Personal Trainer & Weight Management Certified here to help!

asimmons26 wrote: »

Back to the calories are not equal. This is very simple. You eat 100 calories of French fries and I will eat 100 calories of veggies. Then let's see who has more energy. You can google not all calories are equal and find a ton of information backing this. The information I gave as to not all calories being equal was just a very quick statement without going into complex digestion and energy process of different foods. Your energy level has everything to do with how your lose weight.

The calories are equal... nutritionally they are different and have different impacts from a thermal effect of food standpoint.

Cholesterol - did you realize the USDA removed cholesterol from nutrition labels because the lack of evidence that would suggest dietary cholesterol increases serum cholesterol.

Rice - have you really ever done a comparison (same brand) of white rice vs brown rice? We are talking same calories, 1g difference in fiber and pretty much the exact some nutritionally.

Fast food - Not all fast food restaurants are nutritionally lacking like they have in the past. I mean, do you even Chipotle? I generally hit up Chipotle, Cava Mezza Grill, or Chickfila once a week. All have very healthy and nutritionally dense foods. And even looking at places like McDonalds, they have made huge sweeping changings in offering both their classic choices and very nutritionally dense foods (found this out while on the road. Had the ranch bacon chicken salad and loved it).

asimmons26 wrote: »

Often referred to as an empty calorie are foods high in calories but very lacking in nutritional value, like fast food. If the harm to your body outweighs the benefits by a long shot then it's what is known as an empty calorie. You can be at a "healthy weight" but have high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol,etc bc of the foods in which you choose to consume. Again, backing my statement that calories are not created equal. Have you heard of skinny fat? This is a person who eats within calorie range but not the right foods. This person is not actually healthy and their body fat percentage is of an unhealthy range. I see it all day at the gym training and taking body fat analysts.

I don't have any qualifications, but I was under the impression that 'skinny fat' was just when you have a relatively low weight but a high body fat percentage. Never heard it defined as anything to do with the 'right foods' or eating 'clean'.

lemonlionheart wrote: »

asimmons26 wrote: »

Often referred to as an empty calorie are foods high in calories but very lacking in nutritional value, like fast food. If the harm to your body outweighs the benefits by a long shot then it's what is known as an empty calorie. You can be at a "healthy weight" but have high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol,etc bc of the foods in which you choose to consume. Again, backing my statement that calories are not created equal. Have you heard of skinny fat? This is a person who eats within calorie range but not the right foods. This person is not actually healthy and their body fat percentage is of an unhealthy range. I see it all day at the gym training and taking body fat analysts.

I don't have any qualifications, but I was under the impression that 'skinny fat' was just when you have a relatively low weight but a high body fat percentage. Never heard it defined as anything to do with the 'right foods' or eating 'clean'.

Your definition is correct.. the OP's isn't.

lemonlionheart wrote: »

asimmons26 wrote: »

Often referred to as an empty calorie are foods high in calories but very lacking in nutritional value, like fast food. If the harm to your body outweighs the benefits by a long shot then it's what is known as an empty calorie. You can be at a "healthy weight" but have high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol,etc bc of the foods in which you choose to consume. Again, backing my statement that calories are not created equal. Have you heard of skinny fat? This is a person who eats within calorie range but not the right foods. This person is not actually healthy and their body fat percentage is of an unhealthy range. I see it all day at the gym training and taking body fat analysts.

I don't have any qualifications, but I was under the impression that 'skinny fat' was just when you have a relatively low weight but a high body fat percentage. Never heard it defined as anything to do with the 'right foods' or eating 'clean'.

Correct, that's what skinny fat refers to. Low body weight, high body fat %. Generally when strength work has been ignored during weight loss. So LBM has been lost a long with BF.

Just out of interest asimmons, would you also suggest east smaller meals 5 or 6 times a day or not eating after 8pm. Both normal bro science "gym trainer" stuff I hear.

asimmons26 wrote: »

Back to the calories are not equal. This is very simple. You eat 100 calories of French fries and I will eat 100 calories of veggies. Then let's see who has more energy. You can google not all calories are equal and find a ton of information backing this. The information I gave as to not all calories being equal was just a very quick statement without going into complex digestion and energy process of different foods. Your energy level has everything to do with how your lose weight.

Sigh. Do you think that 100 cals matters either way? It doesn't.

"All calories are not equal" is a poor statement to communicate something a bit more complex while stating a falsehood. What you really should be saying is "dietary macro and micronutrient distribution matters and should be aligned to goals, variety and freshness will improve dietary quality, certain food preparations should be eating with low frequency" but it doesn't have the same sound bite as "all calories are not created equal".

Energy wise, I'll take those 100 cal fries without a problem because my diet and activity level is sufficient to allow for that discretion. I probably would also take the 100 cals of veggies.

You're right that energy level, mood and satiety have a lot to do with how we lose weight, unfortunately your arguments need much work before they are accurate or convincing. "Go google", isn't a good supporting element to your position.

asimmons26 wrote: »

No, a calorie is not created equal. Your body treats the foods you eat differently. A protein burns slower than a carb. This is because it takes 20% to 30% more energy to burn that calorie. Energy in is just as complex as energy out. You can look it up if you would like.

It seems to me that you are confusing "calories" with "food." Of course foods are different and your body gets different things out of different foods and the TEF for different foods is different (you can't generalize about the TEF of carbs, since there is a huge variety, but protein -- which is a component of various foods -- tends to have a higher TEF and fat tends to have the lowest TEF).

Refined carbs are usually something that people easily over eat. This would be your whites (pasta, white bread, etc).

Often, but it depends on the person. I never overeat pasta or rice, for example, and it makes no difference whether it's white or not. I'm just not that into plain starches and eat both for whatever I eat with them (which usually includes lean meat and vegetables).

Also, saying stay away from "white foods" always strikes me as silly, because stuff like cottage cheese and cauliflower and vanilla or plain protein powder is white too.

Butter is another additive people use too much of.

Eh, depends on the person, again. It's really not helpful to generalize. Even when I was getting fat (I've lost the weight) I overused olive oil, not butter, on my veggies (and I ate a lot of them).

lemonlionheart wrote: »

asimmons26 wrote: »

Often referred to as an empty calorie are foods high in calories but very lacking in nutritional value, like fast food. If the harm to your body outweighs the benefits by a long shot then it's what is known as an empty calorie. You can be at a "healthy weight" but have high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol,etc bc of the foods in which you choose to consume. Again, backing my statement that calories are not created equal. Have you heard of skinny fat? This is a person who eats within calorie range but not the right foods. This person is not actually healthy and their body fat percentage is of an unhealthy range. I see it all day at the gym training and taking body fat analysts.

I don't have any qualifications, but I was under the impression that 'skinny fat' was just when you have a relatively low weight but a high body fat percentage. Never heard it defined as anything to do with the 'right foods' or eating 'clean'.

Yes -- I believe it refers to normal weight obesity. In other words, when you are a normal weight but still have an overweight or obese BF%.

lemonlionheart wrote: »

asimmons26 wrote: »

Often referred to as an empty calorie are foods high in calories but very lacking in nutritional value, like fast food. If the harm to your body outweighs the benefits by a long shot then it's what is known as an empty calorie. You can be at a "healthy weight" but have high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol,etc bc of the foods in which you choose to consume. Again, backing my statement that calories are not created equal. Have you heard of skinny fat? This is a person who eats within calorie range but not the right foods. This person is not actually healthy and their body fat percentage is of an unhealthy range. I see it all day at the gym training and taking body fat analysts.

I don't have any qualifications, but I was under the impression that 'skinny fat' was just when you have a relatively low weight but a high body fat percentage. Never heard it defined as anything to do with the 'right foods' or eating 'clean'.

I'm glad I kept reading to see if this had been mentioned before posting it myself. "Skinny fat" is more likely low lbm than dietary choice.

psulemon wrote: »

pipmcgrath wrote: »

psulemon wrote: »

pipmcgrath wrote: »

Looking for some advice re calorie counting. I lost nearly 7 stone and got to target. Got gallstones, had to have my gallbladder removed and gained 2 stone. Trying now to lose a stone of that and I literally have stayed the same weight for 6 months. I'm back in the gym again and eating between 1400 & 1600 calories a day, more at the weekends which is usually white spirits. Any thoughts or things to try? I focus on eating vegetables with low fat protein. I do eat white carbs and chocolate in moderation. I am relunctant to totally cut them out as I want a more balanced approach than before

Probably should start your own thread so you can specific answers without hijacking this thread.

Don't think I was hijacking anything! Was replying to the original posters post!

Oh nvm.. I forgot she did offer to answer advice.. just ignore me, lol


1. If you don't have a food scale, get one.
2. If you don't log daily (can't see your food dairy), that would also generally be a point of issue for people doing calorie counting.

Patience, psulemon. I am certain your services will yet be needed in this thread.

JaneiR36 wrote: »

thorsmom01 wrote: »

JaneiR36 wrote: »

Wow, she never did explain her qualifications and experience. Maybe the lack thereof explains her comments?

I thought the same.
Anyone can copy and paste from websites. That shows me a lot when someone admits they've taken the words directly from a website ( and especially a website that is known for woo )

Yup. And FYI I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with having minimal experience - no matter what we do, we all started somewhere! I'm just curious because it could give us (well, me, anyway) perspective. And frankly be a bit transparent about if she likely has as much to learn from the community, as she does to teach it

Yes exactly