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Are all calories equal?

13

Replies

  • Posts: 2,582 Member

    What does this mean?

    Thermic effect of food. People use calories digesting food. Protein and unprocessed foods take more energy to digest, so the net is lower.
  • Posts: 10,161 Member

    What does this mean?

    It means nothing. The thermic effect of food is negligible. It's nonsense, which is proven by the success of people like me and magerum.
  • Posts: 2,582 Member
    It means nothing. The thermic effect of food is negligible. It's nonsense, which is proven by the success of people like me and magerum.

    The voice of antiscience has spoken!
  • Posts: 1,314 Member

    It means nothing. The thermic effect of food is negligible. It's nonsense, which is proven by the success of people like me and magerum.

    That's what I thought. Just letting him have a chance to cite a reputable source before I called shenanigans.
  • Posts: 1,314 Member

    The voice of antiscience has spoken!

    I asked already. Do you have science to show?
  • Posts: 284 Member
    In for the debate... Again.

    Bacon fries, anyone?
    bacon_fries1.jpg

    Oh. Dear. God. Those look amazing. Lol.
  • Posts: 49,167 Member
    My trainer tells me 80/20.....80% good, healthy eating, and 20% you can cheat. He recomends 100% healthy and mindful during the week. He has 'allowed' me to have 1 glass of wine (which I have on Friday night) and if I am going to cheat with non-nutritious food, it is likely one meal on the weekend. I have lived by this religiously since January and have lost the 20 lbs I wanted to lose, and am now a much smaller 140 lb woman than I was the last time I was this weight. This is due to strength training combined with the healthy eating. I have lost a total of 13.5 inches!! So I think his directions of 80/20 have worked well. Now he says I don't have to be as religious with all choices - i.e. if I consume a sweet more than once a week I try not to freak out. - but don't let go of the healthy eating just because I have achieved my goal. Well...sort of...I have now revised my goal another 5 lbs down - I will see how long it takes to remove that. As I will likely go from workouts 6 times a week down to 5 days a week. So without the exercise, I get fewer exercise calories to eat :(
    I wish all trainers would do it this way. Most of my peers at work do, but when I worked at 24 Hour Fitness, all I heard from many of the trainers (who were competitive body builders and fitness models) was that only "clean" eating is going to get results. Unfortunately not everyone wants to step up on stage in a bikini.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Posts: 284 Member
    I'm going to say that given the amount of wine I drink (considered an "empty" calorie) and the fact that I'm still thin, then yes. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. Cheers! ;-P

    We can be friends! :drinker:
  • Posts: 177 Member

    Sorry dear, but if THESE posts left you in tears please stay away from the forums, or thicken your skin. This was nothing.
    Good luck.


    what an insensitive thing to say...you all really need to reevaluate the way you come across to people. you have no idea just how damaging you can be...
  • Posts: 49,167 Member

    Thermic effect of food. People use calories digesting food. Protein and unprocessed foods take more energy to digest, so the net is lower.
    So based on this do you believe eating more meals increases metabolism?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Posts: 1,314 Member


    what an insensitive thing to say...you all really need to reevaluate the way you come across to people. you have no idea just how damaging you can be...

    It's honest advice. If you can't handle honest straightforward advice from a stranger, this isn't the place for you. It's that simple. Look around and read what people have to say here, then you'll see I'm right.

    ETA: Read over your own responses, you were pretty rude and condescending.
  • Posts: 12,589 Member

    The voice of antiscience has spoken!

    Thermogenic effect between food types is so minimal that it's pretty much not a concern.

    Old study (1999), but human based and I don't feel like digging more. I'm hungry and want to go eat.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10545669

    Conclusion:
    Our study failed to show any significant differences in RMR and TEF between vegetarians and subjects consuming a Mediterranean diet. We conclude that vegetarianism per se is not accompanied by a difference in RMR and TEF when the carbohydrate content of the diet is similar to a control group of nonvegetarians.

  • Fact? It's a fact that pizza and Hot Pockets and McDonald's are just "bad foods" and having them occasionally to "cheat" is just bad?

    That's BS. Plain and simple. I eat food you would describe as "bad" pretty much every day of my life, and sometimes multiple times a day. And yet I'm in fantastic shape and around 150 lbs, 12% body fat after having been 210 lbs 40% body fat once upon a time.

    There is nothing "bad" about Hot Pockets and pizza and burgers and tacos and ice cream if you can fit them into your daily macro goals.

    Eliminating foods you love is the WORST way to go about this. Why do you think so many people regain weight? It's because they didn't make SUSTAINABLE changes. Simply telling yourself "I'll never eat a Quarter Pounder again" isn't sustainable. One day your resolve will fail, you will eat that Quarter Pounder, and you will feel like you've failed on one of your core goals. This is how people relapse.

    The KEY is to eat the foods you love in healthy, sustainable ways. "Never" is not sustainable when you're talking about all the foods you love.

    ^^THIS. Don't deprive yourself of the food you love, as long as you can do it moderately. SOME people cannot, for them I say yes cut it out completely. I have no problem eating one cookie and then calling it quits. I still eat what I want and the pounds are coming off (slowly, but that's because I planned it that way, and I'd rather have them come off slowly then fast). If you go a little over or want a treat, exercise off the excess. If you can't fit it into your goals for the day, try not to eat it. Yes a calorie is a calorie. Just some help sustain us longer than others.

    DONE END OF STORY.
  • Posts: 125 Member


    what an insensitive thing to say...you all really need to reevaluate the way you come across to people. you have no idea just how damaging you can be...

    And YOU basically said everyone will fail unless they follow YOUR example. Seems the possibility for damage is higher than some people with proven results showing you the way you can succeed. Sorry you got your knickers in a knot, but with an all or nothing mindset, you have a long, hard uphill climb.
  • Posts: 88 Member
    Yeah.. cutting out "bad foods" isn't the way to go.. you will eventually break and probably go on a bazillion calorie binge. I agree to alternatives but not to completely cutting out a food. All food is fuel. Even pizza has fuel.. burgers fuel.. etc, etc.

    If I want a damn cupcake .. Ill eat a damn cupcake... Ill just make sure it fits in my daily calorie goals.. b.c when you want a cupcake, no amount of veggies is gonna cut it, at least imo.
  • Posts: 10,161 Member


    what an insensitive thing to say...you all really need to reevaluate the way you come across to people. you have no idea just how damaging you can be...

    Treat it as a learning experience. If you show up to a fitness website as a newbie with little progress and tell a bunch of people whose experience and success dwarf your own that the things they say are wrong, and that your way is "fact" and "reality", those people might disagree with you and explain, at length, why your statements are mistaken.

    If your ego is so fragile that a bunch of experienced and successful people disagreeing with you is "damaging" and makes you cry, you should a) stay away from the forums, and b) avoid telling people much more experienced and successful than yourself that they're all wrong.

    What you should really be doing is listening to those people and trying to learn from them.
  • Posts: 12,589 Member


    what an insensitive thing to say...you all really need to reevaluate the way you come across to people. you have no idea just how damaging you can be...

    No one here has been personally attacking. Not agreeing with you is not an attack. Internet forums may not be the best place for you if you're unable to have a disagreement.
  • Posts: 49,167 Member
    what an insensitive thing to say...you all really need to reevaluate the way you come across to people. you have no idea just how damaging you can be...
    It's a fine line. The intent is to correct information that may be anecdotal, but sometimes the way it's conveyed may be more than the person can take. You don't know any of these people, so don't take it personally. It's not a reflection of you as a person, there's just a disagreement on your ideas. Nothing more.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Posts: 1,314 Member

    No one here has been personally attacking. Not agreeing with you is not an attack. Internet forums may not be the best place for you if you're unable to have a disagreement.

    No, she says very clearly that the problem is with ALL of us. Not her.
  • Posts: 1,276 Member
    In the same way, healthy food is better calories because they are in a better form for your body to digest and get the NUTRIENTS from. Unhealthy food is processed and has the calories, but very little of the nutrients, or it has nutrients in such a form that your body isn't able to process/absorb it. This is one of the reasons juicing is so popular. It's a very efficient way of getting a lot of nutrients in your body and in a form that your body will absorb.

    It doesn't mean you can't eat unhealthy food, but all things in moderation. Those foods, when eaten too much, actually deprive your body of nutrients, even though they technically have the calories. It triggers your body to think it's starving because of the lack of nutrients and will in turn trigger the "fat storage" mode.

    Um, no. Processed foods are often fortified, and we can use those nutrients. And they don't trigger starvation mode or fat storage mode. We (in general) just eat too much of them: too many calories.
  • Posts: 2,582 Member
    I asked already. Do you have science to show?

    Saying "I lost weight, therefore what I'm saying is correct" is a logical fallacy, and antiscience.

    Can find a lot of studies saying different things about thermic effects. Here's an easy one on processed food:
    http://www.foodandnutritionresearch.net/index.php/fnr/article/viewArticle/5144/5755
  • Posts: 22,281 Member

    Awesome. A kilo of sugar is way cheaper than a kilo of blow. I'm going to have a lot of spare cash on hand soon.

    tumblr_ly1168weXq1r2rv9u.gif

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1003077-super-hotties-ony-date-guys-with-money-good-looks?hl=hotties+&page=1#posts-15354197
  • Posts: 1,314 Member
    It triggers your body to think it's starving because of the lack of nutrients and will in turn trigger the "fat storage" mode.

    Source?
  • Posts: 121 Member
    You all are really great! And hilarious!! I feel so empowered now knowing that I don't have to eat super clean/healthy 100% of the time. It seems doable for me now. Thank you so much :)) You have know idea how much you have helped me.
  • Posts: 10,161 Member

    Saying "I lost weight, therefore what I'm saying is correct" is a logical fallacy, and antiscience.

    Can find a lot of studies saying different things about thermic effects. Here's an easy one on processed food:
    http://www.foodandnutritionresearch.net/index.php/fnr/article/viewArticle/5144/5755

    I like how you put quotes around that sentence, even though no one said it. Cute.
  • Posts: 2,019 Member

    So here is an honest question - you guys may be winning me over. I've seen people say there is no extra credit for eating extra nutrients. Nutrients go a lot further than the macros we track here. I have 300 calories left after dinner. How do I know I really hit my nutrient goals and am free to spend those 300 calories on ice cream, or if I should try to eat some more veggies etc?
    With 300 calories to go, where are you in relation to your macros? Where is your vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, iron, calcium, and B-complex intake sitting, relative to needs (it is possible to overdo it on vitamins, incidentally). If your macros are reasonably close to filled, and your micronutrient goals are reasonably close to met, eat the ice cream.* If not, make food choices that better fill those goals with your remaining calories.

    *Unless you like the veggies better, I suppose.
  • Posts: 2,582 Member
    I like how you put quotes around that sentence, even though no one said it. Cute.

    I reduce requotes to reduce spam. Katlifter posted that question.
  • Posts: 52
    Something that I really like and NEED to help me with my lifestyle change is the counting calories and exercise. I count everything I eat and boy does that help me make better choices most of the time. My son came home for 2 weeks after being in Belgium for 3 years and we ate and ate and ate all the yummy fattening foods we as a family have always loved. I counted every oz. of it. I also counted every walk we took at the zoo and museums too. Toward the end of his visit we were all eating better choices and less fattening foods because we had enjoyed our foods and needed to get back on track. Do I regret all those extra calories and foods. NOPE! Just kept on moving forward...because it is a lifestyle not a "diet".
  • Posts: 177 Member

    And YOU basically said everyone will fail unless they follow YOUR example. Seems the possibility for damage is higher than some people with proven results showing you the way you can succeed. Sorry you got your knickers in a knot, but with an all or nothing mindset, you have a long, hard uphill climb.


    I have already corrected myself. I have already explained that I think it's what's best for me... I agree that it may not be for everyone. If I fail, then I fail. I'll get back up and try again. But I have already tried the way of moderating those bad things and it didn't' work for me. Left me wanting more. I'd much rather view those foods in a way that will almost force me to say no to them.
  • Posts: 1,314 Member

    Saying "I lost weight, therefore what I'm saying is correct" is a logical fallacy, and antiscience.

    Can find a lot of studies saying different things about thermic effects. Here's an easy one on processed food:
    http://www.foodandnutritionresearch.net/index.php/fnr/article/viewArticle/5144/5755

    It does look like some of the differences are statistically significant. Interesting.
This discussion has been closed.