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Is a calorie equal to a calorie?

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  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,082 Member
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    Also, a ream of paper is 500 sheets. So, a ream of copy paper will weigh less than a ream of cover stock, even tho they both have 500 sheets.

    Maybe I shouldn't even mention this...nope, I have to.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/321105/worst-advice-youve-seen-on-these-boards/p23
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
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    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    JerSchmare wrote: »
    A calorie is a calorie. Like an inch is an inch and a pound is a pound.

    TBH though Id rather get hit by 10 pounds of feathers in a pillowcase than 10 pounds of bowling balls...

    Why?

    Because of a lack of understanding of physics.

    The reason a 10 lb pillow seems less threatening than a 10 lb bowling ball is because not all ten pounds of feathers will make simultaneous impact like the bowling ball will.
    Replace the pillowcase with something that will compact the feathers into a tight ball so that the sponginess is lost (meaning that the entire 10 lbs of feathers will make simultaneous impact) and it isn’t fun anymore.

    When you compare getting hit with a ten pound bowling ball to a ten pound pillow, you’re really comparing ten pounds of bowling ball to a couple ounces (if that) of feathers, because that’s all that’s going to make impact at once. The rest of the feathers hit you later.

    It’s like saying I’d rather take ten bites out of a ten pound bowl of lettuce rather than eat an entire jar of peanut butter.
    No duh, it’s because you don’t have to eat it all.

    That actually may shed some light on why people try to compare 1,000 calories of lettuce to 1,000 calories of [insert favorite junk food].
    It’s because they know they ain’t gonna eat no 1,000 calories of lettuce. That, to me, further proves the point that it’s all about how many calories you eat.
    If eating lettuce means you eat fewer calories, that’s why eating lettuce works for you.
    It has nothing to do with the calories in lettuce being better than the calories in Oreos.

    This is exactly what I meant, if you are hit with feathers they have lower density, hence 10 lbs is not really 10 pounds because technically you wont be hit with them all at once due to their low density. Unless of course they have been compressed to have the same density as a bowling ball in which case, ouch... TLDR; A calorie is not a calories just like a pound is not a pound for the same reason, density...

    If you're hit with a 10 pound bowling ball it will hurt. If you broke the 10 pound bowling ball into very small pieces and scattered them over a person similar to the feathers it likely would not hurt or hurt less (depending on the velocity of the pieces). Same thing with feathers. Floating down individually, not a big deal. Condensed into a tiny ball the size of a bowling ball and they'll be a whole lot of hurt. A calorie is a calorie and a pound is a pound, but other factors like velocity, density, can change the impact they have.

    Either way, it's a metaphor that breaks apart quickly when you try and apply it to calories.

    Let's escalate the silliness and pedantry even further. If somebody gently lobs a 140 grain, .45 caliber bullet at your head, it will bounce off you harmlessly. If they shoot it out of the barrel of a gun at you at 845 fps, it will turn your head into a technicolor Rorschach blot on the three walls around you. Yet that bullet still weighs 140 grains either way. And the metaphor has absolutely nothing to do with calories because we're discussing completely different things.

    Perhaps the more apt analogy is volts. A volt is a volt, regardless of whether it's used to power an electric chair or a humidicrib in the NICU.

    Volts have potential! Sorry. :blush:
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    JerSchmare wrote: »
    A calorie is a calorie. Like an inch is an inch and a pound is a pound.

    TBH though Id rather get hit by 10 pounds of feathers in a pillowcase than 10 pounds of bowling balls...

    Why?

    Because of a lack of understanding of physics.

    The reason a 10 lb pillow seems less threatening than a 10 lb bowling ball is because not all ten pounds of feathers will make simultaneous impact like the bowling ball will.
    Replace the pillowcase with something that will compact the feathers into a tight ball so that the sponginess is lost (meaning that the entire 10 lbs of feathers will make simultaneous impact) and it isn’t fun anymore.

    When you compare getting hit with a ten pound bowling ball to a ten pound pillow, you’re really comparing ten pounds of bowling ball to a couple ounces (if that) of feathers, because that’s all that’s going to make impact at once. The rest of the feathers hit you later.

    It’s like saying I’d rather take ten bites out of a ten pound bowl of lettuce rather than eat an entire jar of peanut butter.
    No duh, it’s because you don’t have to eat it all.

    That actually may shed some light on why people try to compare 1,000 calories of lettuce to 1,000 calories of [insert favorite junk food].
    It’s because they know they ain’t gonna eat no 1,000 calories of lettuce. That, to me, further proves the point that it’s all about how many calories you eat.
    If eating lettuce means you eat fewer calories, that’s why eating lettuce works for you.
    It has nothing to do with the calories in lettuce being better than the calories in Oreos.

    This is exactly what I meant, if you are hit with feathers they have lower density, hence 10 lbs is not really 10 pounds because technically you wont be hit with them all at once due to their low density. Unless of course they have been compressed to have the same density as a bowling ball in which case, ouch... TLDR; A calorie is not a calories just like a pound is not a pound for the same reason, density...

    If you're hit with a 10 pound bowling ball it will hurt. If you broke the 10 pound bowling ball into very small pieces and scattered them over a person similar to the feathers it likely would not hurt or hurt less (depending on the velocity of the pieces). Same thing with feathers. Floating down individually, not a big deal. Condensed into a tiny ball the size of a bowling ball and they'll be a whole lot of hurt. A calorie is a calorie and a pound is a pound, but other factors like velocity, density, can change the impact they have.

    Either way, it's a metaphor that breaks apart quickly when you try and apply it to calories.

    Let's escalate the silliness and pedantry even further. If somebody gently lobs a 140 grain, .45 caliber bullet at your head, it will bounce off you harmlessly. If they shoot it out of the barrel of a gun at you at 845 fps, it will turn your head into a technicolor Rorschach blot on the three walls around you. Yet that bullet still weighs 140 grains either way. And the metaphor has absolutely nothing to do with calories because we're discussing completely different things.

    Perhaps the more apt analogy is volts. A volt is a volt, regardless of whether it's used to power an electric chair or a humidicrib in the NICU.

    Volts have potential! Sorry. :blush:

    Haahaa dammit. I tried.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
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    Ohm my god...

    Sorry. :blush: