A comment on feedback control systems

There is an article in the New York Times today attacking the myth that reducing food intake by 100 calories a day will result in the loss of a pound a month. The body has homeostatic processes which interfere with such a simple relationship.

Would you believe that if the ambient temperature were to increase by one degree for a month, then your body temperature would increase? Of course not.

The point being that simple models fail to explain the functions of systems that include feedback control.

Fortunately, if you can increase your base metabolism rate, you can make it easier to lose weight or to eat more while not gaining weight.