Why being under you calories is also bad.

Kasuko

So I officially had to repost a rant I made in a thread to another thread and decided I would put it in it's own thread too.

So here is my unofficial and unscientific rant about why being too low on calories is a bad thing.

We have already gone over the science (and we will again) behind increased calorie intact. Let's try completely unscientific metaphors now. Right now you are starving your body, it is a poor African orphan who no matter how badly wants some food it just can't get any. Now one day the UN comes and gives this child (aka your body) a whole loaf of bread. Boy is that child happy now! But does he scarf it all down in one go? No, he SAVORS every single bite of that loaf. He portions it out so the lovely enjoyment lasts longer. That is what your body is doing when you increase your calorie count. It holds on to them and savors them.

Now we give that child a loaf of bread EVERY day. Do you think by the 3rd week this child is still savoring every bite of his bread? Probably not, he knows there will just be another one tomorrow.

This is what we are trying to get you to do. You need to teach your body that you are not going through a famine. That there is in fact more than enough food around to survive and it can relax on the survival instincts and start letting those calories slide here and there because there will always be more tomorrow.

Do it for the starving African child!

(Now for some more of that science ... mmmm science)
Your body takes one form of energy and converts it to another just like almost everything else in the world. There are two laws that govern all the energy in the universe. Those are the laws of thermodynamics.

The first law of thermodynamics states that you can not create or destroy energy. This is seen in everything from photosynthesis to nuclear bombs. It always holds true. The second law is a little more complex and involves isolated systems and entropy but it basically states that no system is 100% efficient this includes your body.

If we look at only the first law it would seem that if you don't burn the calories you eat then you will store them as fat. This is the general "accepted" view of calorie counting but it is in fact wrong because that breaks the 2nd law.

It is this law that states that there is always a waste by product in all systems. This means that you don't burn every calorie you put in your body, some of them are changed to waste energy and some of it is quite simply discarded through your bodies wastes. With this law you can begin to see that your body doesn't have to "burn" or "store" all calories put in (but it does have to do something with them as per law 1).

Thus increasing your calorie intact allows your body to get sloppy with the over storage of calories and it begins simply discarding them or running a more inefficient conversion. So the actual calorie "storage" is less even though calorie "intake" increased.

Now please realize this is all in balance and you can't just shoot your calorie intake through the roof hoping it won't keep any of them. The universe is constantly trying to balance out including your body.

Helpful at all?



This is a part fun and part science (but no biology) explanation behind why your body isn't black and white and why increasing your calorie count may sometimes result in the loss of weight.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor, the laws of thermodynamics are physical laws (aka Physics) not biological laws (though they still apply just more complexly), this is no reason why you should ignore MFP or any physician. Infact this is more of a reason why you should follow MFP exactly.

MFP already calculates a healthy deficit from your calorie total. So if you set up your weight loss goal properly then constantly and consistently have 0 calories or as close to it (even by going over) on your food and exercise diary every day you will achieve the best results. Just cutting out an unhealthy amount of calories from your diet is what we like to call a "crash diet" and we all know those don't work well.

Bonus Points: MFP also calculates several other nutritional sources such as fats, carbs and protein. By getting those as close to 0 every day you will experience consistent results ... through consistency.

I am in no way related to myfitnesspal and in fact I barely care about weight loss ... I do however care about science and when people abuse it. So stop abusing my science people!

Crysta1976

LMAO!!!! you rock!

aproc

Thankyou. :P
Haha, your pic just made me want to get back on Gaia. haha

missouri_rain

Bravo!

suzyanne

LOL..that was a great story..both times! Well said :happy:

knittygirl52

Amen!

I love trying to use the 2nd law of thermodynamics to explain bodily waste. But it's too true.

Kasuko

So seeing all the people who actually read this scared me.

While I have the University physics classes to back up my knowledge of thermodynamics, and my arguments do make logical sense, I do not have any real knowledge of calorie consumption in the human body and while I never referenced such knowledge nor did I say I did, I am afraid it could come off as I do. So I decided to do a google search to make sure I wasn't spewing pure nonsense. http://www.google.com/search?q=weight+loss+calories+thermodynamics confirms by ACTUAL REAL doctors that my raving isn't 100% nonsense.

... whew, close one.

So here is a great article by a REAL doctor in a REAL medical journal that contain REAL science.
"A calorie is a calorie" violates the second law of thermodynamics
Richard D Feinman and Eugene J Fine
Nutr J. 2004; 3: 9. Published online 2004 July 28. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-3-9.
PMCID: PMC506782
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC506782/?report=abstract
Full Text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC506782/
PDF–253K: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC506782/pdf/1475-2891-3-9.pdf

Also there is no science behind the hungry child similie. That's just for some silly visuals and logic stimulations.

kimmie0627

I love your explaination. All I want to do is say. I think it kinda has to do with nutrition. That cutting how much and what you are eating could cause you to lack in the nutrition department.

I don't see the issue with eating my calories and then burning a good amount of them off. I don't see how that can have a negative effect. But then again I am a farmer. Not a doctor.

mworld

lol

so this would be the best thread to note that you can increase your body's efficiency in digesting/absorbing the calories from your foods by eating good probiotic yoghurts (think greek) which enhance your digestive system. So eat more yogurt, it will help your body store more of the calories from your food! Wouldn't want all those calories you ingest going to waste now would we? LOL

Kasuko

I love your explaination. All I want to do is say. I think it kinda has to do with nutrition. That cutting how much and what you are eating could cause you to lack in the nutrition department.

I don't see the issue with eating my calories and then burning a good amount of them off. I don't see how that can have a negative effect. But then again I am a farmer. Not a doctor.

Oh I am definitely not saying cut down on how much you eat. In fact the whole rant is why you should stop cutting down what you eat. I see some people on this forum who say they aren't losing weight then you look at their diary and they are constantly under their calorie goal every day. All I am saying is that Weight loss isn't as simple as calories in - calories burned = weight loss.

There was another good thread around here that inspired this one with a nice explanation of why you should eat your exercise calories.

I think you should be reaching your goals both of calories and nutrition.

I'm just tired of people seeing it as "calories in - calories burned = weight loss" and thinking well if I eat 500 less calories ON TOP of my already 750 calorie deficit I will lose even more weight ... NO! It doesn't work like that.

kwardklinck

LOL. Love it! It's just common sense to me that you should eat the most calories you can while still losing weight. You can retrain your metabolism and come back from the "crash diet" syndrome. I will never be hungry again!

stormieweather

Thank you, great post!! As someone who tried the...let's eat practically nothing, I'll be slim in no time...deal, I can attest that it does not work, partly because it isn't sustainable, eventually you break down and pig out. Your body doesn't average out the calories, it can only use X amount per a given time period, so all the excess (from your binge) ends up as fat.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt to prove it.

Kasuko

Thank you, great post!! As someone who tried the...let's eat practically nothing, I'll be slim in no time...deal, I can attest that it does not work, partly because it isn't sustainable, eventually you break down and pig out. Your body doesn't average out the calories, it can only use X amount per a given time period, so all the excess (from your binge) ends up as fat.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt to prove it.

Not only that but this is why when you do break down you gain MORE weight because your body grabs on to every single calorie and holds on to it for the NEXT time you go without food. This is why yo-yo dieting can actually cause massive weight gain.

The second law more specifically states that everything in the universe is seeking balance or Entropy. So in the same way you should always give your body what it needs and let it seek it's "balance" your body would prefer to be healthy ... it really would. It's a lot easier to maintain a healthy body (from a bodies perspective) than an unhealthy one.