than you think.

It's good news--look at it this way:

• You don’t need to worry about “boosting your metabolism."

• You can lose weight and improve your health without doing marathon workouts.

• The biggest changes come from changing the quality and quantity of your food.

GLP-1 drugs can help some people reduce appetite, but they’re not a magic fix.

The change that lasts is also the easiest: working with your biology instead of fighting it.