Evidence Base

The studies behind every answer.

Original papers. Full analysis. Every finding linked to its DOI so you can check our work.

Same calories. Different body. The study nobody's quoting. Researchers pooled 24 trials and 1,063 dieters. The protein group and the standard group ate the same number of calories — but what happened inside their bodies diverged in a way the scale never revealed. Wycherley et al. · 2012 · The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · n=1,063
The Bag of Sugar That Ends the Diet Wars Sixty-one trials and 6,925 people measured the exact extra weight you lose by cutting carbs. The number fits in one hand — and it rewrites what you thought you knew about restriction. Naude et al. · 2022 · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · n=6,925
The Metabolic Boogeyman Is One Spoonful Millions of dieters believe their metabolism crashed by hundreds of calories. A systematic review of 33 studies on 2,528 people found the real number — and it fits on a tablespoon. Nunes et al. · 2021 · British Journal of Nutrition · n=2,528
Your Scale Celebrates the Exercise That Costs You the Most Muscle A 62-study ranking of every exercise type during a calorie deficit found that the one dropping the most weight also ranked near-last for keeping muscle — and the fix contradicts universal gym advice. Xie et al. · 2025 · Frontiers in Nutrition · n=4,429
The 3.3 kg Receipt for Calorie Counting Oxford researchers put a number on the calorie counting debate across 37 studies. The answer satisfied neither side — and a finding about motivation shocked both. Hartmann-Boyce et al. · 2014 · Obesity Reviews · n=13,453
The Willpower Tax Nobody Warned You About Twelve studies tested the one thing every dieter is afraid to try. The group that pushed straight through paid a metabolic price for zero extra fat loss. Poon et al. · 2024 · Nutrition Reviews · n=881