Gary Taubes, an award-winning writer for Science and the New York Times Magazine explains his controversial position that much of what we have been told about the relationship between body weight, diet and exercise is wrong.

He shows documented stories and research that flatly contradict the conventional hypothesis that eating less and exercising more will make you lose weight.

Then he shows evidence for what has far greater impact on weight loss and gain than eating less and exercising more.

Also, he gives a detailed explanation of why the equation Calories In minus Calories Out = Weight Gain or Weight Loss does not mean that eating less and exercising more will make you burn fat.

This lecture is based on his book Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health

Editorial Note from Chad: when Taubes discusses how exercise is useless in burning fat, he seems to be talking about conventional “cardio,” “aerobics,” and less-than high-intensity exercise. I’d agree that this is what the evidence suggests. However, there is emerging evidence that very high-intensity resistance training may actually be significantly helpful in burning fat and staying lean.