Is Obesity a Willpower Problem? The Biology of Weight, Diets, and GLP-1s
About this episode
The episode explores the biological and environmental factors influencing obesity, challenging the notion that it is solely a willpower issue.
Obesity roughly tripled in about 60 years, and the genes didn't change in that time. So if body weight isn't a willpower problem, what is it? Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum and Dr. Austin Baraki walk through what actually sets your weight: the adoption and twin studies behind the genetics, the "defended range" your biology fights to hold, the food environment that does most of the eating for you, and where GLP-1 medications actually work. Along the way — why diets regain after you white-knuckle them, what The Biggest Loser six-year data show about resting metabolism, and four willpower myths worth retiring. Hosted by Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum and Dr. Austin Baraki, co-founders of Barbell Medicine. Timestamps 00:00 Cold open: Danny Cahill and The Biggest Loser 01:03 What we mean by "willpower" 05:48 Obesity tripled in ~60 years: the one number 06:31 Adoption and twin studies: genes vs. household 09:37 Set point vs. the defended range 10:37 Gene–environment mismatch 14:03 In the clinic: a lifelong weight history 19:18 Losing weight vs. keeping it off 20:26 Appetite doesn't reset (Sumithran) 25:52 Metabolic adaptation and the Biggest Loser data 34:07 Part 2: eating on autopilot 35:10 Portion…
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