Some years ago, Dr. Robert Lustig worked with a group of kids who had brain cancer. The cancer treatments were successful, but later the kids became obese. According to their parents, the kids had developed enormous appetites and become sedentary. They spent all day sleeping or sitting in front of the TV and eating.
Lustig didn’t inform the parents that those kids needed to just stop being so lazy and gluttonous. He didn’t urge the parents to tell their kids to just eat less and move more, for goodness sake. As an endocrinologist, Lustig knew the change in behavior was being driven by a change in biochemistry. He suspected that as a side-effect of the cancer treatments, the kids were over-producing insulin. Tests confirmed his suspicion.
So he gave the kids an insulin-suppressing drug. Here’s how he described the results:
“When we gave these kids this drug that blocked insulin secretion, they started losing weight. But more importantly, something that was even more amazing, these kids started exercising spontaneously. One kid became a competitive swimmer, two kids started lifting weights, one kid became the manager of his high school basketball team … Changing the kids’ insulin levels had an effect not just on their weight, not just on their appetites, but on their desire to engage in physical activity.”
These kids didn’t get fat because they sat around and ate more. They sat around and ate more because they were hormonally driven to get fat. Luckily for them, Lustig understood that and treated the root of the problem: chemistry, not character.
When I started writing this series of posts, I knew I’d receive (and did) a comment or two along the lines of “But telling people it’s about chemistry gives them an excuse to just give up.” Comments like that usually come, of course, from people who have never been fat and chalk it up to their superior character. I understand the appeal of that belief.
I also understand wanting to believe it’s all about character because darnit, that just feels like cosmic justice. Effort ought to yield results, period. Most of us would like the world to work like that. As kids, we were told that if you work hard and put your mind to it, you can do almost anything. So in our little pea-picking brains, the formula for success looks like this:
Effort = Success
But as we grow older, we realize everyone inherits different talents and abilities. I admired Bart Starr and wanted his job someday, but I certainly knew by middle school that no matter how hard I worked, I’d never become a star quarterback in the NFL. Or in college. Or in high school. Or in the Pop Warner leagues. I just didn’t have the physical gifts. So after swallowing the knowledge that genetics matters, we update the success formula in our minds to look more like this:
Ability x Effort = Success
That’s where we’d like the equation to stay. That “ability” part still seems a bit unfair, but we can live with it.
Well, like it or not, there’s still more to it.
Peyton Manning is one of the best quarterbacks ever to play in the NFL, the last Super Bowl notwithstanding. Sure, he inherited the ability to become great from his father, also an NFL quarterback in his day, but Manning’s dedication to his profession is legendary. He spends hours and hours studying videotape of opposing defenses so he can predict their moves and spot their weaknesses. It’s Ability x Effort at work, for sure.
But wait … what if Manning prepared for games by spending hours and hours studying and memorizing the birthdays, middle names, favorite desserts and horoscopes of the defensive players he’ll be facing? Would he still shred defenses like he did in the 2013 NFL season? Of course not, because that knowledge wouldn’t be useful in guessing how to pick apart a defense. The time and effort spent acquiring that knowledge would be wasted.
Let’s suppose I want to look better in shorts. Running for 10 hours a week might put some muscle on my thighs, but not as much as one set of leg presses per week with heavy weights. Resistance training is more effective for growing muscles, period. It doesn’t matter that running 10 hours per week takes more effort and dedication than spending three minutes on a leg-press machine.
So we have to update our formula for success one more time. Now it looks something like this:
Ability x Effort x Effectiveness = Success
Effort matters, absolutely, but only yields good results if it’s applied effectively.
Let me offer another example: suppose twin brothers both decide to take second jobs and invest most of the additional income to make for a more prosperous middle age. One twin works extra hard, spends less, and invests $500 per month in bank CDs that pay 1.05% interest. The second twin doesn’t work quite as much and treats himself to nicer clothes and other goodies, and thus only saves $250 per month, which he invests in mutual funds that earn the S&P 500 historical average of 11.69%.
After 20 years, the twin who invested $500 per month would have just over $134,000 in his account. Meanwhile, the twin who only invested $250 per month would be sitting on nearly $233,000.
It doesn’t seem fair, does it? I think we’d all agree the first twin demonstrated more character. He worked harder, he sacrificed more. And yet it’s the brother who worked less and sacrificed less who has nearly $100,000 more in his account. That’s because while his efforts were smaller, they were applied much more effectively. Working and saving was a matter of character. The return on investment was, in a manner of speaking, a matter of financial chemistry.
And of course if the twin who worked harder and saved more invested it all in the next Enron, he’d get nothing in return. He would no doubt feel royally screwed by an unfair universe, but that would be the result. I hate to break it to anyone who doesn’t already know, but the universe doesn’t reward you based on how much effort you expend or how many sacrifices you make, no matter what all the touchy-feely self-help books say. The universe rewards effort that’s applied effectively.
If we sat down and explained to the ambitious young twins that their financial success would depend heavily on the effectiveness of their investments, I doubt either of them would say, “Well, that’s it, then. If it’s about return on investment, I don’t see the point in making the effort. I give up.”
I’d expect the opposite, in fact: I’d expect them to be motivated to find effective investments so their efforts wouldn’t go to waste.
Turning this back around to losing weight, yes, there has to be some effort and some sacrifice involved. If you’re obese, whatever you’ve been doing isn’t working. Your diet will have to change. But it has to be an effective change. Switching to a diet that works with your body’s chemistry so you feel satisfied even while eating less is effective. Switching to a diet that works against your body’s chemistry and leaves you ravenous and lethargic isn’t. That’s the dietary equivalent of investing in Enron.
Making the effort to find the diet that works with your chemistry and then sticking with it – even if means giving up the donuts and bread you love – requires some character. But if you’re willing to do that, you can be like the twin who saved and sacrificed less but ended with more money. Getting results won’t require as much sacrifice, and perhaps eventually it won’t feel like a sacrifice at all. I certainly didn’t feel deprived when I went back to bacon and eggs for breakfast. I used to love pasta, but now I don’t miss it.
So let’s look at that success equation one more time:
Ability x Effort x Effectiveness = Success
We all know that thanks to genetics, some people are naturally lean and others tend to get fat, so let’s swap genetics for ability. The effectiveness of a diet is largely a matter of chemistry. So now here’s our equation if we define weight loss as success:
Genetics x Effort x Chemistry = Weight Loss
But wait … genetics is also a matter of biochemistry. So we’re looking at Chemistry x Effort x Chemistry.
That’s why I say weight loss is mostly about chemistry, not character. Knowing that is hardly an excuse to give up. If anything causes people to give up, it’s effort and sacrifice that isn’t rewarded. That’s why the gyms become less and less crowded the farther we get from New Year’s and all those resolutions. Understanding that chemistry is a big part of the equation and choosing accordingly is what enables our efforts to finally succeed.
If you enjoy my posts, please consider a small donation to the Fat Head Kids GoFundMe campaign.
We know fat people remain fat or get fatter on a low fat/high carb diet. What would happen if a naturally thin person adopted low carb? Would the person become skinnier?
My wife went lower carb when I did, since she cooks most of the meals. No, she didn’t get skinnier, but she became healthier.
My wife, who is one of these “naturally thin” people, actually ended up losing 30 lbs after switching to LCHF (albeit, with more cheat allowances than I give myself). Looking back at photos, its obvious that she’s lost some weight, but nobody would have looked at her before and said that she needed to lose any weight. She actually initially did it simply so that she wouldn’t be hungry all the time.
Chareva didn’t lose weight (or enough to notice) when we changed our diets. However, when she was in the Peace Corps and living on millet (the local crop), she was heavier.
Millet is a goitrogen, by suppressing the synthesis of thyroid hormones. I have read that the blocking of iodine by millet can not be overcome by increasing iodine consumption.
So it is especially likely that the specific qualities of millet were causative of Chareva’s weight gain.
Hey Josef,
I was naturally thin (129 lb) and ate low-fat-high-complex-carb, w/ climbing cholesterol count. Alarmed, my doc prescribed statin and I took it. My chol plummeted but I felt tired, even after long restful sleep.
Anyway after a year on statin I read up, ditched statin and switched to high fat-protein-veggies and nil carbs eating. I shed 4 lbs. It’s now almost 3 yrs now. I still weigh appr. 125 and a healthy HDL/TG ratio of 1. Interestingly, the LDL number has gone up. But w/ all metabolic indicators in good level, I have learned now to regard the high LDL count as a false alarm.
Hi Tom, What have u read about cortisol and its effect on insulin? I read a lot of these lo carb blogs and some ppl gain weight when going bioligically zero carbs due to the increase of cortisol which apparently keeps insulin up, thus curtailing weight loss.
Gary Taubes wrote that cortisol causes some people to gain weight, some to lose weight.
Cortisol has caused me to gain weight. So has adding carbs back into my diet to control the cortisol.
I hope you can solve whatever is causing the stress.
Hi Tom, What have u read about cortisol and its effect on insulin? I read a lot of these lo carb blogs and some ppl gain weight when going bioligically zero carbs due to the increase of cortisol which apparently keeps insulin up, thus curtailing weight loss.
Gary Taubes wrote that cortisol causes some people to gain weight, some to lose weight.
Cortisol has caused me to gain weight. So has adding carbs back into my diet to control the cortisol.
I hope you can solve whatever is causing the stress.
That is so aggravating! I have started to look at foods that might trigger weight gain/stalls. I *think* sour cream stalls me, even in modest amounts. Im testing this by eliminating it entirely while continuing to eat the same amounts of other dairy products (i.e., cheese and heavy whipping cream).
I’ve talked to people who were stalled until they gave up dairy entirely. Good luck with the experiment.
That would suck, though. I love a protein shake for breakfast using raw eggs and heavy cream! 🙁
I snack on sour cream. I use it in place of yogurt.
My son used to snack of saur cream all his childhood.
Dairy is insulinogenic. So it may be causing insulin spikes that derail weight loss.
Excellent equation to show how effort needs to be in line with practicality/biology to cause the most success. I’ve seen some people in my life really take it to heart and make some serious changes to their health. Any advice, though, for those who just can’t seem to kick the sugar/carb-monster to the road even WITH good information and advice? I’ve recommended Fat Head to plenty of friends/co-workers/acquaintances, given them good advice about weight loss chemistry and dietary intervention from a low-carb perspective, and yet very few have actually been able to stick to it (and these are people asking for advice, not just people I’m randomly pestering). Most never even seem to give it a fair shot. They might try it for a day or a week, but then there’s always an excuse for pasta, bread, sweets, etc.
Other than the whole “you can lead a horse to water” problem, what gives? I can’t see the continued appeal of a bowl of bran cereal for breakfast when someone is telling you that you can have bacon and eggs instead.
Julia Ross recommends various amino acids that help overcome the refined-carb cravings in her book “The Diet Cure.”
My library carries that, and I should have it in hand in a week. Thanks!
@Beowulf: I discovered Fat Head a couple years ago and changed my diet by bringing back fats (butter, eggs, avocados, bacon) and reducing carbs and in that time I’ve lost 25 lbs. But the area I’ve been struggling with forever is sweets (chocolate, pastries, ice cream, etc…). Than a month ago someone mentioned “The Diet Cure”. I read the book and two weeks ago I started applying what was recommended for me (you take a survey/test to focus on your problem areas). I couldn’t believe it, the sugar cravings disappeared. I wasn’t doing the pacing the floor, anxiously figuring out how to avoid eating sweets, I just didn’t think about or even care about sweets. I was amazed and wondered why haven’t my doctors told me about this before?!
Now, of course there is the effort part of the equation that still applies. I have bad habits that lead me down the wrong path (not taking the supplements consistently) and I have family members who keep trying to pull me back to the dark side…”you deserve a sweet treat every now and then!”, but I’ve lost 4 lbs these past two weeks and I feel so relieved and happy because I know how to do this. I know how to FINALLY lose the rest of the weight without torturing myself with horrible diets and worse yet horrible feelings of thinking less of myself for not having the willpower to stay on horrible diets (for the rest of my life). I have the CHEMISTRY portion of the equation worked out, a little more work on the EFFORT part to do, and GENETICS, well what are you going to do about GENETICS? I’m on my way! wooohooo!
Thanks Tom! These Character vs Chemistry posts have been awesome 🙂
Excellent equation to show how effort needs to be in line with practicality/biology to cause the most success. I’ve seen some people in my life really take it to heart and make some serious changes to their health. Any advice, though, for those who just can’t seem to kick the sugar/carb-monster to the road even WITH good information and advice? I’ve recommended Fat Head to plenty of friends/co-workers/acquaintances, given them good advice about weight loss chemistry and dietary intervention from a low-carb perspective, and yet very few have actually been able to stick to it (and these are people asking for advice, not just people I’m randomly pestering). Most never even seem to give it a fair shot. They might try it for a day or a week, but then there’s always an excuse for pasta, bread, sweets, etc.
Other than the whole “you can lead a horse to water” problem, what gives? I can’t see the continued appeal of a bowl of bran cereal for breakfast when someone is telling you that you can have bacon and eggs instead.
Julia Ross recommends various amino acids that help overcome the refined-carb cravings in her book “The Diet Cure.”
My library carries that, and I should have it in hand in a week. Thanks!
@Beowulf: I discovered Fat Head a couple years ago and changed my diet by bringing back fats (butter, eggs, avocados, bacon) and reducing carbs and in that time I’ve lost 25 lbs. But the area I’ve been struggling with forever is sweets (chocolate, pastries, ice cream, etc…). Than a month ago someone mentioned “The Diet Cure”. I read the book and two weeks ago I started applying what was recommended for me (you take a survey/test to focus on your problem areas). I couldn’t believe it, the sugar cravings disappeared. I wasn’t doing the pacing the floor, anxiously figuring out how to avoid eating sweets, I just didn’t think about or even care about sweets. I was amazed and wondered why haven’t my doctors told me about this before?!
Now, of course there is the effort part of the equation that still applies. I have bad habits that lead me down the wrong path (not taking the supplements consistently) and I have family members who keep trying to pull me back to the dark side…”you deserve a sweet treat every now and then!”, but I’ve lost 4 lbs these past two weeks and I feel so relieved and happy because I know how to do this. I know how to FINALLY lose the rest of the weight without torturing myself with horrible diets and worse yet horrible feelings of thinking less of myself for not having the willpower to stay on horrible diets (for the rest of my life). I have the CHEMISTRY portion of the equation worked out, a little more work on the EFFORT part to do, and GENETICS, well what are you going to do about GENETICS? I’m on my way! wooohooo!
Thanks Tom! These Character vs Chemistry posts have been awesome 🙂
Tom, can you put all five (and more if you plan to add to this theme) Character vs. Chemistry posts in one place on your site somehow? I’d like for some people to read these and it would help if the whole series could be accessed with one click rather than searching the site for each one as they get older and aren’t right at the top of the blog in recent posts. You do the best job of pointing out just how naked the emperor is!
I think I have one more to go. I’ll link them all in that post.
Beowulf, I find that works for me, when I’m tempted by some high-carb treat, is to ‘take a mental peek’ at my (poor, 58-yr-old, laboring) pancreas! A friend horrified me when, after dinner at her house, she and hubbie and 10-yr-old had ice cream for dessert (I passed on it); and then barely an hour later, they all had seconds! (Different ice cream, but ice cream again!! EEK!) The husband has back problems and a weight problem and (after I got him to read and try Esther Gokhale’s stuff, which helped him), I convinced him to read Mark Sisson’s book and he went on a 30-day challenge with me (skinny wife supported him but didn’t play along, and skinny complaining daughter wouldn’t change any of her eating habits!). He is now a true believer (he has lost 11 pounds already!) — and he finally did watch Fat Head. He loved it. He’s quite dismayed at the lack of willingness of wife and daughter to go along.
I suggested he offer this consideration to his wife; they both are extremely careful with their daughter. I think it’s wonderful that the girl is not allowed to blast her ears with loud music (on speaker or MP3 player). Think of the sound waves bashing the ear and damaging the delicate structure. Okay-now, think of the girl’s pancreas!! Think of it getting bashed by sugar and carbs — see it getting sicker and sicker until it finally gives up and stops producing insulin. No, it’s not guaranteed she will become Type 2 — but it’s happening more and more and more — hence the diabesity ‘epidemic.’ Some pancreases can take continual bashing to sugar and carbs, some can’t. You won’t know if yours (or your beloved daughter’s!) can’t until you kill it!
Tom, can you put all five (and more if you plan to add to this theme) Character vs. Chemistry posts in one place on your site somehow? I’d like for some people to read these and it would help if the whole series could be accessed with one click rather than searching the site for each one as they get older and aren’t right at the top of the blog in recent posts. You do the best job of pointing out just how naked the emperor is!
I think I have one more to go. I’ll link them all in that post.
Beowulf, I find that works for me, when I’m tempted by some high-carb treat, is to ‘take a mental peek’ at my (poor, 58-yr-old, laboring) pancreas! A friend horrified me when, after dinner at her house, she and hubbie and 10-yr-old had ice cream for dessert (I passed on it); and then barely an hour later, they all had seconds! (Different ice cream, but ice cream again!! EEK!) The husband has back problems and a weight problem and (after I got him to read and try Esther Gokhale’s stuff, which helped him), I convinced him to read Mark Sisson’s book and he went on a 30-day challenge with me (skinny wife supported him but didn’t play along, and skinny complaining daughter wouldn’t change any of her eating habits!). He is now a true believer (he has lost 11 pounds already!) — and he finally did watch Fat Head. He loved it. He’s quite dismayed at the lack of willingness of wife and daughter to go along.
I suggested he offer this consideration to his wife; they both are extremely careful with their daughter. I think it’s wonderful that the girl is not allowed to blast her ears with loud music (on speaker or MP3 player). Think of the sound waves bashing the ear and damaging the delicate structure. Okay-now, think of the girl’s pancreas!! Think of it getting bashed by sugar and carbs — see it getting sicker and sicker until it finally gives up and stops producing insulin. No, it’s not guaranteed she will become Type 2 — but it’s happening more and more and more — hence the diabesity ‘epidemic.’ Some pancreases can take continual bashing to sugar and carbs, some can’t. You won’t know if yours (or your beloved daughter’s!) can’t until you kill it!
Spot on. It is so tempting to believe that mere effort will yield success. If I come into work an hour earlier than I am required to and stay an hour later, my employer will surely reward me with days off, awards, promotions, or other recognition. The more hours I spend hitting away at balls on the driving range, the better my golf swing will be. If we just keep working to make the War on Drugs bigger and bigger, we will overcome those black markets and drugs will just disappear.
On a different note, mainstream culture’s moral judgment of those afflicted with obesity is truly repugnant. Your mention of Dr. Lustig’s exemplary lack of such ignorance reminded me of the following sarcastic excerpt from Dr. Dwight Lundell’s fantastic speech on the 2013 Low Carb Cruise: “You eat too much and move too little. The cure is…eat less, move more. That’s my diagnosis–and if it doesn’t work, it’s your fault, because you’re so slothful and gluttonous.” Incidentally, in that same talk he also mentioned several times the brilliant 2009 documentary and recent speech by this fellow named Tom Naughton, a name which drew rightful applause from the audience.
I’m living proof that hours and hours spent on the golf range can result in grooving a bad swing into your muscle memory.
Spot on. It is so tempting to believe that mere effort will yield success. If I come into work an hour earlier than I am required to and stay an hour later, my employer will surely reward me with days off, awards, promotions, or other recognition. The more hours I spend hitting away at balls on the driving range, the better my golf swing will be. If we just keep working to make the War on Drugs bigger and bigger, we will overcome those black markets and drugs will just disappear.
On a different note, mainstream culture’s moral judgment of those afflicted with obesity is truly repugnant. Your mention of Dr. Lustig’s exemplary lack of such ignorance reminded me of the following sarcastic excerpt from Dr. Dwight Lundell’s fantastic speech on the 2013 Low Carb Cruise: “You eat too much and move too little. The cure is…eat less, move more. That’s my diagnosis–and if it doesn’t work, it’s your fault, because you’re so slothful and gluttonous.” Incidentally, in that same talk he also mentioned several times the brilliant 2009 documentary and recent speech by this fellow named Tom Naughton, a name which drew rightful applause from the audience.
I’m living proof that hours and hours spent on the golf range can result in grooving a bad swing into your muscle memory.
My pet peeve is disdainful naturally thin people who calls me i liar liar liar when I have tried to say no, it ain´t that simple buddy.
Because, you know, it can´t be TRUE that I, during 9 weeks, weekly did 2 zumba passes, lifted wights (short and heavy) 3 times a week, swam and did yoga 2 timas a week did not loose ONE gram.
I got stronger and I had fun and suppose I shifted a bit on the fat/lean mass % bu I did NOT loose ANY weight.
So it could only be that I lied. Probably just stuffed myself with junk and lying about my exersize.
That excersize might not be the holy graal of weight loss just does not compute with most people.
That’s because they’re stuck in that Effort = Success mindset. If you truly worked hard, there must have been a positive result.
My pet peeve is disdainful naturally thin people who calls me i liar liar liar when I have tried to say no, it ain´t that simple buddy.
Because, you know, it can´t be TRUE that I, during 9 weeks, weekly did 2 zumba passes, lifted wights (short and heavy) 3 times a week, swam and did yoga 2 timas a week did not loose ONE gram.
I got stronger and I had fun and suppose I shifted a bit on the fat/lean mass % bu I did NOT loose ANY weight.
So it could only be that I lied. Probably just stuffed myself with junk and lying about my exersize.
That excersize might not be the holy graal of weight loss just does not compute with most people.
That’s because they’re stuck in that Effort = Success mindset. If you truly worked hard, there must have been a positive result.
Tom great article and series. Sadly, in the UK we have a tame doc, who flashes his eyes and teeth in the media and is busily trashing the work of Dr Robert Lustig. The BBC have gone so far down market, they don’t check his work (or source of funding.)
http://suzanneloomscreativity.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/how-to-trash-scientific-research.html
Nice to see the U.K. has its own Dr. Oz.
Tom great article and series. Sadly, in the UK we have a tame doc, who flashes his eyes and teeth in the media and is busily trashing the work of Dr Robert Lustig. The BBC have gone so far down market, they don’t check his work (or source of funding.)
http://suzanneloomscreativity.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/how-to-trash-scientific-research.html
Nice to see the U.K. has its own Dr. Oz.
There was a chart in Lustig’s TEDx from 2013 where he pointed out that a subset (20%) of obese people will live normal lives free of metabolic dysfunction and a subset (40%) of normal weight people that will experience metabolic dysfunction. Assuming this is accurate, then it would be worth pointing out that many of the people that are described as being born on the finish line are not as such. They are seems as on the finish line but they are with of the rest of the pack.
In thinking about this I started to think of my situation. I’m 46 and 5′ 9″. I’ve usually weighted around 200 with a high of 220. I tried CICO and LF with limited success. I ate at lot of granola in an attempt to eat healthy, etc, etc. I’ve been right headed but lacking and real understanding of biochemistry. In the last year I’ve started to put the pieces of the puzzle together by going LCHF thanks to a friend, Fat Head, this blog and Taubes’ easy book. I limit sugar and grains. I don’t drive more than modest ketosis according to Ketostix. Yet I’m happy to report I’m down to 185 after getting things more or less right with my diet in October. I was thinking I’m in pretty good shape as I’m well on my way to the normal weighted group assuming I continue to eat “right” and don’t run into a hormonal issue.
However, I didn’t consider that it’s possible that I’ve got a bunch of fatty innards and that’s my bigger, albeit unseen, issue. My main goal with the LCHF is avoiding metabolic syndrome. Yet it seems the scale and mirror might not be as telling as I’d hoped. I don’t know a good way to know.
If you really want to know, you’ll need lab tests. As you pointed out, the mirror doesn’t show what’s happening inside.
There was a chart in Lustig’s TEDx from 2013 where he pointed out that a subset (20%) of obese people will live normal lives free of metabolic dysfunction and a subset (40%) of normal weight people that will experience metabolic dysfunction. Assuming this is accurate, then it would be worth pointing out that many of the people that are described as being born on the finish line are not as such. They are seems as on the finish line but they are with of the rest of the pack.
In thinking about this I started to think of my situation. I’m 46 and 5′ 9″. I’ve usually weighted around 200 with a high of 220. I tried CICO and LF with limited success. I ate at lot of granola in an attempt to eat healthy, etc, etc. I’ve been right headed but lacking and real understanding of biochemistry. In the last year I’ve started to put the pieces of the puzzle together by going LCHF thanks to a friend, Fat Head, this blog and Taubes’ easy book. I limit sugar and grains. I don’t drive more than modest ketosis according to Ketostix. Yet I’m happy to report I’m down to 185 after getting things more or less right with my diet in October. I was thinking I’m in pretty good shape as I’m well on my way to the normal weighted group assuming I continue to eat “right” and don’t run into a hormonal issue.
However, I didn’t consider that it’s possible that I’ve got a bunch of fatty innards and that’s my bigger, albeit unseen, issue. My main goal with the LCHF is avoiding metabolic syndrome. Yet it seems the scale and mirror might not be as telling as I’d hoped. I don’t know a good way to know.
If you really want to know, you’ll need lab tests. As you pointed out, the mirror doesn’t show what’s happening inside.