A Calorie is NOT Just a Calorie - New Study

Each micronutrient has a different calorie value per gram so that should be a good indication that each one is not equal; carbohydrates and fats are used as fuel and protein is used to repair and rebuild the body.

Can't be bothered to type it so here is a copy and paste:

CARBOHYDRATES:
Carbohydrates have six major functions within the body:
Providing energy and regulation of blood glucose
Sparing the use of proteins for energy
Breakdown of fatty acids and preventing ketosis
Biological recognition processes
Flavor and Sweeteners
Dietary fiber
Carbohydrates add on to the taste and appearance of food item, thus making the dish tempting and mouthwatering.


PROTEINS:
Proteins have many functions. They serve as enzymatic catalysts, are used as transport molecules (hemoglobin transports oxygen) and storage molecules (iron is stored in the liver as a complex with the protein ferritin); they are used in movement (proteins are the major component of muscles); they are needed for mechanical support (skin and bone contain collagen-a fibrous protein); they mediate cell responses (rhodopsin is a protein in the eye which is used for vision); antibody proteins are needed for immune protection; control of growth and cell differentiation uses proteins (hormones). These are just a few examples of the many, many functions of proteins.

FATS:
A certain amount of fat, between 20 and 35 percent of total consumed calories, is necessary to ensure a sufficient energy and nutrient intake. The fat-soluble vitamins-vitamins A,D,E, and K-must be delivered in a fat package. The essential fatty acids, which are needed for specific body functions but that we are incapable of synthesizing, must also be consumed. Some dietary fat is also needed to give us a feeling of satiety during the meal, creating the important physiological signal that it is time to stop eating. Dietary fats have a longer gastric emptying time than do carbohydrates, which contributes to the feeling of satiety.

So I'm afraid that a calorie is not just a calorie when consumed considering the individual workload of each.

Fat is also used in repair and maintenance. The brain is mostly fat.
I 100% agree that you can eat more in a low-carbohydrate lifestyle while maintaining weight loss only because I'm doing it (the # of carbs you can handle depends on your activity level). I also know that I am maintaining my weight and body composition by eating below my TEE and I'm not in starvation mode (I'm sitting here gnawing on a whole rotisserie chicken right now and I will finish it). I rarely eat below my REE though. My body systems are regulating my fat mass.

I read that study and I wanted to use it to promote my beliefs but it is a very, very SMALL, SHORT study that doesn't tell you anything. The entire way they designed the study was pathetic. How could it tell you anything?

N=1. What the scale reads and the mirror shows have nothing to do with the amount of calories I put in my body. It has to do with WHAT I put in my body. (And the research I have been doing for the last two years is what helped me get here). It doesn't even have anything to do with how much exercise I do. I exercise for health, not for weight.

And why would I want to prevent ketosis? That's your body using your fat stores for fuel (we do this every night). It's ketoacidosis that is dangerous and that will happen in Type 1 diabetics and advanced stages of Type 2 (high blood sugars AND high levels of ketones in the blood).

As long as you get plenty of protein your body will use what it needs for muscle repair then will replenish glucose if it is low and then will convert to fat and store. How is this bad? I let my body make its glucose rather than eating tons of it. And my energy is high level when I'm in ketosis. The brain, once it adapts to running on a combination glucose and ketones runs more optimally (so does the heart).

Tumor/cancer cells love glucose. Feed a cancer cell ketones and it will die.

(A calorie is a unit of energy - nothing more. Protein is used for more than energy - do we count that protein as calories? Fat is used for more than energy - do we count that fat as calories? Carbohyrates are a fuel source - just enough needed to replenish glycogen (immediate energy) stores (which won't be low unless you have just done some serious high intensity exercise for an hour or more - not on the SAD!) and the rest is converted to fat and put into storage (long-term energy stores).

Only eat what you can pick, dig or spear. Mostly spear. Live in Freedom, Live in Beauty (gnolls.org)

Love what you said HPSnickers!!! I get so frutstrated with this site that I reply with one liners now days.

Each micronutrient has a different calorie value per gram so that should be a good indication that each one is not equal; carbohydrates and fats are used as fuel and protein is used to repair and rebuild the body.

Can't be bothered to type it so here is a copy and paste:

CARBOHYDRATES:
Carbohydrates have six major functions within the body:
Providing energy and regulation of blood glucose
Sparing the use of proteins for energy
Breakdown of fatty acids and preventing ketosis
Biological recognition processes
Flavor and Sweeteners
Dietary fiber
Carbohydrates add on to the taste and appearance of food item, thus making the dish tempting and mouthwatering.


PROTEINS:
Proteins have many functions. They serve as enzymatic catalysts, are used as transport molecules (hemoglobin transports oxygen) and storage molecules (iron is stored in the liver as a complex with the protein ferritin); they are used in movement (proteins are the major component of muscles); they are needed for mechanical support (skin and bone contain collagen-a fibrous protein); they mediate cell responses (rhodopsin is a protein in the eye which is used for vision); antibody proteins are needed for immune protection; control of growth and cell differentiation uses proteins (hormones). These are just a few examples of the many, many functions of proteins.

FATS:
A certain amount of fat, between 20 and 35 percent of total consumed calories, is necessary to ensure a sufficient energy and nutrient intake. The fat-soluble vitamins-vitamins A,D,E, and K-must be delivered in a fat package. The essential fatty acids, which are needed for specific body functions but that we are incapable of synthesizing, must also be consumed. Some dietary fat is also needed to give us a feeling of satiety during the meal, creating the important physiological signal that it is time to stop eating. Dietary fats have a longer gastric emptying time than do carbohydrates, which contributes to the feeling of satiety.

So I'm afraid that a calorie is not just a calorie when consumed considering the individual workload of each.

Fat is also used in repair and maintenance. The brain is mostly fat.
I 100% agree that you can eat more in a low-carbohydrate lifestyle while maintaining weight loss only because I'm doing it (the # of carbs you can handle depends on your activity level). I also know that I am maintaining my weight and body composition by eating below my TEE and I'm not in starvation mode (I'm sitting here gnawing on a whole rotisserie chicken right now and I will finish it). I rarely eat below my REE though. My body systems are regulating my fat mass.

I read that study and I wanted to use it to promote my beliefs but it is a very, very SMALL, SHORT study that doesn't tell you anything. The entire way they designed the study was pathetic. How could it tell you anything?

N=1. What the scale reads and the mirror shows have nothing to do with the amount of calories I put in my body. It has to do with WHAT I put in my body. (And the research I have been doing for the last two years is what helped me get here). It doesn't even have anything to do with how much exercise I do. I exercise for health, not for weight.

And why would I want to prevent ketosis? That's your body using your fat stores for fuel (we do this every night). It's ketoacidosis that is dangerous and that will happen in Type 1 diabetics and advanced stages of Type 2 (high blood sugars AND high levels of ketones in the blood).

As long as you get plenty of protein your body will use what it needs for muscle repair then will replenish glucose if it is low and then will convert to fat and store. How is this bad? I let my body make its glucose rather than eating tons of it. And my energy is high level when I'm in ketosis. The brain, once it adapts to running on a combination glucose and ketones runs more optimally (so does the heart).

Tumor/cancer cells love glucose. Feed a cancer cell ketones and it will die.

(A calorie is a unit of energy - nothing more. Protein is used for more than energy - do we count that protein as calories? Fat is used for more than energy - do we count that fat as calories? Carbohyrates are a fuel source - just enough needed to replenish glycogen (immediate energy) stores (which won't be low unless you have just done some serious high intensity exercise for an hour or more - not on the SAD!) and the rest is converted to fat and put into storage (long-term energy stores).

Only eat what you can pick, dig or spear. Mostly spear. Live in Freedom, Live in Beauty (gnolls.org)

Basically everyone knows how to lose weight = eat less and move more, just depends if you keep it up.

Other than a caloric deficit what is needed for bodyfat reduction?

not much!!! but a tasty BigMac wouldn't go a miss out of my spare calories for today

I didn't know there was such a thing. Where does one find a tasty BigMac?? I thought only McD made them.

Say that to a diabetic and they will be happy to tell you how wrong you are. A sugar calorie is not the same as a protein calorie is not the same as veggie calorie. It matters where the calorie comes from.

Sugar is not the same as protein is not the same as veggies. This has nothing to do with calories.

....And my son and husband are both diabetics and they have to correct the grams of carbs eaten, not sugar, yet they do still have to watch sugar intake as well.

Semantics. The basic building block of every carbohydrate is a sugar molecule. Starches and fibers are essentially chains of sugar molecules.

Yup!!! That is why Carbs are counted as the corrections instead of sugar! :bigsmile:

Sometimes I'm just stunned at how many people were making "bad" eating choices, and then come to this website to defend a lot of those choices. I have always been, at least in some respects, a healthy eater. I bypass the junk food, don't really eat much in the way of fatty, deep fried, or sugary foods, opting instead for roast meats, tomato or other veggie based sauces, and a lot of grains like rice. If you want to eat McDonald's every day, and you can lose weight doing so, more power to you. But for me, I'd rather be full than eat three plain cheeseburgers a day.

3 plain cheeseburgers are 900 calories in McDonald's. You can have more than that.:laugh:

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Another crap study. I'm still going by the two dozen or so studies that say as far as fat stores are concerned, macro-nutrients play very little role compared to calories.

I'm still most interested in the optimal diet for eating less without counting calories. I'd still put low-carb at the top of the list for now.

But the question to beg is I know quite a few people if not a few dozen who eat like they don't care, they don't stress what they eat and are the healthiest people I have seen. Which comes to my understanding if you attract positive thoughts to what your eating garbage or not you will be ok. Its when we become obsessive about micros, macros that things start to happen.

Its not about health or calories its what you BELIEVE IN that will make you healthy.

This is the real gem in this thread.

TL;DR

Calories are calories are calories... Studies like this are a WASTE of time.

No they are not. Many of us have known for a long time that all calories are NOT equal.

When the body processes calories differently from one another makes them not equal.

Exactly.

I'm actually testing a theory right now. I used to have carbs as my late night snack - popcorn or a serving of chips or oatmeal (yes, oatmeal). Until I gained a pound. Now, I'm trying to end my night with less carbs and more protein. So far, I've lost a pound.

sounds like a very conclusive study

I don't know if you're being serious or glib. LOL. But...I actually gained more than a couple pounds, and that was the ONLY thing in my diet/lifestyle that had changed. Well, that and weight training. But I don't think all of the weight gain was simply from the weights because, as I mentioned, once I stopped overloading on carbs, I began to lose. We'll see if the trend continues.

Well, McDonalds food is just made up of protein, fat and carb like all other food. And insides are just made up of insides. Or are there Happy Meal toys and loose fries in some people? Or little puking Morgan Sperlocks?

Well, McDonalds food is just made up of protein, fat and carb like all other food. And insides are just made up of insides. Or are there Happy Meal toys and loose fries in some people? Or little puking Morgan Sperlocks?

Who knew that a voice of reason could also be hilarious? :laugh:

But fill your body with fat and grease and all the wrong things and keep vitamins and all the RIGHT things from it...your insides are going to be ruined no matter how good your genes are.

I like how you make things up.

THAT'S how you do a study.

LULZ @ thinking epedemiological studies prove a damn thing.

THAT'S how you do a study.

LULZ @ thinking epedemiological studies prove a damn thing.

Studies rarely "prove" anything. A controlled study is generally considered the gold standard, but no good scientist will discount the value or importance of epidemiological studies.

Epidemiological studies have too many variables to make a definintive statement of cause, but they paint a very important picture of real life habits and outcomes. Controlled studies can make more definitive statements, but only within the very specific confines of the study. Remove or add one variable in real life and the results could be very different.

I'm well aware there are always many variables. My point was that there were many more people in the study over a longer period of time which lends to its accuracy.