Seth Robert's Shangri la diet theory adds in that foods we eat on a regular basis, we become conditioned to over-consume, because we learn to associate the flavours with the calories. So there's also to little variety, he claimed eating unfamiliar desserts would cause weight loss.

Taubes wrote about a time when doctors would prescribe bed rest to obese patients along with diet. Too little exercise, there's the other suggestion, exercise stimulates appetite and you get fat.