calories and weight loss

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jamesagnew717
jamesagnew717 Posts: 44
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi,

I would like to start this discussion on the topic of the word CALORIES and how it has become one of the most discussed terms of gauging our weight , we use the term calories to discuss our energy needs for our day, but why should we believe this word. i would like to know your thoughts below
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Replies

  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    .
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    I'm not sure what your question is. A calorie is a unit of energy measurement. Your body requires a certain amount of energy to function properly, even in a coma. The more you move, the more energy your body requires...thus more calories. The less you move, the less energy your body requires...thus less calories. If you consume more energy (calories) than necessary, you have a surplus of fuel and it is stored as fat by the body. When you have a deficit of calories your body must get it's energy and fuel from elsewhere...namely body fat and existing lean body mass.
  • tjl2329
    tjl2329 Posts: 169 Member
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    Ok here it goes. Why does a girl who eats candy cookies sodas fast food weigh 130. And me I weigh 220. Ok yes I have some responsibility. I eat less watch calories Carbs and try to stay away from junk. But my friend who eats less than me hasn't lost any. So some of its each persons body. That being said lets stop using it as an exscuse. I was told not to count calories. I do count as kind of an accountability. To make sure I am doing it right. I feel better. I don't think calories are only one part of Wright loss or gain.
  • jamesagnew717
    jamesagnew717 Posts: 44
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    its not a question, I am asking you to give your opinion on this word calories, do you think we can even use this term to express what we mean by energy production in our body's ?

    i have seen people who eat over 2000 calories of bananas a day and are not fat ?

    so do we need to look at this word more carefully as i think we are being brainwashed by this terms calories,

    i think that it needs to be looked at or even changed altogether give your opinions below
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Calorie is a unit of energy... what other word would you like to use?

    Or maybe I don't understand the question.

    You want to get rich? you need to earn more money than you spend, right? Is money not the right word? Are we brainwashed there too?
  • jamesagnew717
    jamesagnew717 Posts: 44
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    this is what i think about calories

    i think a calorie is not actually a calorie,

    confused ?

    well lets take a look at this,

    lets say we have a bagel for breakfast with a yogurt and some fruit, maybe a banana 9am

    then for lunch we have a salad with salad dressing and chicken with a Vienna bread 1 pm

    then for diner we have a burger and fries 5pm

    say it comes to 2000 calories for this food a day,

    then we look at someone who has oatmeal for breakfast, 9am

    snacks on fruit 11 am

    for lunch had sweet potato and lentil soup with a side of salad no dressing,

    more fruit around 3 pm

    dinner has 2 sweet potato salad with chicken breast 5pm

    more fruit around 7 pm

    say this comes to around 1500 calories

    do we assume that the person who eat the first meal is eating more calories and will be overweight, and the person who is eating the second meal and less calories will lose weight

    or is it just the fact that the first meal had more sugar content in it and was more likely to spike insulin levels ?

    my personal opinion is that the second meal could have had more calories and the first meal less but the first meal would still make you fat due to the sugar

    so what are we really talking about when it comes it weight loss ?

    is it the sugar content or the calories, or is it trying to get both in balance ?
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    What about the twinkie diet?
    http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html
  • chokeslam512
    chokeslam512 Posts: 78 Member
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    Calorie is a unit of energy... what other word would you like to use?

    I prefer Joules myself.
  • jamesagnew717
    jamesagnew717 Posts: 44
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    Calorie is a unit of energy... what other word would you like to use?

    Or maybe I don't understand the question.

    You want to get rich? you need to earn more money than you spend, right? Is money not the right word? Are we brainwashed there too?

    want to get fat, eat more sugar than you need lol
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    this is what i think about calories

    i think a calorie is not actually a calorie,

    confused ?

    well lets take a look at this,

    lets say we have a bagel for breakfast with a yogurt and some fruit, maybe a banana 9am

    then for lunch we have a salad with salad dressing and chicken with a Vienna bread 1 pm

    then for diner we have a burger and fries 5pm

    say it comes to 2000 calories for this food a day,

    then we look at someone who has oatmeal for breakfast, 9am

    snacks on fruit 11 am

    for lunch had sweet potato and lentil soup with a side of salad no dressing,

    more fruit around 3 pm

    dinner has 2 sweet potato salad with chicken breast 5pm

    more fruit around 7 pm

    say this comes to around 1500 calories

    do we assume that the person who eat the first meal is eating more calories and will be overweight, and the person who is eating the second meal and less calories will lose weight

    or is it just the fact that the first meal had more sugar content in it and was more likely to spike insulin levels ?

    my personal opinion is that the second meal could have had more calories and the first meal less but the first meal would still make you fat due to the sugar

    so what are we really talking about when it comes it weight loss ?

    is it the sugar content or the calories, or is it trying to get both in balance ?
    No, we don't. We can't make any assumptions when intake is the only known variable. 1500 cals could cause weight gain for some while 2000 cals could cause weight loss for thers.

    What we are really talking about is the energy balance equation. Cals in vs cals out if you will.
  • a_mandolin_
    a_mandolin_ Posts: 336 Member
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    Calorie is a unit of energy... what other word would you like to use?

    Or maybe I don't understand the question.

    You want to get rich? you need to earn more money than you spend, right? Is money not the right word? Are we brainwashed there too?

    want to get fat, eat more sugar than you need lol

    Or any other type of food.

    Though I must question the validity of the statement that you have indeed seen somebody eat 20 bananas a day.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Calorie is a unit of energy... what other word would you like to use?

    Or maybe I don't understand the question.

    You want to get rich? you need to earn more money than you spend, right? Is money not the right word? Are we brainwashed there too?

    want to get fat, eat more sugar than you need lol

    I do... I eat lots of sugar, but I still lose weight doing so when my daily cals are where they are supposed to be.

    .
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    Calorie is a unit of energy... what other word would you like to use?

    Or maybe I don't understand the question.

    You want to get rich? you need to earn more money than you spend, right? Is money not the right word? Are we brainwashed there too?

    want to get fat, eat more sugar than you need lol

    Or any other type of food.

    Though I must question the validity of the statement that you have indeed seen somebody eat 20 bananas a day.

    That one had me scratching my head as well. I couldn't remember if too many bananas makes you go to the bathroom or makes you not.
    Although ironic that the OP says the person eating 20 bananas a day doesn't gain weight but claims sugar makes you fat when bananas are high in sugar
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
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    this is what i think about calories

    i think a calorie is not actually a calorie,

    confused ?

    well lets take a look at this,

    lets say we have a bagel for breakfast with a yogurt and some fruit, maybe a banana 9am

    then for lunch we have a salad with salad dressing and chicken with a Vienna bread 1 pm

    then for diner we have a burger and fries 5pm

    say it comes to 2000 calories for this food a day,

    then we look at someone who has oatmeal for breakfast, 9am

    snacks on fruit 11 am

    for lunch had sweet potato and lentil soup with a side of salad no dressing,

    more fruit around 3 pm

    dinner has 2 sweet potato salad with chicken breast 5pm

    more fruit around 7 pm

    say this comes to around 1500 calories

    do we assume that the person who eat the first meal is eating more calories and will be overweight, and the person who is eating the second meal and less calories will lose weight

    or is it just the fact that the first meal had more sugar content in it and was more likely to spike insulin levels ?

    my personal opinion is that the second meal could have had more calories and the first meal less but the first meal would still make you fat due to the sugar

    so what are we really talking about when it comes it weight loss ?

    is it the sugar content or the calories, or is it trying to get both in balance ?

    It's the calories.

    You can't 'assume' anything however - the first person that eats more may be a 6"4, 250lb male that exercises for 2 hours a day, and the second person that eats less may be a 5", 100lb woman that literally lies in bed all day. In which case the first would lose weight and the second wouldn't. The amount of calories needed depends on many factors, there is no set amount to lose weight.


    Perhaps I am missing the point?
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Getting fat is a cause of chronic energy surplus. It is not caused by sugar or carbs although sugary foods do make it awfully easy to create an energy surplus.

    EDIT: Also, if you happen to be holding a Gary Taubes book I'd suggest putting it down.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    this is what i think about calories

    i think a calorie is not actually a calorie,

    confused ?

    well lets take a look at this,

    lets say we have a bagel for breakfast with a yogurt and some fruit, maybe a banana 9am

    then for lunch we have a salad with salad dressing and chicken with a Vienna bread 1 pm

    then for diner we have a burger and fries 5pm

    say it comes to 2000 calories for this food a day,

    then we look at someone who has oatmeal for breakfast, 9am

    snacks on fruit 11 am

    for lunch had sweet potato and lentil soup with a side of salad no dressing,

    more fruit around 3 pm

    dinner has 2 sweet potato salad with chicken breast 5pm

    more fruit around 7 pm

    say this comes to around 1500 calories

    do we assume that the person who eat the first meal is eating more calories and will be overweight, and the person who is eating the second meal and less calories will lose weight

    or is it just the fact that the first meal had more sugar content in it and was more likely to spike insulin levels ?

    my personal opinion is that the second meal could have had more calories and the first meal less but the first meal would still make you fat due to the sugar

    so what are we really talking about when it comes it weight loss ?

    is it the sugar content or the calories, or is it trying to get both in balance ?

    It depends on what an individuals BMR and TDEE is. My TDEE is around 2,550 calories (light active)....I lose weight in a safe and healthy way eating around 2,200 calories per day...roughly 1 Lb per week give or take a couple of points.

    My wife on the other hand is female...she is smaller than me...weighs less than me, and is shorter than me...her TDEE is 1,861 (light active). For the same weight loss goals as me, she eats about 1,550 calories per day.

    If she ate 2,220 calories per day, she would gain weight because she would be consuming 359 calories per day more than her body needs to maintain weight at a lightly active activity level. Conversely, if I were to eat 1,550 calories per day, I'd be about 313 calories below my RMR and would be effectively starving my body.

    I don't really think it's the calories that are in question...it's that everybody has a different burn.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Perhaps I am missing the point?

    I think a lot of us are missing the point.
  • KatieLou6585
    KatieLou6585 Posts: 79
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    Though I must question the validity of the statement that you have indeed seen somebody eat 20 bananas a day.

    Oh man...that made me laugh.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Although ironic that the OP says the person eating 20 bananas a day doesn't gain weight but claims sugar makes you fat when bananas are high in sugar

    I wondered about that as well.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    Getting fat is a cause of chronic energy surplus. It is not caused by sugar or carbs although sugary foods do make it awfully easy to create an energy surplus.

    EDIT: Also, if you happen to be holding a Gary Taubes book I'd suggest putting it down.

    SideSteel hit on a huge point here.

    Portion estimation is a HUUUUGE source of error. Obviously, if you are eating a lot of donuts, you better be pretty accurate because any error you make results in a lof of calories. If you eat a lot of lettuce, well, you have to grossly underestimate your lettuce portions to have a calorie issue.

    Still, though, its all about maintaining a calorie (energy) deficit.

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