A question about calories and carbs

GiftedHealth
GiftedHealth Posts: 296 Member
in Food and Nutrition
If I eat a protein bar that is 190 calories and is low in sugar grams and carb grams will that put less fat on me if then, if I ate a regular candy bar that has 190 cal that is high in sugar and carbs?

Answers

  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,943 Member
    GiftedHealth wrote: »
    If I eat a protein bar that is 190 calories and is low in sugar grams and carb grams will that put less fat on me if then, if I ate a regular candy bar that has 190 cal that is high in sugar and carbs?

    No. 190 calories is 190 calories. Don't let the lowcarbers fool you. It may help to keep you more full though, which would result in eating fewer calories later on.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,919 Member
    edited February 1
    Strictly speaking: A truly teensy, tiny bit, not enough to worry about. It's the calories that matter. Protein requires a very very small number more calories to digest/metabolize than carbs, and carbs require a very very small number more calories to digest/metabolize than fats. Many candy bars have more calories from fat than sugars, anyway.

    We're talking about numbers so small between digesting/metabolizing a high-protein bar and a candy bar that it would take years of daily consumption to see a difference in body weight, maybe decades. Don't worry about it.

    The others are right, though: The two will probably have different effects on appetite, with the candy more likely to spike appetite than the protein bar for most people. The two may also have a small effect on overall nutrition, with good nutrition tending to support feeling full and energetic. Those things might affect weight loss indirectly. Even so, if that's the only difference in your whole day, within a context of overall good nutrition, that difference is pretty small, too. It might be more meaningful for the subset of individuals whose appetite is very reactive after eating high sugar foods, but you can experiment and notice that yourself.

    Personally, I wouldn't be likely to choose either one as a routine food, at least not before getting most of my essential nutrition and calories from nutrient-dense whole foods, which I find more filling. Protein bars can be fine, but I don't find them tasty myself, and nearly all of them are highly-processed foods, with some containing questionable to me ingredients. I do eat some candy just for the happiness factor, but it's not a key part of my eating, and tends to be a choice I might make after dialing in nutrition but still having calories available. YMMV.

    Really, what matters is overall calories and overall nutrition, averaged over a day or few. This food vs. that food tends to be more of an attention-sucking side trip, IMO, over-focus on details rather than the big picture.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,550 Member

    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    No, calories are calories. What the macros will do is affect the way your body reacts. For me, the first one will keep me satisfied longer and I'll be happy with that 190 calories until me next meal, and the second will give me a sugar spike, cravings for more sugar, and a crash after and I'll more than likely want (and give into) something else, bumping up my calories for the day.

    Long term, the first is overall more nutritious and better for my body, also.

    Blasphemy, this is a card carrying calorie site, don't you know. :#
  • totameafox
    totameafox Posts: 1,267 Member
    Overeating puts fat on you. The type of calorie doesn't matter.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,550 Member
    totameafox wrote: »
    Overeating puts fat on you. The type of calorie doesn't matter.

    Well calories are not food, so yeah calories don't matter. :#

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