Small Steps to Health

Not All Calories Created Equal

March 16th, 2008 by asithi · No Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating

It take an extra 500 calories a day to put on one pound at the end of the week. There is 3,500 calories in a pound of stored fat. Most of us cannot tell that we are storing an extra quarter of a pound. Most scales do not detect that small incremental weight difference. By the time we finally notice it, we are 3-5 pounds overweight already.

Calories breakdown
The energy value of any food items is dependent on its combination of carbohydrates, protein, and fat content.
1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories*
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories
1 gram of alcohol = 7 calories

Not all calories created equal
We all know that excess calories lead to fat storage, but where the calorie is coming from also influences how much of it is stored. It is much easier to store fat than carbohydrates or protein. Our bodies must convert carbohydrates and protein into fat first before they can store it. And during that fat conversion process, our bodies burn some of the calories for doing that work. When you eat 100 excess carbohydrate calories, your body burn 25 calories for the conversion process, so that only 75 calories are stored. To store 100 excess fat calories, your body burns only 3 calories, so that 97 calories are stored.

Think about it. In order to get 100 calories, that is about 2 small apples or quarter of a cup of ice cream. If you eat the apples, you get the nutrients and fiber (if you do not peel the apples), but only 75 calories is stored. If you eat ice cream, not only is your hunger not satisfied and you get less nutrients, but you store 97 calories. The Volumetric Diet talks in depth of this concept of eating more and still loosing weight by changing the type of food that you are eating.

Calories consumers vs. calories savers
Caloric needs and usages are dependent on levels of activity, lifestyle, and body composition. Muscles are calorie consumers, using calories even at rest. People who are calorie consumers have a higher ratio of muscle to fat, an active lifestyle, exercise regularly, and eat what their body need. I know the characteristics of a calorie saver all too well. I see it in the mirror every morning — too little muscle, eat too much and too often, and not enough exercise (but I am really working on this one, up to 4 days a week now for 40 minutes).

People are generally more concern about the number of calories burn doing different types of exercise, but exercise only give your body a boost to burning off the excess stored fat in our bodies. Working out for 40 minutes at a moderate intensity, only burns 250-300 calories — that is only one candy bar. The more important number is how many calories are used the rest of the day. The body uses about 3/4 of its calories during the day (6am-6pm) and 1/4 during the evening (6pm-6am). That means we should be eating most of our calories when the body is most active during the day and make our last meal the smallest one. In other words, eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a prince, and eat dinner like a pauper.

Until next time and thanks for stopping by.

*Data in post from The Complete Book of Fitness by the editors of Fitness Magazine.

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