Comments on: Is a Calorie a Calorie?

By: Ambitius

Ambitius — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:22:11 +0000

“folks looking for super-leanness or folks who are super-obese”

Could you elaborate and give recommendations for either group ?
The most important to the majority of your readers will surely be the first one,i.e. super-lean seeking folks

Let’s assume for simplicity someone from 15% seeking 6% bodyfat
and 35-40% bodyfat (both male).

But another question comes to my mind reading this article. You emphasize refeeding with starchy based carbohydrates, yet saying here “source” doesn’t matter. But on another place, explaining that sucrose( fructose, sucrose, and lactose.) etc. only refil liver and that starches are “too slow” .. (just found a nice article on that : http://fitnessforoneandall.com/powerlifting/article/diet/post-workout/part_one.htm ).
Could you add something to that topic ?

Females are another topic, you’ll hopefully
discuss more in the future (“Specialized Weight Training/Nutrition for women”, can to much cardio hurt vs. women have to do cardio (seeking leanness) )

Thanks and viele grüße greeetings, I enjoyed your article(s).

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:43:04 +0000

I started cracking up when I read, “No human alive could eat enough celery to get 3000 digestible calories.” So true…

By: Nutrition

Nutrition — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:45:05 +0000

hey Lyle ,
and how about people trying to gain weight with anaerobic trainings , and puting lots of fructose in their diet , will it be the same as folks that are not?Considering that their calories and protein levels are equal ?
I am talking about musclefat ratio only , not their healt

Tnx alot

By: lylemcd

lylemcd — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 14:12:14 +0000

And in the roughly 300+ other articles on this site, everything you wrote is discussed. So instead of focusing on a single piece I wrote, look at the total.

By: fred

fred — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 23:48:01 +0000

The change in weight is equal to calories in minus calories out is a crude expression of reality. First a calorie is a calorie is a unit of energy measure. You have weight on one side and calories on the other. Weight is related to calories by Atwater factors, which are developed from oxygen in – carbon dioxide out, without looking at the Krebs cycle. Carbohydrates require less oxygen per ATP then fats. That is one of the errors. Secondly, there are two separate burn paths for fats, one Krebs cycle, and secondly liver- keytone to replace carbohydrates. Liver process is less efficient, hence requires energy, spills heat and acetones which get secreted, and result in energy loss.

Some people are low activity, and typically sit still, with little action for long periods of time. We need less energy. My RMR is slightly over 50C/h. In addition, having tested shit for years, can tell you there is a digestion efficiency factor larger that you may think. Caloric density of Carbohydrate is usually taken as 4 or 4.2, and that is the mean of a population variable with a standard deviation of 1.0 to 1.5, depending on the population. The distribution is not normal, but truncated at about 5.45.

Fat is leaky in computing calories, hence easy to loose a few grams here and there. as CD is 9+_ .6, a few grams makes a big difference, but that is a separate issue.

Ultimately, learning to eat for your activity level, weight, and life style is the big issue. We would be better to study the satiation loss rate (SLR). That is C/ hr to loose satiation, how long before I (you) need to eat again, for different food types, and design or meals based on that.

I just needed to say this. I wish you all a good day.

The calorie vs calorie discussion needs some organic chemistry to demonstrate neither side understands the issue.

By: Bradley Owen

Bradley Owen — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:45:10 +0000

I’m living proof that the calorie controlled junk food diets can work. At 5’8 I was ripped to the bone for a few years on it. Didn’t have any muscles but in college you don’t really need them anyways.

By: Charles

Charles — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:35:31 +0000

Okay, so you expected me to ultimately find the advice on the blog for flexible dieting, or my question was so idiotic you didn’t bother to reply. Either way, it was good to find and gave me a very big sigh of relief, because I tend to be very hard on myself when I give in to something I would normally avoid when strictly dieting. Thanks.

By: Charles

Charles — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 16:43:31 +0000

Lyle,
I’m trying to get a definitive answer on whether a “Free Day”, or day where you allow yourself Jack in the Box instead of the normal dietary guidelines by which you follow the remainder of the week, really has that big of an impact. Bill Phillips used to preach that it wouldn’t hurt your training and might keep you motivated toward that once weekly goal. I’m not really sure whether he meant one crazy meal, or one entire free day of eating. Seems to me that a 6 or 7 thousand calorie day is gonna bite you somehow.

By: Paul Skavland

Paul Skavland — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:14:05 +0000

For me personally it’s still easier to lose weight/fat on a low-carb eating plan. When I eat at, or near, keto levels my hunger is blunted in the extreme, which makes it easy for me to eat only 1500 calories a day. I can eat 1200 and be happy, in fact. But as Lyle points out, it’s the calorie reduction causing the weight loss, not the ketosis or low-carb eating itself. I’ve GAINED weight on a keto diet before because I wasn’t counting calories. (When you’re told to eat as much bacon as you want, it’s totally possible to gain weight!)

By: Alan Black

Alan Black — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:32:59 +0000

I’ve tracked my daily caloric intake for the past 24 months trying out different macro-nutrient percentages. With the exception of a couple of months which appear to be anomalies, I’ve only been able to reach the same conclusion as Lyle. Eat below maintenance level to lose and above to gain, irregardless of the composition of macro-nutrients.

The biggest difference between a higher carb vs higher fat diet, (for the same amount of calories), is the higher fat diet is much more satiating.