A calorie is a calorie ...

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Replies

  • mactaffy428
    mactaffy428 Posts: 61 Member
    After page 1, the only thing I can think of is the movie " Stripes".

    "Lighten up, Frances".
  • ClosetBayesian
    ClosetBayesian Posts: 836 Member
    Just do me a favor and research how blood sugar and insulin affect weight gain/loss. Then tell me I'm wrong. In strictly terms of a measurement of energy, yes calories are just a unit of measurement. But that's not what was implied. We are talking about calories compared with calories in different foods. And even with exercise. You can't just create a calorie deficit and lose weight. It's just not that simple.

    I've lost around 50lbs and have been in successful maintenance for several years now and yep, it really is that simple :)

    Are you claiming that you can eat bread, sugar, and carbs and as long as you are still under your calorie goal then the weight will drop off?

    I honestly don't know if you're just having fun with us, but of course you can lose weight eating these kinds of foods. Weight loss happens when a calorie deficit is created. But, within that scientific truth it doesn't matter what kinds of foods your eating to make up your calorie intake.

    I lost 50lbs and improved all my health markers, including normalizing a high glucose number, and I ate bread, sugar, carbs, fast food, 'processed' diet foods etc during my weight loss phase. I created a deficit and I lost the weight. Now I'm several years into successful maintenance and I continue to eat those things on a regular basis but I've expanded my diet a bit and now eat a wide variety of foods including veggies, whole grain and lean meats as well. I have a bmi of around 21, am in excellent health with no medical conditions anymore and I haven't cut out any of the foods I like.

    Also-my before/after pictures are in my profile area, feel free to check them out :)

    Here's a couple articles you might enjoy reading-one is about a guy who ate a Twinkie diet and lost weight and improved all his health markers and then another guy who only ate McDonalds for several months and also lost weight and improved his health markers. What they both had in common was they created the correct calorie deficit for their weight goals and lost weight-

    http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/

    http://www.today.com/health/man-loses-56-pounds-after-eating-only-mcdonalds-six-months-2D79329158

    QFT.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,000 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    J72FIT wrote: »
    lizery wrote: »
    In terms of weight loss, yes a calorie is a calorie. In terms of overall health yes, you should eat a varied diet consisting of foods that a. you enjoy eating b. fit within your calorie goals c. have a high satiety level for you and d. gives you a good balance of macros and micros :)

    My view on those priorities is a little different. I would say:

    a) eat foods that meet your nutritional requirements

    b) don't exceed your caloric needs

    c) fill you up

    d) you like

    How you rank those attributes is all about a values I guess and the whole calorie in calorie out is the whole equation depends entirely on if you want to 'lose weight' or be healthy.

    ................

    I thought the linked article gave a good visual regarding calories being equal in an easy to understand illustrative manner.

    Some of the actual text is a bit wishy washy, but it is just a little piece for a health insurance mob.

    Food for thought though.

    Why must it be one or the other?

    Are you just on page one? Keep reading.

    Lol...
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    J72FIT wrote: »
    fattinater wrote: »
    Great article! I've always been annoyed by the people who truly think a calorie is just a calorie
    But a calorie is a calorie...
    fattinater wrote: »
    (implying nutrition doesn't matter)
    Big assumption...
    fattinater wrote: »
    probably because it always comes from someone who isn't really as healthy or in shape as they claim to be, and think they know it all. I've never heard someone with an amazing physique say it.
    Even bigger assumption...

    fattinater wrote: »
    Dieting is about healthier food choices and staying in your macros of protein, fat, and carbs while aiming for a calorie goal. It's not just about a number on a scale. You could gain muscle mass, loose fat, look a thousand times better, and not loose much weight or even gain it. If you're just a calorie for a calorie kinda person, try eating nothing but sugar and butter for six months. Guaranteed you would look gross, get rotten stinky teeth, and probably die.

    You would have the same results if you are nothing but broccoli and kale for 6 months...

    Keep reading, it gets even better :D
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Serious question for the people who are adamant on the whole "a calorie isn't a calorie" argument.

    Do you also conflate all other units of measurement with the things they measure with such vehemence? Gallons of gasoline vs. milk, for example?

    What keeps cracking me up in this discussion is that in the "muscle weighs more than fat" conversation (it does, because "by volume" is implied, just for the record) ;-), people kept jumping in to say "a lb is a lb, a lb of muscle weighs the same as a lb of fat" (which is obviously true). No one, absolutely no one, claimed that because muscle and fat are different and one is denser than the other, that means that a lb does not equal a lb. The argument was entirely about whether anyone is actually stupid enough to think a lb is not a lb (me: I seriously doubt it), or if "by volume" must be implied. Also other tangents, of course, this being MFP.

    I think the reason people have trouble with "a calorie = a calorie" or read in some (nonexistent) comment on nutrition is that they think of calorie as a synonym for food and not a unit of measurement.

    And I would understand that if it hadn't be explained 100 millionty times or more.

    Given how much it's been explained, though, continuing to suggest that someone saying "a calorie is a calorie" is somehow a comment on nutrition and means that person doesn't think there are any nutritional differences between broccoli and steak and cupcakes strikes me as, well, odd and inexplicable (to put it as nicely as possible).
    This whole argument wouldn't exist if you'd all say one food is not the same as another. No one would disagree with that. But a unit of measurement isn't the same as that which it measures. It's a neutral thing. It's just a gauge. It has no value on its own.

    So very much this.

    But if you (meaning those who do it, of course) said "foods have different nutritional contents" and everyone said "well, yeah, duh" I suppose that would be less satisfying for some reason? I dunno.
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    edited January 2017
    Annie_01 wrote: »
    I'm not sure how people can't grasp that a calorie is a defined unit of energy. Nothing more, nothing less.

    I have wonder that myself...what is so hard about that concept.

    They seem to want to say that calories measure nutritional value of a food instead of the energy value of that food.

    If you take their definition of a calorie away from them however I wonder what would happen. IMO...people are using their good/bad calorie definition to somehow heighten their sense of self...as if their "good" calories make them a little more superior. They use the "bad" calories to make others feel less. I think that is why the strawman..."eat burgers/pizza/doughnuts all day" is thrown out so much.

    It's kind of like..."Look at me...I am better" type mentality.

    Even though healthwise I need to eat nutritional foods(especially low sodium) I would never think that my way of eating is any better than anyone elses. I can't even imagine why I would do that or need to. All the satisfaction that I need is if I make it through the day and have stuck to the "plan" at least about 90%.

    On a side note...I have days occasionally that I go a little loco...then I do good to stick to the plan for even 50%.

    IDK...I think that with all of this good/bad...this diet/that diet...and all of the rest of the stuff that is debated on this site...I think that self-esteem...ego...superiority complex...maybe even a little self-doubt play in to peoples hard core stanch on what they believe and what they refuse to try to understand.

    Sorry for the ramble...I just find it interesting and at times a little unbelievable that people will pass judgment on someone elses food choices.

    Oh this is definitely a thing and I've seen it in action much more intensely on other forums (those that have a specific woe as their base and it's being pushed as the 'one True way'). MFP is pretty tame in comparison lol.
  • KatzeDerNacht22
    KatzeDerNacht22 Posts: 200 Member
    Whoa this thread is still going on strong... one really does learn a lot on here.