Understanding and Explaining the Error of "A Calorie is a Calorie."

(Doug) #21

Well said.

The discussion/argument need never end. :smile:

Is that the worst of our problems? It would be great if it was…

My opinion - and certainly true in my case - is that controlling ourselves and sticking to our plan or program is the largest hurdle.

For some people that’s not true. They’re strong, disciplined, and stay with what they know to be good for them, or that which they’re trying out. I salute them.

William Banting, an undertaker born in 1796, figured a lot of this low-carb stuff out on his own, and in consultation with some doctors. They didn’t know all the biochemical stuff that we do today. If anything, I think it was more observation and ‘working things backwards,’ but work it did.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #22

For the history buffs, the connection is interesting. Banting had tried eating less and exercising more, with worsening obesity the whole time. He went to his doctor, William Harvey, because he was losing his hearing. Harvey determined it was from fatty deposits constricting the ear canals.

By coincidence, Harvey had recently returned from a medical conference in Paris, at which Claude Bernard had presented his success at treating obese patients with a low-carbohydrate diet. Harvey put Banting on such a diet, and it was so successful that Banting’s Letter on Corpulence, in which he detailed his experiences and his diet, went through something like 14 editions.

Bernard started his work in the 1820’s and 30’s, so a low-carbohydrate diet for obesity has been standard medical knowledge for two centuries, now.

Frederick Banting, the Canadian physician who discovered insulin in 1923, was a grand-nephew of William Banting’s, or some such relationship.

(B Creighton) #23

I am certainly not saying calories don’t matter… I think you get that, but yeah, it is pretty obvious that different people are going to behave differently on the same “calories,” which only goes to prove my point further of why the calorie is a calorie trope is not a very good way of “dieting.” Yet, I still constantly hear it from youtube influencers. Of course cutting back calories can make a difference, but when I lost weight I actually tried NOT to cut calories, and actively ate higher fat. In fact my fastest ever weight loss of about 18 pounds in about 2 months was on very close to the very same diet as my previous year with the main exception of substituting goat yogurt for SAD yogurt… I had just changed my metabolism into a fat burning metabolism, and before it switched all the way back to a more carb burning habit, I lost all that weight. It was like 2 pounds/week of fat melting off. I still have never counted a day’s calories in my life.

(Doug) #24

Granted that very often that is true. But already that is going well beyond “a calorie is a calorie.” That is now including the best way of dieting, or ‘better ways’ of dieting. And even then, for some people just looking at the calories taken in does the trick.

No question that for most of us - people on this forum and reading it - that going low-carb works or at least does much better than not going low-carb. I lost 60 lbs in 5 months just by going mostly low-carb.

But the fat I lost was because my body was taking it out of storage, one calorie at a time…

I really do think it matters, greatly, how we view things, and how we frame the discussion.

(Kirk Wolak) #25

I love that you raised this question. Dr. Lame Norton made a snide comment my way about “Congrats: You ate less”. I asked him if I could construct a diet for him, where I promise he would gain weight eating what he eats today. I just needed to know how many calories he thought were in the 10 units of Insulin I planned to Inject him with every day.

Which could kill him, but that’s the point. Calories are an aspect of what we ingest.

How many calories are in 100 uncooked kidney beans? It takes 3 to kill an adult.

So, if a food can kill you. It can certainly cause other issues. My mom was put on steroids and some other drugs. She gained almost 100lbs. Chemistry matters.

But calories matter TOO. When I was losing weight, once I lost 50 lbs, I was using TRE and OMAD. I stopped losing. My coach asked “Did you reduce your food intake?”… Me: “No! Why would I?”…
“Because you are eating the same thing someone 50lbs heavier was eating to maintain. You are feeding yourself the number of calories you are burning, so you are running in place”.

It made sense. It still makes sense. As I cut down from 1 lb of bacon to 1/2 lb of bacon with my steak. I started losing weight. And I was deeper in ketosis.

I agree that we are NOT Bomb Calorimeters. We consume our energy differently.
The KEY facet is probably that if you eat BOTH fat + carbs, it’s probably the worst for your metabolism. Since you do not need carbs… Eating just fat turns off the cravings…

And most fat people are fat because of their relationship to food. Now, there are plenty of other reasons (Diseases like CIRS, mitochondrial damage, etc. etc.)
I get stressed, I want to eat. I Get inflammed, I want to eat.
I get tired, I want to eat.

My wife: She gets stressed, she can’t think about food. She gets inflamed/sick, she can’t eat. She gets tired, she goes to sleep. Guess which one manages their weight better? LOL. Oh, and she is usually in ketosis eating tons of carbs, BECAUSE she grew up in Europe and was probably in Ketosis most of the time anyways.

And then we all know that person who cannot gain weight no matter how much they eat. My college friend would literally become a FURNACE after eating an entire pizza. He was thin as a RAIL, count his ribs. But his body converted everything into energy/heat.

(Doug) #26

This was me until my late 20s. The body adjusts. As long as enough calories are going out…

Even after it was no longer so true, it still applied to an extent. I gained about 5 lbs or 2.3 kg per year, for a long time, and there were a lot of weeks in there where I should have gained 5 lbs. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::smile:

Even now, age 66.40, it makes a difference. Eat a lot - hotter at night. Whether it’s keto and a lot of meat, or a lot of just about anything…

(Kirk Wolak) #27

This is me “hating you”. LOL. (just kidding, obviously)

Yeah, as we get older, our systems are not as efficient.
The deeper I am in ketosis, the more this is true to a much lesser degree for me.
I am sweating right now, because I ate some WAGYU ground beef earlier (very high fat).

(Joey) #28

Please, step away from the grill. :pray:

#29

What does it mean? (Maybe that it’s fattening? I haven’t experienced that - except that it makes me overeating so yep, I stall - or super slowly gain if I am not at my possible heaviest like now.)
I heard it’s unhealthy and don’t believe even that at all. It works for many people. HCHF is the normal diet for most people, after all, isn’t it? (It definitely is the case in my country. I ate HCHF for decades as everyone ate like that.) And there are healthy ones. My SO can’t even eat low-carb, it makes him very unwell and he overeats. So he follows a healthy HCHF diet (as it’s possible for him. I have no healthy high-carb diet at all). He may be in the minority, I can imagine that very easily but such people exist. He is the healthiest person I know and he even had a splenectomy! Okay, he is still young (we both were quite healthy on every diet we had this far, young age and good genetics are great), I am curious what happens in several decades. But he does the best diet he can already and it’s nice enough so it probably will stay the same.

Yep, I overeat fat :frowning: Sigh.

That works for me but sadly, I need protein. And fatty protein is the most palatable food (well the right kind, for me)… Very easy to overeat and desires for it can be very high. I LOVE fatty meat, it helps that I focus on lean meats as my desires and fat intake are kept in check, more or less.

I wonder what my body does when I epically overeat. I don’t gain (or very slowly) but I don’t feel hotter than usual either. I don’t get extra energy either. Hmmm, mysteries…

#30

Oh, you too? I overate epically… I haven’t tracked but later I had some 4000+ kcal days and they were nothing special, I surely did that very many times in the past, sometimes it was higher but that wasn’t so natural, I just pushed for reasons.
I gained 1 kg per year (and I was already a chubby adult) but I overate every day I am sure, probably seriously so. It was until 35 years old, I went low-carb then and my 4000+ kcal days were very occasional. 1000 kcal over my needs was often.

But age still brought me changes, I can’t lose fat eating 2000 kcal (occasionally more, I am bad at keeping myself back that much) and up to 80g net carbs anymore. I think. It’s very hard to eat that little every day and I don’t like tracking especially during the day. Planning sometimes helps.
I still can’t gain quickly but I am fat and losing just never happens. Oh well, I keep trying. I took many important steps, I have changed, I know what to do, only a bit more effort is needed…

And I should reach success while I am not even older… (I am 49.) People say it gets even harder later and it’s already practically impossible, apparently. I blame multiple things, my seriously overeating years, my high protein need, my tastes for fatty protein (I do my best to keep that in check but it’s not easy. I kinda like my lean proteins now but I never will stop loving fats)…

But I eat well and my diet is mostly healthy, it’s something :smiley: If I had higher energy, I would never complain. No kind of diet ever worked for energy. Some were a tad better but that’s it.