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MyFitnessPal Community

Is a calorie a calorie?

Aundrea242

I get so many mixed messages. While I understand eating good is the best way to go for your overall health, but when it comes to weight gain is a calorie a calorie? Let’s say I eat 100 calorie dessert verses a 100 calorie piece of fish, would it make a difference when trying to lose weight?

Replies

Nikoruo

when it comes to a treat every now and then a calorie is just a calorie. as long as you are at a deficit you will still lose weight. If were talking long term or many meals in the day then i mean it still counts as a calorie BUT you will be missing out on many vital nutrients that your body needs which in long term will affect your weight loss and your overall mood and health. You also will be more hungry throughout the day because those treats don't have enough protein or fibre to fill you up. Like in your example, 100 calories of fish would be much more filling than 100 calories of any desert.

So short term, like a snack every day or every couple days it's completely fine and will not stop you from losing weight if you are still eating plenty of vitamins to fit your macros and you are eating at a deficit. However, if you eat the 'unhealthy' foods all the time you are at risk of having health problems from the lack of proteins and fibre and whatnot.

I say this from experience, i've lost plenty of weight from eating treats every couple of days or so as long as they fit in my deficit. I also feel healthy and my dr. says that it's fine to have your treats every once in a while.

jillianash

What always confused me is a calorie is a calorie but what if 100 calorie dessert has 10g of fat as opposed to 100 calorie steamed veggie dish with only 2g of fat??

I have wondered this as well. Thats why i think its important to count Daily macro nutrients as well. But really its your choice. If you want dessert for 100 and 10g of fat then have it. The veggies with 2g of fat will probably have more carbs than the dessert because in the end Calories are made up of Protein, Carbs and Fat. If you want veggies for 100 cal then have those. As long as those calories you ate still leave you in a calorie deficient you'll loose weight. But the Nutrition offered from each food is different. However really in the end its all personal and everyone should just do whatever works for them. Becasue some people are fine eating "clean" and only unprocessed foods. Where as others who try it end up binging. Just find out whatever works for you and stick to it. You can read/listen to people rant and rave all day and battle out every nutrition myth out there all day. But I would suggest finding something you think makes sense, works for you and sticking to it. Because it's your life. And its the internet and people will always argue and a consensus will never be achieved.

schipigr101

What is a calorie and are all calories created equal?
Let us start with the basics, a calorie is an energy measure that is derived from foods. Calories are everywhere, from fruits and vegetables to cookies and cake. The only thing that varies is the nutritional integrity of those calories. Think of an apple, it has 80 calories that mainly come from all natural sugars and fibers. An apple has tons of vitamins that help our bodies absorb different nutrients. Now, compare it to a chocolate truffle where on average, these little treats have 80 calories as well; however, the calories that come from a truffle are very different than the ones of the apple. A chocolate truffle has a lot of plain and refined sugars (or simple carbohydrates) along with saturated fats in the form of cream.

A chocolate truffle might bring you that instant satisfaction, but ten minutes later, after your insulin levels have gone through the roof, your body will be asking you for more food. And additionally, that spike in your glucose levels directly produces the fatty hormone which is insulin. In this scenario, you can compare two foods, one being an apple and the other a chocolate truffle; same calories, but different nutrients. Essentially, the calories in each of these foods might be used differently in our bodies. Therefore, we have to be smart with the calories we eat and where they are coming from.

Reference Source: www.youarethebestyou.com

Hornsby

What always confused me is a calorie is a calorie but what if 100 calorie dessert has 10g of fat as opposed to 100 calorie steamed veggie dish with only 2g of fat??

The veggies with 2g of fat will probably have more carbs than the dessert because in the end Calories are made up of Protein, Carbs and Fat.

How do you figure?

mccindy72

Big Mac Sauce:
Ingredients: Soybean Oil, Pickle Relish (Diced Pickles, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Xanthan Gum, Potassium
Sorbate [Preservative], Spice Extractives, Polysorbate 80), Distilled Vinegar, Water, Egg Yolks, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Onion Powder, Mustard Seed, Salt,
Spices, Propylene Glycol Alginate, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Mustard Bran, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Vegetable Protein (Hydrolyzed Corn, Soy and Wheat),
Caramel Color, Extractives of Paprika, Soy Lecithin, Turmeric (Color), Calcium Disodium EDTA (Protect Flavor).
Source: http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/ingredientslist.pdf

Kraft Thousand Island Dressing:
Ingredients: SOYBEAN OIL, TOMATO PUREE (WATER, TOMATO PASTE), VINEGAR, SUGAR, WATER, CHOPPED PICKLES, EGG YOLKS, SALT, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF NATURAL FLAVOR, MUSTARD FLOUR, DRIED ONIONS, XANTHAN GUM, DRIED RED BELL PEPPERS, CITRIC ACID, PAPRIKA, OLEORESIN TURMERIC, POTASSIUM SORBATE AND CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (TO PROTECT FLAVOR).
Source: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/Products/ProductInfoDisplay.aspx?siteid=1&product=2100064473

Not all brands use the same ingredients. Does McDonald's use Kraft brand??
[/quote]

Really, that's your response? Please look again. McDonald's sauce ingredients list is included from their website, and then Kraft's ingredients list. Please note the similarity. The appropriate response should be: hey, there really isn't much difference between the ingredients in either of those and many other sauces you'd find on the shelves of grocery stores across America.

SezxyStef

^^^^ And this my friends, is total BS. So, just know that.

maybe something to back this up? What is BS about it? Are you saying that no matter what someone eats, as long as they have the right amount of calories, they will maintain their health?

If that's what you are saying, then I'd respectfully ask that you bring that statement to a registered dietitian and see what they say about it. Or anyone else that has an advanced degree of human anatomy and physiology. Pretty sure they are going to tell you you're wrong, that it matters a great deal, and that health issues will pop up if you don't eat not only the correct macro-nutrients but also the correct micro-nutrients. If that's not what you're saying, then please explain.

thank you

we aren't talking about maintaining health we are talking about losing weight.

TR0berts

But WHY does that fake creamer have a lower freezing point?

It's fairly basic chemistry. Any time a solute is added to a solvent, the mixture's freezing point is lower than the solvent's; and the mixture's boiling point will be higher than the solvent's. For a basic example: add salt to water. The freezing point lowers and the boiling point is raised. How much depends upon how much salt you added and how much water you started out with.

In order to determine exactly what the freezing point of the creamer is, one would have to know exactly how much of every ingredient there is in the creamer. Also, consider that item placement within the fridge will affect how cold it gets. For instance, in my fridge, if the door is cracked (like what happened last year, when the seal went bad), a few of the items on the top shelf froze, but the items on the lowest shelf didn't. Again, the chemical makeup of the items, as well as the exact temperatures (and time) reached, determined what did and didn't freeze.

mccindy72

What is a calorie and are all calories created equal?
Let us start with the basics, a calorie is an energy measure that is derived from foods. Calories are everywhere, from fruits and vegetables to cookies and cake. The only thing that varies is the nutritional integrity of those calories. Think of an apple, it has 80 calories that mainly come from all natural sugars and fibers. An apple has tons of vitamins that help our bodies absorb different nutrients. Now, compare it to a chocolate truffle where on average, these little treats have 80 calories as well; however, the calories that come from a truffle are very different than the ones of the apple. A chocolate truffle has a lot of plain and refined sugars (or simple carbohydrates) along with saturated fats in the form of cream.

A chocolate truffle might bring you that instant satisfaction, but ten minutes later, after your insulin levels have gone through the roof, your body will be asking you for more food. And additionally, that spike in your glucose levels directly produces the fatty hormone which is insulin. In this scenario, you can compare two foods, one being an apple and the other a chocolate truffle; same calories, but different nutrients. Essentially, the calories in each of these foods might be used differently in our bodies. Therefore, we have to be smart with the calories we eat and where they are coming from.

Reference Source: www.youarethebestyou.com

Solid first post.

Both food sources supply your body with sugar, which will spike your blood sugar, which is why orange juice is good to give a diabetic with low blood sugar. Blood sugar spikes and crashes affect hunger, not nutrition.
Unless you are going to eat nothing but truffles or nothing but apples, this comparison really means nothing. Eat your regular meals, have an apple with one, and a truffle with another. If your macros fit, and you're in a calorie deficit, your nutrition will be fine, and you will lose weight. Toss in some cardio and some weight lifting, and you'll be fit as well.

abickford82

my down fall is International Delight creamer with sugar in my coffee. I have two cups of coffee in the morning and in the evening I have tea with sugar.

I have to ask this...if you're having all that sweet creamer, why do you need sugar, too? Cutting out the sugar right there would help b/c that stuff is already loaded with sugar. I have it every couple months (usually around Christmas/Thanksgiving b/c of the holiday flavors). It's just something I wondered b/c I know a few women who do this and wondered...why? The creamer alone is all I can tolerate!

SezxyStef

SHboss thanks that was informative and I appreciate it.

Britawatson my down fall is International Delight creamer with sugar in my coffee. I have two cups of coffee in the morning and in the evening I have tea with sugar. I only have one cup of tea., but I use four teaspoons of sugar and I know that is bad. The cup of green tea I have in the evening is like my little addiction. I also love the Weight Watchers cookie dough sundae that has a 140 calories. I am trying so hard to get away from it. I stopped putting sugar in my coffee and I am trying so hard to wing myself off the others.

I stopped drinking that flavored creamer after we had a problem with our refrigerator. Everything in the fridge froze, everything EXCEPT the flavored creamer. The thought that there is some kind of antifreeze in it made us stop drinking it immediately.

I read something once that said the secret sauce on Big Macs have an ingredient used in antifreeze. Yum! Maybe it's the same one?? Not sure myself as I have always enjoyed my coffee black.

The secret sauce on Big Macs is Thousand Island dressing.

In 2012, McDonald's admitted that the special sauce ingredients were "not really a secret" because the recipe had been available online "for years".[7] It consists of store-bought mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish and yellow mustard whisked together with vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika. ---WIKI

Ingredients: Soybean Oil, Pickle Relish (Diced Pickles, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate [Preservative], Spice Extractives, Polysorbate 80), Distilled Vinegar, Water, Egg Yolks, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Onion Powder, Mustard Seed, Salt, Spices, Propylene Glycol Alginate, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Mustard Bran, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Vegetable Protein (Hydrolyzed Corn, Soy and Wheat), Caramel Color, Extractives of Paprika, Soy Lecithin, Turmeric (Color), Calcium Disodium EDTA (Protect Flavor).
CONTAINS: WHEAT, EGG AND SOY.

What is propylene glycol? Well, it’s an ingredient found in anything from anti-freeze and engine coolants, to shampoo, to… well, the big mac sauce. Tasty?

actually what it is, is this

Propylene glycol, also called 1,2-propanediol or propane-1,2-diol, is an organic compound (a diol or double alcohol) with formula C3H8O2. It is a colorless, nearly odorless, clear, viscous liquid with a faintly sweet taste, hygroscopic and miscible with water, acetone, and chloroform.....it lowers the freezing point of water..please it's an organic compound...

chezjuan

What is propylene glycol? Well, it’s an ingredient found in anything from anti-freeze and engine coolants, to shampoo, to… well, the big mac sauce. Tasty?

Auto coolant is usually ethylene glycol, not propylene glycol. Propylene glycol is mainly used in situations where it may be ingested (such as antifreeze for household pipes or food processing equipment). Of course, it is also used in food additives, etc.

TR0berts

Diarrhea has water in it too, are you going to drink that? Of course I drink water. But I can choose to not eat the other ingredients included in items. I am not trying to tell people what to do with their bodies, I said it works for me.

You completely missed the point. You are trying to justify your fears (which seem to be based upon a basic ignorance of science) by pointing out that certain chemicals are found in non-foods. The point, quite simply, is that many of the chemicals that you do choose to consume (in this case, water - aka H2O) are also found in those same non-foods. Are they bad? No. But you choose to ignore (or don't understand, I'm not sure which) that nearly every chemical that you do consume is found/used elsewhere.

jillianash

What always confused me is a calorie is a calorie but what if 100 calorie dessert has 10g of fat as opposed to 100 calorie steamed veggie dish with only 2g of fat??

The veggies with 2g of fat will probably have more carbs than the dessert because in the end Calories are made up of Protein, Carbs and Fat.

How do you figure?

Everything is made up of some combination of Carbs Protein and fat to make up the amount of calories. Vegetables are generally mostly carbs with few fat and Protein. Dessert with 10g of fat will probably have some amount of carbs and protein also so make up the calories. It was a general example. I was trying to point out the fact that the vegetables would have their calories coming from Carbohydrates vs the dessert where the calories are coming from fat.

deksgrl

But WHY does that fake creamer have a lower freezing point?

It's fairly basic chemistry. Any time a solute is added to a solvent, the mixture's freezing point is lower than the solvent's; and the mixture's boiling point will be higher than the solvent's. For a basic example: add salt to water. The freezing point lowers and the boiling point is raised. How much depends upon how much salt you added and how much water you started out with.

In order to determine exactly what the freezing point of the creamer is, one would have to know exactly how much of every ingredient there is in the creamer. Also, consider that item placement within the fridge will affect how cold it gets. For instance, in my fridge, if the door is cracked (like what happened last year, when the seal went bad), a few of the items on the top shelf froze, but the items on the lowest shelf didn't. Again, the chemical makeup of the items, as well as the exact temperatures (and time) reached, determined what did and didn't freeze.

In this case, everything froze, all the liquids and all the solids. Milk, juice, soda, water, and all of the leftover foods and condiments had ice in them, everything but the fake creamer. Looking at the ingredients list, I decided not to use it any more because of the partially hydrogenated oils aka trans fats.

TR0berts

please it's an organic compound...

Be careful with that. "Organic" compounds simply mean that they contain carbon.

mccindy72

my down fall is International Delight creamer with sugar in my coffee. I have two cups of coffee in the morning and in the evening I have tea with sugar.

I have to ask this...if you're having all that sweet creamer, why do you need sugar, too? Cutting out the sugar right there would help b/c that stuff is already loaded with sugar. I have it every couple months (usually around Christmas/Thanksgiving b/c of the holiday flavors). It's just something I wondered b/c I know a few women who do this and wondered...why? The creamer alone is all I can tolerate!

why do you have to ask this? To each their own. Everyone has one thing they reall enjoy. Sugar is only 16 calories per tsp. As long it fits into the daily calorie goal, it really doesn't matter.

FredDoyle

What is propylene glycol? Well, it’s an ingredient found in anything from anti-freeze and engine coolants, to shampoo, to… well, the big mac sauce. Tasty?

Auto coolant is usually ethylene glycol, not propylene glycol. Propylene glycol is mainly used in situations where it may be ingested (such as antifreeze for household pipes or food processing equipment). Of course, it is also used in food additives, etc.

Yes, she has her number of carbons mixed up, although I'm not sure she knows chemistry at all...

nehtaeh

there's multiple reasons why a calorie isn't just a calorie.

Putting aside alcohol, which is a whole different kettle of fish (in a super bad way), different types of macronutrients are processed differently, protein for instance can be used by the body as either a building block for lean mass or as energy in the form of calories, if used as energy it's broken down into it's constituent pieces then reformed into molecules usable for energy, which takes longer in the body and is done at a different spot in the digestive tract than is a carbohydrate, fat also has it's own process.

Even within the confines of carbohydrates there are differences in how fast they are processed for use. And the time it takes to convert a unit of nutrience into usable energy plays a huge role in how "good" for you it is. By that I mean, highly processed carbohydrates like enriched flower or table sugar are taken up almost immediately by the body and used, where as foods that contain fiber and are made up of polysaccharides must be first released from their "shell" (the fiber and other non-digestable material) before they can be used and in some cases must first be cleaved in order to rebuild them as the usable glucose the body uses as fuel (or converted to fat for storage and use).

So you see, while from an energy standpoint, it doesn't matter where a calorie comes from or what form it takes, but the amount of time and energy it takes for the body to process it for use is a huge factor in whether you are supplying the "slow trickle" of energy your body needs for every day use, or floods into the body creating a saturation point of energy where as extra is stored as fat.

This is a fantastic explanation. Thanks!

perseverance14

If you are looking at calories just to lose weight, a calorie is a calorie. If you care about the nutrition, eat healthy food.

mccindy72

If you are looking at calories just to lose weight, a calorie is a calorie. If you care about the nutrition, eat healthy food.

Please define "healthy" food, newbie.

mccindy72

there's multiple reasons why a calorie isn't just a calorie.

Putting aside alcohol, which is a whole different kettle of fish (in a super bad way), different types of macronutrients are processed differently, protein for instance can be used by the body as either a building block for lean mass or as energy in the form of calories, if used as energy it's broken down into it's constituent pieces then reformed into molecules usable for energy, which takes longer in the body and is done at a different spot in the digestive tract than is a carbohydrate, fat also has it's own process.

Even within the confines of carbohydrates there are differences in how fast they are processed for use. And the time it takes to convert a unit of nutrience into usable energy plays a huge role in how "good" for you it is. By that I mean, highly processed carbohydrates like enriched flower or table sugar are taken up almost immediately by the body and used, where as foods that contain fiber and are made up of polysaccharides must be first released from their "shell" (the fiber and other non-digestable material) before they can be used and in some cases must first be cleaved in order to rebuild them as the usable glucose the body uses as fuel (or converted to fat for storage and use).

So you see, while from an energy standpoint, it doesn't matter where a calorie comes from or what form it takes, but the amount of time and energy it takes for the body to process it for use is a huge factor in whether you are supplying the "slow trickle" of energy your body needs for every day use, or floods into the body creating a saturation point of energy where as extra is stored as fat.

This is a fantastic explanation. Thanks!

this is a fantastic explanation of how extra calories will be stored as fat if you eat at a calorie surplus without doing some sort of work that will force them to be used to build muscle, like heavy lifting. Otherwise, if you are eating at a deficit, this isn't the case. You can't store calories as fat when eating in a deficit, no matter what the source is.

ashenriver

my down fall is International Delight creamer with sugar in my coffee. I have two cups of coffee in the morning and in the evening I have tea with sugar.

I have to ask this...if you're having all that sweet creamer, why do you need sugar, too? Cutting out the sugar right there would help b/c that stuff is already loaded with sugar. I have it every couple months (usually around Christmas/Thanksgiving b/c of the holiday flavors). It's just something I wondered b/c I know a few women who do this and wondered...why? The creamer alone is all I can tolerate!

^^ I have wondered about this too. hehe. (But that is also just personal preference)
I drink my coffee and tea black, but holidays and camping its all about the hazelnut creamer.

WendyTerry420

I get so many mixed messages. While I understand eating good is the best way to go for your overall health, but when it comes to weight gain is a calorie a calorie? Let’s say I eat 100 calorie dessert verses a 100 calorie piece of fish, would it make a difference when trying to lose weight?

You are still taking in 100 calories. The difference is nutrients. A calorie is a calorie, but nutrients vary.

fast_eddie_72

You can lose weight eating nothing but twinkies if you have a calorie deficit.

I'd like to see you try. You can walk to the North Pole if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other. So why don't people do it?

From an "understanding how it works" point of view, this kind of statement can be helpful. Yes, at the end of the day, it's just math. Burn more than you eat and you lose weight. You could lose weight without ever getting out of bed. But it isn't very likely. In practical terms you need to know more. Losing weight eating nothing but junk would be a slow, difficult, uncomfortable process. You'd have no fuel for energy. You'd burn through the sugar quickly, crash and crave more. Your body would burn muscle for fuel. You'd be constantly hungry. Lack of fuel would make your brain do funny things and I doubt anyone would stick to a diet for very long under those circumstances. And while everyone says "I want to lose weight" the unsaid second part is understood to be "so I can look good and be healthy". The junk food diet wouldn't accomplish that. You'd look terrible and feel worse.

This is one of those cases where common sense is right. You intuitively know that you need to eat more healthy food to lose weight. The easy access to junk food is, to a very large degree, the reason so many of us need to lose weight in the first place. So getting good nutrition, giving your body fuel, feeling good, getting some exercise is the only real way for the overwhelming majority of people to be successful losing weight.

But there's another side to that. Losing weight takes time. And if you don't want it all to come back after your "diet" you need to develop a lifestyle that you can sustain. Very few of us can commit to never having another bag of chips or yummy desert. Trying to do that will also set you up to fail. I bet almost everyone here has had that experience of eating something "bad" and concluding "well forget it, I can't do this" and giving up all together. So while you have to give your body good fuel and nutrition, you also have to include things in your life that you have decided you need to be happy and fulfilled. Have a few Girl Scout Cookies. Cake at a party? Share a slice with someone and enjoy it. Take a cheat day every now and then and get a good burger. But know that it is part of a balanced plan to succeed in your health and weight loss goals.

mccindy72

You can lose weight eating nothing but twinkies if you have a calorie deficit.

I'd like to see you try.

You know it's been done, right? It's not sustainable, but it's possible. No one here is saying it's healthy, just that it can be done.

pgn301

Ideally, to lose weight the healthy way, we should include healthy fats (avocado, fatty fish, walnuts, chia seeds, coconut) high quality protein like turkey, fish, venison, rabbit... and healthy carbs that help keep you full and give your body the energy it needs during weight loss like green leafy veggies, colourful fruit and whole grains like rice and oats.

I agree!!!

RGv2

You can lose weight eating nothing but twinkies if you have a calorie deficit.

I'd like to see you try.

You know it's been done, right? It's not sustainable, but it's possible. No one here is saying it's healthy, just that it can be done.

^^^This. A Science teacher did it on McDonalds too.

fast_eddie_72

You can lose weight eating nothing but twinkies if you have a calorie deficit.

I'd like to see you try.

You know it's been done, right? It's not sustainable, but it's possible. No one here is saying it's healthy, just that it can be done.

You should read more than the first six words of my post. That's what I said.

otillie03103

Diarrhea has water in it too, are you going to drink that? Of course I drink water. But I can choose to not eat the other ingredients included in items. I am not trying to tell people what to do with their bodies, I said it works for me.

You completely missed the point. You are trying to justify your fears (which seem to be based upon a basic ignorance of science) by pointing out that certain chemicals are found in non-foods. The point, quite simply, is that many of the chemicals that you do choose to consume (in this case, water - aka H2O) are also found in those same non-foods. Are they bad? No. But you choose to ignore (or don't understand, I'm not sure which) that nearly every chemical that you do consume is found/used elsewhere.

I am stating purely that I look at ingredients and if I don't want to eat that ingredient then I don't eat that product. I have the right to do that. I have a degree in science and I am not ignorant in the subject. I choose to eliminate the ones that I have done my own research on and have decided I don't want to eat them because studies I have read (which everyone says are BS - keep in mind I did not do the studies, I found them in my research and felt they were beneficial to my health) showed they could cause health problems in the long run. I am trying to get as healthy as I can and can do so in a manner I see fit. I am not saying you should all not eat them, I am saying that I choose not to. I can do that. You can eat what you want.