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A quick refresher on a calorie is a calorie ....

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Replies

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    priorities..

    1. straight calorie deficit for weight loss.
    2. make sure that you get adequate nutirtion
    3. make sure that you meet macronutrient needs
    4. fill in rest of calories with foods that one enjoys

    the end
  • Lovee_Dove7
    Lovee_Dove7 Posts: 742 Member
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    I'd suggest some reading:
    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/iifym-and-flexible-nutrition-interview-with-dr-layne-norton.html
    http://www.simplyshredded.com/research-review-the-dirt-on-clean-eating-written-by-nutrition-expert-alan-aragon.html
    https://www.biolayne.com/articles/nutrition/guest-biolayne-blog-post-how-to-recover-from-clean-eating-by-mike-samuels/
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,009 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    The issue I see is that some of us use the terminology differently, regardless of what the technical meaning is. People I know IRL do speak of low nutrient dense food such as sugary foods as being "empty calories". I don't think it's that they believe the body can't utilize energy from it, but it's considered "empty" because apart from simply providing pure calories/macros, there's not much other nutritional benefit (in general). So from that standpoint, in common language it could be said that a "calorie is not a calorie", even though of course from a scientific perspective a calorie is a calorie.

    not sure why you are conflating nutrition with energy ...calories provide energy and nutrition, so if one eats sugar it is not empty because the calories provide nutrition ....
    As I said, in casual conversation IRL people don't equate things the same way. So since sugar is not a source of nutrients other than pure carbs, people say it's "empty".
    Wether or not one "equates" it the same way does not change what it is...
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    The foods you eat make up the macros and micros. But as stated before, it doesn't matter how good your foods are, if you aren't creating the correct metabolic environment.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,009 Member
    The point of the pyramid is that it is useless to focus so much attention on macros if one does not have their calories in order. It is useless to focus so much attention on micros of one does not have their calories and macros in order. It is useless to focus on supplements if one does not have their calories, macros and micros in order and so on and so forth...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    J72FIT wrote: »
    The point of the pyramid is that it is useless to focus so much attention on macros if one does not have their calories in order. It is useless to focus so much attention on micros of one does not have their calories and macros in order. It is useless to focus on supplements if one does not have their calories, macros and micros in order and so on and so forth...

    this
  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    One correction, not all of those are universally true. There are people on this board who have lost 40 lbs but had worse blood panels due to their diet they followed. And no matter how much weight I lose or how fit I get, my LDL's don't change.. And my BP and HR have never changed, whether I was 220 or 175.

    But generally, all of those are true.
    Agreed.

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    That's the point of the chart. I don't see a disagreement, really.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.

    i would still like to know why that person thinks that hamburger is bad but salmon is good....I am pretty sure that the fat and protein content of salmon is about the same as a burger....I would guess that salmon has more fat...
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.

    i would still like to know why that person thinks that hamburger is bad but salmon is good....I am pretty sure that the fat and protein content of salmon is about the same as a burger....I would guess that salmon has more fat...

    I think they are both healthy, but I would suspect it's because the fish is unsaturated fats and has omega 3 which have been linked to the lowering of cholesterol. But as you started, total diet context is much more important than the individual components.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.

    i would still like to know why that person thinks that hamburger is bad but salmon is good....I am pretty sure that the fat and protein content of salmon is about the same as a burger....I would guess that salmon has more fat...

    These omega 3s?
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    edited March 2016
    senecarr wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.

    i would still like to know why that person thinks that hamburger is bad but salmon is good....I am pretty sure that the fat and protein content of salmon is about the same as a burger....I would guess that salmon has more fat...

    These omega 3s?

    that was my guess...but that does not automatically make a burger "bad".....
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    senecarr wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.

    i would still like to know why that person thinks that hamburger is bad but salmon is good....I am pretty sure that the fat and protein content of salmon is about the same as a burger....I would guess that salmon has more fat...

    These omega 3s?

    that was my guess...but that does not automatically make a burger "bad".....

    I'd agree, and if it did, would it mean cracking open a fish oil pill and sprinkling it on the burger suddenly makes the burger "good"?
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    senecarr wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    senecarr wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.

    i would still like to know why that person thinks that hamburger is bad but salmon is good....I am pretty sure that the fat and protein content of salmon is about the same as a burger....I would guess that salmon has more fat...

    These omega 3s?

    that was my guess...but that does not automatically make a burger "bad".....

    I'd agree, and if it did, would it mean cracking open a fish oil pill and sprinkling it on the burger suddenly makes the burger "good"?

    LOL or take a fish oil pill after eating your burger?

    this is the main crux of the this is good and bad fallacy...
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    edited March 2016
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    trinty425 wrote: »
    I am really on board with it is not just how many calories you eat....but what kind of calories that really matters!

    What gets confused is that what you are saying here really has nothing to do with calories. Of course what foods you include in your overall diet matters, but that has nothing to do with calories (calorie is not simply a synonym for food, as some seem to use it, but a unit of measurement).

    So I'd say that two things are really important: (1) eating the correct amount of calories for your goals; and (2) eating a diet that covers your nutrient needs and serves your goals in terms of satiety and macro mix. Do (2) well may help out with (1), of course.

    But none of this contradicts the true statement that a calorie is a calorie (like a lb is a lb). People often seem intent on interpreting a calorie is a calorie as meaning there are no differences between foods (a food is a food), but of course that's not what it means (any more than a lb of gold is the same price as a lb of cat litter).
    I quit drinking soda and iced coffees because I realized I was just drinking sugar....and it was "wasted calories". They didn't give me nutrition....they didn't help me fill full. I feel much better eating a fresh salad with a tiny amount of dressing...than drinking a soda.

    I love iced coffee (I drink it black). Almost no calories and it does help me feel full, sometimes.

    For me, soda with calories would be wasted calories, as I wouldn't enjoy them, but I'd say that it's a false dichotomy to pit eating food high in nutrients vs. those maybe with fewer nutrients and more calories. I can eat a sensible, filling diet and still fit in some foods that are chosen simply for pleasure (or mostly), like cheese or chocolate.

    I agree with all of the above! Except that a lb is a lb. Because a lb is not always a lb unless you're specific about it. There are lb-m and lb-f (pound mass and pound force) and while we are on Earth they are they same, technically that isn't true in other locations. Actually... I guess it even depends on how far below/above sea level the comparisons are being made too...
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,009 Member
    VeryKatie wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    trinty425 wrote: »
    I am really on board with it is not just how many calories you eat....but what kind of calories that really matters!

    What gets confused is that what you are saying here really has nothing to do with calories. Of course what foods you include in your overall diet matters, but that has nothing to do with calories (calorie is not simply a synonym for food, as some seem to use it, but a unit of measurement).

    So I'd say that two things are really important: (1) eating the correct amount of calories for your goals; and (2) eating a diet that covers your nutrient needs and serves your goals in terms of satiety and macro mix. Do (2) well may help out with (1), of course.

    But none of this contradicts the true statement that a calorie is a calorie (like a lb is a lb). People often seem intent on interpreting a calorie is a calorie as meaning there are no differences between foods (a food is a food), but of course that's not what it means (any more than a lb of gold is the same price as a lb of cat litter).
    I quit drinking soda and iced coffees because I realized I was just drinking sugar....and it was "wasted calories". They didn't give me nutrition....they didn't help me fill full. I feel much better eating a fresh salad with a tiny amount of dressing...than drinking a soda.

    I love iced coffee (I drink it black). Almost no calories and it does help me feel full, sometimes.

    For me, soda with calories would be wasted calories, as I wouldn't enjoy them, but I'd say that it's a false dichotomy to pit eating food high in nutrients vs. those maybe with fewer nutrients and more calories. I can eat a sensible, filling diet and still fit in some foods that are chosen simply for pleasure (or mostly), like cheese or chocolate.

    I agree with all of the above! Except that a lb is a lb. Because a lb is not always a lb unless you're specific about it. There are lb-m and lb-f (pound mass and pound force) and while we are on Earth they are they same, technically that isn't true in other locations. Actually... I guess it even depends on how far below/above sea level the comparisons are being made too...
    Majoring in the minor...
  • vivmom2014
    vivmom2014 Posts: 1,649 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.

    i would still like to know why that person thinks that hamburger is bad but salmon is good....I am pretty sure that the fat and protein content of salmon is about the same as a burger....I would guess that salmon has more fat...

    And what's wrong with white rice? Why is it always demonized?

  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,009 Member
    vivmom2014 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.

    i would still like to know why that person thinks that hamburger is bad but salmon is good....I am pretty sure that the fat and protein content of salmon is about the same as a burger....I would guess that salmon has more fat...

    And what's wrong with white rice? Why is it always demonized?
    Yep!
  • vivmom2014
    vivmom2014 Posts: 1,649 Member
    J72FIT wrote: »
    vivmom2014 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.

    i would still like to know why that person thinks that hamburger is bad but salmon is good....I am pretty sure that the fat and protein content of salmon is about the same as a burger....I would guess that salmon has more fat...

    And what's wrong with white rice? Why is it always demonized?
    Yep!

    I know it's that whole "stay away from white flour, rice, pasta" nonsense. Really tiresome.

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    VeryKatie wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    trinty425 wrote: »
    I am really on board with it is not just how many calories you eat....but what kind of calories that really matters!

    What gets confused is that what you are saying here really has nothing to do with calories. Of course what foods you include in your overall diet matters, but that has nothing to do with calories (calorie is not simply a synonym for food, as some seem to use it, but a unit of measurement).

    So I'd say that two things are really important: (1) eating the correct amount of calories for your goals; and (2) eating a diet that covers your nutrient needs and serves your goals in terms of satiety and macro mix. Do (2) well may help out with (1), of course.

    But none of this contradicts the true statement that a calorie is a calorie (like a lb is a lb). People often seem intent on interpreting a calorie is a calorie as meaning there are no differences between foods (a food is a food), but of course that's not what it means (any more than a lb of gold is the same price as a lb of cat litter).
    I quit drinking soda and iced coffees because I realized I was just drinking sugar....and it was "wasted calories". They didn't give me nutrition....they didn't help me fill full. I feel much better eating a fresh salad with a tiny amount of dressing...than drinking a soda.

    I love iced coffee (I drink it black). Almost no calories and it does help me feel full, sometimes.

    For me, soda with calories would be wasted calories, as I wouldn't enjoy them, but I'd say that it's a false dichotomy to pit eating food high in nutrients vs. those maybe with fewer nutrients and more calories. I can eat a sensible, filling diet and still fit in some foods that are chosen simply for pleasure (or mostly), like cheese or chocolate.

    I agree with all of the above! Except that a lb is a lb. Because a lb is not always a lb unless you're specific about it. There are lb-m and lb-f (pound mass and pound force) and while we are on Earth they are they same, technically that isn't true in other locations. Actually... I guess it even depends on how far below/above sea level the comparisons are being made too...

    Heh, fair enough!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    vivmom2014 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.

    i would still like to know why that person thinks that hamburger is bad but salmon is good....I am pretty sure that the fat and protein content of salmon is about the same as a burger....I would guess that salmon has more fat...

    And what's wrong with white rice? Why is it always demonized?

    #allricematters
  • Mapalicious
    Mapalicious Posts: 412 Member
    edited March 2016
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    senecarr wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    trinty425 wrote: »
    I am really on board with it is not just how many calories you eat....but what kind of calories that really matters! I quit drinking soda and iced coffees because I realized I was just drinking sugar....and it was "wasted calories". They didn't give me nutrition....they didn't help me fill full. I feel much better eating a fresh salad with a tiny amount of dressing...than drinking a soda.

    all calories provide energy, and they cannot be wasted....

    @ndj1979 when someone puts quotation marks around words, as this person did with "wasted calories" it is called using SCARE QUOTES. It is a literary tool that allows the author to convey to the reader that what is within the quotes is being used in a "non-standard, ironic, or otherwise special sense" (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes ).

    I would venture to guess you know quite well what @trinty425 was meaning to convey, as you can read on to understand exactly what they meant when using the scare quotes, because they describe it in the next sentence: "They didn't give me nutrition...they didn't help me fill [sic] full."

    Unless you just enjoy arguing for the sake of argument, in which case you are free to continue to perform that role however obnoxious this lemur may find it to be.

    If you believe NDJ already understood all that, isn't your pedantry really just avoiding understanding what NDJ said? The idea that calories aren't nutrition in and of themselves is a case of First World Problems - no longer having the concern of starvation as the ultimate form of dietary deficiency.

    Anytime anyone says anything about CICO, calories vs. nutrition, starvation mode myth, or cleanses/detoxes, a predictable host of people come out of the woodwork who comment in antagonistic, curt, demeaning ways. They pounce on any hint of a mis-spoken word about these debates that get rehashed here, honestly, ever flipping day. These MFP forums are chock-full of people who take these kind of statements and argue with them interminably, in a sort of red-blooded posturing. I find it the most obnoxious and unhelpful behavior. Are they hoping to deter people from reaching out for help, by answering so smugly?

    Additionally...I don't "believe NDJ already understood that" - I "venture to guess that" perhaps he knew and clarified in case he didn't.

    Yes, they are 1st world problems. I live in the 1st world and thus suffer it's problems, as do the majority of MFP-ers. There is nothing wrong with trying to get a nice range of nutrients in your diet merely because we live in the 1st world. That, and I *kitten**ng love broccoli and eat the stuff like it was going out of style. I am not sure what point you were trying to make here.
    if it bothers you so much, then maybe you should stop coming in here before you suffer a major heart attack ....you seem to take this MFP/internet stuff way too seriously...

    I'm pretty chill about it, but thank you for your concern, I think?

    This is not just a "debate" forum, it's a help forum as well. I can have an analysis about haughty replies that I think are more about self-aggrandizing posturing than actually wanting to help & educate people, without having a myocardial infarction - thank goodness!
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    J72FIT wrote: »
    VeryKatie wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    trinty425 wrote: »
    I am really on board with it is not just how many calories you eat....but what kind of calories that really matters!

    What gets confused is that what you are saying here really has nothing to do with calories. Of course what foods you include in your overall diet matters, but that has nothing to do with calories (calorie is not simply a synonym for food, as some seem to use it, but a unit of measurement).

    So I'd say that two things are really important: (1) eating the correct amount of calories for your goals; and (2) eating a diet that covers your nutrient needs and serves your goals in terms of satiety and macro mix. Do (2) well may help out with (1), of course.

    But none of this contradicts the true statement that a calorie is a calorie (like a lb is a lb). People often seem intent on interpreting a calorie is a calorie as meaning there are no differences between foods (a food is a food), but of course that's not what it means (any more than a lb of gold is the same price as a lb of cat litter).
    I quit drinking soda and iced coffees because I realized I was just drinking sugar....and it was "wasted calories". They didn't give me nutrition....they didn't help me fill full. I feel much better eating a fresh salad with a tiny amount of dressing...than drinking a soda.

    I love iced coffee (I drink it black). Almost no calories and it does help me feel full, sometimes.

    For me, soda with calories would be wasted calories, as I wouldn't enjoy them, but I'd say that it's a false dichotomy to pit eating food high in nutrients vs. those maybe with fewer nutrients and more calories. I can eat a sensible, filling diet and still fit in some foods that are chosen simply for pleasure (or mostly), like cheese or chocolate.

    I agree with all of the above! Except that a lb is a lb. Because a lb is not always a lb unless you're specific about it. There are lb-m and lb-f (pound mass and pound force) and while we are on Earth they are they same, technically that isn't true in other locations. Actually... I guess it even depends on how far below/above sea level the comparisons are being made too...
    Majoring in the minor...

    AKA making a funny - a really nerdy funny...
  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
    VeryKatie wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    trinty425 wrote: »
    I am really on board with it is not just how many calories you eat....but what kind of calories that really matters!

    What gets confused is that what you are saying here really has nothing to do with calories. Of course what foods you include in your overall diet matters, but that has nothing to do with calories (calorie is not simply a synonym for food, as some seem to use it, but a unit of measurement).

    So I'd say that two things are really important: (1) eating the correct amount of calories for your goals; and (2) eating a diet that covers your nutrient needs and serves your goals in terms of satiety and macro mix. Do (2) well may help out with (1), of course.

    But none of this contradicts the true statement that a calorie is a calorie (like a lb is a lb). People often seem intent on interpreting a calorie is a calorie as meaning there are no differences between foods (a food is a food), but of course that's not what it means (any more than a lb of gold is the same price as a lb of cat litter).
    I quit drinking soda and iced coffees because I realized I was just drinking sugar....and it was "wasted calories". They didn't give me nutrition....they didn't help me fill full. I feel much better eating a fresh salad with a tiny amount of dressing...than drinking a soda.

    I love iced coffee (I drink it black). Almost no calories and it does help me feel full, sometimes.

    For me, soda with calories would be wasted calories, as I wouldn't enjoy them, but I'd say that it's a false dichotomy to pit eating food high in nutrients vs. those maybe with fewer nutrients and more calories. I can eat a sensible, filling diet and still fit in some foods that are chosen simply for pleasure (or mostly), like cheese or chocolate.

    I agree with all of the above! Except that a lb is a lb. Because a lb is not always a lb unless you're specific about it. There are lb-m and lb-f (pound mass and pound force) and while we are on Earth they are they same, technically that isn't true in other locations. Actually... I guess it even depends on how far below/above sea level the comparisons are being made too...
    Good point. When we weight food, we're either measuring the mass of the food or the force being exerted. This is basic physics.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    vivmom2014 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Does dietary composition affect how calories are absorbed? Absolutely.
    Does TEF change with diet composition? Yep.
    Does processing and ageing and cooking impact food calorie availability? Of course.
    Do the Atwater constants miscalculate basic available calorie amounts for certain foods? You betcha.

    Does any of the above really matter? Nope.

    In a generally consistent diet, one will always be more successful focusing on creating a standard trackable calorie deficit, than focusing on the minors.

    "A calorie is a calorie" is good guidance, if not 100% exact.

    I find the pyramid of priorities by Helms to be useful (even if I don't agree 100% on some of them)
    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutrition-Priorities.png

    What really bothers me about this is the word PRIORITIES.
    WHOSE priorities? WHAT priorities?
    If your priority is a scale number, then DEFICIT IS ALL YOU NEED.
    You'll lose weight......of some sort!!!
    You'll get results......a lower number on the scale. BUT I hope you like the results on your body, because a deficit doesn't mean you get the body composition you want, or improved blood sugar readings, or better blood pressure, or better moods, or better sleep.......It just means you'll lose weight.

    Actually, weight loss alone will do all those things if you had problems with them before.
    Losing weight will make you lose fat and the more fat you have the higher the ratio of fat loss to LBM loss is.
    Losing weight will improve your blood readings, including blood glucose and insulin sensitivity.
    It will improve blood pressure if the high blood pressure was caused by being overfat.
    It will improve mood if it was caused by hormone imbalance because losing weight improves your hormone profile.
    Better sleep if it was caused by pressure on your torso causing apnea? Hell yeah losing weight will improve that.

    It can, and I hope it does. But macros and types of food (quinoa vs. white rice, or hamburger and fries vs salmon and wild rice for example) are available to manipulate so you can maximize YOUR results based on your own body and how it's responding to what you are doing.

    no, actually what matters is the context of ones overall diet and that one is hitting micro and macro goals..

    IF you eat a hamburger for lunch and you still meet your protein and fat minimums,and get adequate nutrition for the day, there is nothing wrong with that.

    and why are you implying that hamburger is bad but salmon is good? They both provide fat and protein ....

    This. A single choice will change nothing about your overall outcome. It's the nutrition of the diet as a whole if you're into minmaxing your results.
    But to just get results, reducing calories and not having a batshit insane idea of what foods you should eat in that deficit is all that's needed.

    i would still like to know why that person thinks that hamburger is bad but salmon is good....I am pretty sure that the fat and protein content of salmon is about the same as a burger....I would guess that salmon has more fat...

    And what's wrong with white rice? Why is it always demonized?

    because fast absorbing carbs...
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    VeryKatie wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    trinty425 wrote: »
    I am really on board with it is not just how many calories you eat....but what kind of calories that really matters!

    What gets confused is that what you are saying here really has nothing to do with calories. Of course what foods you include in your overall diet matters, but that has nothing to do with calories (calorie is not simply a synonym for food, as some seem to use it, but a unit of measurement).

    So I'd say that two things are really important: (1) eating the correct amount of calories for your goals; and (2) eating a diet that covers your nutrient needs and serves your goals in terms of satiety and macro mix. Do (2) well may help out with (1), of course.

    But none of this contradicts the true statement that a calorie is a calorie (like a lb is a lb). People often seem intent on interpreting a calorie is a calorie as meaning there are no differences between foods (a food is a food), but of course that's not what it means (any more than a lb of gold is the same price as a lb of cat litter).
    I quit drinking soda and iced coffees because I realized I was just drinking sugar....and it was "wasted calories". They didn't give me nutrition....they didn't help me fill full. I feel much better eating a fresh salad with a tiny amount of dressing...than drinking a soda.

    I love iced coffee (I drink it black). Almost no calories and it does help me feel full, sometimes.

    For me, soda with calories would be wasted calories, as I wouldn't enjoy them, but I'd say that it's a false dichotomy to pit eating food high in nutrients vs. those maybe with fewer nutrients and more calories. I can eat a sensible, filling diet and still fit in some foods that are chosen simply for pleasure (or mostly), like cheese or chocolate.

    I agree with all of the above! Except that a lb is a lb. Because a lb is not always a lb unless you're specific about it. There are lb-m and lb-f (pound mass and pound force) and while we are on Earth they are they same, technically that isn't true in other locations. Actually... I guess it even depends on how far below/above sea level the comparisons are being made too...
    Good point. When we weight food, we're either measuring the mass of the food or the force being exerted. This is basic physics.

    Katie was joking (not saying she was wrong, of course). What point are you making? I'm not following.
  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Afura wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    trinty425 wrote: »
    I am really on board with it is not just how many calories you eat....but what kind of calories that really matters! I quit drinking soda and iced coffees because I realized I was just drinking sugar....and it was "wasted calories". They didn't give me nutrition....they didn't help me fill full. I feel much better eating a fresh salad with a tiny amount of dressing...than drinking a soda.

    This strikes me as kind of an odd comparison. Do people really choose to eat a salad instead of drink a beverage? Right now, I just got back from a walk. I'm thirsty. I'm considering a diet coke or water. It never occurred to me that maybe I should go eat some lettuce instead. Salad doesn't really quench my thirst...
    It's not a matter of quenching thirst, it's a matter of what will give you better satiety, eating 200 calories of vegetables, or 200 calories of a soft/flavored drink/altered coffee (cream, sugar, etc). Some people choose not to use their calories with drinks.

    I guess, I don't know. It just still seems odd. It seems like a better comparison would be a 200 calorie latte vs drinking black coffee. Or eating 200 cals of salad vs 200 cals of potato chips. Food compared to food. Drinks compared to drinks. When I'm hungry, I don't think of getting a coke. When I'm thirsty I don't think about eating a big mac.
    I'm not disagreeing that the comparison wasn't really odd, I just get (or at least I think I get) what she meant by it. She feels better eating a 60 calorie salad vs a 200 calorie honey bun, or water with lemon instead of a coke. :smile:
    But now..now I'm thinking about secret sauce.
This discussion has been closed.