Dr. Leo Dai's Health and Wellness Blog

“Dr. Dai, I am barely eating anything. Why am I still gaining weight?”

This is a question I get asked all the time in my busy family practice.

In Part 3.4 and Part 3.5, we discussed ways to modify the “calories-out” side of the equation through physical activity—whether through low-intensity cardiovascular exercise like walking, or through resistance training and changes in body composition.

In Part 3.6—the final part of this weight loss mini-series—we will discuss another enormous topic that honestly deserves a blog series of its own, and perhaps the single most important component of weight loss: Calories In: Diet and Nutrition

A Disclaimer

Before we begin, I want to acknowledge that everyone has different:

• cultural backgrounds,
• religious practices,
• ethical beliefs,
• personal preferences,
• medical conditions,
• and physiological responses to food.

I fully recognize and respect that.

What I am presenting here is a general framework for understanding nutrition and weight management. For simplicity, I will assume the reader has no dietary restrictions. You are absolutely welcome to adapt these concepts to suit your own circumstances and values.

The One Rule That Applies to Everyone

Regardless of genetics, body type, culture, or dietary philosophy, there is one fundamental law that applies universally:

Weight loss occurs when:

Calories Out > Calories In

And:

3,500 calories ≈ 1 pound of fat

If you need a refresher, you can revisit Part 3.0.

If you feel these principles “do not apply” to you, then in the overwhelming majority of cases, the issue is inaccurate data collection rather than a violation of thermodynamics.

Why Weight Loss Can Feel Confusing

The difficulty is that none of the variables involved are static.

Recall from Part 3.0:

TDEE = BMR + NEAT + TEF + EAT

Changes in one component affect the others.

For example:

• increasing exercise volume can alter hunger,
• fatigue can reduce spontaneous movement (NEAT),
• changes in body composition can alter BMR,
• and different foods influence TEF differently.

The goal is not to obsessively calculate every variable with perfect accuracy.

The key takeaway is this:

If you are consistently not losing weight—or even gaining weight—despite increasing activity levels, then unless you have a significant underlying medical condition (which is far less common than people think), you are likely consuming more calories than your body is using.

“But I Barely Eat Anything”

So let’s revisit the original question:

“Dr. Dai, I am barely eating anything. Why am I still gaining weight?”

The simple answer is:

“Because you are still consuming more calories than your body is burning.”

I say this factually, not judgmentally.

But the full answer is more nuanced.

Focus on Food Quality Before Food Quantity

If there is one major takeaway from this post, it is this:

Focus first on the quality of your food, not the quantity.

In other words:
Pay more attention to what you are eating than simply how much you are eating.

Once food quality is optimized, then you can begin refining:

• quantity,
• timing,
• and overall calorie intake.

The Food Quality Continuum

One of my favourite nutrition books is:
The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition, by Matt Fitzgerald.

I have gone through this book more than 10 times and still continue learning from it.

Do not let the title scare you away. You do not need to be a marathon runner to benefit from it. The nutritional principles apply broadly to everyday health and wellness.

In particular, Chapter 2—“Getting Lean”—had a major impact on me.

Matt Fitzgerald introduced the concept of a:

Food Quality Continuum

He categorized foods into descending order of nutritional quality:

Higher Quality Foods

1. Vegetables / Legumes
2. Fruits
3. Nuts and Seeds
4. Fish / Lean Meats
5. Whole Grains
6. Dairy

Lower Quality Foods

7. Refined Grains
8. Fatty Meats
9. Sweets / Alcohol
10. Fried Foods

The idea is simple:

• eat more foods from Category 1 than Category 2,
• more from Category 2 than Category 3,
• and so on.

By “more,” we mean more servings.

Why This Works

What many people discover is that if they truly prioritize foods higher on this continuum and simply eat until satiety—not stuffed, just no longer hungry—they will often naturally lose weight over time even without meticulous calorie counting.

Why?

Because higher-quality foods generally contain one or more of the following:

1. High protein content
2. High fiber content
3. Low calorie density

Let’s discuss these individually.

High-Protein Foods

Examples include:

• fish,
• lean meats,
• legumes,
• low-fat dairy products.

Protein is:

• highly satiating,
• slower to digest,
• and essential for muscle repair and maintenance.

Ask yourself:
How much chicken breast or steak can you eat before feeling full, compared to candy or white rice?

Protein tends to produce fullness with fewer calories.

Protein also has a high Thermic Effect of Food (TEF), meaning the body burns more energy digesting it.

For muscle maintenance and recovery, aiming for approximately:

• 0.8–1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day

can be helpful depending on activity level and goals.

To optimize muscle growth, prioritize protein sources rich in leucine (an essential amino acid), such as:

• lean meats,
• dairy,
• soy,
• nuts,
• and seeds.

High-Fiber Foods

Examples include:

• vegetables,
• fruits,
• legumes,
• whole grains,
• nuts and seeds.

Fiber:

• slows digestion,
• increases satiety,
• improves bowel regularity,
• improves blood sugar regulation,
• and may improve cholesterol and gut microbiome health.

For weight loss specifically, fiber helps by:

• delaying hunger,
• increasing fullness,
• and slightly increasing TEF.

Low-Calorie-Density Foods

These are foods with high volume but relatively few calories.

For example:

• 100g of cucumber contains approximately 12 calories.
• 100g of cheesecake contains approximately 320 calories.

That means cheesecake is roughly:

• 27 times more calorie-dense than cucumber.

In practical terms:
You can eat a very large volume of low-calorie-density foods before accumulating significant calories.

This is one reason vegetables and fruits are so powerful for weight management.

A Few Important Clarifications

Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds are calorie-dense on paper, yet research consistently shows that people who consume them regularly tend to be leaner overall.

They contain:

• healthy fats,
• fiber,
• micronutrients,
• and moderate protein.

However, portion control still matters during weight loss.

Dairy

Choose:

• low-fat,
• high-protein dairy options

when possible.

Examples include:

• Greek yogurt (high protein, low fat ones),
• Skyr,
• cottage cheese.

These provide excellent protein with relatively lower calories. High protein, low fat dairy options can be categorized higher on the continuum.

Whole Grains vs Refined Grains

Whole grains retain:

• fiber,
• nutrients,
• and slower digestion properties.

Refined grains have much of this removed.

Examples of whole grains include:

• oats,
• brown rice,
• quinoa,
• whole wheat.

When shopping, many products marketed as “whole grain” are still heavily refined.

Look for:

• “whole grain” listed as the first ingredient,
  and minimize:
  • added sugars,
  • refined flour,
  • and ultra-processed ingredients.

“Carbs Are Earned”

I often use the phrase:

“Carbs are earned.”

What I mean is:
Higher carbohydrate intake generally pairs best with higher activity levels.

This is especially true for endurance athletes.

Carbohydrates are not inherently bad—but sedentary lifestyles combined with excessive refined carbohydrate intake can become problematic for weight control.

Fruits Are Not the Enemy

Yes, fruits contain sugar—primarily fructose.

But whole fruits also contain:

• fiber,
• water,
• micronutrients,
• and low calorie density.

Fruit juice, however, removes much of the fiber and becomes far less satiating. I would categorize fruit juices under “sweets”.

Minimize Ultra-Processed Foods

Try to minimize:

• fried foods,
• sweets,
• alcohol,
• sugary snacks,
• fast food,
• processed meats,
• and highly processed packaged foods.

These foods are typically:

• calorie-dense,
• low in fiber,
• low in satiety,
• and easy to overconsume.

A simple rule I like is:

“If your great-grandmother would not recognize it as food, you probably should not eat it regularly.”

A Simple Nutrition Framework

In general:

• eat mostly whole foods,
• prioritize vegetables and fruits,
• consume adequate protein,
• choose whole grains over refined grains,
• and drink mostly water.

Health Canada’s Canada’s Food Guide is actually a very reasonable visual framework for most people.

Food Quantity and Timing

Once food quality is optimized, then you can begin refining:

• food quantity,
• and meal timing.

Hunger Is Normal

Reducing food intake can increase hunger.

And that is okay.

Hunger is not always an emergency.

Sometimes hunger simply means:

your body is in a calorie deficit.

One helpful mental shift is to stop viewing mild hunger as something purely negative.

Intermittent Fasting

One strategy for controlling calorie intake is Intermittent Fasting.

The idea is simple:
Restrict the eating window during the day.

A common starting protocol is:

16:8 fasting

For example:

• stop eating at 8 PM,
• resume eating at 12 PM the following day.

This creates:

• a 16-hour fasting window,
• and an 8-hour eating window.

During the fasting period:

• water,
• black coffee,
• and non-caloric beverages

are generally acceptable.

Initially, you will feel hungry. But over time, the body adapts surprisingly well.

As adaptation occurs:

• hunger hormones stabilize,
• fat utilization improves,
• and fasting often becomes much easier.

Some people eventually progress to:

• 18:6,
• 20:4,
• 23:1, or OMAD (“One Meal A Day”).

Personally, I often practice OMAD and usually do not begin feeling truly hungry until roughly 22 hours into the fast.

This adaptation takes time.

Exercise During Fasting

Low-intensity exercise during fasting—especially walking—can further promote fat utilization.

However:
high-intensity exercise performance may suffer during fasting because glycogen stores are lower.

This is why strategic carbohydrate intake around intense training sessions can still be beneficial.

We will discuss this more in Part 4.

Final Thoughts

This concludes the weight loss mini-series.

I have tried to simplify these concepts as much as possible without oversimplifying the science behind them.

In future posts, I plan to write in more detail about:

• reading food labels,
• tracking macros,
• meal preparation,
• grocery shopping,
• intermittent fasting,
• and what my own daily nutrition looks like,
• and much more.

Be patient.
Stay curious.
Be willing to learn.
Trust the process.

Long-term consistency almost always beats short-term perfection.

In Part 4, I will begin discussing how I got started with running—once my most dreaded activity, and now one of my greatest passions—and how you can begin your own journey as well.