• Well sadly the answer is it depends. There are a lot of environmental variables along with a few biological variables. It is much easier for men than women to lose weight simply by cutting intake. How fast you cut calories can trigger starvation mode. People who eat a lot of refined sugar have a harder time. What your down time looks like(do you sit all day or do you have an active job) and one that we know has an effect but don’t really know how much, is exposure to endocrine disruptors (like BPA). The biological machine is different for everyone.

    But the short answer to your question is for people who are of low activity levels and difficulty with weight. It is usually recommended for them to have a slow reduction in intake to keep from triggering a starvation response and a slow increase in activity until your body adjusts to its new normal.

    Oh and thank you for asking a question instead of just saying that you think this is dumb.

    • @hark@lemmy.world
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      111 months ago

      Thanks for the detailed response. Yeah, a lot of it varies from person to person which makes it tricky and prevents one-solution-fits-all advice. I looked up the change in starvation response and it seems like on average people will miss out on around 180 calories burned daily from this response. It’s significant, but may be manageable depending on the person. All I know is that this approach has been working for me for 5+ years now.