All Calories are not created equal!
Replies
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I'm confused by something. OP's been on MFP since 2010.
It's taken her ten months to lose 16 pounds eating "800" calories a day.
Yeah, those calories aren't created equal to the calories I'm eating alrighty.14 -
A calorie is a unit of measurement. By definition a calorie is a calorie, in the same way that a pound is a pound or a mile is a mile.
What you mean is that not all foods are equal when it comes to nutrition and satiation and that when you go on a diet you not only need to consider calories but also satiety (for peace of mind and comfort) and nutrition (for health).
Everybody knows that. That doesn't make saying "not all calories are equal" a smart thing to say.
If you drive a mile on a smooth highway you can get up to a high level of speed and experience a smooth ride. If you drive the same mile on a backcountry dirt road you won't be able to go nearly as fast and there will be a lot of bumps and dangers to avoid. That doesn't mean that a mile doesn't equal a mile or that your odometer isn't tracking the number of miles you've traveled.
The actual amount of weight you lose is directly causally connected to your calories taken in versus your calories expended regardless of the source of those calories the same way the distance traveled on your odometer doesn't matter the quality of the road you were on. If someone decides to declare when you point to your odometer that "not all miles are the same!" that is going to be kind of a weird thing to say. It'd be like "Well...yeah, but what does that have to do with an odometer or the length of a mile?"14 -
skymningen wrote: »You are right. Not all calories are created equal. Some come from carbs, others from fat, others from protein. Some come from food, others from drinks. But then... they are metabolised and used as energy, which we count in this case as calories.
Now, let's say they became a calorie. In fact, now they are equal. There are exact rules what a 'calorie' is. They are not treated equal, but that is based on your bodies needs, not in where they came from. After the basic metabolism, your body does not remember how they were created. A calorie from chocolate might be stored if it is not immediately needed. Or it might be used up in an instant. Eventually all of them will be used. Storage is kind of expensive, you know.You have to actually expend calories to move all those stored ones. Same with a calorie from broccoli or a chia seed. At this point it all depends on what your body needs.
Of course the foods your calories came from are made of different building blocks and thus give your body different prerequisites to work with. Some are metabolised into usable energy faster, some slower. Some bring building blocks that are important at that point, some just bring additional lipids (fats). But all of this will be used or excreted eventually. The calories are not created equal, but they live in a nice world of equality. Don't discriminate them.
You're confusing "calories" with "nutrients". A calorie is a unit of measure, nothing more. A mile can be uphill, downhill, on a paved roadway or a steep, rocky mountainous trail, covered in snow, drenched in rain or baked in desert heat - but no matter what, it's still a mile. If I run it barefoot, drive it in a car or crawl it on my hands and knees over broken glass, it's still a mile. Calories are like that too.
Hah I swear I wrote my comment before I read yours, just happened upon the same analogy you came up with.3 -
evilpoptart63 wrote: »I know everyone is looking at CICO as the golden rule but maybe some people handle carbs better than others? I recently upped my carbs but stayed under my calorie goal every day and really should have lost at least a full pound in the last 10 days but instead maintained (or gained .5 lb depending on which morning weigh in I want to use) I weigh and measure all of my food meticulously so I know Im not eating more than I think. Im having a bit of a nervous breakdown not seeing my expected results. Im dropping my carbs today
CICO says absolutely nothing about anything subjective like how well someone "handles" eating a certain type of food. CICO says your weight loss (ie fat loss) is determined by the number of calories you intake versus the number of calories you output. It says absolutely nothing about how good of a time you are going to have while doing so.
Carbohydrates are stored in your body with water as glycogen in your muscles. If you just start dieting and start a new exercise routine chances are for the first month you will likely gain weight due to increased water retention due to glycogen storage in your muscles. This isn't a bad thing. This has nothing to do with how much fat you are losing which presumably is the actual point of dieting. What your scale does over the period of 10 days (especially as a woman who has a water retention cycle) says basically nothing. Keep a consistant routinue, trust the numbers and look at your weight over longer periods of time measured in months not days.8 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »thunderchild007 wrote: »Forget your popcorn, pass the peanut butter cups........
Why not both?
(I love mixing popcorn, sweets and chocolates together and getting all three in one mouthful!)
Popcorn and chocolate-covered raisins for the win.2 -
PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »Can't tell if you're trolling, a fake account or shill to support the op's cause, or just straight-up clueless about how nutrition works.
I'm a juggalo, I don't even know how magnets work.
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yo how many calories in a human leg? and nutrition facts. I need it for.....reasons... 2
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Your weight and fitness coach is filling you with BS information.Hello again! Today I want to go through some words of wisdom I received from a very smart Weight and Fitness coach. “It is NOT how many "calories" you eat, but what they are made up of.
All calories are not created equal.
You have calories your body uses almost totally. These are your healthy proteins, fish, chicken, tofu, eggs to name a few. Your fruits such as any citrus are very healthy and low carb and calorie, and your vegetables especially green ones and non-starchy. Your body uses these to live and build immune systems.
Fast carbs such as breads, (white especially), white rice, pastas, potatoes, all are high in carbohydrates and turn into fat easiest as your body does not use them unless you are a runner or heavy exercise person then it converts to energy as you work out. That is why marathon runners carb-load.
Most of us however are not in this category so all the high calorie carbohydrates in our diet stop us from losing weight.
I do eat the carbohydrates but in very minimal portions of no more than 35 carbs per meal. I also limit the eating of high carbs to two days a week, usually one meal per day.
By focusing on the high proteins which for 3-4 ounces are usually less than 150 calories and around 25-30 proteins with 0 carbohydrates, I fill up totally and it takes my body a few hours to digest it and therefore I am not hungry again so fast. By planning high proteins and low carbs I eat three very satisfying meals of a very good quantity and low calories.
Following this I have lost an additional 16 pounds this year to add to my prior 140 pound loss from 2010-2015 year end.
So my rule of thumb: It is not HOW MANY calories you consume per day BUT what they consist of.
Be blessed and be a blessing!
A calorie is a calorie. Just like a foot is a foot. A yard is a yard.
If you lost weight, it's because you ate less calories than you burned.
You'd have to explain why many Asian countries can eat white rice and noodles everyday at more than 35 grams of carbs a day and NOT have all of those carbs turn to fat. Apparently they DON'T have the same obesity issues like the US.
There's ONE reason why people who are overweight (barring a health issue) are just overweight......................they are consuming more calories than they are burning.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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JillianRumrill wrote: »yo how many calories in a human leg? and nutrition facts. I need it for.....reasons...
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If you were low carb eating, depletion of glycogen in your cells is NOT uncommon. By reintroducing carbs back into your system, you also reintroduce more water and glycogen storage. It's common to gain up to 10lbs of glycogen and water storage if you've been on a low/no carb diet for a long period of time.evilpoptart63 wrote: »I know everyone is looking at CICO as the golden rule but maybe some people handle carbs better than others? I recently upped my carbs but stayed under my calorie goal every day and really should have lost at least a full pound in the last 10 days but instead maintained (or gained .5 lb depending on which morning weigh in I want to use) I weigh and measure all of my food meticulously so I know Im not eating more than I think. Im having a bit of a nervous breakdown not seeing my expected results. Im dropping my carbs today
Point is, physiologically the human body handles carbs (barring any health issue) pretty much all the same.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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If you ate 100 calories worth of a cheeseburger and 100 calories worth of carrots.................................they'd still be 100 calories worth. You'd off course be eating more VOLUME in carrots. Oh and likely more sugar with it.JillianRumrill wrote: »Hello again! Today I want to go through some words of wisdom I received from a very smart Weight and Fitness coach. “It is NOT how many "calories" you eat, but what they are made up of.
All calories are not created equal.
You have calories your body uses almost totally. These are your healthy proteins, fish, chicken, tofu, eggs to name a few. Your fruits such as any citrus are very healthy and low carb and calorie, and your vegetables especially green ones and non-starchy. Your body uses these to live and build immune systems.
Fast carbs such as breads, (white especially), white rice, pastas, potatoes, all are high in carbohydrates and turn into fat easiest as your body does not use them unless you are a runner or heavy exercise person then it converts to energy as you work out. That is why marathon runners carb-load.
Most of us however are not in this category so all the high calorie carbohydrates in our diet stop us from losing weight.
I do eat the carbohydrates but in very minimal portions of no more than 35 carbs per meal. I also limit the eating of high carbs to two days a week, usually one meal per day.
By focusing on the high proteins which for 3-4 ounces are usually less than 150 calories and around 25-30 proteins with 0 carbohydrates, I fill up totally and it takes my body a few hours to digest it and therefore I am not hungry again so fast. By planning high proteins and low carbs I eat three very satisfying meals of a very good quantity and low calories.
Following this I have lost an additional 16 pounds this year to add to my prior 140 pound loss from 2010-2015 year end.
So my rule of thumb: It is not HOW MANY calories you consume per day BUT what they consist of.
Be blessed and be a blessing!
YES!! You don't know how many times I've read things like "oh, you can eat [insert garbage "food" here] and still lose weight" uh, yeah, but VITAMINS AND NUTRIENTS...how does that work?! How much sodium is in that cheezeburger vs those carrots...and look how many veggies you can consume vs that small order of fries!!!
One of my current clients has lost over 65lbs since February, while still eating and drinking alcohol. And trust me she hasn't been absolutely consistent each and every week. However, she's been consistent ENOUGH to lose that much. Still another 30-40lbs to go, but she's learned how to MODERATE how much she eats now.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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amusedmonkey wrote: »JillianRumrill wrote: »yo how many calories in a human leg? and nutrition facts. I need it for.....reasons...
Image provided by Hannibal Lecter.5 -
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Every time I post calories for human meat I get at least 1 woo. It cracks me up. Not sure if someone thinks I eat people or if talking about this is some kind of a taboo, but it's amusing either way.
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Hello again! Today I want to go through some words of wisdom I received from a very smart Weight and Fitness coach. “It is NOT how many "calories" you eat, but what they are made up of.
All calories are not created equal.
You have calories your body uses almost totally. These are your healthy proteins, fish, chicken, tofu, eggs to name a few. Your fruits such as any citrus are very healthy and low carb and calorie, and your vegetables especially green ones and non-starchy. Your body uses these to live and build immune systems.
Fast carbs such as breads, (white especially), white rice, pastas, potatoes, all are high in carbohydrates and turn into fat easiest as your body does not use them unless you are a runner or heavy exercise person then it converts to energy as you work out. That is why marathon runners carb-load.
Most of us however are not in this category so all the high calorie carbohydrates in our diet stop us from losing weight.
I do eat the carbohydrates but in very minimal portions of no more than 35 carbs per meal. I also limit the eating of high carbs to two days a week, usually one meal per day.
By focusing on the high proteins which for 3-4 ounces are usually less than 150 calories and around 25-30 proteins with 0 carbohydrates, I fill up totally and it takes my body a few hours to digest it and therefore I am not hungry again so fast. By planning high proteins and low carbs I eat three very satisfying meals of a very good quantity and low calories.
Following this I have lost an additional 16 pounds this year to add to my prior 140 pound loss from 2010-2015 year end.
So my rule of thumb: It is not HOW MANY calories you consume per day BUT what they consist of.
Be blessed and be a blessing!
Simply not true...carbs aren't readily turned into fat...excess calories are turned into fat...you cannot store fat in an energy (calorie) deficiency. Rice and potatoes are whole foods...pasta is pretty minimally processed from whole food sources...nothing wrong with these things.
Is your "coach" by chance a beach body "coach?"5 -
suzannesimmons3 wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »I'm confused by something. OP's been on MFP since 2010.
It's taken her ten months to lose 16 pounds eating "800" calories a day.
Yeah, those calories aren't created equal to the calories I'm eating alrighty.
But thee forgets it's not the amount of calories you eat that makes you fat
Even then, let's go with the silly premise! If the nutritional quality of her "800" calories has her losing at that rate, I don't want any part of what she's recommending!
Bring on the potatoes!3 -
Alatariel75 wrote: »Aren't you the same person espousing 800 cals a day? No matter what you eat, you're going to lose on 800 cals a day. Eat 800 calories of twinkies if you want. It doesn't make it healthy.
If it's not how many calories you eat, but what you eat, why starve yourself at 800 calories per day? Why not eat whatever you want of the "good" calories and lose away?
Also, by the logic that if you eat the good ones you will lose, how come people who don't need to lose and only eat the "good" calories don't slowly starve to death? Or do they have to add some "bad" to maintain?
Please eat 800 calories of twinkies for even a week.... guarantee you'll gain... and be pre diabetic.36 -
jpaulparis wrote: »Alatariel75 wrote: »Aren't you the same person espousing 800 cals a day? No matter what you eat, you're going to lose on 800 cals a day. Eat 800 calories of twinkies if you want. It doesn't make it healthy.
If it's not how many calories you eat, but what you eat, why starve yourself at 800 calories per day? Why not eat whatever you want of the "good" calories and lose away?
Also, by the logic that if you eat the good ones you will lose, how come people who don't need to lose and only eat the "good" calories don't slowly starve to death? Or do they have to add some "bad" to maintain?
Please eat 800 calories of twinkies for even a week.... guarantee you'll gain... and be pre diabetic.
Literally impossible unless their TDEE was less than 800 calories. Unless you have a study that shows you can gain weight in a massive calorie deficit?
Oh, and sugar consumption doesn't cause diabetes.10 -
jpaulparis wrote: »Alatariel75 wrote: »Aren't you the same person espousing 800 cals a day? No matter what you eat, you're going to lose on 800 cals a day. Eat 800 calories of twinkies if you want. It doesn't make it healthy.
If it's not how many calories you eat, but what you eat, why starve yourself at 800 calories per day? Why not eat whatever you want of the "good" calories and lose away?
Also, by the logic that if you eat the good ones you will lose, how come people who don't need to lose and only eat the "good" calories don't slowly starve to death? Or do they have to add some "bad" to maintain?
Please eat 800 calories of twinkies for even a week.... guarantee you'll gain... and be pre diabetic.
It's been done...and you're wrong.
Also, that's not how diabetes happens.9
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