| | Author's Note | p. ix |
| | Introduction: The Original Sin | p. 3 |
| | Biology, Not Physics | |
| | Why Were They Fat? | p. 15 |
| | Head Cases | p. 80 |
| | A Primer on the Regulation of Fat | p. 112 |
| | Injustice Collecting | p. 140 |
| | A Historical Digression on the Fattening Carbohydrate | p. 148 |
| | The Nature of a Healthy Diet | p. 173 |
| | Appendix | p. 219 |
| | Acknowledgments | p. 227 |
| | Sources | p. 229 |
| | The Elusive Benefits of Undereating | p. 33 |
| | The Laws of Adiposity | p. 89 |
| | Meat or Plants? | p. 163 |
| | The Elusive Benefits of Exercise | p. 40 |
| | The Significance of Twenty Calories a Day | p. 57 |
| | Thermodynamics for Dummies, Part 2 | p. 77 |
| | A Historical Digression on "Lipophilia" | p. 106 |
| | Why I Get Fat and You Don't (or Vice Versa) | p. 127 |
| | Why Me? Why There? Why Then? | p. 62 |
| | Following Through | p. 201 |
| | Thermodynamics for Dummies, Part 1 | p. 72 |
| | Why Diets Succeed and Fail | p. 144 |
| | Adiposity | p. 101 |
| | What We Can Do | p. 134 |
| | Illustration Credits | p. 247 |
| | Index | p. 249 |