Understanding Calories & How They Relate to Weight Loss
The word ‘calorie’ is a ubiquitous part of our dietary vocabulary yet are very much an abstract idea and is hard to grasp how it affects weight loss. You can’t see calories, touch them or sense them but unfortunately you can see their effects all too well if you eat too many of them. As omnipresent as calories are in our lives, and in the minds of those determined to lose weight, they are perhaps the least understood aspect of nutrition for most dieters, which is ironic given the fact that an understanding of calories and their role is crucial to anyone serious about losing weight. The confusion over calories comes mostly thanks to the bombardment of contradictory information from food manufacturers, the weight loss industry and the media. Food manufacturers spend billions in advertising dollars to disseminate material that promotes their products and undermines any negative health aspects surrounding the foods they make. The weight loss industry profits off of products and services that help you lose weight temporarily, as any long term solution would inherently mean no repeat business and eventually dwindling profits, and so they create and support items based on trends that come and go. The media on the other hand, uses dietary information as a form of entertainment since weight loss based material is one of the most popular topics with consumers and uses it to increase audience numbers rather than as a tool for educating the public. Both food manufacturers and the weight loss industry have a vested interest in telling us a lot about nothing. Which leaves most people bewildered by what to do next in terms of their weight loss and frankly begin to distrust the seemingly ever changing messages from what they are lead to believe are science based authorities on weight loss. Having lost faith in science, to paraphrase Chesterton, when people don’t believe in science they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything. Which is exactly what the food and weight loss industry needs for consumers to buy more of their products and services. In today’s world an educated consumer wouldn’t be much of a consumer since an understanding of the science behind calories would make them quite wary of popular diet and exercise trends. An educated consumer would also never fall for the calorie related strategies used by food corporations that are meant to make you buy their products for the wrong reasons. (Read my article on the How The Food Industry Makes You Overeat- The Economics Of Obesity for more information on how marketing confuses consumers.) Calories aren’t rocket science, but they are a bit complicated. Nevertheless, if you take the time to understand this fundamental element of nutrition, it will help you go a long way in achieving your weight loss goals and being very much a well educated consumer who will make better choices.
Understanding Calories- The Nomenclature
One of the most bewildering problems is the word itself as the word calorie as it appears on food labels isn’t exactly the correct term, even though it’s widely used. There is a saying that you can’t understand the nature of anything unless you call it by its proper name and I think this precept is applicable in this case as well. A calorie isn’t the correct label for the energy in our foods. A calorie (written with a lower case ‘c’) is a measurement of heat energy used in thermodynamics and is never used in regard to food energy measurement. The energy in our foods is measured in kilocalories, (k/cal), which means 1,000 calories with the word ‘Calorie’ (with a capital ‘C’) used by those in the dietary fields to refer to kilocalories. Are you confused yet? A medium sized apple therefore isn’t really 80 calories in the strictest sense, it’s 80 kilocalories or 80,000 calories! It makes sense to keep the numbers manageable by expressing all values in units of a thousand and I am certain that food manufacturers would be horrified to see their products labeled with three extra zeros added to the calorie count. Other countries outside the United States avoid the whole conundrum by using the metric measurement of kilojoules, which is 4.18 kilocalories. From here on in for the sake of simplicity I will use the correct nomenclature- Calorie or kilocalorie when referring to units of food energy measurement so we are all on the same boat.
What Is A Calorie/Kilocalorie?
A kilocalorie is the amount of energy required to increase the temperature of one liter of water by one degree Centigrade from 14.5 degrees to 15.5 degrees Centigrade. A wonderful definition, but one that means little to anyone without a background in chemistry or an understanding of the metric system. To translate for those who didn’t grow up with meters and grams, a Calorie/kilocalorie is the amount of heat needed to raise a quart of water (which is just about a liter) by 33.8 degrees Fahrenheit – which is 1 degree Centigrade. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Centigrade). Putting this into perspective, if the energy intake of the average American adult male is 2437 Calories daily [1], that would be enough energy to boil a little over 6 gallons of water! The amount of energy is astounding, but it you must bear in mind that unlike the energy released in a fire, the energy from foods is released very slowly through the processes of digestion and metabolism. If not, we would have some serious problems to contend with and spontaneous combustion would be a regular event! Where does all this energy go? Mostly towards the biological work required for our bodily functions, everything from breathing to using our muscles and repairing our cells. This energy is used to maintain balance (homeostasis- a bigger word with the same meaning) with the heat energy released from these functions serving to maintain our body temperature. (See my article on metabolism here).
Measuring Calories/Kilocalories and How It Relates to Weight Loss
So how do we measure Calories/Kilocalories? The process actually isn’t that complicated as the food is burned to ash and the heat released is measured in a device called a bomb calorimeter. Since the Third Law Of Thermodynamics states that energy can be neither created or destroyed, we know that the amount of energy released from a food inside our body through digestion and oxidation would be about the same as the amount of energy released if it was completely burned in a closed system. A bomb calorimeter does just that and researchers make allowances for the components of food that would not be completely digested in your body. Some plant-based fibers, for example cannot be completely digested and thus can’t be converted into energy. As result any calories from indigestible food components are subtracted from the total amount of heat energy measured. Also subtracted are the nitrogen components of protein-based foods which are also excreted by our bodies without being used. By taking these factors in to consideration researchers can arrive at a final figure that best represents what our body would gain from a food. Without these corrections you would find many low-calorie foods like vegetables being listed as high calorie foods with a much higher Calorie/kilocalorie count than they really do. Thanks to the requirements of the provisions of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act enacted in 1990, all foods in the U.S. must have their nutritional information listed prominently on the container in which they are sold. These labels are often misleading in terms of their calorie counts as while the kilocalorie values are accurate, the serving sizes are kept ridiculously low so that the calorie count won’t appear to be too high. Take the label on a small bag of a brand of ‘natural’ potato chips for example with its serving size of 1 ounce which has a value of 150 Calories (kcal). Now 150 Calories may not sound like much, but that’s only one seventh of the total bag, and I can’t tell you the last time I saw anyone eat one seventh of a small bag of potato chips as most people would eat the whole bag. Thus, the real energy yield is more like 1050 Calories, which is almost half the average number of kilocalories needed by a woman to maintain her bodyweight and is a glaring example of a seriously high calorie food masquerading as a harmless low calorie treat thanks to serving size manipulation.
The Caloric Components Of Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats
Now the energy content of the food we eat come from three macronutrients- carbohydrates, protein and fats. Protein and carbohydrates for the most part have a total of 4 kilocalories per gram, (a gram is about one third of an ounce by the way), whereas fats have 9 kilocalories per gram. Consequently, foods that are high in fat are usually high in calories. Olive oil has many heart healthy benefits, but it is still very much a high calorie food. As little as two tablespoons yields 28 grams of fat, which adds up to 248 kcal. In other words, two tablespoons of olive oil are calorically equal to more than three medium sized apples. That’s why you have to be careful about eating foods high in fats. Not because fats are bad but because it’s just so easy to consume a lot of calories by eating just a little of it and the way our brains work, we tend to want more of it. So when choosing foods it’s important to know the fat content and watch your the portion sizes if it is high in fat as the numbers can easily add up quickly to a point where you take in more calories than your body needs- which can make you gain weight.
(The mathematically savvy amongst you may have discerned that while olive oil has a total of 28 grams of fat- it only has 248 kilocalories and not 252 kilocalories. If 1 gram of fat yields 9 kilocalories, then it should have 252 kilocalories- (9X28=252) but it doesn’t. The reason for the discrepancy is that oils (and most foods) contain some amount of water which is calorically inert.) Why do carbohydrates and proteins have only 4 kilocalories per gram, whereas fats have 9 kilocalories per gram? The answer isn’t that hard to fathom if you keep in mind the basic elements and molecular makeup of these nutrients. Protein is made of amino acids while carbohydrates is made up primarily of glucose, both rather simple structures on a molecular level. Our bodies can’t use proteins, carbohydrates and fat as they are, since they must be broken down into their individual elements before being absorbed by the body or used as an energy source. This requires energy and since fats are composed of chains of fatty acids which are far more complex than carbohydrates or proteins in terms of biochemical structure and the number of chemical bonds holding it together, more energy is released in breaking it down compared to the energy released in breaking down protein into amino acids or carbohydrates into glucose. If you conceptualize the idea of energy being released when a food is broken down, you can also understand why fats are such a good energy source as fatty acids which have far more bonds holding it together than glucose or amino acids can thus store more potential energy.
Calories/Kilocalories And Losing Body Fat
One of the most important themes from the laws of thermodynamics is the idea that if we consume more Calories than we need our bodies will have no choice but to store them as body fat. This will happen regardless of how healthy the food source may have been. You can get fat from eating high protein foods, fats or carbohydrates- even if it is labeled fat free, organic or heart healthy. It makes no difference whatsoever the type of food you eat, if you ingest more than you should, you’ll gain weight. But as we said before, it is easier to go overboard calorie-wise from eating foods that are high in fat since they are so much more calorically dense. I should mention as well that at 7 kcal per gram, alcohol has more calories than protein and carbohydrates and the added curse of being processed in such a way that if you consume too much of it can significantly increase fat stores around your liver and other organs. (See my article on alcohol and weight loss ).
Why You Can’t Lose 10 Lbs. Of Fat In A Week
One of the best aspects of understanding what calories are and how it applies to our daily lives is that it gives you an informed perspective as to how ludicrously unrealistic rapid weight loss plans can be. The Holy Grail of losing 10 pounds of fat in a week is highly improbable, given the very concrete thermodynamic laws involved and even losing 10 pounds of fat in a month is still outside the realm of reasonable expectations. Consider that a pound of fat contains approximately 3,500 Calories (kilocalories), which is a quite a lot of stored energy when you put it in perspective. The average male needs anywhere in the ballpark of 2,000 to 3,000 Calories a day to maintain a stable body weight, a figure that is slightly lower for females, but it gives you an idea of just how much 3,500 Calories really are. As non obese men drinking nothing but water can lose no more than 4 kg of bodyweight (almost 9 lbs) over a 7-10 day period. [6,7] Keep in mind that this is just bodyweight and of that 4 kg most of it is fluid and the remainder being some lean muscle tissue and some fat stores. Thermodynamically you might think that increasing activity through exercise while starving will do it, but that will only make you end up in an emergency room or worse, as it is physically impossible to do the type of strenuous activity without food intake. And keep in mind that after such extreme measures, the loss of muscle mass will be such that overall metabolic rate will be lowered, which means that you would end up having to eat less afterwards to avoid being fatter than you were before such an extreme fast. Fat loss is a gradual phenomenon and can’t be rushed as it simply a matter keeping your caloric intake within an acceptable level while increasing your body’s need for more energy. You can do this by exercising and increasing your muscle mass, since muscle requires additional calories to be maintained. None of this happens overnight so always aware that any other claim of weight loss is just a matter of losing water weight and some muscle, none of which will help you in the long run.
Calories Matter But What You Eat Matters More For Weight Loss
You might think that since weight gain depends on calories from any source that you can eat pretty much anything as long as your intake remains within the boundaries of what you need to maintain an energy balance. This is the premise behind many diet fads and food manufacturers love it as it advocates that you can eat what you want- junk food included. As attractive as this may sound to the consumer however the logic behind it is severely flawed. Firstly, the energy balance principles derived from the laws of thermodynamics don’t account for the fact that we are human beings and that many other factors come into play where weight gain is concerned. If you follow the idea of weight gain being a matter solely based on energy balance then there should come a time when weight gain stops as the increased mass and consequent increase in metabolism compensates for the extra calories being consumed.[2] The larger you get the more calories you burn and yet in the real world this almost never happens as people continue to gain weight throughout the course of their lives.[3] Our behavior and eating patterns play a major part in weight gain and food manufacturers are quite aware of this. If you only ate junk food in amounts meeting your body’s energy requirements it might work, but those foods are engineered by folks who spend a lot of time, money and effort studying and mastering the creation of foods that are designed to make you eat more. Foods containing multiple ingredients that can be almost addictive. Studies have found that ingredients in many processed foods such as high fructose corn syrup make us eat and drink far more than we should and thus contributing to the continued weight gain.[3] The same applies to high fat foods and high sugar foods which activate our reward system in a way that makes us eat more and more- past what our body requires for energy balance.[5] Combine that with the ease of consumption of liquid calories in sodas and juices and you have a situation where it is very difficult for moderation to occur. More importantly, by continued consumption of junk foods you simply can’t learn the healthy eating habits needed to keep weight off. Nor can you learn how to select single ingredient natural foods which are much easier to eat in moderation than their distant multi-ingredient, processed cousins. Long term weight loss comes from a change in lifestyle and thus anything that keeps you away from doing so makes it far less likely that you’ll be successful in your long-term weight loss endeavors. (See my article on Controlling Your Eating Habits- How To Deal With Cravings.)
So, what about the stories of those who lost significant amounts of weight in a short time from low carbohydrate diets? Again, an understanding of the science behind how our body works gives us some insight. Carbohydrates are stored in our body as glycogen, which is a combination of glucose and water. When you reduce your carbohydrate intake your glycogen levels will drop, and you will lose some of that water in the process. That’s the weight you’ll see lost on the scale, but it is all water weight, and does nothing to reduce your fat stores. An effect that is at best temporary and a distraction from the practice of watching your portions and eating in a consistently better fashion with a diet that includes all food groups in sensible quantities. There aren’t any shortcuts and faced with the abundance of so many energy dense foods and our inability to accurately estimate how many calories we consume [4] it is a difficult task indeed. A slight excess in caloric intake can go a long way as eating only 40 Calories more than our daily energy requirements can add an extra 40 lbs of fat over the course of ten years. It’s a sobering thought as we are talking about eating just about half an apple more than your body needs on a daily basis and given the superabundant food supply we have today, and how easy it is to eat more than you should. it becomes a bit easier to understand one of the key reasons why most of us are overweight and our current obesity crisis. It also highlights how easy it is to regain weight and why short term solutions that involve extreme deprivations and excessive amounts of activity should always be avoided as it leads to overconsumption in the future. An understanding of how calories work make us aware that we have to find a steady approach that you can stick to for years. Not weeks or months, but long term and that rules out just about all fads that come and go. It might be an uphill battle, but it’s one that can be won with a consistent approach that emphasizes lifestyle change and not immediate weight loss results.
Not Bad For Training Only Three Days A Week!
Because it's three days a week with soul crunching intensity non stop for the past 33 years.
There's no gimmick to it and it means being uncompromisingly all in for your workouts and with your nutrition.
I don't think there's that much that special about me.
There's nothing enhanced, nothing boosted by testosterone and there weren't any special "supplements" along the way.
Just three days of blistering hard work each week and meticulous attention to what I eat.
Being 90% on point each week means you are 100% off after 10 weeks and I can't emphasize enough how much of a difference unshakeable consistency makes to your overall results.
Most of the natural athletes didn't get where they are by any genetic advantage, they just did what is so very rare- which is stick to their process 100%.
It's not easy as it's not always easy and certainly not always popular, but you owe it to yourself to see just how far you can go if you go all in!
Looking forward to seeing your results and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
#naturalbodybuilding #naturalbodybuilder #fitover40 #homegym #drugfreebodybuilding #gymselfie #hometraining #naturalbodybuildingmotivation
What I Eat To Stay Lean and Keep Building Muscle All Year Round.
If there every was a "secret" to how I consistently stay in shape (and almost 20 years since my last competition) the answer would be my diet.
Diet is the deciding factor in what your body looks like and your overall performance and I want to stress that while this is a layout of the foods I eat on a daily basis, it's not a blueprint for your YOU should be eating.
What it can be is an example of what it takes to maintain a certain degree of size and muscularity at all times as a natural athlete, and also the underlying principle to how I select my foods.
Which is that I don't eat junk foods or highly processed foods and I only drink water.
(No protein shakes, ever!)
If you can start with that, there's no doubt that you will be on the right track in terms of your nutrition.
So stay away from processed foods, know that I believe in you and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
#naturalbodybuilder #naturalbodybuilding #naturalbodybuildingtips #naturalbodybuildingdiet #diet #whatieatinaday #mydiet #naturalbodybuildingvideos #naturalbodybuildingmotivation #drugfreebodybuilding #healthyeating #noproteinshakes #excelsior #bodybuilding #bodybuildingdiet
Post workout physique check in.
The contest gets closer and closer as the sun meanders across the sky, as my contest is and always will be, did I do everything I possibly could that day to improve?
Did I train hard enough?
Did I push it enough?
The dietary part isn't an issue.
It hasn't been for many years as I always make sure that my nutrition is on point, and there's no leeway on that front.
I don't feel good when I'm not eating optimally, and I respect myself enough to not settle into a place where not feeling my best is the norm.
And to be honest, it feels really good to put my head down at the end of the day knowing that I gave it my all.
Not that I was the best or was even necessarily successful at everything that I set out to accomplish, but knowing that I gave everything nonetheless.
It's a feeling I want everyone to have.
To sleep soundly knowing that you gave it your all.
That you didn't miss an opportunity to improve on what you are passionate about, because in so doing, you experience an eagerness to do the same the next day.
It's the ultimate contest and I invite everyone to submit their application forms, as it's one of the few competitions where everyone who does the work and shows up, is in the winner's circle.
Keep striving, keep pushing and as always, Excelsior! #naturallyintense
(Thanks @indi.anna.r or taking the shot, as I know your arm was probably shaking after that workout!)
#naturalbodybuilding #naturalbodybuilder #fitover40 #homegym #drugfreebodybuilding #gymselfie #hometraining #naturalbodybuildingmotivation
Motivation vs Discipline. What You Really Need To Be Successful!
I am often asked what was my motivation to keep going starting off as a skinny 125lb kid who no one believed could ever be a successful bodybuilder.
The answer is that motivation didn't have that much to do with it.
Motivation may have played a part in getting me started, but it was discipline that got me to where I wanted to be.
Motivation is fleeting and ephemeral, it's not always going to be there and on the days when you don't feel like eating right or training hard, you need a disciplined practice to see you through.
A disciplined practiced based on doing what you need to do to be successful regardless of the circumstances.
That's how I made it through all those tough times when I felt I wasn't getting anywhere, and it's what will help you as well.
So forget motivation, focus on building a disciplined practice, know that I believe in you and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
#naturalbodybuilding #nosteroids #fitnessgoals #naturalbodybuildingtips #naturalbodybuilder #naturalbodybuildingvideos #excelsior #fitover40 #naturalbodybuildingtips #naturalbodybuildingmotivation #disciplineovermotivation #disciplineequalsfreedom #discipline #motivation#fitness #mindset #selfdiscipline #fitnessmotivation #disciplinequotes #workout #disciplineiskey
Kevin's Ultimate Secret Six Pack Abs Tip!
If you ever wondered how I maintain a six pack all year round and have kept that six pack for decades on end, here's the secret.
This is one tip that will honestly get you on the path to a six pack.
There's no magic to it.
But if you follow this simple piece of advice, you will be able to do a lot more than get yourself a six pack, as it's a proven formula for success.
Give it a try and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
#sixpack #sixpackabs #6pack #6packabs #naturalbodybuilder #naturalbodybuilding #naturalbodybuildingtips #naturalbodybuildingvideo #naturalbodybuildingmotivation #sixpacktips #drugfreebodybuilding #abs
Happy Archery Day, everyone!!!
Yeah, it's a thing and can't say how much it's my thing!
To be honest, I am a barebow shooter and almost never shoot my compound bow (the monster in my hands) but it's all really good fun!
If you haven't tried archery or are thinking about doing it again, go give it a shot (no pun intended!!!)
And as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
#archery #archeryday #bowtech #naturalbodybuilder #naturalbodybuilding #fitover40 #blackandwhite #bowtech
Do You Have Good Genetics for Natural Bodybuilding?
I don't believe it's the question that needs to be asked.
Far too many, myself included, who went on to be successful natural bodybuilders would never have been the men and women you would expect to have the genetics for bodybuilding.
But we put in the work, the years, the dedication and the consistency, and so what matters isn't the question of genetics, but rather do you have the passion, the drive and the discipline to train hard and focus on your diet nonstop for years on end to realize your potential?
That's the real question, and yes, there are men and women who have great genetics for natural bodybuilding, but there are even more who would be amazing onstage but don't know it because they didn't believe enough in themselves to put in the time to see how far they could go.
So I am here to say that I believe you have it in you to do amazing things, so if it's your goal, or even if you just want to improve the way you look, stick with it and don't quit!
Know that I believe in you and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
#naturalbodybuilding #nosteroids #fitnessgoals #bodytransformation #nodrugs #naturalbodybuildingtips #naturalbodybuilder #naturalbodybuildingvideos #excelsior #fitover40 #personaltrainer #naturalbodybuildingtips #naturalbodybuildingmotivation #beleiveinyourself
Nope it's not a contest cut- it's just another day on the Path.
There are two ways to get cut, the fast way that requires going to extremes and which is inevitably temporary.
Or the Path-based way. Whereby your lifestyle and sustainable healthy practices get you there and keeps you there.
It takes time. It takes patience but it's an extremely honest endeavor.
If you put in the work and stay consistent with your training and following a processed food free and healthy diet, excellence is just a matter of time.
It takes time but as long as you draw breath, you have the time and you can do this.
So take the Path-based way and as always, Excelsior!!!
#naturallyintense
And my thanks to my son @reid_443 for snapping the shot, and the approval rating! 😂
#naturalbodybuilding #naturalbodybuilder #fitover40 #homegym #drugfreebodybuilding #gymselfie #hometraining
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Related Articles:
Food And Self Control: How To Reduce Cravings
Understanding Glycemic Index and Weight Loss
Click To Get A Copy Of Kevin’s Free Ebook On The Role Of Exercise In Reducing Abdominal Fat!
Featured everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to network TV, Kevin Richardson is the international fitness consultant for UNICEF, natural bodybuilding champion, creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training and one of the top personal trainers in New York City.
References For Understanding How Calories Relate To Weight Loss
1. National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey- Intake of Calories and Selected Nutrients for the United States Population, 1999-2000
2. Kushner, Robert. Treatment of the Obese Patient (Contemporary Endocrinology). Totowa, NJ: Humana Press. 2007
3. Wells JC, Siervo M. Obesity and energy balance: is the tail wagging the dog? Eur J Clin Nutr. 2011
4. Kopelman PG, Caterson IG, Stock MJ, Dietz WH. Clinical obesity in adults and children: In Adults and Children. Blackwell Publishing 2005
5. Erlanson-Albertsson C. How palatable food disrupts appetite regulation. Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology 2005
6. Krzywicki HJ, Consolazio CF, Matoush LO et al. Am J Clin Nutr 1968
7. Drenick EJ. The effects of acute and prolonged fasting and refeeding on water, electrolyte, and acid-base metabolism. In: Maxwell MH, Kleeman CR, eds. Clinical Disorders of
Fluid and Electrolyte Metabolism. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980
