21 day 5000 calorie challenge: debunking the calorie myth?

carrington2005

A trainer, Sam Fellham, is consuming 5000 calories every day for 21 days to see what happens, and to prove or disprove the calorie in-calorie out theory. According to traditional weight loss dogma, this should result in a gain of around 6kg. He is eating clean (vegies, protein and fat). He is up to day 6 and I am finding it very interesting ... each day he documents his weight and measurements.
http://live.smashthefat.com/the-21-day-5000-calorie-challenge/

http://live.smashthefat.com/5000-calorie-challenge-day-6/

If you need some persuading to believe that it is not the number of calories that matter, but the quality of calories, or if you have been getting no results with calorie restriction and calorie deficits, check it out:

neanderthin

How would eating food debunk the calorie myth, and what is the calorie myth again?

ramonafrincu

I don't know about that trainer but in the past I lost 15 kg by eating whatever, just small portions...Maybe he is a special snowflake, or maybe I am....

mhcoss

How would eating food debunk the calorie myth, and what is the calorie myth again?

There are a lot of people that do not believe in cals in/out. They feel that it's the quality of the food that matters. So, if you were eating very clean, whatever that means, I guess no junk, no soda, pop tarts, ice cream, cheeseburgers, etc. just clean food. If you eat that way, you can consume 5000 cals a day without gaining.

There are entire groups so passionate about this, and are successful too. As an example, you don't need to count calories eating Paleo/primal. You just don't. If you stick with it.

funny because i was eating paleo primal and not losing weight until I started counting calories.

ironanimal

How would eating food debunk the calorie myth, and what is the calorie myth again?

There are a lot of people that do not believe in cals in/out. They feel that it's the quality of the food that matters. So, if you were eating very clean, whatever that means, I guess no junk, no soda, pop tarts, ice cream, cheeseburgers, etc. just clean food. If you eat that way, you can consume 5000 cals a day without gaining.

There are entire groups so passionate about this, and are successful too. As an example, you don't need to count calories eating Paleo/primal. You just don't. If you stick with it.

funny because i was eating paleo primal and not losing weight until I started counting calories.

Special snowflake, you're so beautiful.

Didn't work for me either.

rchille

He's working off the conventional wisdom that 1 lbs is equal to 3500 cals.
That is, if you short yourself 3500 cals over a span of time, then you lose a 1 lbs.
So if I naturally burn 14,000 cals a week (7x2000 cal/day) but only take in about 10,500, then I should lose a pound that week.

I did this about 5 years back over the course of about 6 months to lose about 70 lbs. It was brutal, and I lost a ton of muscle mass ( I wasn't exercising in the process).

ramonafrincu

:drinker:

zornig

Lol. Ok. I'm just saying that's what they say. Every Paleo/primal website and book says you don't have to count cals.

In case you're not aware, there are more site like MFP popping up. With restaurants getting pressure to add cals to their menus and food labeling under more scrutiny, I think there is an entire culture of people that is growing against counting calories.

I'm neither for or against. I'm agnostic. I was simply try to answer a question.

You can say whatever you want in a book--doesn't make it true. The fact that there are more sites like MFP popping up, and that restaurants are making nutritional information available, actually suggests that the culture of calorie counting is getting *stronger*, not weaker.

I'm not saying that counting calories necessarily causes me to lose weight. But I know that when I am counting calories, I am far more conscientious about what I eat and how much, and that makes it far more likely that I will lose weight. If something like paleo works for you, great. Don't count your calories in that case. But I know exactly what happens to me when I stop counting my calories (no matter how clean I eat).

darrensurrey

Edit: just found his other page. Answered my question.

yarwell

Should be interesting. Similar things have been done before, for example http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/48/2/240.full.pdf+html

He's eating low carb too.

0OneTwo3

Arguing against the first law of thermodynamics?

Ambitious to put it nicely.

CyberEd312

I will put my 4 years of experience and 312 lbs. lost by using the so called myth of calories in vs. calories out vs. this guys 21 day challenge.... but more power to him..... :drinker:

BeachIron

The guy needs to gain some weight anyway so it will probably do him some good. As for my body, I'll stick with science.

obeseandsassy

not sure what the point of any of this is. some people would gain weight doing this whether they ate clean or not. Some people wouldn't. People's bodies are different.

phatguerilla

The fact that it is a 21 day challenge makes me a bit suspicious tbh, since he is doing low carb its not impossible that he will lose water weight to begin with and only show a small gain if even by the end of the 21 days, but if he followed the plan for 60-90 days and his body adopted to his new diet I can't see how he could lose or maintain weight without increasing activity. Also does this guy give a run down of his regular schedule, diet, and activity levels? It might be that he is an active person and already eats close to 5000 calories anyways, in which case all he would prove is that rda's don't fit everyone which isn't really a surprise.

taunto

I think people often forget the vegan fatties out there.



They're out there.