book details

Book: What Is Fat For? Re-Thinking Obesity Science by Ignatius Brady

categories: Book, Science, Metabolism, Biology, Endocrinology, Obesity, Weight Loss, Health, Dieting, Food, Nutrition

Ignatius Brady, MD, MPH

about this book: There is a deep, rich, consistent, body of research showing that weight loss programs produce very modest results that are temporary for almost all people. Yet, we all continue to read the next book, sign up for the next program, pay for personal trainers . . . and blame ourselves when these solutions don't ultimately solve our weight problem. Yet, the problem is not our own individual level of effort or commitment, but the biology which makes weight loss so difficult -and rebound inevitable.

I know, because I am a weight loss physician and saw the frustration first hand in over four years of treatment of obese patients. I spent over a decade researching the science of obesity by scouring the literature, attending conferences, interviewing experts and constant experimentation with my patients and my own body. As I learned the truth behind the body's reluctance to allow permanent weight loss, I developed materials to share with my patients. Those became a blog in 2012, which slowly evolved into a book over the next three years. The result is a compact, dense, but readable, review of the latest research in obesity science which shows, among other things: Your weight is not your fault!

I don't provide any easy answers for weight loss, but do provide reassurance that you're not crazy, or lazy, and what you are going through is common. It is meant to be an honest, transparent account of what one weight loss doctor learned by stopping to ask: What is the fat on our bodies actually "for"? The answers are surprising, different from what you've been taught, and meant to provide hope.