A Calorie is A Calorie–or is it? by Jerry Brainum 3/22

 

The most basic concept of all diets aimed at body fat loss is that calories are what counts. That is, conventional wisdom, as well as most "experts", declare that no matter what type of diet you follow to lost body fat, in the end what counts is not the nutritional composition of the diet, but rather how many calories you consume in relation to physical activity. I've even been guilty of writing this myself over the years, despite the fact that this notion goes against my personal experience and countless others that I've known or worked with, such as elite professional athletes. The problem with focusing entirely only on calories is that it ignores other factors that can play dominant roles in fat loss, and even direct where the calories wind up. But what if the conventional wisdom about calories being everything is regard to effective fat loss efforts isn't entirely true?

 At first glance, such a heretical stance appears to defy the laws of physics, such as the first law of thermodynamics, which states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. In simple terms, calories, which are units of energy, have to go somewhere. You either have to burn them as energy or store them as fat. No one is denying this basic physical law. But what the conventional calorie notion of fat loss overlooks is that there are other possible avenues for calories to take in the body, where those calories will not be stored, but rather undergo a thermogenic effect. That's a fancy term for meaning that the ingested calories are not stored as fat but instead converted into heat. This is called a "futile energy cycle," because the calories are not used to power work, but rather just converted into heat. But the point is that those calories aren't stored as fat. If this idea is correct, and there is a lot of evidence that it is, it would mean that not all calories react the same way in the body. This would also suggest that all diets are not the same in their efficacy for promoting body fat loss.

The thermogenic effect of food is a hotly debated topic among scientists. Some scoff at the notion of "wasted calories," pointing out that any calories burned in the process amount to a relatively small number of calories that wouldn't have much of an effect on fat loss. But consider that if you consumed just 100 extra calories a day above what you burned in physical activity, you would gain 10 pounds of fat in a year. Indeed, this is a major reason to explain "creeping obesity," where body fat is gradually added, especially as you age. You can be consuming the same number of calories each day, but if you reduce your level of physical activity, the extra calories you are consuming can be converted into fat. And if . . .