Losing weight

Weight loss (and gain) is often assumed to be all about willpower and “calories in vs calories out.”

But this is completely inaccurate.

The human body is a highly complex biological system with many hormones and brain centers that regulate when, what and how much we eat.

It is well known that genetics, hormones and various external factors have a huge impact on body weight (69).

Junk food can also be downright addictive, making people quite literally lose control over their consumption (70, 71).

Although it is still the individual’s responsiblity to do something about their weight problem, blaming obesity on some sort of moral failure is unhelpful and inaccurate.

Bottom Line: It is a myth that weight gain is caused by some sort of moral failure. Genetics, hormones and all sorts of external factors have a huge effect.