Is a calorie in really a calorie in?

hkulbacki

I found this short article interesting. It suggests that while the old 'a calorie in is a calorie in' may be true, if your body requires more work to process that calorie back out it's almost like exercising without ever leaving your couch.

http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/nutrition-weight-loss/almighty-calorie?cm_mmc=BicyclingNL-_-847370-_-03162012-_-the_almighty_calorie

grinch031

People like to over-simplify things. Energy metabolism is a complex bio-chemistry process that cannot be accurately represented by simple physics equations. Eating protein calories for example is much less efficient than eating carbohydrate or fat calories. And then of course there is the idea that most food nutrition labels are grossly inaccurate (up to 20% in some cases).