Are all calories created equal?

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  • RollTideTri
    RollTideTri Posts: 116 Member
    edited March 2016
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    NA1979 wrote: »
    I suppose though, although a calorie is a calorie, depending on what look you go for aesthetically, surely it must matter, if I wanted to lean out to say 10% bodyfat looking like a muscular athlete, than the type of food I eat should matter or shouldn't it? So someone who worked out and ate clean, would they look any different from someone who worked out and ate dirty but the same calories?

    Nope. If you eat at a deficit, your body fat % will go down. Anyone with a low body fat % will look muscular, even if they're not particularly strong.

    A calorie is a calorie for weight loss. But they can be quite different for things like how bloated you get, how hungry or satisfied you are throughout the day, which nutrients you get, blood pressure, blood sugar, etc.

    I could lose weight and get down to 10% body fat eating nothing but Snickers Bars (In theory). Of course I'd be hungry and miserable all the time because that volume of food wouldn't be satisfying or filling enough to me.

    I don't eat veggies because they're "clean" I eat them because they have nutrients I need and they fill me up without using up my daily calories.
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
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    Here's the thing about
    NA1979 wrote: »

    Damn them people and their good genetics and fast metabolisms!

    Here's the thing about metabolism... The more you weigh, the faster it is. You want to speed it up? Gain weight. It doesn't matter if it is from fat or muscle. This is the reason why it gets harder to lose weight near the end of your goal. You have to eat even less or work harder.
  • lthur714
    lthur714 Posts: 105 Member
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    NA1979 wrote: »
    Hello everyone, I'm sure this has been answered a million times before, but is a calorie a calorie? Would I lose the same weight eating 2000kcal of burger king a day compared to 2000kcal of healthy foods?

    Also, once that burger is down you're going to be hungry again cause you ate the bun and the carbs and the calorie count of that burger is probably going to be more than half of what you can have in a whole day? So.....what do you think now? I heard on TV recently that if you eat 80% food-that-your=body-knows-what-it-is and 20% indulgences, then you're doing pretty good.
  • lthur714
    lthur714 Posts: 105 Member
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    dewd2 wrote: »
    Here's the thing about
    NA1979 wrote: »

    Damn them people and their good genetics and fast metabolisms!

    Here's the thing about metabolism... The more you weigh, the faster it is. You want to speed it up? Gain weight. It doesn't matter if it is from fat or muscle. This is the reason why it gets harder to lose weight near the end of your goal. You have to eat even less or work harder.

    I don't think that is true. My metabolism was faster when I was younger. Now that I'm 67, it takes me 4 hours to metabolize a little Benadryl tablet (I know when it starts cause it begins to make me sleepy). Years ago, I'd get sleepy at 30 min and I weighed 80 pounds less.
  • lthur714
    lthur714 Posts: 105 Member
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    dewd2 wrote: »
    Here's the thing about
    NA1979 wrote: »

    Damn them people and their good genetics and fast metabolisms!

    Here's the thing about metabolism... The more you weigh, the faster it is. You want to speed it up? Gain weight. It doesn't matter if it is from fat or muscle. This is the reason why it gets harder to lose weight near the end of your goal. You have to eat even less or work harder.

    If you're a man, then you've got it over all us ladies. God designed it so that it's harder for us to lose weight cause he thinks we gotta keep from starving just in case we have a baby. Yea, us...sigh...
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    lthur714 wrote: »
    dewd2 wrote: »
    Here's the thing about
    NA1979 wrote: »

    Damn them people and their good genetics and fast metabolisms!

    Here's the thing about metabolism... The more you weigh, the faster it is. You want to speed it up? Gain weight. It doesn't matter if it is from fat or muscle. This is the reason why it gets harder to lose weight near the end of your goal. You have to eat even less or work harder.

    I don't think that is true. My metabolism was faster when I was younger. Now that I'm 67, it takes me 4 hours to metabolize a little Benadryl tablet (I know when it starts cause it begins to make me sleepy). Years ago, I'd get sleepy at 30 min and I weighed 80 pounds less.

    You're confusing absorptive processes with energy metabolism.

    You might have a lower metabolism now than at a younger age but it would be based on total lean body mass and, yes, weight - not on how fast you absorb diphenhydramine.

    Because of your age, you should not be using this drug, please discuss with your physician at the earliest possible date for a different antihistamine. It is on the Beers List.
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
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    lthur714 wrote: »
    NA1979 wrote: »
    Hello everyone, I'm sure this has been answered a million times before, but is a calorie a calorie? Would I lose the same weight eating 2000kcal of burger king a day compared to 2000kcal of healthy foods?

    Also, once that burger is down you're going to be hungry again cause you ate the bun and the carbs and the calorie count of that burger is probably going to be more than half of what you can have in a whole day? So.....what do you think now? I heard on TV recently that if you eat 80% food-that-your=body-knows-what-it-is and 20% indulgences, then you're doing pretty good.

    I find a burger fills me up quite nicely. Your blanket statement is not true for everyone.

    Also, you body knows what all the foods it ingests are.
    lthur714 wrote: »
    dewd2 wrote: »
    Here's the thing about
    NA1979 wrote: »

    Damn them people and their good genetics and fast metabolisms!

    Here's the thing about metabolism... The more you weigh, the faster it is. You want to speed it up? Gain weight. It doesn't matter if it is from fat or muscle. This is the reason why it gets harder to lose weight near the end of your goal. You have to eat even less or work harder.

    I don't think that is true. My metabolism was faster when I was younger. Now that I'm 67, it takes me 4 hours to metabolize a little Benadryl tablet (I know when it starts cause it begins to make me sleepy). Years ago, I'd get sleepy at 30 min and I weighed 80 pounds less.

    The pharmacokinetic properties of a drug has nothing to do with dietary related metabolism.
  • mjrkearney
    mjrkearney Posts: 408 Member
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    This all sounds far too complicated for a casual website.

    From a straight thermodynamic perspective, yes, a calorie is a calorie. Yes, you can lose all the weight you want if you eat nothing but fast food at a caloric deficit. You can also get scurvy that way. Or severe muscle cramps. Or diabetes. Which are nowhere near the same severity, but all deal with specific nutrients you don't necessarily get from a "crap" diet.

    Find the diet and exercise regimen that works best for you, and roll with it.
  • VividVegan
    VividVegan Posts: 200 Member
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    Yes although what you eat is important, and make sure to exercise. My friend counts calories while eating junk and not exercising. She's thin and soft. To the person who claimed that calorie reduction will make you look muscular, um not always lol.
  • ClosetBayesian
    ClosetBayesian Posts: 836 Member
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    mjrkearney wrote: »
    This all sounds far too complicated for a casual website.

    From a straight thermodynamic perspective, yes, a calorie is a calorie. Yes, you can lose all the weight you want if you eat nothing but fast food at a caloric deficit. You can also get scurvy that way. Or severe muscle cramps. Or diabetes. Which are nowhere near the same severity, but all deal with specific nutrients you don't necessarily get from a "crap" diet.

    Find the diet and exercise regimen that works best for you, and roll with it.

    Really? This guy http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-lose-weight-eating-only-mcdonalds-2015-10 lost 60lbs and had saw an improvement in his blood work. Not all fast food is nutritionally empty.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    Losing weight does not matter if your sick or dead. A calorie is just a measure of energy. Nutritional differences between macdonalds fries and baked sweet potato is huge! You do the math!

    How huge is this difference? I am having trouble with the math.
  • ClosetBayesian
    ClosetBayesian Posts: 836 Member
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    Losing weight does not matter if your sick or dead. A calorie is just a measure of energy. Nutritional differences between macdonalds fries and baked sweet potato is huge! You do the math!

    Please provide nutritional information to support your claim.
  • ClosetBayesian
    ClosetBayesian Posts: 836 Member
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    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Losing weight does not matter if your sick or dead. A calorie is just a measure of energy. Nutritional differences between macdonalds fries and baked sweet potato is huge! You do the math!

    How huge is this difference? I am having trouble with the math.

    Oh hai :)
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Losing weight does not matter if your sick or dead. A calorie is just a measure of energy. Nutritional differences between macdonalds fries and baked sweet potato is huge! You do the math!

    How huge is this difference? I am having trouble with the math.

    Oh hai :)

    You are good with math, what say you?
  • JuliaHaleFitness
    JuliaHaleFitness Posts: 56 Member
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    A calorie is a calorie, but your body doesn't respond to calories they same way. For example, your body uses more energy (calories) to breakdown protein than it does carbs or fat. Also, your body doesn't recognize calories from junk food the way it recognizes calories from real, whole, unprocessed clean food. Because most of the time junk food has artificial colors, flavors and additives as well as other substances your body isn't made to handle! Give it calories that are from amazing foods and it will do amazing things for you.
  • ClosetBayesian
    ClosetBayesian Posts: 836 Member
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    A calorie is a calorie, but your body doesn't respond to calories they same way. For example, your body uses more energy (calories) to breakdown protein than it does carbs or fat. Also, your body doesn't recognize calories from junk food the way it recognizes calories from real, whole, unprocessed clean food. Because most of the time junk food has artificial colors, flavors and additives as well as other substances your body isn't made to handle! Give it calories that are from amazing foods and it will do amazing things for you.

    Thermal effect of foods is negligible at best. The rest of your statement is false, if for no other reason than there is no standard definition of "real, whole, unprocessed clean food".
  • ClosetBayesian
    ClosetBayesian Posts: 836 Member
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    queenliz99 wrote: »
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Losing weight does not matter if your sick or dead. A calorie is just a measure of energy. Nutritional differences between macdonalds fries and baked sweet potato is huge! You do the math!

    How huge is this difference? I am having trouble with the math.

    Oh hai :)

    You are good with math, what say you?

    Pfft. I'm good with statistics; completely different; I still count on my fingers if I have to do math. That said, I have an abacus on the shelves in my office that I'm pretty sure could handle this one.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
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    No - a calorie is not a calorie. This is well known now, but the myth still lingers! :)
  • ClosetBayesian
    ClosetBayesian Posts: 836 Member
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    Losing weight does not matter if your sick or dead. A calorie is just a measure of energy. Nutritional differences between macdonalds fries and baked sweet potato is huge! You do the math!

    Please provide nutritional information to support your claim.

    It is not so much as a claim, as just common sense. Fries are closer than not to half your daily calories whereas a 100g serve of sweet potato gives you less calories and the nutrients it brings.

    A small order of French fries from Burger King (fast food restaurant) is 3.1oz (86g), and has 234 calories. Unless someone is following a very, very, very low calorie diet, that's nowhere near half the daily amount of calories. Additionally, white potatoes are a good source of potassium.

    Try again.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,390 Member
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    These types of threads will IMO never end.

    In a dictionary, or a lab burning food, all calories are created the same due to definitions of the energy available. In reality in humans the types of energy available vary quite a bit, as well as how rapidly or slowly it becomes available, as well as the nutritional content being something directly attached to the energy source of the foods.