Video shows that a calorie is not just a calorie?

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Replies

  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    Another explanation:

    guy has krohns disease
    guy has hyperthyroidism
    guy actually is very active and his TDEE is above the "norm"
    guy doesn't actually eat 2600 cals exactly every day
    guy leads a busy life and quite often undereats

    etc.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    I've seen quite a few episodes of this show and know that they have a pattern. When they show what each person eats normally during the week, they'll say something like "so all in all, she is under eating by 4 days worth a week!" or "he is over eating by 5 days each week!" They didn't do that with Colin, because according to them, he's not under eating. They did the review with his overweight partner saying she eats about 5 extra days worth.

    Also at the end of the show when the participants get their sensible eating plan, the show normally tells us how many daily calories each person will be taking in. I've found it interesting that the larger people usually get 2000-2400 daily calories to lose weight! Instead, in this episode they breezed over that section and didn't tell us how many calories either participant was to eat at home.

    When Colin came back for his check-in, he had gained 9 lbs. He said that he was eating loads more with more variety including bread, vegetables and fruit.

    For the first time I've seen on this show, they were very vague about calories....
    This makes this thread even more confusing. What exactly is the point of this thread?

    Well normally the show explains things very well. About calories, and how both diets (too much food and too little food) are dangerous and damaging to the body. They didn't really offer any explanation about Colin so I just wanted to see what other people thought. Is Colin a special snowflake? I didn't think about how his poor diet might change how his body uses what he eats so that could be a potential explanation...

    Sounds like more reality show manipulation to boost ratings (or sell chocolate; is Cadbury a sponsor? :laugh: )
  • sullykat
    sullykat Posts: 461 Member
    You know those little starving kids in Africa with the big pot bellies? It's probably analogous to that. They are under and malnourished. They don't have enough protein, fat and other nutrients in their diet due to eating simple carbs, and very little of them, which causes bloating of the belly (fact!).

    This guy eats only chocolate. Only. There is enough fat and carbs in it to keep his body moving and burning off the caloric energy, but not enough actual nutrients and protein to sustain his organs, muscles and likely his brain, so they've all shrivelled up.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    I've seen quite a few episodes of this show and know that they have a pattern. When they show what each person eats normally during the week, they'll say something like "so all in all, she is under eating by 4 days worth a week!" or "he is over eating by 5 days each week!" They didn't do that with Colin, because according to them, he's not under eating. They did the review with his overweight partner saying she eats about 5 extra days worth.

    Also at the end of the show when the participants get their sensible eating plan, the show normally tells us how many daily calories each person will be taking in. I've found it interesting that the larger people usually get 2000-2400 daily calories to lose weight! Instead, in this episode they breezed over that section and didn't tell us how many calories either participant was to eat at home.

    When Colin came back for his check-in, he had gained 9 lbs. He said that he was eating loads more with more variety including bread, vegetables and fruit.

    For the first time I've seen on this show, they were very vague about calories....
    This makes this thread even more confusing. What exactly is the point of this thread?

    Well normally the show explains things very well. About calories, and how both diets (too much food and too little food) are dangerous and damaging to the body. They didn't really offer any explanation about Colin so I just wanted to see what other people thought. Is Colin a special snowflake? I didn't think about how his poor diet might change how his body uses what he eats so that could be a potential explanation...

    Also what they said was misunderstood - read my post top of this page.
  • Jewlz280
    Jewlz280 Posts: 547 Member
    AH! I get what you're saying. Normally the show follows the typical MFP premise of 'No special snowflakes' as in, calories in and calories out. But for THIS show, they indeed made him come across as the special snowflake, BUT without explanation. The sad truth is, it's TV. You can read through the comments on there or maybe contact the show through email or see if they have a message board. But I'd say dude just has a high metabolism and was active and that's why he was under. Or some other underlying illness. It's just one of those things you'll never really know, probably. And I know you hate that cause I know I hate that when things are left.... incomplete.
  • ChickenmommaMich
    ChickenmommaMich Posts: 60 Member
    AH! I get what you're saying. Normally the show follows the typical MFP premise of 'No special snowflakes' as in, calories in and calories out. But for THIS show, they indeed made him come across as the special snowflake, BUT without explanation. The sad truth is, it's TV. You can read through the comments on there or maybe contact the show through email or see if they have a message board. But I'd say dude just has a high metabolism and was active and that's why he was under. Or some other underlying illness. It's just one of those things you'll never really know, probably. And I know you hate that cause I know I hate that when things are left.... incomplete.

    Yes, you understand! It was "out of character" for the show not to explain something and I figure it's either because they can't explain it or there is some underlying illness Colin didn't want us to know about...
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    When did 2500 calories become some huge number? I maintain on more than that. So do a lot of people.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Started another episode - they did the same thing.

    "Typical man needs 2500"

    "So and so eats 4200"

    Yes - but at his weight, he burns a whole lot more than 2500 right now with sedentary lifestyle.

    So I don't see how they are presenting anything special - they only give 1 set of stats that are personal, the other comments are based on total averages of population, nothing unique.

    They are comparing apples and oranges.
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  • ChickenmommaMich
    ChickenmommaMich Posts: 60 Member
    AH! I get what you're saying. Normally the show follows the typical MFP premise of 'No special snowflakes' as in, calories in and calories out. But for THIS show, they indeed made him come across as the special snowflake, BUT without explanation. The sad truth is, it's TV. You can read through the comments on there or maybe contact the show through email or see if they have a message board. But I'd say dude just has a high metabolism and was active and that's why he was under. Or some other underlying illness. It's just one of those things you'll never really know, probably. And I know you hate that cause I know I hate that when things are left.... incomplete.

    Yes, you understand! It was "out of character" for the show not to explain something and I figure it's either because they can't explain it or there is some underlying illness Colin didn't want us to know about...
    Time for you to email the show for an explanation or maybe write a strongly worded letter to complain that they confused so and drove you to start this thread.

    Why are you so offended that I started this thread? I was just looking for friendly discussion...
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    Watch the kicker part again.

    "the average man should be getting through 2500 calories a day"
    "Colin is eating 2600"
    Conclusion: Colin is not the average man.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    A calorie is a calorie in that a calorie is nothing more than a unit of energy. A brick is still a brick, no matter what kind of building is is used to build.


    Now can we PLEASE stop with this pointless debate?
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    OP it is obvious why he is super skinny while eatting 2600 calories in chocolate every day...his TDEE is higher. Does the show mention at all his activity level? That really wasn't hard at all to understand. I didn't even need to read through the comments or watch the video to understand what was going on.

    Also....+1 on 2500 not being that big of a calorie number. That number is based on what an average height/weight man would need on the recommended exercise levels. Marathoners and ultra runners have been known to maintain on 4000+ calories (my cousins eat around 4500-5000 calores a day to maintain and they are what I would call super skinny).
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    A calorie is a calorie in that a calorie is nothing more than a unit of energy. A brick is still a brick, no matter what kind of building is is used to build.


    Now can we PLEASE stop with this pointless debate?

    Got it. Now, does muscle really weigh more than fat?












    For the love of God, no one answer that! I can't even take the chance someone will actually answer that and the debate ensue. it was a joke about the endlessly debated things on MFP. :laugh:
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Got it. Now, does muscle really weigh more than fat?






    For the love of God, no one answer that! I can't even take the chance someone will actually answer that and the debate ensue. it was a joke about the endlessly debated things on MFP. :laugh:

    Ahhhhh - but muscle burns 3 x as much as fat at rest.

    So you can lose 3 lbs of the lighter fat and gain 1 lb of the heavier muscle and be equal in calorie burn, and, huh, weight .... ?
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    A calorie is a calorie in that a calorie is nothing more than a unit of energy. A brick is still a brick, no matter what kind of building is is used to build.


    Now can we PLEASE stop with this pointless debate?

    Got it. Now, does muscle really weigh more than fat?












    For the love of God, no one answer that! I can't even take the chance someone will actually answer that and the debate ensue. it was a joke about the endlessly debated things on MFP. :laugh:


    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • Kanuenue
    Kanuenue Posts: 253 Member
    I saw that episode. Yeah he was skinny and he looked so unwell. Tired, pale, and just malnourished. The body runs on more than macro-nutrients.

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