calories and weight loss

Here's the thing - it IS, 100%, without any doubt, factually correct to say that gaining or losing weight is reliant on absolutely nothing else than calories in vs. calories out. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain. If you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose. No ifs, ands, or buts. Doesn't matter where the calories IN come from. Yes, some foods make it easier to overeat, and some foods may make you crave other foods or impact your motivation, and some foods make overestimation of calories easier, but it still comes down to the same principle.

HOWEVER, I think that we often overlook all of the different ways that our calories OUT can be variable from person to person and even day to day. BMRs and RMRs and TDEEs can vary widely, even between 2 people with the same height, weight, fitness level and activity level. Plus, different types of foods do impact how your body reacts to them. Some types of foods support keeping our bodies running in a more efficient fashion, and provide more energy for improved workouts. Some types of food bog us down. It's all about finding what approach works best for each individual.

what i am trying to bring across here is that we label sugar as a calorie , but i dont think we should call it a calorie , it should not be in our eating plans unless its chains of sugars such as starch sugars from lentils, beans, and simple sugars in fruit, if its a processed sugar in any way dont eat it therefore you dont have to worry about that type of food or calorie

it makes perfect sense

i am showing you an example of what we do to ourselves

we count the calories yes ?

do we even bother to count the sugar ? no we don't, we just say its fine because it has this amount of calories

this is what i am trying to bring across,

the human body will turn high amounts of sugar that's been processed into fat because its an overload to the blood , the blood will not be able to handle this amount of sugar so it calls on the insulin to help remove some of this to your fat cells,

whats a high amount of sugar intake ? well i would say anything above 5 grams of sugar is a high intake of sugar at the one time, this will cause the insulin levels to go higher, and stay elevated, then when you eat later in the day the insulin levels are remaining high with the more sugar intake you have , this is what can lead to type 2 diabetes, this is no laughing matter guys

so what i am saying is that you can eat say 1000 calories a day and it could be processed sugar foods like white breads and potato chips and cola, all the high sugar crap and gain weight, and you can eat 2000 calories of good foods like sweat potato lentils soups, vegetables, beans, salads, nuts, all this good stuff and your insulin will not go high at all, you will keep it stable and allow the free fatty acids in your fat cells to be released

i can only hope that you get some education from what i am sharing

all the best guys

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 ?

This makes no sense. You are just comparing two meals, one higher in calories - that has nothing to do with whether or not a person will gain or lose weight by eating those meals.
it depends who the person is, their age, height, weight, body fat, activity level, etc. Not only that, but how many calories are they eating each week, not on just one day.
If a person needs x amount of calories per day to live, and they eat 1000 calories over that number every single day, then they will most likely gain weight - but you can't assume that either because every person is different.

it makes perfect sense

i am showing you an example of what we do to ourselves

we count the calories yes ?

do we even bother to count the sugar ? no we don't, we just say its fine because it has this amount of calories

this is what i am trying to bring across,

the human body will turn high amounts of sugar that's been processed into fat because its an overload to the blood , the blood will not be able to handle this amount of sugar so it calls on the insulin to help remove some of this to your fat cells,

whats a high amount of sugar intake ? well i would say anything above 5 grams of sugar is a high intake of sugar at the one time, this will cause the insulin levels to go higher, and stay elevated, then when you eat later in the day the insulin levels are remaining high with the more sugar intake you have , this is what can lead to type 2 diabetes, this is no laughing matter guys

so what i am saying is that you can eat say 1000 calories a day and it could be processed sugar foods like white breads and potato chips and cola, all the high sugar crap and gain weight, and you can eat 2000 calories of good foods like sweat potato lentils soups, vegetables, beans, salads, nuts, all this good stuff and your insulin will not go high at all, you will keep it stable and allow the free fatty acids in your fat cells to be released

i can only hope that you get some education from what i am sharing

all the best guys

jerodhold

again i will say this,

this thread was on the word calories

and how we all look at it, if you can eat all the processed sugars you like and lose weight then that's fine,

but I would like to just say that i don't agree with this, you must be working out a lot then for your body to be burning the processed sugars , that's my take on it,

but we all have our own ways of looking at this calorie word, and thats ok, but for some people , they are really struggling to lose weight, and the extra hiden sugars could be causing them problems in my opinion

First of all, you just joined, so maybe you are not aware that you can monitor your sugar intake with this site, its not just about calories. Also, some people have different needs that they monitor. For example, some have high blood pressure and they monitor how much sodium or salt, that they take in, in addition to calories. Others, monitor fat intake, others sugar, etc. It sounds like you think sugar is from the Devil and you can eat everything else and will still lose weight.

Well, its not true. Its a good idea to monitor sugar, but the point is this: this site is to help people lose weight, track their food intake, and get tips on nutrition, exercise, etc. Everyone does not have the same goals as you. Honestly, you sound frustrated, especially in your comments about cancer. I don't know if you've lost anyone to cancer, but I have. I'm aware of much of what you say, but it is NOT related to counting calories, its a totally different subject as far as people who choose to eat more alkaline as opposed to acidic does not always equal a weight loss.

So, having said that, try to respect the desires and food goals of others, and also calling people "brainwashed" is a sure way of getting people's hackles up, and not a good way to get your point across. There's an old saying, you get more bees with honey than with vinegar.....

its the word calorie thats getting to me

because its trying to make us think that the body will use the food we place in our mouths the same way, but this is just not the case ,

why do we eat ?

we eat to give our blood energy so it can be transferred to the parts of our body's that need the energy , yes ?

so does it really matter about the calorie content ? its what it does when its inside us that counts, if it enters us and causes problems with our blood sugar then we have to look at this food and decide if its best to avoid it in the first place,

if it the food enters us and does its job then we dont have to worry about it

so why take the food that is causing the problems when you can eat the food that does the job its supposed to do ?

i it maybe because of artificial flavorings in foods and sweet tasting foods are just too good to resist ?

there is just so many problems with food its killing us from the inside out,

this is why i believe we should take a look at this word calories because its tricking us and making us sick in my honest opinion,

but people will just do what they want if they see results, they are not too concerned about there health it seems

First of all, you just joined, so maybe you are not aware that you can monitor your sugar intake with this site, its not just about calories. Also, some people have different needs that they monitor. For example, some have high blood pressure and they monitor how much sodium or salt, that they take in, in addition to calories. Others, monitor fat intake, others sugar, etc. It sounds like you think sugar is from the Devil and you can eat everything else and will still lose weight.

Well, its not true. Its a good idea to monitor sugar, but the point is this: this site is to help people lose weight, track their food intake, and get tips on nutrition, exercise, etc. Everyone does not have the same goals as you. Honestly, you sound frustrated, especially in your comments about cancer. I don't know if you've lost anyone to cancer, but I have. I'm aware of much of what you say, but it is NOT related to counting calories, its a totally different subject as far as people who choose to eat more alkaline as opposed to acidic does not always equal a weight loss.

So, having said that, try to respect the desires and food goals of others, and also calling people "brainwashed" is a sure way of getting people's hackles up, and not a good way to get your point across. There's an old saying, you get more bees with honey than with vinegar.....

its the word calorie thats getting to me

because its trying to make us think that the body will use the food we place in our mouths the same way, but this is just not the case ,

why do we eat ?

we eat to give our blood energy so it can be transferred to the parts of our body's that need the energy , yes ?

so does it really matter about the calorie content ? its what it does when its inside us that counts, if it enters us and causes problems with our blood sugar then we have to look at this food and decide if its best to avoid it in the first place,

if it the food enters us and does its job then we dont have to worry about it

so why take the food that is causing the problems when you can eat the food that does the job its supposed to do ?

i it maybe because of artificial flavorings in foods and sweet tasting foods are just too good to resist ?

there is just so many problems with food its killing us from the inside out,

this is why i believe we should take a look at this word calories because its tricking us and making us sick in my honest opinion,

but people will just do what they want if they see results, they are not too concerned about there health it seems

If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. Period. So yes, the number of calories you eat DOES matter, just as much as what those calories consist of.

Will you gain weight if you eat more calories than you burn? YES
Will you gain weight if you eat a lot of processed sugars? Maybe

If the answer to that was 100% yes, then every single person in the world who eats processed sugars would be overweight and that is simply not the case.

well it seems we can all agree to disagree,

but if you where to look at your blood under a microscope if your eating processed sugar meals all the time , you would see that it would cause problems the blood cells would be sticking together, this is not good for your health as a human being,

lets say you where to look at your blood when you are eating better foods, nuts, beans, salads, fruits,

you would see that your blood is more clean and its not sticking together, your health would dramatically increase and the chance for disease in slim

what state would you rather be in ?

think about it, its not just weight loss , your health is at risk eating all processed sugars FACT

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

But who's doing that? Who is living on ONLY Lucky Charms and soda for months at a time? Your argument is stupid because the examples you give don't happen in real life. I can talk about how bad it would be for someone who was only eating strawberries all day every day too, but no one really does that.

Gary Taubes and authors Volek & Phinney cover this in depth. (A calorie is NOT a calorie.) Studies of twins put on identical diets show big individual variances on weight gained on the same number of calories. Of course, many diet studies show this, but the twin studies are particularly interesting. Some people gain much more than others-- don't we all know this? -- but what is striking is that sets of twins differ just like individual persons, but the twins themselves each gain or lose IDENTICALLY. (They also put on weight in the same places -- another feature that varies among individuals.)

In the late 1970s the Food Pyramid was first published. It urged Americans to eat less fat and eat more grains. The latest research shows that, on average, Americans eat slightly fewer calories now than they did in the 70s. More importantly, Americans DO eat less fat and more grains now than in the 70s. Yet obesity (and diabetes 2) rates are far higher today. How can this be if calorie in / calorie out is all that counts?