Is it really just all about the Calories?
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I've seen 3 sports nutritionists recently. All disagree. This 'calorie is a calorie' is very old school, and they all now believe the body processes calories in different ways0
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What digests faster and delivers more nutrients? Broccoli or fries?
It depends what I'm eating them with. If I'm eating the fries with a big spinach & tomato salad, and I'm eating the broccoli with a bowl of potato and cheddar soup, I'm guessing it would all work itself out pretty much the same way.
Individual foods should not be looked at like they exist in a vacuum, you need to consider the total diet.0 -
Hi everyone! I have a serious question cause I cannot find any straight answers online or from people. Is it true the only thing that generally makes you gain/lose weight are calories? This just does not make sense to me. for example, If you ate 200 calories worth of broccoli, vs 200 calories worth of fries, would you gain the same amount of weight? would you even gain weight from the broccoli? I'm so confused. I feel like diets are too calorie-based and not really nutritional based. Like is it ok to go over your calorie limit if you are going over with fruit? please help! im sorry if this is common sense to others, I am really just super confused!
it makes perfect sense when you understand that a calorie is a unit of energy and weight management is about energy consumed vs expended. when you consume energy (calories) in excess of what your body needs, that surplus of energy is stored for later use...your fat stores are like your backup generator. when you consume less energy than your body requires to function optimally, your backup generator kicks on and you burn fat to make up for that energy deficiency.
if you exceed your maintenance calories on a consistent basis, you will put on fat regardless of whether it was an apple or a slice of apple pie. keep in mind that your calorie targets on MFP aren't maintenance...if you stated that your goal was to lose weight then your calorie targets are for weight loss...so if you go over them, it's likely you're still in a deficiency of energy.
there are other variables, but by and large it's about calories. proper nutrition is a whole other matter that matters a lot.0 -
Heatherthecyclist wrote: »I've seen 3 sports nutritionists recently. All disagree. This 'calorie is a calorie' is very old school, and they all now believe the body processes calories in different ways
A calorie is a unit of measurement, Just like a mile or a pound or an inch. A pound of muscle is different than a pound of fat, but they are still both a pound. They weigh the same.
A calorie of protien may be nutritionally different than a calorie of carbs, but they are still both a calorie. They have the same amount of energy.
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Hi everyone! I have a serious question cause I cannot find any straight answers online or from people. Is it true the only thing that generally makes you gain/lose weight are calories? This just does not make sense to me. for example, If you ate 200 calories worth of broccoli, vs 200 calories worth of fries, would you gain the same amount of weight?
If your calories were otherwise the same (and above your maintenance), yeah. However, if you eat 200 calories of broccoli you might fill up much more. If you order fries and get 500 calories worth you might not be able to stop at 200 (or realize how much you are eating). That doesn't mean that calories differ, they do not, but different foods are different nutritionally and in how we react to them.would you even gain weight from the broccoli?
Yes, you can gain weight from broccoli, although no one only eats broccoli and it would be hard to overeat it if you did. But there's nothing special about broccoli that makes it's calories not count; it's simply a low calorie food, whereas fries are (usually) a high calorie food.I feel like diets are too calorie-based and not really nutritional based.
Only if you choose to make it so. For weight loss calories are what matter (along with whatever helps you keep calories in check), but it's sensible to think that nutrition also matters, both for health and because many find it easier to not overeat if they focus on nutrition (on the other hand, I know I can overeat with a nutritionally-focused diet unless I'm mindful about it).Like is it ok to go over your calorie limit if you are going over with fruit? please help! im sorry if this is common sense to others, I am really just super confused!
If you want to lose weight, it will be a problem if you consistently go over you maintenance calories or fail to keep a calorie deficit, even with fruit. If you go over your calorie goal with fruit (or anything else) you will typically lose less quickly than expected, all else equal. Again, there's nothing special about fruit that makes their calories not count.
That said, while fruit has more calories than vegetables, typically, I still find it pretty filling for the calories and choosing some berries vs. some cookies will likely result in fewer calories (but doesn't help if you still want the cookies and so end up eating them too).0 -
Heatherthecyclist wrote: »I've seen 3 sports nutritionists recently. All disagree. This 'calorie is a calorie' is very old school, and they all now believe the body processes calories in different ways
They would do, telling you the truth means they would get less money out of you. It is all about calories in versus calories out. Very simple.0 -
Heatherthecyclist wrote: »I've seen 3 sports nutritionists recently. All disagree. This 'calorie is a calorie' is very old school, and they all now believe the body processes calories in different ways
did they expound on this?0 -
My understanding is that broccoli uses more energy to digest than fries.0
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I thought this might be an interesting article for people to read, that has sources at the bottom regarding calories and the source of them. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/is-a-calorie-a-calorie.html0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »
This.
The main difference between broccoli and fries is going to be the total calories and the nutrients they provide. That broccoli may have 15% fewer calories than you thought, once TEF is considered, and fries only 5% fewer, assuming all else is equal, of course, isn't a big deal within the context of a normal healthy diet.0 -
I just want to add that I am dealing with a medical issue. And it causes severe food intolerance. And I lost too much weight. I'm apparently eating high calories. But, it's all vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, quinoa, garbanzo beans, coconut. I think most people would prefer lower calories and different foods.0
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^^ It never ends because people will never give up hope in finding a shortcut to weight loss, or being able to eat more and still lose weight.
OP: go see a fourth nutritionist because the first three are fools trying to sell you a magic elixir.0 -
My understanding is that broccoli uses more energy to digest than fries.
Both are primarily carb-based foods, so the TEF would be nearly the same. The broccoli may have a slight edge due to the fat in the fries (fat has a lower TEF than carbs), but the difference would be negligible. Protein has the highest TEF by far, being around 25%. So 4 oz. of tuna would take much more energy to digest than 4 oz. of broccoli or 4 oz. of fries. But in the end, it's still almost negligible and doesn't discount the fact that CICO is all that matters when speaking purely in terms of weight loss.0 -
I thought this might be an interesting article for people to read, that has sources at the bottom regarding calories and the source of them. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/is-a-calorie-a-calorie.html
this is primarily talking about TEF and also that certain calories (from things like fiber) are not able to be absorbed by the body. in a real world scenario, you're not talking about a whole lot and it even mentions that longer term studies show little to know difference in one's ability to lose or maintain weight.
the other ridiculousness about these threads is that it's always one extreme compared to another...again, not a real world scenario...nobody is going to eat nothing but broccoli or nothing but french fries and either scenario would result in nutritional deficiencies.
people should just focus on eating a varied, balanced, and nutritionally awesome diet most of the time and not sweat that slice of pizza here and there. when you're doing that, things like TEF and whether or not you're going to poop out more broccoli or absorb a french fry become pretty silly.0 -
all calories are the same from an energy standpoint; however, they are not all the same nutritionally. So in your example 200 calories of broccoli = 200 calories for fries; however, they do not contain the same nutritional content.
general rule of thumb..
straight calorie deficit for weight loss.
macro/micro adherence, strict logging, and structured lifting regimen for body recomposition goals.0 -
I was just providing a link to a study on the differences and they agree that it really is all about the calories.
I just thought it was interesting that they did studies, they even put obese people in a locked room and varied only the macros in the calories of their meals and they lost the same amount of weight. It shows that calories really are all that matter in the long run. Unless of course you have some medical problem and then talk to your doctor. 0 -
A calorie is a calorie. The one difference is how your body processes that calorie to break it down into the most basic form of sugar. There are three glucose, galactose, and fructose. Those are your monosaccharide sugars.
I have a condition called Pcos which I'm sure many on here are familiar with. It's an endocrine disorder and affects how my body breaks down sugar. I'm what's called insulin resistant. My body does not use the insulin that my pancreas produces properly. Therefore, I end up storing most sugar as fat because my body doesn't break it down. I think that is where these nutritionists are trying to go, but if your body is healthy, it doesn't matter.
Understanding how and what your body breaks down for energy is something to maybe get knowledgeable on. How your body uses that energy for metabolism is also interesting. It might give you a better understanding of why nutrition is important.0
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