Your body can burn 2000 calories?

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RobertaG
RobertaG Posts: 205 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I heard that some people can gain weight by eating 1600 calories of junk because their bodies don't know how to digest and use every component of the food (artificial dyes, preservatives, etc. ). Others however, can maintain or lose by eating 2000 calories of whole, clean food because their bodies know exactly how to use the nutrients from things like fruits and vegetables. Could it be true? Is this a lie?

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  • MikeSEA
    MikeSEA Posts: 1,074 Member
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    It's kind of hard to say given the example.

    If you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight--hopefully fat instead of muscle. The trick is to eat foods that help your body realize that it wants to burn fat. This involves looking not only at macronutrient composition but also the quality of food. To top it all off, everyone is different.

    So no, it's not a lie per se.
  • kthom
    kthom Posts: 175
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    According to Dr. Sharma of the Canadian Obesity Network it doesn't matter where the calories come from the body uses all calories the same. If you eat 1600 calories of salt and fat it is not different, weight wise, than 1600 cals of healthy food. This doesn't mean that fat calories are healthy only that as fuel your body can't distinguish where the calories came from. From a weight loss stand point it is strictly calories in vs calories out.
  • MikeSEA
    MikeSEA Posts: 1,074 Member
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    According to Dr. Sharma of the Canadian Obesity Network it doesn't matter where the calories come from the body uses all calories the same. If you eat 1600 calories of salt and fat it is not different, weight wise, than 1600 cals of healthy food. This doesn't mean that fat calories are healthy only that as fuel your body can't distinguish where the calories came from. From a weight loss stand point it is strictly calories in vs calories out.

    This seems a little disingenuous as it stands. For example, 2000 calories worth of fructose are not, in fact, processed in the same way as 2000 calories of sucrose. They're different sugars and thanks to metabolic shunting they are processed differently by the body. So while they're both carbs and provide fuel, they don't burn in the same way.

    Can you lose weight eating nothing but strawberry milkshakes? Definitely! Will you like the results compared to someone who had a balanced diet, or will the weight loss happen in the same time? I have my doubts. I am, however, neither a biochemist nor a nutritionist.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    Technically, a calorie is a calorie and you need to burn more than you consume. That said, a lot of chemical and artificial ingredients can get stored in your body because they aren't natural and the body doesn't always know how to handle them. They don't always get flushed out like they should. Those things can get stored in fat cells (along with hormones and medications) organs, and even bones.

    If you're eating fewer calories than your body burns you will lose weight. (Google the "twinkie diet") However, if you're eating junk food your body is more likely to burn muscle tissue in addition to fat, whereas eating a healthy, balanced diet will burn more fat. You can still burn muscle while eating a healthy diet if you aren't exercising. Strength training is especially important for mainting muscle mass.
  • cheshirechic
    cheshirechic Posts: 489 Member
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    Ditto to the "calorie is a calorie" idea, in terms of weight loss, but that doesn't take into consideration how food affects the mood and energy level.

    For example: a couple of weeks ago I had a "cheat meal" of a veal parmesan sub. BIG mistake, because even though (after looking it up and adjusting accordingly) I was within my calories, I felt like absolute crap for about a day and a half. I routinely eat back all of my exercise calories (anywhere from 150-600), and if I eat generally "whole foods," I keep feeling fantastic. I feel like when my body gets something it's not used to (preservatives, lots of plain sugar, weirdo artificial stuff), it's like "WTF!? What am I supposed to do with THIS? Ugghhh." And...that results in me literally feeling awful, body and energy-wise.

    So, what does this have to do with eating more and losing weight? Well, I think it might be a subconscious thing-- eat better food, feel better, and have more energy to do things in general; eat marshmallows and beef jerkey, feel like crap, want to lie on the couch all day.

    I feel that I can only really speak from my own experience.
  • kthom
    kthom Posts: 175
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    I'm not saying eating junk will lead to better health but from a weight loss perspective it doesn't matter what the calories come from. It is all about the balance sheet being in the negative. Agreed that too much processed carbs would lead to big energy crashes and you would feel terrible. No carbs would make you feel like a rag the entire time but you would lose weight. i wasn't speaking to healthy I was speaking to eating more calories of healthy food helping to lose more weight than eating less calories of unhealthy food not being true.
  • jakecan4sure
    jakecan4sure Posts: 36
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    great info. when i first started this site I ate oatmeal and egg whites for breakfast, protein shakes for two meals, chicken breast and spinach for two other meals, then finished it up with talapia and spinach for dinner. After reading about everyone losing weight eating lots of breads and some junk but still losing weight by watching their calories I changed some of my eating habits. since I started eating breads...I noticed my cravings spike and have become more cranking. blah. I think I'm gonna go back to eating cleaner and feeling like my cravings were under control. I'm sick of chicken breast, but hate how I've been feeling more since changing what I've been taking in.
  • MikeSEA
    MikeSEA Posts: 1,074 Member
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    I'm not saying eating junk will lead to better health but from a weight loss perspective it doesn't matter what the calories come from. It is all about the balance sheet being in the negative. Agreed that too much processed carbs would lead to big energy crashes and you would feel terrible. No carbs would make you feel like a rag the entire time but you would lose weight. i wasn't speaking to healthy I was speaking to eating more calories of healthy food helping to lose more weight than eating less calories of unhealthy food not being true.

    Weight loss is about being healthy, unless for some reason you're just doing it for vanity, and even then being healthy is more likely to help you look better. I've always thought "weight loss" is sort of a silly term. Odds are if anyone is reading this, they're not only trying to be generally more healthy, but also probably trying to lose fat instead of muscle--assuming you're trying to lose weight at all. So "fat loss" is probably more commonly appropriate term. That's just a guess.

    And as far as fat loss and being healthy goes- it isn't just about calories in/calories out. While the laws of thermodynamics haven't changed, neither have metabolic processes.

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