The Weight Loss Scientist: You've Been LIED To About Calories, Dieting & Losing Weight: Giles Yeo

**Steven Bartlett** (0:00)
Do we get fatter with age? Yes.

**Giles Yeo** (0:02)
Between 20 and 50 years old, the average person will gain about 15 kilos in weight.

**Steven Bartlett** (0:08)
I don't want to be that guy. What can I do?
Okay, so Dr. Giles Yeo, he's the world leading expert on fat and how to burn it.

**Giles Yeo** (0:16)
His book is called Why Calories Don't Count. What you eat does matter.

**Steven Bartlett** (0:20)
Let's talk about how we fix the obesity, how we burn fat, how we all get into a healthy weight.

**Giles Yeo** (0:27)
Everyone's brain hates it when they lose weight. We're talking even a few pounds. It goes, this is reducing my chance of survival. The moment you stop the diet, the weight will come back on.

**Steven Bartlett** (0:36)
Calories are not accurate. What's the truth?

**Giles Yeo** (0:40)
The calorie tells you absolutely nothing, zero. So if you actually look at a stick of celery, raw, it's got only six calories. If you cook the celery, that six calories becomes 31
Understand the limitations and caveats of calorie.

**Steven Bartlett** (0:56)
Veganism. What are the general stereotypes that need addressing?

**Giles Yeo** (1:00)
Veganism, plant-based in particular, is a diet for the privileged people who can choose to do so. We do not need everyone to be vegan.

**Steven Bartlett** (1:08)
Sustainable weight loss. What is the way that you would suggest to do that? The simple way.

**Giles Yeo** (1:13)
It is the set of numbers that you can apply to whatever diet you like. So the first is...

**Steven Bartlett** (1:20)
Let's talk about something else which I feel like I was lied to about.

**Giles Yeo** (1:23)
Oh God.

**Steven Bartlett** (1:23)
Which is juice.

**Giles Yeo** (1:25)
Oh, yes.

**Steven Bartlett** (1:30)
I wanted to start this episode in a slightly different way. When I looked at the community stats last week with myself and some of my team members, we were blown away that millions of you choose to follow us right here on this app. And that for me is insane. This is the most insane privilege I've ever had in my life. A privilege I never dreamed of having to be able to sit here with these great people and have these conversations in the way that I love having them. In 2020 theory, our plans are more scary. They're bigger than ever before. More of the same, but just finding ways that we can make the conversations even better, even deeper, even more wisdom packed and actionable for everybody that listens to the show. And the way that you can continue to support us is simple. Just hit that follow button. That's on this app right now. That is the number one way that you can help this show. Thank you so much for your continued support.
Means a lot to me and we'll continue to repay that support in every way that we can.
Let's get on with it.
Giles, hello. A pleasure to sit with you. I've been a big fan of your work for a very long time, and I've consumed many of your YouTube videos, conversations you've had, interviews, and these fantastic books you've written. But I wanna start by asking you to give me a bit of an overview of your academic journey as a researcher, as a graduate of Cambridge, and an overall flavor of the work you do, the experience you have, and the expertise you have.

**Giles Yeo** (2:59)
So I'm from San Francisco. That's where I did my high school. I did my undergraduate where I studied genetics. That's what I studied as an undergrad.
Then I came to Cambridge to do my PhD.
And I worked on the genetics of the Japanese pufferfish, Fugu rupropies. I know, I know. So there's a long reason why I did that, but I was looking at molecular evolution.
And I was well-trained as a geneticist, but then I realized that genetics of pufferfish was not going to pay my mortgage. And it was at this point, I needed a job. So I finished my PhD. I went knocking on doors, actually. I didn't look at any adverts or anything. I just went to the department. I said, do you know what? I'm just going to see if anyone has a job. And the second door I knocked on was a guy named Steve O'Rutley. And he had just identified the very first obesity gene in humans when mutated caused really severe obesity. This was 1998
And I joined his lab. I was from a famous lab. I was a geneticist. He needed, he had just found the first obesity genetics genes. He needed a geneticist.