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Are all calories created equal?
runefinder
Posts: 26 Member
Right week three of my fitness pal. Loving it. I'm averaging 1300 a day out of the 1430 allotted. Never hungry and love the control. But I'm not losing much weight. Is this because of my snacks? Is a 100 cals of fruit different to a 100cals of chocolate or crisps? I was always told no, it's the same. But I'm beginning to doubt myself. I know for health you should choose the fruit and my diet is a healthy one other than my treats. Any ideas? Thanks. X
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Replies
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In response to your fruit versus chocolate/crisps is about nutrition. Both those food groups contain sugar but one contains natural sugar and the other contains synthetic sugar.
Synthetic sugar peaks faster in your blood stream and disappears quicker (is used up) so you need to eat again to keep the body fuelled.
I'm sure another MFP user can give you a more detailed answer that though.0 -
A calorie is a unit of energy and is found in all foods. When we take in more of that energy than our bodies can use, our bodies can't just make it disappear, so it gets stored as fat. So yes, a calorie is jut a calorie. You can gain weight on a "clean" diet that provides too many calories for your body, and you can lose weight on a diet of nothing but McDonald's if you're taking in fewer calories than your body is using.
How long have you been eating this way? How much weight would you like to lose? How are you measuring your intake?
If you're not losing weight, oftentimes it's because you're eating more than you think. This would be a good time to purchase and use a food scale if you don't have one already, in order for your tracking to be as accurate as possible.
You can still eat the foods that you enjoy in moderation, but you have to make sure that you are truly in a calorie deficit.5 -
A calorie = a calorie just like an inch = an inch, a gallon = a gallon, a gram = a gram, etc.. It's a unit of measurement, nothing more. Also, sugar in fruit is the same as sugar in chocolate. Your body doesn't know the difference.
What's in those calories, aka the nutrients, is different. The fruit (usually) has more fibre than chocolate, so the fibre helps slow down the absorption of the sugar. Doesn't mean the sugar in fruit is "better" or "healthier" than the sugar in chocolate.
Something to ask yourself: would I be satisfied eating the fruit or the chocolate?6 -
dancing_daisy wrote: »In response to your fruit versus chocolate/crisps is about nutrition. Both those food groups contain sugar but one contains natural sugar and the other contains synthetic sugar.
Synthetic sugar peaks faster in your blood stream and disappears quicker (is used up) so you need to eat again to keep the body fuelled.
I'm sure another MFP user can give you a more detailed answer that though.
No. Unless you're talking about artificial sweeteners sugar is sugar. Your body processes, added sugars and those inherent in whole foods the same. What may speed up or slow down adsorption is the presence of protein or fibre. A tablespoon of pure sugar will absorb much faster than the same amount in a fibre rich food (like a banana).4 -
OP. Calories are calories. Some foods make make you feel fuller longer or be more beneficial for health (although overall diet and lifestyle are larger factors than an individual food item or even meal).
if you are not losing at the rate you expect (and assuming that that weight loss rate is realistic) it is most likely that it is either:- Fat loss is masked by water fluctuations
- You're eating more than you think
- You're moving less than you think
Or, possibly, a bit of all three.6 -
OK. Feeling reassured guys. Thank you..I use my digital food scales religiously and put in EVERYTHING I eat. So I'm not going to worry what the scales say just yet. I do have fluid problems, well lymphodema to be precise. So it may be that. Also I'm a seasoned yo.yo dieter so maybe my body is saying.. Here we go again!!
I've never counted calories before!! Always ww points. I far far prefer mfp. I would like to lose about three stone. So it's not as huge as the 6.7stone I wanted to lose 6 yrs ago. Im getting there slowly. Thanks for all your replies. Very helpful. Xxxxx6 -
runefinder wrote: »Right week three of my fitness pal. Loving it. I'm averaging 1300 a day out of the 1430 allotted. Never hungry and love the control. But I'm not losing much weight. Is this because of my snacks? Is a 100 cals of fruit different to a 100cals of chocolate or crisps? I was always told no, it's the same. But I'm beginning to doubt myself. I know for health you should choose the fruit and my diet is a healthy one other than my treats. Any ideas? Thanks. X
How much weight is "not much weight"? Maybe it's entirely within the expected amount and you're just expecting more than is reasonable (that happens a lot).1 -
StealthHealth wrote: »
No. Unless you're talking about artificial sweeteners sugar is sugar. Your body processes, added sugars and those inherent in whole foods the same. What may speed up or slow down adsorption is the presence of protein or fibre. A tablespoon of pure sugar will absorb much faster than the same amount in a fibre rich food (like a banana).
I wouldn't call a bnana a fibre rich food.0 -
stevencloser wrote: »
I wouldn't call a bnana a fibre rich food.
eat the peel man3 -
stevencloser wrote: »
I wouldn't call a bnana a fibre rich food.
Feel free to mentally substitute with the foodstuff of your choice.1 -
#allcaloriesmatter2
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dancing_daisy wrote: »In response to your fruit versus chocolate/crisps is about nutrition. Both those food groups contain sugar but one contains natural sugar and the other contains synthetic sugar.
Synthetic sugar peaks faster in your blood stream and disappears quicker (is used up) so you need to eat again to keep the body fuelled.
I'm sure another MFP user can give you a more detailed answer that though.
No, it's not synthetic sugar, it's natural sugar but it's highly concentrated due to refining. To get refined sugar you simply draw it out of the plant then let it dry and crystalize. That's not synthesized that's just refining.
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stevencloser wrote: »
I wouldn't call a bnana a fibre rich food.
And most aren't going to be eating a TBSP of sugar.
A teaspoon in a bowl of oatmeal is going to have relatively more fiber than a banana. (A banana doesn't have much fiber, as you note, and IS used by your body quite quickly, which is why they are a food that works for many while exercising and is commonly handed out after a race. In the half ironman I did they were handing out bananas at the bike turn-arounds too.)
Anyway, of course I agree with the main point that was being made -- sugar is sugar, but the other aspects of the food in which the sugar is contained may be quite different, and for satiety and nutrition that may matter. But for weight loss, if you hit your calories, having treats won't matter.1 -
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runefinder wrote: »Right week three of my fitness pal. Loving it. I'm averaging 1300 a day out of the 1430 allotted. Never hungry and love the control. But I'm not losing much weight. Is this because of my snacks? Is a 100 cals of fruit different to a 100cals of chocolate or crisps? I was always told no, it's the same. But I'm beginning to doubt myself. I know for health you should choose the fruit and my diet is a healthy one other than my treats. Any ideas? Thanks. X
There are some differences in net absorption so you should be away of that. Highly processed foods will have more bioavailability so your body will be able to utilize more of the calories in the food than less processed foods. Calories for whole grains are about 70% bioavailable while those from refined sugars are almost 100% bioavailable. That can make a huge difference.
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Wheelhouse15 wrote: »
There are some differences in net absorption so you should be away of that. Highly processed foods will have more bioavailability so your body will be able to utilize more of the calories in the food than less processed foods. Calories for whole grains are about 70% bioavailable while those from refined sugars are almost 100% bioavailable. That can make a huge difference.
The calorie counts on USDA are already made with average bioavailability in mind.0 -
stevencloser wrote: »
The calorie counts on USDA are already made with average bioavailability in mind.
I believe they use 90%.
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Thanks for replying to my post...... seeing as no one had replied to OP I thought a quick reply would bump it.
Sugar is not just sugar its Glucose, Fructose, Sucrose etc. And as for the difference between synthesized and refined - its processed is what I was getting at. Pretty sure OP didn't need such an indepth chemistry lesson but thanks for putting the finer points in.0 -
Yes0
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dancing_daisy wrote: »Thanks for replying to my post...... seeing as no one had replied to OP I thought a quick reply would bump it.
Sugar is not just sugar its Glucose, Fructose, Sucrose etc. And as for the difference between synthesized and refined - its processed is what I was getting at. Pretty sure OP didn't need such an indepth chemistry lesson but thanks for putting the finer points in.
Just to clarify the reason for my post: it wasn't a finer point but rather indicating that the term was not being used correctly. You were specifically referring to sucrose (a disaccharide of glucose and fructose) unless I missed the point. Sugars are a fairly large class of nutrients as you mention but your post made it seem like table sugar was something artificial.4 -
Thanks for all the input x1
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dancing_daisy wrote: »Thanks for replying to my post...... seeing as no one had replied to OP I thought a quick reply would bump it.
Sugar is not just sugar its Glucose, Fructose, Sucrose etc. And as for the difference between synthesized and refined - its processed is what I was getting at. Pretty sure OP didn't need such an indepth chemistry lesson but thanks for putting the finer points in.
Maybe not, but you did mention that someone else could give a more detailed answer. Voila - you got it.1 -
dancing_daisy wrote: »Thanks for replying to my post...... seeing as no one had replied to OP I thought a quick reply would bump it.
Sugar is not just sugar its Glucose, Fructose, Sucrose etc. And as for the difference between synthesized and refined - its processed is what I was getting at. Pretty sure OP didn't need such an indepth chemistry lesson but thanks for putting the finer points in.
There's a difference between diving into finer points and correcting misinformation that when continued to stand, can potentially confuse or even derail readers.5 -
If you're not losing much weight, (or not as much as you expect to based on your daily deficit) it's most likely that you're eating more calories than you think you are, or not burning as many as you think you are. It's really helpful to get a food scale and weigh everything before logging it.
To answer your question though, all calories are the same when it comes to weight loss. If you're in a deficit, you'll lose weight..it doesn't matter what you ate.1 -
Calories are like money.
$1 = $1.
$1 from gambling = $1 from honest work, in the sense that they can both buy the same candy bar.
$1 from gambling is not like $1 from honest work, in the sense that it doesn't "build character."
Calories are the same.
1 cal = 1 cal
1 cal of sugar = 1 cal of butter = 1 cal of raspberry for weight loss or gain.
1 cal of sugar is not like 1 cal of butter or 1 cal of raspberry for nutritional purposes.6 -
Are all pounds equal?
Are all inches equal?
Are all degrees equal?
Calorie....simply a unit of measure.
Now nutrition within a calorie.....that's something entirely different.3 -
extra_medium wrote: »If you're not losing much weight, (or not as much as you expect to based on your daily deficit) it's most likely that you're eating more calories than you think you are, or not burning as many as you think you are. It's really helpful to get a food scale and weigh everything before logging it.
To answer your question though, all calories are the same when it comes to weight loss. If you're in a deficit, you'll lose weight..it doesn't matter what you ate.
Thank you. I do weigh everything on my digital scales. And log all my food. I'm sure it will equal out in a few weeks. Xxxx0 -
runefinder wrote: »Right week three of my fitness pal. Loving it. I'm averaging 1300 a day out of the 1430 allotted. Never hungry and love the control. But I'm not losing much weight. Is this because of my snacks? Is a 100 cals of fruit different to a 100cals of chocolate or crisps? I was always told no, it's the same. But I'm beginning to doubt myself. I know for health you should choose the fruit and my diet is a healthy one other than my treats. Any ideas? Thanks. Xjuliebowman4 wrote: »Are all pounds equal?
Are all inches equal?
Are all degrees equal?
Calorie....simply a unit of measure.
Now nutrition within a calorie.....that's something entirely different.
THIS.0
This discussion has been closed.
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